Matthews: 'What's Worse? Thom Tillis or Ebola?!'

October 27th, 2014 9:02 PM

"What's worse? Thom Tillis or Ebola?" Yes, Chris Matthews actually asked that, in jest, on the October 27 edition of Hardball. The line prompted chuckles from Matthews's guests.

In fairness, in context Matthews made the quip as guest Jeanne Cummings of Bloomberg News was describing how President Obama's handling of Ebola has become a critical issue in the North Carolina Senate race and it's helped Republican challenger Thom Tillis close the gap in the polls with incumbent freshman Sen. Kay Hagan (D).

That said, it's hard to imagine a conservative cable news pundit making such a quip and not being rebuked as making a sick joke off of a deadly disease that has no readily-available cure.