Chris Matthews, on Monday's Hardball, decried the GOP for obstructing Obamacare as he scolded the Republican Party as "nasty" and "narrow in its appeal" and strangely accused it of no longer being "a party of grand conservatism," as if opposing the current liberal version of health care reform isn't being conservative? Matthews, along with Democratic Representative John Larson of Connecticut, also wistfully pined for the days of a less combative GOP as the Hardball host wondered what happened to "the moderate Republicans" that "used to work...for positive government."[audio available here]
The following exchange was aired on the March 15 edition of Hardball:
CHRIS MATTHEWS: You know Congressman, I've never seen the Republican Party so narrow in its appeal. It's basically come out and said, "Dis-invest in America, watch your pocketbook. Don't do anything, don't have any government." It's forgotten eight years of sort of spend thrift behavior by President Bush. It is like the guy in the, in the, in a, in a , what's that movie? Casablanca. Where the guy says "I can't believe gambling has been going on here." It's like they've discovered this sort of narrow Republicanism. What do you make of that in Connecticut? What do you make of the fact the Republican Party now isn't a party of grand conservatism, any more
? It's a party of this narrow, little, nasty, don't do anything party.
...
MATTHEWS: Thank you very much. U.S. Congressman Larson, John Larson from Connecticut, who remembers the Rockefeller Republicans! The moderate Republicans! That used to work alongside of you for positive government that are now missing from the fold. Thank you very much for joining us. Congressman Larson, the chairman of the Democratic caucus in the House.
