Chris Matthews, who on multiple occasions has compared conservatives to Nazis, laughably pleaded for such links to stop. The “Hardball” host begged for civility and noted how “Ted Cruz has done it. Ted Nugent’s done it. Ben Carson has done it. They have all recently compared the Obama administration to Nazi Germany And it is time those analogies stopped for good.”
Matthews complained that “Comparing your opponent to Nazi Germany has become a political weapon of choice over differences of opinion lately… I guess I'm up to here with this. And I guess as a Holocaust family member you are particularly bothered by it. But to me the bone-headedness of this. The lack of historic perspective. The lack of any kind of breadth of knowledge about the world we grew up in.” [See video below.]
Matthews continued is hypocritical rant against the use of Nazi comparisons by quoting an article by Vanity Fair’s Kurt Eichenwald who correctly commented that “how dare so many of you politicians and political commentators and entertainers spit on ashes of the Earth containing the bodies of millions of the slaughtered by making such asinine comparisons.”
It’s somewhat awkward for Matthews to quote someone chastising “political commentators” for making Nazi references when the MSNBC host frequently makes such comparisons himself. After quoting Eichenwald, Matthews actually brought on the Vanity Fair Editor who correctly pointed out that, “the problem is you have a bunch of truly ignorant, truly self-centered people who think that the events of their daily lives are equivalent to major traumas in world history.”
If you look back at Matthews’ past statements, the MSNBC host is in no position to call for a cease-fire in the use of Nazi rhetoric:
On November 26, 2012, while discussing the presidential election, guest Howard Fineman insisted that conservatives view African Americans and Hispanics as "extraterrestrial." Matthews scoffed, "The last guy to refer to the black auxiliary was Hitler."
On November 7, 2012, the MSNBC anchor laughed at Nazi comparisons made by liberal comedian Bill Maher.
On October 22, 2012, the anchor trashed conservatives, hissing, "Is it in society's interests for [a young woman's] boss to be able to be the birth control Nazi to decide who gets it and who doesn't?"
See relevant transcript below.
MSNBC
Hardball w/ Chris Matthews
March 19, 2014
7:42 p.m. Eastern
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Up next. Ted Cruz has done it. Ted Nugent’s done it. Ben Carson has done it. They have all recently compared the Obama Administration to Nazi Germany And it is time those analogies stopped for good.
7:47 p.m.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Comparing your opponent to Nazi Germany has become a political weapon of choice over differences of opinion lately. Home Depot owner and Chris Christie donor Ken Langone warned against populism in an interview with Politico saying because if you go back to 1933 with different words this is what Hitler was saying in Germany, you don't survive as a society if you encourage and thrive on envy or jealousy. Well Kurt Eichenwald is fed up with it all in his latest article in Vanity Fair he writes how dare so many of you politicians and political commentators and entertainers spit on ashes of the Earth containing the bodies of millions of the slaughtered by making such asinine comparisons. Kurt Eichenwald is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and Jonathan Alter writes for Bloomberg View and is an MSNBC political analyst. Gentlemen, I guess I'm up to here with this. And I guess as a holocaust family member you are particularly bothered by it. But to me the bone-headedness of this. The lack of historic perspective. The lack of any kind of breadth of knowledge about the world we grew up in. The world that was here before us. Where it all goes back to this sort of comic book World War II notion of Hitler. To me it’s a unique period in history and should be recognized and never forgotten as such. Your thoughts? Why does it bother sir that these people from left to right keep talking about Hitler to anybody they don't like?
KURT EICHENWALD: Many different reasons. Primarily the contempt they are demonstrating, the ignorance they are demonstrating about what actually happened in the Holocaust. Nazi Germany was not the same as ObamaCare. It wasn’t the same as national debt. It wasn’t the same as all of these little things that keep being brought forward as of such great import. And the problem is you have a bunch of truly ignorant, truly self-centered people who think that the events of their daily lives are equivalent to major traumas in world history.MATTHEWS: I’m just reading a book. I got The Galleys of Martin Goldsmith the classical music guy. And he talks about tracing the steps of his family that he lost in the Holocaust. And when you go through that with the St. Louis and all of that experience you know how unique and horrible it was. For these people who just say Hitler.
