Chris Matthews Calls Uber-liberal Dianne Feinstein a 'Centrist' and 'True North' of American Politics

January 28th, 2010 5:45 PM

In 2008, she achieved a 100% liberal rating by the group Americans for Democratic Action. The same year she voted with conservatives just 4 percent of the time, according to the American Conservative Union. Her lifetime ACU rating is also in the single digits at a mere 9.06.

So let's not tell Chris Matthews, shall we. [audio available here]

The "Hardball" host today described the California Democratic senator as a "level-headed" "centrist," indeed the "true north of American politics" in a segment in which he showed Feinstein saying that President Obama reconsider the arrangements for the federal criminal trial for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in lower Manhattan:

I often look to Senator Feinstein for sort of the true north in American politics. People think she's a liberal. She's very centrist in her thinking. And I think very mature in her outlook in terms of jurisprudence and all.