Chris Matthews Goes Al Campanis: Perry Doesn't Have 'Necessaries' To Be President

Twenty-four years ago, Los Angeles Dodgers VP Al Campanis was forced to resign his position for saying on national TV that blacks lack "the necessities" to be baseball managers and executives.  

On today's Hardball, Chris Matthews was so enjoying himself mocking Rick Perry's intelligence, that he decided to use a slightly mangled version of the same line on the Texas governor. Video after the jump.

Speaking with Susan Page of USA Today, Matthews first said that Perry "doesn't have the brains to be president." The crowd laughed uproariously, as you'll hear in the video and see in the screengrab of the man sitting behind Page. Perhaps spurred by the public's reaction, Matthews continued "he doesn't have the basics, the necessaries, to be president."