Chris Matthews Calls Palin 'A Cuckoo Clock' and Gingrich 'A Mortal Enemy to Our Civilization'

Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey said Monday that MSNBC's Chris Matthews "seems to be slipping out of touch with reality."

On Tuesday, the "Hardball" host proved Armey's point by calling Sarah Palin "a cuckoo clock" and Newt Gingrich "a mortal enemy to our civilization" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Let’s start with the conservative split, first time I’ve seen one in years. Richard Wolffe’s an MSNBC political analyst and Ben Smith is national political reporter for Politico.

Richard, I want you to take a look at some of these clips. We got Gingrich. We got Beck. We got Kristol. We got Palin. And we got Lindsey Graham. Let’s take a look at, first of all, Newt Gingrich. He says he doesn’t support -- he said the United States shouldn’t support the Muslim Brotherhood or talking with them, in fact. Here’s what he told CNN. Let’s listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH (R-GA), FMR. SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE, FOX CONTRIBUTOR: Secretary Clinton apparently said that we wanted to reach out to the Muslim Brotherhood. I think this is absolute total misreading of history. The Muslim Brotherhood is a mortal enemy of our civilization. They say so openly. Their slogan says so openly. Their way is jihad. Their method is death. For us to encourage in any way the inclusion of the Muslim Brotherhood is fundamentally wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEWS: I think if you look closely at Newt Gingrich, you see a mortal enemy to our civilization.

Nice equivalence. Because Gingrich called the group that assassinated former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat a mortal enemy to our civilization, Matthews felt it's appropriate to similarly refer to a former Speaker of the House.

Getting Armey's point? But there was more:

MATTHEWS: Here’s Glenn Beck last Thursday on the radio. Let’s listen to his thoughts.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

GLENN BECK, HOST, FOX NEWS "GLENN BECK": I want the left to know I plant my flag in this soil. Groups from the hard-core socialist and communist left and extreme Islam will work together because they are both a common enemy of Israel and the Jew. Islam wants caliphate. Communists want a communist new world order. They’ll work together and they’ll destabilize because they both want chaos.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

MATTHEWS: And he’s the same person out there saying that the two President Bushes, in the way they directed our bombing campaigns in the two Iraq wars, were really working with this new Muslim world order.

Actually, that's not what Beck said last Tuesday. Here's the actual quote:

BECK: There's one place that we told our bombers not to bomb. Does anybody know what it was? Two wars in Iraq. We said no bombing there. Ancient Babylon. Ancient Babylon. Why? Because the Bible tells us that that is the seat -- right here -- of power of a global, evil empire.

From those few sentences, Matthews concluded that Beck was saying that both Presidents Bush were working with a new Muslim order. Is that what you take away from those 52 words, or is Armey's point really sinking in?

But Matthews wasn't nearly done cherry-picking:

MATTHEWS: Bill Kristol, by the way, knocked conservatives who are supporting Mubarak. Here’s what he said on "MORNING JOE" today. Let’s listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL KRISTOL, "WEEKLY STANDARD": I don’t think conservatives or Americans in general should be on the side of dictators against what seems to be a genuine democratic protest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Kristol spoke with the "Morning Joe" crew about Beck for three minutes, and had far more to say on this issue than the 24 words Matthews and Company cherry-picked:

But here was possibly the coup de grace:

MATTHEWS: Well, let’s take a look. Here’s Sarah Palin, to get the full look at this. She took a swipe at President Obama’s handling of Egypt. Let’s listen to her, Palin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH PALIN (R-AK), FMR. GOV., FOX CONTRIBUTOR: It’s a difficult situation. This is that 3:00 AM White House phone call, and it seems for many of us trying to get that information from our leader in the White House -- it seems that that call went right to the answering machine. And nobody yet has -- nobody yet has explained to the American public what they know. And surely they know more than the rest of us know who it is who will be taking the place of Mubarak.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEWS: She talks like a cuckoo clock. In fact, I think when she gets that Sarah Palin named patented, that’s what she should sell, cuckoo clocks with her coming out every hour or half hour.

To sum up, Matthews on Tuesday called a former Speaker of the House of Representatives "a mortal enemy to our civilization," and a former Vice Presidential candidate a "cuckoo clock."

I don't know about you, but Armey seemed spot on Monday.