Chris Matthews: 'Paul Ryan Stuck His Neck Out and [Obama] Punched His Head Off'

Remember the good old days when political commentators were governing their tongues and offering Americans a far more civil tone in the wake of the tragic shootings in Tucson?

Well, MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Thursday demonstrated just how bygone those days are when he gleefully reminisced about Congressman Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) sticking his neck out with a bold budget proposal months ago only to have President Obama "[punch] his head off" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

JOAN WALSH, SALON: [Obama] did a great job fighting the Paul Ryan budget, I believe it was back in April, Chris. You and I both talked about it. He really sounded like a Democrat. He really explained to Paul Ryan why he was making a lot of mistaken assumptions about the way America works. That was awesome, and he backed away from that. I think he was, it was right to try to compromise. It was right to take office in 2009 and try to reach out to the other side and believe that there were Republicans…

CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Yeah, but that was easy. But that was easier, Joan. Joan, he made himself a tackling dummy. Paul Ryan stuck his neck out, and this guy punched his head off. But this time around, he’s up against shrewd, tough customers. Those guys fronting for the Tea Party, Ron, knew what they were doing. They had enough people behind them to give them bulk, and they went at the President saying, “We’re going to knock you off here. We don’t care what you think. We’re going to knock you off unless you say ‘Uncle.’”

Isn't that special?

In the past nine days, Obama signed a woefully inadequate budget agreement that caused our credit rating to be lowered while fueling a massive rout in stocks and conceivably pushing the nation into a recession.

Despite this, these two liberal media members think it's a shining moment for the President that he defeated a bill that would have likely prevented the downgrade if it had been enacted.

Irrespective of what's happened in the past couple of weeks, Matthews and Walsh would still have Democrats and their President punch Ryan's head off even if it meant a credit rating downgrade, huge stock losses, and a possible recession.

And these folks think it's the Tea Party that's trying to destroy the country.