On New Year's Eve, Chris Matthews got off one last sneering shot against conservatives. In a special 2012 retrospective, the Hardball anchor connected fiscal conservatism to segregation. After guest Howard Fineman insisted that Mitt Romney's aversion to tax increases during the primary doomed him in the general election, Matthews snorted, "It's today's politics! It's like, they used to say, you have to be the most segregationist guy in the south." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]
He continued, "You can never be an inch away from it because somebody would always go to your right on that issue." Go to the "right?" Perhaps the history-challenged Matthews is unaware that segregationionist south was run by Democrats.
The liberal host used the pre-taped special, which aired on Monday, to rehash the political events of 2012. In his closing commentary, Matthews, perhaps speaking for his network, insisted that "we look forward to a new year, a new second administration of a significantly progressive president."
He declared, "America isn't a hard right country, intolerant and resentful of its new countrymen and women."
A transcript of the December 31 exchange can be found below:
7:16
[On Romney stressing the importance of spending cuts over tax increases during the GOP primaries.]
HOWARD FINEMAN: It was also, in the long term, the beginning of the end for Mitt Romney.
MICHAEL STEELE: Yes.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: How so?
FINEMAN: Well, because, he began to lock himself into a position of Grover Norquist-ing himself for the whole election and that played into who he was as a businessman. That played into the 47 percent.
MATTHEWS: It's today's politics! It's like, they used to say, you have to be the most segregationist guy in the south. You can never be an inch away from it because somebody would always go to your right on that issue.
FINEMAN: I guess you could say that whatever an early primary season crowd claps for furiously, as happened in that video, is going to kill you on October 15th in Ohio. That's exactly what happens.
...
7:59
MATTHEWS: And so, we look forward to a new year, a new second administration of a significantly progressive president. America isn't a hard right country, intolerant and resentful of its new countrymen and women. It is, on balance, a centrist country with progressive leanings one that has now rejected reversions to the policies he holds responsible for the country's current difficulties. It likes its president. It roots for his success and believes strongly that America will win again because of its deep resilience. We can change. We are changing.
