Having missed Tuesday’s primary results coverage due to his wife Kathleen losing her Maryland congressional race, MSNBC’s Hardball host Chris Matthews returned with a vengeance on Wednesday to accuse Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz of having “given up on his brain” in fighting Donald Trump and joked that Cruz is a bigamist for his many political “marriages.”
Matthews also sneered at Cruz as being “desperate” and “ridiculous” as well as resuming his newfound obsession with hypocritically describing Cruz running mate Carly Fiorina as a “three-time loser” in elections.
The shenanigans started right from the start as Matthews and Salon writer Joan Walsh dubbed the results of last night’s Acela Primary as being “the sound of death” for both the GOP establishment and anti-Trump forces.
As the pair were talking, Matthews cut Walsh off to go live to a Trump rally in Indiana so viewers could watch “Trump destroy Cruz” in reacting to the Cruz-Fiorina announcement.
Matthews took back command of the show a few minutes later as Walsh admitted that she has “a tiny bit of sympathy for the Republican establishment” even though “[t]hey don’t deserve it, but I feel it anyway.”
Out of the blue, the Hardball host observed that “Cruz isn't giving up, whatever that means” and “may have given up on his brain, but he’s not giving up on his physical actions” by making the “major announcement today.”
“I’d call it a Hail Mary and have to gin up some excitement to make the scoreboard light up at least for his campaign. He picked Carly Fiorina who came in like tenth in this election as his potentially running mate,” he added.
Resurrecting his hypocritical touting of Fiorina’s winless campaign record, Matthews whined: “She, of course, lost her job at Hewlett-Packard. She lost statewide in California. She lost in the race for president. Three-time loser and now he puts her on the ticket. I don’t know what it brings.”
After a series of soundbites from Cruz at the rally, Matthews dropped one of the more bizarre utterances this living Notable Quotables edition has ever let loose: “Isn't there a bigamy situation here? Didn't he just over the weekend marry Kasich? What's going on here? How many marriages in a week? These are desperate. These are chapels out in Las Vegas busy.”
Huffington Post editor and MSNBC political analyst Howard Fineman played along with this NSFW analogy about Cruz sleeping around and quipped that John Kasich “spent one night with Cruz and that was enough” so “[h]e sobered up, so, then that was that.”
Analyzing Cruz’s decision to name Fiorina as his running mate now instead of in July at the Republican National Convention, Fineman ruled that Cruz’s move was simply “idiotic”:
The only thing Cruz had left was to cash the one bargaining chip that he might have had if by some chance he got to the convention which was to offer the veep to somebody in Cleveland but he played that card now, which is idiotic.
Before the conversation turned back to a more appropriate tone, Matthews looked at American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp and exclaimed:
I hope you how to defend your party because this is so hilarious. This is ridiculous. This is picking vice presidents on the fly and really to get you through the night. Bluntly, just to get you through the night or at least the next couple of days. He just married Kasich and said, we’re all in this together. Now, he's going to her.
The relevant portions of the transcript from MSNBC’s Hardball on April 27 can be found below.
MSNBC’s Hardball
April 27, 2016
7:01 p.m. EasternCHRIS MATTHEWS: Joan, tell me this. Is that the sound of death we heard last night?
JOAN WALSH: That's the sound of death. He's almost certain to get over the delegate threshold and if he doesn't, Chris, he will get close enough that they simply can not deny him and, you know, looking at that Fiorina press conference today, I thought you have because I thought you often say this, doesn't anybody know how to do this anymore? Doesn't anybody know how to play this game? I mean, first we had Cruz-Kasich. The pact. That failed.
MATTHEWS: Oh, that marriage was only a three-day marriage. We got to — Joan, I got to interrupt. Stay with it. We’ll be right back to you. We got to watch now Cruz destroy — or Trump destroy Cruz.
(....)
7:06 p.m. Eastern
WALSH: You’ve got people who are very excited by this and you asked me about the Republican party. I have a tiny bit of sympathy for the Republican establishment. They don't deserve it, but I feel it anyway because they really don't know what to do with this. These are their voters, Chris. This is a majority of their voters. He’s now — we've said it. I know I've said. He's at 25, he won’t get to 30. He’s at 30, he won’t get to 40. He’s now over 50. He's at 60. This is who this party wants and it's going to be very, very hard to deny it to him if he gets close and certainly if he gets over the threshold.
MATTHEWS: Well, Ted Cruz isn't giving up, whatever that means. Of course, he may have given up on his brain, but he’s not giving up on his physical actions. Anyway, he made a major announcement today. I’d call it a Hail Mary and have to gin up some excitement to make the scoreboard light up at least for his campaign. He picked Carly Fiorina who came in like tenth in this election as his potentially running mate. She, of course, lost her job at Hewlett-Packard. She lost statewide in California. She lost in the race for president. Three-time loser and now he puts her on the ticket. I don’t know what it brings. Anyway, he highlighted her ability, he said, to stand up to Donald Trump, which she did do, I must say.
(....)
7:08 p.m. Eastern
MATTHEWS: Isn't there a bigamy situation here? Didn't he just over the weekend marry Kasich? What's going on here? How many marriages in a week? These are desperate. These are chapels out in Las Vegas busy.
HOWARD FINEMAN: He rolled out — he rolled out the Kasich thing a few days ago.
MATTHEWS: Saturday night
FINEMAN: I think it was Saturday.
MATTHEWS: Or Sunday night.
FINEMAN: They — they pledged their troth, but the problem was that the next day, Kasich said, I don't know what you're talking about. I want people to vote for me.
MATTHEWS: No mas.
FINEMAN: No mas. I want people to vote for me. He spent one night with Cruz and that was enough. He sobered up. So, then that was that. That didn't work and everybody has said if you're going to keep this thing owing at all, which I'm dubious about, it's got to be Indiana. It's got to be Indiana, got to be Indiana, got to be Indiana. The only thing Cruz had left was to cash the one bargaining chip that he might have had if by some chance he got to the convention which was to offer the veep to somebody in Cleveland but he played that card now, which is idiotic.
MATTHEWS [TO MATT SCHLAPP]: I hope you how to defend your party because this is so hilarious. This is ridiculous. This is picking vice presidents on the fly and really to get you through the night. Bluntly, just to get you through the night or at least the next couple of days.
FINEMAN: Or at least Indianapolis.
MATTHEWS: He just married Kasich and said, we’re all in this together. Now, he's going to her and you know, if I were her, you know, and he did end up typing, Merry Christmas, winning now and in Indiana, winning in California big time, somehow winning on the second or third ballot she ain't going anywhere near him.
