MSNBC’s Hardball host Chris Matthews stumbled upon a thing called reason on Thursday night as he expressed stiff reservations over how Bernie Sanders and the far left argue that health care should be made right alongside, say, freedom of speech.
Discussing what concessions Hillary Clinton should make to Sanders in order for him to endorse her and prevent a messy Democratic National Convention, Matthews predicted: “He's not going to get all this social stuff that he wants. If Hillary gives him the social stuff he wants like $15 and she gives him health — what do you call it? Medi — Social Security benefits way beyond what people are paying into it and turns it into a welfare program or you know life health care as a right.”
With that thought, the liberal host stopped dead in his own tracks to express his befuddlement at health care becoming a right:
I’m not sure what that means exactly by the way as a right. You force people to go to medical school or nursing school and administer hospitals because you have to do it because we made this commitment. I mean, how does that actually physically work? That right thing.
Boston Globe reporter Indira Lakshmanan didn’t seem interested in debate the merits of that and so she tried to divert attention back to the 2016 race, but Matthews wasn’t having it and continued: “I think when somebody says right — health care is a right, I go I know right to a freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of press. I get that. Freedom from search, but what's a right to something? I'm not sure how that works because somebody else has to give it to you.”
Spoken like a true liberal, Lakshmanan spelled out the position of the Obama administration that it is a right after all: “Well, the Obama administration would argue that they have already given the right to health care through ObamaCare.”
Earlier in the program, New York Times reporter Jeremy Peters was pointing out that while Hillary Clinton has a unfavorable rating of over 50 percent, Donald Trump’s is much higher when Matthews stepped in to accuse him of making right-leaning position on polling because they’ll spend much of the election cycle not propping Trump up but tearing down Clinton.
That being said, Matthews determined that Republicans “make her into a scarecrow for the right wing”: “Unbelievable, anyway, they make her into a scarecrow for the right wing. She's the scarecrow. They're scaring everybody to vote Republican. Don’t mess with their crops.”
The relevant portions of the transcript from MSNBC’s Hardball on June 16 can be found below.
MSNBC’s Hardball
June 16, 2016
7:38 p.m. Eastern
JEREMY PETERS: You know, these polls tend to be pretty noisy. I wouldn't read too much into that. I think that the person who should be really worried about negatives are Donald Trump. He has a 29 percent favorability rating according to the latest polls. I mean, that's astonishingly low. That's like George W. Bush level low at the nadir of his presidency. So, I think whatever Hillary’s negatives are at this point in time, they pale in comparison to just how rough a time Trump is having these last few days.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Ah, Jeremy, you just explained why every commentator who takes the right-wing positions shifts to Hillary the minute I ask them about Donald Trump. Now, let's talk about Hillary. Cause you know, let’s going over and talk about Hillary. No matter what you ask them, the default position is let’s talk about Hillary. She’s 55 percent negative. We don’t need a candidate, just run against that. Unbelievable, anyway, they make her into a scarecrow for the right wing. She's the scarecrow. They're scaring everybody to vote Republican. Don’t mess with their crops.
(....)
7:45 p.m. Eastern
MATTHEWS: He's not going to get all this social stuff that he wants. If Hillary gives him the social stuff he wants like $15 and she gives him health — what do you call it? Medi — Social Security benefits way beyond what people are paying into it and turns it into a welfare program or you know life health care as a right. I’m not sure what that means exactly by the way as a right. You force people to go to medical school or nursing school and administer hospitals because you have to do it because we made this commitment. I mean, how does that actually physically work? That right thing.
BOSTON GLOBE’s INDIRA LAKSHMANAN: Okay, just back to the question of what does he want.
MATTHEWS: I think when somebody says right — health care is a right, I go I know right to a freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of press. I get that. Freedom from search, but what's a right to something? I'm not sure how that works because somebody else has to give it to you.
LAKSHMANAN: Well, the Obama administration would argue that they have already given the right to health care through ObamaCare.
MATTHEWS: Rights? Rights?
