On the same day that the media were back shining Hillary Clinton’s apples, MSNBC’s Hardball host Chris Matthews spent Tuesday night carrying water for far-left darling and Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), telling her that she possesses a “mastery” in her “thrilling” “speaking skills.”
The same man who, nine years ago, had the thrill go up his leg decided to pause the interview dedicated to Warren’s new book (read: pre-presidential campaign speaking tour) for “something I didn't have planned and I want to go with this now.”
Using language that he usually saves for Barack Obama, Matthews began:
Your speaking ability is really thrilling. You have a thrilling — you have a mastery — no, when you're making your point. This is not a comedy act when you're doing it. It's damn good political salesmanship. It's rhetoric of the best political kind. You get your audience riled up and you get them roused up. They're happy. As, Mario Cuomo used to be able to do this, you leave people upbeat about what they can get done at the end of the speech.
Swooning that Warren’s speaking is not akin to “eating spinach,” Matthews hilariously claimed that the perpetually-angry liberals listening to Warren emerge “happy and they go out and fight.”
“That’s a good thing and I hope you’re smiling cause very few people have this talent. I watched Hillary watch you and I know couldn’t see it out of the corner of your eye. Hillary was relieved and thrilled you could sell the progressive message in a happy, progressive — you know, hopeful way,” Matthews continued.
Matthews concluded that Warren doesn’t advocate for governments to control our lives but rather “joyous self-rule and you seem to know how to do it.” He invited her to then “tell me how you sell that to your other progressives out there so it does haven't to be too academic and too miserable.”
Warren then launched into a speech about coming from a humble upbringing to U.S. Senator that, of course, offered no mention of how she lied about her heritage (claiming she was Native American) in order to become a wealthy Harvard professor.
Later before going to commercial break, Matthews gave her a pep talk as if he were auditioning as campaign manager or debate coach:
The reason I talked to you about running for president is I'm really trying to get you excited about the fact we need leaders in this country on the progressive side. We’ve got one on the other side and I think it’s a fair question. Your book, This Fight Is Our Fight. By the way, you can get this on Amazon right away. I do like to sell books here. Progressives watch this program, and I think it's a book to get your head around a lot of things that Senator Warren is going to be talking about for the rest of her career actually. Theses are the — I think this is the central you here. Right here.
Here’s the relevant portion of the transcript from MSNBC’s Hardball on May 2:
MSNBC’s Hardball
May 2, 2017
7:07 p.m. Eastern
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Well, I'm cutting to something I didn't have planned and I want to go with this now. Your speaking ability is really thrilling. You have a thrilling — you have a mastery — no, when you're making your point. This is not a comedy act when you're doing it. It's damn good political salesmanship. It's rhetoric of the best political kind. You get your audience riled up and you get them roused up. They're happy. As, Mario Cuomo used to be able to do this, you leave people upbeat about what they can get done at the end of the speech. It's not eating spinach. It's not the stations of the cross. When they're done with you, they're happy and they go out and fight, alright? That’s a good thing and I hope you’re smiling —
DEMOCRATIC SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN (Mass.): Thank you.
MATTHEWS: — cause very few people have this talent. I watched Hillary watch you and I know couldn’t see it out of the corner of your eye. Hillary was relieved and thrilled you could sell the Progressive message in a happy, progressive — you know, hopeful way. It doesn’t have to be just spinach eating and we know we got to do this, we got to — it isn't all grinding it out. It's joyous self-rule. And you seem to know how to do it. So, tell me how you sell that to your other progressives out there so it does haven't to be too academic and too miserable.
WARREN: Chris, you're very generous to put it that way but I want to be clear. I don't sell anything. I just go out and speak from the heart. For me, all of this is personal. I am a kid whose dad ended up as a maintenance man, and I ended up as a Harvard Law professor and a United States Senator because I grew up in an America that was investing in kids like me, an America that said if you've got the moxie to get out there, the rest of us are going to pitch in and build enough opportunities that you'll be able to do whatever it is that you can. And then I wanted from 1980 forward, with Ronald Reagan and deregulation and trickle-down economics and cutting taxes for those at the top so there was less money to go into education, to go into infrastructure, to go into basic research, to create that vigorous economy and to create opportunities for our kids. I’ve watched that shrink up and shrink up and shrink up for 35 years. That's basically the story of this book, but more importantly, it's the story of what I'm out there fighting for and I want everybody in this fight. That's why I wrote this book. I want to see more people in the fight because let's face it. This is our only chance now. Donald Trump could deliver the knockout blow to American families.
(....)
7:13 p.m. Eastern
MATTHEWS: The reason I talked to you about running for president is I'm really trying to get you excited about the fact we need leaders in this country on the progressive side. We’ve got one on the other side and I think it’s a fair question. Your book, This Fight Is Our Fight. By the way, you can get this on Amazon right away. I do like to sell books here. Progressives watch this program, and I think it's a book to get your head around a lot of things that Senator Warren is going to be talking about for the rest of her career actually. Theses are the —
WARREN: Yeah.
MATTHEWS: — I think this is the central you here. Right here.
WARREN: It is.
