Appearing on the 10:00 p.m. edition of MSNBC’s Countdown show on Tuesday to discuss the day’s primary election results, Chris Matthews expressed his delight that Orly Taitz – a prominent member of the birther movement that pushes the bizarre theory that President Obama was not really born in America – won the Republican nomination for secretary of state in California, and expressed his hope that the fringe candidate would drag down the Republican ticket in the state. Matthews celebrated what he termed a "malignancy" within the Republican party as he openly rooted for Taitz to hurt the GOP:
Keith, we`ve got good news tonight. And that`s the probable nomination of Orly Taitz in California for secretary of state. This is a true malignancy on the Republican party. She will bring down the other two candidates for high office out there. She`ll probably bring down Carly Fiorina, and may well bring down Meg Whitman because she is unacceptable to any reasonable voter.
Matthews went on to advise that California Democrats "tie her up like a witch at the stake":
It is tribalist, it`s malignant, and I believe if I were a Democratic officeholder out there or had anything to do with the Democratic party with Jerry Brown`s campaign, I would tie her to them like a fencepost. I would tie her up, I should say, like a witch at the stake. This is a malignancy.
Matthews went on to reiterate that he thought that Taitz’s current success in California’s Republican party was "wonderful news":
CHRIS MATTHEWS: I think that`s wonderful news that she`s been included in the inner sanctum of the Republican ticket out there.
KEITH OLBERMANN: Yes.
MATTHEWS: She`s been attending their events.
OLBERMANN: Karl Rove did not get up and walk out. Let me ask you about Arkansas.
MATTHEWS: He should have.
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the 10:00 p.m. edition of MSNBC’s Countdown show from Tuesday, June 8, which re-aired during the 1:00 a.m. hour:
KEITH OLBERMANN: Time now to assess what we`ve seen so far tonight, calling our own Chris Matthews, the host, of course of Hardball. Chris, good evening.
MATTHEWS: Keith, we`ve got good news tonight.
OLBERMANN: Yes?
MATTHEWS: And that`s the probable nomination of Orly Taitz in California for Secretary of State. This is a true malignancy on the Republican party. She will bring down the other two candidates for high office out there. She`ll probably bring down Carly Fiorina, and may well bring down Meg Whitman because she is unacceptable to any reasonable voter. She came to the United States from the former Soviet Union. She has this almost tribalist attitude against the President which bears no connection to any facts that she has at hand. She simply wants to believe he`s not an American, and she is, and she`s going to make this guy pay for it. It is tribalist, it`s malignant, and I believe if I were a Democratic officeholder out there or had anything to do with the Democratic party with Jerry Brown`s campaign, I would tie her to them like a fencepost. I would tie her up, I should say, like a witch at the stake. This is a malignancy. There is no way to defend her as a candidate. No way. By the way, she`s the star of our upcoming documentary on the Tea Party crowd. She is really awful as a politician. I don`t know how they`re going to defend her.
OLBERMANN: It would be very funny if her opponent in this primary were to then produce documents later on that showed that she was somehow ineligible to stand for election.
MATTHEWS: Well, the thing about it is – and it is ludicrous – she believes the President is an illegal immigrant. She believes the President should be thrown out of the country like some people believe Mexicans that have come here should be thrown out of the country. She really believes this – well, at least she says she believes it. There`s something really in her attitude. You’ve got to, I don`t know, a shrink’s going to have to figure it out. Where did she come from? But she`s a recent, you know, she comes to America, there’s a land of immigrants, and yet she will not treat the President as an American. Well, there it is. You have to just look at it. You get the message.
OLBERMANN: Let me move on to-
MATTHEWS: There`s something really crazy about this person, and I do think that, I heard you earlier tonight, I think that`s wonderful news that she`s been included in the inner sanctum of the Republican ticket out there.
OLBERMANN: Yes.
MATTHEWS: She`s been attending their events.
OLBERMANN: Karl Rove did not get up and walk out. Let me ask you about Arkansas.
MATTHEWS: He should have.
OLBERMANN: We were told early in the day that even-
MATTHEWS: By the way, she`s fair game.
(MATTHEWS LAUGHS)
OLBERMANN: Well, if she wasn’t before. She certainly is now.
