Chris Matthews and four liberal male guests had a nice laugh Friday over the announcement that Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has been named to serve on the House Intelligence committee.
Viewers are advised to prepare themselves for a truly disgraceful level of sexism displayed on MSNBC's "Hardball" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Gentlemen, before we proceed, I just got one of those flash news flashes that I have to report immediately upon getting it. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann of Minnesota has been named to the Intelligence Committee!
(LAUGHTER)
HOWARD FINEMAN, HUFFINGTONPOST.COM, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: I have no comeback. I just think that speaks for itself.
EUGENE ROBINSON, "WASHINGTON POST," MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: It really does.
Matthews brought this up in a later segment evoking not just more laughter but also some truly harsh words for the Congresswoman:
MATTHEWS: Let's take a look at this. My hero and heroine, Michele Bachmann, here, who's been named today, by the way, to the Intelligence Committee -- there's a whopper.
(LAUGHTER)
MATTHEWS: Anyway, this is the second biggest whopper of the year. It spread like wildfire across the conservative TV and radio. It was the outrageous charge that President Obama`s trip to India cost $200 million a day. And the false rumor was picked up and repeated by none other than Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, CNN)
REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R), MINNESOTA: The president of the United States will be taking a trip over to India that is expected to cost the taxpayers $200 million a day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEWS: You know, you know where they got that, Mayor? Let's go with Ron on this one. You know, they got that from some local Indian newspaper. And, of course, they wanted to believe it, so they ran it like it was truth. The non -- apparently, a president does cost money to travel, about $5 million a day, if you throw in Secret Service, security, and everything on the ground.
BROWN: Sure.
MATTHEWS: They did estimate that based on Clinton`s trips, but they just come out with $200 million a day.
REAGAN: Based on nothing. As you said, some paper in India throws this figure out there with no attribution whatsoever, and the Republican Party picks it up and begins to run with it. And suddenly, it`s all over the Internet. And there are people that this nonsense. It`s incredible.
MATTHEWS: You know why, I`ve suggested that Michele Bachmann does sort of represent sometimes the behavior of a zombie, that she does seem somewhat like she`s hypnotized. I`m serious.
REAGAN: Yes.
MATTHEWS: But why does she just mimic something that somebody puts in front of her and states it as a fact, Mayor? It`s absurd. Can`t she do any discernment and say, well, this doesn`t quite make sense?
BROWN: You`re making an assumption that people who get elected to office in all cases are people who can think, people who pursue and reduce themselves for sure to quality information. She is not in that category. The voters elected her and the voters deserve her idiocy.
MATTHEWS: Do you know that you`re talking about a member of the House Intelligence Committee, sir? Do you know who you are addressing here? A woman (INAUDIBLE) who`s in power?
BROWN: It`s a reality. She clearly believes $200 million. And if she believes $200 million, that doesn`t have to be a factual foundation. That`s just how out to lunch she really is.
MATTHEWS: I know she spends a lot of time going through the newspaper racks for the latest news from the Indian press. That`s her regular source of information.
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
MATTHEWS: Let`s not escalate this.
BROWN: She may not be able to find the meeting room.
MATTHEWS: Anyway, it`s getting worse. I`m going to change the subject.
What is it about supposedly feminist liberals that makes them so comfortable with disparaging Republican women?
We've seen such debasement of Sarah Palin since the moment John McCain announced her as his running mate in August 2008.
During the lead-up to this past Election Day, we saw liberal media member after liberal media member bash Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, California senatorial candidate Carly Fiorina, Nevada senatorial candidate Sharron Angle, Connecticut senatorial candidate Linda McMahon, and Delaware senatorial candidate Christine O'Donnell.
This hit an apex when New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd called these women "Mean Girls."
In this instance, over the course of 45 minutes, five liberal men felt quite comfortable on national television mocking the intellectual capacity of a United States Congresswoman.
If this was Fox News, and five conservative men did the same to a female Democrat, one quite imagines the National Organization for Women having something to say about it.
Sadly, we've not seen such a response from feminist groups when it's a Republican woman being mocked.
Shame on all five of these "gentlemen" for behaving this way.
