At the conclusion of the second presidential debate on October 16, Chris Matthews could hardly control himself when he confidently declared that President Obama "clearly" won the debate. In fact, he proclaimed that President Obama had "punched Romney hard"during their ninety-minutes showdown. It sure sounds like the rhetoric of a man who stated that "all that came before" in American history –"led to" Obama.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Uh – well I've been scoring it. I agree with you. And what I've got is, they really covered, Rachel, I think we all agree about ten topics, it was very well – I think very well moderated by Candy Crowley of CNN. Despite a little bit of stiffiness from the Governor, which has become normal He's the kind of guy that won't turn off his phone on the airplane so you have to wait for him to take off. Let’s go with this; he won on the following six. The president won on the economy right up front. The oil thing was too complicated. He won on taxes, he won on Lilly Ledbetter clearly – he won with that African-American guy, who’s really been disappointed – he won with that guy. He won clearly on immigration and he clearly won with a question at the end where he took the foolish decision, and of course on Benghazi, that foolish decision by his opponent to raise the issue of 47% – by saying 100%. He stuck his chin out and Obama – he punched him hard.
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I would say on the ten topics, six clear victories, one tie, three for Obama and I'm being generous.
RACHEL MADDOW: Three for Romney you mean?
MATTHEWS: Yeah. I'm giving him three. Because – it was no – I’m sorry one for Romney, three that were unclear who won. So I have 6-1-3 on the topics – so – one for Romney.
