Chris Matthews on Monday disgustingly connected conservatives unhappy with the 2012 election to Hitler and the 1936 Olympics. After Huffington Post journalist Howard Fineman mocked the GOP for supposedly considering the African American and Hispanic vote to be "extraterrestrial," Matthews spewed, "The last guy to refer to the black auxiliary was Hitler." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]
Matthews, known for his verbal gaffes, prefaced the Nazi comparison by rambling, "...And these references are always dangerous, but I'll take it anyway." Trying to explain his smear, the Hardball anchor expanded, "During the '36 Olympics, we had Jesse Owens and a couple other guys winning the Olympics and they [the Nazis] were saying, "Well, they had their auxiliary out there." As if this made his comments all go away, Matthews added that his comments have "no bearing on the Republican Party."
Earlier in the segment, the host made this nonsensical complaint, "But the notion that the free men of this country are white men of property and that is really what Romney ran on, white men of property. He didn't say it intellectually. I don't think he put it in any words."
So, Mitt Romney didn't "say" or "put" into "words" his support for only white men of property. Yet, somehow, Matthews divined such an appeal.
The anchor described the Romney campaign slogan as "Men of property, join together. Defend the wagon train against the onslaught of the others!"
Back on November 7, Matthews laughed at Bill Maher's Hitler comparisons.
UPDATE: 2012-11-27-17:45:00
On Tuesday, Chris Matthews did it again. Discussing the potential removal of a filibuster rule, Matthews randomly referenced the 1939 Frank Capra movie, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington:
CHRIS MATTHEWS: You know, when the Nazis shut down the American films in occupied France in World War II, they said no more American or British movies, that was the movie that the theater directors, the theater managers ran again and again as the last free movie, last movie about freedom.
A transcript of the two exchanges follows:
11/26/12
5:10
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Rick, just going back, this love the Founding Fathers has gotten to a point of not reverence for their courage and standing up to the British empire and putting their lives on the line and being quite enlightened in so many ways, given to they were. But the notion that the free men of this country are white men of property and that is really what Romney ran on, white men of property. He didn't say it intellectually. I don't think he put it in any words. But look who he was rallying to as, you know, as, as, Howie just pointed out, that seemed to be the rallying cry. "Men of property, join together. Defend the wagon train against the onslaught of the others!" That seemed to be what they were doing in this campaign.
...
[On the GOP's poor showing with Hispanics and African Americans]
HOWARD FINEMAN: And as if that's some kind of explanation, some kind of explanation for the weird phenomenon of the fact that the Republicans didn't win. There was this extraterrestrial force out there of African-Americans and Hispanics.
MATTHEWS: Yeah.
FINEMAN: Well, duh. That's the country. That's the United States.
MATTHEWS: The last person to say that– and I hate to-- and this has no bearing on the Republican Party– and these references are always dangerous, but I'll take it anyway– The last guy to refer to the black auxiliary was Hitler. Anyway, thank you Rick Hertzberg and thank you– During the '36 Olympics, we had Jesse Owens and a couple other guys winning the Olympics and they were saying, "Well, they had their auxiliary out there." Anyway, thank you.
