Chris Matthews’ week of hateful speech concluded on March 23 with the liberal MSNBC host going after Tea Party favorite Rep. Michele Bachmann.
Speaking on Friday, Matthews disgustingly, albeit all too predictably asserted that Bachmann’s criticism of President Obama was motivated by racist beliefs. [See video after jump. MP3 audio here.]
Joining Matthews last Friday were Lizz Winstead, co-creator of The Daily Show, and Ken Vogel of Politico, neither of whom challenged Matthews’ disgusting remarks. Matthews’ objection to Bachmann came in response to her speech at CPAC 2013, in which the Minnesota Republican said that:
A new book is out talking about the perks and the excess of the $1.4 billion a year presidency that we're paying for and this is a lifestyle that is one of excess. Now we find out that there are five chefs on Air Force One. We are also the ones who are paying for someone to walk the president's dog, paying for someone to walk the president's dog?
Matthews, who defends every aspect of President Obama’s life quickly jumped into attack mode saying that:
You go after a president on things like dog walking and this ridiculous notion of five chefs on air force, like you can't have that because, from your background. Let me not call her a racist but I don’t know what’s in this. We don't usually talk about presidents and their little lifestyle aspects normally. Why is she bringing up these things now? I think it's nasty stuff. That's what I think it is.
Matthews then went after Bachmann later on in the segment for comments she made in 2010, criticizing the cost of President Obama taking a trip to India. Matthews, who was clearly upset that Bachmann would point out the costs of presidential trips whined that:
We’ve never complained about our presidents. We’ve considered that a reasonable perk of the toughest job in the country and it goes with the elevation of the office. I go back to this, I think there's an ethnic feature here. Why is she trashing the first African-American president for living like a president? And that I think is what she's doing.
Matthews, who has such a problem with the language Michele Bachmann uses, never once complained when Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) said that “Republicans want you to die quickly.” Apparently, Matthews only cares about “nasty stuff” when it comes from a Republican's mouth.
Unfortunately, it should come as no surprise that Matthews took such personal offense to Bachmann. In the past he has described President Obama as the “perfect American” and that his job was to “make the Obama presidency a success.”
See relevant transcript below.
MSNBC
Hardball w/ Chris Matthews
March 22, 2013
5:48 p.m. EDT
CHRIS MATTHEWS: We're back. Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann had been flying below the radar since the 2012 election, but this week the Tea party darling returned to the spotlight with a vengeance. It started with her CPAC speech last weekend claiming that President Obama is living in the lap of luxury with lots of staffing.
MICHELE BACHMANN: A new book is out talking about the perks and the excess of the $1.4 billion a year presidency that we're paying for and this is a lifestyle that is one of excess. Now we find out that there are five chefs on Air Force One. We are also the ones who are paying for someone to walk the president's dog, paying for someone to walk the president's dog? Now, why are we doing that when we can't even get a disabled veteran into the white house for a white house tour? That isn't caring.
MATTHEWS: Well, you can think that through and judge it the way I judged it. "The Washington Post" pointed out that there is no doubt to back up Bachmann’s $1.4 billion figure and the person who walks Bo, the president’s dog, is actually the White House Nixon. Got it? Then just yesterday Congresswoman Bachmann warned about the dangers of ObamaCare.
BACHMANN: The American people, especially vulnerable women, vulnerable children, vulnerable senior citizens, now get to pay more and they get less. That's why we're here, because we're saying let's repeal this failure before it literally kills women, kills children, kills senior citizens.
MATTHEWS: Well, it's all pretty loopy. Anyway, Lizz Winstead is the co-creator of The Daily Show, what a brain you have, and Ken Vogel is with Politico. Liz, what is this about? First of all, I'm going to be careful here. But I think ethnicity is a factor here. You go after a president on things like dog walking and this ridiculous notion of five chefs on Air Force, like you can't have that because, from your background. Let me not call her a racist but I don’t know what’s in this. We don't usually talk about presidents and their little lifestyle aspects normally. Why is she bringing up these things now? I think it's nasty stuff. That's what I think it is.
LIZZ WINSTEAD: It is nasty. And I think that -- I think Michele Bachmann is one of those people who takes literally, if you see something, say something? Where anything that goes into her brain, she spouts it out without any filter and it's sort of a stabbing and I would say, Chris, that more people are wondering why Michele Bachmann gets one penny from the taxpayer's to do her job than they do president if he has Secret Service detail.
MATTHEWS: I think she's more discriminating than that. I think that she saw an article about how the First Lady had a victory garden or some sort of garden effort out back of the White House, which was sort of a humbling thing to be doing. Really working, sweating, planting stuff. She wouldn't mention it. She had to go after the dog walking.
WINSTEAD: You don't think?
MATTHEWS: I'm just kidding. And so are you. Let me go back to Ken Vogel. Ken, this obsession by her with these investigative demands, we've got to get this out, we've got to get this out, she used to talk about finding the un-Americans, the anti-American attitudes in the Congress. This sort of McCarthyite stuff and also this we can't stand this president getting that kind of perk, if he ever did.
KEN VOGEL: Yeah. What she's found is there is a constituency for this stuff, it’s within the fever swamps of the internet, it's at CPAC, and there is the -- you know, it kind of tests the bounds of how far you can go with this constituency. She was riding high in the polls of the GOP presidential primary at one point in 2012. She's raising a ton of money, she still raises a ton of money online. But there is a limit to it and we saw it because she dropped out of the race after placing poorly in Iowa. She barely won her re-election in a heavily Republican district. She won by 4,300 votes and the guy who challenged her, the Democrat is thinking about running again. And so we saw a calculated decision by her to pull back and to be lower profile and play less to this constituency but it's almost like she can't help herself and you give her the mic, you give her the spotlight and away she goes.
MATTHEWS: Okay, I know it’s all zany. Anyway, Congresswoman Bachmann's CPAC speech was not the first time her numbers were a bit sketchy when referring to President Obama’s expenses. In 2010 while on CNN Bachmann claimed that Obama's trip to India came with an astounding price tag. Let’s listen to her claim then.
BACHMANN: Within a day or so 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. He's taking 2,000 people with him. He'll be renting out over 870 rooms in India and these are five-star hotel rooms at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel.
MATTHEWS: You know what I don't get, let me go to you, Lizz. Ronald Reagan flew out California almost every weekend. I mean Kennedy flew to Florida and California and every place. Nixon flew to Florida all the time. We’ve never complained about our presidents. We’ve considered that a reasonable perk of the toughest job in the country and it goes with the elevation of the office. I go back to this, I think there's an ethnic feature here. Why is she trashing the first African-American president for living like a president? And that I think is what she's doing.
WINSTEAD: Well, I’ll tell you, I grew up--I was born and raised in Minnesota and when she was on in the statehouse, she -- you know, there's great comments from her about Terry Schiavo. I mean, she's so off always, Chris, she's consistently been off, that the one thing that i and I'm normally one of those people that is very wary of that and is this a race thing and with her I literally think she's called from god to do this, she thinks that whatever coming out of her is coming through god. It's really -- it's inexplicable, really.
MATTHEWS: Well, maybe that frees her up from blame, that she thinks she's the oracle.
WINSTEAD: I think she does. She thinks she's the oracle.
MATTHEWS: Ignorance is bliss. Ignorance is bliss but it’s no excuse. Ignorance of the law and morality is no excuse. Anyway, thank you, Lizz Winstead, I love your thinking and Ken Vogel, great point of view.
