Managing Editor's Note (Jan. 15, 2015; 5:15 p.m. Eastern): I've republished this to the front page today given the news that Sen. Ernst will be give the official Republican response to President Obama's State of the Union Address next Wednesday. If Chris Matthews doesn't make repeated sneering references to hog castration on MSNBC next Wednesday night, look out your window. You'll probably see a pig flying by.
It's safe to say that MSNBC's Chris Matthews will be squealing like a stuck pig come election night should Republican Joni Ernst defeat Democrat Rep. Bruce Braley in the U.S. Senate race in Iowa.
Here's a video montage from the October 6 edition of Hardball featuring Matthews's odd, condescending fixation that a Iowa farm girl and former "pig castrator" like Ms. Ernst could be elected to the world's greatest deliberative body.
In the montage you may notice a female pundit giggly at the mention of castration. While unpictured in the video, that voice belongs to USA Today's Susan Page.
Also, for what it's worth, the Huffington Post's Howard Fineman actually makes a decent point. While chuckleheads like Matthews act high and mighty about Ernst's now-infamous pig castration/cutting pork ad, Ms. Ernst has used that predictable inside-Washington reaction to her advantage in the general election.
