In this week of the CPAC straw poll, the kiss of death for a Republican hopeful might be to say "endorsed by Chris Matthews."
But that dubious honor has been bestowed on Jeb Bush. On this evening's Hardball, Matthews declared that Jeb would be "the Hillary people's worst nightmare, if he runs, because if he wins the nomination the middle is in play." So Bush would be formidable because he's a moderate? Stop, Chris, you're killing Jeb!
Matthews comments came in the course of interviewing Al Cardenas, a Bush family confidant and former chairman of the American Conservative Union, which organizes CPAC.
Note: as you'll see from the screen graphic below, Matthews' nickname for CPAC is "Haters Club." Nice.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Let me ask a question, Al. From your heart: is Jeb Bush conservative enough to be the Republican nominee in 2016?
AL CARDENAS: You know Chris, a meeting in 2000 decided they wanted to cover intensely the differences between the Bush brothers. You recall that.
MATTHEWS: Right.
CARDNEAS: And now the whole coverage is about how similar they are. Well they're all different, as all siblings in every family are different. And so he has a lot of time fortunately to tell the American people what he's all about. He was one of the most conservative governors the country had when he stepped down in 2006. He received plaudits from all the conservative activists, who are having a little bit of a memory loss, but I've got their quotes, and I've got their comments about what a great conservative he was.
MATTHEWS: Well, to make your point, Al, I think he's the Hillary people's worst nightmare if he runs. Because if he wins the nomination, the middle is in play.
