Speaking to Late Night host Seth Meyers on Wednesday about the recent Democratic presidential debate, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews conceded that self-described Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders was more in line with the future of the Democratic Party than Hillary Clinton.
After the Hardball host was reluctant to declare an outright winner in Tuesday’s debate, he acknowledged “Hillary get's the credit for winning the debate. She won the debate, but he's gonna do better because of it.”
Meyers then pressed Matthews on which candidate, Clinton or Sanders, best represents the Democratic Party because “[o]bviously Bernie is the sort of the Progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Hillary is more of a known quantity even though she tried to sell her Progressive credentials last night.”
Rather than name frontrunner Hillary Clinton has emblematic of the Democratic Party, Matthews eagerly touted how Socialist Bernie Sanders’ views are the future of the party as it moves ever so far to the left:
He's where the party is headed. And the party is much more left than it was. If you had said socialist four or eight years ago, you would have been blown out of town. You can't say socialist. Now it doesn't bother anybody. 'Cause they don't think the system's straight, right now. And in fact, if you talked about the rich, people would say, "Oh that's class politics. You can't do that." Nobody said that this time because they know it's right. Because of the numbers. How bad people are getting hurt.
See relevant transcript below.
NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers
October 15, 2015
SETH MEYERS: So you watched the debate. Did Bernie do enough to threaten Hillary's frontrunner status.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Well that -- here's what I think. You look at these polls, these debates, and everybody says, who won, who lost. That's not how people vote. They decide who they're loyal to after the debate. And Bernie's people are all for him. They were going nuts last night, out there. I went into a room it was all Bernie people. And then you could hear all the applause lines. It was all about billionaires. He had a very consistent thing, "We're getting screwed by the rich."
It's absolutely –it’s screwing up our democracy, it’s screwing up our healthcare, climate change it's all because of the very top billionaires. Very consistent line. And I also decided, that you can't go by the polls right after as to who won the debate. You gotta wait a week or two and see who is ahead on the polls. And so, I bet he's picking up speed on Hillary. You're gonna see it tonight. You're going to see, a debate that -- Hillary get's the credit for winning the debate. She won the debate, but he's gonna do better because of it.
MEYERS: Interesting, and now who do you think represents the Democratic Party, where it is now, better? Obviously Bernie is the sort of the Progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Hillary is more of a known quantity even though she tried to sell her Progressive credentials last night. Who do you think represents the Democratic Party more right now?
MATTHEWS: He's where the party is headed. And the party is much more left than it was. If you had said socialist four or eight years ago, you would have been blown out of town. You can't say socialist. Now it doesn't bother anybody. 'Cause they don't think the system's straight, right now. And in fact, if you talked about the rich, people would say, "Oh that's class politics. You can't do that." Nobody said that this time because they know it's right. Because of the numbers. How bad people are getting hurt.
