Chris Matthews Bashed 'Pissant' Rand Paul for Rant Against Christie's Tourism Ad; Now Admits It's a Problem
Two months ago, MSNBC's Chris Matthews called Sen. Rand Paul a
"pissant" for ranting about what Matthews is now hyping as yet another
problem for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
In November, Sen. Paul called "offensive" Christie's appearance in a
federally-funded tourism video for New Jersey during an election year.
Matthews, sticking up for the governor, branded Paul a "pissant" and
said his rant "makes him smaller." Yet on Monday's Hardball,
Matthews reported a federal investigation into the video as another
headache for Christie: "When it rains, it pours."
[Video below. Audio here.]
"When it rains, it pours. The office of the inspector general at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD, has opened an audit into how the state of New Jersey spent relief funds after Hurricane Sandy," reported Matthews without a whiff of irony.
Two months ago, here's what Matthews had to say about Paul, the Tea Party senator:
"I think that comment by Rand Paul makes him smaller. It's a pissant comment. The guy just won a 60 percent election victory in a state that's very hard for their party, if he is a Republican, Rand Paul, to win. Instead of going after that, he goes after the ad campaign."
Below is a brief transcript of Monday's Hardball segment:
MSNBC
HARDBALL
1/13/14
[7:15]
CHRIS MATTHEWS: When it rains, it pours. The office of the inspector
general at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD,
has opened an audit into how the state of New Jersey spent relief funds
after Hurricane Sandy. At issue, a series of commercials aimed to
jump-start tourism on the Jersey shore, which prominently featured guess
who? Governor Christie during an election year. The ad makers charged
the state about $2 million more than the next lowest bidder whose ad
campaign wouldn't have featured the governor. Hmm. A Christie spokesman
told reporters today that the campaign featuring the governor was quote,
"approved by the Obama administration."
— Matt Hadro is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Matt Hadro on Twitter.
