In a bizarre display, Chris Matthews began his show on Tuesday by
singing "If I Were a Rich Man" as a way of mocking Mitt Romney for being wealthy. [See video below. MP3 audio here.] Chris Matthews makes an annual salary of $5 million dollars.
Matthews opened the program by announcing, "Let me start tonight" by singing a selection from Fiddler on the Roof.
Highlighting a leaked video of Romney at a private fund-raiser, he then
derided, "It's one thing to be rich and have the majority of voters
convinced you're out to help the rich. Is there anything dumber to be
caught pandering to your fellow rich?"
Later, while talking to journalist Joe Klein, Matthews insulted potential GOP voters, comparing them to the racist TV character Archie Bunker.
The Hardball host slimed, "Will Thurston Howell talk like
we've been getting from the elite talking to the other elite, will that
sell with Archie Bunker?"
It was "conservative" New York Times columnist David Brooks who on Tuesday began calling Romney Thurston Howell.
Using liberal logic, what does the very rich Matthews know about the working man?
A transcript of the September 18 show open can be found below:
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Let me start tonight with: [singing] 'If I were a rich man, Yubby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dum.' Dumb. It's one thing to be rich and have the majority of voters convinced you're out to help the rich. Is there anything dumber to be caught pandering to your fellow rich? "Hey, buddy, give me
$50,000. I'll give you dinner and tell you what I really think." And
what does Mitt Romney really think about that 47 percent out there, that
ones who will never-- you will never catch at a party like this? He
called them a bunch of free loaders who want breakfast in bed, who want
the people at the $50k dinners to foot the bill. Well, tonight the
morning after, and yes, we've got more tapes of that infamous dinner to
remember. That tony get together where the Republican nominee for
president of the United States shared his deepest beliefs about the two
kinds of people in this country, those who give, like him, and those who
take and loaf and vote for Obama.
5:20
MATTHEWS: Will Thurston Howell talk like we've been getting from the
elite talking to the other elite, will that sell with Archie Bunker?
Will that sell with a guy making 20 or 30, killing himself with two jobs
to get the income. Is he going to like that talk that everybody who
isn't making a lot of money is a bum?
-- Scott Whitlock is the senior news analyst for the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.
