Two times in less than 24 hours, MSNBC's Chris Matthews smeared Republicans who oppose raising the debt limit as "terrorists." On Tuesday, after liberal guest Joan Walsh compared the GOP position to "hostage taking," the Hardball anchor derided, "I agree. It's terrorism."
On Wednesday, while talking with left-wing blogger Ezra Klein, Matthews engaged in extreme hyperbole again, excoriating, "I was talking about the old days. I've never seen either political party play terrorist with disregard."
It's perhaps worth remembering that MSNBC analyst Mark Halperin was suspended last week for calling the Democratic President a slang term for a penis. [MP3 audio [1]here [2].]
Also on Tuesday, Matthews compared the "scary" GOP to a violent Islamic group [3]: "Well, the GOP has become the Wahhabis of American government, willing to risk bringing down the whole country in the service of their anti-tax ideology."
The MRC recently complied the worst examples [4] of MSNBC's 15 years of liberal hate.
A transcript of the two exchanges can be found below:
07/05/11
5:28
JOAN WALSH: They're paying the lowest taxes in 50 years, more than 50 years. More than my lifetime and they are still complaining. And some aren't complaining. There are some good business people know this game of chicken, in particular, is deadly and it's wrong and hostagetaking. And you shouldn't negotiate with hostage-takers.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: I agree with you. I agree with you. I agree. It's terrorism.
07/06/11
Hardball
5:08pm
MATTHEWS: You know, it's interesting. I was talking about the old days. I've never seen either political party play terrorist with disregard. The debt ceiling, the limit, it has always been sacrosanct. Party leaders like John Boehner or Tip O'Neill or Newt Gingrich, even, people who recognize leadership and responsibility get the job done. Here he is the, the debt ceiling was raised seven times during the Bush years starting in June of 2002. It was raised every year except for 2005. And in 2008 it was increased twice. It's always gotten the job done, Ezra. The Republican Party today is not the Republican Party of even a couple years ago. It seems to me, it's overrun, now, by people who are abolitionists. They are willing to abolish government and willing to bring it down if they have to. And they don't give a darn, or damn, about the consequences.
EZRA KLEIN: It's definitely a different Republican Party. But, the thing that keeps coming to my mind is they really haven't thought it through. The federal government pays 80 million checks in a month. 80 million. We go through the debt ceiling, and according to the bipartisan Policy Center, 45 percent of our debts, our obligations will not be able to be paid. Who is it exactly who will make the decisions of which obligations they are? If it's the Treasury Department, and they've never had to do this before, you're looking at the Republican Party, a small government, anti-executive branch Republican Party making the largest transfer of power, possibly in all memory. It's a staggering change in the way we run or finances as a country.
— Scott Whitlock is the senior news analyst for the Media Research Center. Click here [5] to follow him on Twitter.