Minutes after Paul Ryan finished his RNC speech on Wednesday, MSNBC's
Chris Matthews slammed the Republican vice presidential candidate for
supposedly ignoring blacks during his "very constricted, very negative, very nasty speech,"
and suggested that he was directing the address to racists: "It's clear
that Paul Ryan was talking to people who think about rights as
something...produced by Thomas Jefferson, ignoring the people for whom the rights only came in the 1960s."
Matthews added that "for some reason, they never mentioned those things, because they're
talking to people - let's be honest about this - who didn't feel – the
benefit, at all, from those civil rights, and I think that's very
important to point out." [audio available here [1]; video below]
After he gave Ryan's speech the "very nasty" label, the left-wing host
sang the praises of Condoleeza Rice's speech, which came before Rep.
Ryan's: "I thought Condoleezza Rice's speech was spectacular; it was thrilling; it was American....It was a complete smackdown to all the attacks on Barack Obama's past. I thought Condoleezza Rice was presidential tonight - wonderful, in fact - and this speech [from Ryan] was pretty much a canned political advertisement."
Several minutes later, he dropped his extended hint that the GOP vice presidential candidate was appealing to racists across the country. He then returned to complimenting former Secretary of State Rice: "She's a first-class American who thinks big and talks to the whole country, and I don't think Ryan spoke to the whole country tonight. In fact, a lot of these speakers have not, and it's obvious if you listen to their words."
It was the second night in a row that a MSNBC personality accused a
major speaker at the Republican convention of ignoring a large segment
of the population. On Tuesday, Lawrence O'Donnell blasted Ann Romney [2]
and accused her of disregarding women who have taken government
assistance in their lives: "The one population that was specifically
excluded from her discussion of women's struggles in this society was
any woman who needed, at any point in her life, to rely on any form of
government assistance...That population was completely ignored in this
speech."
The transcript of the relevant portion of Chris Matthews's commentary
on Condoleeza Rice's and Paul Ryan's speeches during MSNBC's 11 pm
Eastern live coverage of the 2012 Republican National Convention:
11:04 pm EDT:
MATTHEWS: I thought it was a very constricted, very negative, very
nasty speech, that didn't have anywhere near the elevation of
Condoleezza Rice's speech. I thought Condoleezza Rice's speech was
spectacular; it was thrilling; it was American. It talked about the
wonders of immigration - to Route 128 and the Silicon Valley and the
brilliant people that come to this country to work and live; and talked
about - it's not where you come from. It's where you're going. It was a
complete smackdown to all the attacks on Barack Obama's past. I thought
Condoleezza Rice was presidential tonight - wonderful, in fact - and
this speech was pretty much a canned political advertisement, compared
to Condoleezza Rice tonight.
11:13 pm EDT:
MATTHEWS:
Rachel [Maddow], I think that you can always – the thing I always look for in
these speeches is, who's the person on the podium up there – at the
lectern, talking to? And I don't want to get too sectarian about this,
but it's clear that Paul Ryan was talking to people who think about
rights as something that were – produced by Thomas Jefferson, ignoring
the people for whom the rights only came in the 1960s; no reference to
the fact that a good portion of the country was denied those rights,
especially the important right to vote, up until 1965. And it was given
to them through a lot of effort and fighting between the two parties,
and it became a bipartisan effort led by Lyndon Johnson, and, of course,
Everett Dirksen of Illinois. But, for some reason, they never mentioned
those things, because they're talking to people - let's be honest about
this - who didn't feel – the benefit, at all, from those civil rights,
and I think that's very important to point out.