Chris Matthews Rants 'Why Do People Hate This President So Much?'

MSNBC's Chris Matthews ranted on Thursday that every Republican criticism of Obama – Benghazi, the IRS scandal, ObamaCare – is just a cover for the party's hatred of him.

"Let me finish tonight with something that's been bothering me. Why do people hate this president so much?" Matthews lamented. He then embarked on a rambling wreck of strawman accusations and concluded that "Whatever comes along, like the CBO report yesterday, becomes another way to find a way to explain hating the guy."

[Video below. Audio here [1].]

What were the phony GOP "reasons" for hating Obama, according to Matthews?

"Republicans had their chance to modify the health care plan, it was they who decided to sit back and let the Democrats do it all alone."

"And all this other stuff, the obscure IRS story that's not gotten tied to any of the Obama political people."

"The Benghazi brouhaha that was discredited by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee that basically squared the Obama claims with the evidence showing it really was a spontaneous attack probably triggered by a Cairo attack and that dumb anti-Islamic movie out of Los Angeles."

Well in regards to the IRS, e-mails just surfaced [2] tying the former IRS chief to crafting new rules for investigating Tea Party groups.

And the Senate Intelligence Committee concluded [3] that the Benghazi attacks were indeed "deliberate and organized." This is not the first time Matthews has tried to stick up for the White House in an untenable situation.

Below is a transcript of the segment:

MSNBC
HARDBALL
2/6/14
7:58 p.m. EST

CHRIS MATTHEWS: Let me finish tonight with something that's been bothering me. Why do people hate this president so much? I understand the usual partisan attitudes, how one party doesn't like to see the other in the White House. Sure. I can understand why people are angered by wars we get sucked into by false arguments. You can count me in on that one. But what's the Obama hatred all about? Republicans had their chance to modify the health care plan, it was they who decided to sit back and let the Democrats do it all alone. Ask Senators Enzi and Hatch and the others why they dropped out of the bargaining, and let the Democrats in the Senate come up with the 60 votes they needed by themselves. Ask Speaker Boehner why he didn't want to negotiate a different program. Of course, everyone would have been happier to have a health care bill passed by 70 percent of the Congress rather than a narrow partisan majority. But whose fault was that?

And all this other stuff, the obscure IRS story that's not gotten tied to any of the Obama political people. The Benghazi brouhaha that was discredited by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee that basically squared the Obama claims with the evidence showing it really was a spontaneous attack probably triggered by a Cairo attack and that dumb anti-Islamic movie out of Los Angeles. Don't you get the sense that the Obama hatred is a hatred in search of a reason? Whatever comes along, like the CBO report yesterday, becomes another way to find a way to explain hating the guy. Is it the way the guy lives his life? Is it his family? Is that he's a Democrat, really? Is that the reason to hate him? Or is it just because, just because, just because he is who he is?