Chris Matthews on Wednesday continued his assault on conservatives who oppose the funding of ObamaCare in the coming fiscal showdown, sneering that the "looney tunes" Republicans want to "kill the recovery." The Hardball anchor, who recently lost his 5pm slot and now can only be seen at 7pm, also bizarrely linked this to the President of Starbucks asking gun owners not to open carry in stores.
Refusing to even consider the legitimacy of conservatives, Matthews lectured, "I don't even think it's right to call it politics in the sane sense. There are dozens on the right who are deliberately plotting to jeopardize the U.S. economy by defaulting on the federal debt." Mocking conservatives as crazy, he continued, "It's that U.S. government the loony tunes are now pushing down, knocking the recovery off its feet with them." The host weirdly connected, "And while they're at it, they want to carry pistols, rifles, semiautomatics, whatever they want to carry, whatever firepower man has created in there when they go in to buy their frappuccinos." [MP3 audio here [1].]
Matthews added, "Who are these people who want to cash out of the U.S. government...cash in on the going institution, meanwhile arming up themselves to be one-man/one-woman constabularies?"
What, exactly, does the funding of ObamaCare have to do with Starbucks's policy on open carry? Is Matthews trying to insinuate that conservatives would support violence as a way of dealing with the health care law? It wouldn't be surprising as the host has previously linked GOP policies to killing women. [2]
Matthws's comments parrot those of Barack Obama, who gave a speech on Monday. Sounding like Matthews, Obama announced [3], "I cannot remember a time when one faction of one party promises economic chaos if it can’t get 100 percent of what it wants."
A partial transcript is below:
7:01pm ET
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Looney tunes. Let's play Hardball.
...
MATTHEWS: Good evening. I'm Chris Matthews up in New York. Let Me Start tonight with this. There's something strange and frightening emerging in American politics. I don't even think it's right to call it politics in the sane sense. There are dozens on the right who are deliberately plotting to jeopardize the U.S. economy by defaulting on the federal debt. The only way to avoid default, they declare, is for President Obama and his majority in the U.S. Senate to basically kill the Affordable Care Act in its crib.
That's the threat, that's the demand, and that's what the American vote faces tonight because the demand and the threat are now out there for all to see. I can't remember when a major political party did something like this, threaten the U.S. economy with a body blow that could kill the recovery, throw the market into a tailspin and whack our 401ks to a fare-thee-well. And what for? No political leader of the left or right is going to agree to the erasure of his or her signal achievement in public life. Obama isn't going to do it, nor is his party, which has been fighting for health care and promising health care to its voters, as well as Republicans who've been paying attention, since the days of Franklin Roosevelt. So what justification does the right-wing of this country have for its senseless assault on the U.S. credit rating, which took a hit the last time they pulled this tactic? What's the end game except a period of days in which the world watches us as the U.S. discredits itself, followed by another depressing spilled milk face-saving gesture that means nothing, achieves nothing, kills whatever's in its path? This is how I look at it. And I hate to see what I see because I still believe, despite this hard evidence, in the benefits and rightfulness of self-government.
...
7:55
MATTHEWS: Question: Why would a sane person want to tank the American economy? You're watching Hardball. The place for politics.
7:58
MATTHEWS: Let me finish tonight with this: Do you ever get the feeling that the loony tunes are taking over? Why would any normal person want to detonate the American economy? Least of all, why would those calling themselves the patriots want to do it? If they love America, why are they out there bringing it down by having the U.S. government default on its debt? Look, I used to be a newspaper boy, we were encouraged to buy, those days, U.S. savings bonds. It was the good, patriotic thing to do. Besides, it was a guaranteed deal. Those patriotic-looking savings bonds were as good and solid as the U.S. government itself. It's that U.S. government the loony tunes are now pushing down, knocking the recovery off its feet with them, leveling our 401ks, killing hopes for a decent retirement. And while they're at it, they want to carry pistols, rifles, semiautomatics, whatever they can carry, whatever firepower man has created in there when they go in to buy their frappuccinos. Who are these people who want to cash out of the U.S. government, cash in -- cash in as a going institution, meanwhile arming up themselves to be one man/one woman constabularies? Is this the right-wing future? The dream land of the loony tunes? Government that has gone into default, a Main Street they can prowl loaded for bear.
That's HARDBALL for now. Thanks for being with us.
— Scott Whitlock is Senior News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Scott Whitlock on Twitter. [4]