Irony-Free Chris Matthews Hits Conservatives: 'You Are Known By the Company You Keep'

Clearly, Chris Matthews doesn't understand irony. The MSNBC host, whose network colleagues have lobbied for someone who defecate down Sarah Palin's throat and called Laura Ingraham a "slut," on Wednesday night lectured, "It's been said more than once that you are known by the company you keep." [MP3 audio here [1].]

Yet, Matthews wasn't talking about his coworkers or when he compared conservatives to the Taliban [2] and the Nazis [3]. Instead, he attacked Texas Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott for offensive comments by supporter Ted Nugent. This led the host to sneer: "The haters are out there tonight down in Texas."

Nugent's tirade, calling the President of the United States a "subhuman mongrel," is both offensive and disrespectful. However, Matthews's "company" includes former colleague and frequent guest Martin Bashir. Bashir famously advocated for someone to defecate on Palin.

Ed Schultz trashed Laura Ingraham as a "slut." On February 18 [4], the similarly tone deaf host complained about conservative vulgarities.

Matthews, Schultz and all the coarse hosts of MSNBC are hardly in a position to judge the company of conservatives. They are the very definition of not practicing what you preach.

A partial transcript of the February 19 segment is below:

CHRIS MATTHEWS: It's been said more than once that you are known by the company you keep. And for some Republicans, the company they keep is becoming a problem, like the company of Ted Nugent. In January, that's this January, the aging rocker and gun advocate had this to say about the president.

TED NUGENT, MUSICIAN: I have obviously failed to galvanize and prod, if not shame enough Americans to be ever vigilant not to let a Chicago, communist-raised, communist-educated, communist-nurtured, subhuman mongrel like the ACORN community organizer gangster Barack Hussein Obama to weasel his way into the top office of authority of the United States of America.

...

MATTHEWS: The haters are out there tonight down in Texas. This fellow calls the president of the United States, elected twice by majorities, a Chicago communist raised, communist educated, communist nurtured, subhuman mongrel, an ACORN community organizer, gangster.

Well, it's the same insolence you heard when that other guy yelled at "You lie!" when the president was addressing a joint session of Congress. The same you get from all those birthers like Louie Gohmert of Texas, those still out there denying the president's legitimacy, like Rafael Cruz, who says we must send the president, quote, "back to Kenya", like the Texas congressman I had on who just couldn't bring himself to say Barack Obama was legitimately elected president of the United States.

Like weeds, they come back every year. These politicians who think the easy way to grab the hard right voter is to feed them a notion that the president of the United States is a secret communist infiltrator from East Africa. Well, with spring coming, it might be a good idea for the voters of Texas and elsewhere to begin doing what do with weeds -- pull them and throw them where they belong, in the compost pile.