Matthews Casts GOP as 'Narrow, Little, Nasty Don't Do Anything Party'
By:
Geoffrey Dickens
March 15, 2010 18:34 ET
Chris Matthews, on Monday's Hardball, decried the GOP for
obstructing Obamacare as he scolded the Republican Party as "nasty" and
"narrow in its appeal" and strangely accused it of no longer being "a
party of grand conservatism," as if opposing the current liberal
version of health care reform isn't being conservative? Matthews, along
with Democratic Representative John Larson of Connecticut, also
wistfully pined for the days of a less combative GOP as the Hardball
host wondered what happened to "the moderate Republicans" that "used to
work...for positive government."
[
audio available here]
The following exchange was aired on the March 15 edition of Hardball:
CHRIS MATTHEWS: You know Congressman, I've never seen
the Republican Party so narrow in its appeal. It's basically come out
and said, "Dis-invest in America, watch your pocketbook. Don't do
anything, don't have any government." It's forgotten eight years of
sort of spend thrift behavior by President Bush. It is like the guy in
the, in the, in a, in a , what's that movie? Casablanca. Where the guy
says "I can't believe gambling has been going on here." It's like
they've discovered this sort of narrow Republicanism. What do you make
of that in Connecticut? What do you make of the fact the Republican
Party now isn't a party of grand conservatism, any more? It's a party
of this narrow, little, nasty, don't do anything party.
...
MATTHEWS: Thank you very much. U.S. Congressman Larson, John Larson
from Connecticut, who remembers the Rockefeller Republicans! The
moderate Republicans! That used to work alongside of you for positive
government that are now missing from the fold. Thank you very much for
joining us. Congressman Larson, the chairman of the Democratic caucus
in the House.
—Geoffrey Dickens is the senior news analyst at the Media Research Center.
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