Chris Matthews: GOP Strategist Has "Forked Tongue"

On Hardball Tuesday, Chris Matthews urged Barack Obama to be bold in his policy choices. When a Republican strategist disagreed, the host told him he spoke with a "forked tongue." Raw Story reports:

"It seems to me that he's got one chance to get everything done," Matthews stated passionately on Hardball. "Ronald Reagan taught everybody that. Get it done the first year or don't talk about it. ... He's got to do it. He can't say, 'I'll put it off till after the year after next.' ... Do you think this guy can survive as president if all he does is do a little tax cuts and push SCHIP?"

Matthews put the question of boldness to two political strategists, Democrat Steve McMahon and Republican Todd Harris, but neither one seemed to respond to Matthews' implication that Obama needs to do something visionary to fulfill his promises.

"Doing something dramatic and bold on the economy I think is something they're very interested in doing," McMahon began. But he also insisted that "the middle decided this election and the middle of the country -- the swing voters -- are waiting for him to address their economic concerns."

"Big doesn't need to be conflated with liberal," Harris commented. "I think it's important that people not lose sight over what this election was and what it wasn't. What it was was a historic victory for Barack Obama. What it was not was a wholesale realignment of American politics to the left."

"You guys are so -- you speak with a forked tongue, Todd!" exploded Matthews.

Watch:

Comments

[Forester]

Hello?

This is what they DO.

These folks will never change their stripes, the facts not withstanding.

Their lives are invested in this Reagan/fantasy/revisionism delusion, and is not unlike religious zealotry.

Guess what, the world is ROUND, get over it.

[U5122]

As an Independent voter it's amazing to me that the Republican's are still clueless about why they lost this election. Did they think the American people would continue to vote for inept, divisive candidates, over someone who was intelligent and focused on finding solutions to the problems? Obviously they still won't listen, perhaps if they stopped listening to the hate mongers like Limbaugh and Hannity they could get an accurate perspective of where " real America" is at. The only way to save their party at this point is to apologize for the way they ran this recent campaign, roll up their sleeves and help America dig itself out of the mess they created. That means put aside all the political rhetoric and get to work. If after President Obama takes office you think you have a better solution for the economy, health care, and the housing crisis then by all means share it with congress and the rest of America. But if you continue to point fingers and try to stir the pot, the America people will continue to flock to Democratic party. The days of sitting back, biding your time and criticizing the other party while the country goes to pot are over. Either do the job you were elected to do, or step aside so someone else can.

[ObjectiveRealist]

"As an Independent voter it's amazing to me that the Republican's are still clueless about why they lost this election."

The way I see it, the GOP leadership is in a heckuva bind, ubetcha. Having lost by a wider margin than W. ever [allegedly] "won", they have badly embarrassed their base. When the Patriot Act and warrantless wiretapping and retroactive corporate immunity for warrantless wiretapping surprised and terrorized us, GOP-right-or-wrong extremists evoked fear, and enjoyed it. That fear has been replaced by contempt, and that base does not know any way to interact with people other than intimidation, their own or the other person's. They do not grasp what normal, healthy people call "respect." If you think I'm joking or exaggerating, just look at some video of Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Alberto Gonzales or Rudy Giuliani.

"Did they think the American people would continue to vote for inept, divisive candidates, over someone who was intelligent and focused on finding solutions to the problems?"

What you call 'solutions,' to them are ends to the only things they ever had going for them: sources of fear, examples of suffering that according to 'common wisdom' are 'just life.' You betcha!

[ObjectiveRealist]

"As an Independent voter it's amazing to me that the Republican's are still clueless about why they lost this election."

They are in a bind. They have so far badly embarrassed their base by losing by a wider margin than either of W's "wins". They are also unable to appeal to anybody but their base without admitting, one way or another, that their base are idiots.

[Americatortures]

Todd Harris..Brad Blakeman....EfdRogers Castellano,Sanchez. Nicole Wallace etc...all mouthpieces of the failed GOP message that has been shredded by the election last week! They have no credibility...they;d say ANYTHING as long it was part of the GOP talking points.. I hope the GOP keeps them around, because they're full of BS..and we KNOW they're just paid shills!!

[LHoney]

Go Chris!!!!!! Imagine that this Wall Street meltdown happened a little later during BO's presidency and he tried to socialize the banks????? I hope he throws this double standard stuff in their faces every day! Maybe after 4 years of that, they might actually learn something! (I wouldn't count on it tho).

[000Jade000]

Todd is the classic Repub. - he stands for nothing except his anti-liberal rhetoric.

[Chavez08]

Leo Strauss is alive and well.

[TrooAmerican]

Hes right! I watched that exchange. The GOP bald guy comes on all the time and just spews double standard nonsense out.

[LisaO8]

Jesus was the biggest liberal of all - why use liberal as a knock against someone - aren't all of those bible thumpers liberal? Oh the hypocrisy - you can cut with a knife...

[Forester]

I see it as spiritual NIMBY (not in my back yard). They want to feel christian, but when it comes to practicing the principles, they will decide what is moral and who has rights under their god. This has been true since BC, human nature has not changed, and probably never will. Clearly there was a strong adaptive value for early humans to exhibit indoctrinability, and this trait continue to this day. Sociobiologists have done some interesting work on this subject, and help (at least it helps me) explain what seems to be totally illogical and hypocritical behavior of otherwise "rational" modern humans.

[Hollis-Greene]

Why are the "Losers" of the 2008 campaign getting airtime??? Their opinions aren't needed or valid. xx

[DonkeySerenade]

They are getting airtime on MSNBC so they don't become the liberal version of FOX News. It is only fair you know.

[Audrey85]

Why are the loosing team telling President Obama how to govern? If they had a clue this country wouldn't be in this position! If they could have stolen this election as they did the last 2 they would have.. I agree with Chris Matthews...Bush came in and ran a muck over the Senate, the Congress but mostly the American people!

[greatbear451]

"What it was not was a wholesale realignment of American politics to the left."

Yeah, it was only a wholesale rejection of the right. American politics has always been a pendulum. It swings left or right depending on the perception of the voters on which direction we've gone too far. The voters have spoken. We swung too far to the right, so now we're swinging left.

Republicans keep repeating this "center-right" mantra to console themselves, but the voters have spoken, so they can either get on board or get out of the way.

[vinceoffer]

The Repubs will neither get on board nor get out of the way. They will now feel that their mandate is to be as obstructionist as possible. Fortunately, their numbers have been decimated enough now that their tactics will matter little. It will be important to them that they will be able to say to their core constituency that at least they tried.

[cmilburn]

I'll say it again....Matthews is positioning himself for a run at the senatorial seat in Pennsylvania. He really needs to work on his people skills, though.

[SeanGardner]

Todd Harris has been speaking with a forked tongue throughout this entire campaign season with Obama.

Also, GOP Strategist Ed Harris speaks with a forked tongue too. He tried to smear Obama on Nov. 27, 2006. Here is the link: http://crooksandliars.com/2006/11/28/ed-rogers-barack-hussein-obama/. Yet Chris keeps inviting this guy on his show - as recently as last month. Rogers is abrasive, xenophobic, and extreme.

If he knows this about them, stop inviting them on. Period.

[Liberalforsure]

I honestly don't understand how any enlightened person could ever be a member of the current GOP.

[bsc]

Keep it up Chris. Center right is the current repub mantra. They are repeating it desperately in hopes that people will be tricked once again. Fool me once....

[justoverit333]

Obama is surrounding himself with very
intelligent, progressive people. He knows
what to do. The Repubs can't stand not
being the center of attention, even if it's
negative attention I guess.