On last night's edition of Hardball, Chris Matthews laced the "Sideshow" section of his broadcast with a toothy attack on former Bush Chief-of-Staff Andrew Card, who recently criticized the Obama White House for allowing persons to enter the Oval Office in shirt-sleeves. See, the Bush White House apparently had a hard and fast rule that everyone who entered the Oval Office wear a suit jacket. (A rule Bush himself broke at least once.) Matthews cranked up the belittlement, and said, "Isn't Andrew Card being a little bit dainty? From there, it was one long, acerbic excoriation.
[WATCH]
MATTHEWS: Dressing down -- I'm sorry, dressing down the dressed down. Is former Bush Chief-of-Staff Andrew Card getting a bit dainty? Check this out. See the photos of President Obama at work? It's something of a departure in dress code from President Bush who required a coat and tie in the Oval Office at all times. Well, it seems that precious Andrew doesn't like what he sees. He said, quote, "I do expect him" -- that's President Obama he's talking about - "to send a message that people who are going to be in the Oval Office should treat the office with the respect that it has earned over history." The office has earned respect. Anyway, let's think of a couple of smart decisions that were made while the Bush administration was smartly dressed. You know, in full suit and tie. Let's see. Starting a war over a baseless argument. Bringing a government in surplus into adding more national debt than all the previous presidents put together. Oh, yeah. letting an economic boom under Clinton become an economic catastrophe. If that's dressing for success, I'd prefer shirt sleeves.
Ha! Ya burnt!