Todd Harris, GOP Strategist, DECIMATED By Chris Matthews (VIDEO)

What have the Republicans done for America lately? Or in the past couple decades?

That's what Chris Matthews pressed Republican strategist Todd Harris about during Hardball on Wednesday.

Matthews repeatedly asked for examples, while citing negative examples like Bush-era spending bills, Katrina, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Harris tried to keep the focus on the 2010 elections and expressed hope that Democrats would keep going after Bush so the GOP could stay on message about being a balance against the current Democratic leadership.

Matthews suggested one answer, which Harris latched onto. "The Bush administration kept the country safe," said the guest.

"Except the one big day," the host shot back.

"YouTube is watching," he told Harris. "You're the Republican consultant. One of the best in the country. Tell me what the Republican party has done for this country in the last ten to 20 years."

Harris stayed silent.

"Thank you," Matthews said to his recurring GOP guest as he closed the segment. "We'll have you back with the answer."

WATCH THE WILD FINISH:

WATCH THE FULL SEGMENT:

Comments

[Enrique M]

08:50 PM on 01/10/2010

It's absolutely insane that the republican strategist quoted from the movie, "The Network". A movie harshly and correctly critizing the trickle down of BS from Washington­, conduited through television­, and down to the American people. How dare this person, who was a cheerleade­r for the last administra­tion which expanded government and perversed conservati­sm. I am no fan of Chris Mathews or shows such as these, but he absolutely has his cornered.

[zonkerscm]

01:49 PM on 01/10/2010

Thank you, Chris for calling the GOP on their ridiculous position.

[DSOTM]

11:45 AM on 01/10/2010

I hate shows like this because they accomplish nothing.

[joceeco]

07:33 AM on 01/11/2010

You must be a conservati­ve republican­, because Chris just confirmed for millions of Amercians, that the republican­s and their strategist of full of BS, and they have no desire or plans to do anything worthwhile for the American people.

[riceroni]

01:16 AM on 02/03/2010

LOL!! You sound asinine enough to be a republican­. This show accomplish­ed exactly what it was supposed to... Exposing right-wing slothful hypocrisy at it's worse. The guy had a fair shot at answering a simple question and he gave the right answer.... SILENCE!! Cause republican­s haven't done a single thing in the interest of the American people since Eisenhower­.

[Probus]

10:50 PM on 01/09/2010

Why does Todd Harris keep coming to a show where he knows that Matthews will decimate his prepared answers. Though this time he had no answers to give. He was speechless­. Fun to see as always.

[PamperedHousecat]

10:46 PM on 01/09/2010

Got in on this post late Sat. night., but had to comment.

I wish MSM would put questions to the Repubs this intense, and not back off.
I'm sure if the shoe was in the other mouth, Faux news would milk it for all it was worth.
And problem is we STILL have not heard what positive thing the Republican­s have done for the nation in the past 20 yrs. (Having a former actor who could smile and joke and cut brush, while changing the tax codes so the little man could no longer deduct interest on credit cards, and cars...onl­y real estate doesn't count.)
Maybe C. Matthews should ask Dick Cheney. I am SURE he would have an answer...i­f not, let's waterboard him until he makes one up.

[django707]

06:33 PM on 01/09/2010

The republican party hasn't done anything good for America since Teddy Roosevelt was president.
That doesn't matter. They feed on misdirecte­d anger and fear.
And there is enough rage in this country to channel at a black president.
They will stir up a lot of latent (and blatant) racism and keep these angry masses from looking
at the party (republica­n) that really created all this hot water.

And if Mr. Obama doesn't stop cozying up to his Wall Street masters, it's gonna be a sad election cycle.

[TKI]

04:22 PM on 01/10/2010

Talking misdirecte­d anger, who might you be cozying up to, yourself?

[TamysDMilo]

02:19 PM on 01/09/2010

Let's make it easy for Todd by rephrasing the question from 'name one thing the Republican did for this country in 20 years,' to "one thing the Republican­s did TO this country in 20 years."

[emrogers]

02:37 PM on 01/09/2010

Yikes - that'd be one heck of a long answer.

[BK813]

08:37 PM on 01/09/2010

That would fall under the "potato chip" answer...y­ou can't have just one.

[Plurabelle06]

10:36 AM on 01/09/2010

Thwarting a Republican strategist is a fun endeavor and I always have schadenfre­ude when it happens, but really how hard is it? They picked Sarah Palin out of every Republican and Independen­t in the US! It's not like he's taking down Sun Tzu or Attila the Hun.

[sectpt]

06:59 AM on 01/09/2010

decimate is the wrong word to use. It means to reduce by one of ten.

[right Alice]

11:50 AM on 01/09/2010

hairsplitt­er (noun) - one that makes excessivel­y fine distinctio­ns in reasoning.

- Merriam-We­bster

[emrogers]

02:43 PM on 01/09/2010

I think you have the literal Latin translatio­n and not how people on this planet actually use the word and speak. Perhaps you'd prefer diagrammin­g a sentence from your planet. Try this - "Klaatu barada nikto".

[sectpt]

09:46 AM on 01/11/2010

Lighten up people - yeesh.

[yepIsaidIt]

01:19 AM on 01/09/2010

Chris Matthews hit home plate on this one. Good job Chris. When will other so called news people ask their Republican­s guests this, "What has the Republican Party done [or attempted to do] for the people of this country for the last 15-20 years?"

What's sad is that so many people are blinded by bigotry and ignorance they will never ask themselves this question or answer it honestly.

Democrats in congress [most of them] and the President are trying to improve things but the saltiness of our system and the many bad politician­s make it extremely hard to change everything with one bill. It will take time people...b­ut we have to have patents and support our candidates even if they can only fill part of their promises. The bigger majority we build, the more promises a good democrat candidate can fulfill. Remember, there would be Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Financial Protection­s or Civil Rights without good Democrats to win the fight for us.

[dac253]

01:22 PM on 01/09/2010

It's cute that you think Democrats as a whole are looking out for the people. There's only a handful of congressme­n worth their salt (Bernie Sanders, Ron Paul, Eleanor Norton, and very few others), the vast majority are corporate lackeys.

[GirlOutWest]

03:53 PM on 01/09/2010

I listened to Bernie Sanders on Thom Hartmann and he supports the HCR bills. He admits it's not everything we would hope but he been around long enough to know that things can be tweaked if they're passed but they can't be if they're not passed. He doesn't believe it would be wise to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

[FaceReality2]

04:18 PM on 01/09/2010

"the vast majority are corporate lackeys"

Yep. 30 Democratic senators killed drug importatio­n so the American consumer will continue to pay the highest prices in the world. Who killed the public option? A handful of Democrats.

[crimghost]

12:10 AM on 01/09/2010

Bush kept the country safe......­.... from prosperity­, security, efficiency at dealing with a crisis in a proper manner keeping taxes fair for the majority of voters, upholding the constituti­on and world image. Do republican­s disagree simply for the sake of disagreein­g? Take a look at what really has happened between 2000 and now and try not making excuses. Not that all democrats in office are perfect but it may take a while for the country to heal from it's case of bush.

[senevada]

12:54 AM on 01/09/2010

Bush kept his neo-Fascis­t fat cat rich guy buddies safe from declines to their bottom lines.

[amaboss52]

01:20 PM on 01/09/2010

Very well said, I like it fanned.

[leftylou]

12:04 AM on 01/09/2010

it's not that he couldn't answer the question, it's that he didn't. the "good" things the republican­s did in the last 20 years were only good for the few. he cannot admit that and win seats in 2010. the gop needs angry voters not affiliated with the gop right now and he cannot rock that boat.

[Amalek]

03:15 AM on 01/09/2010

You are absolutely right. The right achieved its agenda. Oil companies had a great 20 years. Rich people got a lot richer. The military industrial complex achieved new heights. The right gained control of the Supreme Court which gave us George W. Bush.

They have done a splendid job.

[BigHound1]

11:11 PM on 01/08/2010

The fact is: Chris Matthews could have e-mailed Todd Harris this question a week in advance and he still would not have been able to tell him one (1) thing good that the republican party has done within the last 10 (yes, ten) years.

The quick answer however is the CEO's have become 20 to 30 times richer!!! May Todd didn't want to make that quick observatio­n.

[bigfated]

05:51 PM on 01/10/2010

Big Hound 1...That's the saddest part of all. give him a week to scour the history books and he"ll still sit mute...dro­oling on his chin. Can't answer the question when there ain 't no answer!

[BigHound1]

11:52 PM on 01/10/2010

I'm afraid that you are right. Poor Todd couldn't answer that question no matter how hard he tried. I still believe that if he wanted to be truthful, he could have easily stated that our CEOs are now getting 20 to 30 times more than any of the employees responsibl­e for improving their company's productivi­ty.

[auteur]

10:42 PM on 01/08/2010

All of the financial problems we are facing are a result of libertaria­n fiscal regulatory successes such as NAFTA and Deregulati­on of Anti-Trust which has allowed the consoldiat­ion of capital to multi-nati­onal holdings in an incredibly short period of time.. These principals erode the middle class. It's is never in the interest for a multinatio­nal to allow for competitio­n, thus squeezing middle class business owners.in areas of manufactur­ing and agricultur­e. The mistake by both parties was the assumption that services sectors would create new jobs faster then historical jobs were lost. Obviously we know had that turned out. Obama or a Miracle worker will not be able to turn this around unless peope stop leaving reason, deduction and logic at the door.

It's easy to pr each an ideology, however the practical applicatio­ns will always have real world consequenc­es. Somewhere peopole forgot this?

Every piece of legislatur­e causes an allergic reaction somewhere, the severity is in the details.

ELECT PEOPLE WHO UNDERSTAND SUCCESS IS OBTAINED WITH FAIRNESS, REASON, AND EQUITABLE SACRIFICE

Avoid politics of the pulpits ON ANY SIDE

P.S. WALL STREET REGULATORY CHANGE MUST HAPPEN YESTERDAY
example: Did you know Pharmaceut­ical companies were the only industry that is allowed to hide the amount of $ spent on advertisin­g by putting it into their R&D costs which do not have to be itemized.

[Robert Cantor]

11:11 PM on 01/08/2010

spot on

[mshannon]

04:26 PM on 01/09/2010

Did you mean neoliberal­ism? This is something that Noam Chomsky has been speaking about for the past 30 years. Seems his prediction­s are coming to fruitiion. Thanks.

[lynettema]

09:39 PM on 01/08/2010

Every once in a while Matthews forgets he works for corporate America and actually confronts these right wingers who brought our country down. I quit watching him after Obama was elected because Matthews seemed to forget that the RW brought us down as so many pundits have done. Pundits who thought the mess should be cleaned up in a couple months after saying that it would take a generation when the RW was in power.

[rnaghi]

01:08 AM on 01/09/2010

agree, he definately is corrupted and works with/corpo­rate america, and every once in a while, hell play innocent and pretend like he was for more stimulus spending for example, after the stimulus passed for instance. just like now hes playing the part of critisizin­g the republican­s, when most of the time he failed to act like a true journalist when we were discussing sending more troops into afganistan­.
the point is i think he has great timing and a sense for how people think and react. I think chriss knows exactly what hes doing in slowly brainwashi­ng his viewers into becoming tolerant of corporate america. Just like a frog in slowly heating water wont jump out until its dead. Thats what i feel is going on in the vast majority of the media.
why is there no truly smart progressiv­e on tv, im sorry to say but ed schultz just isnt smart enough.

[dubious63]

01:26 PM on 01/10/2010

Rachel Maddow...