Chris Matthews: Far Right Republicans Like Cambodian Regime (VIDEO)

Chris Matthews compared the far right wing of the Republican Party to the Khmer Rouge, the genocidal Cambodian communist party led by Pol Pot, in MSNBC's coverage of President Obama's Q&A with House Republicans Friday night.

"The Republican Party is under assault from its far right," Matthews said. "I don't think I can remember either party being under assault by its extremes. I mean, there seems to be a new sort of purity test that unless you're far right, you're not a Republican, and this sort of tea party testing they're doing now."

Matthews called the party's pull from the far right "frightening" in comparing it to the Cambodian regime.

"So what's going on out there in the Republican Party is kind of frightening," he said, "almost Cambodia reeducation camp going on in that party, where they're going around to people, sort of switching their minds around saying, 'If you're not far right, you're not right enough.' And I think that it's really - there's going to be a lot of extreme language on the Republican side. And maybe, it will be a circular firing squad when this is all over."

Just two days prior, Matthews came under fire for saying that he forgot President Obama was black for an hour while watching his State of the Union, a post-racial comment he would later clarify.

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Comments

[terry63]

01:10 AM on 02/04/2010

Interesting, Now here's a man that get's a tingle up his leg over a man he doesnt even know, A man about as far left as you can go. A man that work's for the worst news organization out there. Telling the Republicans whats wrong with there party, Hmmmmm.

[ProfessorDuh]

10:56 AM on 02/03/2010

On his radio show on Oct. 30, 2008, Sean Hannity declared that, if elected, Obama would shut down talk radio.
I promised that when Hannity flapped his lylng fasclst yap again after Obama became president, I would remind everyone of his amazingly false powers of prediction.
By the way, even though Hannity's vapid, viclous radio rants will never be threatened with censorship, if they were, he would go running to the much-hated, evil ACLU to protect him again, just the way he has before

[gbrum]

09:58 AM on 02/03/2010

Stay classy chrissy.

Desperate for someone, anyone to watch your show?

[redhead55]

05:23 PM on 02/03/2010

Not saying anything that isn't true.

[blukazoo]

07:42 PM on 02/03/2010

Maybe if the far right gave everyone a break and started acting like normal citizens again, he wouldn't have anything to say about them.

[jwoww]

09:16 AM on 02/03/2010

is it true his guest are provided with a splatter shield before they go on the air.

[rbchilds]

06:48 PM on 02/03/2010

No but they are given slippers just in case those chills run down his legs again.

[argentino]

08:28 AM on 02/03/2010

At least he never interrupts...

[rbchilds]

06:48 PM on 02/03/2010

Hard to interrupt when he never shuts up.

[argentino]

08:51 PM on 02/03/2010

lol

[mcmutter]

08:07 AM on 02/03/2010

Time to finally wake up Chris. The far right doesn't deserve equal time. They deserve to be exposed for the liars and manipulators they really are ......

[terry63]

01:12 AM on 02/04/2010

As opposed to who? This administration?

[rainbowblue]

07:16 AM on 02/03/2010

At least he's original. We hear too much of Hitler, and sometimes Stalin, so a reference to a fringe totalitarian group that is usually glossed over in mainstream history classes is interesting. I'm not sure I'd go as far as Matthews, since as far as I know the Tea baggers haven't been torturing and killing anyone.
The thing is that the right's behavior is similar to almost every other group in the 20th century that ruled based on ideological "purity" and not practical policy. Just wait till they start talking "purges".

(By the way why hasn't anyone mentioned Mao? The artificial way the Teabaggers are being supported is a bit like the Cultural Revolution, in that it's an organized mass bent on terrorizing the opposition for it's puppet masters. Maybe it's that we don't want to offend China.)

[BMinDC]

12:04 PM on 02/03/2010

I haven't heard of anybody being compared to Saddam Hussein lately either. Hm, I guess that was worn out in 2003-2004.

[ProudMilVet]

05:22 AM on 02/03/2010

And i love how right wingers make comments like " The hate on the left is never-ending. " Like Fox News does not Hate !

[ProudMilVet]

05:17 AM on 02/03/2010

Actually Chris was being kind to the Republicans in the Comparison. If i we're a Cambodian or a member of the Khmer Rouge though, i would sue for slander !

[rmct]

02:14 AM on 02/03/2010

Less people watctch Mr. Tingle than do Olbermann

[rmct]

02:12 AM on 02/03/2010

Boy the hate on the left is never ending. No wonder that CNN and Fox get better ratings than MSNBC. I say Chris Mathews should be the Worst Person in the Worldddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd

[LiberalLee]

09:37 AM on 02/03/2010

Oh poor deluded baby.
The spiteful " Leading you to slaughter' comments by your frothing friend at Fox, Glennda Beck are all sweetness and light aren't they?

But if sucking up small-minded swill is all you have to do all day, go for it. Be happy in your ignorance.

[Krez2445]

08:27 PM on 02/02/2010

his leg must have been tingling when he said this one... he is the best commentator we have in this country.... haha lol.. msnbc is a joke

[urnumbersix]

08:15 PM on 02/02/2010

Tweety! Love him one day, hate him the next. And then there is yet, another day coming.

I give up.

Let Tweety BE tweety!

[Scentedflower]

06:16 PM on 02/02/2010

purity test for impurity?

[JPMac]

05:46 PM on 02/02/2010

Is this before or after he forgot the President was black or before he had tingling feeling running up his legs.