Chris Matthews anchored MSNBC's analysis following the NBC/Facebook Republican primary debate Sunday morning. MSNBC hosts Ed Schultz and Lawrence O'Donnell joined Matthews, and roasted GOP candidate Mitt Romney for what they referred to as the candidate's obvious moments of discomfort.
Matthews, who has harshly criticized Romney in the past, said that Romney repeatedly "[attacked] up" during the debate by "ignoring" his opponents and launching attacks on President Obama. Following a clip of Romney, Matthews harped on what he called Romney's "school teacher manner."
Matthews asked, "Do you notice the constriction in the personality of Romney? When anybody interrupts him, he has this school teacher manner of a proctor...This guy is very uncomfortable with surprise, with novelty. He wouldn't be a Woody Allen fan, this guy. He wouldn't be looking for the surprising thing in life," Matthews said.
O'Donnell agreed and said that his campaign team has been well aware of Romney's reaction to surprising questions, ever since his testy interview with Fox News host Bret Baier. "Then you saw him go out and try to rectify by this going on other Fox News interview shows," O'Donnell said.
O'Donnell offered a different metaphor to describe Romney's behavior. "It's like he's the chairman of the board, and some new board member, who's not even supposed to speak in this meeting, just said something about the stock price that made everyone uncomfortable," O'Donnell said.
"Speak through your direct reports, young man!" Matthews said, playing along with O'Donnell's analysis.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy