Chris Matthews tore into Newark mayor Cory Booker on Monday's "Hardball," saying that Booker had committed an "act of sabotage" and a "betrayal" of President Obama by criticizing his attacks on Bain Capital.
Booker infamously said on Sunday's "Meet the Press" that he found the criticisms of Mitt Romney's former private equity firm "nauseating," something that delighted the GOP campaign and forced President Obama to defend the attacks. Booker later went on Rachel Maddow's show to criticize the GOP for exploiting his comments to their advantage.
Matthews aimed at Booker with everything he had. "I've never seen anything like what we saw on 'Meet the Press,'" he said just after Obama's comments on Monday.
"It was an incredible 180 on everything the president stands for in this campaign," Matthews said. "I'll tell ya, it was astounding that they have listed this guy as a surrogate when he is intending to go on television and to trash everything Obama is making the case for."
When guest David Corn tried to focus on a different part of the situation, Matthews yanked him back to Booker, implying that the mayor should have quashed his personal views in favor of the campaign's.
"Just a minute, why does Mayor Booker, who's on the show as a political figure, not as a spokesman for capitalism, or a spokesman for private equity, why did he choose to choose sides against the president?" Matthews shouted.
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