Sam Stein On 'Hardball': Republicans 'Think They Could Actually Win This Thing'

HuffPost's Sam Stein appeared on MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews" Friday evening to discuss the possibility and possible repercussions of Republicans retaking Congress in November.

Reviewing tape of the "starve the beast" drumbeats uttered by House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and tea party-backed Republican Senate candidate Joe Miller of Alaska, among others, Matthews pressed Stein and co-panelist Steve Kornacki of Salon on the potential for another game of chicken akin to that between former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and then-President Bill Clinton, which culminated in a brief government shutdown in 1995.

"All of these people live in the belief that they lost power because they abandoned their principles during the Bush years," Stein said. "They think they could actually win this thing, and they also want to stick to principle."

WATCH:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

 

Comments

[GTNew]

09:44 AM on 09/07/2010

The stock market likes gridlock....Get long SPY

[Countess]

10:39 AM on 09/04/2010

It is funny how long it took the democratic elites to realize they are heading for disaster in november because it has been obvious to interested observers for some time now and of course they will not allow a critical examination of how their own behavior has made this possible and instead in keeping with their arrogance and stupidity will blame their own supporters.

[aofh]

03:50 AM on 09/04/2010

The glaring error in this broadcast is that there is no discussion of what this means for the country. They are projecting gridlock on a major scale if the Republicans take Congress. How will that impact the economy? The same with Tea Party/Republican principles. How will defunding the health care legislation affect actual health care? Will it make things worse by throwing everything into limbo? Will it further break an already broken system? Enough chatter about the horse race, how will a changing of the guard affect the rest of us?

[Freesia2]

02:33 AM on 09/04/2010

I refuse to consider principles, Newt Gingrich, Eric Cantor and Republicans in the same sentence.

You may think it's funny and enjoy watching me wriggle and gasp, but I consider it some form of "enhanced interrogation" of my brain cells and if you keep it up I'm reporting you to the Hague.

I'll let it go this time. Don't push it.