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

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

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