Chris Matthews devoted most of his show to the Republican presidential campaign and seemed particularly irked that Donald Trump has injected himself back into the campaign with the announcement that he will moderate a GOP debate at the end of the month.

Matthews: How did the party of Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt and General Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan descend into a diabolic clown show? When did P.T. Barnum grab hold of the Tea Party and New York money and mix it into this witch’s brew of a TV Debate headed by Donald Trump?

How did this clown show of Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich find itself with the ‘Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ as its grand ringmaster? How did the King of the Birthers become the midwife of right-wing presidential politics? And what sin did someone commit to unleash this torrent from hell on a once-serious political party?

I don’t claim any deep sympathy, but it takes a deeply cold heart not to feel for those good-minded Republicans out there who have this grotesquery leap before their face. What happened to the moderates and the reasonable of the center-right? Did they go mute? Did they lose their tongues? Their right to speak out? Are they watching what I’m watching? Are they going to let this happen?

Are they going to chug along from here to Tampa, to the sweltering convention hall of next September, all the while anticipating the Hobbesian choice between a candidate who puts them to sleep and one who gives them nightmares? Is this what all the debates, all the speeches, all the wanderings-about has achieved – a duet of death, a karaoke of the choke-hold?

“Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage. And then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

Newt Gingrich. Donald Trump. Let me say no more.

So now Matthews is resorting to quoting from Macbeth to describe the GOP presidential field?

This isn’t the first time Matthews has called Republicans clowns. In August Matthews called Texas Gov. Rick Perry a wax figure and a clown based on his appearance. And just last month he called the Tea Party a Clown Party. So at least he is consistent with his views of conservatives and Republicans.

Matthews also used the clown reference earlier in the program in a discussion with Michael Steele and Ed Rendell that focused on Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney. He summed up the segment by telling his guests the following:

Matthews: Gentlemen I feel good about our country with you two guys on the air.  I wish you guys were running the country not this clown show on the other side.  Thank you Michael. Your party embarrasses me.

What’s embarrassing  is how far Matthews has to go to protect the President and the Democrats, by calling the Republicans clowns. He knows that Obama is in deep trouble with the economy and that he needs either a miracle or a complete implosion by the Republicans in order to win re-election next year. By calling the Republicans clowns he is trying to convince voters that they don’t have a credible candidate and that the only logical choice is Obama.

If there is anyone who is diabolical it would be Matthews in his campaign against the GOP.

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About the author

Don Irvine
Don Irvine is Chairman of Accuracy in Media. He is active on Facebook and Twitter. You can follow him @donirvine to read his latest thoughts.

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4 Comments for Matthews: GOP Field is A “Diabolic Clown Show”

Clarksies

How does calling a public spectacle a “clown show” protect the president? Face the facts. It is a ridiculous show of incompetence. The face saving and erring on significant public policies. The scandals and the antiquated ideals. Please.

WillofLa

For the maven’s of Chris’s show, he tells the truth, and they all get a chuckle. But it’s not funny a bit to people who know that even if Mathew’s has been booted off two programs now, he does still hold some weight when it comes to what’s printed in tomorrow’s New York Times. He can come out with the most ridiculous thing, like this statement and people will repeat it like it was gospel. No, it’s not a clown show or anything else like that. But I do agree that the debates between these men is no way what the Tea Party represents and I don’t care what Newt Gingrich claims is the subject of the day. As far as that goes the only thing that Newt has said in the past two days that was true was that Nancy Pelosi had better keep her big trap shut. She is not the Queen of America, even though she believes that she is royalty of some sort, who else would run up a $100,000 bill for booze to go to Spain with 60 of her fastest friends. I wonder, was that coming and going, or just going? I think that is more a clown show than anything else. What did Chris say about all the boozing that went on on that trip? That would have been funnier than making fun of the Republican’s.

mike4819

Matthews is the fuckin clown From the time he gets up to the time he goes to bed!! Remember when he died his hair a few years ago. He’s another one of Obummer’s ex-prom dates “working” in the media.

The Major

Hey Mike4819,,,did you ever notice that NONE of Obama’s “Prom Dates” or any OTHER old girl friends have EVEr come foward to say ” I knew Obama when” NOT ONE,,,Strange huh??
When Michelle O & her entourage went to Spain on OUR dime,,How much did that cost & did Matthews EVER say anything Bad about it??
How about when all of the Dems took that trip to Denmark to woo the Olympic committee & Wastee all of OUR dough,,,did Matthews say anything??
I’ll bet a huge NYC Pizza w/ EX/ cheese that he said NOTHING,,,just like all of the other ‘Do as I say,,not as I do” Dems like to do.
Matthews wants to see a clown,,,,just tell him to look in his mirror.