Chris Matthews says he’s tired of ‘jackasses’ bringing up his past Obama praise

Eric Pfeiffer
·Reporter

MSNBC "Hardball" host Chris Matthews lectured a fellow television reporter when asked about his 2008 comment that a speech from then-candidate Barack Obama sent a "thrill up his leg."

Matthews was taking part in a discussion with C-SPAN host Steve Scully, who asked, "Is the thrill still there?"

Visibly annoyed, Matthews turned to face Scully and offered a detailed defense of his comments before saying, "Perhaps I shouldn't have said so because I've given a lot of jackasses the chance to talk about it."

"I hope that you feel satisfied that you've used the most obvious question that is raised by every horse's ass right-winger I ever bump into," Matthews added.

FishbowlDC reports that Matthews made his comments on Tuesday while appearing on a panel as part of the NCTA's Cable Show in Boston. Scully was moderating the panel, which also featured CNN's John King and Univision's Maria Salinas.

Despite his apparent umbrage at the question, Matthews vigorously defended his past comments, telling Scully that he has "traditional values" and was responding to what he thought were patriotic comments from Obama.

"I do have physical reactions when people are talking about my country," he said.

"If you'd done your reporting over at C-SPAN, you would have checked that I said the exact same thing in 2004 after I heard his address up here in Boston," Matthews said.

Matthews noted that after Obama's 2004 Democratic National Convention speech he predicted Obama would one day become president. "Which makes me look a little sharper," he said.

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