ICYMI: Chris Matthews … defends the Tea Party?
So, yeah. Like thisΒ kinda sorta happened last week in the aftermath of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s stunning GOP primary loss. Other sites caught onto it quickly but yours truly did not – better late than never:
Transcript, via Politico’s Dylan Byers:
This looking down our noses at tea party people has got to stop. They have a message. They’re as American as any liberal is. And they’re really angry about the failure of our system. I was over covering Eastern Europe when the wall came down. You know what people didn’t like? It wasn’t the philosophy of communism they didn’t like — it was the complete corruption of it, the failure of it to deliver to working people. That’s what this system is doing right now: We can’t control the deficit, we can’t control the debt, we can’t control the border. What good is government good at?”
Yeah, this is the same guy who, along with his fellow MSNBC talk show hosts, has … well, looked down his nose at the Tea Party for years, even at some points disgustingly comparing them to the Nazis. Has he had a change of heart? Seen the light? Turned over a new leaf? Who knows, but the softening towards the Tea Party apparently rubbed off on Matthews’ MSNBC colleague Chuck Todd, too:
Chuck Todd, NBC’s political director also took notice and said, βIt is going to be difficult to pass amnesty legislation when the economy is leaving many American workers behind. American workers who are not insulated from the economic downturn are not going to want a flood of cheap labor pouring into the country who are going to compete with them for the few jobs that are available and lower their wages.β
Tony Lee of Breibart said in reference to Matthews and Toddβs comments, βIt took Messrs, Matthews, and Todd five years to understand the disconnect between American workers and a permanent political class far removed from their economic troubles and a mainstream media that helps insulate those in βBoomtownβ or βThis Town.β
And my guess is that Matthews, Todd, and other liberal elites at MSNBC will get back to their usual Tea Party bashfest in short order, and that it’ll take them another five years to acknowledge anything else positive about the Tea Party. It’s just the way they roll. After all, they’ve got at least 10 viewers who they want to keep happy …