Forget the polls. The surest sign that Barack Obama may be in serious trouble is the MSNBC set's renewed focus on the evil, racist nature of the American electorate. Here's Chrissy McTingles blathering on about why the horrid Republicans are willing to vote for Mitt Romney:
What a vile race-baiter this guy is. He wants you to understand that the president's re-election effort isn't sputtering due to chronic unemployment, spiraling debt, or sinking wages; oh no, Obama is limping along because America's briefly-dormant racism is once again rearing its ugly head. The "racial hatred" slander is getting the most attention today -- for obvious reasons -- but I was also interested by Matthews' off-handed assessment that Republican-leaning voters are "more political than either you or I." Reminder: The "you" and the "I" in that formulation are Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews, two of the most overt hardened partisans on television. Everyone recognizes that Matthews transformed himself into an obnoxious ideological crank years ago, but it's still fascinating to watch his descent. He's become untethered from reality. If you don't think the grotesque performance above is sufficient evidence of Matthews' worsening unhinged-ness, consider Exhibit B. Here's McTingles working the MSNBC rope line, asking members of the crowd whom they support for president. Unsurprisingly, most of the audience is whooping mindlessly for Obama. The very last person Matthews encounters appears to be a high school or college student who voices support for Romney. Matthews asks him why, leading to this embarrassing back-and-forth (via Mediaite):
The supporter suggested that members of Barack Obama’s administration were disingenuous when they claimed the attack in Benghazi in September happened spontaneously during a protest over an insulting YouTube video. “Read a newspaper,” Matthews said. “Everybody knows it’s all about the video. It’s all about the video.”
In a span of 20 seconds, this MSNBC anchor conducts himself like a complete jerk toward a young voter on live television, challenges him directly, then nastily mocks him for having his facts wrong -- derisively suggesting that the young man "read a newspaper." Matthews' standard buffoonery aside, the most humiliating part of this display is that the condescending adult is absolutely wrong, and the kid is correct. Apparently some liberals are still reading off of Team Obama's September 15 playbook, even though the president himself has completely abandoned it in recent weeks. Though he obviously didn't realize it at the time, the grinning Matthews -- a fixture on national television for decades -- allowed himself to be shown up by someone roughly 50 years his junior. Then came the perfect conclusion: The Obama backers cheered Matthews' dramatic, spectacularly wrong "gotcha" slam on the teenager, who apparently has read a newspaper. If only Matthews would do the same. What a fool.
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