So much for that new tone of civility.
On Friday’s “Hardball,” MSNBC host Chris Matthews acknowledged his disappointment in the tack Republicans have taken toward President Barack Obama – especially in this time following the tragic shooting in Arizona.
“Yeah, it’s almost like what he does is no good – let’s kill it because it’s his,” Matthews said.
After citing a spokesman from House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s office, Matthews asked the Huffington Post’s Sam Stein if Republicans would play nice with Obama, or would they go ad hominem. However, in phrasing the question, he used what some believe is a derogatory term to describe his critics.
“Sam, it seems to me it is a big question,” Matthews said. “So much of this attack on Obama has been ad hominem – directed at the person of the president, whether it’s somebody – some cracker out there on the right calling him — some birther-type who says he’s not an American or someone more sophisticated but basically saying he’s a socialist. Will this be on the merits of the bill? Will it stay off the personal? Is it your hunch coming into Wednesday’s vote?”
Stein said this was much ado about nothing. He explained the bill was largely symbolic and the real debate would come later.
“I mean, I think it’s going to be on the merits of the bill,” Stein said. “We have to consider the fact that this is all theater. No one expects this is going to go anywhere. It will pass the House and die in the Senate. This will be taken care of pretty quickly and then I think in a couple months we’ll get to the real debate which is over whether or not they’re going to fund key measures of this bill. That’s the actual substance. This is kabuki theater designed to please the tea partiers.”
Watch: