Eric Cantor was just on Hardball, being his innocuous
self, positing McDonnell's victory as a rejection of government
spending and overreach. Chris Matthews then launched a filibuster
that quickly melted down into what would probably be called
elitism and unprofessionalism if it ever tagged coherence. For
example on leg-thrilling election 2008:
"States like North Carolina, where I went to school, and
Virginia, because of their incredible commitment to their
university systems--in Richmond and Charlottesville and around
this state, with all the levels of the higher education system in
both those states--had taken themselves from the Old South and
made themselves enlightened enough to be able to vote for an
African-American for president and to have a choice in who they
vote for."
And that, children, is how Yes We Can ended the rule of
the primal, non-thinking, racist automatons in Virginia--now
making a comeback, perhaps because of brains addled by latent
swine flu! Obama, first real choice ever? Citizens, escape
the prison of the mind!
It continued and, of course, for Matthews, as most liberals, all
roads lead to Sarah Palin, so while Cantor is trying to make
sense of Matthew's last nonsensical answer, the host skips
further afield...
"I have a theory that Virginia may not be a liberal state...but
it's certainly not a wacko right-wing state, either, and I don't
think it would ever go for a Sarah Palin over a Barack Obama, but
I may be wrong. In lousy economic conditions anything is
possible. You wouldn't call Virginia a Palin state, would you?"
Anything is possible on Hardball, never mind
Virginia. Why's Matthews even have to ask this? Doesn't Virginia
have all sorts of fancy book-learning now to prevent the rise of
Palin-like figures? For his part, Cantor simply offers that
Virginia is a commonsense state where "millions" of Republicans
find Palin and McDonnell--who the segment is supposedly
about--intriguing figures, to no avail.
"I bet if you go home and check with your voters, Congressman, a
lot of your most trusted voters, who like you personally, are
scared the bejesus [sic] of Sarah Palin. She's a theocrat. She's
so far out in terms of basic American notions of pluralism that
your voters would think she was frightening."
Yeah, that sounds like a reasonable summation. Can't get this
sort of balanced analysis on the dread Fox, can we?
And here's how, adding insult to annoyance, Matthews signs off
the very patient Cantor:
"Congressman Eric Cantor…one of the real rising stars of the
Republican Party I think he’s going to be one of the real leaders
of the country someday. I’m not sure it’s great, but I think it’s
going to happen. Anyway, thank you congressman for coming
on Hardball, please come back, as you can tell
you’re very welcome here. Ha!”
Well, a laugh is the perfect end to a joke.
Very professional! Hey a*@hole, come back and see me
sometime, eh? At least Cantor can take solace in the
fact that Matthews' idea of the perfect politician is a clown
like Joe Biden.
