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Chris Matthews Amazed Tea Party Leader Thinks Obama Has “Soft Spot” For Islam

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» 47 comments

Today on Hardball Chris Matthews was less excited than he has been recently, yet this more subdued tone actually enabled him to conduct a more interesting conversation. With Tea Party guests Phillip Dennis of the Texas Tea Party and Matt Kibbe from FreedomWorks, Matthews explored his fascination with the fact that so many Republicans still believe President Obama is a Muslim.

Although neither Tea Party leader was willing to dismiss the idea that Obama was a follower of Islam, Kibbe quickly said that if Obama says he is Christian then he’ll take him at his word. Dennis on the other hand was unsure, which prompted a lively back and forth with Matthews.

Dennis claimed he didn’t know what Obama’s religion was, but “if he’s a Christian I certainly don’t like the brand of Christianity he went to in Chicago for twenty years with Reverend Wright.” Matthews laughed at how Dennis was “playing the game” and Dennis concluded that it was hard to argue that “President Obama certainly has a soft spot in his heart for Islam.” Matthews responded that “I don’t think [Obama's] anti-Islamic and I wonder why you are?” However, Dennis wasn’t backing down and declared that he thought he had a right to be concerned with Islam, which he thought was anything but a religion of peace.

Matthews concluded the segment randomly asserting that “Democrats according to you are sorta vaguely Islamic anyway,” but more importantly demonstrating that debates with Tea Party members are more enlightening than talking with other liberals about the people with whom he disagrees.

Watch the clip from MSNBC below:

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  • espo222

    Gee, I wonder why some people think BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA who has a muslim father, may be muslim. Weird

  • Olby Sucks

    “My muslim faith…”

  • WCinWI

    I loved watching this segment live. Matthews is such a dunce.

  • Harry Flashman

    In related news, Chris Matthews is also amazed at peanut butter, snow globes, ships in a bottle (how do they DO that, he wonders) and the teensy size of his penis, which he calls, “Mr. Hoo-Ha”.

  • Powerslave

    Was he equally amazed when the doctor told him there’s a soft spot on his skull?

  • Harry Flashman

    Powerslave asks:

    “Was he equally amazed when the doctor told him there’s a soft spot on his skull?”

    Yeah, he was. It was last month.

  • http://www.zazzle.com/talkingpoints NORBIT Jr.

    But Chris, don’t all progressive Democrats hold that same soft spot.

    Here, as a test, try this:

    Just supplant “Islamic” with “Christian” for any controversial issue that arises, and ask yourself what tone and perspective your fellow progressives – and YOUR Mainstream Media – would have in commenting on it.

    There, I can see you nodding your head, so you do understand.

  • http://www.zazzle.com/talkingpoints NORBIT Jr.

    Hey Chris, here’s a quick follow-up.

    Remember when Obama informed us of what a germane role Muslims had from the very beginning of our republic, but, there were no Muslims here then?

    Remember how YOUR Media ignored that story, and covered up for the President?

    Ok, follow me now.
    Ask yourself how YOUR Media would have covered that story if it had been Bush, Palin or Bachmann who said it.

    There! I can see you nodding your head again.
    You’re a good student, Chris.

  • huntingtonboy

    Chris hit a home run on today’s show. Phillip Dennis of the Texas Tea Party and the people from the Iowa Fox focus group are living proof that the vast majority of our fellow citizens are just plain stupid. And this is backed up with the stats that reveal we rank around 24-26th in education among the 30 industrialized countries in the world. Stupid, everywhere !

  • WCinWI

    huntingtonboy said:
    Chris hit a home run on today’s show. Phillip Dennis of the Texas Tea Party and the people from the Iowa Fox focus group are living proof that the vast majority of our fellow citizens are just plain stupid. And this is backed up with the stats that reveal we rank around 24-26th in education among the 30 industrialized countries in the world. Stupid, everywhere !

    It’s nice when you take a sample and equate that to all people.

    I would indeed consider doing that stupid.

  • Scott_in_MI

    I think Matthews is starting to go a bit nuts. I know he OBSESSIVLY accuses Beck of being crazy, but this guy is becoming what he accuses others of. Look at the hate and vitriol coming from his eyes when he talks about conservatives. Can someone please keep an eye on this guy…I think he’s capable of flipping like that Tuscan murderer.

  • OxyCon

    ”I was a little Jakarta street kid,” he said in a wide-ranging interview in his office. He once got in trouble for making faces during Koran study classes in his elementary school, but a president is less likely to stereotype Muslims as fanatics — and more likely to be aware of their nationalism — if he once studied the Koran with them.

    Mr. Obama recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them with a first-rate accent. In a remark that seemed delightfully uncalculated (it’ll give Alabama voters heart attacks), Mr. Obama described the call to prayer as ”one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.”

    select.nytimes.com/2007/03/06/opinion/06kristof.html

  • Olby Sucks

    huntingtonboy said:
    Chris hit a home run on today’s show. Phillip Dennis of the Texas Tea Party and the people from the Iowa Fox focus group are living proof that the vast majority of our fellow citizens are just plain stupid. And this is backed up with the stats that reveal we rank around 24-26th in education among the 30 industrialized countries in the world. Stupid, everywhere !

    I know. We are so stupid we voted a community organizer to be potus. Talk about dumb…

  • Scott_in_MI

    huntingtonboy said:
    Chris hit a home run on today’s show. Phillip Dennis of the Texas Tea Party and the people from the Iowa Fox focus group are living proof that the vast majority of our fellow citizens are just plain stupid. And this is backed up with the stats that reveal we rank around 24-26th in education among the 30 industrialized countries in the world. Stupid, everywhere !

    Thanks to liberal policies in our schools. Take away math and teach self esteem instead and instead of science, lets teach about alternative life styles.

  • im_lovin_it

    NEWSFLASH: RONALD REAGAN WAS A SCIENTOLOGIST!!

    How do I know!? Let me tell you:
    1) Never went to church! How often did he invoke Jesus or God in his speeches??
    2) Wife followed ASTROLOGY!! Obviously not a true Christian.
    3) He was from HOLLYWEIRD!!

    BOOM!! IN YOUR FACE!!

    Sigh. Does that sound like an absurd argument based on nonsense? Well, that’s pretty much how all of this “Obama is a muslim” talk sounds, too. You can harp on his politics all you want, but still trying to argue that he is some kind of Islamic sleeper cell is…well….a little off the reservation.

  • Liberal Tormentor (formerly Seeing 2012 From My Window)

    Huntingtonboy says:

    the vast majority of our fellow citizens are just plain stupid.

    Only 20% are liberals like you. I’d hardly call that a vast majority, but too many to be sure.

  • WildMan

    The Idiot Chrissy Matthews is oh, so out of touch with reality and the real world. I don’t think Chrissy reads any books, mags or newspapers. Nor does he watch FOX News or CNN where he could get real news. However, he does watch make believe movies all the time. The guy has really lost it. Most of all Chrissy is a waste of one’s valuable time. Thanks to Mediate bringing us snipets so we can see what is going on in LSDnbc’s troubled waters. Comcast better come to the rescue quickly or PMSnbc will no longer be..!!!

  • Liberal Tormentor (formerly Seeing 2012 From My Window)

    Huntingtonboy says:

    And this is backed up with the stats that reveal we rank around 24-26th in education among the 30 industrialized countries in the world. Stupid, everywhere !

    Get rid of the liberal run teachers unions that stop awful teachers from being fired and that number will improve significantly.

  • WildMan

    huningtonboy = Idiotic, Moronic, Imbecilic Ignoramus according to Webster’s!

  • http://www.armwood.com armwood

    WCinWI said:
    I loved watching this segment live. Matthews is such a dunce.

    Tea Partiers are the dunces!

  • The Dweller Ysul

    WCinWI said:
    It’s nice when you take a sample and equate that to all people.

    I’ve gotta admit, you’re right, WC. The sample was wholly constituted of conservatives. One would be stupid, indeed, to extropolate the stupidity of conservatives onto the whole population.

  • Ninja

    im_lovin_it said:
    NEWSFLASH: RONALD REAGAN WAS A SCIENTOLOGIST!! How do I know!? Let me tell you:1) Never went to church! How often did he invoke Jesus or God in his speeches??2) Wife followed ASTROLOGY!! Obviously not a true Christian.3) He was from HOLLYWEIRD!! BOOM!! IN YOUR FACE!! Sigh. Does that sound like an absurd argument based on nonsense? Well, that’s pretty much how all of this “Obama is a muslim” talk sounds, too. You can harp on his politics all you want, but still trying to argue that he is some kind of Islamic sleeper cell is…well….a little off the reservation.

    I don’t think anyone really cares if Reagan was an astologist or scientologist. Most conservatives don’t judge others by their religion. Why is Matthews so upset that some people think that 0bama may be a muslim? I guess he thinks there is something wrong with muslims? Well now we can add religious intolerance to his other label as a misogynist.

  • im_lovin_it

    Ninja said:
    I don’t think anyone really cares if Reagan was an astologist or scientologist. Most conservatives don’t judge others by their religion. Why is Matthews so upset that some people think that 0bama may be a muslim? I guess he thinks there is something wrong with muslims? Well now we can add religious intolerance to his other label as a misogynist.

    I think the point is that if people see Obama as a muslim then they are inclined to think he will be “soft on terror” a “terrorist sympathizer” or “not a real American.” I really don’t want to dig up a bunch of old video clips that show that’s the sentiment, but do you remember “terrorist fist bump?” If most conservatives truly don’t care if he’s a muslim or not then that’s great, we can all move on with our lives.

    As for Mathews, no one should EVER have to defend that man. He is the “$5 gets you 20 minutes in the alley” whore of the media world.

  • tatboy

    armwood said:
    Tea Partiers are the dunces!

    Ooooooo… burn.

  • ChrisNH

    Collectively, I hope enough of us get Matthews so incensed that he spontaneously ignites. Then we can check Lib Media Hack #2 off the list and go after the others.

  • http://www.libertarianism.com/ Jack Burns

    armwood said:
    Tea Partiers are the dunces!

    Wow, such wit!

  • Jackie_Treehorn

    Liberal Tormentor (formerly Seeing 2012 From My Window) said:
    Huntingtonboy says:

    the vast majority of our fellow citizens are just plain stupid.

    Only 20% are liberals like you. I’d hardly call that a vast majority, but too many to be sure.

    Pot meet kettle Shelly….

  • Jackie_Treehorn

    huntingtonboy said:
    Chris hit a home run on today’s show. Phillip Dennis of the Texas Tea Party and the people from the Iowa Fox focus group are living proof that the vast majority of our fellow citizens are just plain stupid. And this is backed up with the stats that reveal we rank around 24-26th in education among the 30 industrialized countries in the world. Stupid, everywhere !

    But but we have freedumbs right?

  • Dem4Ever

    Chrissy is going to blow a gasket on the air and go on a killing spree and then put the barrel of his gun in his mouth and remove the top of his head.  He is exhibiting all of the text book symptoms of a psycopath.  He needs to be rounded up and placed in a mental hospital asap.  
    Chrissy, if you are reading this either seek help or just go out in the woods by yourself and do what you have to do.  Just don’t hurt anybody else.

  • Olby Sucks

    treehorn=tp troll

  • im_lovin_it

    Olby Sucks said:
    treehorn=tp troll

    Mr. Treehorn draws a lot of water in this town. You don’t draw shit, Olby Sucks! Now we got a nice, quiet little beach community here, and I aim to keep it nice and quiet. So let me make something plain. I don’t like you sucking around, bothering our citizens, Olby Sucks. I don’t like your jerk-off name. I don’t like your jerk-off face. I don’t like your jerk-off behavior, and I don’t like you, jerk-off. Do I make myself clear?

  • Olby Sucks

    Clear as mud, troll.

  • im_lovin_it

    Olby Sucks said:
    Clear as mud, troll.

    *crowd groan* Aaaaawwwwwwww!!!!

    I’m sorry! The correct answer is: “I’m sorry. I wasn’t paying attention”……well hey, at least you’re still taking home the crystal stemware set and a $8,583 in winnings! Thanks for playing!

  • http://gordonbloyershow.com gordonbloyershow

    Matthews should be amazed he still has a job.

  • John Michael

    Phillip Dennis said one of the reasons he thinks Obama has a ‘soft spot’ for Muslims is because he bowed to one of their leaders. Obama has bowed to no-Muslim leaders as well, so that proves nothing. Bush, on the other hand, has held hands and even kissed the leader of Saudi Arabia , but not any other foreign leader. It seems Bush has the soft spot for Muslims, according to his actions as president and the recent statements made by Glenn Beck recently on the looming ‘caliphate’.

    Even though FOX News claimed that Obama’s bow was “unprecedented” for an American President, Nixon bowed while meeting Japanese Emperor and Dwight Eisenhower bowed while meeting French President Charles De Gaulle.

    Not suprising, since FOX News is usually full of crap.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/David-Mangan/100000213524770 David Mangan

    gordonbloyershow said:
    Matthews should be amazed he still has a job.

    I do believe that with his current numbers hitting 500K viewers below Beck’s ONE hour with TWO hours of his vapid spew-flecked piehole disgracing the new Comcast owners, this will very soon be remedied by a pre-empive Olbermann-like shuffle-off-to-Buffalo.

  • John Michael

    Olby Sucks said:
    We are so stupid we voted a community organizer to be potus. Talk about dumb…

    Obama graduated from Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the president of the Harvard Law Review. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School. He served three terms in the Illinois Senate and was a United States Senator. You watch FOX News too much if you think he was only a community organizer. That’s like saying we elected a failed business man in 2000 (talk about dumb!). Do some research before you post such nonsense,OS.

  • justanotherconservative

    John Michael said:
    Obama graduated from Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the president of the Harvard Law Review. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School. He served three terms in the Illinois Senate and was a United States Senator. You watch FOX News too much if you think he was only a community organizer. That’s like saying we elected a failed business man in 2000 (talk about dumb!). Do some research before you post such nonsense,OS.

    wow. i’m impressed. he was never even present in the u.s. senate. he was too busy organizing, campaigning, whatever. get a clue. the guy doesn’t know what he’s doing.

  • Pablo

    huntingtonboy said:
    Chris hit a home run on today’s show. Phillip Dennis of the Texas Tea Party and the people from the Iowa Fox focus group are living proof that the vast majority of our fellow citizens are just plain stupid. And this is backed up with the stats that reveal we rank around 24-26th in education among the 30 industrialized countries in the world. Stupid, everywhere !

    Thank the teachers union and your touchy feely self -esteem loving friends for that.

  • zumpano

    CLASSIC MATTHEWS

    Its hilarious these TP guys who are like “I don’t know that he was born in the US”

    What idiots. These guys are not smart enough to collect grass clippings.

  • Nachi

    Chris is extremely naive when it comes to GOPsters & reality in general. He knows not how to play hard-ball.
    Still in the Pee-Wee league.

  • dahni

    I’d be pretty amazed if Matthews showed any sign of rational thought processes, period. All I hear is vituperative, demeaning descriptions of anyone to the right of Mau.

  • VoiceofReason

    Chris Matthews Amazed Tea Party Leader Thinks Obama Has “Soft Spot” For Islam

    and in other news MSNBC is saving for sweeps week…….

    WATER IS WET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Film at 11………………………….

  • AVORR

    You stupid lamebrain republicans believe the President is Muslim only because he is not a white man, period. Besides, there are many Muslim Americans fighting and dying for this America, don’t you nut-bug republicans know that? Therefore, what difference does it make what his religion is?

  • VoiceofReason

    AVORR said:
    You stupid lamebrain republicans believe the President is Muslim only because he is not a white man, period. Besides, there are many Muslim Americans fighting and dying for this America, don’t you nut-bug republicans know that? Therefore, what difference does it make what his religion is?

    Ooooo the race card….and before the bottom of page two….

    WELL PLAYED!!!!!

  • eingriff

    Has it ever occurred to bonehead that if Barry doesn’t show proper tilt and deference to Islam that the Indonesian Muslims he paid to conceal his Indonesian citizenship might reveal it?

    Can’t be both American and Indonesian. Can’t me a natural born U.S. citizen if not a U.S. citizen at all, even if you were a natural born U.S. citizen at the time of your birth.

  • X-3

    espo222 said:
    Gee, I wonder why some people think BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA who has a muslim father, may be muslim. Weird

    I don’t know, maybe you should ask his paternal grandmother.

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