Matthews: GOP New “Party Of The Confederacy;” More Dems Will Switch

video

by Robert Quigley | 8:55 am, December 23rd, 2009

» 11 comments

On last night’s Hardball, Chris Matthews wanted to know: why did Parker Griffith switch from the Democratic to the Republican Party? “Are there rats leaving the ship? Is the ship sinking?” he asked. Matthews dropped the hint that he had heard that more Democrats would be switching parties soon. Then, as if to make sense of both of his statements, he supplied an answer: the GOP was becoming the “party of the Confederacy.”

From Hardball:

(video at the end of the post)

Matthews: “Why are Democrats switching to the Republicans? I hear more are coming, by the way.”

Later on, grilling a Republican strategist:

Matthews: You’re building a party off the discards of the Democrats. Are you going to keep building your party with Dixiecrats? Ex-Democrats who think the Democratic party is too mainstream?

Since the 60s, you’ve been building a political party … the party of Lincoln has become the party of … I don’t know … probably the party of the Confederacy.”

Innuendo of racism aside, Matthews does have a point, at least geographically. Compare this map of Congressional districts by party following the 2008 elections (via nationalatlas.gov):

With this Presidential electoral map from 1900 (via Wikimedia), squarely in the middle of the era of Lincoln:

(a slightly apples-to-oranges comparison, but still instructive — if you know of a good historical Congressional map, let us know in the comments section)

Hot Air Pundit has the clip:

And here’s the full segment:

Chris Matthews, GOP, Hardball, Parker Griffith, Party of Lincoln, Party of the Confederacy

straitshooter

This is the true gift Barack Obama has given the Conservatives. Now, every time the Democrats (Matthews, Olbermann, Maureen Dowd, Sen. Whitehouse, etc.) play the race card, they just look ignorant and desperate. They can try to paint the Republican party with a broad brush as racists, but the facts say otherwise. More than 40 percent of the electorate backed John McCain last November. Would Chris Matthews really have us believe that all or most of the voters who decided to support McCain are racist?

Republicans intensely dislike Obama’s politics for the same reason we intensely dislike Pelosi’s politics, because we think they are wrong. I am sure Barack Obama thinks Tom Coburn is wrong politically, but Obama is no more a racist than Parker Griffith.
m

There’s no denying the fact that the GOP is becoming quite a regionalist party. On top of that anti-science and super-religious…wouldn’t be surprised if the GOP won’t exist within a decade or two.
TfT

Your daily moment of Matthews:

Saul Alinsky is my hero.
Fidoohki

M says,

Sorry but if they go the way of the dinosaur, it will be because they were hopelessly corrupt
and has zero to do with being ‘anti-science and super-religious’.
http://www.nukethefridge.com MartiniShark

@m
I thought Obama was a church-goer himself, no?

What is telling in all of this is that one year ago when there was party-switching taking place in the other direction Matthews hailed the individuals as being brilliant thinkers who fled a dying party. Today we get fringe types who are possibly racist, and the Republicans – once criticised for not being Big Tent enough– are desperate to take in these troubled souls.
Nachi

Not bad. If you look up “Organization & Principles of The KKK,” you’ll find strikingly similar official GOP beliefs of today. Yup!
LNSmithee

When I heard that the Democrat who made the big switch was from Alabama, I thought, “Dude, get ready. After being on the ‘right side’ of civil rights your entire political career, you just turned into a racist overnight.”
TinaFromTampa

TfT …. you’re so clever!
If Mediaite has any chance of success, it will be in spite of you and ImNotBlue, who seems to think he/she/it has to offer their opinion on everything.
We just don’t care.
Oh, please comment.
ImNotBlue

TinaFromTampa says:
December 23, 2009 at 10:01 pm

If Mediaite has any chance of success, it will be in spite of you and ImNotBlue, who seems to think he/she/it has to offer their opinion on everything.

It’s funny… I don’t remember seeing Mediaite post anything that said, “Please INB… don’t respond.” But hey… that’s just YOUR opinion… which I guess you’re able to give… which I’m (for some reason) not.

But then again, since you’re just a stalker… this kinda shows a bit of desperitation from you, no? Stalking someone from site to site, and now begging them to stop posting. Really? Whatsamatter? Nobody thinks your stalking persona is funny, so you just want it to stop? Poor baby.
J Baustian

Matthews… Matthews… let’s see, that name Chris Matthews is vaguely familiar. Isn’t he on some low-rated cable network like CSPAN3?

Does he think he’s some kind of genius political analyst? Hah! Any decent political analyst wouldn’t bother to appear unless he gets paid for the waste of time.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Chuck-Varrick/1170421091 Chuck Varrick

All you need to know about Chrissy is he’s diabetic which defines his personality. My Mother was a diabetic and was prone to hot and cold moments in her life. One minute she was fine the next she was off her rocker. That describes Chrissy to a tee. I think the term volatile is the best way to describe him. Further proof it doesn’t take much in talent to be a screamer on TV.