Chris Matthews: Harry Reid Not Trashing Angle Because She’s A Woman?

I thought I’d misheard this yesterday, but no, that’s actually what Chris Matthews said in the midst of a roundtable discussion yesterday morning over whether the Tea Partiers had made campaigning easier for the Dems.

Cynthia Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution was speculating that “the Tea Party has given Democrats some unexpected help. In some cases Democrats won’t talk much about what they have accomplished, they’ll talk about how crazy the opposition is.” A dubious strategy since it inevitably begs the larger question: if your opponent is crazy why are they doing so well in the polls?

Responded Chris Matthews: “Harry Reid out in Nevada is not trashing his opponent, maybe because it’s a woman candidate, but he’s getting everyone else to do it because she’s such a fringe candidate.”

That fringe candidate, by the way, has been giving the Senate Majority leader a run for his money. Regardless, I cant’ decide whether Matthews is merely declaring the obvious here — criticizing Sarah Palin was a big concern ahead of the Biden-Palin debate in 2008 — or merely revealing his own bias. I’m inclined to think the former, Matthews doesn’t have a history of shying away from harsh statements on women candidates. Watch below.

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