Republican Joe Walsh Taunts 'Bully' Chris Matthews: Obama 'Sends a Tingle Up Your Leg'

By: Scott Whitlock Tuesday, July 19, 2011 6:53 PM EDT

Republican Congressman Joe Walsh didn't put up with Chris Matthews' "bullying" on Tuesday, mocking the liberal MSNBC anchor for his effusive praise of Barack Obama. Over the host's frequent interruptions, the Illinois Representative taunted, "Hey, Chris, your President, who sends a tingle up your leg-"

Video Here

Walsh appeared to discuss the debt ceiling debate and what Republicans are willing to cut. The Congressman jokingly referred to Matthews' famous 2008 remark that an Obama speech created a "thrill going up my leg." A seemingly chagrined Matthews dismissed, "Okay. Here we go. This is where I thought we'd end up."

The anchor resorted to arguing semantics, reminding, "And first of all, tingles is your word."

[MP3 audio here.]

Walsh continued to fight back, bombarding, "He doesn't send a thrill up my leg, Chris, all right? And he has not been serious about this debt crisis and why don't you jump on that?"

Later, Walsh slammed Matthews for his propensity to interrupt guests, declaring, "You know what you do? You bully guests. Answer me a question: Did the President ignore the debt situation in his State of the Union address?"

The Hardball host quickly talked over Walsh and went to break.

Matthews may argue about the difference between "tingle" and "thrill," but it's not the only such remark he's made. On July 27, 2004, during the Democratic National Convention, the journalist alerted viewers that then-Senator Obama had created a "chill" in "my legs."

Chris Matthews is just a political junkie that happens to get carried away from time to time. People love to bring up the "thrill up my leg" comment but he tends to fawn over sitting presidents. He has reverence for the Presidency and the president. He made the following statements regarding George W. Bush during his "Mission Accomplished" coverage.

MATTHEWS: What's the importance of the president's amazing display of leadership tonight?and
MATTHEWS: Do you think this role, and I want to talk politically [...], the president deserves everything he's doing tonight in terms of his leadership. He won the war. He was an effective commander. Everybody recognizes that, I believe, except a few critics.
and
MATTHEWS: Let me ask you, Bob Dornan, you were a congressman all those years. Here's a president who's really nonverbal. He's like Eisenhower. He looks great in a military uniform. He looks great in that cowboy costume he wears when he goes West. I remember him standing at that fence with Colin Powell. Was [that] the best picture in the 2000 campaign?
and
MATTHEWS: Ann Coulter, you're the first to speak tonight on the buzz. The president's performance tonight, redolent of the best of Reagan -- what do you think?
and
MATTHEWS: He looks for real. What is it about the commander in chief role, the hat that he does wear, that makes him -- I mean, he seems like -- he didn't fight in a war, but he looks like he does.

MATTHEWS: The president there -- look at this guy! We're watching him. He looks like he flew the plane. He only flew it as a passenger, but he's flown

MATTHEWS: Look at this guy!

Later that day on Countdown with Keith Olberman he continued:

MATTHEWS: We're proud of our president. Americans love having a guy as president, a guy who has a little swagger, who's physical, who's not a complicated guy like [former President Bill] Clinton or even like [former Democratic presidential candidates Michael] Dukakis or [Walter] Mondale, all those guys, [George] McGovern. They want a guy who's president. Women like a guy who's president. Check it out. The women like this war. I think we like having a hero as our president. It's simple. We're not like the Brits. We don't want an indoor prime minister type, or the Danes or the Dutch or the Italians, or a [Russian Federation President Vladimir] Putin. Can you imagine Putin getting elected here? We want a guy as president.

So he's just a political nerd.

Everybody has the right to be correct once in a while, it just took Matthews longer than most.

(07-20-2011 05:30 PM)smn1256 Wrote:  Everybody has the right to be correct once in a while, it just took Matthews longer than most.

I know he drives you guys nuts but he is entertaining and energetic as well.

(07-20-2011 03:41 PM)Mr. Peanut Wrote:  Chris Matthews is just a political junkie that happens to get carried away from time to time. People love to bring up the "thrill up my leg" comment but he tends to fawn over sitting presidents. He has reverence for the Presidency and the president. He made the following statements regarding George W. Bush during his "Mission Accomplished" coverage.
....

So he's just a political nerd.

Leaving out, of course, that the thrill up my leg comment came before Obama had won the white house...

(07-20-2011 06:28 PM)Bull_In_Exile Wrote:  

(07-20-2011 03:41 PM)Mr. Peanut Wrote:  Chris Matthews is just a political junkie that happens to get carried away from time to time. People love to bring up the "thrill up my leg" comment but he tends to fawn over sitting presidents. He has reverence for the Presidency and the president. He made the following statements regarding George W. Bush during his "Mission Accomplished" coverage.
....

So he's just a political nerd.

Leaving out, of course, that the thrill up my leg comment came before Obama had won the white house...

Touch'e

I imagine you would have no problem also picking out a couple of nice comments from Rush or Hannity and shrug off their body of work too.

(07-20-2011 07:33 PM)Paul M Wrote:  I imagine you would have no problem also picking out a couple of nice comments from Rush or Hannity and shrug off their body of work too.

Chris loved Bush until it became apparent the WMDs didn't exist then he along with myself and millions of others abandoned the president

Sure.

(07-20-2011 05:58 PM)Mr. Peanut Wrote:  

(07-20-2011 05:30 PM)smn1256 Wrote:  Everybody has the right to be correct once in a while, it just took Matthews longer than most.

I know he drives you guys nuts but he is entertaining and energetic as well.

Mr. Nut, I think you are on to something, Matthew's is a lowbrow Glenn Beck... or maybe a short bus version of Rush Limbaugh.

(07-20-2011 05:58 PM)Mr. Peanut Wrote:  

(07-20-2011 05:30 PM)smn1256 Wrote:  Everybody has the right to be correct once in a while, it just took Matthews longer than most.

I know he drives you guys nuts but he is entertaining and energetic as well.

His entertainment value shows up in his dismal ratings and only his IQ is lower.

Matthews probably know more about politics and the innerworkings of our government than any other 'pundit.' I hate how he gets carried away rhetorically but i love when he goes into story telling mode. He was the fly on the wall in those Tip O'Neill/Ronald Reagan battles in the 1980s. If you ever get a chance, you should read his book 'Hardball' that he wrote in the mid 90s. Its full of Reagan worship.

I like Chris, but he drives me nuts when he won't stop talking long enough for his guest to answer the question before he starts asking either the same question again or a different one.

I think in this interview he lost a glorious chance to let Walsh sit there and continue to just refuse to say what in creation he is going to cut, without raising revenues, in order to balance the budget.