MSNBC host Chris Matthews acknowledged 2014 is shaping up to be a tough electoral year for Democrats Wednesday at Al Sharpton's National Action Network Conference.
Matthews predictably blamed the Democrats' dismal odds on the GOP's "hate" for President Obama:
CHRIS MATTHEWS: This election coming up in November is going to be a tough one for the progressives. It’s just going to be tough because there’s a negative intensity out there on the right. They really hate, they know how to do that. They’re really good at hating. And you don’t have to be complicated about hating. It’s a simple message - "screw this guy!"
The "Republicans hate President Obama" talking point has been a favorite cudgel of Matthews and the MSNBC crowd, as The Washington Free Beacon's David Rutz points out in this supercut:
Rutz writes "Yet, rather than engage Republican and conservative criticisms of Obama, anchors and guests often dismiss nearly all of them as stemming from a 'hate' for the president. Hardball‘s Chris Matthews is frequently guilty of this, but others, such as Ed Schultz, Al Sharpton, Lawrence O’Donnell, and a gamut of hosts and guests, also head straight to that talking point at the first sign of trouble."
"Not dislike or disagreement. 'Hate.' That is a powerful word. It implies such an intense aversion that clearly there can be no rational thinking to any Republican critiques of Obamacare or minimum wage hikes or green energy cronyism or any other liberal causes worthy of debate."
"The objective is clear. This requires no advanced analysis, as any child could simply sputter that a peer’s disagreement simply stemmed from their 'hatred.' Also, it demonstrates not only the network’s obvious inability to cover the White House with anything approaching objectivity, but further proof of a bizarrely intense loathing of conservatives."