Chris Matthews: Rick Perry Could Be ‘Bull Connor With a Smile’
Hardball host Chris Matthews on Tuesday smeared Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry as “Bull Connor with a smile,” referring to the segregationist Commissioner of Public Safety who famously used attack dogs and fire hoses on civil rights protesters in the '60s. Left-wing journalist Wayne Slater, who has previously lumped Tea Party protesters with the Holocaust museum shooter, attacked Perry as someone who talks about “states rights, states right, states rights” and “could make some voters, again, very nervous.” In response, Matthews excoriated, ” Yeah. This could be Bull Connor with a smile. ” [See video below. MP3 audio here .] As a reminder, Rick Perry is a GOP presidential candidate. Bull Connor, as PBS' Eye on the Prize miniseries explained, turned “high-pressure fire hoses and police dogs on them, creating some of the most indelibly violent images to date.” It should be noted that both Slater and Jim Hightower, Matthews' other liberal guest, laughed at the MSNBC anchor's Bull Connor joke. Earlier, Matthews, talking to Slater, derided Perry's attacks on Obama: “I know you're an objective reporter, but I smell birtherism about this guy. His attack on Obama isn't just policy. It's about the nature of the person who's president. It seems to me.” [Thanks to MRC intern Alex Fitzsimmons for the video.] A transcript of the August 16 exchanges can be found below: CHRIS MATTHEWS [to Wayne Slater]:
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on August 16, 2011. Filed under