Matthews Goes Numb: ‘There’s a Little MLK’ in Obama with ‘Bible Cadence That’s Just Overpowering’

October 11th, 2016 9:13 PM

Even though the Obama presidency is winding down and he’s not officially on the ballot in November, MSNBC’s Hardball host Chris Matthews showed on Tuesday that he has more moments left in the tank with this one having him go numb in hailing the President as having “a little MLK” inside of him with a biblical-like delivery.

Moments later, Matthews also embarrassingly oozed after a soundbite from the President holding a Hillary Clinton rally in North Carolina that “there’s something in that Bible — Bible cadence that’s just overpowering” making for “great stuff.”

Near the end of a segment with The Huffington Post’s Sam Stein and EMILY List’s Stephanie Schriock, Matthews brought up Obama’s rally before airing an extended soundbite of the President, in part, stating the following in support of Clinton:

I see young people all across this country, of every color and every background and every faith, who are full of energy and ideas and they're not going to be held back by what is.... Young, old, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American. Folks with disabilities. Men and women, all pledging allegiance to that same proud flag. That's the America I know and there's only one candidate in this race who shares those beliefs and who's devoted her life to it. 

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The camera eventually returned to Matthews and after smiling like a kid at Christmas for just a second, Matthews turned to Schriock and exclaimed: “You know, there's a little MLK there, just a little? Don't you think, Stephanie? I mean, there's something in that Bible — that Bible cadence that's just overpowering, great stuff.”

As Matthews was going along, Schriock added her feelings of infatuation for Obama, ruling that “[h]e’s extraordinary.”

The Hardball host is well known for the thrill up his leg, but the years since have provided plenty of gushy moments even within the last year whether it was Obama’s “magical” speech at a Clinton rally in Philadelphia on September 13, hailing his 2016 DNC speech as illustrating the way he “speaks about our country from the time I first heard him” to the President’s July 13 Dallas speech being “his finest hour” proving to Matthews why he’s “proud of many things he’s done.”

The relevant portion of the transcript from MSNBC’s Hardball on October 11 can be found below.

MSNBC’s Hardball
October 11, 2016
7:35 p.m. Eastern

CHRIS MATTHEWS: Anyway, here's President Obama tonight speaking to college students in North Carolina about a vision of America that Hillary shares with him. Watch this. 

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I see young people all across this country, of every color and every background and every faith, who are full of energy and ideas and they're not going to be held back by what is, because they want to seize what could be, what ought to be and I see Americans of every background and every faith, who believe that we are stronger together. Young, old, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American. Folks with disabilities. Men and women, all pledging allegiance to that same proud flag. That's the America I know and there's only one candidate in this race who shares those beliefs and who's devoted her life to it. 

MATTHEWS: You know, there's a little MLK there, just a little? Don't you think, Stephanie? I mean, there's something in that Bible — 

STEPHANIE SCHRIOCK: He's extraordinary. 

MATTHEWS: – that Bible cadence that's just overpowering, great stuff.