Obama Apologizes to Chris Matthews: '4 Years Ago I Gave Him a Thrill Up His Leg. This Time I Gave Him a Stroke'

October 19th, 2012 1:34 AM

President Obama apologized to MSNBC's Chris Matthews at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation dinner Thursday.

Speaking of his own horrible debate performance in Denver against Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, Obama said with regard to Matthews, "Four years ago, I gave him a thrill up his leg. This time around I gave him a stroke" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: This is the third time that Governor Romney and I have met recently. Some of you may have noticed I had a lot more energy in our second debate. I felt really well rested after the nice long nap I had in the first debate. Although it turns out millions of Americans focused in on the second debate who didn’t focus in on the first debate, and I happened to be one of them.

I particularly want to apologize to Chris Matthews. Four years ago, I gave him a thrill up his leg. This time around I gave him a stroke.

Of course, there’s a lot of things I learned from that experience. For example, I learned that there are worse things that can happen to you on your anniversary than forgetting to buy a gift. Take note gentlemen.

For those that have forgotten, Matthews' head almost exploded after Obama's performance in the first presidential debate this year.