Former New York governor George Pataki on Friday turned the tables on Chris Matthews for accusing conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh of rhetoric that is "alien to America."

In the opening segment of MSNBC's "Hardball," the host was doing his darnedest to make the case that Republicans, led by Limbaugh, are attacking President Obama for no good reason. 

After showing a montage of some recent Limbaugh statements, Matthews asked, "Does it matter that you`ve got someone on your side of the political world that is out there accusing the [Times Square] bomber of being a Democrat, like he`s on assignment from the Democratic Central Committee?" 

"I mean, this kind of talk is so alien to America!"

Pataki marvelously responded, "Well, it`s not really. All you have to do is watch some of your colleagues on MSNBC and you see the same type of talk from the other side" (video follows with partial transcript and commentary):