Chris Matthews doesn't like cheap shots. The Hardball host, who two days ago linked Ted Cruz to Hitler, on Thursday raged at a Republican Congressman for making a joke at his expense. Pennsylvania Congressman Scott Perry appeared on Matthews's show and aggressively fought back against the charge that uncaring Republicans want to shut down the government. This led Matthews to change the subject and attack Perry as a pawn of big oil: "By the way, why is a congressman from Gettysburg so interested in offshore oil development in the Gulf?"

After Perry explained how the Keystone pipeline could benefit the economy, he addressed Matthew's critique of the House bill: "I'm surprised that you read any of it, first of all." The wounded anchor replied, "You know what you can do with that? You can be excused, because you just accused me of not doing my job. And that's a big mistake here." [See video below. MP3 audio here.] Matthews added, "I wish you hadn't made that last remark. I think it was a cheap shot." The man who doesn't like "cheap shots" once assailed conservatves as "birth control Nazis."