Can you imagine if in 2007 some conservative had dared call Barack Obama the "Little Mister" of anything?  The cries of racism would be ringing to this day.

But on his MSNBC show this evening, Chris Matthews didn't hesitate to denigrate Marco Rubio as "the little Mister Firecracker of the bombs-away set."  For good measure, Matthews claimed that "Cruz hates as well as any Republican in modern history."

CHRIS MATTHEWS: On the Republican side, the list that seemed ridiculously long this summer has shrunk considerably. It appears to be limited to the following -- Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz simply because he Cruz hates as well as any Republican in modern history. I just don't believe Ben Carson strikes me right now -- he strikes me mainly as an Iowa candidate like Huckabee and Santorum before him.

So, if you're a Republican what does this tell you? It could tell you that you've either got to shoot the moon with Trump and boy, would that be an exciting proposition, or think you're playing it safe with Rubio, the Little Mr. Firecracker of the bombs-away set. Cruz, I have to believe, would be an inaugural kiss to Hillary. America isn't made enough in either sense of the word mad enough to go that far.