Chris Matthews Defending Hillary: FDR Was 'Secretive' and Turned Out Best President of 20th Century

May 21st, 2015 8:46 PM

Wrapping up a segment dealing with fresh revelations from newly-released Hillary Clinton emails pertaining to  Benghazi, MSNBC Hardball host Chris Matthews on Thursday night dutifully spun that Hillary's "secretive" nature was not a drawback but may in fact be a net positive, comparing her to  "secretive" and "manipulative" FDR, who, in Matthews's estimation, was America's best president of the 20th century, if not the entire history of the Republic.

Here's the relevant transcript.

MSNBC
Hardball
May 21, 2015
7:24 p.m. Eastern

CHRIS MATTHEWS:  I think that [Bloomberg TV] focus group is fascinating. Because, it seems to me there is something -- Franklin Roosevelt, probably the best president we ever had, certainly in the 20th century, was very secretive and manipulative. And we still thought he was a good president. So if Hillary Clinton is secretive, we know that, is that going to help us get any further here?