Matthews devoted several segments to the Democratic strategy of attacking Limbaugh and opened the show with the following monologue/diatribe:
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Leading off tonight. Pomposity on parade! Not since Snoopy challenged the Red Baron in the Peanuts cartoon have we witnessed an episode of such preposterous pomposity. Rush Limbaugh today challenged the President of the United States to come and debate him in his Palm Beach radio booth. What's the radio man thinking of? What were the Democratic wags thinking of when they invited themselves and the President into this walrus wrestle? Was it poll data that convinced them of the smart politics in matching themselves against the man with the mic, passing over such dashing conservatives of Congress like John Boehner and Mitch McConnell? However it started it's come to this to what happened today, to this ultimate jumping of the shark.
And before Matthews concluded his show he had one final cheap shot at the conservative talk show host's expense:
We're gonna have an award tomorrow night, a "Hardball Award," tomorrow night. And I think everybody who's watching knows who's gonna get it for dominating the news the last week. Somebody who's never been elected to anything, has no responsibilities on this planet except talking. Who has no duties whatsoever except to talk. Has dominated the world stage. He has dominated the debate with the White House. He has made himself bigger than even he was before and I mean in every way bigger. We're gonna give a "Hardball Award," tomorrow night to somebody really big, in more ways than one.
The following are just some of the Limbaugh tidbits from the March 4, edition of "Hardball":
MATTHEWS: Leading off tonight. Pomposity on parade! Not since Snoopy challenged the Red Baron in the Peanuts cartoon have we witnessed an episode of such preposterous pomposity. Rush Limbaugh today challenged the President of the United States to come and debate him in his Palm Beach radio booth. What's the radio man thinking of? What were the Democratic wags thinking of when they invited themselves and the President into this walrus wrestle? Was it poll data that convinced them of the smart politics in matching themselves against the man with the mic, passing over such dashing conservatives of Congress like John Boehner and Mitch McConnell? However it started it's come to this to what happened today, to this ultimate jumping of the shark.
...
LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: The President is gonna encounter real opposition to his agenda among Republicans. What they want to do is spin that opposition to appear as if it's coming from nothing but the nutty Limbaugh section of this party. If they can associate it with that, then that will help them overcome that opposition.
...
MATTHEWS: I tell ya it's Snoopy and the Red Baron, there's no doubt about it. Nothing like it. He's up there flying around with his goggles on and his hat. He's Snoopy! He thinks he's taking on the Red Baron. I'm not gonna stop with that one.
...
MATTHEWS: Here's Rush Limbaugh, I compare him to Snoopy thinking he's fighting the Red Baron up in the skies in World War I. This pomposity, this notion that the President of the United States is really gonna come down to your radio booth, down in Palm Beach and sit there and talk to you because you invited him in this sort of macho man number is only not funny to the people who call themselves "Dittoheads." I mean they take this guy seriously, don't they? I mean they really believe this is a serious, sort of challenge. Throwing down the gauntlet or whatever.
...
MATTHEWS GOING TO BREAK: I think the old line is don't get in a peeing match with a skunk, right?
...
MATTHEWS CONCLUDING SHOW: We're gonna have an award tomorrow night, a "Hardball Award," tomorrow night. And I think everybody who's watching knows who's gonna get it for dominating the news the last week. Somebody who's never been elected to anything, has no responsibilities on this planet except talking. Who has no duties whatsoever except to talk. Has dominated the world stage. He has dominated the debate with the White House. He has made himself bigger than even he was before and I mean in every way bigger. We're gonna give a "Hardball Award," tomorrow night to somebody really big, in more ways than one.
