Eric Cantor: potentially responsible for the death of school kids. That was the despicable depth to which Chris Matthews sank in his desperate attempt to stir up support for President Obama's latest stimulus scheme.
On this afternoon's Hardball, Matthews suggested that by refusing to spend hundreds of billions on PBO's latest list of supposedly shovel-ready projects, Virginia Republican Rep. Cantor is endangering the lives of kids riding school buses across ostensibly rickety bridges in his district. The Hardball host helpfully ran a scroll of all such bridges in Cantor's district. Video after the jump.
Matthews explicitly analogized the listed bridges to the one in Minnesota that collapsed in 2007, killing 13 people.
Watch Matthews collapse to a contemptible new low.
Watch Matthews collapse to a contemptible new low.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: I've said for months now I think the President should take his fight for this job straight to the Republicans and highlight actual projects in their own Republican districts, daring them to vote 'no' for projects that help and that in fact are needed in their own home towns.
Well, according to a group called Transportation for America, my new favorite group in this country, there are now more than 65,000 structurally deficient bridges in this country. Those are the bridges, by the way, we travel over all the time, and they are in need of immediate repair, maintenance or outright replacement. We can put Americans to work fixing them right now.
Right now, by the way, Mr. Cantor, listen up, I notice you vote for them on occasion. Ninety-four structurally deficient bridges in your district, Mr. Cantor, down in Virginia, where President Obama traveled to this morning to speak on his jobs plan. And throughout this segment, at the bottom of this screen we're going to be running the location of those bridges to give you a sense of all the opportunities in Virginia's district that is now represented--at least currently represented--the 7th District by Eric Cantor--may not be for long if he doesn't get those bridges fixed.
And you also can follow me on Twitter for more on the topic. I think we've got to take the issue of jobs and infrastructure to the people. We have to start talking about real problems, real dangers. When those school buses go over those bridges, and they start to rattle, think of Eric Cantor.
. . .
Look at the bottom of the screen. We're looking right now, we're putting these pictures up right now. These are the names of bridges in Eric Cantor's district down in the Richmond area that are structurally deficient right now. You decide what that means. By the way, that bridge that fell down in Minnesota: it was described as structurally deficient before it collapsed.
Well, according to a group called Transportation for America, my new favorite group in this country, there are now more than 65,000 structurally deficient bridges in this country. Those are the bridges, by the way, we travel over all the time, and they are in need of immediate repair, maintenance or outright replacement. We can put Americans to work fixing them right now.
Right now, by the way, Mr. Cantor, listen up, I notice you vote for them on occasion. Ninety-four structurally deficient bridges in your district, Mr. Cantor, down in Virginia, where President Obama traveled to this morning to speak on his jobs plan. And throughout this segment, at the bottom of this screen we're going to be running the location of those bridges to give you a sense of all the opportunities in Virginia's district that is now represented--at least currently represented--the 7th District by Eric Cantor--may not be for long if he doesn't get those bridges fixed.
And you also can follow me on Twitter for more on the topic. I think we've got to take the issue of jobs and infrastructure to the people. We have to start talking about real problems, real dangers. When those school buses go over those bridges, and they start to rattle, think of Eric Cantor.
. . .
Look at the bottom of the screen. We're looking right now, we're putting these pictures up right now. These are the names of bridges in Eric Cantor's district down in the Richmond area that are structurally deficient right now. You decide what that means. By the way, that bridge that fell down in Minnesota: it was described as structurally deficient before it collapsed.
