MSNBC host Chris Matthews lit into his own network on Tuesday, denouncing it for playing commercials paid for by "piggish" conservative groups, Talking Points Memo reported.
"The cloth-coat regular Republican voters who send their kids to war are not the ones who pay for these ads. They're totally different people," Matthews told colleague Thomas Roberts, after Roberts played an ad paid for by the Foundation for a Secure and Prosperous America on his show. "The ones who send their kids to war and come home maimed and wondering what the hell they were doing it for, those people are not impressed by these goddamn ads."
The commercial criticized Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) following his entry into the presidential race, accusing him of being weak on foreign policy. Bloomberg View reported that the ad will also air in several states holding early primary elections.
"I certainly wouldn't put them on free, Tom. That's what we should stop doing," Matthews said to Roberts. "Stop running right-wing ads for free on our network."
"I don't think we can filter out the facts that attack ads have started," Roberts replied. When he identified the group to Matthews, the Hardball host huffed, "What the hell is that? Come on."
"The 'Committee for the Present Danger,'" Matthews said mockingly. "They're all front groups. They're hawkish, right-wing front groups. Call them what they are. Let's not pretend like some nice people got together and thought we ought to go to war and nation-build and knock off another government."
Watch Matthews' remarks, as posted by TPM on Tuesday, below.
