Chris Matthews mocks GOP poll plunge: Their name is worse than 'Mud,' it's 'Ted Cruz'

MSNBC host Chris Matthews picked apart the Republican Party's continued slide in the polls on Tuesday, tying it to Tea Party Sen. Ted Cruz, who he described as the "Mrs. O'Leary's cow" of the political tumult now associated with the GOP.

"I always tell people that they will only get one reputation in life," Matthews said. "Someone should have told the Republicans that. Today, their name is 'Mud.' Actually, it's worse: it's 'Ted Cruz.'"

Matthews pointed to a new Washington Post/ABC News poll saying the 16-day government shutdown did more damage to Republicans than it did Democrats, leaving the GOP with a favorable impression among just 32 percent of the public, an all-time low.

Matthews also mocked former Vice President Dick Cheney (R) for a Fox News interview in which he argued that the real "extremist" in Washington politics is not the Tea Party, but President Barack Obama, arguing that Cheney was only saying so to boster his daughter Liz Cheney's own political ambitions.

"I don't believe a word he said," Matthews told MSNBC contributor and former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D). "He's the most hawkish guy, and all those Tea Partiers are anti-hawkish. He's a big government guy, he's establishment, he's been in leadership his whole life, and now he's portraying himself as some soddie buster from out there in Wyoming with a pitchfork."

Watch Matthews and Rendell discuss the GOP's scramble for popularity and Cruz's efforts with analyst Jonathan Capeheart, as aired on MSNBC on Tuesday, below.