Matthews: GOP Leaders Birther Collaborators

MSNBC “Hardball” host Chris Matthews Tuesday accused House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor of “collaborating” with voters who question President Barack Obama’s place of birth, claiming the GOP leaders are using the birther myth for political gain. Matthews also said the House leadership was allowing Obama to be framed as an “illegitimate impostor.”

Matthews

“It’s dishonesty. It’s not fair to the president as a human being – to be president of the United States and have some people saying he’s illegitimate,” Matthews said. “They know this hurts the president. They know it works with the base, and energizes them, and convinces them they’re morally right to … unseat this illegitimate impostor.

“You know what? I’m going to do something right now. I’m going accuse those leaders, and they’re very smart gentlemen – Cantor seems like a good guy and, of course, Boehner seems like a good guy – let me just say this: I hereby accuse them of collaboration,” Matthews proclaimed.

“I think they’re collaborating with the know-nothings out there. They’re collaborating with [what] has grown to be 51 percent of their party, at least primary voters, and they refuse to take them on,” he continued, referring to a new survey by a Democratic-affiliated firm, Public Policy Polling, which shows that 51 percent of GOP voters believe Obama was not born in the United States.

Matthews said the GOP leaders should “just say: ‘You guys are crazy, stop talking like this.’ Or: ‘Unless you’ve got evidence that this guy was born in some other country, stop talking like this. It’s not good for the party.’”