Student: I'm for 'Expertise,' Matthews: So You're for Obama!

By Media Research Center
October 3, 2008

On the 5pm EDT edition of Thursday night's Hardball, Chris Matthews ventured out into the crowd of students on hand for the vice presidential debate at Washington University to see what they were looking for in a candidate. When one student responded, "I'd like a display of knowledge and expertise," Matthews interjected: "So you're on the Obama side, right?" Matthews then asked a different student, in an apparent shot at Sarah Palin, if a "candidate for Vice President should be able to get into Washington University?"

[This item, by Geoffrey Dickens, was posted Thursday evening, with video, on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

The following exchanges occurred on the October 2 first edition of Hardball:

     CHRIS MATTHEWS TO STUDENT: What are you looking for tonight?
     UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: I'd like, I'd like a display of knowledge and expertise.
     MATTHEWS: So you're on the Obama side, right?
     [APPLAUSE]

...

MATTHEWS TO DIFFERENT STUDENT: Do you think the Vice President of the United States, the candidate for Vice President should be able to get into Washington University?
[APPLAUSE]