Let me finish with this contest of hate we’re watching among the Republican candidates for president. “How much do you — how much can you — hate President Obama?” It’s like those old-time events at the country fair: you pick up a big hammer and see how hard you can bring it down. The guy who gets the bell to ring — and ring the loudest — is the stud of the walk. I’ve said what I thought of Rudy Giuliani’s comment about Obama not loving the country, not loving it the way he and others like him were brought up to. That’s Rudy and it’s never easy to take back what you’ve said. But what truly astounds me here is the “ditto-ing” of his remark by the Republican candidates for president. They’ve had time to think, to talk to people, to hear people “react” to the “Obama-doesn’t-love-America” talk. And yet, with all the advantage of time and thought — except for Marco Rubio and Rand Paul — they’ve either agreed with Rudy or refused to give out a significant comment. The answer foretells what’s coming in the long battle for the Republican presidential nomination. The battle line seems to be “who hates Obama the most?” Who is positioned out there with the deepest contempt for the president not simply as a political adversary but as a man?If this continues to be the contest, count on a sad stroll to Cleveland next summer. Because the right-wing of the Republican party may be looking for its champion hater of Barack Obama. Most Americans are looking for a strong, can-do leader who comes from somewhere near the middle politically and can make the compelling case that he or she can take this country where it wants to go — to greater opportunity for our children, to greater security for us all, and, yes, to less stupid, wasteful, disgusting crap-fights over the kind of Mickey Mouse stuff Rudy has thrown into the arena.
Chris Matthews