Chris Matthews v. Chris Matthews on "tribalism"

MSNBC's Chris Matthews, responding to Rush Limbaugh's claims that Colin Powell's endorsement of Barack Obama was all "about race":

"I don't know how you get into this tribalist talk.  We could make all kinds of assumptions, but we have no knowledge of a person's inner beliefs. ... You know what drives me crazy?  When somebody says "well, I know you're Catholic, so you must believe this.'  Or 'I know you're jewish, you must believe this.'  Or 'I know you're black, you must believe this.'  Give us all a break, Rush.  Let us think.  Let us think.  Let us decide."

That's quite a shift from April, when Matthews said:

What is the Catholic vote, Mike Barnicle? It isn't like a vote like, for example, if you're a Jewish voter probably you care about Israel, that's a safe bet. You have one key concern. I can't think of other groups that would make it that simple. But clearly, if you're African-American, you care about civil rights. You care about certain programs of the federal government. That's a generalization, but probably true. You're more progressive. But Catholics -- where would you put them? Is there a squirrel box or a rabbit hole you can put them in politically?

And from March, when he said of Obama: "this gets very ethnic, but the fact that he's good at basketball doesn't surprise anybody, but the fact that he's that terrible at bowling does make you wonder."

Despite his comments today, Matthews is among the most "tribalist" journalists in the country.