Matthews referred to Romney as "the well-sculpted Mitt"

On the October 4 edition of MSNBC's Hardball, host Chris Matthews described Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney as "well-sculpted," asserting, "Newsweek put the well-sculpted Mitt on its cover this week, with a look at his candidacy and his faith."

As Media Matters for America has noted, Matthews has previously gushed over Romney's physical appearance:

• On the August 13 edition of Hardball, Matthews said of Romney, "He looks like a million bucks. Everything is perfect. Everything about him is perfect -- his look, his manner, everything, the shirt, never rolled-up sleeves, the tie always tied." Matthews then asked, "That perfection -- is that the Republican Party of the 21st century? Is that what we're looking for, the perfect efficiency expert?"

• On the February 13 edition of Hardball, Matthews said that Romney has "got a great chin, I've noticed," and wondered, "[D]oes that mean he might not have a glass jaw?"

• On the January 19 edition of Hardball, Matthews said of Romney: "He has the perfect chin, the perfect hair, he looks right."

Other media figures have also joined in:

• On the May 30 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly said: "[Y]ou can't get more presidential-looking than Mitt Romney." O'Reilly continued: "[I]f you were to make up a guy, this would be the guy, you know, that looks presidential. He's got the jaw going on, the little gray thing in there." O'Reilly concluded that Romney's "presidential" looks bode well for his electoral prospects, saying, "I think that means a lot in America."

• In his June 6 column, Politico chief political columnist Roger Simon declared Romney the winner of the June 5 Republican presidential debate and attributed Romney's victory, in part, to the fact that he is "[s]trong, clear, gives good soundbite, and has shoulders you could land a 737 on."

• In a February 13 Politico column, Simon claimed Romney "looks so much like a president would look if television picked our presidents (and it does) that sometimes you have to ask yourself if you are watching the real deal or a careful construction." Simon continued: "Romney has chiseled-out-of-granite features, a full, dark head of hair going a distinguished gray at the temples, and a barrel chest. On the morning that he announced for president, I bumped into him in the lounge of the Marriott and up close he is almost overpowering. He radiates vigor."

• A February 26 Newsweek article by Jonathan Darman and Evan Thomas asserted that Romney "is so buff and handsome in late middle age that when a brochure from a recent campaign showed him standing, bare-chested, on a swimming float, he was accused of sexually pandering to women voters."

• On the February 27 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, Republican pollster Frank Luntz said of Romney's family: "If you've ever seen his wife and kids, this is a model American family. They're all attractive. ... [T]hey all got the look of the first family look, and the more that he brings that in, the more successful he's going to be."

From the October 4 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews:

MATTHEWS: Hard-nosed columnist Bob Novak, who proudly wears the mantle "Prince of Darkness," says that presidential candidate Mitt Romney, a Mormon, must talk about his faith soon, or it's all over. And Newsweek put the well-sculpted Mitt on its cover this week, with a look at his candidacy and his faith.

Novak reports today that, within the Romney campaign -- quote -- "the consensus is that he must address the Mormon question with a speech deploring bias. Campaign sources say a speech has been written, though 90 percent of it could still be changed. It's not yet determined exactly what he will say or when he will deliver a speech that could determine the political outcome in 2008."

— R.C.

Posted to the web on Friday, October 05, 2007 at 02:02 PM ET