After Matthews again bashed Dems, Imus repeated canard that Matthews is a Democrat

MSNBC host Chris Matthews again smeared Democrats, declaring on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews that the Democrats are “a party of raising money and pressure groups and the same old crap” and on MSNBC's Imus in the Morning the next day that Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean was a “whackjob.” Yet in the same interview with Matthews, host Don Imus identified Matthews as a Democrat without Matthews's objection.

As Media Matters for America has documented, while Matthews did work for former President Jimmy Carter and former House Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O'Neill Jr. (D-MA), he has asserted that he has voted for President Bush “at least once”; noted proudly that he has “defended [Bush] against the liberal elitists”; attacked Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY); defended House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX); and hosted numerous panels that skewed to the right.

From a discussion of Republican California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's chances at re-election on the June 16 edition of Hardball:

MATTHEWS: I bet he [Schwarzenegger] wins next fall, because the best thing going for him is the Democrats. They're still a party of raising money and pressure groups and the same old crap.

From the June 17 edition of MSNBC's Imus in the Morning:

IMUS: How's Howard Dean working out for you Democrats?

MATTHEWS: Me Democrats, well, I think the fact that he is off tone, that he seems like over the top, a bit of a whackjob, says what's going on in the country today. I think we're going to talk about it this week on The Chris Matthews Show. This country is so moving toward the center, away from the whackjobs.