MSNBC host Chris Matthews stated that President Bush sometimes “glimmers” with a “kind of sunny nobility.” Matthews, frequently characterized by conservatives as a “liberal,” made the comment during a discussion with Washington Times editorial page editor Tony Blankley of the effects on the Bush administration of the investigation into the leak of the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame.

From the October 24 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews:

BLANKLEY: Well, there are bad and there are worse. First of all, I think that perjury proven beyond a reasonable doubt is a serious felony. I thought that seven years ago about Clinton. And I will think it this week, if that charge comes down and if the evidence supports it against Republican officials. But I think that the real question the White House and the president, personally, has to decide, presumably in the next several days, is how they're going to respond to whatever does come out, presuming it's not going to be a total clearance. And in that regard, I think the president would be ill-advised to try to minimize anything. I think he needs to make a clean break and set his administration looking forward and not get defensive. Whatever is going to happen is going to happen. The evidence is either going to be there or not. And if he continues to try to defend what is something which will be, you know, indefensible, if in fact there are indictments -- is going to be a mistake, and it will drag him down. What he needs to do is put together some new staff, admit whatever mistakes have to be admitted, and start moving forward. He's got three years left in his administration, and it's important for him and for the country that he be functional.

MATTHEWS: You know, Tony, there is in the past, it's not always there, but sometimes it glimmers with this man, our president, that kind of sunny nobility. How does he bring it back, because it hasn't been apparent for a while now?

BLANKLEY: Well, he's had a very, very hard last three months, and he's had a pretty difficult administration because of all the -- well, the way it is. But I think that if he is straightforward with himself first, and then with the public, he can get back to an agenda and start moving forward. But if he gets locked in to defending the indefensible, then it's just going to get -- go from bad to very worse.