Ignoring Dean, Matthews claims that “netroots” critics of health care reform “never ran for office”
Published
On his MSNBC show, Chris Matthews attacked what New York magazine writer John Heilemann called “the Democratic left” who have “trash[ed] the health care bill and attack[ed] the president; Matthews stated: ”I don't consider them Democrats. I consider them netroots," and added, “I think a lot of those people are troublemakers who love to sit in the back seat and complain. They're not interested in governing this country. They never ran for office, they're not interested in working for somebody in public office.” In fact, Howard Dean, who, as The New York Times reported, “has urged the Senate to scrap the bill and start from scratch,” ran for president in the 2004 Democratic primary after having served for more than 11 years as governor of Vermont.