Discussing the scandal surrounding Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL), on the October 2 edition of MSNBC's Hardball, host Chris Matthews claimed that “in this case,” Republicans have “blow[n] it” on “moral behavior,” which he described alongside “stopping inflation and fighting wars” as issues that are Republicans' “best stuff.” But as Media Matters for America has noted, and as Matthews himself noted earlier in the program, the allegations that Foley sent emails and sexually explicit instant messages to underage former congressional pages represents just the latest example in recent months of apparent misconduct -- and potentially illegal conduct -- by congressional Republicans; Foley is the third Republican congressman to resign within the past year, and a fourth, Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH), has pleaded guilty to corruption charges but has not resigned his seat.

Additionally, Matthews's assertion that Republicans are “good at ... fighting wars” came just several weeks after he declared that he has opposed the war in Iraq “from the beginning,” as Media Matters for America documented.

From the October 2 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews:

MATTHEWS: Mark Foley, caught on the web, joins [former Rep. Randy] “Duke” Cunningham [R-CA], booted for bribery, [Rep.] Bill Jefferson [D-LA], caught with cold cash in his fridge, Bob Ney and [Sen.] Conrad Burns [R-MT], buddies of [convicted lobbyist Jack] Abramoff, Republican leader Tom DeLay [R-TX] and Senator George Allen [R-VA] in deep macaca. Will this magnificent seven drive voters to rebel?

[...]

MATTHEWS: With just 36 days before the election, will Foley remind voters just how much they dislike the current crowd in control of Congress? Serious questions remain unanswered. What did the Republican leadership know, and when did they know it?

House Speaker Dennis Hastert [R-IL], Majority Leader John Boehner [R-OH], Congressman Tom Reynolds [R-NY], the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, was there a cover-up?

[...]

MATTHEWS: Howard, this is an amazing story, completed now by the inevitable check-in to a drunk tank. I mean, do they all end there, blaming it on alcohol?

HOWARD FINEMAN (Newsweek chief political correspondent): Well, they end with drunk tanks and FBI investigations, Chris. I think this is a missile aimed straight at the heart of the Republican base, which is why Republicans in the White House and in the Hill are scrambling so quickly to try to get ahead of this fast-moving story.

The Republican Party has been built in the last 15 or 20 years on the notion that they are the party of family values.

MATTHEWS: Right.

FINEMAN: And whether there's a cover-up or not, which is one important political question here, don't lose sight of the outside-the-beltway question, which was one that was underlined today by the Family Research Council, which is Dr. James Dobson's allied group, and he has that radio show, Focus on the Family, they put out a statement deploring the fact, as they said it, that 16-year-olds are, quote, “not safe in the halls of Congress.”

They didn't plan -- blame the Republicans specifically, but after all, it's been the Republicans who have been in charge of this Congress for the last 10 years. The question has always been in this fall campaign, Chris, where the evangelical Christians, the Bible-believing Christians are going to turn out in big numbers to be the heart of the Republican machine. That's very much at issue right now with this kind of story.

MATTHEWS: That's why I stacked it together, 'cause I wonder whether the people don't get one big bad -- big bad smell out of this whole thing. They see the Abramoff guy, who's certainly not part of the moral majority, playing around with people like Bob Ney and Conrad Burns. Then they see Bill Jefferson, a Democrat but part of this sleaze, caught with $90,000 in cold cash, literally, in his fridge. And they see -- they may not be so bothered by some of the stuff with [George] Allen.

But I think you're right. I think the sexual scandal says, who's in charge. These kids come to Washington at the age of 16. They're still kids by any measure of the law, or of any family values measure, and they're entrusted, literally, in loco parentis, to members of Congress to teach -- their job is to teach these kids how public affairs work. And now, you've got the guy apparently -- well, the email speaks for itself and certainly the -- what do you call it? -- the instant mail speaks for itself.

[...]

FINEMAN: One key question is what the House leadership knew, when it knew it -- they formed a sort of circular firing squad, now, here, saying, you know, we knew this, we knew that, we knew this, we knew that. But what the Republicans right now are in the position of having to argue, Chris, that the Democrats are just as bad. You know, they've brought up stories about [former Rep.] Gerry Studds [D-MA]. They've talked about [Rep.] Barney Franks's [D-MA] sexual orientation. They've talking all day about what Bill Clinton did or didn't do in the Oval Office.

All of that is beside the point, if you're trying to protect your rule of the House and Senate. If the Republicans are reduced to arguing the Democrats are just as bad, then the Republicans have lost what they thought of as the moral high ground that they built their party on for the last 15 or 20 years.

MATTHEWS: Yeah. And you've got to be good at what you're good at. Democrats have got to be good at compassion, Republicans have got to be good at stopping inflation and fighting wars. We know the roles in this business. Everyone watching knows the roles. You expect good things to come from each party and weak things to come from each party.

But when they blow it on their best stuff, in this case, moral behavior -- here is Speaker Hastert trying to defend this situation today.