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closed caption transcript:
Let's play "hardball."
>>> Good evening, I'm chris
matthews, welcome to "hardball."
Well, we're in a time of a lot
of frustration in this country,
iraq, of course, the lack of
health care for people that work
every day.
Gas prices going up, the
weakening economy that scares us
every day.
And I come on here every night
and try to wrestle with these
frustrations and also the
changes in our country.
We might soon have the first
woman president.
The first african-american
president or a man older than
we've ever elected before.
And, of course, we always treat
things here with hope, the
uniquely american hope that we
can actually make things better.
That we can make the greatest of
country, not only survive, but
as william faulkner said,
prevail.
In the midst of talking about
this, almost always without a
script and almost always on
tricky subjects of gender and
race and right and left and what
is in our country's interest and
who I think is telling the truth
and who I think isn't, I know
I'm dealing with sensitive
feelings.
I've accepted all of this as
part of the business I've
chosen.
This program, I'm proud to say
is tough, fearless, and, yes,
blunt.
I want people to react when I
say something.
I don't like saying things so
carefully and so politically
correctly that no one thinks
they've said anything.
What I've always counted on on
in all wild speeded up
conversations on
"hardball" and elsewhere on
television, is my good heart.
I don't care how personally
provocative out there, people
would know I'm not out against
them.
It was them I was rooting for.
While I was tough on individuals
who sought to lead the country,
I was not against the hopes we
all have for a fair shake.
In fact, a better deal for
people who have been held back
before we came along.
Some people I respect,
politically concerned people
like you who watch the show so
faithfully every night, people
who care about this country
think I've been disrespectful
to hillary clinton.
Not as a
candidate, but as a woman.
They point to something I said
on msnbc's "morning joe" the
morning after the new hampshire
primary, that her election to
the U.S. Senate and all that's
come since was a result of her
toughness, but also the sympathy
for her because her husband
embarrassed her by the conduct
that led to his impeachment.
Because he, and the words I
used, messed around.
The truth, of course, is
smarter, finer, larger than
that.
Yes, hillary clinton won
tremendous respect from the
country for the way she handled
the difficult months in 1998.
Her public approval numbers
spiked from the mid-40s up to
the 70s in one poll I looked at.
Why?
Because she stuck to her duty.
She performed strongly as first
lady.
She did such a wow of a job
campaigning for senate
candidates, especially chuck
schumer of new york, that she
was urged to run for a senate
seat there herself.
She might have well gotten that
far by another route and through
different circumstances, but
this is how it happens.
The rest is history.
How hillary went up to new york,
listened to people's concerns
and beat the odds as well as the
republicans to become a well
respected member of the U.S.
Senate.
I did say it right?
Was it fair to say that hillary
clinton took advantage of a
crisis to prove herself?
Was her conduct in 1998 a key to
starting her independent
electoral career the following
year?
Yes.
Was it fair to imply that
hillary's whole career depending
on being a victim of an
unfaithful husband?
No.
And that's what it sounded like
I was saying.
And it hurt people.
I'd like to think normally like
what I say.
In fact, normally like me.
As I said, I rely on my heart to
guide me in the heated,
fast-paced talk we have here on
"hardball."
A heart that bears only goodwill
toward people trying to make it
out there, especially those who
haven't before.
If my heart has not always
controlled my words, on those
occasions when I have not taken
the time to say things right or
have simply said the
inappropriate thing, I'll try to
be clearer, smarter, more
obviously in support of the
right of women, of all people,
the full equality and respect
for their ambitions.
So I get it.
>>> On the particular point, if
I'd said it the only reason john
mccain has come so far is that
he got shot down over north
vietnam and captured by the
enemy, I'd be brutally ignoring
the courage and guts he showed
in bearing up under his
captivity.
Saying that senator clinton got
where she got simply because her
husband did to her was callous,
and it comes across just as
nasty.
Worse yet, just as kmifive.
Finally, if anyone doesn't know
this, I love politics.
I love politicians.
I like and respect people with
the guts to put their name,
their very being out there for
public approval so that they can
lead our country.
And that goes for hillary and
barack and john and all the rest
who are willing to fight to take
on the toughest job in the world/
now let's get on with the show. whoa.
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