Chris Matthews, the Larry Craig of Political Punditry.

Poor Larry Craig. The Left really enjoyed bringing him down because he had a reputation of being a pro-family and anti-gay marriage kind of guy. So there was a lot of enjoyment on their part when he was caught trolling for gay sex in a Minneapolis airport bathroom. “Anti-gay guy is gay” was the theme of a lot of the stories.

There are a lot of others versions of this theme in popular culture. American Beauty comes to mind where a macho guy is in reality homosexual.

I was reminded of this odd bit of history when I saw Chris Matthews on Andrea Mitchell Reports. Matthews is famous as a fan of Barack Obama who claimed that a “tingle” ran up his leg when he gave speech. Matthew also claimed: "I forgot he was black tonight for an hour."

To burnish his non-racist credentials he imagined that when Newt Gingrich called Juan Williams “Juan,” Gingrich was being racist.

The exchange between Williams and Gingrich during the South Carolina debate was a classic. It was a home-run for Gingrich who received the only standing ovation for any speaker during the Republican debates. See it here:

Note that Gingrich used expert timing when he addressed Williams as “Juan,” pausing just half a beat and giving the audience a moment to react –which they did.

The problem was that Matthews – like many liberals who are marinated in racism – perceived this to be a slight of a black man. Instead, it was a slight of the media, and done with exquisite finesse. The racism of Matthews who comes to the defense of Obama because he’s black and makes a point of “forgetting” that he’s black are great examples of a man overcompensating for his inner feelings.

Matthew is racist just as Larry Craig is homosexual; both are finely tuned to perceptions of their own particular idiosyncrasies. Craig sees tapping the foot of the man in the next stall as a sexual come-on. Matthews sees a mild put-down of a member of the press who happens to be black as a racist “dog whistle.” Larry Craig denies to this day that he’s gay; Matthews denies his racism. Two peas in a pod.