MSNBC's Chris Matthews implied that Republicans disagreeing with President Barack Obama or his policies are bigoted, and that racism shrouds everyday American life.
"We're swimming in it, to some extent, and we don’t know how to define it or limit it," Matthews said in introducing a segment on Republicans and race during Monday's edition of "Hardball."
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After noting the races of guests James Peterson and Howard Kurtz, Matthews delved into the top of race relations in America, which he called "tricky business."
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"We grew up in a country that had slavery for 350 years, had Jim Crow for 100," Matthews said. "We have racial segregation in housing, which is unbelievable. There is an untold amount of it still in business, which you can't isolate, and then we sit around like purists and say, 'Oh, I detect some racism here.' It's all around us."
From there, Matthews raised the issue of Obama's birth certificate, which was also a topic of discussion on his April 11 show, and tore into House Speaker John Boehner for "playing the birther card."
"John Boehner has refused to challenge the nut balls in his party who believe in birtherism," Matthews said. "That's not even racism. That's racism plus stupidity. To think this guy's white mother from Kansas headed over to Africa to have the kid over there and have a kid named Barack Hussein Obama elected president in 40 years. That's insane kind of thinking."
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