Bernie Sanders Gets Apology From Chris Matthews

Chris Matthews isn't one to freely dole out apologies, leading the New York Times to call one extended to Bernie Sanders "a moment of humility." The Hardball anchor had come under fire—with Sanders reportedly extremely bothered himself—over comments he made Saturday during MSNBC's coverage of the Nevada caucus, reports Deadline. Painting establishment Democrats as just as impotent to stop Sanders to as the French were to the Nazis' 1940 invasion of their country, Matthews imitated a disbelieving Churchill saying, "How can it be? You got the greatest army in Europe. How can it be over?" He then offered up a general's response: "It's over."

How Sanders communications director Mike Casca responded on Twitter: "Never thought part of my job would be pleading with a national news network to stop likening the campaign of a Jewish presidential candidate whose family was wiped out by the Nazis to the Third Reich." On Monday night, Matthews started his program by apologizing "for comparing anything from that tragic era in which so many suffered, especially the Jewish people, to an electoral result of which you were the well-deserved winner." He promised to try to "do a better job myself of elevating the political discussion" during the remainder of the campaign. In a longer look at how the Sanders campaign is going after MSNBC in general, the Washington Post notes Matthews' comparison itself was "flawed," as it ultimately ended up being over for Germany, not France. (More Bernie Sanders 2020 stories.)