Another Bush critic smeared.

The only way Putz and his buddy Hugh Hewitt deal with critics of the war and the President these days is to attack them personally. John Murtha is a "disgrace." John Kerry is a traitor and an embarrassment. Fellow conservatives who dare challenge Bush’s prosecution of the war are “flip-floppers”, “180s”, and embittered "Bush-haters."

Now, Chris Matthews, even though he’s frequently lavished praise on the President, and has admitted on the air that he voted for Bush, is now deemed insane and incoherent because he’s criticized Bush's foreign policy.

A CHRIS MATTHEWS MELTDOWN: Transcript and audio available here. He has a rather shaky grasp of reality, judging by these comments. I can't do better than quote Don Imus's observation: "That is really just an...that is just an absurd, ridiculous position. I'm just...I'm almost embarrassed that you've said that.

"UPDATE: Indeed: "When next the elders of the MSM tribe gather to moan the loss of civility in politics, I hope somebody brings along this tape." Though the problem is less a lack of civility than a lack of coherence.

The “ridiculous position” referenced here is Matthews’ claim that the Lieberman/Lamont race is a referendum on the war – exactly the same analysis Putz has made again and again.

And Putz fails to mention here that Imus is a Lieberman supporter.

Some other choice exchanges not mentioned in Putz's post:

Matthews: I think Condi Rice went over there yesterday with the Israeli demands. She didn't have the American demands... It's like we don't have an independent role in the world now. …There's Condi Rice. It's a joke. They know we're just there as a friend of Israel, and that's how we're seen. And even Malaki, the head of Iraq, is dumping on us. And we put him in there. I think it's a real failure of an administration not to have an independent power role in that region, and it's going to hurt like mad in the next couple of weeks, because we can't play referee now. Everybody knows whose side we're on, 100%.

DI: Well, you're absolutely right about that…

Matthews: At some point, you've just got to say we're not getting anywhere here. This president is so commited to his neocon philosophy, whatever you want to call it, this point of view which is always right wing. It's always fight, never negotiate, invade, then hold elections so we can lose the election, and then talk to our enemy. They never talked to Iran…We don't even talk to Syria, which I don't get. Why we don't have relations with Syria...I mean, you don't make friends with your friends. They're already your friends. You try to find some deal you can cut with the other side. That's why you have a State Department.

DI: I had a conversation with Andrea Mitchell yesterday, from there, she just landed in Beirut with Secretary Rice, and they were going somewhere, wherever they are today, the West Bank. I said why don't you go to Syria and talk to that clown? And you're right.

CM: If you vote for Lieberman, he's not going to change his position. He's going to be for the war, and he's...and the president will be...the first phone call he gets will be from Bush saying congratulations, Joe, for hanging in there, and that's pretty much his problem. He's gotten connected to this president.

DI: Yeah, but I mean, if you listen to Lieberman out on the campaign trail, and in that debate and so on, I mean, there's a lot of...he's 180 degrees from the President on almost every other issue, other than his idiotic position on the war. But I mean, my position is it's not enough reason to throw the guy out of office, because he's made the unfortunate mistake of supporting this ridiculous war.

CM: Well, it's not a mistake. It's not a youthful indiscretion. Look, he's where he stands. He's further right than the President, probably.