Rick Santelli and Chris Matthews

I have not changed my opinion of Chris Matthews. He's a liberal hack and positively infatuated with Barack Obama.

On Friday, Rick Santelli was Matthews' guest on Hardball.

Transcript excerpts

CHRIS MATTHEWS: Let me ask you a question. Did you vote for Obama or McCain?

RICK SANTELLI: I voted for Mr. McCain. It should be between me and my conscience, but I did. And you know what? This isn't a Left or Right issue though.

MATTHEWS: No, I want to know where you're comin' from politically 'cause you're comin' down hard on Barack. That's what I'm askin' for.

SANTELLI: No, I'm not. I am not coming down hard on Barack. I'm coming down hard on the notion that I don't see anywhere in the Constitution where if you work hard you're looked at as being dispassionate, being non-humane because you won't let your government redistribute what you've worked hard for.

I want to leave my kids a legacy, not trillion dollar deficits; and the ability to wake up every morning and try to be the best they can be, and if they work hard and they want to do things with the money they make, it should be theirs and it should be their decision. And I don't understand why our leaders need to be in between that dynamic. And I don't care if it's Left or Right.

MATTHEWS: OK, let's take that position all the way. Suppose we take the Ebenezer Scrooge - Rick Santelli position all the way, and we let those people just rot basically. They can't pay their mortgages...

SANTELLI: That's not what I said. That is not... No.

MATTHEWS: ...Kick 'em out, put the couches out in the street. OK, here's the question: How do we get rid of these... which I cannot stand one more banker, one more analyst from Wall Street telling me, 'We got this problem with toxic assets.' I don't want to hear it again. How do we get rid of this problem? How do we get rid of this problem? Do we just let people keep foreclosed and kick 'em out? What do we do?

SANTELLI: You know, I don't think there's an easy answer here. And I think charity begins with the individual.
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MATTHEWS: Hey, thank you, Rick. Your name is permanently iconized. The president of the United States has sent his spokesman after you. You're up there with Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. It's quite a team. Ha! You're probably the smartest in that group though, I'll tell you that. Thank you very much, Rick Santelli, for joining us.

"Ebenezer Scrooge"?

I don't think so.

Video.