The Media Research Council catches Chris Matthews slobbering over the President.

President George W. Bush's aircraft carrier production impressed MSNBC's Chris Matthews, a former Democratic political operative and a vociferous opponent of Bush's Iraq policy.

Before Bush's address from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, recalling Bush's arrival via Navy jet in full pilot's gear, Matthews raved about how “Americans love having a guy as President, a guy who has a little swagger” since “we like having a hero as our President.” After the speech, Matthews hailed how not since JFK have we seen “this kind of love of the troops for their Commander-in-Chief. These guys would take a bullet for this guy.”

For a liberal Democrat like Matthews, invoking JFK is the ultimate tribute.

MRC analyst Brad Wilmouth took down some of Matthews' comments. At about 8:58pm EDT, Matthews maintained:
“We’re proud of our President. Americans love having a guy as President. A guy who has a little swagger, who’s physical, who’s not a complicated guy like Clinton or even like Dukakis or Mondale, all those guys, McGovern. They want a guy who’s President. Women like a guy who’s President. Check it out. Women like this war. I think they, we like having a hero as our President. It’s simple. We’re not like the Brits. We don’t want an indoor prime minister type or the Danes or the Dutch or the Italians or Putin....We want a guy as President. And by the way, the Democrats for years have made fun of Republicans like Ike who defeated the Nazis and received the Nazi surrender, and Ronald Reagan who was probably the most evocative person for the World War II generation. And this guy, they always make fun of them for being simple. And guess what. They always win two terms and they’re always right.”

Just after Bush finished, over video of Bush shaking hands with crew members on deck, Matthews trumpeted: “I think that bonding you’re seeing right now in that television right now is to me the most powerful message of the night, his closeness with the troops. They’re cheering for him relentlessly, there’s smiles on every face in the camera, which is something you never saw, or at least not in recent history going back until JFK to see this kind of love of the troops for their Commander-in-Chief. These guys would take a bullet for this guy, and I think that’s the big message tonight, Lester.”