Via Weasel Zippers. The money line: “Are you going to keep building your party with Dixiecrats, ex-Democrats, who think the Democratic party is too mainstream?” Savor that last word, as it suggests that a party pushing a signature bill that’s now -20 in net approval in some polls is the one that speaks for the great “mainstream.” The idea of a liberal silent majority goes hand in hand with the idea of the GOP as a radical collective, which is where the confederacy meme comes in here. Nothing new for “Hardball”: Kathleen Parker pushed that smear herself back in August during an especially insulting segment on why Palin fares well in the south while Obama doesn’t, but it’s a treat to see it paired this time with a blind assertion that the disintegrating Democrats are the true party o’ the people.

A reminder on the “confederacy” point: According to lefty pollster PPP, the top seven most endangered Senate seats are all held by Democrats and come from the following very much un-confederate states — North Dakota, New York, Colorado, Connecticut, Nevada, Delaware, and Illinois. (Tenth-most endangered is Pennsylvania, a.k.a. the land of Gettysburg.) Bear that in mind as you watch the first clip. As for the second, in which Matthews salutes one of his ideological heroes of yesteryear, that’s just for fun.

Update: From Politico’s new report on Griffith’s flip, a salute to the “mainstream”:

“There’s a real backlash in the conservative districts against Washington and the president,” said one senior Democratic operative. “In any right-leaning district…you’re going to see the incumbent looking at numbers they’ve never seen before.”

“I just think it really shows the moderates feel they don’t have a voice in the party, they don’t like where we are going as a party, and that should be troubling for Democrats,” said another senior Democratic strategist. “Less than a year into a Washington that is controlled by Democrats, they’ve lost hope, they feel disillusioned, and they don’t think there’s anything to stick around for.”