Matt Sheffield saw him at a party last night in D.C. and asked him why, given the fact that Hardball was averaging more than one Plame segment a week before the scandal imploded, Matthews hadn’t done a single piece about it since. Answer: because he’s just a simple caveman. The embarrassing end to a trumped-up left-wing anti-Bush non-scandal frightens and confuses him.

Then he accused Bob Woodward of being an “apologist” for Dick Cheney who’ll say anything to gain access to him. And then he ran away.

For those keeping score, here’s a complete list of salient facts Matthews apparently deems too “complicated” to explore on Hardball:

1. The leak that blew Plame’s cover originated with Bush-hater Richard Armitage, thus exploding the theory that Bush and co. had themselves leaked it deliberately as part of a vendetta against her shameless, lying, media whore husband.

So there’s your list. Now, I need to eat a little crow (on Ian’s behalf as well) for having failed to update this post with a very, very, very stark comparison from the ghost of Hardballs past. If only Michelle had gone on there and told him how much she wishes Bush were dead. Imagine how much he’d have liked her.