Via Newsbusters, Chris Matthews outs himself as everything that the Right claims Journolist represents in just one week. Over the weekend, Matthews discussed strategy with Newsweek’s Howard Fineman and John Heileman, and specifically suggested an emphasis on voter suppression — making the other party look so bad that people won’t come out to vote at all:

A few days later, Matthews simply takes the bull by the horns and starts employing the strategy on his own, scolding Jennifer Palmieri of the Center for American Progress for not employing it well enough for his taste:

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MATTHEWS: People disagree about it. But I don`t think going after the opposing Wall Street reform is credible.

Here`s a question. You got people, like Sharron Angle, who say they want to have Second Amendment remedies, if you don`t like Congress, like pull a gun out and shoot the Congress. You got people, like Bachmann, who want McCarthy — Joe McCarthy tactics.

JENNIFER PALMIERI, CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: Right.

MATTHEWS: You got a lot of crazy screw balls out. They`re not screw balls necessarily, it`s people.

PALMIERI: No. Right.

MATTHEWS: But their ideas are. Why don`t you — why didn`t your party go after the screw balls and say the Republicans are in bed with these nuts?

PALMIERI: Well, I think that was the point —

MATTHEWS: But this doesn`t do that.

PALMIERI: Apparently you think they could have executed that better.

Matthews wants to promote the idea that the Tea Party is the GOP, and the GOP is the Tea Party, which is not coincidentally the entire new theme of the DNC. It’s absurd, as anyone who has attended a Tea Party event could testify. Many, if not most, of the activists are unhappy with both parties, and would side with whichever represented small government, lower spending, and strong national defense. Unfortunately, only one party is even bothering to compete for those votes, and whatever Tea Party support exists for establishment GOP is necessarily reluctant at best.

A journalist, even an opinion journalist, would attempt to understand that nuance. An activist would just parrot the DNC talking points.