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MSNBC's most viewed in 2012: Chris Matthews calls out RNC 'playing race card'

Woe unto any Republican who tries to pull a fast one on Chris Matthews.
Photo by: Heidi Gutman/msnbc
Photo by: Heidi Gutman/msnbc

Woe unto any Republican who tries to pull a fast one on Chris Matthews.

The Hardball host challenged RNC Chairman Reince Preibus after then-presidential candidate Mitt Romney joked about President Obama's birth certificate. A charged-up Matthews accused Republicans of sending out dog-whistle racial messages to their base through comments about welfare, food stamps, and the president's birthplace.

"I have to call you out on this," Matthews said during the Morning Joe segment. "It is an embarrassment to  your party, to play that card. This stuff about getting rid of the work requirement for welfare is dishonest, everyone has pointed out it's dishonest. And you are playing that little ethnic card there, and you can play your games and giggle about it but the fact is, your side is playing that card."

That was just the beginning.

The fireworks really flew around the 3:47 mark when Preibus claimed that Obama was looking to Europe as a model for his economic policy. Joe Scarborough, for once, was speechless.

Next on the most viewed: Melissa Harris Perry explains that there is nothing riskier than being poor in America.