Video: Joe Walsh unimpressed with Chris Matthews

Fans of Joe Frazier might refer to this one as the Thrilla in Vanilla. Only this time, the Joe in question was Congressman Joe Walsh (R-IL8) and his opponent was certainly not in the same class with Muhammad Ali, since it was MSNBC regular Chris Matthews. The two met up for a brief interview which started off at a fairly chilly temperature and quickly went downhill from there. Mediaite’s Matt Schneider explains.

With the pleasantries out of the way (and by pleasantries I mean passive aggressive questions flying back and forth between the two men implying that the other had no clue what they were talking about), then the gloves really came off. Matthews interrupted Walsh’s response and said “let me ask you three questions,” to which Walsh advised “try one at a time.” Then as tensions began to rise, and as Matthews continued to suggest Obama was trying to be the reasonable one in the debt negotiations, Walsh had enough and unleashed the word: “tingle!” Walsh informed Matthews that the “the American people are beyond you” and unlike Matthews, Obama “doesn’t send a thrill up my leg.” According to Walsh, if anyone should be accused of wasting time it is the President, who did nothing on this issue for the past six months.

And just when the fight seemed to be calming down, both sides proved they were ready for Round 2! Matthews demanded to know “if we have a crisis in August will you resign?” Walsh thought the question was so silly, that he used that as an opening to launch a blistering attack on Matthews and his show. Walsh told Matthews “you bully guests” and “this is why people don’t come on your show, because it’s childish.”

There’s really not much more to add to that. So, as they might say on HBO Sports, let’s go to the video.