I doubt you’d believe it if I didn’t have the transcript, but on Friday, February 9th, the day before Obama announced, Chris Matthews acted as if the madrassa hoax might actually be true.

What does this say about Matthews? Well, I’m not actually sure. A desire to perpetuate something he knew to be false? Or simply an almost complete ignorance about the facts.

I’ll let you try to figure that out for yourself from the relevant portion of his conversation with Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times and Jim Warren of the Chicago Tribune…

MATTHEWS:  OK, Jim, the same question.  How does she get—how does he get up to where she is, Hillary? 

WARREN:  Well, I don‘t think first and foremost it‘s a matter of money.  I think one can spend a little bit too much time in Washington and be convinced that this is all about money and high-priced consultants. 

First of all, he is going to have to exploit the celebrity status.  There are going to be a lot of folks in Iowa and New Hampshire for starters who are going to be coming out for curiosity‘s sake.  He has to absolutely knock it out of the park then and there.  He has got to make sure starting tomorrow that there are no huge gaffes.  He‘s got to make sure that he‘s not on the defensive when he‘s dealing with us. 

Already one seasoned example of the sort of thing that is going to hit him and I think that could conceivably stymie him, even the B.S. story about the, you know, the Muslim school in Indonesia.  As well as that I think was rebutted, the fact is I think it‘s done a little short-term damage.  And I have run into folks who have bought into that total, absolute B.S. 

MATTHEWS:  I know.  I have, too.  And the question is—people who care a lot about Israel, for example, are very worried about somebody who may have had hard militant training in Islam.  And people worry about our security.  Is there anything to that story that anybody really believes, Jim? 

WARREN:  No.  First of all, I don‘t think it‘s, you know, substantive and fair at all…

MATTHEWS:  That he went to a madrassah school when he was in Indonesia?  There‘s no substance to that yet.  Nobody‘s been able to harden that up.  It‘s just a push by somebody with a point of view? 

WARREN:  Well, remember, the thrust of the story…

SWEET:  On the contrary, every report that came out is that it wasn‘t true.

MATTHEWS:  Yes.  Jim?

WARREN:  … and in that sort of stuff, particularly in the world that we now live and the blogosphere, is going to be coming out.  And he‘s got to realize there‘s some lessons to be learned from the Kerry campaign and you better to be far more aggressive in making the counterattack.  We still don‘t know, based on the Illinois experience, how good is he going to be at that.

(my emphasis and minor transcript corrections)

Matthews seems barely aware of the complete debunking of the madrassa hoax. And doesn’t seem to notice or care that Warren says that it’s "B.S." At least Lynn Sweet states what any person in the business of political reporting should have already known.

It’s going to be a long campaign season.