NEW! Matthews Mocks Palin, Supporters and Reporters Covering Her

Chris Matthews mocked Sarah Palin, her supporters and even some in the press who covered her as he went on one diatribe after another on Monday's Hardball. Matthews insulted Palin and her supporters by asking the Politico's Jonathan Martin if the Palin supporters he interviewed "take her seriously," and "Were they all white people?"

Matthews then went on to chide Martin and the USA Today's Susan Page for being "softened up" by Palin who "tickles all you guys under your chin" at her Gridiron Club appearance over the weekend, as he prodded, "Don't you essentially disrespect somebody who walks in and puts a book on the table and said they wrote it, when you know somebody else did?" and reminded them that Palin attacked the press during the campaign as he taunted:
She campaigned on her antipathy to the press trashing Katie Couric for asking the easiest, hardball question in the world, "What do you read?" She blamed Katie Couric for asking the most obvious question. She then went after Charlie Gibson, one of the nicest guys in this business and trashed him for being elitist.

First up in the segment, Matthews repeated his concern about the ethnicity of Palin's supporters:
MATTHEWS: When you went out to interview them, did they take her seriously as a presidential type? I'm not saying gonna vote for, do they see her in that league?
MARTIN: Absolutely. I talked to a lot of voters in that line because there was a long line and there was plenty of time waiting. And almost to a person they said that they would like to see her run for president. And that they would not just vote for her, but would caucus for her, too. That's an important distinction. Because a lot of her supporters are not party regular types. They have not, Chris, caucused in the past. So this would be-
MATTHEWS: Were they all white people? (continues here)