The big story burning up the political blogosphere today is The Return of Jeremiah Wright: The New York Times reveals that billionaire conservative donor Joe Ricketts and controversial ad man Fred Davis plan to spend $10 million to reinsert the reverend into the campaign debate this fall, and to use him to paint President Obama as a "metrosexual black Abe Lincoln." (We're not sure what's so bad about that, but nevermind.)
There already are plenty of smart takes out there on What This Means, how effective it's likely to be -- and whether that's even the point. But we noticed that the man who Ricketts and Davis have tried to recruit as a spokesman for the cause -- conservative black radio host Larry Elder -- has something of a history with our own Chris Matthews.
Last year, the Hardball host went on Elder's show to discuss his book, Jack Kennedy, Elusive Hero. The conversation did not go well. Elder began by attacking his guest for saying positive things about President Obama, and things got worse from there.
"You're screaming, Larry, why are you screaming?" Matthews asked at one point. "If you want to hang up, go ahead and hang up, Chris," Elder said later.
Listen: