Chris Matthews, the host of MSNBC’s “Hardball,” over the weekend hit the politics of former President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for belittling the little guy, who in turn reacted by voting for their opponents.

New Chris Matthews book.

In Miami for a book signing, and videoed by C-SPAN, he didn’t mention their names, but cited Clinton’s “deplorables” slap at President Trump’s supporters and Obama’s hit on small town Americans who “cling to their guns or religion.”

Matthews was promoting his well-received book on Bobby Kennedy, who he admires because he didn’t have the glamor of former President John F. Kennedy. “He’s more like us,” he told his crowd.

Matthews noted that Robert F. Kennedy wasn’t his father’s favorite, “and maybe that’s why he understood the overlooked.”

At that point, he turned to today’s politics:

“Ever since we started this Archie Bunker thing in the early ‘70s, making fun of white working people, we kissed them goodbye. You make fun of people, you look down on them, they get the message. You call them ‘deplorables,’ they hear it. You bet they hear it.

“You say they cling to their guns and religion? Oh yeah? I cling to my religion. OK. I’m a little person, and you’re a big person. Thank you, I’ll be voting for the other guy this time.”

Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com