He's compared Newt Gingrich to Satan, spewed that Dick Cheney "created ISIS," and railed that socially conservative devout Catholic Rick Santorum wants to set up a theocracy in America. Yet for some strange reason, Salon's Joan Walsh just doesn't get why conservatives and Republicans think it would be patently absurd for them to let MSNBC Hardball host Chris Matthews to ask questions at a GOP presidential primary debate.

In her February 25 piece "GOP terrified of Chris Matthews: Why it schemed to keep 'nefarious' newsman from hosting debates," Walsh, who is all too frequently a panelist on Hardball, sneeringly deconstructed an interview that RNC Chairman Reince Priebus had with conservative talker Hugh Hewitt:

Well meaning reporters, myself included, like to reference Reince Priebus’s famous 2013 “autopsy” calling for greater minority outreach as evidence of a party that wants to open up to blacks, Latinos, Asians, women and the LGBT community. Just this Monday Slate’s Alec MacGillis, in an great piece on Scott Walker’s “stormy” campaign, asked whether “the party that [Priebus] said needed to broaden its appeal” really wanted to nominate someone as steeped in the politics of white backlash (my term) as Walker. Of course the Priebus report is pretty much the only such evidence that the GOP wants to “broaden its appeal,” and it’s been repeatedly contradicted by reality, but we persist. Now Priebus himself has identified his proudest accomplishment as RNC chair, and it has nothing to do with his widely touted outreach plan. He told radio host Hugh Hewitt Tuesday night that his most important achievement is “taking control of the presidential primary debate process” for 2016. Hewitt, fresh from hectoring David Corn in defense of his pal Bill O’Reilly, opened the interview with an effusive introduction. “I want to thank him, because it was because of his efforts that the Salem Media Group is able to co-sponsor with CNN three debates, in which I will be a participant,” Hewitt kvelled, continuing: “You’ve worked a revolution.” Priebus was just as obsequious. “Well, hey, congratulations to you and congratulations to Salem Media.” The two men go on to praise one another for their roles in protecting the party’s debate process from the likes of Chris Matthews. Literally.

Of course, there's no way on Earth that the Democratic Party would countenance say a Mark Levin or Sean Hannity from asking Democratic candidates questions in a primary debate. It's patently ridiculous for Republicans to let MSNBC, which has a solid track record of smearing conservatives -- particularly in the 2012 primary race -- to get anywhere near the debates.

One last thing. No Joan Walsh article on the Republican Party would be complete without playing the race card: