MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews on Friday night after the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates debated in Manchester, NH described Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) as “wonderful.”

Matthews said, “I thought Klobuchar was wonderful. I’ve never seen her this good. I think what she showed this week is audacity, spontaneity. Don’t have it on the script. Be somebody home with the lights on. Somebody who is there. A human being. And that is how she came across — she never raised her voice. She was confident. She looked—I’m sorry, it’s weird to say this. She seemed like a president tonight. She seemed like president I would like to have as president.”

He continued, “Secondly, she had the guts to talk about the issue of this campaign, socialism. Some people like it. Those of us like me who grew up in the Cold War and saw some aspects of it after visiting places like Vietnam, Cuba, being there, I’ve seen what socialism is. I don’t like it. It’s not only not free. It doesn’t freaking work.”

He added, “Number two, she had the nerve to bring up the most popular public figure in the country this week, and that’s Mitt Romney. She chose to praise him, and I am my God. I can always tell a good politician who pays great praise to someone in the other party. You can always spot him. The Democrat who loves Teddy Roosevelt. The Republican who likes FDR like Reagan did. You can always tell great leaders. They give credit to the other side where credit is due. And damn it was great to see her do it. I’m afraid if she hadn’t done it, nobody else would have done it, and I thought it was great audacity.”

He concluded, “I think she’s a leader. She’s that the girl next door, the woman next door. I think she’s a leader, and she showed it tonight.”

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