Liberal pundit Chris Matthews explained Mitt Romney's support among conservatives, despite the candidate shifting toward the center on a number of issues, as a product of "racial hatred."

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Speaking after Thursday night's debate on MSNBC, Matthews accused Romney of "pulling back" from many of the foreign policy positions he had taken during the primary. When host Rachel Maddow wondered why Romney might be "reversing himself" from his stated positions during the primary and whether that could dampen his support among his conservative base, Matthews dismissed such a possibility.

"I think they hate Obama. They want him out of the White House more than they want to destroy al Qaeda. Their No. 1 enemy in the world right now, on the right, is their hatred, hatred for Obama. And we can go into that about the white working class in the South and looking at these numbers we're getting the last couple days about racial hatred in many cases … this isn't about being a better president, they want to get rid of this president," he said.

Matthews also dismissed Romney's position on potentially taking military action against Iran if the nation acquires nuclear weapon capabilities.

"Any jackass can talk about bombing Iran, but they never talk about the consequences," he said.

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