On the program, Matthews said: "Let's not forget, and I'll be brutal, the reason she's a U.S. senator, the reason she's a candidate for president, the reason she may be a front-runner, is that her husband messed around."He explained in a later interview with The Associated Press that it was a reference to New York Democrats asking her to run for Senate when she showed dignity in the face of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. He called it an "unexceptional statement."
But now, Matthews said Thursday, "I get it."
"If I'd said that the only reason John McCain has come so far is that he got shot down over North Vietnam and captured by the enemy, I'd be brutally ignoring the courage and guts he showed in bearing up under his captivity," he said. "Saying Sen. Clinton got where she's got simply because her husband did what he did to her is just as callous and, I can see now, came across just as nasty, worse yet just as dismissive."