attack on President Obama accusing him of 'giving aid and comfort to the enemy'. Just how much self-loathing does Ron Christie have to a) be a Republican to begin with and b) to carry that much water for Dick Cheney? God what a tool.

Transcript via Lexis Nexis.

MATTHEWS: Ron, you`re an attorney, and I respect your professionalism, but let`s take a look at the Constitution, Article 3, Section 3 of the United States Constitution, treason against the United States. Here`s how it`s defined. According to the Constitution, the United States shall consist -- it shall consist only in levying war against them or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. The very language of the Constitution which defines treason he has now leveled against the president of the United States. You don`t have a problem with that?

CHRISTIE: I...

MATTHEWS: "Aid and comfort" is a particular constitutional set of words, "aid and comfort to the enemy" in this case. You don`t have any problem with him charging the president with doing that?

CHRISTIE: We are giving...

MATTHEWS: You don`t have any problem with that wording?

CHRISTIE: No, I don`t.

MATTHEWS: ... that wording.

CHRISTIE: We are giving aid and comfort to the enemy. And to my friend, Ron Reagan, I would say, no, this has nothing to do with our justice system. It has everything to do with our justice system. The Bush administration didn`t condone terrorism. I don`t understand why you would condone a system where people who are terrorists, who are captured on the battlefield, who were not given Miranda rights, would then be allowed to come into open court, be able to challenge the evidence against them.

It would make a mockery of our system, to say nothing of the fact, Ron, that the president of the United States and the attorney general have said, Oh, they`ll be convicted and executed. As a defense attorney, I can tell you those attorneys are going to say, We can`t get a good jury pool because the president and the attorney general have already condemned the well. It`s ridiculous!

REAGAN: Not allowing them their day in court would make a mockery of our constitutional principles, Ron, and I think you ought to know that as a lawyer.

CHRISTIE: I do know that, Ron, but I`d say to you military commissions and tribunals have been used since the Civil War. They did it with those who sought to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. We established it after Congress complained about it during the Bush years. We put this system in place. We have those people in Guantanamo Bay.

MATTHEWS: OK...

CHRISTIE: This is a terrible mistake.

MATTHEWS: Let me -- the Constitution defines a traitor as someone who gives aid and comfort to the enemy. Is he a traitor, the president of the United States?

CHRISTIE: No. He`s not a traitor.

MATTHEWS: Well, the constitutional language is clear here, so the vice president has used that, employed that specific language. You say you have no problem with it, but the language is clear. You`re an attorney of the court here of public opinion. You really think it`s fair to accuse the president of giving aid and comfort to the enemy, using those very words the Constitution defines as treason? You have no problem with that?

CHRISTIE: The third time is the charm, Chris.

MATTHEWS: With calling him a traitor.

CHRISTIE: The third time is the charm. Yes, it will give aid and comfort to al Qaeda to bring those people in the courtroom.

MATTHEWS: Well...

CHRISTIE: And no, Dick Cheney did not say that the president`s a traitor and he did not say it`s treasonous.

MATTHEWS: But I`m asking you, is he guilty of giving aid and comfort to the enemy?

CHRISTIE: Yes. By bringing these folks in here, yes.

MATTHEWS: And the Constitution defines that as treason.

CHRISTIE: Chris, you`re trying to mince words here...

MATTHEWS: I`m asking! I`m not mincing words. Here it is.

CHRISTIE: The Constitution of the United States is one thing. The vice president did not say...

MATTHEWS: OK, so he doesn`t...

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS: He`s not using constitutional language, you`re saying.

CHRISTIE: No. The vice president said that it`s giving aid and comfort to the enemy. He didn`t say, I`m defining that...

MATTHEWS: OK, so in other words...

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS: OK, so he`s not using constitutional language.

CHRISTIE: The vice president...

MATTHEWS: Just say it.

CHRISTIE: Chris, you can use words...

MATTHEWS: I`m asking!

CHRISTIE: You can use words strung together and say, Are they constitutional language...

MATTHEWS: I didn`t string them together!

CHRISTIE: ... or not. The vice president said...

MATTHEWS: I think it`ll give aid and comfort to the enemy, the vice president...

CHRISTIE: That`s exactly right.

MATTHEWS: You want to play it again?

CHRISTIE: We can play it again.

MATTHEWS: And you have no problem with that...

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS: OK, let`s go on...

CHRISTIE: I don`t have a problem with that.

MATTHEWS: ... to some of the other language. The president -- the vice president, again on "Hannity" last night, said -- let me get this (INAUDIBLE) "When you have a" -- well, let`s look at this. This is about American exceptionalism. Let`s listen to that bite, American exceptionalism last night.

Well, here`s what he said. Cheney last night said, "When you have a president who goes around and bows to his host" -- he`s talking about Japan, obviously -- "and then proceeds to apologize profusely for the United States, I find that deeply disturbing. And that says to me this is a guy who doesn`t fully understand or share that view of American exceptionalism that I think most of us believe in."

And you don`t think he believes in America as an exceptional country?

CHRISTIE: I wonder...

MATTHEWS: Vice president (INAUDIBLE)

CHRISTIE: I wonder why the president of the United States would go over bow and put himself in front of other leaders and why he would go out and say things like, America has been arrogant. He`s the president of the United States...

MATTHEWS: We can argue about whether...

CHRISTIE: He speaks for all...

MATTHEWS: ... he should have bowed or not. I`ve gone after that. But are you saying, A, he gives aid and comfort to the enemy, and he doesn`t believe America as an exceptional place?

CHRISTIE: I think he...

MATTHEWS: You think he doesn`t believe that?

CHRISTIE: I think he`s giving aid and comfort -- this is the fourth time I`ll say it. I believe...

MATTHEWS: OK, do you believe he doesn`t believe in American exceptionalism, as a special place?

CHRISTIE: I hope he does, though none of his public statements have given me reason to believe that he does.

MATTHEWS: Well, let`s take a look. Here`s President Barack Obama. You say he does.

CHRISTIE: I say he does what?

MATTHEWS: He does believe this is a special country.

CHRISTIE: I hope he does. He`s the president of the United States.

MATTHEWS: Well, why is the vice president -- former vice president saying he doesn`t? Ron, you get in here. I`ve never -- these charges are so essential. It`s almost like the birther crowd. It`s so essentially when you say the guy gives aid and comfort to the enemy and really he doesn`t share his love of country that we have here. I mean, when you go after those essential things -- you`re not arguing with him whether he should bow to a Japanese emperor. Now, I don`t think he should have bowed or not. I have a problem with the trial in New York. But these personal attacks on the president of the United States get to the question of his legitimacy. To say he doesn`t -- he`s giving aid and comfort to the enemy -- well, he shouldn`t be president if he does that. Number two...

REAGAN: I agree.

MATTHEWS: ... if he`s an American -- if he doesn`t believe in American exceptionalism, how the hell did he ever get elected? Your thoughts, Ron.

REAGAN: Look, I think -- I think we`re seeing the way the right likes to and then Dick Cheney perhaps likes to have it both ways. I mean, aid and comfort to the enemy, but I`m not calling him a traitor, I`m just using language that our Constitution defines as traitorous, "aid and comfort to the enemy." Exceptionalism? Dick Cheney`s sense of the exceptionalism of the United States seems to be that when we feel like it, we can violate our domestic laws and international laws, as well, by, for instance, torturing people, which is a war crime.

You want to call this thing a war on terror? Fine. That makes Dick Cheney and many of his friends in the Bush administration war criminals because they condoned and promoted torture, which is a war crime. So see you in The Hague, Dick Cheney.

CHRISTIE: Well, of course, you know that the United States did not condone torture. It`s against the law...

REAGAN: Yes, it does.

CHRISTIE: ... to torture people.

REAGAN: Well, he did it anyway, then, Ron. Ron, we did that.

CHRISTIE: We did not...

REAGAN: We tortured people.

CHRISTIE: We did not torture people! And I...

REAGAN: Really? Would you call waterboarding torture, Ron?

CHRISTIE: Waterboarding was defined, again, as not being torture. But it goes...

REAGAN: Defined by whom? Defined by whom, Ron?

CHRISTIE: We`ve already gone through this with congressional hearings. We`ve gone through the legality...

REAGAN: Oh, Ron...

(CROSSTALK)

REAGAN: Yes, we don`t want to talk about it anymore, do we.

CHRISTIE: Oh! Oh, we do want to talk about it and...

REAGAN: Oh, I`d be happy to.

CHRISTIE: ... I think the United States did the proper thing. The thing I would say to you is...

REAGAN: Well, I don`t.

CHRISTIE: Your father -- your father would never have gone overseas...

MATTHEWS: OK...

CHRISTIE: ... and he would never have bowed to foreign leaders. He always talked about America being a great place...

REAGAN: Oh, stop with the bowing business! He was being polite to an elderly Japanese gentleman.

(CROSSTALK)

REAGAN: This bowing stuff...

CHRISTIE: Ronald Reagan...

REAGAN: ... is such nose-blowing nonsense, Ron Christie!

CHRISTIE: Ronald Reagan always...

MATTHEWS: OK...

CHRISTIE: Ronald Reagan always...

MATTHEWS: Let`s get back to...

CHRISTIE: ... spoke of America`s promise.

MATTHEWS: OK...

CHRISTIE: Barack Obama never does that.

(CROSSTALK)

REAGAN: Ronald Reagan didn`t approve of torture and signed an international covenant preventing torture, prohibiting torture for the United States...

CHRISTIE: And Ronald Reagan...

REAGAN: So don`t bring up my father`s name in the realm of torture Mr. Christie!

CHRISTIE: I`m bringing up your father`s name, Mr. Reagan, in the sense that Ronald Reagan stood for America. He knew what America`s promise was. He protected the American people.

MATTHEWS: OK, OK...

(CROSSTALK)

REAGAN: Thank you for the boilerplate, Mr. Christie. Thank you for the boilerplate.

MATTHEWS: OK, let me -- let me...

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS: Let me go to something we can look at a tape of, gentlemen. And this gets to this charge by Dick Cheney. He`s attacked the president aiding and comforting the enemy last night on FOX. And then he went further and said he doesn`t share his -- our love of country, which I think everybody here shares, and certainly, I think the vice president does, too.

But here he is attacking him as some sort of outsider who`s not one of us. He says he doesn`t share our view of American exceptionalism, and I think he means something pretty deep in this shot. And here`s the president of the United States speaking about his view of this country at the 2004 Democratic convention, when I first noticed this guy. Here it is. Let`s listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: Through hard work and perseverance, my father got a scholarship to study in a magical place, America, that shone as a beacon of freedom and opportunity to so many who had come before.

I stand here knowing that my story is part of the larger American story, that I owe a debt to all of those who came before me, and that in no other country on earth, is my story even possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTIE: That was an exceptional speech.

MATTHEWS: And what`s he talking about?

CHRISTIE: That`s an exceptional speech. We`re talking about a man who was elected president of the United States, who could go around the world and go around this country and talk about the greatness of this country, that our greatest days are still before us, as opposed to going abroad and saying that America is arrogant, bowing before foreign leaders and being apologetic to this country. What happened to that Barack Obama, Chris?

MATTHEWS: Let me just say that to accuse the man who made those words and inspired so many of us with those words -- and it was when I heard him say that, I said, This is going to be the first African-American president, because I`ve never heard anybody speak so beautifully about this country. And to have the vice president of the United States to go on FOX television last night, to use that organ to go out and blast this guy as a man who gives aid and comfort to the enemy, which is constitutional language for treason -- whether you agree or not, it`s in the Constitution, Article 3, Section 3. That is what it means. And then to go on and say he doesn`t share our love of the exceptional nature of this country, when we have heard him say it from the time we first met this guy -- and you -- I don`t believe you`re this loyal to Dick Cheney that you can defend his language. Aid and comfort to the enemy -- you`ve done it four times. I won`t ask you to do it again. And to say that you don`t think that this president shares a notion that this country is special, is exceptional in the world?

CHRISTIE: No, I said I think he believes it, Chris, but we need to hear it from him.

MATTHEWS: Oh, OK.

CHRISTIE: We need to hear from him. Obviously, I think he is patriotic. Obviously, he ran to become a leader of this country...

MATTHEWS: Well, would Dick Cheney say that...

CHRISTIE: No, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! Let me -- let me finish my point here. The point is Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Bill Clinton always talked about the greatness of this country. We want to -- we need to...

MATTHEWS: OK, here`s some more Cheney...

CHRISTIE: ... this from Barack Obama.

MATTHEWS: Ron Reagan, hold on. Here`s some more Cheney. I think we have this bit here. This is Cheney on Obama again last night, about him being a radical. Let`s take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHENEY: I saw him when he got elected as a liberal Democrat but conventional in the sense of sort of falling within the parameters of the national Democratic Party. I think he`s demonstrated pretty conclusively in his first year in office that he`s -- he`s more radical, farther outside the parameters, if you will, of what we`ve traditionally had in Democratic presidents in years past.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEWS: He`s a traitor. He`s radical. And he -- never mind. I can`t (INAUDIBLE) that! Your thoughts, Ron Reagan?

REAGAN: He`s a radical traitor, I guess. He`s such a radical traitor, in fact, that he kept on Robert Gates, George Bush`s, Dick Cheney`s secretary of Defense. He such a radical traitor that he renominated Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve, who, of course, George Bush and Dick Cheney also wanted as chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Yes, he`s such a radical traitor, that Barack Obama. And how much do we have to hear about him about his views about America and what a beautiful and exceptional country this is? We`ve heard lots from him about that. So the idea that we haven`t is just absurd.

MATTHEWS: Ron Christie?

CHRISTIE: Chris Matthews, I think that I agree with president -- with Vice President Cheney`s comments. I think that it is very clear to me that this is the most left-wing radical administration that we`ve seen in American history. They spent $787 billion in a stimulus bill that didn`t work. They`re trying to ram through a health care bill that will be one sixth of the U.S. economy without recognizing the consequences. I absolutely believe -- if you`re going to ask me, is that a radical vision, yes, it is.

MATTHEWS: Well, I`m not much of a radical and I think all this stuff`s great. Anyway, thank you, Ron Reagan, especially Ron Reagan, and Ron Christie. I have never met -- by the way, merry Christmas. And if you don`t get Christmas cards and invitations from Dick Cheney to every party he`s shaving, you`ve hooked your cart to the wrong horse.

(LAUGHTER)

MATTHEWS: Coming up -- so what`s the deal -- by the way, best to your whole family, Ron. Thank you.

CHRISTIE: Thank you.