Not having TV, I don't have the pleasure of watching Chris Matthews getting more and more bizarre with every day. But I do read interview clips when they're linked to on a blog or (as in this case) Media Matters. Matthews uses the words of schoolkid crush when he talks about Bush, or at least he did when he compared Bush to Atticus Finch:
Well, he looks like he's a wise man now and a man of restraint, almost Atticus Finch. You know, almost the guy against the mob outside this -- the police station.
Now, one of the things I know about Atticus -- that is to say, Gregory Peck -- from gay friends and from the literature is that Peck was a hero for many gays, not just us lovelorn chicks. There was some speculation (untrue, far as I know) that Peck may have been gay, but that may have been wishful thinking. Certainly Peck was attractive to both sexes. He deserved hero status for a lot of reasons, not least of which was that he stood squarely for gay rights.
Any connection between Atticus/Peck and Bush exists in the minds of only the most wistful, tuned-out sycophants. It seems clear that Matthews has drifted away from the adult world of journalism and political discussion and has moved soulfully into hero worship, Hallmark level.