Last night, MSNBC blabber Chris Matthews suggested that the powerfully moving hug between Safia Taleb al-Suhail, who recently voted in the Iraqi elections, and Janet Norwood, mother of a Marine who died in Iraq, was staged. Matthews sneered that fellow MSNBC host Pat Buchanan was being “naive” for arguing otherwise.

Well, Diane Sawyer on ABC’s Good Morning America did the decent thing and asked Mrs. Norwood directly about the embrace. Newsmax posted the transcript:

SAWYER: It was such a moving moment for everyone, including clearly the president, in the room last night. Safia al-Suhail, whose father had been killed under Saddam, and who had held up her finger with ink on it to show she had voted for the first time in her life, was sitting in front of you.

First, did you know she would be there? And did you know you were going to lean over [and hug her]?

MRS. NORWOOD: No. We had no idea who was going to be there. We met as we went in the door [to the gallery]. She turned around and introduced herself. I asked her if her finger was purple and she held it up and showed me that it was. And I just grabbed her finger.

It would have made our son so proud to see the success of elections in Iraq.

MR. NORWOOD: We didn’t know about her dad until something was mentioned. But it certainly enhanced our opinion of her. She was a very, very fine person.

MRS. NORWOOD: She thanked us for our son’s sacrifice and made sure we knew that the people of Iraq were grateful for the sacrifices that were made, not just by our son, but by all of them.

SAWYER: And what did you say to her?

MRS. NORWOOD: I just told her how happy we were that the elections were successful and told her that our son would have been pleased.

MR. NORWOOD: Byron really believed that the Iraqi people deserved a chance to take ownership of the concept of freedom. And they certainly proved that they can do that now. So he would have been very pleased…

Will Matthews retract his comments and express his regrets to the Norwoods, especially now that his own Hardball reporter David Shuster blogged his conversation with Mrs. Norwood confirming that the hug was spontaneous?

Chris Matthews? Apologize? Hah. Slimeballs don’t do apologies.

Update: Casey Lartigue has more, with an allusion to A Few Good Men.

Beth at Yeah, Right, Whatever has some choice comments, too.

And Rush Limbaugh’s excellent monologue from earlier today is here.