Mad Maddow: GOP Candidate Tangles With MSNBC Host in Wild Interview

The segment started promising. MSNBC's Rachel Maddow began her interview with Oregon Congressional candidate Art Robinson (R) by telling the audience she was "delighted" to have him on the show. But delighted was soon replaced by words such as "criminals," "communists," and "concerned."

Maddow was trying to to accuse Robinson of receiving a de facto $150,000 campaign contribution because a third party group produced an independent ad apparently costing that much. The ad targeted Robinson's challenger: 12-term Democrat Rep. Pete DeFazio.

"Isn't this essentially an in-kind donation of that size?" Maddow asked. Robinson was overtly evasive in his response, deciding instead to drive home his talking points.

That wouldn't do for Maddow: "Does the fact that the donations [to the independent group] are anonymous bother you at all, just as an American? If you get elected in part because of this spending and you find out that its from criminals, or foreign interests, or communists or something, wouldn't that bother you?"

Robinson refuses to answer the question directly, and instead accuses Maddow of trying to "smear" him. The interview degenerates from there, and includes Maddow yelling, laughing, and throwing her hands in the air:

The full 18-minute interview can be seen below:

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