See MSNBC's Chris Matthews Bomb at 'Jeopardy

"a delicious example of instant karma"

It's one thing to be a smarty-pants behind the desk of your own MSNBC show, where you control the guests as well as the overall content. But it's an entirely different animal to appear on a challenging game show that gives you absolutely no oversight over the questions you'll be asked. On Monday night, America was graced with Chris Matthews' appearance on "Jeopardy." The spectacle, hosted, as always, by Alex Trebek was less than impressive.

As Newsbusters' Noel Sheppard notes, Matthews has, on numerous occasions, insulted former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's intelligence. And, in fits of irony, the "Hardball" host has invoked "Jeopardy" as a tool to disparage the 2008 vice presidential nominee.

"They find these empty vessels who know nothing about the world! Nothing about foreign policy! Who immediately begin to spout the neo-con line," Matthews said of Palin back in 2010. "I read her book — it’s full of that crap....It’s unbelievable how little this woman knows!...Don’t put her on 'Jeopardy!'"

And in January 2011, he said on his show, "I'd like to see her on just a couple of episodes of 'Celebrity Jeopardy' or 'It's Academic' with Matt McGarry to see if she knows anything..."

These, of course, are only two examples of Matthews' use of the game show against the former politician. There are others.

Now the question is: Does Matthews know anything? Sheppard provides a recap of his overall performance in a tightly condensed package:

In a delicious example of instant karma, the self-proclaimed brainiac got his chance to show American how smart he was in a special "Power Players" version of the show Monday, but came up quite short finishing dead last with the paltry sum of only $2,300.

The debacle was intriguing to see, as Matthews bounced between confused and unknowing. While "Jeopardy" is certainly no easy undertaking, the fact that he's brought it up so many times to poke fun at Sarah Palin's intelligence is certainly noteworthy.

Sheppard has an extensive recap, but here's just a portion of how the dialogue unfolded on the show:

Matthews first flub came when he couldn't even correctly request an answer to a question.
"Let's go back to, what is 'Crossword Clues E?' I mean, I'm sorry, let's go $200 for the category 'Crossword Clues E.'"
The answer was, "At ____, soldier! Four letters."
"At ease, soldier," Matthews responded. What is 'At ease, soldier?'"
Although the answer was "Ease," host Alex Trebek accepted it.
A bit later, the answer was, "Full name of the U2 pilot shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960."
Matthews responded, "Who is Gary Powers?"
Trebek countered, "We need the full name."
Matthews actually just repeated the same thing saying, "Who is Gary Powers?"
Trebek said, "No," and the audience burst out laughing.

Watch the highlights, below:

Matthews' critics took to the Twitterverse as well to make their views known. Considering the performance he gave, it's no surprise that many of the assessments were harsh -- to say the least. Here are a few (as per Twitchy):