Chris Matthews Sneaks a 2016 Hillary Clinton Presidential Run Into Eulogy of Thatcher

During Monday night's episode of "Hardball," MSNBC's elder statesman sneaked in a reference to a 2016 presidential run by Hillary Clinton while eulogizing former British Prime Minster Margaret Thatcher.

About one minute into the short segment that was presumably meant to talk about the late prime minister and how she was worthy of respect from people on both sides of the aisle, Matthews manages to make it all about a possible 2016 presidential run for Hillary Clinton:

"I think Margaret Thatcher, the first woman to lead a great Western country in our times, is enormously worthy of respect and admiration. I think her great premiership, second only to Churchill's in modern times, stands as a great precursor of what a woman leader can bring to office. If and when Hillary Clinton seeks the presidency, the legacy of Thatcher will be a strong standard on which any woman, especially the recent secretary of state can run and win."   (Emphasis added)

Watch as Matthews closed his show with this comment:

To be fair, it isn't odd that Matthews would recognize that Thatcher was so influential that a prominent woman Democrat would want to emulate her. But it does seem a little bit of a stretch to turn her death into a launching point to talk about Hillary 2016.