By Allen Ginzberg -

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews made several extraordinary attacks on Republicans during his show Hardball on Monday. Matthews has often had trouble containing his rhetoric, but some of his statements on Monday’s show went well beyond normal political discourse.

The two most concerning statements both occurred during a segment with Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele and The Huffington Post’s Howard Fineman.

Newsbusters caught the first earlier today. Mathews accused Republicans of being associated with the Ku Klux Klan. He ended up walking back this remark after being called out by Steele, but his other controversial point went unnoticed.

While responding to Matthew’s inquiry as to whether Mitt Romney is extremely conservative or just saying “crazy stuff” for votes, Michael Steele explained that he believed Romney would focus on an economic message. Matthews responded to this by asking Howard Fineman, “What good is him talking about gas prices, Howard, if you are Hispanic and he wants you to get out of the country?”

This is an amazingly dishonest description of Mitt Romney’s position on illegal immigration, which has very little to do with the race of the illegal immigrant. Matthews question falsely implied that only Hispanics are illegal immigrants, not to mention his outrageous claim that Romney wants all Hispanics to leave the country.

This is part of a continued effort by liberal pundits and some “journalists” to turn immigration reform into a racial issue to create a wedge between the Republican Party and Hispanic voters.  The reality is that Hispanic Americans have as much a reason to be concerned with the issues of illegal immigration and gas prices as other Americans.

While a legitimate discussion as to how to correctly deal with illegal immigration and what to do with the individuals who are already here, dishonestly accusing political opponents of wanting to deport a whole race is the wrong way to bring about that discussion.