Chris Matthews apologizes to Bernie Sanders for Nazi comparison

MSNBC host Chris Matthews apologized to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) after a public furor over his comparison of a victory for his campaign to that of Nazi Germany.

"As I watched the one-sided results of Saturday's Democratic caucus in Nevada, I reached for an historical analogy — and used a bad one," said Matthews at the beginning of his show on Monday.

Sanders stunned pundits when he seized the top prize in the Nevada caucuses and left his competitors in the dust. Matthews compared it to the fall of France before the Nazis in the summer of 1940.

"Senator Sanders, I'm sorry for comparing anything from that tragic era, in which so many suffered, especially the Jewish people, to an electoral result in which you were the well-deserved winner," Matthews continued in his statement Monday.

"This is gonna be a hard-fought, heated campaign of ideas. In the days and weeks and months ahead, I will strive to do a better job myself of elevating the political discussion," he concluded.

Matthews had been a vehement critic of Sanders in favor of the more establishment, centrist Democrats of the primary contest. In one angry rant, Matthews claimed that he would have been shot by communists had they won the Cold War.

The iconic liberal host faced an online mob of supporters of Sanders who demanded that he resign from his post or that MSNBC fire him. On Monday, another contributor on the network excoriated Matthews for his comments.

Here's the video of his apology: