Welcome back, Chris Matthews

I've dealt with a conundrum about Chris Matthews.

On one hand, he's probably the most astute political analyst on television, and is wildly entertaining, even if his political views aren't my particular brand of vodka.

On the other, he spent the better part of 2008 slobbering over Barack Obama, often making "Hardball" difficult to watch.

I think it was more than a mere coincidence that during that same time period, Matthews seriously investigated a run at Arlen Specter's Pennsylvania Senate seat in 2010. I'm disappointed in Matthews for being so unabashedly partisan for much of the last year, and feel like his "analysis" last year was seriously tainted by his personal political ambitions.

Now that he has officially ruled out a run in 2010, we're hoping he's back.

Yesterday on Hardball, Matthews admitted to voting for newly minted RNC chair Michael Steele in Steele's unsuccessful Senate run in Maryland in 2006. Why? "I thought he'd be a good senator." Like many astute political observers, Matthews disapproved of the shot President Obama recently took across the bow of Rush Limbaugh. He slammed the Obamatrons who trekked to Washington and booed President Bush as Obama escorted him to his helicopter on inauguration day. And it was priceless to watch Matthews try to keep the smile off his face yesterday as the camera swung back to his studio after Rod Blagojevich held court in his Chicago neighborhood.

Of course, some of our readers might not watch "Hardball" because of Matthews' political predilections, instead choosing the entirely unbiased, nonpartisan all-star panel over at FOX News.

Whatever.

Our political system might be a bit less hyperpartisan if Democrats went to Charles Krauthammer and Fred Barnes for analysis once in a while, and Republicans went to Chris Matthews or Fareed Zakaria.

So if you're conservative, a tip: Step outside the box a bit and flip over to MSNBC when Matthews hits the screen. You might actually learn something.

More -- especially on the bailout -- later today.