After having a good cry over their preferred candidates' epic losses yesterday, MSNBC's Election Night hosts decided to cheer each other up by turning to a favorite activity: bashing Republicans. There's nothing wrong with that—lots of Republicans deserve a good bashing—but when the conversation strayed from "McCarthy-esque" (Chris Mathews' word) Sen. Ted Cruz to "know-nothing" (Rachel Maddow's word) Sen. Rand Paul, things got ugly.

First, the hosts noted that Paul actually experienced something of a setback last night in his likely quest for the presidency. Kentucky law bars candidates from running in two different elections at the same time, which means that Paul would not be able to run for both the Republican presidential nomination and his Senate seat in 2016. A Republican state legislature could have changed thelaw to make things easier for Paul, but the Democrats retained control.

Matthews insisted that Paul would run for president no matter what. He defended the libertarian-leaning Congressman as a person of vision and ideas. Paul offers a completely unique perspective, and his libertarian brand has earned him the title of Most Interesting Man in Politics, according to Matthews. The host lamented that no one on the left possessed Paul's flare for bold ideas relating to foreign policy and civil liberties.

Maddow, on the other hand, derided Paul as nothing more than an opportunist who took advantage of his father's acclaim. More odiously, she insisted that Paul had no good ideas and was actually clueless on foreign policy, civil liberties, and monetary policy. Here is a transcript of her simpering