Chris Matthews and guests Jonathan Capehart and Dana Milbank talked impeachment, birthers and Tea Partiers on Wednesday's Hardball.

The trio discussed Milbank's piece in The Washington Post saying the only remedy Republicans see for Obama is impeachment. Matthews suggested Republicans are testing the waters by throwing around the "i" word, and Capehart argued they are not afraid to use it and use it often to gin up the birther base.

Matthews agreed, drawing an analogy to Ted Cruz being born in Canada.

These are the people who are backing Ted Cruz who was born in Canada to an American mother just like Obama was...Even though he was born in Honolulu... it's just a simple fact. By the way, that's part of the United States, something a lot of these people don't know!

Milbank said the impeachment battle cry isn't about any scandal or policy but is just because they don't like Obama. Today many in the mainstream media have focused on a House committee meeting where discussions of the president's role of upholding the US Constitution and laws were discussed. Even liberal site Wonkette admitted the word impeachment was never used, but that has not stopped many in the media from crying foul.

Matthews said there were no facts about Benghazi and said Republicans like Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-CA) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) cannot find anything to pin on Obama. He asked Capehart if maybe Republicans just don't like Obama, to which Capehart responded:

They don't like the guy's policies, they don't like the guy. That's the foundation of everything! They do not like the president. They, a lot of them, hate the president! And anything, like you always say, put an asterisk next to his presidency.

Matthews ended the segment concluding that he does not think politicians allegedly crying for impeachment are really racist but instead are "performing" for the "hard right," who he believes are in fact racists.