Chris Matthews expresses regret for Sandy remark on election night

May 5, 2009: MSNBC's Chris Matthews (AP)

MSNBC's Chris Matthews expressed regret Wednesday night for saying he was "glad" Hurricane Sandy hit because it helped President Obama.

"I said something not just stupid but wrong," Matthews said, adding that he neglected to think "about the lives, the real lives of people."

"I was on last night for 10 hours straight ...  and a few minutes to 3 (a.m.), I said something terrible," Matthews said. "It was a terrible thing to say, period. I can say it was because I was tired, but the fact is I wasn't thinking of the horrible mess this storm has made in people's real lives up here in New York and elsewhere."

The death toll from that storm, which caused billions of dollars in damage, now exceeds 100. Many in the path of the storm's wrath -- in New Jersey, New York and elsewhere -- lost their homes or their cars or were otherwise displaced. The storm wreaked havoc on Election Day, as officials scrambled to facilitate the vote with many precincts facing power outages and fuel shortages.

Some analysts did say the storm boosted Obama's image by allowing him to show a bipartisan side -- reaching out to Republican Gov. Chris Christie, who publicly thanked Obama for the federal government's support -- and effectively sidelining Mitt Romney for a few days one week before the election.

This was apparently what Matthews was referring to when he said at the close of election coverage he was "glad" the storm hit.

"I'm so glad we had that storm last week," Matthews said, after interjecting to give some final thoughts. Somebody off-screen could be heard saying "ooo" at that remark, but Matthews confidently put his hand up to explain.

"No, politically I should say -- not in terms of hurting people. The storm brought in possibilities for good politics," he said.