MSNBC’s “Hardball” host Chris Matthews remarked that Democratic presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s gender is “a big part of even today” and that she’ll be “hounded by a bunch of guys” during MSNBC’s coverage of her testimony before the Benghazi Select Committee on Thursday.

Matthews stated, “I think there’s another factor here we’ve not mentioned in all these minutes and that’s that she’s a woman candidate for president, and you might call her a frontrunner at this point, certainly in her own party. And I think the glass ceiling is there above her head, and she’s the one to crack it. I think that’s a very important part. We’ve got a history with Anita Hill in these hearings, how she performs is going to be very important to professional women out there watching this, and politicians generally. They’re going to see this — her — she’ll be there, hounded by a bunch of guys. So we’re going to see this thing, and we have to look at the gender perspective. I watch a lot of television, Brian. my favorite show is ‘The Good Wife,’ and I look at Julianna Margulies and people like Téa Leoni and the ‘Madam Secretary.’ We’re getting schooled in the possibilities of women taking the major positions in power in this country at the very, very top. At secretary of state, of course now it says Condoleezza Rice, and Madeleine Albright, and now moving into the presidency. I think we’re going to see Hillary Clinton here for a lot of women, at her age especially, are going to be looking at her as their heroine. And so I know there’s this fatigue about Clinton fatigue, it’s so real, but countering that, is history. And I think that is a big part of even today.”

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