Chris Matthews tore into Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus during MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Monday, getting visibly angry over a recent birth certificate joke made by Mitt Romney and by false claims that President Obama got rid of the welfare work requirement.

“That cheap shot about ‘I don’t have a problem with my certificate’ is awful,” Matthews said, referring to comments Romney made on a campaign trip to Michigan last week. “It is an embarrassment to your party to play that card. This stuff about getting rid of the work requirement for welfare is dishonest; everyone’s pointed out it’s dishonest and you are playing that little ethnic card there.”

Priebus then seemed to laugh at what Matthews was saying, but that didn’t stop the MSNBC host. He continued: “You can play your games and giggle about it but the fact is your side is playing that card. You start talking about work requirement, you know what game you’re playing. Everyone knows what game you’re playing — it’s the race card.”

— Posted by Tracy Bloom.