Chris Matthews’ ode to joy

(NYP) Is there a smaller, more unprincipled man in the national political debate than Chris Matthews of MSNBC?

No, there is not.

Bereft of decency and devoid of soul, what mattered most for Matthews is that his candidate — in this case, President Obama — somehow was boosted over the top.

And if millions of his fellow citizens encounter appalling deprivations along the way — well, to Matthews, they’re just eggs to be broken for the Obama omelet.

“I’m so glad we had that storm last week,” he said Tuesday.

By which he meant Hurricane Sandy, which sowed death and destruction all along the East Coast — especially in the New York metropolitan region.

“The storm brought in possibilities for good politics,” he added — referencing polls suggesting Sandy gave Obama a critical jolt.

Never mind the 100-plus deaths.

Never mind the destruction.

Never mind the tens of thousands still huddled without heat or power on Staten Island. Or Breezy Point. Or the Rockaways and Coney Island.

Matthews says he grew up on the Jersey Shore — as savagely hit by Sandy as any region along its devastating path.

Empathy?

From this pinched little man?

Hardly.

For he’s moved on.

Matthews lives in the very rich and overwhelmingly white Maryland township of Chevy Chase — which makes his pious sermonizing about GOP “elitism” just another bucket of moral bilge.

Reaction to Matthews’ vile outburst was predictable — prompting the little man to take to Twitter.

“Obviously, I wasn’t talking about the horror of the storm,” he wrote, but rather “the cooperation between the president and state officials.”

Obviously?

Obviously not.

“I’m so glad we had that storm last week” is what he said.

And reasonable — that is to say, decent — people understand that he meant precisely what he said.

The disgusting twit.