The Huffington Post highlights Chris Matthews‘ appearance on The Tonight Show last night, where he responded to his now-famous thrill comment (revisited today thanks to John McCain).

The MSNBC anchor, in town for the TCA panel, defended the comment:

I’d rather be honest and say what I feel than sit there like some kind of statue and say, ‘Oh that was noteworthy.’ I’m a frickin’ American. I do have a reaction to things. And I do react emotionally to my country. I care about this country, I want to look out for it. It’s my job. I’m not just some umpire. I take a side — us. That’s who I’m rooting for.

Click continued to see a clip of the Jay Leno-Matthews interview…