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It's not easy to steal the spotlight from a star as big as Kevin Spacey, but Chris Matthews made a valid attempt. The loudmouthed "Hardball" host interviewed Spacey at the D.C. premiere of "Casino Jack," the dramatized version of the Jack Abramoff saga, interjecting some of his own commentary about the scandal.

"It will be nonpartisan and it will be smart, I hope, on my end," Matthews said.

Nonpartisan? Not so much. "One thing is, it will probably be a Republican because they're back in power," Matthews said when asked who in Washington might be the next Abramoff. "The Republicans are back, keep an eye on that situation," Matthews said. "They did foster the careers of Jack Abramoff and Mike Scanlon and former [Congressman] Bob Ney, who was busy in prison for awhile."

Spacey, on the other hand, wouldn't attack. "No," he answered simply, when asked whether one political party was more prone to corruption and scandal.

Matthews also talked about his own personal relationship with one of the characters in the film, Abramoff partner Scanlon. "Scanlon used to be a source of mine," he said. "He was a good source, he was very useful. He would tell me what was going on."

Spacey, however, got in an occasional crack. "He's gone off to check his ratings," the actor joked, when Matthews was slow to climb to the front of the auditorium after the screening. But mostly he stayed serious. He lamented the fact that the film's director, George Hickenlooper, had recently died. "If there was ever a screening that George would have wanted to be at, it would have been this one in Washington, D.C.," Spacey said.

Vicki Kennedy, Ben Bradlee, Andrea Mitchell, Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., and Heather Podesta all were in the house for the screening.

Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNHvn8pX9YmMSrmZrPpKa1zJouCTfw&url=http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/blogs/yeas-and-nays/Spacey_-Matthews-pair-up-for-_Casino-Jack_-premiere-1529386-107324858.html

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