A powerful new women’s group wants MSNBC’s "Hardball" host Chris Matthews fired from his job, saying his treatment of women on his show is sexist.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the nonpartisan group, called The New Agenda, held its first meeting in New York this week and agreed that Matthews’ ousting was one of their objectives. Matthews’s contract is up for renewal next year. The way they’re going to go about rousting him from his cable TV chair?

It’s covert, like the Navy Seals, they said.

The New Agenda includes some 30 women — representatives of women’s groups from around the country, along with supporters of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton’s now-defunct presidential campaign. Carly Fiorina, one of John McCain’s surrogates, recently powwowed with some of the group’s women, who she described as “intensely uncomfortable with the notion of a President Obama.”

Amy Siskind of Westchester, NY, a founder of The New Agenda and Clinton supporter, told the Times the group was urging that Matthews’s contract not be renewed because "the kind of language he uses and the kind of behavior he exhibits in the public domain toward women objectifies them and leads to bad things for our society and to domestic violence." An MSNBC spokeswoman said Matthews was out sick and not available for comment.

If The New Agenda includes a lot of Clinton supporters, their ire for Matthews is no surprise.

During the primary season, the Clintons pressed for NBC correspondent David Shuster to be suspended (and, perhaps, fired) for claiming that they had "pimped out" Chelsea Clinton to help secure the support of super delegates. Matthews also has attributed Hillary’s success to her husband Bill’s infidelities and the fact he “messed around.” He later apologized on air.

The Times also notes that in 2007, Matthews was talking on the air with CNBC business news anchor Erin Burnett, when he asked her to lean into the camera. "Come in closer — really close," he told a flustered Burnett. He then laughed and said: "Just kidding. You look great … You’re a knockout."

What Matthews is going to do when his MSNBC contract is up is unknown. It’s long been rumored that he wants to run for elective office. There’s been talk of a possible race between Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Matthews. The volume on that issue got louder this spring after Specter disclosed he was facing a recurrence of cancer. Matthews, who ran for a Philadelphia congressional seat in 1974 — and lost — was said to be giving serious thought to the challenge in 2010.