Chris Matthews for US Senate - Democratic Underground

H2O Man

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Thu Dec-04-08 12:22 PM
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Chris Matthews for US Senate

"The Watergate scandal has filtered down to Philadelphia’s 4th Congressional District, with one candidate declaring that he will refuse to accept any financial contributions at all. Chris Matthews, a 28-year-old former aide to consumer advocate Ralph Nader, said Friday that he would run a ‘money-free’ campaign for the seat held by Rep. Joshua Eilberg, a Democrat.

"Matthews, who filed last week for the May Democratic primary, said he would ‘neither solicit or accept’ financial contributions to his campaign. Instead of television advertising, direct mailings and other traditional campaign tactics, Matthews said he would rely entirely on volunteers to reach voters. Matthews, who was formerly employed as an investigative reporter for Nader’s Capitol Hill News Service, blamed the ‘whole system of private campaign contributions’ for political scandals. ‘If we have learned anything from these disclosures,’ he said, ‘it is that the small groups of private interests that contribute the bilk of political campaign finances expect something in return.’"
--The Philadelphia Inquirer; March 17, 1974.

I’m hoping that Chris Matthews decides to run for the US Senate. If he does, I will actively support his campaign. This may not be a popular position with some on the Democratic Underground, of course, but because of some of the recent news being reported, I’d like to take a minute to explain why I support his proposed run.

Matthews was born in 1945, to a conservative Irish-Catholic family in the Philadelphia suburb of Oreland. As a teen-ager, he was a supporter of Barry Goldwater. But he came to oppose the war in Vietnam, and by 1968, was a supporter of Democratic candidate Senator Eugene McCarthy. From 1968 to 1970, Matthews served in the Peace Corps in Africa, making use of his education in economics while working as an adviser in trade development.

In the 1970s and ‘80s, Matthews worked for four members of Congress, including Senator Edmund Muskie and Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill. He also worked for President Jimmy Carter. I believe that this was important experience in learning the ways that the government works, as well as the problems that one encounters in Washington, DC.

Chris Matthews has authored four books on politics. I think that the most important of these is "Kennedy and Nixon: The Rivalry That Shaped Postwar America." It was his response to the collection of crimes known as "Watergate" that led him to run for political office in 1974; although he lost the primary, the politician who defeated him and then won re-election would himself be caught in a scandal, and forced to retire in disgrace.

In recent years, Mr. Matthews has been employed at NBC/MSNBC. The two areas where I have been most impressed by him include his involvement in exposing the Plame scandal, and his support of Barack Obama.

As the federal trial of Scooter Libby documented, both Libby and VP Cheney were obsessed with Matthews’ reporting on Ambassador Wilson’s exposing the administration’s purposeful lies about WMD in Iraq. Several high-ranking members of the administration attempted to silence Matthews. (See "Hubris," by David Corn and Michael Isikoff, pages 265-267.) Further, Matthews was the first to warn Joseph Wilson about the White House operation against him. (See page one of Wilson’s book, and note the title of Valerie Plame Wilson’s book.)

Matthews continued to press for a Congressional investigation of the role of VP Cheney in the Plame scandal, after Libby was convicted on several felonies. This convinces me that he has indeed learned the lessons from Watergate, something that very few members of the House or Senate appear to value.

Matthews also recognizes that a President who follows an "imperial presidency" must have a strong working relationship with Congress, and respect for Constitutional law and the federal courts, in order to repair the damage done. President Carter, who I have great respect for, followed Gerald Ford, of course. But his efforts to repair the severe damafe that Nixon & Co. did to the foundation of our Constitutional democracy was often handcuffed by Carter’s poor relationship with Congress. (See Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.; Journals.)

Chris Matthews is, like every other politician or potential politician in Washington, DC, an imperfect person. But his relationship with Barack Obama, as well as with the democrats who worked for the Obama campaign in Pennsylvania, makes him a serious candidate, with a good chance of winning the Senate seat. I’ll gladly support him, should he decide to run.