by Josh Drobnyk
Curious what Chris Matthews' brother thinks about the Hardball host entertaining a run for Senate? Ponder no more.
"I think it is great," Republican Jim Matthews, a Montgomery County Commissioner, said in an interview Thursday.
"We are all surrounded by dead people who just plod along and don't even investigate their dreams. It is kind of neat to see a guy at the top of his game contemplating a complete change in direction," brother Matthews said.
The prospect of a Chris Matthews run for Senate has come up before, and a 2010 challenge of Republican U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter has again tickled the attention-starved chattering class in Pennsylvania now that the presidential primary has left the state behind.
The MSNBC star stoked the rumor mill when he told Stephen Colbert last month that he wants to be a senator. And with his contract soon set to expire, many are asking what might come next for the 62-year-old former Hill staffer.
"His intrigue with the idea is certainly on his mind," Jim Matthews said of a Senate run. "That is real."
But Jim said his older brother isn't yet taking any formal steps towards a run.
"Of course he has had dialogue with friends," he said. "He has friends he has dialogue with about the Phillies too. ... You talk with friends and it comes up now and then."
Walking away from the millions that are likely to be thrown at him this summer, though, won't be easy, Jim Matthews suggested. "He is at the top of his game now and I think he is going to have opportunities in broadcasting that he doesn't even understand are out there right now," he said. "If you are handed $20 million or $30 million on a long-term contract with somebody, it is pretty tough to think about [making] $160,000."
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Comments
Bring it. The Republicans need more Franken-type idiot talking heads to run against.
Posted by: Jeff | May 9, 2008 8:31 AM
What's missing from this article?
The fact that Chris Matthews was a Democratic party staffer and speechwriter before he got his tv gig.
The tact that Chris Matthews ran as a Democrat for Congress many years ago. And lost.
One media guy covers up the fact that another media guy is a Democrat. Go figure.
Posted by: Bruce | May 9, 2008 8:42 AM
We don't want him, you can have, he's too bad for us!! He has been a mouth piece for the Neocons since day one and now that he sees the hand writing on the wall, he wants to be a Democrat, some say, again. Well, you can have him, he has your ideas and your shuffle. Get thee gone, Mathews, to that Republican circle!!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, Chicago | May 9, 2008 12:52 PM
Can someone explain what a neo-con is to me? It used to be applied to folks like Irving Kristol who were former liberals who turned somewhat conservative but kept their internationalist tinge. Now it seems to be applied to anyone who has an internationalist perspective regardless of their pedigree.
Posted by: onenastybeast | May 16, 2008 3:56 PM