SILVER SPRING M.D. – There’s a female candidate currently running for office who refuses to answer questions about shady dealings, promotes ability to accomplish legislation while knocking Republicans, and denies her wealth. But it’s not Hillary Clinton, it’s Chris Matthews’ wife Kathleen Matthews, who is running for Congress in Maryland’s eighth district.
During a Sunday candidate forum at the Democratic Club of Leisure World in front of crowd of mostly seniors, Matthews revealed that her husband spends time calling Rep. [crscore]Chris Van Hollen[/crscore]’s office because, “he’s not getting his social security check.” This is despite his reported $5 million annual salary. Kathleen contends though that he “has to collect.”
The forum featured all eight candidates running for the nomination, and the race seemed like a microcosm of Democratic politics — full of identity politics.
One of the candidates, Maryland Delegate Ana Sol Gutierrez, bragged about being the first Latina elected in the state and spoke of her push to give illegal aliens drivers licenses. Will Jawando, a black candidate, said “ninety percent of our elected officials in this country are white, that’s not an accident.”
“Well if we’re looking for radical, there’s nothing more radical than electing the very first Democratic woman in the eighth congressional district,” Matthews said when confronted by an activist on her progressive credentials. Right after hearing her say this, fellow female candidate Gutierrez raised her hand to laughter from the crowd.
Similarly to Hillary, Matthews refuses to address serious issues pertaining to her husband. MSNBC’s Chris Matthews has recently come under fire after The Daily Caller’s reporting revealed that Kathleen is the recipient of thousands of dollars from some of Hillary’s largest donors. There is even a petition with over ten thousand signatures asking MSNBC to suspend Matthews’ show because of “his constant shilling for Hillary Clinton.” (RELATED: Ten Thousand Demand Chris Matthews’ Suspension, MSNBC Silent)
When asked whether there is a conflict of interest, Kathleen responded, “ask MSNBC.”
When TheDC previously reached out to MSNBC for comment they gave no reply.
At the forum members of the retirement community’s Democratic Club asked the candidates questions. Many of the members were lifelong progressives who asked questions such as, “I’m an aging radical and I want to know who do I have on the other end.”
Matthews’ closest opponent State Senator Jamie Raskin was able to draw large applause from his answer, in which he questioned whether Republicans are really “conservative” because “what do they want to conserve now other then their own wealth and power?”
Raskin, a lifelong liberal and son of a famous progressive activist, is almost the parallel of Bernie Sanders in the race and is even endorsed by the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which Sanders founded.
He is second to Matthews in contributions with $1.3 million compared to her $1.5 million loot, but she receives the help of many out-of-state Clinton affiliated donors. (RELATED: Hillary Donors Helping Chris Matthews’s Wife Into Congress)
The type of rhetoric Raskin uses is also similar to Sanders, the Maryland state senator says, “They’re people in this race who’ve never called themselves a progressive before, but who are calling themselves progressives now… pay attention to what we’ve done. And on that I would say I led the fight for marriage equality on the floor of the Senate, I led the fight to abolish the death penalty.”
To respond to these claims of liberal bonafides from Sanders, Hillary likes to say she can accomplish things and is not only an idealist. For example, on her homesite there is a pop-up currently that reads “I’m a progressive who likes to get things done.”
After Raskin said his spiel about being progressive, Kathleen responded with, “They want results, they want progress, and that’s why so many of us have really embraced that label progressive. But ultimately its about moving things forward, figuring out what are the skill-sets that ultimately get things done.”
