Rep. Jim Matheson (D-Utah) broke party lines on Tuesday and announced that he will vote to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. Matheson is the first Democrat to come out and publicly condemn Holder. Neither ABC's Good Morning America, CBS's This Morning, nor NBC's Today noted the development today.
Matheson stated the following as to why he’ll vote ‘yes’ on Holder contempt:
Utahns expect and deserve transparency and accountability from government officials, especially when a tragedy such as the death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent occurs. It just compounds the tragedy when both sides play politics instead of releasing the facts.
Sadly, it seems that it will take holding the Attorney General in contempt to communicate that evasiveness is unacceptable. It is a vote I will support.
My guess is that the mainstream media will try their best to ignore Matheson’s decision and any other Democrats who follow his lead. On Sunday's NBC program Meet the Press, moderator David Gregory insisted that the House Government Oversight Committee’s contempt charge was merely a political "distraction."
To the extent that others in the media report the story, look out for it to be couched in terms of an attack on the National Rifle Association. The NRA has noted they will make the contempt vote count towards their congressional scorecard evaluation of House members. The gun-rights group has long been a convenient bogeyman of the liberal media and you can count on the media lamenting the power and influence of the organization, even over some congressional Democrats.
