On Friday's "Hardball," Chris Matthews interviewed a number of student members of the group Concerned Youth of America.
One of those students -- Caroline -- is his daughter, a student at the University of Pennsylvania. Did Matthews disclose that fact as he interviewed her?
Not so much.
One tipster tells FishbowlDC that "Matthews, at the asking of his daughter, instructed the producers not to name her."
Video is at the link.
Here is what Matthews asked his daughter, and how she answered (bolds are mine):
(at the 0:35 mark)
Chris Matthews: And what happens after the bailout. (The national debt is) $11 trillion, right?
Caroline Matthews: If you keep on spending like this, our generation, in like 20 to 30 years, the debt will get to like 53 trillion dollars.
(at the 1:00 mark)
Chris Matthews: How come politicians don't talk about this?
Caroline Mathews (away from camera, causing Chris Matthews and cameraman to hastily move to her): Because people aren't - because it's not an attractive issue. People want to say - Politicians worry about being voted for, and you know, the people want taxes to be cut, and they want entitlement programs. And that's how a politician gets elected. They're not going to get elected by saying we're going to have to make sacrifices, which is what we're going to have to do.
FishbowlDC didn't note that at the very end, Matthews said "her name is Caroline," and pointed to his daughter. That would appear to contradict his daughter's stated wish to producers, at least according to FishbowlDC's tipster.
Mathews should be asked if he used his daughter as a political prop, especially because Caroline mentioned tax cuts as a problem before spending, despite the fact that the financial industry bailout, the topic of the day, is obviously all about spending. Did Matthews coach his daughter beforehand?
The "Our Issue" page at the Concerned Youth for America web site has this to say about the deficit problem:
Debts accumulated to pay for bloated and inefficient entitlement programs and the War in Iraq will have to be paid for not by the current leadership, but by us, the youth of America.
The irresponsible spending policies of today will weaken the American economy if not stopped.
Note that there's no mention of tax cuts, no claim that taxes are too low, or any mention of the word "sacrifice."
In fact, I found no mention of tax cuts anywhere on CYA's site. That's with good reason. Because of President Bush's tax cuts, tax receipts grew 44% between fiscal 2003 and fiscal 2007. The national debt situation would be even worse if the cuts had not been enacted.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
