torn between their loyalty to the president, these are african-american members of congress and the opposition by constituents to any involvement in this war who may make or break the president s request for approval of the attack on syria. according to foreign policy magazine and the hill magazine, the leader of the congressional black caucus, congresswoman marcia fudge asked the congress members to limit their comments while nancy pelosi makes the push for the president. one of the members breaking her silence right now is representative barbara lee, a california democratic congresswoman from oakland and berkeley and the only one to vote against the use of force in afghanistan after 9/11. she joins us now. also joining us is new york times columnist congressional reporter jeremy peters who is covering this debate. what are your feelings? you ve got a mix of things going. i m guessing as a democrat you re a loyal tois the president. but at the same time, other factors. what are the
good evening. i m chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with this. give me a war and i ll give you a picture. give me a picture, and there might not be a war. that s the power we re seeing with this morning s release of this horrid video and still photo that the new york times acquired from a rebel group this week. across the top of the new york times we see men with rifles. those men are on the side we d be backing. standing over men with welts on their back, men kneeling, men knowing they re about to die. men in the hellish crosshairs of an ethnic war in syria, where one side has as its goal the genocide of another. a war in which hatred and revenge are the reason for fighting, the justification for the kind of brutality, the beatings, the death, all carried out in painful hell come to life. and then on one side you ve got the hungry, unquenching cruelty aimed at the other. and overnight comes the word
the battlefield in syria so as to create favorable conditions for a negotiated settlement that ends the conflict and leads to a democratic government in syria. this language will have the vote of the full senate vote and reconciled with the house resolution. we re betting the more people notice it, the more lawmakers are going to balk at this. joining me is democratic congressman jim mcdermott and marcia blackburn of tennessee. congressman both of you. i want to start with jim mcdermott. i was stunned when i got this late last night after the committee voted. not only does it declares our policy to be support a changing momentum in the battlefield, but it says the provisional all forms of assistance of the syrian political opposition. this is like a gulf of tonkin thing thrown in here. we re taking sides as an act of belligerence in that civil war over there. i was struck by it. congressman? so were we. when i read that last night, i thought wow.
consequences when surgical strikes take place. and, in fact, my concern is that more harm could be done. having said that, we must hold the assad regime, and i believe the evidence is very credible. the intelligence is credible. we have to hold him accountable. the world has to come together and address the use of chemical weapons in these horrific crimes. but your previous segment laid it out. this is a civil war taking place in syria. there are so many unknowns that are going on in syria, chris. so why in the world wouldn t we look at alternatives rather than make some decision to use force, not understanding what the full implications are. but i have to commend the president for coming to congress, because now we see how this debate is taking place, and we see what the possibilities are. and we see that many of us are very concerned that a political settlement and a negotiated settlement would be set way back if in fact the use of force is enacted right away. okay. let me go to je
secretary of state alison lundergan-grimes. mcconnell found the time to put out creative web videos like that, he has yet to take a stand on the most pressing issue before the united states senate, syria. this week, a national republican senatorial committee spokesman brad dayspring told the hill newspaper that grimes is just an empty dress implying she wasn t prepared to be in the united states senate. it s just possible that mcconnell and company are firing this spit balls at lundergan grimes because they re scared of her because mcconnell is the only sitting republican in danger of losing his seat. michael steele was chairman of the republican national committee. and emily, thank you. absolutely. good to be here. i want to ask you about this kind of thing. it just seemed to be, dare i say patronizing. you used the right word. that ad put out my pitch. well, we ve seen this before.