MSNBC Hardball host Chris Matthews showed some grudging respect to the Tea Party after Christine O’Donnell’s victory in the Delaware primary last week.

Let me finish tonight with a question.

Just where do you think this explosion of voter anger we saw last night in Delaware and have seen growing in voters in Pennsylvania, Florida, Utah, Nevada, Kentucky, Colorado, Alaska and just about every poll across the country is going to take us?

Last night, as the dust began to clear, I heard progressive glee that the anger was on the verge of burning itself out, that the victory of Christine  O’Donnell in Delaware like that of Sharron Angle in Nevada was throwing away the election. How could voters in the general election go so far as to elect one of these candidates  the angry primary voters had kicked up.

I suppose I had my eyes on something different. While others were seeing dead people that defeated Mike Castle who was supposed to be so strong this November, I saw the strength of the flames that consumed him and will consume many others in this rapidly approaching election night.

I’ve waited all my adult life for an election in which voters have the fire to reach up and burn those who’ve been running the show for decades. But I didn’t know it would come from the right and the center.

2010 could be the first year in modern times when being in office and part of Washington is the worst possible credential when facing voters.

I don’t know how far the fire will burn. Based upon last night’s returns, I expect it has a long way to go. It could topple the House and, yes, the U.S. Senate. It could bring the defeat of people who feel even now that they are not in danger. It could produce an election night spectacle of name brand politicians standing before stunned supporters saying their careers are kaput.

Why is this happening? Because this economic system is failing to produce the security and opportunity people have come to expect in this country. In this middle class country, the middle class is scared and when people are scared they get angry. They sense a rot at the top and they’re ready to chop it off.

If the plan of those in power is to raise a ton of cash and run nasty TV ads saying, “You can’t vote for this new person, that he or she is flawed,” I suspect the voter will say, “Are you tell me I have no choice but to vote for you? Are you saying that I, this little voter out there, dare not take a chance on someone who has not yet let me down as you have? If that is what you’re telling me, that I have no choice, well, Mr. Big Stuff, you just have to wait. Stay up late election night and see what I have done.”

The mainstream media, Matthews included has been doing their best to paint the Tea Party movement as extremists but in this case Matthews sounds like he actually appreciates the fact that the movement has shaken up the status quo and has stuck a fork in the eye of the political establishment.

Make no mistake Matthews isn’t about to support the Tea Party but he does realize their influence on voters and is trying to warn his fellow liberals that if they ignore the movement they do so at their own peril.

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