MSNBC "Hardball with Chris Matthews" - Transcript: On Finding Common Ground, Vote for the Iran Deal

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MATTHEWS: Welcome back to HARDBALL.

That was Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar winning reelection in 2012.
Klobuchar was first elected in 2006, becoming the first woman ever elected
to the Senate from Minnesota. She`s since become a national figure on the
political stage, frequently mentioned as a possible presidential or vice
presidential candidate in the future.

She`s out with a memoir called "The Senator Next Door," where she
writes about her life journey that brought her from a suburban middle-class
upbringing all the way to the United States Senate.

Senator Klobuchar joins me right now.

Thank you so much.

You have a wonderful personality. I know that sounds superficial, but
I think it`s important. "The Senator Next Door," you seem to know that you
come across as somebody who grew up as the girl next door to become a
senator later in your career. How do you keep it together, stay informal
with the obvious professional formality of the office?

KLOBUCHAR: Well, I think it`s really important to keep grounded.

My husband. My daughter helps. I tell the story in there where my
daughter was saying to me one day, mom, you`re not a helicopter mom.
You`re a submarine mom. And I said, wow, that sounds tough and cool. She
says, not really. It means you lurk beneath the surface and come up
unexpectedly.

MATTHEWS: Wow.

KLOBUCHAR: So, in fact, I think part of this book is about how you
can`t do everything perfectly. You try your best. You overcome obstacles.

I talked about my dad`s struggles with alcoholism for years. He was a
columnist for the newspaper, my parents` divorce. Growing up, I was going
to schools where I had never met anyone on the entire East Coast. But I
made this case that you want to have normal people with regular backgrounds
running for office and in Congress, and you want to have people that go to
represent their neighbors. And that`s why I called it "The Senator Next
Door."

MATTHEWS: Isn`t it amazing how many kids of alcoholics have done so
incredibly well? Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan. And what is it, do you
think? I never thought I would ask that question, but you just told me.
You sort of prompted me there.

KLOBUCHAR: Well, you know, first of all, my dad`s recovered. He`s
very happy at age 87. He`s married happily for the third time.

But I think what it is -- I actually devoted a little time to it in
the book. I think that being the kid of an alcoholic means, for me, first
of all, I don`t like lies. You think about things that you grew up with,
and it just -- I have an aversion to that. And the second thing is, it
means you try to fix everything.

And that`s why I think you see a lot of kids of alcoholics going into
government, because they grew up trying to fix things, trying to make
things better, trying to, in my case, take the keys away from my dad when
I`m 17 when I see him drinking out of the trunk of the car and I don`t want
him to drive 300 miles, and then we don`t speak for four hours. Those are
things that happen to a lot of kids of alcoholics.

And in my case, it has a happy ending, an ending of redemption. And
that was a story I also wanted to tell.

MATTHEWS: You are great. I know I say that too often, but you really
are. Thank you.

Let me ask you about the great stories in your book. A lot of us
looked up to Ted Kennedy an awful lot. And you talk about what it was like
to be in one of those Capitol old hideaways that they -- nobody else gets
to see but U.S. senators.

What was it like late in the night when there were late votes, and you
were there with a couple other younger members of the Senate, and there was
Teddy Kennedy, the old lion?

KLOBUCHAR: He was amazing. He would actually sort of talk to -- he
would bring people in when we had those voteramas, and they would leave
messages, his staff, on your phone that said, the lantern is lit.

And that means head over to his hideaway, and he`d always have a group
of people there. We`d have some wine and he would tell these incredible
stories from the past about his brother. And, you know, he loved the
Senate, which you know, Chris, as well as anyone. But he also worked
across the aisle.

And you hear the stories from Orrin Hatch or Mike Enzi about how he
would look for that common ground. And I talk about that in the book, and
how we miss some of that right now. But I used some examples of how it`s
still happening today.

MATTHEWS: Yes, what is the trick that`s been lost? You disagree with
people. You`re different parties, you`re different philosophies, but
you`re in the same country and, bottom line, when your careers are over
with, you are still going to be more American than anything else hopefully.
And what`s the trick to making it work?

KLOBUCHAR: I think the trick is seeing yourself in the other person`s
eyes.

It`s not necessarily moderation in terms of the middle of two points.

MATTHEWS: I agree.

KLOBUCHAR: Actually, David Brooks has made this point recently. It`s
not necessarily your character, because John McCain doesn`t have a moderate
character, but he`s willing to work on issues like immigration.

So, to me, it means, are you able to look at the other person and
where they are and find where there can be common ground? And that`s what
Ted Kennedy did, because he got to know the other person, and really like
the other person. And that way, you can get things done.

MATTHEWS: Let me ask you about a profile in courage situation right
now. And I am taking sides. Maybe you have too, on the Iranian nuclear
deal.

It`s a tough one. It`s not a perfect deal. People are critical of
it. People are worried legitimately about the state of Israel and its
precarious situation over there, but it`s better than what we have right
now, my view.

How tough is that vote for people like you and Al Franken, who support
it?

KLOBUCHAR: Yes.

Well, I think, first of all, I think the process, which you know at
its core was bipartisan that Senator Cardin and Corker worked out, so that
everyone had this time to look at it, I think it`s important, because it`s
a tough call. I have deep respect for people that take the other view.

But, in the end, I decided that it`s the best option for trying to put
the brakes on Iran having a nuclear weapon. And I do that with my eyes
wide open. I know what this regime and the horror and the terrorism and
also the things that have been said about Israel.

But the bottom line to me was, we don`t want them to have a nuclear
weapon. And with these intrusive inspections, with the fact that we still
have the military option still on the table, I was glad the president made
that clear -- and, honestly, if you want to look at the fact that you --
there`s a chance here that Iran`s going to cheat, you are going to know a
lot more about those three facilities having an agreement than not having
an agreement and having the inspections.

And, finally, Chris, having talked to the ambassadors from those five
countries, I`m pretty convinced Russia and China would start doing business
with them, Iran would get a nuclear weapon. They`re months away. And then
we will have splintered the coalition, which is so important having a
united force. So, those were the reasons I came down. It was a difficult
decision.

MATTHEWS: Well said.

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