Matthew Lee Welch (born July 31, 1968) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

ger,

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

, and

libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

political pundit.

Early life

Welch was born on July 31, 1968 in

Bellflower, California Bellflower is a city located in southeast Los Angeles County, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. It was founded in 1906 and incorporated on September 3, 1957. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 79,190, up ...

. He was raised in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

. He attended

UC Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

as part of the class of 1990, but did not complete a degree. Through his mother, author Mary Bobbitt Townsend, he is the great-great-grandson of Rear Admiral

Hugo Osterhaus Hugo Osterhaus (15 June 1851 in Belleville, Illinois – 11 June 1927 in Castle Point, New York) was a Rear Admiral in the United States Navy. He was the son of Civil War Major General Peter J. Osterhaus (1823–1917) and father of Navy Admiral ...

Career

In the late 1990s, Welch wrote for Tabloid.Net, along with Tim Blair and

Ken Layne Ken Layne is an American writer, publisher and broadcaster best known for his political blogging in the early 2000s and his association with Gawker Media and ''Wonkette'' from 2006 to 2012. He is the proprietor of ''Desert Oracle'', a self-publi ...

. In the early 1990s, he was one of the founders of the

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

-based newspaper ''Prognosis''. He researched the effects of UN sanctions against Iraq, often criticizing the reporting of others. Commentator Mike Rosen praised his research as "yeoman's work." In 2007, he wrote a portrayal of 2008

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

presidential nominee

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...

from a libertarian perspective. In ''McCain: The Myth of a Maverick'', Welch argued that a McCain presidency would advance a

statist In political science, statism is the doctrine that the political authority of the state is legitimate to some degree. This may include economic and social policy, especially in regard to taxation and the means of production. While in use since ...

agenda. Through an FOIA request, Welch obtained a copy of McCain's National War College thesis which, based on his experience as a POW, argued for the teaching of US foreign policy to military recruits. From 2008 to 2016, he was

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

at the monthly libertarian journal, ''

Reason Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, ...

''. He now serves as editor-at-large. From 2006 to 2007, he was an editorial page editor for the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

''. Welch earned the award for "Best Entertainment Review/Criticism/Column" in the 53rd Annual Southern California Journalism Awards, hosted by the Los Angeles Press Club, for his work, "Bailing Out Big Brother: Media criticism goes from rebelling against media oligarchs to handing them a lifeline." In 2011, Matt Welch co-wrote '' The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What's Wrong with America'' with Reason.tv editor-in-chief

Nick Gillespie Nicholas John Gillespie (; born August 7, 1963) is an American libertarian journalist who was editor-in-chief of ''Reason'' magazine from 2000 to 2008 and editor-in-chief of Reason.com and Reason TV from 2008 to 2017. Gillespie originally joined ...

. He has become a frequent commentator on cable news shows, and was co-host of the

Fox Business Network Fox Business (officially known as Fox Business Network, or FBN) is an American business news channel and website publication owned by the Fox News Media division of Fox Corporation. The channel broadcasts primarily from studios at 1211 Avenu ...

current events and political discussion show, '' The Independents''. Matt Welch is co-host of
The Fifth Column
' podcast along with

Kmele Foster Kmele Foster (born October 31, 1980) is an American telecommunications entrepreneur and political commentator. He is co-founder and vice president of the telecommunications consultancy TelcoIQ and is currently a co-host of the podcast ''The Fifth ...

and Michael Moynihan.

Personal life

Welch lives in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, with his wife and two daughters.

Publications

Books

* ''McCain: The Myth of a Maverick,'' St. Martin's Griffin, 2007 * ''The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What's Wrong with America,'' Public Affairs,

References

External links

Matt Welch at the ''Reason'' magazine website

Interview at democracynow.org

Video with his reaction to McCain candidacy
*
Welch video discussions and interviews
on

Bloggingheads.tv Bloggingheads.tv (sometimes abbreviated "bhtv") is a political, world events, philosophy, and science video blog discussion site in which the participants take part in an active back and forth conversation via webcam which is then broadcast on ...

Appearance on ''The Filter'' podcast
{{DEFAULTSORT:Welch, Matt 1968 births Living people 21st-century American non-fiction writers American bloggers American libertarians American magazine editors American male bloggers American male journalists American political writers Los Angeles Times people People from Bellflower, California Writers from Long Beach, California University of California, Santa Barbara alumni