Guest: Robert Greenwald, Ron Christie, Michael Brune, Laura Flanders, Michael Medved, Sam Stein, Stephanie Miller
ED SCHULTZ, HOST: Good evening, Americans, and welcome to THE ED SHOW
from Minneapolis tonight.
These stories are hitting my hot buttons tonight. Fox News, well, they‘re lying again. And even Toby Keith has called them out for it.
Well, it‘s all centered around Sarah Palin‘s new big show. “Outfoxed”
director Robert Greenwald will join me in just a moment to talk about all the lies.
Environmental activists are not real happy with President Obama‘s
decision to allow more offshore drilling. I‘ll talk to the executive
director of the Sierra Club about all of that coming up in the program.
One in 10 Americans, that‘s the number. That‘s how many people are
out of work in this country. But on Wall Street, hedge fund managers have
had a record year and are raking in billions of dollars. We‘ll give you
the details at the bottom of the hour.
But first, this is the story that has me fired up tonight—or should
I say I told you so? Now, this could be the biggest April Fools‘ joke
ever, maybe of all time. Right?
Sarah Palin is debuting a Fox show called “Real American Stories.” It
happens tonight.
One problem, though, it‘s not real.
Fox News is trying to pull another fast one over the eyes of the
American people. They will stop at absolutely nothing. They fabricated,
let‘s see, numbers of crowds in the past, misrepresented video. And, of
course, they have bullet-pointed misinformation on health care one time
after another. But let me tell you, this one really takes the cake.
One of the most visible people on this planet right now, whether you
like it or not, is Sarah Palin. So they give her this TV show. But then
they find a way to twist the truth about the content of the show.
Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Thursday, they are ordinary Americans who have led
extraordinary lives. Sarah Palin profiles these real Americans who have
given back, given all, and have never given up.
Plus, their famous faces. Now hear the real story behind their
incredible lives.
Thursday, don‘t miss “Real American Stories” hosted by Sarah Palin.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: I‘ll tell you, really nice looking commercial, but there‘s a
problem in all of this. Country music star Toby Keith and rapper LL Cool
J, they were never interviewed for the show.
Toby Keith‘s representative, Elaine Schock, told “The New York Times,”
“Toby‘s talked to Fox a number of times, and I had no idea that this was
going to be on Sarah Palin‘s special. Fox has never contacted me before on
this, not when they were putting this together. Not at all. I have no
idea what they‘re using.”
Toby Keith wasn‘t the only star who didn‘t get interviewed for the
show on Fox. LL Cool J tweeted, “Fox lifted an old interview I gave in
2008 to someone else and are misrepresenting to the public in order to
promote Sarah Palin‘s show.”
Wow.
Well, Fox head of programming, Bill Shine, responded to Cool J, also
known as Todd Smith. He says, “‘Real American Stories‘ features uplifting
tales about overcoming adversity, and we believe Mr. Smith‘s interview fits
that criteria. However, as it appears that Mr. Smith does not want to be
associated with a program that could serve as an inspiration to others, we
are cutting his interview from the special and wish him the best with his
fledging acting career.”
Aren‘t they good folks over there?
Bottom line here, folks, is Fox News, they lie. They do it because
they know their audience will believe it.
They have one strategy—play to the gullible folks of America. You
know, all of the shows do it over there. Beck makes money scaring people
about socialism. And, of course, “Mr. Intellectual Honesty,” Sean Hannity
has spent the last 14 months lying about virtually every aspect of the
health care bill.
Sarah Palin, I‘ll tell you what—she is going to fit in right at
home over there with this new show. Huh? She‘s lied about death panels
and Obama palling around with terrorists. She‘s never been big on details,
has she? But she didn‘t even care enough to interview people, yes, for her
own first show.
Now, this show goes right to the heart of what Fox News and Sarah
Palin are all about—just throw it out there. No matter if it‘s right or
wrong, remember, Palin always has a reality show coming out. She has no
idea what reality is.
Yet, in the midst of all of this fabrication about Sarah Palin, Bill
O‘Reilly is saying that we hire bad people here at MSNBC? You know, it‘s
interesting that this show is coming out now, because I‘ve been on this
program for exactly a year. This is my week‘s anniversary. Some righties
thought I wouldn‘t last six weeks.
Well, I lasted 12 months, and I‘m happy about that. I hope I can do
it again.
If I had come on the air a year ago and told the liberal audience who
was happy that I was getting a TV show that, you know, I‘m going to
interview this person and this person, and then show the videotape of all
of that, what do you think the right wing would have done to me? Do you
think they‘d have had some fun with that?
Tell me what you think in our telephone survey tonight, folks. The
number to dial is 1-877-ED-MSNBC.
My question tonight, it‘s a holiday favorite. Do you think Fox News
ever deliberately misleads its viewers?
Press 1 for yes, press 2 for no, and I‘ll bring you the results later
on in the program.
Joining me now is Robert Greenwald of Brave New Films. His 2004
documentary, “Outfoxed,” was one of the first to expose the network across
the street from 30 Rock from what they‘re all about.
Mr. Greenwald, great to have you with us tonight.
ROBERT GREENWALD, FILMMAKER: Thank you, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Does it surprise you they kind of didn‘t tell the truth on
what really was happening behind the scenes?
(LAUGHTER)
GREENWALD: Well, first of all, happy anniversary, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Thank you.
GREENWALD: Well, they make up fake news, so why shouldn‘t they make
up fake interviews? It seems fairly consistent with what they‘ve done and
what we know they do over and over again. You know, and they‘re calling it
“Real American Stories,” and my subtitle is “From the network that really
knows how to make up stories.”
I think we should all poke fun at them mercilessly. The serious point
behind all of this, Ed, is the fact that they lie and distort about
everything from health care to Obama‘s religion, et cetera, et cetera, and
it‘s had very serious repercussions.
SCHULTZ: Well, I have to tell you, when I first saw the promo, I
thought, gosh, Toby Keith, that‘s kind of cool. You know, I mean, he‘s a
big star. This is going to play right to the middle class working folk of
America.
And then to find out that there was no face-to-face, it makes me
wonder, Mr. Greenwald, how many other times does Fox do this with their
programs?
GREENWALD: Well, that‘s a good question. And we should be starting
to ask that and ask them, do they not have the money to do real interviews,
or is that so much like real journalism, they don‘t even know how to do
that?
(LAUGHTER)
SCHULTZ: What was the most flagrant thing you‘ve ever seen that
network do when you were putting together the documentary that you put
together back in 2004?
GREENWALD: Oh, Ed, we don‘t have four or five hours. The list is so
long.
I mean, it‘s really outrageous. One of the most outrageous things I
remember from the documentary—and then there were also all the Fox
attacks we did—was there was a celebration of Reagan‘s birthday at the
Reagan Library, and the crowds weren‘t big enough, so they went out and
brought in additional people to fill up the room, which I thought was
interesting.
But then, we have to remember, again, on the serious side, it was them
who took a hold of the swiftboating, stayed with it and forced it into a
story. They do something very interesting.
When they get on something, they stay with it and stay with it and
will not let go until the rest of the media pick it up. And that‘s where
they‘re really dangerous. It‘s not just to their audience, it‘s that they
have, in the past, have affected other media.
SCHULTZ: Mr. Greenwald, good to have you with us.
GREENWALD: Thank you, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Thanks for your time tonight. I just had to reaffirm that I
wasn‘t the only one.
GREENWALD: Definitely not.
SCHULTZ: Good to have you with us.
Sarah Palin is in the news for another reason. She is the latest to
pile on the National Republican Committee. It seems the RNC has been using
Palin‘s name to promote a series of upcoming fund-raisers, except Palin is
not attending the fund-raisers, so she wants her name taken off the
invitations.
Now, hold it right there. She wants absolute accuracy when it comes
to the RNC and raising money. But with the TV show, eh, we‘ll kind of let
it go a little bit.
Now, here‘s even more bad news for the RNC. Oh, they‘ve got another
sex problem.
The Republican National Committee inadvertently sent a fund-raising
mail piece earlier this month with a return number that leads to a phone
sex line. The number connected callers wit “hot, horny girls, students,
housewives, and working girls from all over the country.”
Now, Doug Heye, the RNC‘s communications director, said that, oh, the
mail piece was produced by Birch Monford (ph), a direct mail firm that
they‘ve used numerous times at the RNC. Now, according to Heye, the firm
will not be used for the foreseeable future.
This might be enough to push my next guest one millimeter closer to
calling for Michael Steele, the chairman of the RNC, to step down.
Joining me now is former Bush/Cheney aide, Republican strategist, Ron
Christie.
Ron, if we‘re playing slow-pitch softball right now, my man, I am just
serving you up the biggest, fattest softball for you to hit out of the
park.
Ron, how can the Republicans continue to mumble, stumble, fumble
throughout life the way it‘s going?
RON CHRISTIE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, I think the Republican
Party itself is very strong, and we‘re very poised and positioned to do
well in November. But I‘m going to answer your question directly, Ed.
I am not happy about the leadership that we have seen out of the
Republican National Committee in the last 16 to 18 months. I‘m not happy
about it.
I‘m not happy about the amount of money that‘s been spent. I‘m not
happy about the gaffes that have been committed by the chairman. I‘m not
happy about this West Hollywood strip club thing.
The leadership starts at the top, and I think that Chairman Michael
Steele is on a very short leash, he has a very, very narrow opportunity to
show that he can raise the money, that he can be a strong leader for the
party. Otherwise, I think perhaps the clock in the back of his head in his
office might be ticking.
SCHULTZ: OK. So you‘re not ready to throw him under the bus right
now. You think that Michael Steele can navigate through this, calm the
waters, and be a successful chairman and a head of the party, and get the
money in to help the Republicans win seats? You think that he can recover
from all of this?
CHRISTIE: I hope he can. Michael‘s been a friend of mine for over 15
years. He had a strong record as the lieutenant governor of Maryland.
He‘s a very good guy. He has the ability to connect with people
unlike many of the previous chairman that we have had. Although, these
gaffes are not good for the party. We need to be talking about why we can
beat the Democrats on a number of issues. We do not need to be talking
about Michael Steele right now.
SCHULTZ: All right. Well, the—it‘s all starting to unravel.
I mean, last night, you had Tony Perkins from the Family Research
Council. He put out this statement: “I‘ve hinted at this before, but now
I‘m saying it. Don‘t give money to the RNC.”
“If you want to put money into the political process, I encourage you
do so. Give directly to candidates who you know reflect your values. This
latest incident is another indication to me the RNC is completely tone deaf
to the values and concerns of a large number of people who they are seeking
financial support from.”
Now, this is a real strong conservative group that has got roots and
has got followers and has got believers. And when they say line up, they
line up.
For these folks to be peeling off the leadership of Michael Steele,
you know how this can happen, Ron. I mean, this can be an avalanche.
Why doesn‘t somebody step right up to Michael Steele publicly and say,
buddy, you have got to go for the good of the order? Are they afraid to do
that because he‘s an African-American, he‘s the first ever African-American
leader of the Republican Party? I mean, there has got to be some reason
why, with all of this that‘s happening around the party, that somebody
won‘t stand up and say it‘s time to cut on and move.
CHRISTIE: Well, I certainly don‘t think his race has anything to do
with it. Republicans, unlike Democrats, Democrats seem to like to enjoy
getting the circular firing squad and opening fire. Republicans don‘t like
criticizing their leadership, they don‘t like criticizing the party.
We want to do everything that we can to support the party. But I will
say this, Ed—and I‘ve been very clear on your show, and I will say it
again—I think he is on a very, very short leash.
He needs to have a very strong March fund-raising report. He needs to
go out and continue to raise money and to continue to galvanize the party.
But if he can‘t do it, I think that we need to have somebody who can.
And I will make this assurance to you. When that millimeter, should it get
that close, Ed, I will come here and we will have that discussion.
But I do not want him to fail. I want him to be successful. Just for
the same reason that there were those who said that they wanted President
Obama to fail, I don‘t want the president to fail, I don‘t want my chairman
to fail, I don‘t want my party to fail. We just need to stop these gaffes
and have stronger leadership at the RNC.
SCHULTZ: Ron Christie, always a pleasure.
CHRISTIE: Happy anniversary, my friend.
SCHULTZ: Appreciate your honesty on the program.
Well, thank you. And thanks for being on the program the last year.
And I‘m sure we‘ll be able to do it again.
CHRISTIE: Look forward to it.
SCHULTZ: Thank you.
Coming up, Hannity has figured out one hell of a way to get people to
clap for him—by calling them Timothy McVeigh wannabes? Wow.
And when it comes to offshore drilling, President Obama seems damned
if he does, damned if he doesn‘t. Righties are warning each other not to
take the bait.
And environmentalists feel betrayed. One of them will sound off in
just a moment.
All that, plus a Minnesota Twin pops a foul at his mother.
And Stephanie Miller is here for an April Fools‘ Day edition of “Club
Ed.”
You‘re watching THE ED SHOW on MSNBC. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW from Minneapolis tonight.
President Obama said the environmentalists would disagree with his
decision on offshore drilling. He couldn‘t have been any more correct on
any issue.
The Sierra Club says drilling could hurt the coastal economies that
depend on tourism. It would drive down gas prices. All it‘s going to do
is help big oil make a big dollar. But the president‘s decision could be
part of a bigger game plan if it helps get Republican votes for the climate
change bill that‘s been stalled in the Senate, along with a bunch of other
bills.
For more, let me bring in Michael Brune, who is the executive director
of the Sierra Club.
Mr. Brune, good to have you with us tonight.
I want you to talk about the decision the president made. Did it
catch the Sierra Club and environmentalists off guard, or did you think
that he was going to go in this direction?
MICHAEL BRUNE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SIERRA CLUB: Well, we thought it
might be coming, Ed. We certainly were paying attention in the State of
the Union speech, where he talked about the need—or the perceived need
to open up more areas for oil drilling. It doesn‘t mean we weren‘t
surprised, and it certainly doesn‘t mean we weren‘t disappointed.
SCHULTZ: OK.
Does this mean that you would maybe take your support away from the
president? I mean, how big of an issue is this for your environmental
group? I mean, there‘s nothing bigger than drilling for oil, is there?
BRUNE: It‘s a huge issue. But let me put it into context.
The Sierra Club supports President Obama. We think that, by and
large, he‘s doing and outstanding job. We have some disagreements, but we
think he‘s doing a good job.
To be clear, yesterday‘s news was a huge disappointment. We simply
don‘t need to be sacrificing our beaches, our coastal economies, the
tourism industry, marine life for what represents a drop in the bucket in
the world oil market.
At the same time, today—
SCHULTZ: How is this going to affect the tourism along the coast,
when these rigs are going to be—well, first of all, they‘re years away.
And secondly, they‘re going to be 50 miles offshore, nobody is going to be
seeing them. You can‘t see it from the coastline.
How is that going to affect tourism?
BRUNE: Well, you‘ve got to remember that in the oil spill up in
Prince Valdez (sic) -- the Valdez oil spill from 20 years ago, the oil
actually traveled almost 500 miles. So, if there‘s a spill, when there‘s a
spill off the Atlantic coast, you can bet that the oil is going to be
washing up on shore, and it could travel as far north as Massachusetts or
as far south as Florida.
So, we just think that this is not a good investment in our energy
future. And if we‘re going to be building the clean energy economy of
tomorrow, we shouldn‘t be subsidizing the oil industry today.
SCHULTZ: Why do you think President Obama did it? He didn‘t campaign
on it. In fact, this is the contrast. I mean, this is just the opposite
of what he was talking about on the campaign trail.
BRUNE: Yes. You‘ll have to ask the White House why they‘re doing
this. We think it‘s a big mistake.
We don‘t think there will be any votes that will be coming, any extra
votes that will be coming as part of climate change legislation. And it
only undermines what we support about the administration in their long-
term, broad objective to promote clean energy. This is—it‘s one step
back even as the administration is trying to run forward.
SCHULTZ: And finally, Mr. Brune, executive director of the Sierra
Club, you said there will be a spill. How do you know?
The technology has advanced tremendously in the last five years when
it comes to their techniques of being able to go down and get the resource.
How do you know there‘s going to be a spill?
BRUNE: Because there are all the time. Even under the Bush
administration, the Interior Department estimated that there will be at
least one major spill every year for the next 40 years. Accidents happen.
There was a state-of-the-art facility in Australia just last year.
The state-of-the-art facilities that spilled almost seven million gallons
of oil last year. We just can‘t guarantee that there will not be a single
accident for the life of these facilities.
What we can guarantee is that you don‘t hear about windmill spills, or
you don‘t hear about solar energy spills. You don‘t hear about major toxic
releases associated with renewable energy.
What we do know is that investments in clean energy produce more jobs,
they cut pollution, and they give us greater energy security. So moving
towards a continued reliance on fossil fuels, on dirty energy like offshore
oil drilling, is just—it‘s a mistake. And we don‘t support the
president‘s move.
SCHULTZ: Michael Brune of the Sierra Club.
Appreciate your time tonight. But I‘m taking notice, whereas you
disagree with the president, you‘re not willing to pull support over this,
which I think is a big point in all of this.
Michael, good to have you with us tonight. Thanks so much.
Coming up, Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas‘ latest television
commercial tells us a couple of things. She‘s full of it, number one.
And, two, she has got to brush up on the smooth jazz.
It lands her in the zone. That‘s next. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And in “Psycho Talk” tonight, well, we have a psycho
campaign commercial courtesy of Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When Senator Blanche Lincoln, our U.S. senator,
helped President Obama pass health care reform, the Tea Party and insurance
companies attacked her, but she didn‘t back down. And despite all the
attacks, Blanche Lincoln hung tough and made it happen, fighting for
Arkansas‘ families.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And that‘s what I like about Blanche Lincoln.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that‘s where our president, Barack Obama,
stands with our U.S. senator. She helped pass health care reform.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: All right. Let‘s hold it right there.
She helped pass health care reform? She made it happen?
Folks, not only did Blanche Lincoln not make health care happen, she
fought it tooth and nail. She threatened to join the Republican filibuster
if the bill included a public option.
Let‘s listen some more.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Blanche Lincoln is not just talking about it,
she‘s working, supporting the Senate‘s plan to expand health care access to
nearly a half-million Arkansans and 30 million Americans. She even cast
one of the Senate‘s deciding votes.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: OK. She voted for the original Senate bill. But that was
back in December. The ad conveniently leaves out the part where Lincoln
voted against—let me say that again—she voted against the fix-it bill
to improve the legislation.
One more clip here.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Blanche Lincoln wants to lower the cost of health
care for low-income children and expectant mothers. She boldly took a
stand against insurance companies that want to drop coverage for you just
because you‘re sick.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Wow, wow, wow. Blanche Lincoln, she didn‘t take a stand
against the insurance companies. She played right into the hands by taking
a stand against the public option.
And she raked in a heck of a lot of campaign cash from big insurance
and other health related companies. In fact, between January and September
of last year, she took in over a $500,000 from these folks.
Senator Lincoln‘s ad is a complete distortion of reality. Forone of
the biggest health care reform obstructionist is in the Democratic Party to
say she helped President Obama, I‘m sorry, that is “Psycho Talk.”
Coming up, all right, now you folks have got to leave me alone here.
I‘ve been getting a ton of e-mail and response because I suggested that the
Congress should balance out the act when it comes to political talk radio
in America. I‘ll go head-to-head with a conservative talker in this in
just a moment.
Plus, it started out as a beautiful day to take mom out to the
ballpark. Well, too bad this Minnesota Twin nearly took out his mom with a
foul ball.
I‘ll show you that in the “Playbook.” Ouch.
And Sean Hannity just lost his mind at the Reagan Library. Stephanie
Miller will break it down for us in “Club Ed.”
You‘re watching THE ED SHOW on MSNBC. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW in Minneapolis. How is the
economy doing? Well, it depends on what street you live on. Over on Wall
Street, banks and investment companies, they‘re flush. In part because
they were just shored up big time with the bailout money.
But over on Main Street, the job market is showing only a modest
improvement. We have to be honest about that. The March unemployment
report is coming out tomorrow. It‘s expected to show a net job creation
for the second time since the recession started. But Treasury Secretary
Tim Geithner says it will be a while before the job market bounces back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIM GEITHNER, TREASURY SECRETARY: The unemployment rate is still
terribly high, and it‘s going to stay unacceptably high for a long period
of time. It is going to take a long time to bring it down, just because of
the damage caused by the recession.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: But while Main Street is feeling the damage caused by the
recession, hedge funds had a record year, with several managers raking in
billions of dollars. NBC‘s Lisa Myers has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA MYERS, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): they are the whales
of Wall Street. Hedge fund managers operate with few rules, and handle
investments for the super rich. While 2009 was a tough year for millions
of Americans, “AR Magazine” reports that the recession was over early for
hedge fund managers, who had a record year.
(on camera): Get this, the top 25 managers made over 25 billion
dollars, profits driven, at least in part, by the government‘s bailout of
big banks.
MICHELLE CELARIER, “ABSOLUTE RETURN MAGAZINE”: They saw that the
government was not going to let most of these big banks fail, and they went
and bought the stocks at very low levels. Those stocks just continued to
go up all year long.
MYERS (voice-over): At the top of the heap, David Tepper, who earned
a staggering four billion dollars.
CELARIER: Tepper was the bravest of the hedge fund managers. He was
willing to go in at the bottom and say, I don‘t think Armageddon is around
the corner.
MYERS: Tepper is not your stereotypical master of the universe. He
has lived in this New Jersey home for 20 years, and appears to have no
vacation homes. He says he plans to spend less time in the office this
year.
CELARIER: He likes to call himself a typical middle class guy that
makes billions of dollars.
MYERS: Also in the top five, George Soros, ranked the 35th richest
man is in the world at 3.3 billion dollars, James Simons, a mathematician,
2.5 billion, John Paulson, 2.3 billion, which makes the 41 million dollars
he paid for this estate in the Hamptons a couple years ago seem like chump
change.
At number five, Steven Cohen, 1.4 billion dollars.
CELARIER: He is the quintessential living large hedge fund manager,
with his mansion in Greenwich, his amazing art collection.
MYERS: A 35,00 square foot mansion, with an indoor pool, outdoor ice
rink and an extra garage for the Zamboni. Not long ago, Cohen got
permission to expand the house, in part to add to his dressing room. As
for his art, Cohen recently snapped up an early version of Jasper John‘s
signature flag painting for an estimated 110 million dollars.
Conspicuous consumption in a banner year for the heavy-weights of Wall
Street.
Lisa Myers, NBC News, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCHULTZ: For more, let me bring in Laura Flanders, author of “Blue
Grit” and host of “Grit TV.” Laura, you are exactly you are perfect
interview for this tonight because you tell it like it is. You are a
strong liberal. What does this look like to Main Street? And how do
people put rhyme and reason to this?
LAURA FLANDERS, GRIT TV: I don‘t know. If only it wasn‘t so sad, you
would wish it was an April Fools joke. You have, on the one hand, Geithner
talking to steel workers in Pittsburgh saying, there will be unacceptably
high levels of unemployment for an unacceptably long. Then these numbers
from the hedge funds. This is a fancy word for speculators. These are
people who are making money gambling on our economy.
You and I probably don‘t disagree with people making some money. I‘m
not against fat cats. It‘s what they eat that‘s the problem. In this
case, they ate our economy. You talked about the top of the list there,
this was a guy—I don‘t think he was brave. He perhaps knew what we
didn‘t know. He was banking on the fact that AIG would get bailed out by
the government, not that it was a good company doing great stuff, but that
it was deemed too big to fail.
Down at number six, just 1.3 billion dollars, you have Carl Icahn.
You probably remember him from the ‘80s. He spent that decade corporate
raiding, laying people off. In the “New York Times” account this day of
his earnings this year, he says, well, I was investing in debt. It was a
great opportunity for gambling on debts. They were under-valued.
What does that tell Americans? We‘re in debt and that‘s a boon for
someone else? Our recession is their opportunity. This is just sick
stuff, if you ask me.
SCHULTZ: This has got to be a tough balancing act for the president.
He‘s trying to get unemployment numbers turned around. He‘s trying to
create jobs. And then folks who had tough economic times go home and see
stuff like this. Here‘s how the president is talking about jobs today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Folks are asking, how am I going to find a job when I‘ve only
known one skill my entire lifetime, and I just got laid off and I‘m in my
50s. How am I going to retire when I keep spending my savings just to get
by? Or trying to make sure that my kid can go to college and tuition keeps
on going up? How am I going to make it when I‘m stretched to the limits on
my mortgage and on my bills?
Those are the questions that I hear. I want you to know we are
working every single day to spur job creation and to turn this economy
around.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Where‘s the fairness here, Laura? I have to criticize the
president somewhat for not speaking up against this. I‘m a free market
guy. But these profits are really obscene. And I really get my back up
when we‘re looking at record deficits in our economy. We have people who
need jobs. Yet we‘re afraid to tax the top one percent that‘s rolling to
the bank tonight because they got lucky and they took a chance with
taxpayer dollars after we propped up the system.
FLANDERS: I don‘t disagree, Ed. I completely agree. I think you‘re
message to Obama is totally right. Let‘s go back again for just a second
to how this money was made. These are people who made a billion betting
that the T-Bill will go up two cents on Tuesday. They‘re not making jobs.
They‘re not feeding people, educating people. This is money on gambling.
I think you‘re right. There is a point where the federal government
has to step in. What they‘ve done so far is step in and shore up exactly
this gambling, those whose debts went bad. Now they have to, I think,
create some jobs. We could have an FDR type program tomorrow. If the
president really wants to keep his majorities in Congress, that‘s what he
has to get serious about.
These folks are not creating jobs. One thing we haven‘t said is I
don‘t see the incentive, if the opportunity is in debt, for them to do any
job creation.
SCHULTZ: Laura, appreciate your time tonight. Thanks for weighing in
on this. I want to get some rapid fire response from our panel on these
stories. President Obama has taken heat from environmentalists for backing
offshore oil drilling in Florida, Virginia and parts of Alaska.
The president hit the road to sell health care reform in Maine today,
and righties are still screaming about repealing it.
I think it‘s past time for the Congress to apply some balance to
political talk radio and end the constant stream of right wing hate
merchants with microphones in this country. I think they‘re having an
effect on society.
With us tonight, Sam Stein, political reporter, “Huffington Post,” is
joining us, and also Michael Medved, nationally syndicated radio talk show
host.
Gentlemen, let‘s talk about the oil drilling first. Michael, is this
a reversal on the part of the president? And how should conservatives and
how do they view this?
MICHAEL MEDVED, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, a lot of conservatives
are saying he didn‘t go far enough, because we maintained the entire
moratorium on the Pacific Coast. I think it‘s a step in the right
direction. Is it a reversal for the president? Absolutely. Is he
listening to the people and actually doing something that‘s correct, just
as he did with nuclear power? I give the president props on this.
SCHULTZ: Sam Stein, is this just a political move on the part of the
president to try to get some Republicans to help him out with the energy
bill or does he really believe we could possibly enhance our transportation
costs for the middle class in this country by digging for more oil? What
do you think?
SAM STEIN, “THE HUFFINGTON POST”: I to have go with the former. Most
sober minded environmental experts look at this and say, it‘s going to be
10 to 15 years, minimum, before you get any energy source from drilling.
The president with nuclear power is hoping to pick off one or two
Republican votes in the Senate. It‘s what he needs, otherwise the bill
doesn‘t pass.
You saw it‘s not doing him any good. The statements yesterday from
Republican leadership all were very tepid or were against the announcement,
either didn‘t go far enough or were deemed misleading. Once again, the
president is negotiating against his own party on a major policy area.
SCHULTZ: He certainly is. Let‘s go to health care now. The
president was on the road selling the health care bill. And he also
commented on the GOP possibly attempting to repeal the bill. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Now that it‘s passed, they‘re already promising we‘re going to
repeal it. They‘re going to run on a platform of repeal in November. And
my attitude is, go for it. You try to repeal.
It if they want to have a fight, I welcome that fight, because I don‘t
believe the American people are going to put the insurance industry back in
the driver‘s seat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: All right. Michael Medved, is this a platform that the
Republicans can run on? And do you think they can repeal it because—go
ahead.
MEDVED: We can‘t repeal every aspect of the health care bill. But
what we can do is do something about the cost of it. Nine hundred fifty
billion dollars, at a time when we already have a deficit of 1.6 trillion
dollars, is just irresponsible. Where Republicans are going to make a
difference, when we take over the Congress of the United States, is cutting
off the oxygen for this thing, cutting off the money supply. Because a lot
of the big costs of this thing only actually hit the government in 2014,
2015. Those costs are not going to be affordable. We have to fix Medicare
and we have to fix Social Security, not create a brand-new entitlement.
SCHULTZ: So I can tell, Michael, that you don‘t believe the CBO
report and you don‘t believe that it‘s going to reduce the costs over time.
I know where you‘re coming from.
MEDVED: Neither do you. You‘re too smart.
SCHULTZ: Yeah, OK. Sam Stein, can the Republicans run on repeal and
replace? Would that be an effective campaign? Do you think they can do
it?
STEIN: No. I think it‘s too difficult to actually explain. You see
the difficulties right now. I cornered Senator John Cornyn, who is the
chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and at the time, he
said, well, we don‘t want to get rid of the good stuff in the bill. We
want to eliminate preexisting conditions as a mode of discrimination. We
just want to get rid of the bad stuff.
Well, that‘s a very tough message to actually say, especially when the
Tea Party crowd, the right wing base wants a full on repeal. So already
you‘re seeing divisions within the Republican ranks over what to do with
this thing.
SCHULTZ: Political talk radio. Michael, I don‘t want to take you off
any stations at all. But I do want to point out that we‘ve got 91 percent
of talk radio in this country is controlled by conservatives. The
broadcast stocks are terrible. Radio companies are firing people. Yet you
folks on the right are telling us it‘s the free market working.
I‘ll give you a moment. Why won‘t the Fairness Doctrine correct that?
MEDVED: The Fairness Doctrine would not correct it because it would
put government in charge of free political speech. It‘s an outrageous
idea, Ed. That segment you did before with Laura Flanders pointed out that
George Soros made as much money as nearly everyone else in the country.
Get George Soros to set up a liberal network with some decent funding.
The answer for speech that you don‘t like is not cutting off the
speech that you don‘t like, it‘s providing people with alternatives.
You‘ve shown you can do that. There‘s no reason that other liberals can‘t
do it as well. Why not engage in the kind of debate you relish and welcome
otherwise?
SCHULTZ: Sam Stein, your thoughts on this, because a lot of people
believe these Tea Parties and a lot of the stuff that‘s going on—you can
just listen to the audio on conservative talk radio on some selected shows
in the country, have fueled the fire for a lot of this stuff. What do you
think?
STEIN: I‘m generally in favor of anything that would expand your
audience, Ed. So if it means the government getting there in and ensuring
that you‘re in more media markets, I‘m all for it.
SCHULTZ: Sam, this isn‘t about me. This is about the fact—
STEIN: It doesn‘t matter. For me, it is about you, Ed. OK. Listen,
I understand both sides of the debate here. My main issue is with media
concentration in terms of monopolies of markets. I don‘t like having one
network, one station, one conglomerate own the market in Chicago, for
instance. I‘d much rather have diverse set of ownership.
SCHULTZ: All right, gentlemen, great to have you with us tonight.
Coming up, a psycho group of pirates got way more than they bargained for
when they tried to attack this United States guided missile frigate in the
Indian Ocean. Hey guys, you might want to pick on somebody your own size.
That‘s next in the playbook. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: In my playbook tonight, the United States Navy battled a
group of pirates in the Indian Ocean today. It was no contest. The
pirates didn‘t stand a chance. Early this morning, Somali pirates opened
fire on this frigate, the USS Nicholas. The Navy fired back, ultimately
sinking the pirate‘s boat and confiscating their mother ship. Five pirates
wear taken into custody on board the Nicholas.
For more, let‘s bring in NBC‘s Jim Miklaszewski. Jim, how did this
all start? And was this brewing some time?
JIM MIKLASZEWSKI, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Ed, these
have to be the dumbest pirates on the high seas ever. It was very early
this morning, as you mentioned, that the U.S. Navy got word there were
pirates from the Seychelles. That‘s hundreds of miles from where the
pirates usually operate.
So, several hours later, when the USS Nicholas, a guided missile
frigate, showed up on the scene, three pilots in a small skiff opened fire
on the U.S. Nave warship with small arms, AK 47s.
I can only imagine that the crew aboard the Nicholas said, are you
kidding me? It was only within seconds that they returned fire with a deck
mounted 50 caliber machine gun. The pirates quickly gave up. They were
taken aboard the ship. The skiff was sunk. Nobody was hurt.
Then, in addition to that, a short time later, they grabbed that
mother boat with two other pirates on board.
Here‘s the problem: within the past couple of month, the Navy grabbed
up about a half-dozen pirates and they had them aboard a U.S. Navy warship
for several weeks until they had to release them, without any charges,
because nobody apparently would take them, Ed. The U.S. has had an
agreement with Kenya, but apparently Kenya felt there was in insufficient
evidence against these individuals to take them through their legal system.
Ultimately, they say that the problem has to be solved by going ashore
in Somalia, improving conditions there, and eliminating the pirate camps
that thrive in that ungoverned space. That will not happen any time soon.
So U.S. officials acknowledge eliminating piracy is not going to happen any
time soon either, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Jim, is this now official operating procedure for the United
States Navy on the high seas that they‘re going to get more of these
encounters, or are there things that are happening out there that the
American public don‘t hear about? Are they, I guess for lack of a better
term, on pirate patrol all the time now?
MIKLASZEWSKI: They are, but hundreds of miles to the north in the
Gulf of Aden, where the pirates from Somalia usually operate, because
that‘s a very busy shipping lane. Many of those cargo ships were very
vulnerable to attacks by pirates.
There have been two developments since then. The international
community, led by the U.S., has put together a task force which routinely
patrols those waters. But also many of the private shipping companies have
gotten smarter. Their ship captains take evasive action now. And some of
their ships actually have their own armed guards on board. It doesn‘t take
much to deter pirate attack if you choose to take that course of action,
Ed.
SCHULTZ: Jim, thanks for joining us tonight. Jim Miklaszewski at the
Pentagon.
A final page in my playbook tonight; one of my favorite Minnesota
Twins hit the mother of all foul balls during the first inning of a spring
training game yesterday afternoon. Denard Span hit a foul ball that flew
into the stands and hit his own mom in the collar bone, knocking her out of
her seat. His mother was treated by paramedics and she got an EKG at the
field. But she thankfully was—it all turned out just fine and she was
back in the stands just a few minutes later. What are the odds of that
happening? Slim and none.
Coming up, folks, don‘t let that pretty face fool you. Great American
Stephanie Miller is here to set the record straight on Sean Hannity and
Caribou Barbie. That‘s all coming up with an April Fools‘ Day edition of
Club Ed. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW. We have a special edition of
Club Ed with nationally syndicated radio talk show host and my good friend,
Stephanie Miller. Stephanie, I have to get you to comment on Sarah Palin‘s
fake promos. What do you make of it?
STEPHANIE MILLER, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: -- LL Cool J interview that
she didn‘t actually do, Ed? You know, many people don‘t realize, but I‘m
not even talking to you live right now. This is from an interview I did
with someone else many months ago. April Fool.
The difference, Ed, is people are not embarrassed to actually be
talking with you live. People are not embarrassed to actually be on your
show, like they apparently are with Sarah Palin.
SCHULTZ: Here‘s the hottest audio on the Internet these days, the
last few day, Sean Hannity comparing the Tea Partiers to Timothy McVeigh.
Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: I think we won the debate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We did win the debate.
HANNITY: When you think of the vast majorities they have in Congress,
and they had to bribe, back room deals, corruption, that‘s all because the
Tea Party movement, the people, all these Tim McVeigh wannabes here --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: All these Tim McVeigh wannabes. Of course, they must have
liked it. They clapped. What do you make of this?
MILLER: I had a right wing caller tell me that I just don‘t get Sean
Hannity‘s nuanced humor. Apparently his audience didn‘t either, because
they appeared to be clapping for Tim McVeigh. Maybe I don‘t, Ed. One
thing I have learned in my travels in comedy is Republicans and comedy, not
so much. I think what his point was, Ed, is that everybody in the
mainstream media calls all Tea Baggers Tim McVeigh wannabes. Have you
heard anybody in the mainstream or progressive media say that? I haven‘t.
SCHULTZ: Not at all. I can‘t believe it. The thing I couldn‘t
believe was some of the callers today were trying to tell me, Stephanie,
the audiotape was doctored. Good to have you with us tonight.
MILLER: Thank you.
SCHULTZ: In our phone survey, I asked you tonight, folks, do you
think Fox News deliberately misleads its viewers? Ninety four percent of
you said yes; six percent said no.
That‘s THE ED SHOW. I‘m Ed Schultz. Have a great holiday. Chris
Matthews and “HARDBALL” starts right now on MSNBC, the place for politics.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY
BE UPDATED.
END
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