Guest: Eric Burns, Jim Moran, Leo Gerard, Cliff May, Bill Press, Ron Christie, Peter Morici, Bob Shrum
ED SCHULTZ, HOST: Good evening, Americans, and welcome to THE ED SHOW
from New York tonight.
These stories are hitting my hot buttons tonight.
I‘m exposing CNN contributor and conservative hate merchant Erick
Erickson. His threat about pulling a shotgun on a Census worker, well,
it‘s only one of the dangerous and despicable things that he‘s said as of
late.
The president of Media Matters will join me in just a moment.
Now, the stock market is surging. And that‘s money in the bank for
seniors and union pensions. Why aren‘t the Republicans just praising our
bullish president?
Plus, it‘s a “Psycho Talk” event of the season. We‘ll have a complete
preview of tomorrow‘s Palin/Bachmann rally in Minneapolis. It‘s coming up.
You won‘t want to miss it.
But this is the story that has got me fired up tonight.
Political violence, it is being stoked by the conservative media in
this country. The hard right-wing blogger and CNN contributor Erick
Erickson, let me tell you, folks, he is Exhibit A. He raised eyebrows when
he said that he‘d pull a shotgun on a Census worker if that person came to
his door or on his land. But we called him out on it.
But Erickson now says, well, we‘re the problem. We‘re just making
something out of nothing.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
ERICK ERICKSON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: People linger on every word I say.
Well, linger on these words, please—you people are nuts. Absolute nuts.
And where do you get off misconstruing that I‘m agitating for killing
Census workers when you people are out there advocating for the killing of
the unborn on a regular basis?
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Yes. We just do that every day. We advocate for death.
I mean, are you kidding me? We‘re the bad guys? We‘re the ones
twisting the truth?
Now, just to be fair, I‘ll play you the original tape of what he said
and let you be the judge, folks.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
ERICKSON: We have become or are becoming enslaved by government.
This is crazy.
What gives the Commerce Department the right to ask me how often I flush my
toilet, or about going to work?
I‘m not filling out this form. I dare them to try to come throw me in
jail. I dare them to. I‘ll pull out my wife‘s shotgun and see how that
little ACS twerp likes being scared of the door. They‘re not coming on my
property.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Ooh, not going on his property. Now, he‘s going to be
pulling out that shotgun on a neighbor, and he thinks we‘re crazy.
This guy is flat-out reckless and he‘s a CNN contributor. He‘s got a
long history of this stuff, too.
When Justice David Souter retired from the Supreme Court, Erickson
blogged, “The nation loses the only goat”—I can‘t say that on TV—
“child molester to ever serve on the Supreme Court.”
Now, in another blog post headlined, “Is Obama Shagging Hookers Behind
the Media‘s Back?” he wrote, “I assume that Obama‘s Marxist happy wife
would go Lorena Bobbit on him should he ever think about it.”
Erickson applauded protesters who descended on Capitol Hill last
November saying that they were to “Send Obama to a death panel.” Erickson
compared White House health care communications director Linda Douglass to
a Nazi propaganda master, saying that she is “The Joseph Goebbels of the
White House health care shop.”
Now, folks, this kind of hate is constant with this guy, Erickson.
But he‘s just one of many.
Now, reacting to a proposed Washington State regulation on dish soap
aimed at easing water pollution, he blogged this: “At what point do the
people tell the politicians to go to hell? At what point do they get off
the couch, march down to their state legislator‘s house, pull them outside
and beat them to a bloody pulp for being an idiot?”
Now, this hateful CNN contributor I think needs to go. This kind of
hate doesn‘t belong on what we call the “best political team in
television.”
John King, why don‘t you put him on Sunday morning? That will do a
lot for you.
But this is where the media‘s going. Nobody is reeling in anything.
Conservative leadership also needs to step up and condemn this kind of
rhetoric. But, you see, John Boehner, you know, he agrees, I guess, with
Erick Erickson‘s dark vision for America.
Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann, come on now. Are you going to call
this guy out? I doubt it. That‘s what your rally is about tomorrow!
I‘m still holding my breath.
Now, this kind of rhetoric is accepted on the conservative right.
They can say anything they want and they can get away with it, and they can
never get called on it.
You know, I never dreamed that this country would be locked in such an
ugly debate. The finger-pointing is unbelievable.
The conservatives have given us a daily dose of hate. Day after day,
hour after hour, the political discourse in this country all revolves
around who is president of the United States and how he has brought change
to Washington with the revolutionary idea of getting every American some
basic health care.
And we‘ve hit rock bottom with our discourse. And guys like Erick
Erickson just keep getting—not only saying it, but this guy is getting
paid for it, and he‘s on “the best political team on television”?
CNN, you know what you need to do? You need to change your promo.
Tell me what you think about this one, our telephone survey tonight.
The number to dial is 1-877-ED-MSNBC.
My question tonight is: Do you believe the conservative media gets a
free pass for hate speech? Press 1 for yes, press 2 for no. And I‘ll
bring you the results later on in the show. And I guess you could say that
CNN has found Lou Dobbs number two.
Joining me now is Eric Burns. He is the president of Media Matters
for America.
Mr. Burns, good to have you with us.
ERIC BURNS, PRESIDENT, MEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA: Good to be here.
SCHULTZ: How long—I mean, how does a guy like this get a job after
all the documented hate that this guy has put out there? What does it tell
us about where CNN is going?
BURNS: Well, it tells us that it‘s really about ratings and not about
delivering hard news, which is really unfortunate, because as you know, Ed,
as well as I do, CNN prides itself on being “the most trusted name in
news.” And just to give you an idea of how far CNN executives went to help
Erick Erickson clean up his image, they put him on “Reliable Sources” with
media critic Howard Kurtz over a week ago to address some of these horrific
things that he has written on his blog and said in the past.
And to it he, you know, on the program, apologized, said he needed to
grow up, said that they were stupid things that he shouldn‘t have written
about. Even talked in the segment about understanding as an adult the real
impact it has on his family, when his wife leaves the house and she‘s then,
you know, talked to by somebody on the street, that his words actually
resonate with people and have an impact. And then four days later, a whole
four days go by, and on his brand new radio show that‘s where he threatened
to pull out his wife‘s shotgun on the ACS worker.
SCHULTZ: And, of course, we‘ve had a death threat on the United
States senator in the state of Washington. And I remember going to, of all
places, a football clinic once where Tom Landry, the former head coach who
passed away some years ago, head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, said that the
First Amendment of the Constitution is not a freedom of speech to go around
and say whatever you want, it‘s a responsibility.
BURNS: Absolutely.
SCHULTZ: And I was a young guy at the time, and I said, “This is Tom
Landry kind of going into areas that football coaches normally don‘t go.”
And I‘ve always remembered that.
And, you know, you have to draw the line about when you‘re joking, when
you‘re doing a parody, or when you‘re actually believing what you say and
it‘s not a joke. And when someone goes on the air and says, I‘m going to
meet a Census worker, and I‘m not going to fill this out, and they‘re going
to be met with a shotgun, what does that tell other Americans around this
country? That it‘s OK to act out your emotions with a firearm?
BURNS: That‘s exactly—that is exactly what it says to them.
That‘s why this rhetoric is so dangerous, it‘s why the rhetoric we‘ve seen
from the right, the fear-mongering and the angst and anger that it‘s
designed to instill in Americans in a difficult time in our nation‘s
history, that‘s exactly what it does. And I just wonder who‘s going to
have to get shot, how much violence we‘re actually going to have to
withstand in this country before we wake up and see that and expose this
right-wing violent, incendiary rhetoric, the hate speech, for what it is.
It‘s shocking and disappointing CNN, once again, after such a struggle
to get CNN to see the light with Lou Dobbs and move on from there, to have
them jump once again into the fray there with Erick Erickson. And even
though they tried to clean him up, you know, they couldn‘t do it. This is
who he is.
And I‘ll tell you, he lied to every one of his viewers, he lied to
Howard Kurtz when he got up there on “Reliable Sources” last week and said,
oh, I‘m not going to do this again. I‘m a grownup, I‘m all better now, I‘m
going to be responsible. We clearly see he‘s not going to.
And what I want to know is, what is CNN going to do about it? Because
so for they haven‘t said anything.
SCHULTZ: Eric Burns, good to have you with us tonight. Thanks so
much.
BURNS: Thank you, Ed.
SCHULTZ: For more on this, let‘s bring in Congressman Jim Moran of
Virginia who introduced a resolution to protect federal employees.
Congressman, obviously there are reports of some pretty wild stuff
going on around this country as the congressional members are on recess
right now. We‘ve got a threat on a United States senator.
Reel this in for a moment. How serious is this, in your opinion?
REP. JIM MORAN (D), VIRGINIA: I think it is serious, Ed. The problem
is not that there are crazies out there. We know that, but there—it‘s
being fanned and legitimized, really, by people in the media.
It kind of started with Ronald Reagan back 30 years ago, when his
theme was that government is not the solution to your problems, government
is the problem. And then, of course, his media person, Roger Ailes, takes
over Fox News, and they‘ve done very well by appealing to people‘s basest
emotions.
This guy Erickson would never mention that the reason we have a Census
is so that he and the people in his community can get a fair share of road
funds, can be equally represented in the Congress. You know, we need to
know how many people are where so that they can all have fair distribution
of whatever resources are distributed, and infrastructure and things like
that.
It‘s for his benefit, not for the benefit of the Census worker. They
get paid virtually nothing, and they‘re trying to provide a public service.
SCHULTZ: Yes.
MORAN: And, in fact, we have the finest civil service in the world.
Bar none. And we have pretty darn good representation when you compare it
to other forms of legislative representation.
But you‘d never know it. Listen to these people. You‘d think the
government is the enemy.
And, of course, the government can‘t fight back. So you have this
bullying instinct, knowing that no federal employee is going to fight back
because they‘re there as public servants. And so it continues to get more
and more heated. They know by appealing to their people‘s basest instincts
that they‘re going to get more viewers.
SCHULTZ: Yes. Well, it‘s almost as if the righty talkers and these
people that are acting this stuff out by imitating and saying it and trying
to make a name for themselves, they‘re trying to outdo one another.
This is a Tea Partier threatening senator Patty Murray back in
February. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How many of you watched the movie “Lonesome
Dove”? What happened to Jake when he ran with the wrong crowd? What
happened to Jake when he ran with the wrong crowd? He got hung (ph).
Well, that‘s what I want to do with Patty Murray.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Yes. And then, of course, it‘s followed up by a death
threat.
What should be done at this point, if anything? And to, number one,
reduce the rhetoric in the country. Where‘s the leadership? Or federally
I mean, should there be anything done?
MORAN: Well, that‘s the issue. Where‘s the leadership?
They‘re not going to listen to President Obama. They‘re not going to
listen to the Democrats. They think that we‘re the enemy.
It‘s going to have to be Republican leadership, Ed. It‘s going to
have to be the people who have almost encouraged this by their tacit
consent.
They‘re not objecting to it. And if you—and they certainly have
done anything but condemn it.
They know that these people vote Republican. And so they‘re trying to
stir up the base knowing this is an off-year election.
I think a lot of it has to do with politics, but it‘s going to get out
of control. If John Boehner or Mitch McConnell or other Republican leaders
would stand up—John McCain, you know, Mitt Romney and so on would say,
look, there‘s too much of this, it‘s got to stop, the government is not
your enemy, we need to work with Democrats --
SCHULTZ: They have a responsibility, Congressman? Do you think
Republican leadership has a responsibility at this point?
MORAN: Well, of course they do. This is our country. We‘re supposed
to be in it together. It‘s their country, too.
And some Republican leader needs to stand up and defend their country
and the democratic process that elected Barack Obama. And they haven‘t
done it.
And until they do it, I think they‘re the only ones that can quiet
down hate radio and the media, who every day it‘s going to get worse until
somebody with leadership, with real character, stands up and says enough is
enough, this is our country. It‘s time to start defending it.
SCHULTZ: Congressman, good to have you with us tonight.
Bill Press asked a question today. We‘ll talk about that later on.
Asked a question at the White House briefing today. We‘ll have that later
in the show.
Thank you, Congressman.
MORAN: Sure.
SCHULTZ: Coming up, the only thing scarier than Michele Bachmann and
Sarah Palin teaming up is if you throw Sean Hannity into the mix. The
“psycho talker”—well, the “psycho-talking” trifecta may wind up in your
back yard tomorrow in Minnesota.
And we did some homework on Michael Steele and found out that he is a
huge hypocrite when it comes to playing the race card.
Hey, Michael, we‘re going to take you down memory lane here at the
bottom of the hour.
All that, plus, you know, a band-loving, gun-loving militia gear guys
in the Midwest are coming up. We‘re going to tell you what that‘s about.
And “The Newtster” is lying in the “zone.”
You‘re watching THE ED SHOW on MSNBC.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW. And thanks for watching
tonight.
It has been a harrowing day for families of four miners still missing
after a deadly explosion in Raleigh County, West Virginia. More than two
dozen miners were killed in yesterday‘s blast. Four miners remain
unaccounted for.
And the search has been suspended because of dangerous levels of
deadly gases underground which could cause another explosion. Crews are
now working to drill holes to ventilate the area, but officials don‘t
expect to be able to resume the search before tomorrow morning.
Joining me now is Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers.
And we should point out the company that was employing the workers, it was
a non-union shop, Massey Energy Company.
Mr. Gerard, there are a lot of Americans out there tonight wondering,
could this have been prevented? Is this, in your opinion, from what you
can see, a worker issue, a condition that surrounds workers that could have
been prevented?
LEO GERARD, PRESIDENT, UNITED STEELWORKERS: Absolutely. This could
have been prevented, Ed.
This company at this mine over the last period of time since 2005 had
over 1,300 safety violations. And remember, that was during—the
majority of that time was during the Bush regime. So it even gets cited
for a safety violation, and then, in those days, was pretty spectacular.
And of those violations, they paid almost $2 million in fines, but
they contested over 400 of those violations. Clearly, they would rather
have paid the fines, contest the violations, than make their mine safe.
But let me just say this, because I heard you say about who stands up
for them. This is another series of fatalities at another non-union mine.
The United Mine Workers stand up for them, the United Steelworkers
stand up for them. We‘re the two major mining unions in this country, the
mine workers with coal and the steelers with hard-rock mining.
But also, last week, Ed, five workers were killed in a refinery
explosion. I just brought this poster to show you.
This is an explosion from 1989, where 23 people were killed. And the
question is, have we not learned anything? When is it that we‘re going to
put worker safety as the number one priority?
During the Bush years—during the Bush years they went to voluntary
compliance. We all know that doesn‘t work. If you gave voluntary
compliance on the highway, what would happen?
SCHULTZ: Yes.
Well, I think a lot of folks are wondering, how does the enforcement
arm get so lax when this company was recently cited for highly combustible
gas, methane? This was one of the infractions. And this, of course, is
what caused the explosion.
How can that be just let go?
GERARD: I think that we have a culture that‘s developed certainly
during the eight years of the Bush regime that was against regulation, was
against enforcement. And I do want to say this—we‘ve seen a marked
improvement since the appointments of the Obama administration into OSHA
and into MSHA.
But again, when I say we‘ve seen a marked improvement, remember,
again, that these were some of the appointments that were being held up by
the Republicans in the Senate so that we see that enforcement and
regulation makes a difference. And I‘m just beside myself at—
SCHULTZ: So if these workers were to organize, the workers that are
left, and if they were to organize, what would that company do? Because in
that part of the state of West Virginia, this is the only commerce.
GERARD: The CEO of Massey promotes himself as a union-buster. He
promotes himself as having a record of fighting unions wherever they show
up in his workplace. If he spent as much time helping the workers get a
union, helping us then clean up his workplaces, we wouldn‘t have these
fatalities and he wouldn‘t have these fines.
SCHULTZ: Mr. Gerard, are you willing to say tonight that if these
workers had been members of a union this would not have happened?
GERARD: I can absolutely say if these members had been member of a
union, they would have had the right to refuse unsafe work in our
collective agreements and they would have been able to refuse that work.
They wouldn‘t have been subjected to the kind of atrocious conditions. I
can‘t imagine, Ed, 1,300 violations in less than six years.
SCHULTZ: And they‘re still in business.
GERARD: Less than five years. And they‘re still in business. In
some places in the world like Australia and Canada, this kind of negligence
would result in criminal negligence being brought against the management
and the CEO.
SCHULTZ: Mr. Gerard, good to have you with us tonight, president of
the Steelworkers International.
Thanks so much.
GERARD: Good to be here.
SCHULTZ: Coming up, one year ago tonight I crowned “The Newtster” as
the very first “psycho talker.” He hasn‘t learned his lesson, though.
He‘s got a great encore for us next in the “zone.”
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And in “Psycho Talk” tonight, on our one-year anniversary, I
guess we‘re bringing it full circle with Newt Gingrich.
Now, “The Newtster”—that‘s right—he was this show‘s very first
“psycho talker.”
One year ago, North Korea had just launched a dud of a long-range
missile that ended up in the Pacific Ocean. But Newt, he came up with some
good old-fashioned psycho fear-mongering, saying that Obama should have
taken out the missile.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS: So you‘re saying that President Gingrich
would have taken out the—
NEWT GINGRICH ®, FMR. HOUSE SPEAKER: There are three or four
techniques that could have been used from unconventional forces to standoff
capabilities to say we‘re not going to tolerate a North Korean missile
launch, period. I mean, the world has either got to decide that North
Korea is utterly dangerous—and, again, I‘d recommend looking at
electromagnetic pulse, which changes—which we‘ve known about since 1958.
It changes every equation about how risky these weapons are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: I‘m checking my pulse. Hey, I‘m still working.
Well, now it‘s one year later, and “The Newtster” is—well, he‘s one
year crazier.
Here he is this morning making stuff up about the health care bill.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GINGRICH: This is a really bad bill. The more we learn about it, the
worse it is. If you say to the average American, do you really want to
have 16,000 more IRS agents as a brand new health police? They‘re going to
say no.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Oh, come on, Newt. The idea that the IRS is going to be
hiring another 16,000 agents, you know, it‘s another one of these right-
wing lies.
Anti-health care reform Republicans made it up. The IRS commissioner
has specifically said that they won‘t be auditing people to make sure that
they didn‘t buy health insurance.
In fact, the new legislation primarily requires the IRS to hand out
tax credits, not collect penalties. And the bill actually rules out
criminal penalties for people who don‘t buy coverage.
A brand new health police is about as realistic as President Obama
walking into your grandma‘s hospital room, Newt, and personally pulling the
plug on her.
Newt, you were crazy a year ago. You‘re even wackier now. And that‘s
why you are the annual “psycho talker.”
Coming up, “Caribou Barbie” is on her way to the great state of
Minnesota to campaign for brain wizard Michele Bachmann. What a match made
in heaven.
Bob Shrum will try to indoctrinate them later.
Plus, the Michigan Militia is planning an armed open carry Tea Party
on Saturday. Can‘t wait. They say it‘s just their way of, you know,
taking the stigma out of the word militia. Hmm.
All that, plus Obama‘s new nuke plan for our biggest enemies may shock
you. That‘s coming up. You‘re watching THE ED SHOW on MSNBC. Stay with
us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW. Thanks for watching tonight
here on MSNBC. President Obama is working towards a world without nukes.
Today, the administration announced an ambitious new strategy. The United
States pledges never to use nukes on any non-nuclear country as long as
those countries are not actively trying to get the bomb. That means the
United States could still target Iran and North Korea.
For more, let me bring in Cliff May, president of the Foundations for
Defense of Democracies. Cliff, good to have you on tonight.
CLIFF MAY, FOUNDATION FOR DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACY PRESIDENT: Good to see
you, Ed.
SCHULTZ: You bet. Is this a safe policy? It‘s an ambitious policy.
We‘re going to reduce our nuclear stockpiles by one third. Your thoughts
on this?
SCHULTZ: Well, look, I think you made a very important point early
on, Ed, when you said the goal is to have no nuclear weapons, and the most
concern I think we have right now are with Iran, which is trying to develop
nuclear weapons, threatening to wipe Israel off the map, threatening that a
world without America is possible.
And my problem is this does nothing to address the Iranian threat. By
saying, hey, we‘re going to cut American nuclear weapons, we won‘t develop
new nuclear weapons, and don‘t worry, we won‘t retaliate with nuclear
weapons, in most cases, even if you attack us with biological or chemical
weapons, sounds to me unserious and certainly not helpful if the goal is to
stop a regime like that, which currently rules Iran, from getting nuclear
weapons.
SCHULTZ: The subject, obviously, was brought up today at the White
House press briefing about what countries would be a target. This is the
response from Robert Gibbs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: If a country—if we see
that a country greatly expands its biological or chemical weapons
capability, the posture review calls for the ability to re-evaluate any
assurances that have been given.
Our country possesses a massive conventional arsenal that we believe
has an important deterrent effect on anybody that might make the poor
decision to attack our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Cliff, are we going to be safe with this policy? Safer than
we are tonight?
MAY: No safer than we are tonight. At best you can say it‘s sort of
neutral. They‘re saying, don‘t worry, we won‘t retaliate unless we think
we should. We‘re saying, what else—we‘re not doing anything about the
proliferation that is actually taking place by telling the world and
telling our enemies we‘re going to have fewer nuclear weapons, and we are
less likely to—we may change our minds and do it anyhow, if we decide we
want to.
I don‘t think either our enemies or our allies will sleep better as a
result of this tonight.
SCHULTZ: I think it‘s a lofty goal to have a world with no nukes, but
--
MAY: It is indeed.
SCHULTZ: -- and what might be loftier is us, the United States,
trusting the Russians. They have a lot of deals cooking with the Iranians.
Now, you can‘t have a deal like this unless you‘re willing to trust
everybody who‘s got the nukes. Are you willing to say that the United
States is making the right move with the Russians?
MAY: I don‘t think it‘s a good idea to trust Vladimir Putin. I don‘t
think we can trust the Russians. I think any deal we make with them needs
to be verified. While we may want a world that is safer—I think we do.
I think you do. I think Obama does. We know that‘s not the Russian goal.
The Russian goal is to take advantage of us anyway they can.
If they can get a lead in the nuclear arms race because we‘re going to
restrict ourselves, they‘ll do that. If we‘re going to be a less of a
nuclear nation to be reckoned with, Iran will find a way to be more of a
nuclear nation to be reckoned with. I think what you‘re saying is we
should be careful with trusting the Russians, the Iranians, and others.
I‘m absolutely with you on that, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Trust but verify.
MAY: Trust but verify, as Ronald Reagan used to say.
SCHULTZ: That might have been the only thing Reagan ever said that I
agreed with.
SCHULTZ: We might find another couple of quotes you like.
MAY: All right. Thanks, Cliff. Good to have you on tonight.
Now let‘s get some rapid fire response from our panel on these stories
tonight. A Michigan militia group is holding an open carry Tea Party this
weekend? They say the event is designed to take the stigma out of being a
militia?
Michael Steele is a total hypocrite when it comes to playing the race
card. But Newt Gingrich thinks Republicans should quit criticizing him.
CNN contributor and all around nut job Erick Erickson refuses to take
back or back down on his threat to pull a gun on Census workers.
With us tonight, Bill Press, nationally syndicated radio talk show
host, and Ron Christie, who I know would never pull a gun on me if I were a
Census worker, although he was a special assistant to Dick Cheney, who does
know something about fire arms.
RON CHRISTIE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Ed, you had to go there, didn‘t
you?
SCHULTZ: We‘re just having fun, Ron, you know that.
CHRISTIE: Of course.
SCHULTZ: Let‘s talk about this. I mean, Ron, how irresponsible is it
for someone to have a microphone and say, hey, I dare them to come to my
door, they‘re not going to arrest me. I‘m going to have a gun at the door
when they show up. What about that?
CHRISTIE: I think it‘s pretty stupid and it‘s pretty irresponsible.
You know, I read his clip and he said that the liberals are taking his
comments out of context. I actually read the entire thing.
I don‘t care what you say. It‘s in our Constitution that we have a
Census, and these individuals, these temporary employees, are coming.
They‘re doing their Constitutional responsibility. And to even joke about
bringing a weapon out when someone‘s coming to do their job is
irresponsible. This person needs to grow up a little bit.
SCHULTZ: Bill Press, what planet is CNN on, or any network keeping
somebody on that advocates this kind of behavior?
BILL PRESS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I don‘t know. But I have to say,
Ed, I think Ron Christie is getting much too rational to be on this show.
I find myself finding it hard to disagree with him.
CHRISTIE: I‘ll bring you to the dark side, Bill, don‘t worry.
PRESS: Let me tell you something, this is disgraceful, I think, that
CNN hired this guy in the first place, after what he said about Linda
Douglass and Justice Souter. To keep him on the payroll now, there‘s no
place for this kind of dialogue.
SCHULTZ: He slipped through the personnel department, because this
guy has got a history of talking like that.
PRESS: No, no, exactly. Also, Ed, I have to tell you, I don‘t see
any difference between what Eric Erickson said and what that militia did,
the Hutaree, or whatever you call them, did. They threatened the lives of
federal agents. They were arrested. They‘re now in prison. This guy did
the same thing.
SCHULTZ: Bill, I don‘t know what you‘re doing this weekend, what do
you say we go to that militia thing up there with an open carry? Come on.
What is this all about?
PRESS: You know what, Ed, I have to tell you, I think it‘s a bunch of
guys with penis envy, who feel they have to march around and show everybody
how big their guns are. That‘s the only explanation I have. Look, if you
want to really—what they say is they want to make everybody feel good
about the term militia. I don‘t think you get there by marching around in
a public park wearing camouflage outfits and waving AK-47s.
SCHULTZ: What about this, Ron Christie? Is this overboard?
CHRISTIE: It‘s pretty silly. Look, if you want to go out and have
your constitutional right to bear arm, all power to you. Saying you‘re
doing it under the rubric of a political demonstration I think really just
is stupid, frankly. If you want to carry your guns, carry your guns. If
you want to have a political discussion, have a political discussion.
Don‘t mix the two. It just seems a little silly to me.
PRESS: Amen.
SCHULTZ: What about Newt Gingrich telling the GOP to back off Michael
Steele? Do you agree with that?
CHRISTIE: Well, I think the only way this controversy is going to get
passed us, Ed, is if the chairman goes back and does what he needs to do,
which is to raise money and recruit candidates for office. I have my
personal criticisms with Chairman Steele that have been very vocal on THE
ED SHOW and other outlets on MSNBC. I think the chairman needs to,
frankly, stay off the air.
And I disagree. I have immense personal respect and affection for the
speaker. But given what we heard from Chairman Steele yesterday, about
issues of race and people criticizing Chairman Steele because he‘s African-
American I think is just absolutely ridiculous. He needs to stay off the
airwaves, do his job and keep his mouth shut.
SCHULTZ: Do you think the RNC chief of staff was a fall guy, Ron?
CHRISTIE: I do. Again, as I said last week, I think he‘s on a very
short leash. I think the donors are getting very fed up with hearing drip,
drip, drip coming out of the RNC. He needs to get his job done, rather
than dominating the headlines.
SCHULTZ: Bill Press, what do you think?
PRESS: Michael Steele‘s problems have nothing to do with the color of
his skin. It has to do with the incompetence of his leadership of the RNC.
The idea—I love what Newt said. Let me tell you, I think Republicans
would much rather focus on Democrats than the chairman. But then the
chairman ought to stop doing and saying such stupid things.
SCHULTZ: Ron Christie, Bill Press, always a pleasure to have you guys
on. Thanks so much. You bet.
Coming up, in the last 15 months, the stock market, it‘s jumped 3,000
points. Now, I‘m saying if this had happened under a Republican president,
he would have been haled our savior. It‘s high time President Obama gets
some credit for his economic policies to save Wall Street, your retirement,
your 401(k), your savings and so much more in the playbook. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: In my playbook tonight, folks on Main Street may still be
feeling the effects of this recession, but Wall Street seems to have
bounced back pretty good. Stock prices have surged over the past few
months. In fact, my next guest thinks the Dow Jones industrial average
will hit 12,000 by the end of the year.
I think President Obama needs to really be getting a lot more credit
for what is taking place on Wall Street. Remember where we were a year
ago. We were told near virtual collapse. We might not like the idea of
bonuses and the regulation hasn‘t been put in place yet. But this is very
important. Whether or not you‘re in the Dow 12,000, this has got to be a
great shot to go up almost 3,000 points over the last year.
We haven‘t seen anything like that since FDR was in office. If Wall
Street had that big of a turnaround under a Republican president, he would
have been haled a savior and the greatest economic policy in the history of
the world. You can hear the right-wing talkers now, right?
Obama needs, I think, to get out there and start talking about this
bull market, because this is people‘s 401(k)s. This is your retirement.
This is your education. This is pension plans, which obviously are in the
market, helping senior citizens in this country.
And notice how the corporate conversation in this country isn‘t about
how bad Obama is. Now we have to take it a step further. We have to help
out Main Street. We have to loosen up credit markets.
Joining me now is Peter Morici. He‘s an economist and professor at
the University of Maryland, who told us last week on this show that he
thought the recession was over. We have the right indicators coming in
order. Why isn‘t President Obama getting more help—more really
accolades for this, Peter? What do you think?
PETER MORICI, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND: Well, I think the president is
soft peddling a bit the stock market turnaround because doesn‘t want to
appear to be insensitive to main street. If he says, look at how great the
market is, the folks who are still unemployed might take umbrage to that.
But the fact of the matter is this track record, these 15 months, year
over year since March, is one for the ages. I went through all the data
today, back to FDR. You have to go back to FDR to see a new president that
has made the stock market perform like this.
SCHULTZ: Where were we April 6th, 2009? We were at 7,975.85. Where
are we today? Holy smokes. We‘re up almost 3,000 points, at 10,969.99.
Now, there isn‘t a business guy in America that wouldn‘t say, hey, I really
like those numbers. But for some reason, they don‘t say, you know what,
President Obama has an economic team that‘s taken a lot of heat. This is
pretty good. This is where the recovery starts. Now it has to move on
with the investment on Main Street. What do you think?
MORICI: Absolutely. One of the things that Obama has provided is a
sense of stability now. Now that health care is done—not all of us like
every aspect of it, but we know what the rules are going to be. Moreover,
we‘re getting a pretty good sense of what‘s going to come out of Dodd‘s
committee and the compromise with Frank and what financial regulation is
going to look like. Too much is made of this Consumer Protection Agency,
exactly where it sits. We know what it‘s going to do. And we what the
other elements of the plan are going to do.
We‘re probably not going to get cap and trade. I‘m sorry to
disappoint you. But we‘re going to get regulatory changes, as we saw last
week, with automobiles and negotiations with principle emitters, power
plants and industrial users and so forth. We have a sense of what‘s coming
out. What business likes to know is what are the rules of the road?
Strong leader, we have that. Let‘s face it, George Bush, whether
you‘re a conservative or not, was not a strong leader that provided
clarity. This man provides clarity.
SCHULTZ: Peter Morici, always a pleasure. Great to have you with us
tonight. Thanks so much.
MORICI: Take care.
SCHULTZ: One more final page in my playbook, as I mentioned in psycho
talk tonight, this is our one-year anniversary of THE ED SHOW. I want you
to know that we‘re just getting started. We kicked things off 365 days ago
with the intention of giving a voice to the working folk of America,
middle-class Americans. One year later, we‘re still doing it.
And I want to thank all of the folks who have made us, this show, THE
ED SHOW, a part of your viewing habits and hope you keep doing it. It‘s
been a great year. I appreciate our team, as the way we have worked to
bring you what we think is the important issues of the day. I‘m going to
keep right on fighting for the middle class.
Thank you for joining us and hope you‘ll be back tomorrow night for
THE ED SHOW, right here on MSNBC.
Up next—now, this is a story we have to cover—these two
Minnesota Twins are charging ten grand a pop for you to get a picture with
them? Boy, that‘s pretty pricey. Even with Hannity around, huh? Bob
Shrum will be here to preview the North Star State nightmare, next. You‘re
watching THE ED SHOW on MSNBC.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW. Our final segment tonight—
we want to have some great psycho talk that we‘re looking forward to for
tomorrow evening. The two queens of crazy, Michele Bachmann and Sarah
Palin, will be campaigning together in Minnesota. They‘ll headline a rally
at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Then they‘ll head—then head to a
much more exclusive fund-raiser, I‘m sure for the middle class, where
taking a picture with the two Tea Party superstars is only going to cost
you 10 Grand.
For more, let me bring in Democratic strategist and professor at New
York University, Bob Shrum. Just for the record, Michele Bachmann says she
doesn‘t believe that the congressman from Missouri was spit on because
there‘s no tape.
BOB SHRUM, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Right.
SCHULTZ: Both these talkers have talked about death panels. Sarah
Palin started that. Bachmann has brought us and scared us about
indoctrination camps. And both have fear-mongered the American people when
it comes to the Census that is going to be taking place and is taking place
in this country right now. And they‘re charging 10 Grand a picture.
That besides the point, I‘d have to say—and you can disagree with
me if you want, Bob—these are the two most visible people, arguably, in
the Republican party right now. What do you think?
SHRUM: I think they‘d be a great Republican ticket in 2012. I hope
the Republicans nominate them. My first question would be, how much is
Sarah Palin going to charge if she autographs your hand? Is that going to
cost 20,000 dollars? I mean, this is a pretty high price to pay for their
phony demagogic populism.
These folks aren‘t fighting for the middle class. They‘re fighting
for the insurance companies. They‘re fighting for tax cuts for the
wealthy. They‘re fighting to deny health coverage to tens of millions of
Americans. They go out there and they use these buzzwords and these scare
tactics in order to convince people that somehow or other there‘s some
great threat to the republic and they‘re going to save it.
SCHULTZ: Then, of course, you throw in the great American journalist,
Sean Hannity. He, of course, is going to be part of it. No promotion
there at all. Now, Sarah Palin put targets on congressional districts.
And now we, of course, have got a threat on a United States senator. Are
these two clowns, or should they be taken seriously?
SHRUM: I think they should be taken seriously. Look, this is—this
use of not just metaphors about violence and guns, but the actual notion
that somehow or other—I mean, Erick Erickson on talk radio, who‘s now
gone to CNN—I guess he‘s going to stay on talk radio too, spewing that
stuff out there too—says if a Census taker comes to his house, he‘s
going to pick up his wife‘s rifle and go after them. This is somebody who,
the next day, attacks people for criticizing him and says, well, really, he
wasn‘t suggesting that there be violence.
Look, this stuff, once it starts, once this kind of venom gets into
the national blood stream, often has an affect and a pretty tragic effect.
I think people on the right, and this was true, by the way, in a different
context 30 or 40 years ago on the left, have a responsibility to say, this
is wrong and it shouldn‘t be tolerated.
SCHULTZ: So what do you make of Karl Rove cutting a PSA that
encourages people to fill out the Census? I mean, it‘s kind of out of his
bailiwick, out of his wheelhouse. I think he‘s doing it to distance
himself from these crazies.
SHRUM: Partly, and also partly because he counts votes, and he
understands that if this loony stuff deters people from answering their
census forms in states like Idaho and rural parts of Texas and rural parts
of the south, Republicans are going to lose seats in the Congress. They‘re
going to lose influence. They‘re going to lose federal funds. These folks
are all against federal funds, of course, unless they‘re coming to their
states.
SCHULTZ: No doubt about that. Minnesota Senator Tarryl Clark
announced today that her campaign has raised 1.1 million dollars to
challenge Michele Bachmann in that district. I mean, this is going to be
close. It‘s going to be a close race. And I have met Ms. Clark. She is
one feisty liberal. This is going to be a real interesting race. Could it
help her a lot that Palin is in that district, along with Hannity?
SHRUM: All Palin does is consolidate the base. She doesn‘t reach
beyond that base. Seventy percent of Americans think she‘s unqualified to
be president. A lot of people think that she‘s way too extreme. I think
independents don‘t like her.
So, yeah, it helps. I—everybody who‘s watching this program
tonight who wants to send a message that they hate this kind of—that
they detest the hate speech we‘re hearing ought to contribute to Michele
Bachmann‘s opponent.
SCHULTZ: No doubt about it. Great to have you with us tonight.
SHRUM: Glad to be here. Many, many more anniversaries, Ed.
SCHULTZ: I hope so. I‘ll show up tomorrow if they‘ll keep letting me
do it.
SHRUM: Because you‘re a populist and you do defend the middle class.
These other people are phonies.
SCHULTZ: Thank you. I appreciate that very much.
Tonight, in our telephone survey, I asked you, do you believe the
conservative media gets a free pass for hate speech? Eight two percent of
you say yes; 18 percent say no.
That‘s THE ED SHOW. I‘m Ed Schultz. For more information on THE ED
SHOW, go to Ed.MSNBC.com, or check out my radio website at WeGotEd.com.
You can hear my show on XM 167, Monday through Friday, from noon to 3:00,
and always give us a call at 1-877-We-Got-Ed. HARDBALL with Chris Matthews
starts now on the place for politics, MSNBC. We‘ll see you tomorrow night.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY
BE UPDATED.
END
Copyright 2010 Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by
United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed,
transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written
permission of Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark,
copyright or other notice from copies of the content.>
transcript