Guests: Ben Jealous, Bernie Sanders, Mark Warner, Chris Kofinis, John
Feehery, Joe Madison, Eric Boehlert, Lizz Winstead
ED SCHULTZ, MSNBC ANCHOR: Good evening, Americans, and welcome to THE ED SHOW tonight, live from the nation‘s capital, Washington, D.C.
These stories on the table and hitting “My Hot Buttons” at this hour.
Republicans Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, I think this guy ought to be absolutely ashamed of himself. In the same week we find out that 43 million Americans live in poverty, he‘s got the nerve to say that the wealthy suffered the most during this recession. He‘s going to pay for that one with commentary coming up, and reaction from the president of the NAACP, Ben Jealous, in just a moment.
Joe Biden has a message for progressives: Get it in gear. Well, I think he‘s right. But the people he should be screaming at are the ones that are in his own White House. My advice to the vice president coming up in “The Battleground” story tonight.
And leading Republican propagandist Sarah Palin is taken “Psycho Talker” Christine O‘Donnell under her wing. She‘s telling her to speak through Fox. “Daily Show” co-creator Lizz Winstead is going to rip into that one in “Club Ed” tonight, special edition on a Thursday night.
But this is the story that has me fired up tonight. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has proven once again how heartless, how out of touch, and how flat-out cruel the Republican Party really is. McConnell thinks the people who have been hit hardest by America‘s great recession are the wealthy in this country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL ®, MINORITY LEADER: We can‘t let the people who have been hit hardest by this recession and who need to create the jobs that will get us out of it foot the bill for the Democrats‘ two-year adventure in expanded government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: I could not believe that when I heard it. He thinks that the wealthiest Americans have paid the biggest price. Well, just a minute.
McConnell couldn‘t have picked a worse week to profess his loyalty to the super rich in this country, because today the U.S. Census Bureau released a report showing 43.6 million Americans now live in poverty in this country. My friends, that is 10 million more people than live in the entire state of California. It‘s more people that live in New York and Texas combined. Four million Americans have fallen below the poverty level in the last year alone.
Now, McConnell uses his time on the Senate floor to protect the tax cuts for the top two percent in this country. Now, it seems to me he doesn‘t give a damn about the 14.3 percent of Americans that have absolutely nothing.
Now, Republicans repeatedly blocked unemployment benefit extensions this year. You need to remember that. Conservatives said that, hey, these people were fat and lazy and sitting on the couch and didn‘t want to go out and get a job.
Well, let me tell you something. Those unemployment benefits kept three million Americans from falling into that category of poverty.
Now, tonight we are adding to the list of the 99ers. Now, keep in mind, these are the folks that have run out of benefits. They‘ve run out of luck. And they‘ve run out of allies on both sides of the aisle going into this midterm in November.
The Republicans, they don‘t have a plan for the ‘99ers. The Democrats do, but they‘re too cowardly to put it on the table in this time of economic strife. And to make things even worse, here comes McConnell endorsing Tea Party victories, as I predicted last night.
Listen to what he told Fox.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCONNELL: All of this energy that you‘ve seen on display in Republican primaries will now be directed 100 percent against Democrats. None of these Tea Party candidates are running as Independents. It‘s all going to be part of the Republican movement to improve our numbers in the House and Senate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: All right. So I‘ll just say it again, it‘s a repeat from last night. My friends, there is no civil war in the Republican Party. There is no Republican Party. It‘s just the Tea Party. Or you can call it whatever you want.
The bottom line is, they‘re all in the same basket right now after Tuesday night‘s results. Christine O‘Donnell, Rand Paul, Sharron Angle, it doesn‘t matter.
But do know this: if they‘re going to be driving the agenda, this kind of thinking is going to be driving the agenda for the Republicans for years to come. They will cut any kind of government funding and any kind of program they can to help the poor or to help the needy, and they are dead set—listen to me—dead set on repealing the health care bill. They want to wipe away just the little bit of progress that we have made in the first 22 months.
Now, by the way, the Census report also shows that there are 50.7 more million Americans without health care. It used to be 43 million when we were having this debate in 2009. Now it‘s up to over 50 million. Those numbers will go through the roof and get worse if McConnell and his crowd, along with Boehner and this outfit, if they get control of the House and the Senate.
The mission of the Republicans is to defeat President Obama. Hold it there. I have to—you know, every group that I talk to, they say, “Yes, Ed, you‘re right.” And I walk away thinking, well, then why isn‘t the base motivated to do something about this?
McConnell has proven over and over and over again, if you just have an “R” behind your name, you‘re going to get the loyalty of the conservatives because they want to take down President Obama that bad. They‘ll take a couple of nuts in the crowd if they can just get rid of President Obama‘s agenda.
That‘s the bottom line. If that doesn‘t motivate liberals in this country, then I don‘t know what does.
Republicans or Tea Party, whatever, they have yet—keep in mind, they have yet to denounce any racist comments produced by the right-wing talkers in the past months. The Tea Party has no plan on the table for one in four African-Americans that are living in poverty. They don‘t have a plan.
We are at a defining moment in American history. We take a step forward. Now what are we going to do? Lose our guts, lose our belly, lose our confidence, and all of a sudden, throw it away after 22 months and nobody‘s going to show up?
Let me tell you something, folks. This is a crucial time in American history. If we‘re going to keep the progressive agenda just alive and for debate on the table, we must maintain the majority in the House and in the Senate. It is crucial.
If you don‘t like the way that health care went down, too bad. Be a team player. If you don‘t like the way the job market is right now, believe me, it will get better.
This jobs bill that has just been passed in the Senate, this cloture vote the other day to get 60 votes and $30 billion to community banks, is going to help an awful lot. We have to understand that the obstructionists that have been out there and across America bad-mouthing the agenda, bad-mouthing the president, has been bad for America.
Hell, these people, they don‘t even want President Obama to talk in public schools. How much more material do you need to get fired up?
So, Vice President Biden, I agree with you, but I‘d like to know, who are the pit bulls coming out of the White House doing the sell job? And I‘ll tell you, I think that you need some new blood in there to make the sell. The soft sell ain‘t working. The soft sell ain‘t working.
Let‘s get back to the benefits. Tell me what you think in our telephone survey tonight. The number to dial is 1-877-ED-MSNBC.
My question tonight is: Do you think Tea Partiers care that 43.6 million Americans are living in poverty? Press the number 1 for yes, press the number 2 for no. I‘ll bring you the results later on in this show.
And I am voting that they do not care.
Joining me now is Ben Jealous, president of the NAACP.
Ben, good to have you with us tonight.
BEN JEALOUS, PRESIDENT, NAACP: Thank you.
SCHULTZ: I am so fired up for October 2nd. This is going to be a great rally for America. It‘s going to be positive, and it is one nation together.
I want you to speak to these numbers that are out there now, these poverty numbers. What do you make of them?
JEALOUS: Well, we‘re in a time when prosperity‘s going down while diversity‘s going up. And in those times you have two choices. You can do what the Tea Party does and try to push down on diversity, which just is—you know, they really can‘t ever win that battle. Or you can push up on prosperity, and that‘s what we‘re focused on.
We‘re focused on job creation. Job creation has to be job one.
You see things like this happen when you have obstructionists in the Senate who hold up every jobs—I mean, as the president said the other day, it‘s a great thing that this bill got passed, but it took way too long. And what we all know is that out there, there are governors who are doing the same thing with dollars that have been set down to create jobs, and they hold them up out of spite.
We need to get this country back together and focus on job creation and putting our folks back to work.
SCHULTZ: These are alarming numbers. We now have a bigger spread.
It‘s two Americas. There‘s no doubt about it.
JEALOUS: That‘s right.
SCHULTZ: Now, do you think that the Tea Partiers, their influence on the Republican Party, are going to make it tougher?
JEALOUS: You know, the Tea Party folks—you know, you‘ve got two camps. What I can‘t understand is why they won‘t be more outspoken about the races and the ranks, why they won‘t push them out.
Look, if you want to have a party that‘s here to talk about small government and tax policy, great. Let‘s have that debate. But if you want to let people in to kind of stir up the pot, pour gas on the flame, that‘s a real problem.
I mean, I rarely say good things about Glenn Beck. It was a good sign to hear him say to his people, “Leave your signs at home.” He needs to go one step further and say, look into your heart and focus.
You know, Greer, down in Florida, came out and apologized to the president, and said how concerned he was about racist folks in his party.
SCHULTZ: Greer is the former head of the Florida Republican Party, and he did a backtrack, apologizing for some of the racist things that had been said.
Your comment about Beck is interesting, because he has just done a 180, in my opinion, and said that the violence is going to come from the left. And of course in the left are minorities.
How do you feel about that?
JEALOUS: Well, you know, we have friends in California at the ACLU and the Tides Center who are shaken today as we speak because a man was on his way to shoot up both of those locations. He ended up getting caught by the CHP.
They were in a shootout. He was wearing body armor. And when they talked to him afterwards, they said, “Why did you target the Tides Center?” Because he heard about it on Glenn Beck. Because he heard about it on Glenn Beck.
SCHULTZ: So you want the Tea Party to denounce any talk of violence.
They haven‘t. You want the Tea Party to denounce racism.
Have they done that?
JEALOUS: You‘ve seen bits and pieces and some good signs. You‘ve seen some good signs.
Again, you saw Glenn Beck saying leave your signs at home. He did again this week. He said to people, “Just leave your signs at home.”
You‘ve seen them throw out Mark Williams from the Tea Party Express and the Tea Party Express faction For not disowning him. They‘ve got to go further. They‘ve got to go further. It‘s fine if you want to build a movement on tax policy, but if you want to keep racism—gasoline and racism aflame—
SCHULTZ: No doubt. Does it make you nervous that their candidates are winning and it‘s changed—it‘s moving the Republican Party further to the right, which historically, has left minorities behind?
JEALOUS: It makes me want to stand up and fight for pulling this country back to work, putting this country back together. You know, again, if they want to attack diversity, if they want to attack the 14th Amendment, if they want to attack the Civil Rights Act, we need to be pushing just as hard to get jobs created so that people in this country see that, look, you know, either you can run downhill towards hatred and division, or you can push, come together and push uphill towards prosperity and hope. And that‘s where we need to be focused, is pushing uphill toward prosperity --
SCHULTZ: How important is October 2nd to these midterms?
JEALOUS: We—October 2nd is very much connected to November 2nd.
We‘ve got to get people together.
We have to allow the majority of this country to see itself reflected back. If people are fired up on October 2nd, and they go back to their communities and work precinct by precinct, we‘ll have a very different result on November 2nd.
SCHULTZ: Is it a confidence problem right now?
JEALOUS: Look, when I was an organizer in Harlem, I was taught never let anybody who you‘re organizing think that when they vote for a politician, he‘s going to bring them change. They need to remember that their job—look, if you vote for a politician, your job of making change might get easier, but it‘s always your job to make change.
We are the change that we‘ve waited for. Folks have gone back to the couch. They need to get back to the streets. That‘s what we‘re saying on October 2nd.
SCHULTZ: Ben Jealous, we‘ll see you on October 2nd. I‘m looking forward to being a part of it. It‘s going to be a big event. Hopefully it will propel the Democrats to the midterms in a big way.
Thanks for coming in tonight.
JEALOUS: All right. Thank you.
SCHULTZ: Ben Jealous of the NAACP with us tonight.
Now let‘s turn to Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
Bernie, good to have you with us tonight.
I want your response to Mitch McConnell saying that the people that suffered the most through America‘s greatest recession was the rich.
(LAUGHTER)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: Well, you know, I think we could say that Mitch has a great sense of humor, and you‘ve got give him that.
Look, here‘s the reality—and this an important reality for every American to understand. Today, the middle class in this country is disappearing. Under Bush, median family income declined by $2,200 a year - - $2,200 over an eight-year period.
Millions of people lost their health care. Millions of people slipped out of the middle class and into poverty.
But here‘s the other point. Today, Ed, the top one percent earned 23.5 percent of all of the income accumulated in America. One percent, 23.5 percent of all income. Top one-tenth of one percent gained 11 percent of all of the income, top one percent earns more income than the bottom 50 percent.
SCHULTZ: Senator, do you think these numbers are strong enough to motivate the Democrats to have a big turnout? I mean, what‘s wrong with 2010? They did it in 2008, they did it in 2006.
SANDERS: Well, here‘s what‘s wrong. All right, everybody knows that the Bush administration was a disaster. Everybody knows that when Obama came in, he inherited a financial system teetering on collapse, 700,000 jobs a month being lost.
I think what most progressives that I know are saying, yes, Obama‘s done better, but he hasn‘t really stood up, nor has the Democratic leadership in a really aggressive way to these big money interests on Wall Street or to the other big money interests which have so much influence.
Think what Franklin Delano Roosevelt did in 1932. A very simple message: I am on the side of the working class of America. I am prepared to stand up to the economic loyalists. We are going to take them on.
What Obama has done too much and the Democratic leadership, in my view, has done too much, they keep reaching out to Republicans—oh let‘s work in a bipartisan way. And every single day they got slapped in the hand, filibuster after filibuster, the most—I have never seen in my life the kind of personal attacks being waged against a president of the United States that the right-wing echo chamber is waging against President Obama.
SCHULTZ: So you‘re telling the base tonight, forget all of that, you‘ve got to hold the majority or you‘re going to lose everything that you gained, right?
SANDERS: Well, clearly—clearly if the Republicans gain control, you‘re going back to Bush‘s policy. Can you believe—can you believe these guys are talking about $700 billion in tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires at a time when the top one percent already earns 23 percent of the income. They want more --
SCHULTZ: Yes. It‘s crazy.
SANDERS: -- unfettered free trade. They want more deregulation after the Wall Street disaster.
Of course we cannot let them come back into power and go back to those policies, but what we have got to do is tell this president and the Democratic leadership, stop getting pushed around by the Republicans. Stand up for the working class of this country.
SCHULTZ: Amen to that.
Senator, good to have you with us tonight. Thanks so much.
SANDERS: Thank you.
SCHULTZ: Coming up, false profit and fraud Glenn Beck says fat people should die? He‘s blaming global unrest on French fries. Well, we‘re going to stuff him in the “Zone” on that one.
And Bush‘s brain can‘t stand the heat, so he caved in to his double talk on the Tea Party‘s new darling, and is making people dizzy.
All that, plus “The Tan Man” tells Eric Cantor, back off; DeMint‘s having illusions; and “Daily Show” co-creator Lizz Winstead headlines “Club Ed” tonight.
You‘re watching THE ED SHOW on MSNBC. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW and thanks for watching tonight.
Small business is about to get a major shot in the arm -- $30 billion in lending, $12 billion in tax breaks, no thanks to any of the Republicans running in the midterms. Despite all their rhetoric about tax cuts, not a single Republican running for re-election stood with small business owners trying to survive in a very tough economy.
Joining me now is Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, a major advocate for small business in the Senate.
Senator, I don‘t mean to embarrass you tonight, but I want our audience to know that your success as a small business owner is well documented. You could probably speak to this better than anybody else in the Senate.
What does this bill mean? What will it do? How do you know it‘s going to work?
And good to have you with us tonight.
SEN. MARK WARNER (D), VIRGINIA: Well, thanks for having me on, Ed.
I‘ve got to tell you, you know, it was an important step forward today, and it‘s kind of wacky that it took us this long. I mean, we should have done this nine months ago, 10 months ago.
You know, two-third of the jobs coming out of any recession are created by small businesses. And we‘ve been kind of sitting on our hands, and oftentimes without any help from our Republican colleagues.
And the problem is, you know, large companies in America are doing fine. I don‘t dislike them for that, but they‘ve got $2 trillion in cash sitting on their balance sheets.
Small businesses still can‘t get a loan. If they‘ve got a loan, they can‘t get their credit line renewed because the banks have been willing to kind of pull in the horns.
So, this takes three or four ideas that are proven. The Small Business Administration lending program, capital access program that‘s already in 25 states, it would juice it up a little bit more, $30 billion in additional capital that would be leveraged out, and says how can we, small businesses, give you the credit you need and give you some additional tax breaks right now in the trough of this recession? It is good policy, it‘s smart policy.
SCHULTZ: It‘s great policy, but how fast is it going to work? And is this money going to go through community banks? Is it going to be backed up by the government, the loan guarantees? Is that the detail of it?
WARNER: That is where a lot of it is. Let‘s face it, we were doing this.
The Small Business Administration, which actually has gotten a lot less bureaucratic, a lot better in terms of delivery, was doing a great job. They ran out of money in June. So we‘ve had people sitting out there waiting to get money, lending that they were ready—the government was ready to guarantee these loans. They were going to go out and hire people, and we said time out because we couldn‘t get our act together and we couldn‘t get folks across the aisle to join us.
SCHULTZ: Well, that‘s a key point. The Republicans love to say they‘re pro-business. They love to say that President Obama is anti-business.
So why are the Republicans, if they‘re pro-business, against loosening up the lending for small businesses and getting some money into the system? Why do you think they were against it?
WARNER: Ed, you know, I don‘t get it. I mean, there was nothing in this bill—this bill looked like it would had been crafted by a moderate Republican five years ago. I don‘t get it.
I think the fact was they tried to add on some “gotcha” amendments on the top. They couldn‘t even kind of agree to let us go to the bill.
But luckily, we did got a couple of Republicans that joined us. And, you know, this is where the American public‘s got to be out there scratching their head, saying, hey we hired you guys. You know, big banks are doing fine again. We need the credit to restart hiring, and why can‘t you get your act together?
I‘m finally glad we did it.
SCHULTZ: And you are convinced that this could be a game-changer? Would you go that far? I mean, it would seem to me in the pipeline, we should see the effects of this in the first quarter of 2011.
WARNER: No. We should see the effects of this, I believe, in the last quarter of this year --
SCHULTZ: OK.
WARNER: -- if the president will sign this. And it‘s not going to be a silver bullet.
I don‘t think anything we ought to not over-promise in terms of silver bullets. But this will be a major step. I think we can see 500,000 to 700,000 jobs created out of this action taken by the Senate today.
SCHULTZ: Senator, good to have you with us tonight. Thanks so much.
WARNER: Thanks, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Coming up, “The Beckster” goes from death panels to fast food. This nut job will do anything to save money, even if it means letting fat people die?
I‘m throwing the slob in the “Zone” next. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And in “Psycho Talk” tonight, “The Beckster” is worried that Michelle Obama‘s campaign against obesity will infringe on his God-given right to eat French fries. He even has a brand-new fast-food conspiracy theory.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GLENN BECK, FOX NEWS: I tonight am going to take you from French fries to riots. And I‘ll show you how we go from French fries to global unrest.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Now, this is coming from a guy who‘s saying liberals are stirring up violence. Getting from fries to riots, well, it took a while, but he found a way to blame it on the health care bill.
Then he offered his own solution to obesity crisis in this country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: Whether you like it or not, we have government health care now. The nation‘s health care costs are directly tied to the government, and obesity is one of, if not the most, costly conditions, costing you and me now at least $150 billion a year.
You know those fat people that sit in their couch—and I mean really fat—I mean, not like me. I mean the people who are, like, their skin grows into the couch. I say let them die.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Glenn Beck is in lockstep with the Republican plan do whatever it takes to preserve their own health.
Congressman Alan Grayson laid it out on the House floor about a year ago during the health care debate. Remember?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ALAN GRAYSON (D), FLORIDA: If you get sick America, the Republican health care plan is this: die quickly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Grayson took a lot of heat for that, but now Glenn Beck is suggesting it.
Maybe Glenn should take a break from telling all of us to turn to God and actually try it himself, because saying that we should let fat people die is absolutely “Psycho Talk.”
Coming up, Vice President Biden is telling progressives to get it in gear, but I don‘t see his team on the street hammering the message home. They‘ve got to embrace their base if they want a fighting chance.
I‘ll set them straight in “The Battleground.” Stay with us.
And “The Tan Man” is trying to protect his rich golfing buddies. He threw down the gauntlet to Speaker Pelosi and she smoked him out. I‘ll get “Rapid Fire Response.”
All that, plus, Sarah Palin plays the part of big sis to psycho-talking Christine O‘Donnell, and “Daily Show” co-creator Lizz Winstead is in the house for a special edition of “Club Ed.”
You‘re watching THE ED SHOW on MSNBC. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW. The Battleground story tonight. Vice President Joe Biden says, progressives need to get it in gear if they want to prevent a Tea Party takeover in the Congress. The vice president went on the “RACHEL MADDOW SHOW” last night here on MSNBC and gave these marching orders to the base.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Get in gear, man. First of all, there‘s a great deal at stake. If they take over the House and the Senate, don‘t kid yourself. They‘ve made it really clear, Pete Sessions said—excuse me, Congressman Sessions once asked what they would do if they took over the House, he said we‘d have the exact same agenda. And look there‘s a lot at stake here and our progressive base, you have—you should not stay home. You better get energized because the consequences are serious.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: All right, now that is the hardest sell that I‘ve heard so far coming out of the White House. Respectfully, Mr. Vice President, I think you should take your own advice, the White House needs to step it up in the next six weeks. The base is out there working hard to get their candidates elected when it‘s happening in New Hampshire. A progressive democrat trounced her blue dog opponent. The unions are out there raising money, putting boots on the ground, they‘re gearing up for a big rally, a big march on October 2nd here in Washington, D.C.
I don‘t see the White House other than that sound bite from last night, that they‘re out there selling hard about the accomplishments that they‘ve had in 22 months. Where are the pit bulls? I mean, I really think that they‘ve to got get a guy like James Carville or Paul Begala, some of those Clinton people that never backed down on TV. The soft sell of Axelrod in my opinion is not working right now. Maybe they‘ll get the message.
For more, let‘s bring in veteran democratic strategist and former Communication‘s Director for John Edwards, Chris Kofinis, why is it? Chris, good to you have with us tonight.
CHRIS KOFINIS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Thanks, Ed.
SCHULTZ: You bet. Why is it that the intensity of 2010 is not matching the intensity of 2008? I mean the stakes are even higher now. What‘s happened?
KOFINIS: You know, I don‘t completely understand it. I think part of it is, you know with the base, maybe they‘re dissatisfied but you know with some of the things that they want—the policies weren‘t as progressive as they could had been. But listen, I‘ve said this before and I‘ll say it again, I just think we have done a terrible job at selling policies that are going to impact so many people‘s lives. That have saved this country, you know, from a great depression. That have given health care to tens of millions of Americans, that did, you know, put in some serious reforms to address Wall Street. They may not be perfect but they are far better and far stronger than anything the republicans should do. And I think, we‘ve just got to go out there and start painting what is even more—more than just a policy debate but it really strong political debate and contrast between us and not a Republican Party but a fringe Republican Party.
SCHULTZ: Yes. Bernie.
KOFINIS: This is not an R versus D thing. This is democrats versus a fringe Republican Party that wants to take this country in a scary direction.
SCHULTZ: I don‘t disagree with that. And I think that they obviously are endorsing anybody that wins a primary. They‘re not going to parcel out how radical somebody is. They‘ve got an R behind their name. Earlier in this broadcast, Senator Sanders flat out said that the base pretty much has been deflated, if I could paraphrase what he said because there‘s been too much negotiation with the party you know. And it‘s warned down the base somewhat and they‘ve got to realize the circumstances but why can‘t the democrats come out every—all of the leadership and say, with this health care bill, we will save lives. It seems like the democrats are afraid to go home and say that this health care bill is a step forward and it‘s positive. We didn‘t get everything we want but we‘re going to save lives. It would seem to me that‘s a pretty good pitch.
KOFINIS: You know, you have—there are two pieces to I think the fall election. I think one, you‘ve got to go out there and do the hard, negative contrast between the democratic you know, party‘s vision and a fringe GOP that really wants to take this country in a scary extreme agenda, direction excuse me.
SCHULTZ: But let‘s get away from the republicans for a second. I want to know why the democrats are afraid to go home and say, we passed health care and it will save lives. How can that not resonate with people?
KOFINIS: And I was going to say, the second piece to this is I think we‘ve got to go out there and make the case that we made the tough decision and the right decision when it came to health care, the stimulus. What we have done and this is unfortunate but this has been building over the last year, we have let the GOP and a radical fringe define the debate, define every policy that we have done and they have basically been successful.
SCHULTZ: Well, that cuts to my commentary. That cuts to my commentary right there. Somebody in the White House is not punching back hard enough. You need to get some pit bulls coming out of the White House that are answering all of these La Raza that are out there in talk radio. It can‘t come from some other left talker to counterpunch him all the time. It‘s going to come from the White House. They‘ve got to get somebody on staff that is out there and in their face. Axelrod‘s got a soft sell. This isn‘t about soft sell. This is about hard sell because we‘ve got a deflated base right now in this country, and if they don‘t get it in gear, just what Vice President Biden said to Rachel last night, the consequences are high and we could lose everything that we‘ve gained so far. So I tell you, Chris, if you‘ve got the formula to fire up the base I‘m all ears, my man.
KOFINIS: Well, listen, this is—you know politics is a street fight and let‘s be honest, the republicans and this fringe are really good at it. They‘ve shown it over the last year. I think what democrats have got to understand is we all need a collective wake-up call in the stakes in November.
SCHULTZ: Yes.
KOFINIS: This is not just a simple election. We are talking about passing potentially the House of Representatives. I don‘t think the Senate‘s in play but House of Representatives to probably the most radical dangerous fringe in my lifetime.
SCHULTZ: You got it.
KOFINIS: And so, if we care about the issues that we care about. Health care, economic reform, civil justice, poverty, all those issues I think make progressives, moderate independents want this country to be a better place, we have to realize we‘ve got stand up and fight in November.
SCHULTZ: Chris, good to have you with us tonight. Thanks so much.
KOFINIS: Thanks, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Now, let‘s get some rapid fire response from our panel on these stories tonight.
Karl Rove does a complete 180 on the new Tea Party star Christine O‘Donnell. On Tuesday, he thought she was unelectable with nutty ideas and luck truthfulness and character. Now, (INAUDIBLE) screamers on the right are backpedaling and then endorsing the candidate.
Senator Jim “Waterloo” DeMint has a Tea Party hate fest representing broad section of America and is uniting the country.
And John Boehner gives Nancy Pelosi an ultimatum on taxes. She says, bring it on. The White House has her back.
With us tonight Joe Madison, XM Satellite radio talk show host and also John Feehery, republican strategist. Gentlemen, good to have you with us tonight. John, why did Karl Rove do a 180?
JOHN FEEHERY, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, if you analyze the O‘Donnell election—and I think I was part of—I agreed with Karl Rove on Tuesday night and I have reassessed. I think, you know, you have to respect what the primary voters say. The primary voters said we want Christine O‘Donnell. We don‘t want Mike Castle. That‘s part of the process and if you analyze it, the democratic candidate is very vulnerable. I think that she has a grassroots that Delaware has a lot of rural areas. And you know, she possibly could win. It‘s a long shot. It‘s a much more difficult race than it would had been but she can win that race.
SCHULTZ: What about you?
JOE MADISON, SIRIUS XM TALK SHOW HOST: Yes. And I could possibly get
a contract as big as Ed‘s too. I hope she does come. I mean, Karl Rove
for the first time since I remember him, told the absolute truth. He gave
the democrats the campaign ad for her. And you know what? It‘s too late
to take it back. It‘s out there. And I hope that the democrats in
Delaware take everything Karl Rove said and run it from now until November
because he told the truth about this lady and you know what, he just fell -
he did just same thing Michael Steele did, he fell for that pressure.
SCHULTZ: They all tipped off.
MADISON: They just tipped over and that‘s all that happened. That‘s all that happened.
SCHULTZ: The party is moving to the right, John.
FEEHERY: Well, that‘s.
SCHULTZ: Anybody with an “R” behind their names will going to get support.
FEEHERY: During a primarily process that usually the democrats move left, the republicans move right, that‘s part of the process and then for the general election, they have to market themselves.
SCHULTZ: But she‘s nutty on Tuesday but then she‘s Ok on Wednesday.
FEEHERY: She had to respect the process and the process is—she won the process fair and square. You might think that she‘s nutty.
MADISON: She won the process. I mean, there‘s no question.
FEEHERY: And she‘s the nominee, she got republican nomination and she‘s got a chance to win it. I think Castle had a better chance of winning but I think that she‘s got a pretty good chance of winning.
MADISON: The only thing that I disagree with Ed, it‘s not an R, it‘s a double R. These are radical republicans that we‘re talking about and I think that‘s exactly what‘s going to happen in November. As we move towards, people are going to see these are radical policies, radical republicans, they are quite honestly reminds me of Dixiecrats back during the Strom Thurmond era, as simple as that.
SCHULTZ: Here is Senator Jim DeMint saying that all of this conversation is uniting America. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JIM DEMINT, SOUTH CAROLINA: Really what we‘re doing here in Washington has united America. When I go to a Tea Party, 40 percent of the people there are independents and democrats.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: The Tea Party, Joe?
MADISON: Yes. Well, look, who was it, Phillip Randolph said during the ‘60, the march, the march on Washington. Look who is opposed to Social Security. Look who is opposed to public education. Look who is opposed to health care. Look who is opposed to minimum wages and those are the people who you will find are the enemies of the democrats and the folks who want to move this party forward. I got to say one thing, I had an interview with the president of the United States. He did say something very strong to me. And that was that the republicans drove this vehicle into a ditch. And they want the keys back. And he said on the interview in the oval office, we‘re not going to give them the keys back and I totally agree with you. But it‘s got to be more than just the president and the vice president. There has to be are.
SCHULTZ: They‘re not going to get the keys back if the base does not believe that they will get tougher enough with the republicans.
(CROSSTALK)
FEEHERY: Let me just say this, this grassroots revolution has taken the republican establishment and the democratic establishment by surprise. And it‘s a good thing for democracy when the political parties in Washington get a wake-up call that they‘re not serving the interest.
SCHULTZ: Low popular turnout.
FEEHERY: There are populist on the right and populist on the left who all agree that the government is not serving their interest. The populist on the right I think, there is going to be a big change.
(CROSSTALK)
SCHULTZ: But gentlemen, after the poverty numbers today, do you actually think the populist view is to give more tax cuts to the tune of $4 trillion to the rich.
FEEHERY: I‘ll tell you what. The view is not, not give more money to the government so they can waste it. The idea is to create jobs, there are no jobs out there, Ed. And there are no jobs.
(CROSSTALK)
SCHULTZ: They want to privatize Social Security.
MADISON: He didn‘t answer the question and this is what happens. They don‘t answer the question. If in fact the tax cuts for the rich were supposed to create.
FEEHERY: I did answer the question, Joe. I answered the question.
MADISON: No, let me finish.
FEEHERY: No, let me finish.
MADISON: Well, then we can punch it out right here verbally because I‘m not going to be like the White House. Where are the freaking jobs?
FEEHERY: Well, that‘s my question.
MADISON: But like I said, it didn‘t come because of the tax cuts.
So, why would you want tax cuts for the rich?
SCHULTZ: It didn‘t come because of the tax cuts. Grease in these kids for the top two percent did not increase employment.
FEEHERY: Unemployment increased three percent because of Obama‘s policies. There‘s uncertainty in the marketplace. People are thinking that these tax increases are going to be coming back. They‘re scolding on to their money. And that‘s why job is not being.
MADISON: Ninety eight percent of the people listening to us today, you will get a tax cut and I hope that 98 percent of the people vote with common sense.
SCHULTZ: John, republicans are running around saying that President Obama is anti-business and then they have just blocked time and time again until this week, we had two republicans who aren‘t running for re-election. Finally jumped on board with the small business bill. What‘s wrong with lending to small businesses? Why was the party against that?
FEEHERY: My wife works for one of those senators, so I think that he did a good job over that bill. I‘m saying that on behalf of my wife. I would say that the business community is extraordinary—not the republicans, it‘s the business communities, the Chamber of Commerce, it‘s the NFIB.
SCHULTZ: The republicans say they‘re business and they were against this bill. It‘s all because they want to defeat the president. You know that. You know that.
FEEHERY: The Chamber of Commerce.
SCHULTZ: Gentlemen, we‘ve got run. Good to have you with us tonight.
Up next, Tea Party Captain Sarah Palin is giving her wing nut protege, the game plan. Avoid the press and run to FOX.
And a republican is calling out Russian Hannity for being liars. Finally, a righty seeing the light. Details, ahead in the Playbook. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And it‘s not too late to let us know what you think. The number to dial tonight is 1-877-ed-msnbc. Tonight‘s telephone survey question is, do you think Tea Partiers care that 43.6 million Americans are living in poverty? Press the number one for yes, press the number two for no. The number again to dial is 1-877-ed-msnbc. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And in my “Playbook” tonight, Republican Congressman Mike Castle is blaming slam head and the drugster for his loss to Tea Partier, Christine O‘Donnell.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE CASTLE ®, DELAWARE: I think the misrepresentations and the lies of Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh on the air where another very significant part of all of this. How they ever count to the theory that I‘d voted to impeach George Bush I‘ll never know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Castle is right on the money. It‘s what these guys do.
They make stuff up. Pass it of as facts and people flat out and buy it. Folks like Sharron Angle and Sarah Palin have figured it out. Stay away from any media and anybody that gets in the way of FOX that would screw up the message. Here‘s Palin‘s advice to brand-new Tea Party darling O‘Donnell.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH PALIN, FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: She‘s going to have to learn very quickly to dismiss what some of her handlers want. She‘s going to have to learn that, yes, very quickly. She‘s going to have to dismiss that go with her gut, get out there, speak to the American people, speak through FOX News.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Speak through FOX News. That gives you a lot of reason to watch, doesn‘t it? This is a Tea Party plan. Shut your mouth, scrub your website of all of your crazy positions and let the conservative talkers hammer home all of the lies they can.
Joining me now is Eric Boehlert, senior fellow at Media matters for America. You have to admit, Eric, this has been a well-executed plan and this is probably their Playbook, what do you think?
ERIC BOEHLERT, MEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA: Oh, yes. Well, I mean, Mike Castle was right. I mean, there was a last-minute smear campaign launched on talk radio and in portions of the right wing blogosphere to push this crazy idea that during the Bush years, he worked to impeach President Bush as a republican. You know, it‘s campaigned, no time to respond. Rush Limbaugh is pushing it. Parts of the bloggers, fear is pushing it. You know, he lost that race by a couple of thousand votes. He‘s absolutely right. That cost him the campaign. So, I have some sympathy for Mike Castle but not much because he‘s the late converter to this cause of right wing lies.
SCHULTZ: OK, let‘s be very clear about this. O‘Donnell had her supporters out there saying that Mike Castle voted for the health care plan.
BOEHLERT: Right. Not true.
SCHULTZ: The stimulus package.
BOEHLERT: Not true.
SCHULTZ: And also the impeachment of President Bush.
BOEHLERT: Right. Which never happened.
SCHULTZ: I mean, they are just flat-out lies.
BOEHLERT: Yes.
SCHULTZ: And then she credits Sean Hannity for her victory. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN HANNITY, “THE SEAN HANNITY SHOW” HOST: Mike Castle didn‘t speak out a little bit today. And in part, he blamed people like me and Levin and Rush Limbaugh.
CHRISTINE O‘DONNELL ®, DELAWARE SENATE NOMINEE: You guys brought his voting record to the public so I thank you. I kind of agree with him. I wouldn‘t call it blame. I would call it credit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Well, how do you handle that?
BOEHLERT: Right.
SCHULTZ: They‘re both lying now.
BOEHLERT: Again, I mean, you know, I have some sympathy for Mike Castle and republicans but not much because, you know, Mike Levin and Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, the right wing blogosphere at talk radio, they‘ve been lying about democrats for years. They spent the entire Clinton administration lying about Clinton. They spent the Bush years lying about the Iraq war. Now they‘ve become completely unhinged during the Obama years, that‘s what they do for their living. That‘s their shtick. And now, they‘re directing some of that venom and some of those smears, some of that characters assassination towards the republican. And oh my gosh, this is a problem. Mike Castle is upset. Bill Kristol is upset. Karl Rove is upset because their guy got smeared. Their guy was lied about. Well, welcome to the club.
SCHULTZ: What do you make of Rove‘s 180 on this candidate?
BOEHLERT: Again, you know, he‘s just laid as to sort of bowed down to Rush Limbaugh. You know, as you pointed out earlier on this show, you know, Monday and Tuesday, you know, the Tea Party candidate was nutty and had character flaws and today she‘s a great candidate. And she can be elected and everyone should get behind her. Look, he—no one can stand up to Rush Limbaugh. No one can stand up to right wing radio and so Karl Roves is just the latest to get in line and bow down to the opposition party which is FOX News and Rush Limbaugh.
SCHULTZ: Eric Boehlert, good to have you with us tonight. Thanks so much.
Final page on the Playbook tonight. The tan man is worried well about more than Nancy Pelosi keeping him away from the gavel. Boehner joked his job is to make sure the self-proclaimed republican “Young Guns” are ready to take his place at the appropriate moment. The “Young Guns” he was talking about are Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan and Kevin McCarthy. Guys, if you want to follow in his footsteps, you‘ll need to work on the tan and also you‘ve got to get a lower handicap and you can‘t miss the fairway, all right?
Next up, Beck has been warning all week of violence coming from the left. Hey, Beckster, look to your left real quick. “Daily Show” co-creator Lizz Winstead is coming up in “Club Ed” next, stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And finally tonight, it‘s time for a special edition of “Club Ed” with “Daily Show” co-creator Lizz Winstead, you can catch her at twitter.com/LizzWinstead. There‘s been so much crazy stuff going on. We‘ve got to bring you in on a Thursday, Lizz. Straighten all this out.
LIZZ WINSTEAD, “DAILY SHOW” CO-CREATOR: It‘s crazy.
SCHULTZ: What do you make of this family inviting between Rove and Hannity in the open?
WINSTEAD: You know, eventually this is what happens. You know, when the hate begets the hate and then, you know, everybody just eventually acquiesces to Rush. I think that‘s exactly right. I think Rush is kryptonite to the right and that is pretty scary.
SCHULTZ: Very scary. Glenn Beck warning that violence is going to be coming from the left. Your thoughts?
WINSTEAD: Has he seen how motivated the left is? Ed, look at how hard we are pitching the left to get up and fight. Violence, they can‘t even get up and lift a fork to their mouths at this point, it‘s pathetic. You know, it‘s so—Beck and this whole—he‘s now the reluctant prophet. You know, why is that everyone who claims they‘re a reluctant prophet never actually indulges their reluctance. You know what? I‘m not really a prophet. I think I was going to pass on that and go away.
SCHULTZ: Well, he also says that we ought to just let fat people die. I mean, you know, he‘s still on us to turn the guy, and then he says, fat people ought to just die. I‘m just trying to figure that one out. All right. What about Christine O‘Donnell, she has been the big story this week. She‘s a psycho talker one day, then she‘s an acceptable candidate the next day. What do you think of it?
WINSTEAD: Ed, the bottom line is she‘s a psycho talker and the fact that she basically thinks it‘s OK to gay bait and race bait but you can‘t masturbate is pathetic, especially in this economy where people are broke, the only thing left that we can do that is fun and free is that and she wants to ban it. Is she crazy? How do you win on that platform?
(LAUGHTER)
SCHULTZ: OK. Liz Winstead, she will be performing tomorrow night in Seattle at the Theater Off Jackson. Great to have you with us, Lizz. Thanks so much.
WINSTEAD: Thanks, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Tonight, in our telephone survey, I asked you, do you think Tea Partiers care that 43.6 million Americans are living in poverty? Five percent of you said yes, 95 percent of you said no, the Tea Partiers don‘t care.
That‘s THE ED SHOW. I‘m Ed Schultz. “HARDBALL” with Chris Matthews starts right now in the place for politics MSNBC. We‘ll see back here tomorrow night from the nation‘s capital on THE ED SHOW on MSNBC.
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