Guests: Sheldon Whitehouse, Mignon Veasley-Fields, Bill Press, Katrina
Vanden Heuvel, Joe Madison, Ron Christie, Wade Henderson, Eric Boehlert
ED SCHULTZ, MSNBC ANCHOR: Good evening, Americans, and welcome to THE ED SHOW tonight from New York.
These stories on the table and hitting “My Hot Buttons” ‘at this hour.
Congress is turning their backs on millions of Americans in need. The heartless Republicans, well, you see they cry about tax cuts but won‘t do anything to help 99ers put food on the table.
It‘s time for the president of the United States to speak directly to these people. My commentary on that, plus Senator Sheldon Whitehouse coming up in a moment.
Rahm Emanuel is leaving Washington and heading home to Chi-Town. President Obama wants the base to buck up. I think this announcement helps that cause.
Katrina vanden Heuvel from “The Nation” sounds off in “The Battleground” story on that.
And the Tea Party nut-job running for governor here in the state of New York, Carl Paladino, goes absolutely berserk. He threatens to “take out” a reporter. I‘ll tell you why Rupert Murdoch is behind the dustup in all of this.
But this is the story that has me fired up tonight. You know, I don‘t know if “fired up” is the right term here, because I think there is a whole lot of sadness in this story. People are hurting out there.
The House and Senate packed their bags and left Washington until the middle of November. Politicians are fighting for their political lives as Americans, millions of Americans, are fighting just to put food on their table.
Ninety-nine weeks ago, George W. Bush was president. Wall Street was getting a trillion-dollar bailout, and millions of middle class Americans had lost their jobs. Four million of those people have exhausted their unemployment benefits and have had zero luck getting back into the workforce. And once again, Senate Republicans have turned their backs on the 99ers.
Senator Debbie Stabenow went to the Senate floor to try to give these Americans 20 additional weeks of benefits to help them out going into the winter. Well, Republican Senator George LeMieux, he blocked her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. GEORGE LEMIEUX ®, FLORIDA: Without knowing how much it‘s going to cost and how we‘re going to pay for it, while we are all certainly sympathetic and want to work to make people to go back to work, my home state of Florida, certainly suffering with very high unemployment, we need to know what it‘s going to cost. We need to know how we‘re going to pay for it so we don‘t put this debt on our children and grandchildren.
So with that, Mr. President, I object.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Oh, come on. You know, Republicans, they just love to talk about debt when it comes to helping people in need, but couldn‘t care less when they‘re talking about tax cuts for millionaires.
Senator Stabenow fired back on the floor at LeMieux.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. DEBBIE STABENOW (D), MICHIGAN: When folks talk about the deficit and leaving deficit for our children, we will never get out of debt in this country until people get back to work, until they have good paying jobs. And in between times we will not move in economy forward until we are helping people to be able to keep going in this recession.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: On behalf of the 99ers last week I spoke personally with Senator Stabenow, and I asked her to bring this to the Senate floor, because this would be the last opportunity for any kind of help until the middle of November.
She told me she would. And she did. It‘s nice to know that there‘s a politician in Washington that is still good to their word. She is.
And I made a commitment to stay on this story, but I‘m afraid that this is the final chapter until after the election. A group of 99ers who call themselves NOVOs, they have pledged not to vote for any politician who didn‘t support Senator Stabenow‘s bill.
Four million people, think about that, they could make a major difference in this election, and the NOVOs have to decide if the Democrats are on their side. Their decision could affect everyone who‘s received unemployment benefits.
Now, back on July 22nd, the president signed the Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2010 which extended benefits until November 30th. At the time, the bill covered over two million people. If Congress doesn‘t pass another extension when they get back in November, now we‘re up to over six million Americans will have zero money coming in the door heading into wintertime.
In the meantime, Senate Republicans also blocked a bill which would have given a two-year tax holiday to companies who create jobs in America instead of foreign countries. And wouldn‘t you know it that all 40 Republicans voted against the anti-outsourcing bill the same day the NBC News/”Wall Street Journal” poll that 86 percent of Americans think that U.S. companies outsource too much.
Putting the puzzle together, the Republicans don‘t give a damn. Republicans would rather see American companies hire workers in China than give Americans who have, well, nothing, give them a measly $300 check to get them through the next week.
The party who pretends to be, let‘s see, Christian, valued, wrap themselves in the flag, and blast these Lee Greenwood songs along every campaign, really they‘re just nothing but fraudulent, in my opinion. There‘s nothing more American or Christian than helping out your fellow man when they fall on hard times, and we are in the midst of hard times.
Republicans have proven that they have no economic patriotism and only worship at the altar of the almighty dollar. So this election—and we‘ll talk a lot about this at the march on Saturday in Washington—this is really about the soul of the country, isn‘t it? I‘m not convinced that it‘s base versus base, because there‘s a lot of people that are caught in the middle of this economic strife that didn‘t think that they were going to get outsourced, but they did, that are something apolitical, that are just kind of novice news consumers.
Mr. President, they are paying attention now. This is about morality, it‘s about loyalty to your neighbor, loyalty to your country. It‘s the selfish versus the unselfish.
And I think if the Democrats, the majority party, think that 15 million unemployed voters can‘t make a difference in November, I think you‘ve got another thing coming. And I don‘t think there‘s any doubt about it, you have to roll it back in time, the way FDR did. He had those fireside chats.
Mr. President I think you‘re spot on when you say we‘ve got to buck up. I think you‘re spot on when you say it‘s inexcusable if people didn‘t get into the process, and maybe we didn‘t want change, maybe we didn‘t want it bad enough.
But I think that the unemployed people and the 99ers that I have communicated with, they‘re thinking a little different right now. You‘ve got to tell them that there is hope on the horizon.
Mr. President, you‘ve got to speak directly to the unemployed. Directly to the unemployed, the people that don‘t have a job, the people that don‘t have benefits, the people that have been shafted by the Republicans in recent weeks, as soon as yesterday.
Tell me what you think in our telephone survey tonight, folks. The number to dial is 1-877-ED-MSNBC.
My question tonight is: Do you think Republicans care about the American worker? Press the number 1 for yes, press the number 2 for no. I‘ll bring you the results later on in the show.
And I don‘t mean to be tough on the president. The president says the base—and I‘m a baser—says, hey, we‘ve got to buck up, we‘ve got to get after it, it would be inexcusable not to be involved. I get all of that.
But Mr. President, from a lefty, and from someone who has done a lot of town hall meetings, I really do. I think you need to talk straight to the unemployed, a special message that, whereas the Congress has given up on them, you haven‘t. It‘ll make a difference.
Joining me now is a senator who is fighting for the 99ers from Rhode Island, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse.
Senator, good to have you with us tonight.
SEN. SHELDON WHITEHOUSE (D), RHODE ISLAND: Thanks, Ed. Thanks for what you‘re doing.
SCHULTZ: Well I think it‘s important to speak to 15 million Americans that don‘t have a job that are wondering, now where do we go?
What would you say to those people?
WHITEHOUSE: I think we need to keep fighting as hard as we can. I think you‘ve identified the issues very well.
The thing that‘s most upsetting about all of this is hearing folks on the other side say, you know, ending unemployed insurance for these folks, that‘s the kind of spur it will take to get them back to work, as if they were lazy, as if there were a job waiting for them. The president‘s recovery bill brought 11,000 jobs to Rhode Island. That‘s 11,000 families with a paycheck who wouldn‘t have had it, but we still have, with our 12 percent nearly unemployment rate, about 65,000 families without work.
The jobs just aren‘t there. And to now watch these 99ers come to the end of their benefits, I spoke about Nancy, who‘s worked in the insurance industry all her life from Portsmouth, Rhode Island. She‘s coming to the end of her benefits.
Michael from Smithfield, a truck driver. Steady workers, solid people, and they don‘t know what to do. They‘re right up against it.
And it‘s their homes that are at stake and foreclosure. It‘s being able to keep their health care going. It‘s knowing that they have a future. And I think that it‘s important that we continue to speak to them and assure them, and we have to point out that, you know, what the Republicans are doing is just wrong.
SCHULTZ: What do you say to Senator LeMieux from Florida, who obviously is a short-timer? He‘s not running again. So it‘s like the Republicans pick somebody that nobody could get back at when it came to a vote.
What do you say to him when he‘s concerned about the debt?
WHITEHOUSE: George is a good man, and I‘ve worked with him on a lot of things. He is delivering a message for the party when he is forced to go to the floor and do that.
SCHULTZ: No doubt.
WHITEHOUSE: If you take a look at Arlen Specter‘s wonderful speech on the floor the other day, he was a Republican for decades. He says he‘s never seen anything like it, and they‘re following a scorched-earth policy.
And George LeMieux, having to go out there on the floor and deliver on that scorched-earth policy, was I think very unfortunate for him, not consistent with his values. But it‘s the party‘s values. It‘s what they intend to do, and they just couldn‘t care less that their scorched-earth politics scorch a lot of earth for American families as well.
SCHULTZ: Senator Whitehouse, thanks for doing what you‘re doing and all your efforts in this. You‘re trying to help Americans out there. I appreciate it.
Good to have you with us tonight.
WHITEHOUSE: Thanks. Good to be with you.
SCHULTZ: Joining me now is 99er Mignon Veasley-Fields, who has vowed not to vote in November. That was our last interview on this program a few weeks ago.
Mignon, the Democrats tried to do it. Is that going to be enough? Do you change your mind? Do the NOVOs now get back engaged and get in the process? What do you think?
MIGNON VEASLEY-FIELDS, “99ER”: Well, Ed, yes, we have committed that we are trying now to encourage our fellow 99ers to vote for either party of their choice. However, Ed, yesterday was very disappointing for us.
And even though we are trying to tell them to vote, many of them are not going to vote. Even though the NOVOs says to go ahead and do this. They were disillusioned by what they saw on the Senate floor yesterday.
We are very grateful for Senator Stabenow, for her effort, but we thought it was just sort of put together really quickly, like a dog and pony show in order to get us to vote for them. This is the sentiment across this nation. And so --
SCHULTZ: But Mignon, if the Republican had not stood up, this would had gone through and you would have had the votes, and you would have gotten an extension. It‘s the Republicans. Why take it out on the Democrats, the majority party, that time and time again has been there for the unemployed?
VEASLEY-FIELDS: Well, you know, Ed, we have gone back in the history of the tiers. We, as 99ers, are trying to figure this out ourselves.
What has happened is we can remember the time in which the Republicans said, sure, get another tier, use the stimulus fund. And the Democrats said, no, we need to find sourcing for unemployment.
So now we‘re thinking back on that and we‘re realizing it‘s not the Republicans. It was the Democrats that caused us to be in this situation that we‘re in. We want the Democrats to come back before this election, and we want them to come back and rectify this, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Well, they won‘t do it. They‘re going to be out until the middle of November. And the president has said—asked you to engage. That‘s not enough?
VEASLEY-FIELDS: We are engaging. The NOVOs has given our commitment to encourage American 99ers to vote. We have finally come—we‘ve conceded to that. However, our president, we do need to hear from him.
SCHULTZ: OK.
VEASLEY-FIELDS: You know, Senator Whitehouse, he explained a 99er, and we want to be clear with the American people what a 99er really is.
The presentation that they showed yesterday is not a 99er. It is an unemployed person, but not a 99er.
The 99ers who have been without benefits for over eight months is a 99er on the street; a 99er that is living in his car, her car with her children; a 99er who is laying out on a park bench somewhere; a 99er who has moved in with their 90-year-old parents because they have nowhere else to go; a 99er who is in their apartment in the dark, in the cold, that will be coming soon.
That‘s the real 99er, Ed. A 99er who is hounded by bill collectors every day that they live; a 99er whose foreclosure is on its way. We have a 99er friend right now who has paid on her house for 17 years, Ed, and was just sent papers to tell her that it was time for her to go.
SCHULTZ: Well, Mignon, as a broadcaster, and as an advocate for American workers, I have to tell you that I‘m at a loss. I mean, I did everything I could, and it‘s—we‘re stuck and it‘s unfortunate.
And I hope that the—I think the unemployed people in this country can save the majority. I really do. And I hope—
VEASLEY-FIELDS: I do.
SCHULTZ: -- they engage, and I think President Obama deserves to work with the majority for another 24 months. And if they don‘t get it done then, then make a decision in ‘12.
But, I mean, Bush had eight years. You mean to tell me the progressives can‘t give this president, you know, 48 months? It just amazes me. So—
VEASLEY-FIELDS: Well, Ed, what I‘m saying is this—is that we need some help. We absolutely need help. It‘s gone past understanding that.
SCHULTZ: Yes.
VEASLEY-FIELDS: What it is we have to have someone come in and help us. We need to hear from our president.
SCHULTZ: Mignon, good to have you with us tonight.
VEASLEY-FIELDS: Thank you.
SCHULTZ: Thank you for fighting. Thanks for standing up. And I appreciate your time.
VEASLEY-FIELDS: Thank you.
SCHULTZ: Coming up, Tea party violence boils over. The nut-job running for governor in New York threatens to take out a reporter. Robert Murdoch‘s team was behind it, I think. You won‘t believe how this all went down.
And psycho-talking Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, she‘s back. And she is so far to the right, she‘s actually lumping W. together with President Obama. We‘ll get “Rapid Fire Response” on that.
Christine O‘Donnell was just caught in another lie. And millionaire Linda McMahon wants to review minimum wage? OK, we got that.
You‘re watching THE ED SHOW on MSNBC. Stay with us. We‘re right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW and thanks for watching tonight.
Now, this is a story about total hypocrisy. Billionaire Republican California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, oh, she‘s in hot water. And her old, good buddy Chris Christie in New Jersey is not going to be able to help her bully her way out of this one.
The one-time eBay CEO‘s former housekeeper is an undocumented worker, or what Republicans call an illegal alien. Even though the housekeeper worked for Whitman for nine full years, the wanna-be governor is claiming she had no idea her employee was in the country illegally.
Now, think about that for a second. You know (INAUDIBLE) has been work for me for seven years. I know that he‘s from Barnesville, Minnesota, although I‘ve never checked his green card.
Come on. Can you believe this?
Can you imagine having someone in your house for nine years and not knowing if they‘re legal or not?
Whitman claims she fired the housekeeper last year when she found out the woman didn‘t have her papers. I‘m sure it had nothing to do with her running for office in California.
My friends, Meg Whitman is Exhibit A when it comes to rich Republicans‘ addiction to cheap labor. Whitman is a billionaire who spent $119 million trying to get elected, but she couldn‘t afford to pick up the phone or the phone book in California and just find out if she could hire the best American maid in California?
With us tonight, Bill Press, former California Democratic Party chairman and nationally syndicated radio talk show host.
All right, Bill. Dive into this one. Just a simple coincidence.
BILL PRESS, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Hi, Ed.
SCHULTZ: It worked for her for nine years, had no idea whatsoever.
What do you make of it? Is this trouble for her?
PRESS: Hey, Ed. Oh, no, this is big trouble for her. But it‘s even worse than you say.
Today she has a news conference, right? And does she blame the woman for lying about her status? No. Does she blame the employment agency for misrepresenting her? No.
Does she blame herself for not doing her own homework? No. She blamed Jerry Brown, Ed, for all of this. I mean, as if Jerry Brown planted this woman at her house nine years ago or forged her documents, whatever.
I‘ve got to tell you, Ed, I think this shows two things.
Number one, the pure hypocrisy of Meg Whitman, who is campaigning, saying—in a debate two nights ago, she said, “Employers have to be held responsible for undocumented workers that they hire.” Two days later it proves that she had one on her payroll for nine years and she won‘t take responsibility. Pure hypocrisy.
And the other thing, Ed, is, how many people have a maid? I mean, it shows how out of touch this woman is with most workers.
SCHULTZ: She‘s a billionaire. What, was the maid out of budget and had to go to the cheap worker?
PRESS: Yes.
SCHULTZ: Apparently, the lawsuit contends she worked 15 hours a week and she didn‘t get paid for all of that.
Here is Whitman responding to the firing today. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MEG WHITMAN ®, CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL NOMINEE: As soon as I found out she was illegal we let her go right away. And the law does not require employers to turn individuals in.
I thought I did what was the right thing to do. Everyone makes a judgment in this situation of what the right thing to do is. I felt it was the right thing to do, to terminate Nicky.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PRESS: Oh, yes.
SCHULTZ: And, of course, taking her nine years to figure out where her help was coming from and she wants to run the state of California?
PRESS: Right. Hey, Ed?
SCHULTZ: Yes?
PRESS: In 2003, Meg Whitman got a letter from Social Security saying, you know, it looks like one of your employees is not here legally, maybe you‘d better check this out. She got the letter. She did nothing at all about it.
SCHULTZ: How does Jerry Brown play this? What do you think?
PRESS: I think he let‘s it play out. And I‘ve got to tell you, this is really going to hurt her in the Latino community, particularly.
Number one, she‘s got Pete Wilson, the enemy of the Latino community in California, as her campaign chair. And now she‘s out there taking advantage of a Latina and lying about it, and refusing to take responsibility. I think this really hurts her.
SCHULTZ: Bill Press, you‘ve got to get back to California. It‘s kind of juicy out there with all these stories. Good to have you with us, buddy. Appreciate your time.
PRESS: I‘m ready, man.
SCHULTZ: All right. Thanks so much.
PRESS: All right. Thanks, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Up next, the richest member in the House, Darrell Issa, he‘s so out of touch, he‘s defending the Bush tax cuts because of the lottery. He has the winning ticket into the “Zone” next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And in “Psycho Talk” tonight, California Republican Congressman Darrell Issa. Now, he is the richest member of the House of Representatives. So it‘s no surprise that he wants to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. But his explanation for why they should be extended lands him in the “Zone” tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DARRELL ISSA ®, CALIFORNIA: Most people don‘t make over $250,000 a year, but a great many people, once in their lifetime, will sort of win the lottery, sell the business, sell some piece of real estate. And on that year they‘re going to be in this catch-22 of stick it to the rich.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Issa‘s net worth is $160 million. It kind of must be clouding his perspective on all of this.
The chances of a regular middle class American suddenly being in the top two percent are only a little bit better than actually winning the lottery. But Issa‘s not done. He still has to explain how we can afford a huge tax break for the wealthy.
Here‘s what he came up with.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ISSA: The tax increase represents about a five percent of the current deficit. So although it‘s real, it isn‘t that much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Oh, not that much?
Congressman, you voted against extending unemployment benefits this summer because it added $34 billion to the debt, or a quarter of a percent. So, a quarter of a percent is too high to help struggling Americans, but when it comes to tax cuts for the super rich, five percent, just not that much.
It‘s crystal clear who‘s side Darrell Issa and the Republicans are on. Their defense of the Bush tax cuts for the rich while ignoring everybody else is appalling “Psycho Talk.”
Coming up, Rahm Emanuel is heading back to Chicago. I think this is just what the progressives needed, to buck up for the final push.
Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of “The Nation,” speaks out on the big rally and rallying the base.
And the plot thickens on Christine O‘Donnell‘s background. I‘ll tell you what, folks, this is getting out of control. More on her resume coming up. There‘s more.
All that, plus millionaire Linda McMahon wants to review minimum wage? Birther queen Orly Taitz teams up with Sharron Angle. And two day away from the One Nation March, I‘ll introduce you to a man fighting for our future.
And again tonight, I have yet another announcement about my weight.
You‘re watching THE ED SHOW on MSNBC. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW. And the “Battleground” story tonight, President Obama‘s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, is leaving the White House. The president is expected to announce his departure tomorrow and then Rahm will head home to Chicago to run for mayor. I say, good riddance. Rahm has been no friend to progressives, even swore at us once, and his departure could help fire up the democratic base ahead of the election in November.
Meanwhile, the midterm push is in high gear. This week, the president, and the vice president called on liberals to, quote, “buck up,” and rally together to defeat Republicans. And today, democratic congressional leaders met at the White House for a final strategy session with President Obama before heading home to campaign.
For more, let‘s bring in Katrina Vanden Heuvel, editor of “The Nation.” Katrina, good to have you with us tonight.
KATRINA VANDEN HEUVEL, EDITOR, “THE NATION”: Thank you, Ed.
SCHULTZ: If you had been there, what would have your advice had been today? What do they have to do?
HEUVEL: Well, I think that President Obama has shown that he realizes he needs to remobilize the base that he demobilized after his powerful campaign based on people power from below. He‘s been out there on the stump speaking to people‘s concerns and I think those going back to their districts need to bring back a smart, populous message about job creation, about protecting Social Security, and about standing against the rapacious deprivations of Wall Street, and finally, exposing the Republicans for what they are, putting Wall Street cronies above people, putting big business above small business and the job-killing agenda, that John Boehner and others have put forth and just expose, expose and propose, because this country is looking for fairness.
SCHULTZ: The DNC put out an ad today targeting Boehner. Here it is.
This is the strategy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: First, the tobacco industry came calling and Republican John Boehner did their bidding when his friends on K-Street came calling. They knew that they‘re bidding too. When Wall Street came calling, that‘s right, they entered their bidding. He‘s been in Washington for decades. He knows how the game works. He created the game. And he‘s taken millions from special interests. And now John Boehner wants to talk about reforming Congress? Now, that‘s funny.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Targeting the leader of the Republicans, is it smart politics to get a lot of media attention, what do you think?
HEUVEL: I think that it‘s smart politics. I mean, this man has been in bed with Wall Street. He has sold off of the interest of working people, shafted consumers. Just think of what he did with college loans as the president and the House, Senate, tried to reform college loans. This guy was gouging parents and their students. But I think he got to do more, Ed. I think by appointing Elizabeth Warren as special adviser and putting her in place, she will be an effective voice for consumers and for working people. So, you need to both expose who these Republicans are, what hypocrites they are when they talk about deficit reduction in the debt, because their pledge and Boehner‘s calls for $100 billion in non-security spending will gut the essential services of this country and lead to greater deficits and debt. But the Democrats need to stand tall and not be wobbly, because too many of them are also with lobbyists. Not at the scale of a John Boehner and these Barnard, Boehner, Blunt, big tobacco, big oil, big money. But we‘ve got to stand in the right pro-democratic fair stance and build a better economy for all.
SCHULTZ: Here‘s Mr. Boehner today slamming health care reform. And I want to ask you about running on that. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOHN BOEHNER, HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: We‘ve made it clear that we want to repeal Obama care and replace it with commonsense reforms that will bring down the cost of health insurance. Having said that, if we‘re in the majority, there will be a bill to repeal Obama care and replace it with commonsense reforms. There will not be one dime from this Congress to expand this. When I say that we‘re going to do everything to make sure that this law does not go into effect, I mean we will do everything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: I mean that‘s plenty of meat on the bone, isn‘t it, Katrina?
I mean, if you.
HEUVEL: No, it isn‘t. I mean, if you think—if you think common sense is B.S., last I heard in this country, common sense was common sense, and common sense is fighting for better health care. What he‘s talking about under the guise of commonsense is either slashing, privatizing, or getting rid of Social Security or Medicare.
SCHULTZ: Exactly.
HEUVEL: That‘s not the kind of politics we need in this country, especially with the time unprecedented inequality. When the working class, the working poor are hurting so badly. We can do better.
SCHULTZ: Katrina, great to have you with us.
HEUVEL: Thank you.
SCHULTZ: Thanks so much.
Now, let‘s get some rapid fire response from our panel on these stories tonight.
Former WWE CEO in Connecticut, republican Senate nominee Linda McMahon says, the United States should review the federal minimum wage and then admitted she doesn‘t know how much the minimum wage actually is.
Republican nominee for governor of Maine tells the crowd that if he‘s elected, he‘ll tell President Obama to, quote, “go to hell.”
And Minnesota psycho-talking Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is so far to the right these day, she‘s lumping President George W. Bush together with President Obama and Speaker Pelosi.
With us tonight Joe Madison, XM Satellite radio talk show host. And Ron Christie, former assistant to President Bush and Dick Cheney and a republican strategist. Gentlemen, good to have you with us tonight.
JOE MADISON, XM SATELLITE RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Thank you.
RON CHRISTIE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Good evening.
SCHULTZ: Ron, don‘t you kind of need to know what the minimum wage is before you come out against it? What do you think?
CHRISTIE: Well, I think you should. I think that everything that the government does taken in context should be looked at and make sure, are we doing the right thing to help people? When you look at the minimum wage here in the District of Columbia, nearly 40 percent of the people who are high school graduates couldn‘t get a job this past summer and a lot of people said, did raising the minimum wage put such a barrier in place, people said, you know what? I want to hire these kids but it‘s too expensive for me as a small business owner. I think everything that government does, be at raise a minimum wage, be at regulatory policy. We need to make sure that we‘re putting people to work and not.
SCHULTZ: What do you think?
MADISON: I think it‘s ridiculous. The fact is that, look, big corporations, major corporations are not hiring. The problem isn‘t minimum wage. If you take the minimum wage that a family of four makes, they still don‘t rise above, what? The national poverty level. You know, of course she should know what the minimum wage is, but she‘s a millionaire. When is the last time she‘d seen a minimum wage or ahead to live on a minimum wage or anyone in her family? The reality is, this is once again, Republicans showing how they will govern, they‘ll go after working middle-class people. That‘s exactly what they‘ll go after.
CHRISTIE: Couldn‘t disagree with you more, my friend. Look, I think when you look at small businesses and if you look at families across this country, the problem with our government right now is that people in Washington arbitrarily set limits and they arbitrarily put out regulations without first looking at the impact of small business.
SCHULTZ: Ron, we didn‘t raise the minimum wage in this country for over a decade.
MADISON: They ought to take an example.
CHRISTIE: Wait a second. Gentlemen, hang on. Hang on, gentlemen.
MADISON: You ought to take an example from.
CHRISTIE: Gentlemen.
MADISON: .who understood that by giving people livable wages, they could buy products. What do people who get minimum wage do, Ron?
(CROSSTALK)
CHRISTIE: You‘re missing.
MADISON: They spend a lot of money.
CHRISTIE: Joe, are we going to have a democratic filibuster with the two of you? Let me make my point.
MADISON: You don‘t have a point.
CHRISTIE: Actually, I do, more of a point than do you. The point of the matter is, that the government before we do anything as it relates to digging, or what have you, we have an environmental impact study. You‘re going to have an environmental impact study, I‘m saying, why doesn‘t the federal government look at impact of what it does and the minimum wage is only one part of that to see what the business creation, whether it‘s going to help or hurt business creation.
SCHULTZ: So, Ron I have to ask you, the reason why we filibuster you because you guys on the right have done nothing but filibustering—in this Congress.
CHRISTIE: Oh, OK, Ed, so, I come on here and filibuster, actually I talk the truth.
(ALL TALKING OVER EACH OTHER)
CHRISTIE: Based on the facts.
SCHULTZ: Ron, well, the fact is that we did not raise the minimum wage in this country for over ten years and it was the Republicans that continued to block it. Now you have a candidate Linda McMahon who says that we need to go back and review it. I mean, isn‘t that Ron, isn‘t that rolling back on people who are struggling financially.
CHRISTIE: No it‘s not. Because, all I have to say is the Democrats have controlled Congress in the last four years. The people in poverty in America it‘s gone to one in seven. If you look at here in the District of Columbia, it‘s higher even than that. The last four years, the Democrats have had the waivers of power here in Washington. They‘ve set the tone.
MADISON: What?
CHRISTIE: And I think what Linda McMahon is saying is, as a responsible public steward, we should look at all actions that people in the federal government take.
SCHULTZ: OK. All right.
(CROSSTALK)
SCHULTZ: Let‘s take it out of the hides of the minimum wage people.
CHRISTIE: I‘m not saying that, Ed. Again, I‘m not going to let you demagogue me here. This makes me really upset. What I said is we should take a look to see what that impact does on small business. I didn‘t say we‘re taking it out on anybody or hammered small business. Don‘t put words in my mouth. What I‘m saying is, the federal government for far too long has decided to pass laws and pass regulations without understanding their impact on families and small business. That‘s what we need to do to have a responsible government. I‘m not going to play the class warfare game with you, guys.
MADISON: OK, look, I‘m not going to talk class warfare.
CHRISTIE: That‘s what all you guys do.
MADISON: Wait a minute. All of this we should have reviewed. What happened to the review when it came time to bailout Wall Street? What happened to the review when the Republicans decided to ignore the regulations that led us to this economic meltdown to the point that you even have a congresswoman now in Minnesota who is now saying that George Bush was an absolute failure and putting him in the pocket of Obama? So what happened to the republican review of government, when they slid a two-page bill that gave almost a trillion dollars to Wall Street and it had to pass, don‘t review it, just pass it. Where were you then?
CHRISTIE: Here‘s where I was then, I was opposed to it then, I‘m opposed to it now. And again, who wasn‘t other than Senator Barack Obama, Senator Clinton and Senator Biden who are urging the president to put this through and sign it as quick as possible. Don‘t blame that on George Bush.
(CROSSTALK)
MADISON: It was President Bush‘s bill.
CHRISTIE: It was Bush‘s bill that Obama.
MADISON: Thank you.
SCHULTZ: All right. Gentlemen.
(CROSSTALK)
CHRISTIE: The only other thing that I would say to that.
SCHULTZ: We‘re going to get one more subject in here tonight.
CHRISTIE: OK.
SCHULTZ: The nominee for governor in Maine tells the crowd that he‘s going to tell the president to go to hell. Here it is. Let‘s listen to it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
And as your governor, you‘re going to be seeing a lot of me on the front page saying, Governor LePage tells President Obama to go to hell.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: I don‘t know if this moves the dialogue further but Joe Madison, your thoughts on that? No thoughts?
MADISON: Well, it‘s—you know, it‘s really absolutely sad not only to hear a person who‘s governor stoop that low in political rhetoric, but to hear an audience applaud. President Obama is president of the United States. You don‘t tell the president of the United States to go to hell. But you know what, when they will need assistance when there‘s a flood or a fire or an emergency and the governor comes with his hat in his hand wanting federal funds and asking the president of the United States to give those funds, I bet you, President Obama won‘t tell the governor to go to hell or the people of his state.
SCHULTZ: Ron, what about that?
MADISON: It‘s a ridiculous statement.
CHRISTIE: Well, I again, I think he‘s a public official. I think it‘s irresponsible to talk that way about the president. You can have your policy disagreements with him. I think in a personal level, it is not right whether you—whether it‘s a republican or a democratic, to tell the president of the United States to go to hell. If you have a substantive policy disagreement, air it out, lay it out, and say what your alternative solution‘s going to be but that sort of language, I don‘t approve at all. It‘s just disrespectful.
SCHULTZ: All right. Gentlemen, good to have you with us tonight. Ron Christie, I just have to say for the record that I think that I‘m more than fair to you on this program and I‘ve got e-mail to prove it, my friend.
CHRISTIE: Take care, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Joe and Ron, good to have you with us tonight.
MADISON: Ron is a good guy.
SCHULTZ: All right.
MADISON: He tries.
(LAUGHTER)
SCHULTZ: Up next, false prophet Beck was looking at the geese for answers in his rally. We‘re going down to Washington on Saturday to fire up the base and give all Americans a real voice. Wade Henderson, the executive director of The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights is fired up for Saturday. He will join me next. 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 Republicans care about the American worker? Press the number one for yes. Press the number two for no. Again, the number to dial is 1-877-ed-msnbc. We‘re right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And in my Playbook tonight, we‘re only two days away from our One Nation march at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. This Saturday, our rally is going to touch on jobs, education, America‘s infrastructure, and where we are headed as a country. We‘re going to be giving the working Americans a voice to go after corporate greed and of course, issues that are hurting working families across this country.
For more, let‘s turn to the executive director of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Wade Henderson. He‘s helping organize the One Nation rally this Saturday. Mr. Henderson, why is it important that this rally take place?
WADE HENDERSON, DIRECTOR, LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE ON CIVIL RIGHTS: Ed, this is so important. Literally, thousands of individuals and ordinary Americans will come to Washington to the Lincoln Memorial to help reclaim the American dream for all of us. There, we will urge members of Congress and the administration to help refocus the nation‘s priorities on what matters most to the American people. And that is a public-private partnership to help create jobs for those who need them and extending unemployment benefits for the 99ers, helping to provide equality public education for every child regardless of his or her zip code because we know that jobs are essential, rather education is essential to the jobs we need. Help—and you know helping to repair the broken immigration system, all of that, Ed is really necessary.
SCHULTZ: Is this supposed to be wake-up call to the Democrats?
HENDERSON: It‘s definitely a wake-up call to the Democrats but it‘s a wake-up call to the nation as well. Look, when you have eight million people who have lost jobs since the recession, 15 million who are unemployed today, five unemployed workers for every job that becomes available, our national security is at risk, the country‘s future is at risk. It‘s certainly a wake-up call to the democratic leadership but it‘s a wake-up call to Republicans, it‘s a wake-up call to the nation as a whole.
SCHULTZ: There are a lot of groups involved on this march on Saturday. Some of them are considered by mainstreamers as somewhat fringe. What do you say to that?
HENDERSON: Well, you know, this is the most diverse gathering of people in Washington that we‘ve ever had. Regardless of one‘s race or religion or ethnicity or gender, we know that it‘s important that Americans come and speak up for basic American values. Patriots come in all colors and we know that those who help to defend the national interest that we all share and who help to lift up American values are patriots. And we‘re not talking about individuals who have some sort of false patriotism about the country, we‘re talking about people who embrace the kind of values that we know are so essential. So, no, we‘re not looking at the groups that people come from when they come to Washington to help participate in this rally, because we know that they are sharing in the spirit of what makes this country great.
SCHULTZ: Mr. Henderson, great to work with you. I‘m looking forward to it, I appreciate your time, Wade, and we‘ll be there on Saturday for sure.
HENDERSON: Ed, thanks. I look forward to seeing you and joining you.
SCHULTZ: And for more information on the One Nation march, you can go to my website wegoted.com. It has the mission statement and has all of the logistics for the march, any basic questions that need to be answered, it‘s right there at www.wegoted.com. Some final pages in my Playbook tonight, here‘s the match made in heaven, birther queen and certified whacker Orly Taitz is giving behind Sharron Angle in her first race against Harry Reid. She‘s endorsing her. I got to say, this is truly the psycho pair made in heaven, isn‘t it?
And finally, as we told you last night, the Delaware Tea Party Senate candidate Christine O‘Donnell is under fire after her linked in profile surfaced with misleading information about where she went to school. She claimed somebody else put up false information on the website and demanded it to be taken down. But moments ago, another website called ZoomInfo surfaced with O‘Donnell making the, hmm, interesting, the same exact mistake. You can see Oxford University on there. A Web site spokesman says that O‘Donnell entered the data herself. I think it‘s time for Christine O‘Donnell just to come clean and say, you did it. As we know, you did it.
Coming up, New York‘s Tea Party candidate for governor is going gangster. He threatens to take out a reporter. But Uncle Rupert Murdoch, was he behind all of this Tea Party rage? Stay with us. That‘s next on THE ED SHOW.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And finally tonight, well, this is my first election cycle in New York, and let me tell you it‘s a dandy in the governor‘s race. Carl Paladino the Tea Party and candidate for governor of New York, I‘ll tell you, this guy is flat out goofy. He freaked out on a “New York Post” reporter asking him to prove his claim. The democratic candidate Andrew Cuomo had extramarital affairs. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRED DICKER, STATE EDITOR, “NEW YORK POST”: Do you have any evidence for the charge that you‘ve made?
(INAUDIBLE)
DICKER: This guy is the attorney general of the City of New York.
CARL PALADINO ®, NEW YORK CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR: And you‘re his stalking horse, Fred. And you‘re his stalking horse.
DICKER: What‘s the evidence?
PALADINO: You‘re his burglar.
DICKER: You made the charge.
PALADINO: You sent another goon to my daughter‘s house and I‘m going to take you out, buddy.
DICKER: You‘ll going to take me out?
PALADINO: Yes.
DICKER: How are you going to do that?
PALADINO: Watch!
DICKER: Are you threatening me?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Now, I‘ve got say, I know this guy, Paladino is kind of a loose cannon but his point in all of this, he reacted like this because the News Corp. owned “New York Post” was allegedly trying to contact his 10-year-old daughter, the same paper that reported he fathered that daughter out of wedlock. The same paper that ran a picture of his former mistress, it sounds like a family feud to me.
Joining me now is Eric Boehlert, senior fellow Media Matters for America. Does it get any juicier than this, but on a serious note, what‘s a newspaper doing going after a 10-year-old kid?
ERIC BOEHLERT, MEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA: Yes, this is sort of the dark side versus the dark side. It‘s hard to pick a favorite in this fight. I mean, you mentioned Paladino making completely unsubstantiated claims about his democratic opponent, and then when he gets in it with the reporter, he threatens to kill him. I mean, where is this.
SCHULTZ: That‘s kind of New York lingo, where it isn‘t taking somebody out?
BOEHLERT: Yes, I mean, it‘s obvious what he‘s talking about. I mean, that‘s not way, A, you deal with your opponent, that‘s not the way you deal with the press. But then, as you mentioned on the flip-side, what is the “New York Post,” this is the allegation from the Paladino campaign, why are they sending reporters, photographers, videographers to his daughter‘s house. They claim they had photographers with essentially zoom lens photographing inside of this girl‘s—this family‘s house. I mean why is “The Post” doing that? So, I guess, Ed, it‘s sort of the dark side versus the dark side. They sort of deserve each other.
SCHULTZ: Paladino is in this race.
BOEHLERT: Yes.
SCHULTZ: I mean, it is a close race. This is a guy that called George Pataki, former republican governor of New York, the general idiot, he promised to take a baseball bat to Albany. That was another dandy story that is out there. He‘s steadfast anti-abortion even in the cases of incest and rape. He acknowledged having a child outside of marriage. I mean, there‘s a new story on this guy every day and now that he says, he‘s going to take the reporter out...
BOEHLERT: Yes.
SCHULTZ: How do you think that this going to play out?
BOEHLERT: Well, there is also a report that he might press charges against “The New York Post” photographer and reporter if they indeed were on his property, “The New York Post,” you know, denies that charge. What‘s interesting, it‘s supposed to be the liberal media that‘s out to get republican candidates. It‘s supposed to be the, you know, the liberal and “New York Times” that has it in for, you know, conservative candidates. Why is Paladino picking a fight with “The New York Post,” the Murdoch owned “New York Post.” It doesn‘t add up and as you said, it‘s sort of amusing to watch this intramurals squabble, they‘re all supposed to be on the same team.
SCHULTZ: Newspapers must be really hard up if they‘re going to chase down 10-year-old kids and of course, Paladino, the candidate says, leave my daughter out of it and I think a lot of people are going to side him on that. Good to have you with us tonight. Thanks so much.
BOEHLERT: Thanks for having me.
SCHULTZ: Tonight in our telephone survey I asked you, do you think Republicans care about the American worker? Six percent of you said yes, 94 percent of you said, no.
That‘s THE ED SHOW. I‘m Ed Schultz. And checking the scales, 246, 246. Lost one since the last show. For more information on this Saturday‘s One Nation march in Washington, D.C., you can go to wegoted.com.
“HARDBALL” with Chris Matthews starts right now on the place for politics, MSNBC. We‘ll see you tomorrow night from the nation‘s capital.
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