Guests: Al Sharpton, Jonathan Alter, Mike Papantonio, Sherrod Brown, Laura Flanders, John Feehery, Kerry Sanders, Jared Polis
ED SCHULTZ, MSNBC ANCHOR: Good evening, Americans, and welcome to THE ED SHOW tonight from New York.
These stories are hitting “My Hot Buttons” at this hour.
Listen closely to the Republican “Psycho Talkers.” They‘re giving us the game plan.
John Boehner is vowing to destroy health care reform, and his buddies are just lining up to destroy minimum wage, Social Security, and just put Social Security right in a meat grinder.
I‘ve got a commentary on all of this, the haves and the have-nots, plus reaction from Reverend Al Sharpton. I think the Republicans are picking on the poor folks in this country.
Karl Rove and Michele Bachmann, well, they have no shame, sticking up for the right-wing Chamber of Commerce even though a shocking new report reveals the chamber took nearly a million dollars in foreign donations. They‘re threatening to ramp up the spending. I find it completely un-American.
Politics gone wild. Meg Whitman takes on Jerry Brown over being called a whore. And I know this is a family show, but this is where we are in America right now.
And Dick Blumenthal slams Linda McMahon over dead wrestlers.
It‘s all true, folks. We‘re going to get “Rapid Fire Response.”
Plus, the miraculous recovery and the mission in Chile continues. The 26th miner just reached the surface. We‘ll go live to the scene as the rescue continues.
It is a miracle it‘s come off without a hitch. Prayers are being answered.
But this is the story that has me fired up tonight. The American dream is on the line. I mean, just listen to what the “Psycho Talkers” are saying.
Twenty days from now, millions, I guess you could say, of disgruntled Americans will decide the future of this country. Yes, the future. Look at the all of the money.
Republicans have President Obama‘s agenda in their sights and they are determined to undermine every inch of progress that he‘s made. Wannabe Speaker John Boehner wants to destroy health care as we know it, before it even gets a chance to start helping people and get out of the gate.
“The Tan Man,” he has issued this warning down in Florida: “Our job is to do everything we can to keep it from being implemented, to keep it from moving ahead.”
If “Hell no” Boehner gets his grubby little hands on the Speaker‘s gavel, he‘s going to have one major weapon, and that is the power of the purse. And Boehner and the Republicans are plotting to starve every dime out of health care reform.
He said this as well: “They‘re going to need money from us to hire those 22,000 federal employees we think it‘s going to take to run this monstrosity. And I‘ll tell you, they‘re not going to get a dime from us.”
Now, think about this. The last report from the Congressional Budget Office on the health care bill is that over 10 years, it‘s going to save this country dollars, big dollars, billions of dollars.
Now, if Boehner gets his way, it will cost American lives. Did I say that? Yes.
This health care bill will save American lives. It is far from perfect, but it would put a stop to the pre-existing conditions, and also it provides a safety net to some 30 million Americans who finally will be able to get some health insurance and can‘t get dropped.
And “The Tan Man” and his heartless posse, you know what they want do?
They want to put the insurance company back between you and your doctor. And if they do this, it will unplug you and your children from a better America.
So this is what‘s at stake in 20 days. The party of “Hell no” is also showing their disdain for the American worker on minimum wage.
Here‘s what West Virginia trust fund Senate candidate John Raese said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN RAESE ®, WEST VIRGINIA SENATE CANDIDATE: One of the best things that I can think, and when you get government out of the—let‘s say micromanaging the economy—you don‘t want government to set price controls, you don‘t want government to set wage controls. And it‘s an archaic system that quite frankly, has never worked.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you think that we should do away with the idea of a federally mandated minimum wage?
RAESE: Absolutely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Absolutely. Of course, you know, when you inherit stuff, I guess you see the world differently.
Raese and the rest of the Republican Party think that the minimum wage earners, hey, they‘re the problem. They‘re not worth $7.25 an hour. Not in our country. Their idea of a good job is a 13-year-old kid over there in China earning 40 cents an hour on an outsourced American job. That‘s who these folks are.
Don‘t kid yourself. The current bumper crop of “Psycho Talkers” in the Republican Party is far more dangerous to America than any Bush or Cheney combination that we had to live through for eight years.
Here‘s what they want to do. This is a fact.
They want to abolish minimum wage. They want to kill the health care bill. Just listen to what Boehner said.
They want to end unemployment benefits. How rude is that?
They want to phase out Social Security and privatize it. And let‘s not forget, they want to change the 14th Amendment.
Folks, if they get the majority, or if they even get close to the majority, do you really think—let‘s just say that the Democrats hold the House and they hold the Senate. Do you really think the Republicans are going to say, well, we‘ve got more seats. What do you say we work with President Obama on a few things?
They‘re not going to do that. It‘s going to get worse.
This vote is the biggest vote you may ever make in your life. President Obama is going on the offensive to stop guys like Boehner and Raese from fulfilling their radical dream for America. The president laid out the choice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We believe in a country that rewards hard work and responsibility. We believe in a country where we look after one another. We believe in a country where working people can come together so they can get a minimum wage and better working conditions. We believe that I am my brother‘s keeper, I am my sister‘s keeper, that everybody deserves a fair shot at the American dream.
That‘s the America I know. That‘s the choice in this election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Well, the American dream is on the line for millions of Americans. They have to decide between President Obama or this guy—
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), MINORITY LEADER: And look at how this bill was written. Can you say it was done openly, with transparency and accountability, without backroom deals and struck behind closed doors hidden from the people?
Hell no you can‘t!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Did I miss the news that day? Didn‘t they have some health care summit where the president sat down and listened to Lamar Alexander and the rest of these righties talking about health care? Remember that open forum that was televised all day long?
This country can‘t afford to go backwards. Voters need to engage before it‘s too late to go out and tell John Boehner and his cronies, hell no to destroying this country, because that‘s list of what they want to.
I think they‘re picking on the poor folk in America. I think they want the have and the have-not. I think it‘s all for the top two percent, the concentration of wealth, concentration of power, and we‘re going to become more of a corporate America. Not that corporations are bad all the time, because, you see, corporations do hire people and corporations pay taxes. But the Republicans don‘t want the corporations here. They want the jobs overseas.
And they want the people left behind in this country to work for a pittance of what they potentially could make. That‘s the choice in this election.
Get your cell phones out, folks. I want to know what you think about all of this.
Tonight‘s text survey question is: Do you think that American workers deserve to make less than the minimum wage of $7.25 per hour? Text “A” for no, text “B” for yes to 622639. We‘ll bring you the results later on in the show.
Joining me now is Reverend Al Sharpton, president of the National Action Network.
Reverend, I think it‘s a—their agenda is an attack on the poor.
What do you think?
REV. AL SHARPTON, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK: No question, it‘s an attack on the poor and working people. When you look at the fact that what they‘re advocating is tax cuts for the rich, and any kind of security at all for working people and poor people we want to eliminate—let‘s eliminate Social Security. let‘s eliminate minimum wage, let‘s cut education. Anything that people other than the wealthy in this country have to live by, they want to eliminate.
So clearly if there ever has been an arrogant display of what the Republicans are saying they stand for, and that is the wealthy and the rich, it‘s in what Mr. Boehner and others are saying, which is why we‘ve got to come out in big numbers and make sure he‘s not the Speaker of the House this year.
SCHULTZ: Well, let‘s talk about it, Reverend Sharpton. I mean, they condemn themselves, right, with their sound bites about where they want to take this country and how they want to discriminate against Americans, in my opinion.
Is that going to be enough for the Democrats, for the liberals, progressives, for minorities in this country to step to the plate and go after it on November 2nd? I mean, if information‘s power, there‘s plenty of material there.
SHARPTON: I think that we‘ve got to get that information to them, as you do every day on this show and on the radio. I mean, I‘m getting ready to go from California to Florida to Pennsylvania in the next 72 hours. We‘ve got to get out there, and we‘ve got to get the message out, and people have got to go door to door, because this is not just about the president, this is about their declaring war on any kind of guarantees that working class people and poor people would have in this country.
SCHULTZ: Yes.
SHARPTON: And the only guarantees that will be left if they succeed would be for the wealthy. They will get their tax cuts. They will get protected. And if they blow it, we‘ll bail them out again.
There are no guarantees for average Americans, and we need to understand that and get that message out.
SCHULTZ: And finally, Reverend Sharpton, you know, it took us 10 years to move the minimum wage up in this country. What a reversal. They‘re getting far more radical now. Now they want to abolish minimum wage.
SHARPTON: No, we‘re not even talking here—the clip that you played by Senator Raese, we‘re not even talking about they‘re saying hold the minimum wage or reduce it. He‘s saying abolish it, let‘s have no guarantee per hour, which is the most unthinkable think you would think of in 2010 after all the bailouts we did for the super rich, who did it out of their greed.
You want to tell workers, we don‘t want to give you any guarantees, yet we claim to represent grassroots Americans. They‘re going to bury us under the grass if we don‘t come out and vote November 2nd.
SCHULTZ: Reverend Sharpton, always a pleasure. Good to have you with us.
SHARPTON: Thank you.
SCHULTZ: Thank you.
For more, let‘s bring in Jonathan Alter, national affairs columnist for “Newsweek,” and MSNBC political analyst.
JONATHAN ALTER, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Jonathan, let‘s talk about, if we can, the president‘s talk about the American dream. I mean, this is somewhat a new move for the president, is it not? He‘s starting to talk in terms of think about what your future is going to be like.
What do you think?
ALTER: He‘s getting back into campaign mode, which is good and long overdue. Look, he overlearned Mario Cuomo‘s famous lesson. Cuomo said you campaign in poetry and govern in prose. And he took that too much to heart.
He‘s been governing too much in pros. Finally, he‘s beginning to bring some of the poetry back, the poetry that moves people and inspires people. And it‘s about time.
What we‘ve been talking about so far on the show, Ed, is an effort by Republicans to repeal the New Deal. Let‘s be clear about what we‘re talking about. The minimum wage goes back to 1938.
SCHULTZ: Yes.
ALTER: Now, after the New Deal, Democrats and Republican presidents -
you know, Dwight Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan—all of them accepted that there were certain things that we settled in this country in the 1930s about a decent floor so that we didn‘t become the third world. Now they want us—I don‘t know, do they want us to go down to 40 cents an hour? What are they talking about?
On top of that—and this is something that doesn‘t get talked about enough—this would be so awful for the economy. We would create a deflationary spiral. When wages go down too much, as they would if we got rid of the minimum wage, you send the economy back into another recession, or even a depression.
SCHULTZ: I want to talk to you about the record number of dollars in bonuses that‘s going to be going to Wall Street, $144 billion. That‘s a record high this year. And if you look at the stock market, in March of ‘09, it was just over 6,000. Today it‘s over 11,000.
Does President Obama get any credit at all? Does his economic team get any credit at all for what has happened? I mean, these folks have made billions of dollars with Obama—with the president‘s economy and his framework to save the economy, but, yet, it gets very little conversation.
ALTER: He saved them. He saved their fortunes.
We were headed for a depression. We were losing 750,000 jobs a month when he took over. If we would have stayed on that pace, we would have had another great depression in late 2009. He saved them.
Now one of the great things about the stock market being higher, even if folks aren‘t in the stock market that much, is it‘s a leading indicator. It‘s the market saying that the economy is getting much better than people recognize.
SCHULTZ: Yet, the poverty rate—yet the poverty rate is at 14.3 percent.
ALTER: Yes, it is.
SCHULTZ: That‘s the highest since 1994. It‘s the divided highway.
ALTER: I‘m not minimizing that, but it‘s important to remember that if—you know, Obama‘s fate and the fate of the Democrats over the next two years—it‘s too late do anything about this election—but is on bringing that unemployment rate down. And what the market is saying, there‘s not a direct connection between higher stock prices and more jobs.
SCHULTZ: Yes.
ALTER: But what it is, is it‘s a vision of the future which is usually accurate and suggests that 2011, better days are ahead.
SCHULTZ: Jonathan Alter, always a pleasure.
ALTER: Thanks, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Great book, by the way.
ALTER: Thank you.
SCHULTZ: Coming up, “Crazy” Carl Paladino has some major explaining to do. Just days after his homophobic slurs, well, we find out that he made money off gay clubs. His gay nephew not real happy with all of the family talk either.
Congressman Jared Polis, the first openly gay congressman elected as a freshman, will sound off.
And I can‘t wait to see how Christine O‘Donnell answers the questions in her debate tonight. She‘ll need to explain everything from satanic dates to the Oxford education.
Get some popcorn, folks. It‘s going to be a dandy. Mike Papantonio‘s champing at the bit to get after this one.
All that, plus Bill Clinton says Republicans are making him gag.
“Caribou Barbie,” can you can believe it? She‘s relate to the president. Now, this doesn‘t mean they‘re going to have Thanksgiving together, but it‘s an interesting thing.
You‘re watching THE ED SHOW on MSNBC. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW, and thanks for watching.
Breaking news. You are looking at a live picture. This is miner number 27, Franklin Lobos, at the San Jose mine, as the rescue mission continues. And we have to say it has been a miraculous effort on the part of so many.
This has come off without a hitch. Thirty-three miners, 68 days. That is miner number 27, rescued to safety, Franklin Lobos, and the San Jose mine in Chile.
We‘ll continue our coverage here on MSNBC as the mission is successful to this point.
Christine O‘Donnell is coming out of hiding in a little over 90 minutes to debate her Democratic opponent, Chris Coons, ,at the University of Delaware. It‘s the first debate since O‘Donnell‘s witchy past was revealed, and she released a couple of campaign commercials that inspired comedians across the country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE O‘DONNELL ®, DELAWARE SENATE CANDIDATE: I‘m not a witch.
I didn‘t go to Yale. I‘m nothing you‘ve heard. I didn‘t inherit millions.
I‘m you. I‘m you. I‘m you. I‘m you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: The O‘Donnell campaign is now out with a new Web commercial slamming her opponent‘s tax record.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Delaware, where the economy is suffering and families are losing their homes, there is one man who stood against the tide and raised taxes. Hide your lights because he‘s taxing everything out here. Chris Coons is the tax man.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Joining us now is Mike Papantonio, host of the nationally syndicated “Ring of Fire” radio show.
Mike, you go into this debate, you‘ve got a double-digit lead. How serious do you get? How do you handle it?
There‘s a lot of material on the table right now. And a lot of people are—across the country, are laughing at her campaign.
What‘s the best strategy for Chris Coons?
MIKE PAPANTONIO, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Tickets sold out because—in 10 minutes, Ed, because everybody expects a freak show. But Coons doesn‘t have to have a freak show.
He‘s got plenty—let Comedy Central talk about the witch story and the rats have brains story. He needs to talk about real important issues, but most importantly, he doesn‘t—he doesn‘t need to allow her to reinvent herself as the crazy Republican Tea Bag Party.
Look, he‘s got plenty to highlight. He needs to go in and talk about the fact that she lied about going to three colleges that she never attended.
SCHULTZ: Should he call her a liar?
PAPANTONIO: Well, I think at this point he doesn‘t really have to. He needs to ask the question, you told the American public, you got in front of a camera, and you said you went to Oxford, but you didn‘t. You said you went to Princeton, but you didn‘t. You said you went to Claremont University, but you didn‘t. And, Ms. O‘Donnell, you‘re talking about my tax issues, what about your tax problems where the IRS has an $11,000 lien against you because you didn‘t pay your taxes at all, because you‘ve failed to pay your taxes not just once, but several times?
He needs to take the high ground in attack, but at the same time, he‘s got so much to talk about, and he doesn‘t need to go in there and allow her to reinvent who she is. She‘s a nut. We all know that. But there‘s a lot more to talk about.
(LAUGHTER)
SCHULTZ: Well, that‘s like telling it like it is.
There is—I think—and I hear voices on the radio, as you do. A lot of Americans think that she‘s really lowered the bar and she‘s not qualified.
If he comes off saying, you‘re not qualified to be in the United States Senate, does that come off as condescending, or is that telling the truth? And with a double-digit lead, do you play it safe? What do you think?
PAPANTONIO: I don‘t think he has to play it safe. Look, Ed, there‘s more at stake here than just this race.
He‘s going to win this race. If he doesn‘t get up there and just completely blow it, he‘s going to win this race.
He can do things for other candidates by pointing out that she is the persona of all the Republican Tea Bag candidates running right now. He can talk about how important credibility and honesty is, how important it is to be believable.
He can do a lot of things for other candidates. He can take her and paint her as the picture of all these other candidates. The last thing he needs to do is listen to the typical Democratic handlers—
SCHULTZ: Yes.
PAPANTONIO: -- that say just play it safe. He doesn‘t need to really play it safe.
SCHULTZ: OK. So, Mike, the prediction from you is that he‘s going to win and she‘ll get a show on Fox. I got it. Good to have you with us, buddy.
PAPANTONIO: Thanks a lot
SCHULTZ: You bet.
Coming up, crazies must be contagious, because the birthers are multiplying. This Republican thinks he‘s headed back to Washington so he can impeach President Obama.
I told you so. I‘ll certify him in the “Zone” next. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And in “Psycho Talk” tonight, well, we‘ve got another righty pandering to the birthers.
Former Republican congressman Tim Walberg is trying to get his job back from Michigan and going back to Washington, and he‘s playing to the far right fringe. How interesting.
Here he is on a local radio show recently.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My question is, do you believe that this president was born in America? Because I have not seen enough evidence to say that he is an American citizen. And do you believe he‘s a Muslim?
TIM WALBERG, FMR. Republican CONGRESSMAN: You know, I don‘t know. I really don‘t know. We don‘t have enough information about this president.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Not enough information? I should stop the program right now and ask you, do you think we should have put that caller in “Psycho Talk” instead of the hopeful congressman?
Not enough information. Someone needs to teach Timmy how to Google. It takes about five seconds on the Internet to find Barack Obama‘s official birth certificate. There it is.
But Walberg is keeping the wacko birther rumors alive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALBERG: Well, I‘ve been taking him at his word that he‘s an American citizen. I don‘t know why it‘s not resolved other than the fact that the president hasn‘t resolved it yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: He just hadn‘t resolved it. Well, the president has resolved it. Walberg has just chosen not to pay attention like any other Republican.
He even suggested a Republican Congress would impeach the president over the birther nonsense.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALBERG: The executive has an awful lot of power to keep from showing certain things unless the courts will stand up to him, or unless Congress, in majority, will stand up to and including impeachment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. That‘s—
WALBERG: And the Republicans don‘t have the majority.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Impeachment, that‘s what they‘re all about.
So at a time when the United States of America and the Congress is dealing with 9.6 percent unemployment, a war in Afghanistan, which we don‘t know where that‘s going, an energy crisis we can‘t seem to solve to get energy independent, this guy wants to spend time and tax dollars impeaching President Obama to obtain a document that is already available online.
That is certifiable “Psycho Talk.”
Coming up, Karl Rove and Michele Bachmann have absolutely no shame. This psycho pair is defending the Chamber of Commerce and it‘s anti-American money bombs. Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio will blast off in “The Battleground” story in a moment.
And it got ugly in California last night. Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman got into a mudslinging contest about who called who a whore. I mean, come on. We‘ve got it all in this election cycle, don‘t we?
We‘re going to get “Rapid Fire Response” on that.
And Dick Blumenthal accuses Linda McMahon for marketing sex and violence to children.
You‘re watching THE ED SHOW on MSNBC. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW. The Battleground story tonight, in my opinion, there‘s no more important story in this election cycle. The fight over foreign money influencing this election cycle, I think it‘s getting out of control. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue fired off a letter to the Chamber‘s directors and partners, claiming the right wing organization is the victim of a smear campaign? Buddy, show us your books. Donohue says the allegations the Chamber is pumping foreign cash into American elections are, quote, “patently false.”
He also says the Chamber won‘t let the attacks scare them away from politics. He goes on to write, “It won‘t work. The American people will not be fooled nor will the Chamber be silenced. In fact, for the next three weeks leading up to the Election Day, you will see us ramp up efforts to educate voters about the positions of candidates of both parties who are committed to free enterprise and economic growth.” I think I‘m going to puke but I can‘t do it on live TV. It‘s Donohue, come on. This guy is a right wing hack.
Meanwhile, over on FOX Business, Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann carried the Chamber‘s water, saying that the questions about foreign donations are nothing but a democratic witch-hunt.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MICHELE BACHMANN ®, MINNESOTA: About as low as it goes. It‘s more than disingenuous, it‘s a flat-out patent lie. The Chamber of Commerce who has been accused of taking foreign contributions to spend on elections is absolutely not doing that. They have a separate political action fund and they use that only from American donors.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: All right. Bachmann and Donohue, they are absolutely clueless but this takes the cake. Karl Rove thinks this is a joke. He‘s Bush‘s brain, here he is on FOX responding to Robert Gibbs, who asked for a donor sheet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KARL ROVE, FMR. SR. ADVISOR TO PRES. GEORGE W. BUSH: I‘m happy to respond to Mr. Gibbs‘ request for a list of the foreign contributors from American crossroads.
MARTHA MCCALLUM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: OK.
ROVE: Here it is right there.
MCCALLUM: Zero.
ROVE: Right there. Zero. Zero. Zero. In fact, you know while we‘re at it, let‘s talk about the president‘s evidence for the accusation that the Chamber of Commerce in American crossroads had foreign donors. It is nada, no evidence whatsoever the president made this charges on the basis of which leaves us with, what‘s the White House credibility on this issue? None. None.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: See, he‘s not trying to leave anybody behind and that‘s why he‘s using that little board. This guy has no business talking about credibility. Remember Valerie Plame? Today, just today, Think Progress releases a new report showing the Chamber received $885,000 from over 80 foreign countries. This is from donations that had been disclosed. I want Tom Donohue and everyone at the Chamber to listen up. If you want to prove your political activities are homegrown and real American, release the whole damn list, the whole donor list. What are you hiding? The American people have been lied to about war and if you have nothing to hide, then show us the books.
Joining me now is Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown. Senator, good to have you with us.
SEN. SHERROD BROWN (D), OHIO: Sure. Good to be back.
SCHULTZ: You bet. I want to go back to Michele Bachmann‘s comment there. She says that there‘s a separate fund. Is that true?
BROWN: No it‘s not true. There are a couple of things going on here. First of all, separate local Chambers of Commerce and Toledo and Cleveland and Mansfield and Zanesville and all over this country. Chamber of Commerce has been working on economic development trying to make their communities better with this national behemoth in the National Chamber of Commerce. They‘re very different kinds of organizations. But there‘s two things going on here, Ed. One is, if the chamber is so—if there‘s no federal money and there are no foreign money involved, why did they fight the disclose act and fight our efforts to make them disclose legally any federal dollars? And, second, at the same time, why did they fight our legislation to stop the tax breaks and the incentives for American companies to outsource jobs.
SCHULTZ: Because they‘re trying to protect their interests. They‘re trying to protect their donors.
BROWN: Exactly. They‘re trying to protect their donors and it‘s all about these companies outsourcing jobs. These large corporations, some have foreign ownership, some don‘t, that are outsourcing jobs to China and all over the world. They don‘t—I mean, they clearly have benefited from the tax law and they don‘t want to change it.
SCHULTZ: Senator, what do you make of, in my opinion, the shear arrogance of Tom Donohue doubling down, saying, you haven‘t seen anything yet. I mean, that‘s basically what he‘s saying. They‘re not going to be intimidated. They‘re going to move forward. They‘re going to ramp things up. What do you make of that?
BROWN: Well, I make it.
SCHULTZ: Is it arrogant?
BROWN: It‘s arrogance. It‘s Michele Bachmann and Karl Rove, it‘s just—I mean incredulous that Karl Rove would think he has credibility, would think anybody is going to believe him and would feign some sort of moral outrage when this guy lied to us about Iraq. This guy did all kinds of dirty tricks as the president‘s brain as you just referred to him as the top political guy in the country for much of those eight years and it makes me sad that anybody‘s moral compass is that—is that jittery and astray.
SCHULTZ: So, here‘s what we have now. We have the Democrats saying that they‘re telling the truth on the foreign money and we have the Republicans guarding the hen house which is of course the Chamber of Commerce. And a lot of Americans are out there wondering, OK, who‘s telling the truth? You can emphatically tell us tonight that the Democrats are correct on this issue, that foreign money is being used by the Chamber of Commerce out of their general fund?
BROWN: Well, I—first of all, I think—I think they are. I can‘t prove it. They can prove that it‘s not true by releasing their.
SCHULTZ: True.
BROWN: .their lists and they won‘t. But again, there is real incentive for the Chamber—the whole point because they oppose the disclose act and because they‘ve opposed any kind of change in tax laws to stop this outsourcing, it‘s clear it‘s in their economic interest, their political interest to use foreign dollars, to suspend money from these big corporations that outsource jobs because they‘re benefiting from it.
SCHULTZ: Yes.
BROWN: These companies like that are seeing their profits go up because they‘re outsourcing jobs. We want to close the loopholes. I don‘t want any more companies to move from Zanesville in Lima in Chilly Cawthy (ph) to Shanghai and Lohan (ph) and Beijing.
SCHULTZ: Amen to that. Senator, good to have you with us tonight.
BROWN: Thanks, Ed. It‘s a pleasure.
SCHULTZ: Thanks for staying on the story.
BROWN: Thanks.
SCHULTZ: Now, let‘s get some rapid-fire response from our panel on these stories tonight.
It was down and dirty at last night‘s gubernatorial debate in California. Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman, well, they got into a heated exchange as to—well, who called who a whore.
The Senate race in Connecticut got even uglier. At their debate last night, Dick Blumenthal slammed Linda McMahon over the WWE‘s seven dead wrestlers.
And, the former President Bill Clinton was fired up and lashing out at Republicans in a rally for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
With us tonight, the congenial couple of Laura Flanders. She‘s the editor of the new book, “At The Tea Party” is the name of the book. And John Feehery, republican strategist. You‘re not smiling too much tonight, John. You must be—OK, there you go. All right. Now you‘re doing better.
All right. Let‘s see if we can. What about what‘s happening back and forth in these debates? In the gubernatorial debate last night, Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman getting into it. Laura Flanders, do voters care about this over the word whore?
LAURA FLANDERS, EDITOR, “AT THE TEA PARTY”: Oh, gosh, I know, Ed, I just long for the date, one, when we can get rid on the democratic side of these men with foot-and-mouth disease. They open it up their mouth and out comes some unthought-out stupid sexist thing. Could we get rid of these folks? But idea that Whitman is the great respect woman candidate also drives me nuts. This kind of whack feminism from a woman who opposed the Lilly Ledbetter Act, who would oppose just about everything the Democrats have done to improve life for women on the public level from, you know, ensuring mammograms without co-pays, to trying to keep wages at a livable level, and kind of—and trying to keep some public services out there. That makes me scream too so it‘s a nasty picture on both sides.
SCHULTZ: Here‘s Tom Brokaw, the moderator broaching the subject.
Here it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM BROKAW, NBC NEWS ANCHOR: It‘s now a notorious part of this campaign, in which somebody in your campaign referred to Ms. Whitman as a “whore.”
JERRY BROWN (D), CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: This is a five-week-old private conversation.
Whoa, whoa.
BROWN: Picked up on a cell phone with a garbled transmission, very hard to detect who it is. The campaign apologized promptly and I affirm that apology tonight.
MEG WHITMAN ®, CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: The fact that you are defending your campaign for a slur and you know, a personal attack on me, I think it‘s.
BROWN: It‘s not even true.
WHITMAN: .not befitting of California, it‘s not befitting of the office that you‘re running for.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: John Feehery, what do you think, affirm that apology, that wasn‘t good enough.
JOHN FEEHERY, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, I think Meg Whitman is right. But I also think Laura Flanders is right. This not really what this campaign is all about. California is going completely bankrupt. Businesses are fleeing California because there‘s such a terrible place to do business because of all of the taxes, all of the regulations, and what California needs is somebody to come in there and shake up the political establishment, and actually clean out things. And I just don‘t think that Jerry Brown, who‘s been around politics in California for longer than I‘ve been alive, I think, is the guy to do that. I think that Meg Whitman could be the person but the issue in this campaign is California literally falling off of the earth when it comes to the economy.
SCHULTZ: And so why is Governor Schwarzenegger going to Russia talking about jobs over there? All right. Let‘s go to Connecticut. Blumenthal slamming McMahon on her profession. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D), CONNECTICUT SENATE NOMINEE: I can‘t believe that I just heard Ms. McMahon brag about this wellness policy at WWE. She requires all wrestlers to sign a death clause that absolves WWE of all responsibility if wrestlers are killed in the ring and if the company is at fault, absolves her company of all responsibility. That wellness policy is not working too well. There had been seven dead wrestlers since she started campaigning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: It‘s a sport, people die in all sports. Laura Flanders, is that over the top?
FLANDERS: Oh, it‘s same thing. I mean, now I‘m going to agree with John. This is an election that shouldn‘t be about dead wrestlers.
SCHULTZ: Why is he bringing it up?
FLANDERS: It could be about the dead planet. I mean, he is against the woman who suddenly believes in global warming and we‘re talking about WWE. Look, there is something to be pointed out here. About McMahon as a business woman and it‘s a bizarre thing that people, the case that people make. That because you‘re a successful business person, you will necessarily be a successful public person does deserve to be pierced.
SCHULTZ: John?
FLANDERS: Public people have to look out for everybody.
FEEHERY: Ed, I really hate do this but I agree with Laura Flanders again. This makes me very nervous. I think that you have something fascinating going on here. You have two very strong females, business executives running against two career politicians. And actually I think that they‘re the ones who are creating jobs and trying to create jobs and they have these career politicians who are trying to stop them. It‘s a fascinating dynamic.
FLANDERS: No, what you have here, you have two campaigns that are not focusing on the issues, and frankly media are not focusing on the issues in those states. We‘ve got in this country right now, “The New York Times” today, this recession could be the new normal. We‘re going to be nine years before we can get the old jobs back and let alone new jobs. Thirteen years before we get house values back.
SCHULTZ: All right. We‘ve got run.
FLANDERS: Such serious stuff to talk about, why are we talking about this?
(CROSSTALK)
SCHULTZ: Laura Flanders and John Feehery, great to have you with us tonight. Thanks so much.
FEEHERY: Thank you.
SCHULTZ: You‘ve never agreed so much on one another.
Up next, the miracle in Chile. Twenty seven miners are back with their families and number 28 is on his way to the top right now. We‘re going live to the scene. This unbelievable story. Next on MSNBC, stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Breaking news. We are now seeing the 28th Chile miner coming up. His name is Richard Villarroel. We‘ll talk to NBC‘s Kerry Sanders, next at the scene in Chile, stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And in my Playbook tonight, 28 of the 33 miners trapped underground for more than two months are above ground right now. The rescue, so far, has been flawless. Miner number 28 pulled to the surface just moments ago. The world is watching. And people around the globe are pulling for these guys, no doubted.
Let‘s go to NBC‘s Kerry Sanders, who is live at scene. And Kerry, I understand that this gentleman‘s wife is not there because she‘s about ready to give birth to a child. That‘s going to be pretty exciting, and also.
KERRY SANDERS, NBC CORRESPONDENT: Then he got up in the next of time.
SCHULTZ: Yes. And the anticipation of the completion of a successful mission, is it pretty tense there right now?
SANDERS: I think that there is exuberant confidence right now. I wouldn‘t call it tense. The countdown now with five more men to come up, a 23-year-old Richard Villarroel making it up to the surface with his wife. The reason she‘s not there is she actually had contractions today. So she‘s at home. And you know, it is working flawlessly. There you can see him getting onto a stretcher. Even though I have not seen one of these guys who needed to get on a stretcher. They‘re following the protocol. Take them into the triage area, and the very first thing they do when they get into a triage area is ask for a hot shower. They‘re enjoying that.
So I imagine, Richard is about to go in there and do the same. Then, they give them some liquids. Take care of them but you know, the phoenix started out, going down, that escape capsule taking more than an hour and 15 minutes to make the roundtrip. We‘ve had one come up here at about nine minutes and 38 seconds now. So, it‘s speeding along. They thought this would take 48 hours with only five more to go, we‘re really moving along. And this is a nation that is thrilled and excited as is the world watching the ability of engineering and basically perseverance to successfully solve what everybody thought was impossible, cutting through a 700,000 ton mega rock.
Some of the hardest rock on earth, creating a 28-inch shaft, getting down to the men who had survived for a very long time, 17 days on tuna and peaches taking only two spoons a day to keep themselves nourished. Ed, I think what we‘re seeing and witnessing here has been said over and over, but if they all get up here, we will see 33 miracles.
SCHULTZ: Kerry Sanders, you have been in this business a long time. You have covered hundreds upon hundreds of stories in your career. This has got to be personally for you one for the archives, this emotion, this precision, this teamwork, to be there and to witness all of this. It has captivated the world. To your personal experience, what has it been like?
SANDERS: You know, as a reporter, now almost three decades, I spend the most of my life arriving after something has happened. We are here as this is happening. We‘re watching it unfold. And you know I‘m caught up in this. I‘m cheering every one of these guys. I know some their families because we‘ve been living in the desert with them here for some weeks. But every one of these guys represents something much larger, and that is the desire and the hope that we all have. That, you know, whatever problems there, they can be overcome. This was a huge, huge challenge, and it‘s being overcome. We‘re five guys away.
SCHULTZ: Kerry Sanders, NBC News. Great to have you with us, Kerry.
Thank you.
Final page in the Playbook tonight, it turns out Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, and the president, believe it or not, they‘re related. Of course theancestry.com, the two psycho talkers and the tenth—are tenth cousins to the President of the United States. I bet that would be an interesting family reunion, wouldn‘t it? Do you think it would be a quiet dinner table or kind of a yucky.
Coming up, crazy Carl Paladino has some major explaining to do, just days after his homophobic slurs we find out that he made money off of gay clubs. Congressman Jared Polis, the first openly gay congressman elected is a freshmen sounds off on that. And weighs in on, “Don‘t Ask, Don‘t Tell.” That‘s next. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And finally tonight, two more issues. We‘ll get to “Don‘t Ask, Don‘t Tell” in just a moment. But New York Republican Gubernatorial nominee, Carl Paladino, is still feeling the backlash after his recent comments that kids shouldn‘t be brainwashed into thinking homosexuality is acceptable. Paladino‘s nephew and campaign worker, who is gay, told “The New York Post” that he was offended by the comments and has reportedly stopped working for his uncle. Carl Paladino may not approve of homosexuality but he has no problem profiting off of it. It turns out, two buildings he owned in Buffalo were rented out as gay clubs. One of which was managed by his son.
Joining me now is Congressman Jared Polis of Colorado, who is the first openly gay person elected to the House of Representatives. Congressman, good to have you with us tonight. What is your response? Is this the new Republican Party, couple this with the position of Jim DeMint and gay people in the classroom in public schools, what do you think?
REP. JARED POLIS (D), COLORADO: Look, I mean, here‘s a guy, his son runs a gay club, he owns the building. I mean, look, there‘s almost a—there‘s almost an issue there, as a conflict of interest. Maybe he doesn‘t want gay people getting married so they go out to his club more so he makes money off of them. I mean, this is cynicism at its worst. His own family, his own flesh and blood quits his campaign over his remarks. We see what the guy really thinks. You know, now we know what the guy really thinks, he‘s backing off and he‘s apologizing but we know where he‘s coming from. He thinks people are being brainwashed when every day, gay kids are being taunted across our country. They‘re being taunted. There have been four kids that have committed suicide in the last couple weeks because they‘ve been pushed and discriminated because they were gay.
SCHULTZ: Congressman, “Don‘t Ask, Don‘t Tell.” The judge is ruling yesterday, what do you think, congressional response should be after the election when they come back in a lame-duck session? Should the Congress address “Don‘t Ask, Don‘t Tell”? The Justice Department has 60 days to do something about it although they‘re not obligated legally do it. Could this be the final ruling on “Don‘t Ask, Don‘t Tell,” what do you think?
POLIS: Look, this should be a heads up to our military. Work with us in the legislature on the process of any of the “Don‘t Ask, Don‘t Tell” law because if we don‘t end it legislatively, it will be ended through the courts, because frankly, it‘s unconstitutional policy, it weakens the security of our country and it kick people out of the military for no good reason.
SCHULTZ: What about the 14,000 people that have exited the military because of their sexual orientation? What should happen to them?
POLIS: Those who wanted should be able to reenlist or if their officers go back in, many of them have great track records, we discharged just because of a declaration. Just because somebody told somebody that they were gay or found out that they were gay. Many of them want to serve our country at a time where we need our men and women to serve overseas and I hope that some of them reconsider joining the military, once this discriminatory policy is ended.
SCHULTZ: Is this the beginning of the end in your opinion.
POLIS: You know, it‘s been the beginning of the end for far too long, Ed. We‘ve got end this policy now whether through the courts or the legislature. Yesterday isn‘t too soon.
SCHULTZ: And do you think the White House is relieved that this judge made this ruling?
POLIS: You know, I think that it gives them another option. If we can‘t get it done legislatively, let it go through the courts. Use that as leverage with the military, with Secretary Gates, say, look we want to work with you. If we can‘t the court are holding this over to our head and it‘s going to happen anyway.
SCHULTZ: Jared Polis, congressman from Colorado. Great to have you with us on THE ED SHOW. Thanks so much.
Tonight in our text survey I asked you, do you think American workers deserve to make less than minimum wage of $7.25 per hour? Thirteen percent of you said, yes, 87 percent of you said, no. That‘s THE ED SHOW. I‘m Ed Schultz, for more information on THE ED SHOW, go to ed.msnbc.com or check out my website at wegoted.com. A live “HARDBALL” edition is coming up next with Chris Matthews. It starts right now on MSNBC.
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