Guests: Mike Papantonio, Scott McAdams, Sachin Chheda, Ron Christie, Joe
Madison, Justin Coussoule, Jon Ralston
ED SCHULTZ, HOST: Good evening, Americans, and welcome to THE ED SHOW, tonight from New York. These stories are hitting my hot buttons at this hour. The Rand Paul-supporting thug who stomped on an innocent woman‘s head wants her, believe it or not, to apologize to him. Folks, this might be the most psycho thing I think we‘ve ever heard. Plus, I‘ve got a message for Mr. Paul. Man up, buddy. Commentary coming up in a moment.
Unlike wacko Tea Partiers, Democrats don‘t think it‘s necessary to assault or handcuff their political opposition. One Wisconsin progressive schooled a Fox News crew when they crashed his private Democratic event. You‘ll get the story firsthand from him tonight in the “Battleground Story” here on THE ED SHOW.
And Sharron Angle—I think she has officially lost her mind. She‘s so desperate, she‘s accusing Harry Reid of stealing the election? Cut me some slack. She has absolutely no proof.
But this is the story that has me fired up tonight. Rand Paul‘s goon
you know, the guy in the video—he‘s demanding an apology from the woman that he kicked in the head. Former Rand Paul Bourbon County coordinator Tim Profitt, seen here with his old buddy, Rand Paul, was interviewed by a local CBS affiliate in Lexington, Kentucky. Profitt didn‘t have the guts to show his face on camera during the interview. Kind of falls in line with his cowardly attitude the other night, right? Well, he is a coward, asking for an apology from a Moveon protester, Lauren Valle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIM PROFITT, RAND PAUL COUNTY COORDINATOR: I don‘t think it‘s that big of a deal. I would like for her to apologize with me, to be honest with you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Profitt, in my opinion, has lost all of his marbles. Let‘s go back to the tape. Do you see the woman under his foot, folks, the woman that he just stepped on, the woman he gave a concussion to and sent to the hospital? And he thinks that she should apologize to him? What‘s wrong with these people?
Profitt also told the reporter that Valle should be blamed for the whole thing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PROFITT: She‘s a professional at what she does. And I think when all the facts come out, I think people will see that she was the one that initiated the whole thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Interesting. Are you a professional law enforcement official, or are you just a professional thug? You‘re characterizing her as a professional protester? What are you professional at, Mr. Profitt?
Late this afternoon, new video of the event surfaced. It shows Valle approaching Rand Paul‘s car as he comes up to the debate. Take a look at this. So here are the Rand Paul supporters. I mean, you‘d think that Kentucky was playing Indiana in basketball here or something. It‘s justice a political debate.
So the car drives up. And there she goes. She‘s trying to put the sign up. No law broken there. OK, people take her away from the car. Listen to the crowd. They‘re all excited.
So here comes Rand Paul. Now, on the left of your screen, she‘s going around the vehicle, and now to the front of the vehicle. Is she threatening to the candidate right now? No, she‘s not. Right of your screen, top right, there she is in the red. And there are the supporters right there. Now, Rand Paul is now walking into the facility. He‘s got cops on his right. Behind him is where this stomping incident took place. So the cops didn‘t see it. Rand Paul didn‘t see it.
But you know his Bourbon County coordinator was all about it, wasn‘t he? Lauren Valle shouldn‘t have rushed the car. I guess that you could make that case. She was an overzealous person, right? Hey, she was a political activist. She was no threat. But she didn‘t deserve to get her head stepped on when they had her pinned down to the ground. I think it was, like, a five-on-one.
Rand Paul‘s thugs weren‘t trying to protect him. They were out to hurt a Moveon.org protester. Bottom line, you saw the tape. By the time Profitt stuck his nose into the situation, Rand Paul was well out of harm‘s way—harm‘s way! -- being protected by a couple of troopers with sidearms, I might add.
Well, Paul broke his silence and did an interview, where else, on Fox News.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAND PAUL (R-KY), SENATE CANDIDATE: There was a bit of a crowd control problem. And I don‘t want anybody, though, to be involved in things that aren‘t civil. I think that this should always be about the issues. And it was an unusual situation to have so many people so passionate on both sides jockeying back and forth, and it wasn‘t something that I liked or anybody liked about that situation. So I hope in the future, it‘s going to be better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Take personal responsibility, will you! This guy was on your payroll. Now, can we go back to -- (INAUDIBLE) this plan. I‘m winging it now. Can we go back to that videotape where the car was coming up and Rand Paul was getting out? He‘s trying to say that there were crowd control problems?
Well, let‘s see. Here comes the vehicle. The vehicle‘s coming up. There‘s folks over on the right. There‘s folks over on the left. Looks to me like they‘re all Rand Paul supporters. There‘s a few Conway signs in there, who happens to be the attorney general, ironically. Where the heck is he legally on this whole deal?
And so Rand Paul‘s going to get out. All right, now the crowd control. There‘s a security guy right there, apparently, getting ready to open up the door so Rand can get out and go in and go to this big debate. OK, Rand‘s on his feet. He seems to be walking well. He‘s alive. He‘s got a—shook somebody‘s hand. No crowd crow control. He‘s not getting shoved, not getting pushed. Crowd control problems. Nobody arrested. The cops aren‘t all over it. Heck, they‘re with Rand Paul.
Rand Paul is still using this “both sides” talking point garbage. It doesn‘t seem like he gives a damn about what happened. Lauren Valle deserves, I think, a personal and professional apology from the candidate. I think America deserves Rand Paul to quit speaking through Fox. Call a press conference, man up, talk about your goons. Say this isn‘t your campaign. You had nothing to do with it. You will not tolerate this whatsoever.
But you see, Rand Paul is one of these Tea Partying candidates that has gone out across America and across his state with the help of the nutjobs across the street and whipped these low-information voters up into a frenzy that they, bottom line, just can‘t control themselves. Now, the videotape of the girl, who‘s—Ms. Valle, Lauren Valle, who‘s down on the concrete getting stomped on—does that guy look like somebody who can control himself? Or is he a guy that‘s whipped up into a frenzy full of hate, full of despair, full of disdain for liberals in this country?
If it‘s truly about the debate, let‘s make it about the debate. If it‘s truly about confrontation, yes, now where do we go? You know what? Those Rand Paul thugs are just lucky that the Moveon.org people don‘t travel with people just like them but on the other side.
Now, later on in this program tonight, we‘re going to show you a story about how you be fair to the other side when they invade your own little party. We‘ll show it to you later.
But on this issue, I want you to get your cell phones out. I want to know what you think. Tonight‘s text survey question is, “Do you think the man who stomped on a woman‘s head deserves an apology?” Text A for yes. Text B for no to 622639. We‘ll bring you the results later on in the show.
Joining me now is Mike Papantonio, host of the nationally syndicated “Ring of Fire” radio show. Mike, good to have you with us tonight. Is there any defense whatsoever for the five-on-one, the people that stomped on this girl? Any defense whatsoever legally?
MIKE PAPANTONIO, RADIO SHOW HOST: Not legally, morally, or any kind of way. Look, this ought to be—this head-stomping story should be a wake-up call for all Americans that says this is—this new emerging tea bagger Republican Party is not a political movement. It‘s a movement of misfits that are willing not just to stomp on her head, but would stomp on your head if you disagree with them on anything, would stomp on your head if you talk about the fact that they are lunatics. They would stomp on decency. They would stomp on intellect and democracy. That‘s what we saw there. This primitive Neanderthal tea bagger type that we just saw, that actually asked for an apology himself—he did that because at the heart of every psychopath is delusion.
SCHULTZ: Well, you know what?
PAPANTONIO: What we saw here is a...
SCHULTZ: This is the thing, they always attack where they‘re weak. It‘s almost like this guy is really schooled (ph) up, doing an interview, don‘t show your face because you are a coward. But go ahead and let her have it, and blame it on her and demand an apology.
I asked Alan Grayson, the congressman from Florida, today, who‘s also an attorney, What do you think her options are? What should she do? I asked him on my radio show. Here it is.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
REP. ALAN GRAYSON (D), FLORIDA: I think that she should press charges. I think we—we have not reached the point in this country where that‘s anything other than a felony. It‘s a—to deliberately commit bodily harm, and then afterwards say in this wholly unrepentant manner that she should apologize to him shows that he needs to be taken off the streets and locked up. She should press charges vigorously and make sure that somebody like that is not a danger to anybody else.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Mike, does she have a case, in your opinion?
PAPANTONIO: She has—it‘s—it‘s a locked (ph) case. Absolutely, so has a locked case. But what we need to be concerned about here is that this isn‘t just about that incident. Last week, you understand a leader in the Republican Party—I mean, in the tea bag Republican Party—came out and said that they have not ruled out armed violence—an armed violent overthrow of the government if they don‘t get their way in November.
SCHULTZ: Yes.
PAPANTONIO: This is—this is a long history—for two years, if you‘ve watched this party, you weren‘t surprised by that because it‘s what we‘ve learned to expect. Remember, this is the crowd that had one of their people fly his airplane into an IRS building and kill innocent people to make his statement that he didn‘t like government and didn‘t want to pay taxes.
SCHULTZ: Yes.
PAPANTONIO: It‘s the same crowd that threw racial insults at a black congressman who was trying to make his way through a crowd where he had a bunch of geriatric misfit nuts...
SCHULTZ: No doubt.
PAPANTONIO: ... misfit nuts holding up signs of “Obamaism,” like you saw. This is a pathology that goes well beyond this one incident, I can tell you that.
SCHULTZ: Let‘s go back to September 15th, when Glenn Beck predicted that violence was going to be coming from the left. Here it is.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GLENN BECK, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Violence is coming, and it is coming from the left. And so America must have a clear choice. You really are—you really are the people that are peaceful, that believe in the free market system, that believe in small government, that don‘t believe in corruption, that don‘t believe in special interests and earmarks and everything! that‘s who you really are!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Yes, you bet. Let‘s go back to the videotape and see who these people really are, just pounding on this woman. There‘s a five-on-one here. There‘s one guy right on top of her. He, of course, is part of the old 912-er group, or whatever the hell they call themselves in the Beck organization.
PAPANTONIO: Right.
SCHULTZ: There‘s a guy who‘s really concerned about his taxes going up. Then he‘s—he said, Hey, look, what the hell you doing? You‘re protesting. We‘re going to take care of you. This is how we handle this.
This is psycho! And these people have been provoked by all the right-wing hate talk radio that takes place in this country. And they say that they are the party of responsibility and they are the party of freedom. What about her freedom? What about her ability to stand up and say—make a statement in a public gathering?
And the question is—there‘s so many questions here, Mike—where‘s the—where are the cops here? Why didn‘t they arrest her, in your opinion? And where‘s the supervisor for the officers? Now, are there officers there? Yes. Look at the videotape. Bingo! Freeze it! That‘s an officer right there. He‘s in uniform. He‘s got a sidearm. Why didn‘t he erase (SIC) the woman—or should I say, why didn‘t he arrest the woman that was allegedly causing the problem?
What authority do these goons have to do this to this woman? What authority do they have, Mike?
PAPANTONIO: They‘ve become—they‘ve become the darling—they have become the darling of not just the media, but unfortunately, just like this officer had authority to arrest the man on the spot, could have hauled him off in jail and put him in a lockdown with all the other nuts. But the point is this. Right now, we‘ve given the Tea Party, the tea bagger movement a pass of who they really are.
SCHULTZ: Sure.
PAPANTONIO: Look, you have interviewed—you‘ve interviewed people on this show, and I‘ve watched it several times, the Southern Poverty Law Center...
SCHULTZ: Sure.
PAPANTONIO: ... where they‘ve come out and said, with the onset of the tea bag movement in the United States, the violence has rised (SIC) almost geometrically, political hate violence. Miramar Beach, 60-year-old man tries to kill 20 Chilean students in this country, says he‘s anti-government, says he‘s basically a—believe everything the tea baggers believe, and tries to kill 20 students. Ft. Walton Beach, a man kills two deputies because he says he‘s anti-government, anti-tax, he‘s tired of government, and the same things that we hear from the tea bag movement.
I could go through 20 stories. They‘re always centered around delusional, psychopathic, anti-government fanatics...
SCHULTZ: And they‘re being...
PAPANTONIO: ... who are driven by people like Glenn Beck.
SCHULTZ: And they‘re being whipped up...
PAPANTONIO: And the truth...
SCHULTZ: They‘re being whipped up by the hard right-wing talkers of America, who are only trying to draw attention to themselves, that have absolutely no responsibility whatsoever. Mike, great to have you with us tonight. Or should I say they have no credibility whatsoever with good-thinking people. Mike, good to have you with us tonight.
PAPANTONIO: Thank you, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Coming up, Tea Partier Joe Miller—well, this guy‘s nothing but a flat-out fraud. New documents reveal a very shady past full of lies. Scott McAdams, a Democrat running against Miller, sounds off coming up.
Juan Williams just will not stop blaming NPR for canning him. Well, he‘s already drinking the Kool-Aid over at Fox. Buddy, let it go. Let it go! You got fired! They didn‘t want you around anymore. It‘s the free market at work! We‘ll get rapid-fire response.
Plus, Christine O‘Donnell‘s team threatens to crush a local radio station? Sharron Angle is, I think, losing her mind. And the Beckster—well, he‘s got a psycho man crush on Colorado.
You‘re watching THE ED SHOW on MSNBC. Stay with us. We‘re right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Coming up, the Beckster‘s claim that violence is coming from the left is all garbage. We‘ve seen head stomping, handcuffing and haymakers coming from the Tea Party. This Democratic leader just got ambushed by Fox News‘s crew, the network crew. He pulled no punches, kept it civil, and showed some class. And because of that, now he, of course, is the right-wing‘s new big target. We got the story coming up, and he‘ll join us. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW, and thanks for watching tonight. It pains me to tell you this, that this guy is a West point graduate. You‘d think he‘d know right from wrong. Senate wannabe Joe Miller has been caught red-handed. He violated ethics as a government employee and lied multiple times to cover it up. He admitted using government computers to sabotage the state GOP chairman while employed as a government attorney. But newly released documents prove Miller was acting shady. He used other employees‘ computers to do his dirty work, putting their integrity and reputations on the line and at risk. Then he tried to cover it up by erasing the Web histories.
I mean, this guy is a dandy. He lied about using the computers, lied about what he used them for, and at the debate earlier this week, Miller tried to sound like, oh, he‘s the bigger dude now, coming clean about everything in his past. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE MILLER (R-AK), SENATE CANDIDATE: It is true. During lunch hour, I did get on borough computers and I participated in a private poll for about five minutes. It was a mistake I made. I was suspended for three days or received a dock of three days‘ pay. And I‘ve learned from that. I‘m not a perfect person, and in fact, I think Alaskans know more about me now today than probably any other candidate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Phony baloney! He made it seem like he just made a little mistake. This guy‘s a schemer. He‘s a cheater and an admitted liar.
Joining me now is Scott McAdams, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Alaska. Scott, good to have you with us tonight. Describe...
SCOTT MCADAMS (D-AK), SENATE CANDIDATE: Thanks, Ed. Thanks for having me.
SCHULTZ: You bet. Describe Mr. Miller. I mean, would you go so far as to give him a description of a cheater and a liar? I mean, we‘ve got to get down to the brass tacks in this. Is this guy qualified to represent Alaskans in the United States Senate?
MCADAMS: You know, I don‘t think that he is. And I think the reason why he‘s not is because he has no service record of standing before his community, having to account for his behavior. You know, Joe Miller early on in this campaign talked about how Social Security was unconstitutional, Medicare was unconstitutional. Even unemployment benefits were unconstitutional.
And then it turns out that he received unemployment benefits. He used a state program to get a reduced fee, hunting license, when he actually made more money than the income requirements called for. And now this. I mean, it‘s really—this—this campaign, this whole election, Joe Miller‘s inconsistencies and hypocrisies have really come out to light.
SCHULTZ: Well, what do you make of his half-hearted apology? He only went so far. The rest of the story is it was much deeper than what he was talking about.
MCADAMS: Well, you know, I think that folks often apologize after they‘re caught red-handed. I mean, I think that‘s something that all of us recognize and are familiar with. I think that to come out and take the positions that Joe has taken—you know, look, we all make mistakes, Ed. We‘re all imperfect people. But you know, it‘s the folks who espouse a certain standard and don‘t live by it that often frustrate us.
SCHULTZ: OK. Your other competition, Senator Murkowski, said this, “The bottom line is Joe cheated, he lied, tried to cover it up, lied again. Then he finally got caught and had to admit it, just as he lied to Alaskans when he initially denied any problems with his employment at the borough.”
She sounds a lot tougher on him than you do. Is he a cheater and a liar, in your opinion.
MCADAMS: Well, I tell you—well, Ed, I tell you, we‘re caught in a three-way race here. We‘ve got a race between myself, Joe Miller and Lisa Murkowski as a write-in candidate, and we‘re all neck-and-neck.
I tell you what is disingenuous in this race, what‘s completely false is that Lisa Murkowski‘s some sort of a moderate. What‘s completely false is that Lisa Murkowski is any sort of a liberal, progressive or Democrat.
Look, this is a family feud. The Murkowski clan and the Palin family and their surrogate, Joe Palin (SIC), are engaged in a—really, a street fight over the hearts and souls of the Republican side in this race. But I‘ll tell you what. When Lisa Murkowski votes no on Alaskan projects, she‘s just like Joe. When Lisa Murkowski stands before a national audience, lifts her hands and says that the oil cap liability on oil polluters should be set at $75 million, when in fact, there‘s a billion-dollar commercial fishery in Louisiana, she‘s just like Joe. You know, it‘s important...
SCHULTZ: Scott.
MCADAMS: ... that folks recognize.
SCHULTZ: OK. I—but I...
MCADAMS: Yes?
SCHULTZ: ... got to ask you now. Let‘s talk about winning this thing. Is there a chance...
MCADAMS: Yes.
SCHULTZ: ... that the vote will be split? Is there a chance the vote will be split enough where you can get in there and win? You‘re a little bit behind in the polls, but you‘re within striking distance. How‘s this going to work out?
MCADAMS: The most recent poll has this thing at 30-28-26, in a three-way race. But the thing is, is that our campaign is the one that‘s growing. You know, this is a big state. It‘s tough to poll. But what we do know is that folks in rural Alaska are coming on board every day. You know, if we do as well, Ed, as the average losing Democrat in a statewide race, we win by a landslide.
What‘s disingenuous is Lisa Murkowski standing before the Alaskan people...
SCHULTZ: Yes.
MCADAMS: ... trying to position herself as a quasi-Democrat, when, in fact, she has voted against—you know, Joe Miller and the Tea Party Express stand ready to repeal the progress of the 20th century. Lisa Murkowski has voted against...
SCHULTZ: Yes.
MCADAMS: ... every single progressive measure aimed forward to the 21st century...
SCHULTZ: Is—I...
MCADAMS: ... including big banking reform.
SCHULTZ: I need to hear you characterize Joe Miller. Is he a liar?
MCADAMS: You know, Joe Miller‘s a confused guy who‘s trying to find a political identity. I don‘t know Joe Miller. It‘s hard to figure him out.
SCHULTZ: OK.
MCADAMS: Obviously, in this case, he did lie to his employer. I think that‘s highly problematic, but I tell you what. When you...
SCHULTZ: I gave you the chance, Scott...
(CROSSTALK)
MCADAMS: ... yellow ribbon, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Yes. Scott, I got...
(CROSSTALK)
MCADAMS: ... yellow ribbon at a hospital that you voted no on.
SCHULTZ: I gave you the chance to take a shot at him, and I think it‘s very clear that you took the high road. And I think that speaks volume of your character. You‘re in this for the people. Good to have you with us tonight, Scott McAdams.
Coming up: Glenn Beck‘s got a mile-high man crush on crazy Tom Tancredo. I‘m roasting both of these dudes! Halloweenies next in “The Zone.” Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And in “Psycho Talk” tonight, well, we‘re having a Halloweenie roast here on THE ED SHOW. On his radio show today, the Beckster got all excited about the possibility of Tom Tancredo becoming the next governor of Colorado.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
BECK: I think there‘s a chance that Tom Tancredo wins in Colorado.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh! I just—I just...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That‘d be great!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He‘s only, what, 5 points behind in the polls?
BECK: I may move to Colorado if that happens.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Oh! Watch out, Colorado! If you elect Tom Tancredo, not only we have a governor who once said that President Obama should be sent back to Kenya, but you could get the Beckster as a neighbor. What do you think of that? And the Beckster didn‘t stop there with his excitement over a potential Tancredo victory.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
BECK: Colorado is the state that changed the dynamics. That was a red state, became a blue state. And the Democrats totally changed in the last 10 years. They totally changed that state. And for Tom Tancredo, you don‘t—it‘s like me becoming governor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Help all of us! Glenn Beck may be nuts, but he‘s right to draw a comparison between himself and Tom Tancredo.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
BECK: Hey, has anybody noticed this crazy thing that we‘re on the road to socialism?
TOM TANCREDO (R-CO), CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR: A committed socialist ideologue in the White House.
BECK: Deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Judge Sotomayor is a racist?
TANCREDO: Her words would indicate that that is the truth.
BECK: I read an article on Bloomberg last night that said the Manchurian candidate couldn‘t destroy us faster than Barack Obama.
TANCREDO: The greatest threat to the country that was put together by the Founding Fathers is the guy that is in the White House today!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: You never know, folks, that might be the Republican 2012 ticket. The idea of either of these guys becoming a governor is seriously scary “Psycho Talk.”
Coming up, this is how the Tea Party deals with political opposition. They stomp on heads. They use violence. This Democratic leader just got ambushed by the FOX Network News crew out of Chicago. He didn‘t kick, punch or threaten anybody, he‘ll tell you how it all went down in the “Battleground” story.
Christine O‘Donnell just made a mess out of herself in a radio interview so she threatened to crush the station. This is out of control. Rapid-fire response coming up on that.
And Juan Williams is praising FOX News for its diversity? And Sharron Angle is flat out delusional. It‘s all coming up in the next half hour of THE ED SHOW. Stay right here on MSNBC. We‘ll right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW. Our “Battleground” story tonight, Glenn Beck‘s racist followers are targeting the chairman of the Milwaukee Democratic Party because he had the guts to stand up to FOX News. A FOX News crew, network crew, out of Chicago ambushed a local Milwaukee democratic meeting on Monday night. Chairman Sachin Chheda recognized FOX News Reporter Steve Brown in the back of the room shortly after the meeting started. Here‘s what happened next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SACHIN CHHEDA, CHAIRMAN, MILWAUKEE DEMOCRATIC PARTY: We have a couple of questions for the gentleman who just joined us in the back, the people who are here. Where are you from, guys?
RUTH ROBBY (ph), FOX NEWS REPORTER: FOX News Channel.
CHHEDA: FOX News Channel. What‘s your name?
ROBBY: My name?
CHHEDA: Yes. Ruth, are you a producer, are you reporting us, a producer. What‘s your last name, Ruth?
ROBBY: Robby.
CHHEDA: Ruth Robby from FOX News Channel. Yours sir?
STEVE BROWN, FOX NEWS REPORTER: Steve Brown.
CHHEDA: Steve Brown. The FOX News Corporation has joined in a million dollars into the parent company and thrown one million at the Republican Governor‘s Association to help defeat Tom Barrett. And why do you deny to get out the vote for Democrats, how on earth could we suppose to trust you for FOX News Channel report fairly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Well, folks let‘s be very clear here, the FOX News crew was not there to cover a news story. They were there for an ambush. They showed up uninvited and Mr. Chheda didn‘t let the national cameras intimidate him. If this was I think an MSNBC crew, maybe if Ed showed up at a republican event, I‘m sure they would had been just licked to death, huh? No, I would have been kicked out. Watch how a democrat treated FOX News. Check it out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHHEDA: I‘m not going to kick him out. If they want to stay here and watch us talk about democratic values and democratic values and democratic issues, I think that the FOX News Channel should be welcome to do that. We‘ll going to have an open meeting. Everyone is welcome to come here. If they want to report on what‘s going to, what‘s happening in this election, I think that what they‘ll see is that we‘re fired up, we‘re ready to go.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Is that harmless? They‘re fired up. They‘re ready to go. Now, did you see that? No reporter got handcuffed. Nobody got their hand bashed in. Glenn Beck‘s want you to, you know, think that liberals are just all thugs, but his followers are the ones going after Mr. Chheda. Take a look at the racist remark bloggers are making about Mr. Chheda on Beck‘s new website, The Blaze. One of them wrote, “wasn‘t the one of the 9-11 terrorists? He sure looks like one of them.” Another blogger wrote, well, the guy looks like an Al Qaeda member. And finally, Sachin Chheda must be one of Obama‘s Muslim implants to try to take over our great nation.” Are you kidding me? Why did Beck even put this on his website? Is it a huge story? Chheda has also received multiple threatening phone calls.
Now, where did they ever get that idea to this exposure? Harmless meeting that FOX News shows up at. They get call in the carpet a little bit but over the last 48 hours because of all of that, this has gone psycho. Chheda, he had the character to let FOX News cover the meeting, didn‘t kick him out but Glenn Beck doesn‘t have the character to call off his racist goons. Now, he wants all of the intention—all of the attention in the world put on Mr. Chheda, a leader in the democratic community in Milwaukee.
Joining me now is Sachin Chheda, the chairman of the Milwaukee Democratic Party. Sachin, great to have you with us tonight. How do you feel about now being targeted with some of the nasty phone calls, emails, voicemails, all of this that you‘re receiving because you‘ve gotten some exposure to standing up to a FOX News crew? What it‘s been like?
CHHEDA: Well, thanks for having me, Ed. I appreciate you having me on the program. You know it‘s been tough. We‘ve been trying to keep our attention on getting the vote out over this last week. I‘m a volunteer, like so many others are dozens, hundreds of people in Milwaukee County trying to get the vote out to re-elect Senator Feingold and elect Tom Berg (ph) as the next governor of Wisconsin. And it‘s a little bit of a distraction, you know, that I‘ve got to make sure that every time they pick up the phone, it‘s not somebody who is going to berate me. And every time I get an e-mail, it‘s not going to be someone using language that I definitely don‘t want my mother to see.
SCHULTZ: Is it because of the color of your skin? Are you getting those kinds of phone calls and e-mails as well?
CHHEDA: That is definitely happening on the blogs. I‘ve had a couple of e-mails that way. You know, I was born in Missouri. I live in Wisconsin. I go to Plymouth‘s Church on Milwaukee‘s East Side but I must be a Muslim, I must be a terrorist. I‘ve heard it on and off, more jokingly, kind of over the years but never this kind of vitriol. And frankly to have strangers calling me on the phone. And I pick it up the phone and I answer it, it‘s just a random person from New Jersey or Colorado, you know, basically yelling, berating. Often using words that I try not to use as much as I can.
SCHULTZ: Well this is the treatment that you get when you stand up to FOX. Now Sachin Chheda, I have to ask you, why didn‘t you just throw the FOX crew out? I think it was an organizing meeting, you‘re going through the minutes, you‘re doing the treasury‘s report, all those stuff. Why didn‘t you just get rid of them?
CHHEDA: Well, you know, honestly, I thought about what that looked like and I thought about what our values were and I thought about whether or not we had anything to hide and you know it was pretty instantly clear that we didn‘t. You know, we were going to make phone calls to other volunteers. We had dozens of cellphones and packets for people to call through and say, hey, will you come volunteer for a shift for get out the vote? We were going to be hearing some speeches, from the common...
SCHULTZ: OK. So pretty standard stuff. So some pretty standard stuff, right?
CHHEDA: Yes, some pretty standard stuff.
SCHULTZ: OK. So, what was the story? What were they there for? Did they tell you?
CHHEDA: You know, I wish I knew this. The story would run today, I haven‘t seen it. I went and tried to look on the FOX News Channel website to see what the story was going to be. Obviously they were, I guess covering the election in Wisconsin, but I don‘t know what the story was. They never really said and they didn‘t talk to me after on camera. They just said the story would run on Wednesday.
SCHULTZ: Yes, well, mission not accomplished, ambush thwarted. Good job speaking up. You‘re a class-act. You allowed them to stay in the room. You wanted them to be part of the discussion. Nobody handcuffed them. Nobody beat their head in. You are a class-act. Sachin Chheda, you‘re a real credit to the democratic progressive movement in this country and a real example. I appreciate your time tonight on the program. Thanks for joining us.
CHHEDA: I appreciate you having me, thank you.
SCHULTZ: You bet.
Now let‘s get some rapid fire response from our panel on these stories. Juan Williams, well, he still doesn‘t get it. He says, he‘s not even sure what he did wrong that led him to get fired. Really? And he praised FOX News for its diversity. OK, we can all throw up now.
And Christine O‘Donnell threatens to sue a local radio station after she lost it in an interview?
With us tonight Joe Madison, XM Satellite radio talk show host. And Ron Christie, republican strategist. And author of the new book, “Acting White: The Curious History of a Racial Slur.” Gentlemen, good to have you with us tonight.
All right. First of all, this Juan Williams‘ story, it won‘t go away. Please go away. People get fired all of the time. Ron Christie, you never handle it right when you fire somebody. The management, ownership is always going to leave itself wide open to criticism when stuff like this comes down in personnel matters. But why do you think Juan Williams continues to chip away at NPR, and says now that they should be held accountable. What do you think?
RON CHRISTIE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, I don‘t think it‘s so much that Juan Williams is saying that NPR should be held accountable. I think that you‘ve seen thousand of Americans.
SCHULTZ: Well he did say that. That‘s a direct quote.
CHRISTIE: I‘m aware of that. I think it‘s the fact that there are thousands of Americans around the country who watched the interview with Bill O‘Reilly in its entirety and they said, what did he say that was so wrong? If you take that one snippet out of context, you could say, oh he‘s fearful when he sees Muslims on airplanes, but then he goes to specific pains and lengths to say, however, just the same way that you cannot paint Timothy McVeigh to represent all Christians. You cannot say that all Muslims are those who are radical Islam. I don‘t think there is anything wrong with that. I was in a cab today with a fellow who was Muslim and I said, I don‘t understand it, there are some people who are trying to hijack our religion. I am fearful at times when I see people, we need to get over this. And I think as a story, Ed, we need to get over this and move on.
SCHULTZ: Well, I‘d like to but Juan Williams won‘t give it up. Here he is. He says, “there‘s an emotional disconnect because the way it feels to me is like I just got fired and I‘m not even sure what I did wrong. Ultimately, I genuinely don‘t believe what I said violated any journalistic ethics. Well, in the original statement, the president of NPR, the CEO, said that there were previous incidents that he was called on the carpet about. Joe, what about that?
JOE MADISON, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Well, and we assume that‘s correct and it‘s in his personnel file. And, look, Ed, I bet you‘ve been fired, particularly in this business of talk radio and radio and media. Here‘s the bottom line, I guarantee you, 30 days from now, six months from now, people won‘t even remember that Juan Williams was at NPR. That‘s the nature of this business.
SCHULTZ: But he‘s trying to keep the story alive because you‘ve got righties over there who are talking about defunding NPR.
MADISON: And that‘s exactly what they‘re doing. I really feel sorry to a degree for Juan, because he‘s being used by them. I don‘t think they care one bit about Juan Williams and you‘ve said that and I agree with that. And as far as Juan Williams taking on NPR and praising FOX, he‘s the new $2 million know...
SCHULTZ: Yes. OK, Christine O‘Donnell on a radio station, more comedy. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE O‘DONNELL ®, DELAWARE SENATE CANDIDATE: I‘m running now for U.S. Senate.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: But what would you cut?
O‘DONNELL: I don‘t have the budget in front of me.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: OK. Well that‘s the question.
O‘DONNELL: And nor should I because I‘m not running for County executive. I‘m running for U.S. Senate.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: But you‘re criticizing him on running for County executive.
O‘DONNELL: I want to talk about what matters to the Delaware voters.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Yes.
O‘DONNELL: I want to talk about how we‘re going to get jobs. I‘m not going to debate you, Rick, on whether or not I‘m running for County council. I‘m running for U.S. Senate because Delawareans face the largest tax increase in U.S. history.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: What I‘m doing is I‘m challenging you on your criticism of Chris Coons and it‘s an honest telling.
O‘DONNELL: And I just said to you. I just said to you.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: OK. So you don‘t really have the answer of what you would do differently.
O‘DONNELL: No, I just gave you my answer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Well, after that interview, Ron Christie, you‘re an attorney, she said that she threatened to sue the local radio station. Does she have a case, Ron?
(LAUGHTER)
CHRISTIE: No. I mean, you know, Joe and I were talking about this offline. The only way she would have had a case is if she filed a nondisclosure agreement before going in and then, of course hearing that they wanted to file the story but look, if you go on the airwaves, if you come on THE ED SHOW, if you come on the air, you have to expect that people are going to replay your words, they‘re going to replay the broadcast. You have to deal with that if you‘re running for elective office and this is one that I‘m not going to support her on. I don‘t think that you should be threatening to sue a radio station if you decide your own free will to go on the air.
MADISON: Let me tell you, Ed, I had almost a similar thing happen to me when Glenn Beck showed up on—on my radio studio the day before his rally. And he actually called our Sirius XM people and said, do not release that interview that he did where he practically apologized for calling President Obama racist, because I took him up on it, and by the way, he also tried to say he never said that he started the civil rights movement. And we played the tape. And let me tell you.
SCHULTZ: So he tried to sue you that one?
MADISON: He didn‘t threaten—well, it was implied.
SCHULTZ: OK.
MADISON: And wait a minute, he said, don‘t release it because—don‘t send—don‘t put it on YouTube, don‘t put out a news release. Now you can go on YouTube and see the interview, but he basically did the same thing and it was the same kind of interview you just heard where they wouldn‘t answer questions.
SCHULTZ: There you go.
MADISON: It‘s their m.o.
SCHULTZ: There you go. Joe Madison, Ron Christie, great to have you with us tonight. Thanks so much, fellows.
CHRISTIE: Thank you, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Coming up, the tan man has proven that he‘ll do whatever it takes to get a hold of Nancy Pelosi‘s gavel. Even if it means hurting the country. Justin Coussoule, the democrat trying to unseat the tan man joins me next on THE ED SHOW. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And it‘s not too late to let us know what you think. Tonight‘s text survey question is, do you think the man who stomped on a woman‘s head deserves an apology? Text A for yes, text B for no to 622-639. We‘ve got the results coming up. Stay with us. “
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And in my “Playbook” tonight, the tan man, well, he wants to be Speaker of the House so badly. That he has sold up a Tea Party and Young Guns in his party. In a new “Vanity Fair” article, well they break it down, the code here is, “the reality of the modern Republican Party is that Boehner has to prove himself every day to his truculent colleagues which is part of the reason he has offered such consistently unyielding position to Obama, were he to be left to his own devices, it would be easy enough to imagine that Boehner might like to close the sale for a change. Instead or just closing the door. But he can‘t. It would cost him his job.” I mean, this guy has absolutely no backbone. The tan man would rather keep his job than stand up for his convictions.
Joining me now is Justin Coussoule. Boehner‘s democratic challenger in Ohio‘s eighth district. Justin, good to have you with us tonight. Let‘s see, your competition‘s been on the front cover of “Newsweek,” and now a big article in “Vanity Fair.” How do you feel about your campaign the way it‘s going right now? Is that free media or what?
JUSTIN COUSSOULE (D), OHIO HOUSE NOMINEE: That‘s right. It‘s going to be the upset of the year, Ed, I‘m telling you that right now.
SCHULTZ: You‘ve gate chance of winning this?
COUSSOULE: Oh, yes, absolutely, Ed. You know, what they‘re not talking about in the national media is all of the things that Boehner is doing for the first time in 20 years. He‘s spent in about $500,000 on radio and TV. They‘re paying people to deliver literature. They are working on a get out of the vote campaign for next week. We are around here, we‘ve seen that in its entire 10 years. So, we know we‘re giving them a fight. They‘re doing internal polling and then we know they‘re running scared.
SCHULTZ: OK, your internal polling shows that you have a shot at beating the man who‘s running around the country claiming that he‘s going to be the next Speaker of the House. And I‘m going to ask you this again tonight as I did in a previous interview. Have you gotten any help from national Democrats or you are doing your own fund-raising? I‘m just asking.
COUSSOULE: Sure, Ed. Now we‘re a truly grassroots organization. All of our fund-raising has been through our campaign. We don‘t get any help from the national party. But, you know, for example, your listeners and your viewers are an excellent example, people who‘ve been tremendous across the country, in word, in deed, and in supporting this campaign. So if you‘re looking for a marquee grassroots campaign, this is it.
SCHULTZ: OK. So, you don‘t have the corporate money flowing in the way your competition does. How do you feel about him taking a victory lap and also the fact that he‘s going to be watching election coverage not back home in his district but in Washington, D.C.
COUSSOULE: Yes. Is that outrageous or what? You know, it‘s the icing on the cake in this race. This guy is so out of touch in the district and such an absentee congressman, looks right past us takes us all for granted that even in election night, he‘s chosen to be in Washington, D.C. You know the voters.
SCHULTZ: And has he debated you yet?
COUSSOULE: No, no. And after this program, I‘m on my way to the seventh and final candidate‘s forum in our district. He hasn‘t even showed up at one of them. Hasn‘t even sent any one of them to read a statement, totally ignores us.
SCHULTZ: What are you hearing on the ground? You know you go door-to-door, you make phone calls, what are you hearing?
COUSSOULE: Every day, Ed, not a day goes by, 10 months campaigning, Democrats, independents, and Republicans come up to me every day and say, you‘ve got our support. You know, Boehner lost us long ago if he ever had us.
SCHULTZ: Justin Coussoule.
COUSSOULE: All politics are local.
SCHULTZ: It is.
COUSSOULE: Thanks so much, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Justin Coussoule with us tonight here on THE ED SHOW. And I find it just absolutely appalling that Boehner has not and will not debate this man. One final page, Think Progress is reporting, Rand Paul is refusing to return a $2,000 donation from the head stomper himself Tim Profitt.
Democratic nominee Jack Conway has called on Paul to return the money along with another $600 Profitt‘s wife‘s contributed. But a Paul campaign spokesman told the “Lexington Courier Journal,” that that would not be happening and I do believe it, I have the story from yesterday that Rand Paul said that they were severing all ties, with the head stomper, Tim Profitt. No, no, no, they love the money.
Coming up, Sharron Angle is so desperate she‘s blaming Harry Reid for stealing the election? With cookies? You‘ve got to be kidding me. Well, not really because it‘s, you know, it‘s Sharron Angle. Jon Ralston, the top political columnist in Las Vegas tells us what the heck is going on, next on THE ED SHOW. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And finally tonight, Sharron Angle‘s trying to raise some extra campaign cash by accusing Harry Reid of trying to steal the elections.
Joining me now is Jon Ralston, columnist for the “Las Vegas Sun” who‘s been followings story. Jon, what are the accusations here from the Angle camp of what Reid‘s doing?
JON RALSTON, COLUMNIST, “LAS VEGAS SUN”: Well, they‘re accusing him of all kinds of stuff, Ed. And nothing that they can prove just from wisps of information. You go into—try to vote early and guess what, you try to vote for Sharron Angle and Harry Reid‘s name pops up. The Clark County registrar of voters already debunked that, written an extensive report for the secretary of state. They‘re trying to buy votes with cookies and Starbucks‘ gift cards. It‘s an outrage. And so Cleta Mitchell who is a lawyer for the Angle campaign has written this letter saying, Harry Reid is trying to steal the election. It‘s obvious what‘s going on here, Ed. They‘re trying to lay the groundwork in case Sharron Angle loses to say, Harry Reid stole the election but they have absolutely no evidence. They‘re just trying to create this cloud of suspicion.
SCHULTZ: And the secretary of state has dismissed the accusations and Nevada law says that candidates can serve food at voter events as long as it‘s not buying votes. Apparently, that‘s what Harry did. He served some food up.
All right, how tight is it? I understand that there‘s a new poll out there today Time/CNN. Angle 49, Reid 45. What do you think?
RALSTON: Well, that poll all screwed up, Ed. I have taken an extensive look at it, and actually by the demographics they use in that poll, they say, Harry Reid is holding 96 percent of his base and Sharron Angle is holding 82 percent. They oversampled independents. If you apply those demographics that they use to the turnout so far in the Nevada, Harry Reid is up by eight points, not down by four, so that poll was all screwed up.
SCHULTZ: Why would she accuse him of trying to steal the election? She‘s raised $3.5 million in the first two weeks of October. He did $600,000. I mean she‘s got cash-on-hand galore. It‘s just setting the table for the loss, is that what you think it is?
RALSTON: Ed, there‘s some theories that they‘re trying to scare people, that the election‘s not going to be honest. Maybe you shouldn‘t vote. That it‘s a voter suppression intimidation tactic but I really think, there are so many lawyers on the ground already. You had another lawyer write a letter to the secretary of state of secretary about some irregularities in some voting. They‘re just trying to make it seem as if the big Harry Reid machine is trying to steal the election without any evidence whatsoever.
SCHULTZ: Yes, Jon, we‘ll see you out there next week. Thanks for joining us tonight. I appreciate your time.
Tonight‘s text survey question I asked, do you think that Rand Paul supporter, who stomped on a woman‘s head deserves an apology. Twenty two percent of you said yes, 78 percent of you said no.
That‘s THE ED SHOW. I‘m Ed Schultz. We‘re back tomorrow night. “HARDBALL” with Chris Matthews starts right now on the place for politics, MSNBC. Lean forward.
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