The Ed Show for Monday, August 15th, 2011

Guests: Michael Eric Dyson, Jim Moore, Harold Cook, Joan Walsh, Joe Madison, Robert Greenwald


ED SCHULTZ, HOST: Good evening, Americans. And welcome to THE ED
SHOW tonight live from Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Michele Bachmann may have won this weekend`s Iowa straw poll, but Rick
Perry has stolen her thunder. He`s already come out swinging at other GOP
hopefuls and implied that President Obama doesn`t love this country? Can
America afford to have a radical version of George W. Bush in the White
House?

And today on his bus tour here in Minnesota, the president said one of
the most trouble things I`ve ever heard him say about organized labor in
this country. We`ll play the clip, and I`ll have commentary.

This is THE ED SHOW -- let`s get to work.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

GOV. RICK PERRY (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think you want a
president that is passionate about America. That`s in love with America.

SCHULTZ (voice-over): Two days into the race, and Rick Perry is
already blowing that Tea Party dog whistle. Once again, a governor from
Texas is shaking up the Republican field.

Tonight, Texas political strategist Harold Cook, Professor Michael
Eric Dyson and Bush`s brain, co-author Jim Moore on the Rick Perry
candidacy.

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: We can`t get fooled again.

SCHULTZ: The Obama jobs tour is tearing through the Midwest. I`ll
ask my fellow Minnesotans what they want to hear from the president.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you going to do to create the jobs?
There`s no money.

SCHULTZ: And the billionaire Koch brothers have a new project.
Robert Greenwald of the Brave New Foundation is here with the latest on the
Koch brothers` role in re-segregating public schools in North Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCHULTZ: Let`s go on tonight, folks. Glad to have you with us.

The Republican Party I guess has found a candidate to lead them to the
promise land. Texas Governor Rick Perry wasted no time jumping out in
front of the pack of Republicans trying to make Barack Obama a one-term
president. Perry showed America exactly what he`s made of on the stump in
Iowa today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PERRY: I get a little bit passionate about that. That`s OK. I think
you want a president that is passionate about America. That`s in love with
America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Perry just inferred President Obama is not in love with the
United States of America?

You know, folks, this is the same garbage with heard from Sarah Palin
and all these Tea Party attack artists in this country. I think there`s an
element of racism every time people claim the first black president doesn`t
love this country.

Perry comes from the radical country club that loves to remind white
America President Obama is other, not like you.

Perry also wants you to know that he`s pro-business.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PERRY: I`m a pro-business governor. I don`t make any apologies about
it, and I will be a pro-business president. Getting America back to work
is the most important issue that faces this country, being able to pay off
$14.5 trillion or $16 trillion worth of debt. That big black cloud that
hangs over America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: That black cloud Perry is talking about is President Barack
Obama.

Perry makes Bush look like a moderate. You see? He thinks that
Social Security and Medicare are unconstitutional. He doesn`t like the
16th or the 17th Amendment, and he suggested Texas might want to secede
from the Union.

Radical rock star Ted Nugent wore a Confederate flag t-shirt at his
inauguration. The list goes on and on. I mean, what does that tell you?

Perry wants you to bury those stories and he wants to bury the stories
by pushing just how great Texas is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PERRY: I`m really proud what we`ve done in the state of Texas over
the last decade. Over half of the jobs created in America during periods
of time in that decade were in the state of Texas. 40 percent of all of
the jobs created in America from June of 2009 until the present were
created in Texas.

I know how to create jobs. You let the private sector -- free them up
from over-taxation, free them overregulation and free them from over
litigation. Then, government, get out of the pay and let the private
sector do what the private sector know how to do. That`s what we need to
be all about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Perry`s right. He knows how to create jobs -- really bad
jobs.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Texas leads the nation in
minimum wage workers. Texas also leads the nation in people without health
care.

Perry wants to spread that failure all across America.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PERRY: One of the first things I`ll do as president of United States
is sign an executive order to wipe out as much of Obamacare as I can. And
then we`ll work -- and then we`ll work with the United States House of
Representatives, we`ll work with the United States Senate to wipe that
piece of legislation completely off the books and talk with the states on
how to use their innovative approaches and we`ll be able to get better
health care and give more health care and we`ll be able to do it cheaper
than Washington ever could.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Yes. We`ll just do it opposite of every other
industrialized country in the world, and we won`t do it as well.

In one weekend, Rick Perry has made Mitt Romney I think irrelevant,
turned the Tea Party against Michele Bachmann, and won the hearts and minds
of every Christian conservative in this country. This man is as radical as
they come and he will turn America back over to those rangers and pioneers
that lined Bush`s pockets.

And speaking of money, Perry has raked in more than $100 million of
donations from big business as governor of Texas. Big oil out more than
$11 million to Perry. ExxonMobil and Valero Energy are his biggest oil
donors.

And we know where the Koch brothers are going. They`re going to in
his back pocket big-time.

Rick Perry`s policies -- they`re just not good for America. If he can
fool enough people, he could be the next president.

America, take some advice from George W. Bush.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: There`s an old saying in Tennessee, and I know it`s in Texas
and probably in Tennessee that says fool me once, shame on -- shame on you.
Fool me -- you can`t get fooled again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Oh, yes, one of the all time greats.

Get your cell phones out, folks, I want to know what you think.
Tonight`s text question: Will America get fooled again? Text A for yes,
text B for no to 622639 and you could always go to our new blog at
Ed.MSNBC.com.

I`ll bring you the results later in the show.

Joining me right are: Jim Moore, communications strategist and co-
author of "Bush`s Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential."
He`s also a contributor to "Huffington Post`; and MSNBC political analyst
Michael Eric Dyson, professor of sociology at Georgetown University and the
author of the book, "Can You Hear Me Now?"

Gentlemen, thanks for joining me tonight. I appreciate it.

Michael, you first.

Rick Perry has inferred that President Obama doesn`t love America. Is
there an element of racism in that comment in your opinion? What do you
think?

MICHAEL ERIC DYSON, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: Absolutely. I think you made
it explicit, Ed. The point is they`re trying to suggest that President
Obama doesn`t love America, is not loyal to America, is not patriotic, does
not see, think, believe and imagine what is best for America.

It`s a deeply and profoundly racist comments because, number one,
President Obama is president of the United States of America, (INAUDIBLE),
out of many one. Number two, he has continued to show his deep and abiding
loyalty to this nation by putting it first and center at his consciousness
and in all of his practices.

So, this notion that Barack Obama doesn`t love America, we need a
president who loves America is to constantly blow the dog whistle of right
wing politics that suggests that this is the other. This person is outside
the parameters of our normal politics. And as a result of that, we must
bring America back to us again. And we know that us is very limited, very
narrow and very parochial.

SCHULTZ: And, Michael, do you think independent voters will buy this
garbage? I guess, I also want to know -- do you think that President Obama
should respond to this? I mean, this is the same garbage that we heard
from the Tea Partiers back in early 2009. Then the Birthers got involved,
and now we`ve got probably at least one of the top three candidates early
on here. Rick Perry throwing this dog whistle as you said.

I mean, do you think independents will buy it, and do you think the
president should respond?

DYSON: Well, I think that it is cause for concern, and the reason for
worry because I think enough people may be snookered and hoodwinked by this
kind of politics of implication, to suggest that he`s less than and not
equal to our dear old America. And so, he`s not American mom, apple pie.
He`s not the center of our hearts. And as a result of that, we have to get
rid of him.

I think that`s a very dangerous message, and enough people might hear
it.

And secondly, yes, I think that strategically President Obama has to
get on that stump, has to really begin to articulate the basis for such
balder dash and then begin to talk about why he`s best for country and what
it means as a person who loves America.

SCHULTZ: And Jim Moore, is this the Rick Perry that you know from
Texas or is this a different twist in the way he plays against his
opponents?

JIM MOORE, "BUSH`S BRAIN": No, this is the same guy. I think the
whole business with the black cloud wasn`t exactly very subtle. It`s
interesting to hear him talk about the states and the way the states deal
with health care. The way he death with it here in Texas was to try to
privatize it and we lost 147,000 people, mostly young people, children, off
of the CHIP health rolls because of the fact he privatized it.

And when we got out and talk about his jobs, a lot of his jobs came
from President Obama. They came from the stimulus program. And they also
came from an accident of geography. We happen to have a state that is
involved in the energy industry, and a lot of jobs came from there.
There`s tech coming to Texas in the Silicon hills here in Austin.

The bottom line is as you suggested, Ed, that many, many, many of
these jobs are low income and they`re minimum wage jobs. They`re at Wal-
Mart and Carl`s Jr. They`re at a big box store selling fishing rods.

If Rick Perry really loves America as he was trying to convince
everybody today, then why was he talking about seceding from it?

SCHULTZ: Well, that`s an interesting question. I don`t think one
that any of us here can answer tonight because it was such a goofy comment
to make.

Perry is not a fan of the 16th or the 17th Amendment. This is what he
said to say today about the 2nd Amendment. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PERRY: There`s my Second Amendment voice (ph), down there in the
front row. You know what? That`s kind of one of my favorite amendments.
You know that.

Second Amendment allows me to go jogging with my daughter`s dog over
here, and if a coyote jumps out I can take care of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Jim, does that play with independent voters, or is that Rick
Perry jargon?

MOORE: Well, it plays well with the hard right. The very
conservative people that are the basic grass root of the primary process.
Those are the people he wants to turn out.

It`s the same thing. Everybody is talking about dog whistle politics,
Ed, and that prayer rally in Houston, that`s exactly what that was. That
was sending a message to everybody in Iowa and every Christian evangelical
within the GOP primary process to say, hey, everybody, I`m just letting you
know I`m not a Mormon.

This is the big, ugly secret that the GOP doesn`t want to talk about -
- that, in fact, they did not see any evangelicals or Christians within
their primary process who will vote in any meaningful way for at Mormon.
And Perry played very succinctly and very carefully to that group of
voters.

So, you know, he`s doing what he does very well. He`s sending out the
subtext and the messages that fires up his base.

SCHULTZ: And we`re going to talk more about that faith element in
this race for the GOP nomination a little later on in the show.

I do want to ask you both quickly.

Jim, you first. Is he more radical than George W. Bush? Invading a
country on false intelligence I think is pretty radical. But is this guy
on all the issues across the board, is he more radical than Bush?

MOORE: I think what everybody needs to understand about Rick Perry,
he has to compromise in him. He is not going to meet anybody in the middle
on any of his principles.

SCHULTZ: Michael, we know what that`s all about. What about that,
Michael?

DYSON: Well, what you -- for a preview of Rick Perry, see for
reference the Tea Party debacle that sunk this country and cost us a rating
of AAA. That`s the kind of non-compromise and non-investment in the
politics of cooperation that we`ll see from a president. It`s very scary.

Yes, to answer your question, I think he`s far more radical and far
more dangerous and far more subversive and far more of a problem than
George W. Bush.

SCHULTZ: He`s had more news in 24 hours on the campaign trail that
Mitt Romney has made in a month. I`ll give him.

Gentlemen, great to have you with us tonight. Jim Moore, thanks for
your time. Michael, you stay with us.

Remember to answer`s tonight`s question at the bottom of the screen.
I want to know what you think.

So, now that Governor Perry has burst onto the presidential scene in a
big way, we`ll see how he stacks up against Mitt Romney and Michele
Bachmann. And later, President Obama hit the road today to talk to voters
about jobs and the economy. But I hit the streets here in Minneapolis to
ask regular folks what they want from President Obama when it comes to job
creation here in Minnesota and around the country.

That`s next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW.

A senior official from S&P has now basically confirmed what Democrats
have been saying about the downgrade of the nation`s credit rating. It
wasn`t caused by both political parties but by one political party, the GOP
in particular, Tea Party Republicans.

The senior director of S&P said the problem was that people in the
political arena were talking about a potential default. That a country
even has such voices, by a minority something not notable. This kind of
rhetoric is not common amongst AAA sovereigns.

The director didn`t mention Republicans by name, and didn`t need to.
It was Tea Party Republican who is openly talked about default. This kind
of rhetoric, the S&P officials found so alarming, the Republicans tried to
blame it on President Obama, of course, but they should look at only
themselves.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW.

The closer you look, the scarier he gets. Governor Rick Perry has
blasted onto the presidential race, and he`s happy to take on the
Republican rivals. Here we go, Perry was asked about former Governor Mitt
Romney today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Romney took a swipe at you today saying he has
private sector experience and that makes him better qualified to create
jobs.

PERRY: Give him my love.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you think about that, sir? That he has
private sector --

PERRY: I think oranges and apples. Running a state is different from
running a business.

What I would say is go take a look at his record when he was governor
and like at my record when I`m governor. Then you have apples to apples.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: And Perry impressed the crowd when he was in Michele
Bachmann`s hometown of Waterloo, Iowa. Perry gave his stump speech,
answered questions, and mixed with the crowd. Then it was Bachmann`s turn.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please welcome to her hometown of Waterloo,
Representative Michele Bachmann.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Where is Michele Bachmann? Well, it took four long minutes
for Bachmann to get to the podium. Her handlers changed the lighting for
the candidate. They introduced her a second time and started the campaign
song a second time.

The crowd stood and waited. People in the crowd complained about her
campaigning like a celebrity. One Tea Party activist said that he had been
a fan until now. The quote is "her coming in not eating dinner with us,
showing up with a grand entrance with a big song playing, it`s not what
it`s about here."

Let`s bring back Georgetown professor Michael Eric Dyson and Texas
Democratic political strategist Harold Cook.

Gentlemen, thanks for being here tonight.

Of course, Mitt Romney has, I think, another problem with Rick Perry.
I want to see Romney go out and tell the Christian conservatives, hey, I`m
your guy.

Michael Eric Dyson, what does it mean now that there`s an evangelical
Christian up against Romney who is a Mormon? I don`t think the
evangelicals, the hard Christian right in this country is going to go with
a Mormon in any way, shape or form if there`s an acceptable candidate from
your faith. Your thoughts.

DYSON: I think you`re absolutely right, Ed. You know, the reality is
the evangelical right is concerned about a narrow conception of religion,
even a more narrow conception of Christianity. And there is no way they
will side with Mitt Romney as a Mormon against the identifiable brand, the
one they know, which is Rick Perry.

This guy preached Jesus to 30,000 people in a stadium. He continues
to I think in a dangerous way fuse church and state. I think this
evangelical politicizing (ph) plays strictly to the conservatives in his
party, and there`s no way they will in contrast to that evangelical ethic
he spouses embrace a man whose religious outside the parameters of what is
acceptable or well known to them.

SCHLTZ: Harold Cook, what do we need to know about Perry that we
might not know. I mean, not everybody in this country pays attention to
Texas politics. But somebody likes the guy down there. He`s been elected
three times governor. What about it?

HAROLD COOK, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I don`t know. I don`t know
if he`s such a hero for being elected a governor for three times. Since
1994 the only thing that you as a Republican have needed to be elected
statewide in the state of Texas is to avoid being the Democrat.

Now, on the question of religion, I think I agree with what`s been
said. Mitt Romney has a huge problem, and that problem is most likely to
be dealt with at Rick Perry`s expense. Rick Perry, he carries his faith on
his sleeve. He went down to Houston a couple Saturdays ago, and he had
this big six flags over Jesus thing and made sure everybody in the country
knew that he was praying to Jesus.

And what that was really about is to make sure that everybody knew
where he was, the 900-pound gorilla in the room as far as evangelical
voters are concerned and everybody knows where Mitt Romney is. And I think
those voters are going to have a lot of trouble with it. For right or
wrong, I think they`ll have trouble with it, and I think that`s to Perry`s
advantage. I`m scared of it.

SCHULTZ: Harold Cook, what do you make of Perry versus Bachmann? I
mean, Bachmann has been that Christian conservative out there and true to
the values, but now here comes Rick Perry and it`s also a problem with
Bachmann, is it not?

COOK: Rick Perry has been faking genuine for so long that he`s better
at it than Bachmann, I`m afraid. Look, Bachmann has been alone in the
field or this front for a long time. Rick Perry will come in and look very
genuine to voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, especially South Carolina. I
think Bachmann has a huge problem on her hands in that Perry may seem to
those voters to be everybody that Bachmann is except for believable.

SCHULTZ: What do you make, Michael Eric Dyson - let`s move ahead of
the aircraft a little bit.

Let`s say that Rick Perry gets the nomination. A radical Republican
isn`t going to pick a moderate for a running mate. A radical Republican
won`t pick somebody who is going to be less conservative.

What does this say about where the party is going? Has the Tea Party
been so influential on the right that they can actually make sure one of
theirs gets the nomination?

DYSON: Sure. I mean, people immediately think what a stroke of
genius it would be for Rick Perry to choose Michele Bachmann should he get
the nomination as his running mate because then you have apples and apples.
You got two deeply conservative figures who have embraced the Tea Party as
the authentic expression of Republican ideology.

But I think you`re right. Regardless of who he chooses, that person
will be calculated to a win a segment he`s not fluent in. As a result of
that, I don`t think that person can stray far from his conservative base.

In speaking to what you said earlier, Mormonism is the problem for
Romney. Gender is the problem for Bachmann. Questions circulating about
whether or not she will be unduly differential to her husband in a kind of
politics of acknowledging the man. Well, now, here comes the man -- Rick
Perry is her substitute husband, and people in the politics of gender
within far right circles will then I think adhere to Perry`s line of
reasoning. I think that`s a huge problem.

So, Yes, the Democratic -- the vice presidential candidate he chooses
will be deeply conservative and I think he spells poison for Bachmann and
Romney.

SCHULTZ: Harold Cook, is Rick Perry as radical as it gets for the
Republicans and is this like a throw-back to Barry Goldwater? How far back
does this take the Republican Party?

COOK: Well, a lot of people, I think, in the early states of
Republican primary voters are making a mistake right now in that they`re
comparing Rick Perry to George W. Bush. It`s kind of a natural comparison.
They were both Texas governors. They sound a lot alike like me.

But, you know, we`ve been joking in Texas that George W. Bush is kind
of a thinky one next to that. But it`s really easy to underestimate Rick
Perry. He`s very cagey. He`s a very, very good campaigner and hasn`t put
much thought for effort into governing as far as I can tell.

But it`s equally easy to overestimate Rick Perry. I don`t think any
of his competition needs to decide, OK, we lost this for sure because Perry
is in the race. He has never, in my view, been in a solid race that is a
fair fight against some Republicans who are funded and effective and have a
compelling message. I think that`s an untested deal for Perry.

SCHULTZ: Well, speaking of money, he can sure rake it in. Its` going
to be interesting to find.

Michael Eric Dyson, Harold Cook, great to have you guys with us
tonight. Thanks so much, gentlemen.

Coming up, President Obama stopped in Iowa on his jobs tour and made
what I think is one of the most shocking statements of his presidency so
far. We`ll play it. I`ll have commentary.

Later after a disappointing finish in the Iowa straw poll, Herman Cain
moves the goalposts. That puts him in psycho talk. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW. You know, we`ve had this big
discussion in this country about workers` rights, collective bargaining.
And sure enough, President Obama goes out on the campaign trail, holds this
event in Iowa today. And the president was asked a very interesting
question about the rights of public employees across America.

But it was his answer that really caught my attention. Listen
closely.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What can you do to help support collective
bargaining in the states? And most of all, support the public -- the
public sector unions, the middle class, many of whom are union members?

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There are a whole range
of things that people take for granted, even if they`re not in a union,
that they wouldn`t have had if it had not been collective bargaining. I do
say, though, to my friends in the public sector unions that it is important
that you are on the side of reform where reform is need.

Remember we talked about shared sacrifice and burden sharing. Well,
this is an area where there has to be burden sharing as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: What? Did I hear that? That is the most troubling thing
that I have ever heard President Obama say. These workers have already
made a lot of sacrifices, Mr. President. You know that. I can tell you
one thing, folks. There`s not one union leader in America who would back
the president on that statement.

This is the candidate in 2008 who said that he would be proud to walk
the picket lines with union workers. And I think the president is probably
still there. But if you want to dissect what he just said, you could make
the case that he sides with Governor Walker in Wisconsin. It`s like the
president is giving up on the middle class.

When we come back, we`ll hear from regular working Minnesotans who
told me today what they would say to the president if they had a chance to
sit down and talk with him about jobs and the economy.

Later, 21st century segregation, it`s happening in North Carolina.
It`s made possible by the Koch Brothers. The latest efforts to turn back
the clock coming up. Robert Greenwald is here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What can you do to help support collective
bargaining in the states? And most of all, support the public sector
unions, the middle class, many of whom are union members?

OBAMA: There are a whole range of things that people take for
granted, even if they`re not in a union, that they wouldn`t have had if it
weren`t for collective bargaining. I do say though to my friends in the
approximate public sector unions that it is important that you are on the
side of reform where reform is needed.

Remember we talked about shared sacrifice and burden sharing. Well,
this is an area where there`s got to be burden sharing as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Wow, that was President Obama speaking to a former public
educator, a teacher. Former teacher at a town hall event in Iowa earlier
today. His answer has got me worked up, folks. This has nothing to do
with whether I like or support President Obama. I`m just not on that page.

I mean, the president is saying to teachers, if you`re in a union, you
need a lecture and you need to understand what shared sacrifice is? I
don`t think teachers in this country need any kind of song and dance or
lecture from the president of the United States when it comes to shared
sacrifice.

So I need a second and third opinion on this one tonight. Let`s bring
in Joan Walsh, editor at large for Salon.com, and also radio talk show host
Joe Madison with us tonight.

Help me out here. Give the president a little cover here, Joan. Did
you hear what I heard there? He`s basically throwing middle classers under
the bus, after all the corporate tax breaks, after all the Bush tax cuts
extensions. He`s actually turning to union workers and saying, you know
what, you got to bite the bullet, too. What do you make of that?

JOAN WALSH, SALON.COM: Well, obviously, union workers and other
workers have already sacrificed. The thing about shared sacrifice, Ed, is
when do we get to share it? We sacrifice. Workers sacrifice. And the
corporate America never does.

So that part of it is disturbing. You know, it`s part of the
president`s campaign, though, to be the most reasonable man in the room and
to be the person who`s above this partisan fray and to convince Americans
that he`s willing to make the tough compromises that other politicians
won`t. I`m not sure in this economy that that`s going to be a terribly
convincing message. But his advisers are sticking to it.

SCHULTZ: What do you make of it, Joe? Can this president get re-
elected saying this to the middle class?

JOE MADISON, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Oh no, not saying that. I can`t
give him cover on this. Look, shared sacrifice, public employees are being
told to pay more into health care. They`re being told of pensions. You
know, that`s exactly what`s happening. They`re sacrificing their future.

I think he`s going to have to regroup on this one. And you know, it`s
like so often you get a direct question, and you don`t -- you get an
indirect answer. And that`s what you got from him on that one. He blew it
on this one, Ed. People think we`re always on the president`s side, and
we`ll always agree with him. But no. On this one, he blew that answer.

There`s no question about it. You don`t talk to a teacher like that.
I have a son-in-law who is a teacher. He may or may not be working this
fall. You know, they`re taking teachers. Now they are teaching to the
tests. You know, public service jobs are often known as professional jobs.
Professionals are part of the middle class.

They`ve reduced teachers now to doing what? Teaching to a test, so
that they are non-professionals. That`s what`s going on in this country.

SCHULTZ: No doubt. The president kicked off his economic bus tour
here in Minnesota today. He had a town hall meeting. And I went to the
streets here in Minneapolis and asked people in Minnesota what they would
say to President Obama if they had a chance to talk to him about jobs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: If you had a chance to sit down with President Obama, what
would you tell him about jobs and the economy?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`d tell him to stop selling out our fellow
Americans to the globalists, that it`s more important to protect American
jobs than for us to have cheap products sitting on the shelves at Wal-Mart.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I had the opportunity to sit down and talk to
the president about jobs, I`d probably tell him that I think what he`s
doing is the right thing. But the bigger issue is the taxes. That`s where
I would immediately go.

You can`t continue to give corporations tax breaks just because
they`ll move into your town, say they`ll give you a few jobs and not do
anything for your city.

SCHULTZ: What would you tell him about jobs?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He better get working on it and not take a
vacation and get Congress back too, and get things back on track pronto.

SCHULTZ: If you had a chance to talk to the president, what would you
tell him about jobs?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, I`m not sure, because I don`t feel like
the lack of jobs is due to anything he`s done. He`s met with a lot of
resistance from Congress and Republicans.

SCHULTZ: Do you think he`s doing a good job?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he`s doing the best he can. I don`t
believe the president has that much influence overall on the economy by
himself. The government has a large influence, but the president by
himself, especially with a gridlocked Congress, is hard to make changes
that he sees fit, especially with the Republicans controlling the House
now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The way I look at it right now is he`s the leader
of a broken system. That broken system is not that much different than
being a manager of a sports team. He`s the leader. He has to find a way
to get people together.

SCHULTZ: Do you think he can do it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he can do it. I tend to be Republican.
Yet, Bill Clinton was able to get people on both sides of the fence to work
together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Joan Walsh, the president says he wants to listen to people
on these town hall meetings. From that sample of voters, what can he take
away from that?

WALSH: Well, you know, you have at least one person who understands
that he`s up against a really intransigent Republican party and that
there`s a limit to what he can do. We`ve talked about this before.
Periodically, I may sound like he can wave a wand and put everybody back to
work. He can`t without Congress.

However, Ed, you know, I just listened to him today and it sounds like
he`s running against Congress, not the Republicans. He`s doing that
bipartisan, trans-partisan thing, talking about people -- parties who won`t
compromise, when there`s one party that won`t compromise, and it`s the
Republican party.

I`m glad to see him out there talking about jobs, but I don`t really
know what`s going to come of it.

SCHULTZ: Joe Madison, the president says he`s going to have his job
plan out when the Republicans come back in September. Is he going to get
any help, in your opinion, or are they just going to obstruct anything, and
turn this thing to 2012 and run on a failed economy?

MADISON: I`ve always said he could come up with a cure for the common
cold, and he wouldn`t get any help from this Republican party. Remember,
this is the same party that -- let`s say they did help him, and let`s say
that we were able to get a couple of million -- three or four million jobs
going by March. Now who gets the credit?

It will be the president of the United States. They are hell bent on
making sure they do what? This is what Limbaugh has said. This is what
the leadership has said. I`m holding here a release from Representative
Jan Schakowsky of Illinois. She`s proposing a 221 billion dollar plan.
And it would create two billion jobs.

It`s police officers, firemen, job corps. Guess what? Republicans
won`t even get it out of committee.

SCHULTZ: Joe Madison --

WALSH: It`s a good plan.

SCHULTZ: Joan Walsh, always a pleasure. Great to have you with us
tonight. Thanks so much.

Herman Cain was hoping to finish in the top three in the Iowa Straw
Poll. Now he`s excited about placing fifth. The pizza man walks back his
comments right into the Zone next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Stop coddling the super rich. That`s the message from
billionaire Warren Buffett. That`s the message he`s sending to Washington.
Buffett is arguing for a tax increase on the wealthy in the "New York
Times" op ed, because he and his well-to-do pals can afford it. He writes,
"my friends and I have been coddled long enough for by a billionaire
friendly Congress. It`s time for our government to get serious about
shared sacrifice."

Using his federal tax bill as an example, Buffett writes that the
percentage he pays is lower than most. "What I paid was only 17.4 percent
of my taxable income. That`s actually a lower percentage than was paid by
any of the other 20 people in our office."

Well, Republican presidential candidate and multi-millionaire Mitt
Romney thinks that kind of inequity is just fine. Here`s his explanation
as to why rich people end up paying less taxes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You might say, yeah, but
still, why don`t you raise the taxes on the rich some more? Well, I`ll
tell you, as someone -- I`d read an article in the "Boston Globe" some time
ago. It said the problem with the rich people is that many of them are
smart.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: So that`s the problem with the poor in this country.
According to the Mittster they aren`t smart enough to figure out all these
tax loopholes that he and his super-rich benefit from, at the expense of
everyone else.

Coming up, it was a tough weekend for the pizza man, Herman Cain. He
finds himself in the Zone tonight. Psycho Talk is next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: In Psycho Talk tonight, I guess you could say it was a
pretty tough weekend in Iowa for Herman Cain. The pizza man, well, he
didn`t deliver. He finished fifth in the Ames Straw Poll behind Bachmann,
Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty and Rick Santorum. Well short of the result Herman
Cain had hoped for.

According to Cain earlier this month, he said "I don`t believe that I
have to win the straw poll, but I do believe that I need to finish in the
top three." Today Herman Cain was confronted with his own words on Fox
News.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You also said before the straw poll that you
needed to be in the top three. Do you still believe that?

HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Come on, Herman. You can`t change the rules after the game.
I mean, if the pizza isn`t ready, it`s not on time. Is it free? Any new
predictions.

(BEGNI VIDEO CLIP)

CAIN: I will finish the number five in Iowa. That`s right where we
want to be. If we finish in the top five in New Hampshire, Martha, we will
be ecstatic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Ecstatic with fifth place. Don`t set the bar too high,
Herman. What about supporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you keep them revved up with that kind of
number out of Iowa?

CAIN: See, we`re running a slight -- a different type of campaign.
It`s called a bottoms-up campaign. Get this, Martha, my supporters were
thrilled with that finish.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: You hear that. His supporters were thrilled that he lost to
Rick Santorum? Last week, Herman Cain, you see he -- I guess you could say
had won the lines of the night. It`s -- really applies more than ever
after this weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAIN: America`s got to learn how to take a joke.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Changing your tune after you said you needed at least a
bronze in the Ames Straw Poll is goalpost moving Psycho Talk.

School segregation brought to you by the Koch Brothers. I`ll talk
about it, the billionaire`s latest pet project with Robert Greenwald. And
what did Rick Perry say about Ben Bernanke? You`re watching THE ED SHOW on
MSNBC.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Inside the board meeting, the scene was even more
chaotic. Protestors chanting and singing, locking arms so police could not
carry them away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Why were those folks fighting arrest at a school board
meeting? Just ask billionaire barons Charles and David Koch. A new film
by Robert Greenwald tells the story of how the brothers bank rolled a
campaign to -- get this, folks -- resegregate a southern school system.
That`s right, in America.

In a moment Robert Greenwald will join me. But first a little
background on all of this. Wake County School District in North Carolina
is one of the nation`s largest. And it`s one of the first school districts
to implement an income-based integration system.

No more than 40 percent of a school`s students could be getting
subsidized lunches. As the "Washington Post" reported back in January, the
policy was a success. Quote, "some of its best, most diverse schools are
in the poorest sections."

And then along came the Koch-backed Astroturf group Americans for
Prosperity. They group got involved in the local school board elections,
funding and organizing candidates who wanted to end the district`s busing
policy. The Koch-supported candidates ran in support of what they called
neighborhood schools and against what they called forced busing, coded
language that was also used in the segregated south.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The school board crossed the line with forced
busing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Forced busing is absolutely a code word. It`s a
term bussing used in the south by George Wallace. Neighborhood schools
means we have our own schools, and the blacks have theirs.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We heard loud and clear across this country
people wanted a neighborhood school`s model.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We should have our right to choose our own
neighborhood, our own neighborhood schools.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In one election, they now have the majority needed
to change the way students are assigned to school.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A big shake-up on the Wake County school board
could now impact tens of thousands of local families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Just like that, the district began to phase out one of the
nation`s best efforts at school integration. Is this America in 2011? You
bet it is, folks. It`s happening.

Joining me now is the documentary filmmaker Robert Greenwald. His
latest film is about Wake County elections, called "Koch Brothers Exposed;
Why Do The Koch Brothers Want to End Public Education?"

Mr. Greenwald, good to have you with us. Why do they want to end
public education? Is this the tip of the iceberg?

ROBERT GREENWALD, BRAVE NEW FOUNDATION: Yes, it is the tip of
iceberg, Ed. These are men that have given over almost 20 million dollars
to think tanks that work to create an ideological framework about why
public education is a failure.

As we know, they believe -- as libertarians, as right wingers, they
believe in the destruction of virtually anything and everything that our
government can provide. It`s a sad day when we see them using their money,
intervening in a local election, and honestly doing whatever they can
that`s destroying the fabric of democracy, by trying to buy their ideas.

SCHULTZ: If local school board elections are going to be bought by
people like the Koch Brothers, what does that leave us with?

GREENWALD: It leaves us with a democracy for sale. And that`s what
they believe in. And that`s what their ideology is. Where they`re clever,
Ed, is they buy the politicians. They pay for judges. They buy grass
roots activists. And they try to make sure that the laws are changed so
that their money can then not be tracked.

So it`s this whole web, if you will, supported, as we know, by a right
wing echo chambers. They`re not the only ones. But this is what happens
when you have money let loose, when you have gross inequities in the way
our society works, and when you have capitalism without any restraints
whatsoever. They`re the poster children for this kind of behavior.

SCHULTZ: And, of course, they`re all about local control. They`re
all about infiltrating the local politicians and privatizing. That`s
really where they want to go. Reduce the obligation of the taxpayers and
privatize absolutely everything you can get your hands on.

Of course, who will get the education? The wealthy. The economically
challenged in this country will be left behind. And we`ll have a pool of
cheap labor, which is exactly what they want.

Mr. Greenwald, we`ll have you back talking more about this, because I
think this is a big story. Thanks for doing that documentary.

Tonight in our survey, I asked you, with Rick Perry running for the
GOP nomination, will America get fooled again? Forty percent of you said,
60 percent of you said no.

That`s THE ED SHOW. I`m Ed Schultz. THE LAST WORD with Lawrence
O`Donnell starts right now. We`ll see you back here tomorrow night.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY
BE UPDATED.
END

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