Guests: Michael Eric Dyson, Steve Israel, Mike Papantonio, Larry Cohen, Gigi Sohn, Rep. Bill
Pascrell, Bob King
ED SCHULTZ, HOST: Good evening, Americans. And welcome to THE ED
SHOW tonight from New York.
Jobs in America is the number one issue in this country, and
Republicans have done nothing about it. Today, Republicans proved they
care more about their presidential debate than getting Americans back to
work.
And there`s breaking news tonight. The White House has announced
that they will agree to Speaker Boehner`s request to move the president`s
jobs speech from Wednesday to Thursday. Is the president caving?
This is THE ED SHOW -- let`s get to work.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It`s time to stop the
political gamesmanship that can actually cost us hundreds of thousands of
jobs.
SCHULTZ (voice-over): The president is taking it to Republicans on
jobs. And once again, the tan man is trying to block him.
Tonight, Mike Papantonio, Michael Eric Dyson and Congressman Steve
Israel on the day`s developments.
A leading Republican claims the president who got Osama bin Lade,
quote, "never understood the meaning 9/11." Find out who`s in the zone
tonight.
And even Chris Christie is ripping Eric Cantor for his ridiculous
stance on disaster relief.
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: We don`t have time to wait for
folks in Congress to figure out how they want to offset this stuff with
other budget cuts.
SCHULTZ: Tonight, we`re going to flood-ravaged New Jersey to talk to
Democratic Congressman Bill Pascrell.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCHULTZ: Good evening, folks. Good to have you with us tonight.
Some interesting developments late this evening in Washington. For
the first time in American history, a speaker of the House has refused to
let the president of the United States address the nation from the people`s
house -- very unusual to say the least. Today, President Obama announced
he wanted to unveil his much-anticipated, much talked about jobs package
before joint session of the Congress one week from tonight 8:00 p.m.
Eastern Time.
Well, the president set the speech for exactly the same date and
time, 8:00 p.m. Republicans are set to debate on this network, MSNBC, from
the Reagan Library.
Conflict? Yes. Resolution should be pretty easy.
Boehner refused to let the president have the House and the president
has caved. An associate historian for the Senate told "The Huffington
Post" tonight, the Senate Historical Office knows of no instance in which
Congress refused the president permission to speak before a joint session
of the Congress.
Boehner and the Republicans have been hounding President Obama to lay
out a jobs plan for months.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: The American people
are asking, where are the jobs?
Where are the jobs?
Where are the jobs?
REP. ERIC CANTOR (R-VA), MAJORITY LEADER: Creating jobs.
It`s that simple.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where are the jobs?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where are the jobs, Mr. President?
REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mr. President,
where are the jobs?
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
SCHULTZ: Now, the very same people want President Obama to keep his
powder dry so Rick Perry can have the spotlight to say stupid stuff like
this?
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GOV. RICK PERRY (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What`s dumb is to
oversee an economy that has lost that many millions of jobs to put
unemployment numbers over his four years will stay probably at 9 percent,
to downgrade the credit of this good country, to put fiscal policies is in
place. They were a disaster back in the `30s and try them again in the
2000s. That`s what I consider to be the definition of dumb.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Michele Bachmann mocked the president about the timing of
his speech at a stop in Des Moines, Iowa, this afternoon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
BACHMANN: Today -- and how they can destroy the United States of
America.
(INAUDIBLE) of all proportion and it isn`t just President Obama.
Senior citizens, my mom`s 80, my step dad`s 87.
(APPLAUSE)
(INUADIBLE)
BACHMANN: Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
SCHULTZ: You see, the liberals wanted the president to go big on a
jobs package. I mean, real big. Moving the date will make liberals
furious in some corners of the country.
But you know what? This president has nothing to hide. He has a
track record. Seventeen months of private sector jobs being added to the
economy, a stimulus package that no Republican signed on to -- well, a
couple in the Senate.
The automobile industry has been saved. Republicans were against
that. Here are the job numbers when it comes to the automobile industry as
well. They add in there.
And, of course, July has the largest jump in demand for cars in eight
years.
You see? All of this is bad numbers for the Republicans because it
makes the president look good.
The president of the United States has made some pretty tough
decisions. What to do with the automobile loan. What to do with the
stimulus package. What to do with health care.
And all along the Republicans have fought him. And, today, they`re
going to fight him on when he`s going to give a jobs speech?
You may be sitting at home tonight unemployed. Do you really care
when the speech is going to be given? No. You care about whether
Washington is going to get together and work together on a jobs package.
But once again, this president, I guess you could say has smoked them
out. He has proven to the country one more time that he can`t even
schedule a speech to the joint session of the Congress without it being
obstructed. That he won more time has proven to the country that the
Republicans -- their number one priority is not in line with the priorities
of the American people and that is jobs.
Their priority is their schedule, their tea time, their debate, their
tax cuts, their deregulation. And they give a damn nor they do respect the
president of the United States or the office.
I started this program tonight saying this is the first time in the
history of the country that the speaker of the House has said, nah, we
don`t want you coming over. You know, we got some votes to take, we`re
just back from vacation. We got other business, can`t do it.
So, the president takes the high road. And he says, OK, I`ll move it
to Thursday night. But I thought jobs was the number one priority.
It`s not. It`s the Republican schedule.
And once again there, may be people in liberal corners across the
country that say, Obama caved again. No, he didn`t. It`s a speech and
it`s a plan. It`s been much anticipated, it`s been talked about for weeks.
But even when it comes to a joint session of the Congress, the
Republicans want to lower the bar when it comes to class and respect and
priorities in this country.
Now, you tell me, who`s on your side tonight, folks. Is it Boehner?
Is he on your side? Or is he on the side of his cronies in the House who
were more concerned about their hectic schedule.
Fact: they give a damn about you working folks in America. And they
don`t give a damn about creating jobs. And that`s why they`ve just been
heckling from the stands. They`ve never been a player, and they proved it
big time again tonight.
Get your cell phones out, I want to know what you think.
Tonight`s text question: Do Republicans care about creating jobs for
the unemployed? Text A for yes, text B for no to 622639. You can go to
our blog and comment as well at Ed.MSNBC.com. We`ll bring you the results
later on in the show.
Joining me now is Congressman Steve Israel of New York. He`s the
chairman of the DCCC.
Steve, good to have you with us tonight.
I find this absolutely amazing. Now, there`s going to be some people
out there that say President Obama caved. I don`t see it that way. I
think that he has done what every other president has done. I want to come
over and talk to the country and I want to talk to the joint session and
he`s been denied this.
How do you read this tonight, Congressman?
REP. STEVE ISRAEL (D), NEW YORK: Well, I don`t know why anybody is
surprised is. The Republicans have been in the majority of the House of
Representatives for 239 days. In 239 days, Ed, they have not lifted a
finger to help a single small business create a single job. And now, will
they not only lift a finger, they`re turning a deaf ear to the president`s
ideas and House Democrats on how to create jobs.
The fact of the matter is this: they want to wait a day,
unacceptable. But we will talk about it. We will fight for jobs for the
middle class and working Americans, every day, any day, any time. Whenever
they want to do it, we`ll do it, we`re fighting for jobs. And they are
fighting for tax cuts for the richest of the rich.
Frankly, if the president had announced that he wanted to give a
speech on bigger oil subsidies -- subsidies for oil companies, my guess is,
the Republicans would have done it tonight.
SCHULTZ: Congressman, why do you think the White House asked for the
date they asked for, Wednesday, September 7th when they knew the
presidential Republican debate was going to be taking place and it would
have been the first debate, will be the first date that Rick Perry will be
involved in? And, of course, he is the front-runner in all of the polls.
Why would the White House do that if they know it`s a packed night at the
office for politics?
ISRAEL: Well, first of all, it`s the first night we`re back from the
August district work period. At the beginning of this showing you showed
John Boehner, where are the jobs, where are the jobs, where are the jobs?
And now, you have Democrats saying, fine, it`s our first night back, we`ll
tell you how we can create those jobs.
Secondly, for the Republicans to say, that they will not allow the
president to talk about job creation because of a Republican presidential
debate, you know, it`s like saying, we can`t work because there`s an old
"Three Stooges" rerun going on. It`s not acceptable.
What the American -- you`re in the middle class, you`re a working
family, you lost your job, you`re not interested in protocol. You`re not
interested in partisanship or posturing. You`re not interested in the fact
that this is another presidential debate.
You want people in Washington to be working together to develop jobs.
Not to use excuses, not to talk about jobs. And that`s what the
Republicans are doing.
SCHULTZ: Are you surprised how this played out today quickly?
ISRAEL: You know, tragically, I`m not surprised that the Republicans
would find another excuse --
SCHULTZ: Yes.
ISRAEL: -- not to talk about, not to fight for, not to pass any
legislation to create jobs.
They`re all about one thing -- it is crystal clear: partisanship,
delaying. Not job creation, but finding excuses for more partisanship.
And the American people have to understand, with the House Democratic
majority, we would have passed these bills. We tried 10 times to create
investments in infrastructure, to put people to work rebuilding bridges and
roads and broadband. Ten times, and 10 times the Republicans told us where
to go.
SCHULTZ: Yes.
ISRAEL: And tonight, they told the president of the United States
where to go.
SCHULTZ: Congressman Steve Israel of New York -- good to have you
with us tonight. Thanks so much.
ISRAEL: Thanks, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Joining me now is Michael Eric Dyson, MSNBC political
analyst, Georgetown University professor and author of the book, "Can you
Hear me Now?"
And Mike Papantonio, host of the nationally syndicated "Ring of Fire"
radio show.
Mike, the liberal reaction tonight -- do you think they`ll be mad at
President Obama for moving this? Is this an appearance of caving? Or is
this just being a good guy and trying to get along?
MIKE PAPANTONIO, HOST, RING OF FIRE: I don`t think there`s any
reason to be upset. Look, he`s doing what a good president should do.
He`s doing what we expect from a president.
September 7th, it was all about this. This is the unleashing of Rick
Perry on the national front. So, you have Republicans in this full moon
frenzy of expectations about Rick Perry delivering something. He`s
supposed to show us his debating skills. He`s supposed to show us what an
intellect he is.
And the truth is, they`ve asked Boehner to do what he easily does.
They ordered Boehner around like they usually do. They moved into this
whinny baby mode, this baby mode that they always go into.
Rather than playing like a playing a baby, Obama acted like an adult.
He put aside all that John Boehner cry baby stuff and he said, look, this
is about the American job market. My job as president is to make this
economy better.
But you know what, Ed, it comes down to this real simple. Three
years ago, Rush Limbaugh said this, he summed it up when he said I hope
Obama fails. And then behind him came Mitch McConnell, and he said
basically the same thing.
SCHULTZ: Yes.
PAPANTONIO: I hope he fails in health care, I hope he fails getting
bin Laden. I hope he fails working out a budget and solving the deficit
ceiling.
They`re out to make him fail. And he did what an adult should do,
said I`m going to go forward.
SCHULTZ: We can only imagine what the reaction would have been if
Nancy Pelosi pulled this on George Bush in 2006 when she took the gavel.
Michael Eric Dyson, I think the word respect comes into play here.
Your thoughts?
MICHAEL ERIC DYSON, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Aretha Franklin is
right, R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Find out what it means, not only to Mr. Obama and
President Obama, but to the country.
This is one of the most egregious acts of flagrant disrespect of a
president and a refusal to respect the integrity of the process of
cooperation. Time after time, President Obama has gone out of his way to
show -- as Mike just said -- that he`s the president, that he`s willing to
forgo his own personal inclinations for the benefit of the nation.
And here again the Republicans are not interested in having discourse
and dialogue about rebuilding the infrastructure to have an infrastructure
bank, to create jobs, to talk about direct creation jobs, to infrastructure
investment, the $2 trillion --
SCHULTZ: Yes. Professor, I got to ask you, why didn`t President
Obama say, no, we`re going to do it Wednesday night. I don`t care when
your debate is, jobs are important? Does he look weak for not standing his
ground?
DYSON: I don`t think he does because if he does that, Ed, what ends
up happening, he gets into a bullying fight with Boehner and another
staredown. The last thing the American people want to see is, again, the
two sides saying, look, we can`t cooperate.
It is unprecedented that Boehner as speaker of the House has refused
the president his request. We know it`s unprecedented. We know it`s a
tactic of bullying. We know it`s a tactic of trying to goad this
president.
So, if he refuses to do so, look, I`m going to have this speech
regardless, then he`s an untenable, unwinnable situation by conceding the
legitimacy of moving into the next day. It doesn`t concede the legitimacy
of what Boehner wanted, it shows that he`s the grown-up and he`s willing to
go forward and say, look, I put the jobs of the American people over this,
but make no mistake, Ed, this is an act of flagrant disrespect that ought
to be called out and Boehner needs to be held accountable.
SCHULTZ: Pap, is the president a political winner with the American
people on this?
PAPANTONIO: I think he is. The more he acts like an adult. And he
contrasts himself with people like John boohoo Boehner, this colicky baby,
who is the voice of the Republican Party, who stands for -- he`s part of
that echo chamber.
Rush Limbaugh wants this president to fail. FOX News wants the
president to fail. McConnell wants this president to fail.
And you know what, Ed? It`s not just this president they want to
fail. When they say we want Obama to fail, they want the American worker
to fail. They want America to fail.
And that`s the real sad part of this whole thing. Obama says, look,
it`s not important that I get in a fight with these colicky cry babies,
what`s important is I deliver what I said I was going to do. I was going
to come up with a jobs plan, bring Congress back, and we were going to
solve this problem. That`s what an adult does.
SCHULTZ: We take a look now, the president`s going to be up against
a pretty tough audience. It`s the opening night of the NFL with the Saints
and the Packers, the two past winners of the Super Bowl.
So, I hope the country`s going to be paying attention. The debate
will be on this network, the speech, of course, to follow the next night.
Michael Eric Dyson and Mike Papantonio, thanks for your time tonight.
Remember to answer tonight`s question there at the bottom of the
screen. I want to know what you think.
A major telecommunications merger has been put on hold by the
government. Labor leaders are breaking with the administration on this
one. They want the deal. More on that.
And later, aftermath of Irene is still wreaking havoc on the
Northeast -- over 40 dead, hundreds of thousands still without power. Will
Eric Cantor blink?
We`ll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: President Obama wants to make sure House Republicans won`t
hold American jobs hostage for a second time this summer. In the Rose
Garden speech that he gave today, the president urged Congress to extend a
transportation bill that funds highways and mass transit projects.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: If we allow the transportation bill to expire, over 4,000
workers will be immediately furloughed without pay. If it`s delayed for
just 10 days, it will lose nearly $1 billion in highway funding. That`s
money we can never get back.
And if it`s delayed even longer, almost 1 million workers could lose
their jobs over the course of the next year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: And remember the Republicans were willing to put jobs at
risk last month when they blocked an extension of the Federal Aviation
Administration`s budget, shutting the agency down for two weeks. Those
furloughed workers are still owed back pay. The administration also says
jobs are at stake in the AT&T merger and T-Mobile. More on that next.
And later, good news for the automobile industry. And Republicans --
remember what they said? They said it would never happen.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW and thanks for watching
tonight.
The Justice Department`s attempt to block the AT&T merger with T-
Mobile is creating a very unusual stand-off. The Obama administration and
a coalition congressional Democrats oppose the merger. While some of the
company`s top unions are saying we are for it.
A lawsuit filed in the United States district court today says the
merger is anti-competitive. The Justice Department`s James Cole said the
$39 billion merger would be bad for consumers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES COLE, DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: The department filed its
lawsuit because we feel the combination of AT&T and T-Mobile would result
in tens of millions of consumers all across the United States facing higher
prices, fewer choices and lower quality products for their mobile wireless
services.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: The merger will put 80 percent of all cell phone contracts
in the hands of AT&T and its biggest competitor Verizon Wireless. But AT&T
claims it will create 100,000 new jobs when it acquires T-Mobile by
investing $1 billion into new infrastructure.
Several top union leaders including the AFL-CIO and the
Communications Workers of America, they are in agreement. They want the
deal. They say the merger will expand broadband access to rural areas
across America and create a stronger unionized workforce, since AT&T is
currently the only wireless company with union employees. So, it`s a
stand-off.
Joining me tonight Larry Cohen, president of the Communication
Workers of America. And Gigi Sohn, who is the president and cofounder of
Public Knowledge, a digital watchdog group that opposes the merger.
Great to have both of you with us tonight.
You first, Mr. Cohen. This is a rather unusual situation that you
have got Democrats in the Senate who are opposing what many labor union
members and leaders want to take place. Why do you want this deal to go
through? What`s the up side for workers?
LARRY COHEN, CWA PRESIDENT: Yes. Well, first of all, most
Democrats, including 97 House Democrats support the merger, environmental
groups, civil rights groups have broad base support.
So, number one, this is an exercise in fantasy capitalism. Everybody
knows that T-Mobile is for sale, everyone knows it was a choice of number
three Sprint or number two AT&T. Everybody also knows that the CEO has
stated clearly, I don`t have $10 billion to build fourth generation
wireless.
And we all know that without fourth generation, it`s only a matter of
time that T-Mobile fades and fades and fades. So, this is fantasy
capitalism today.
On the other side, you have AT&T realizing it`s a condition of the
merger, they made enormous commitments in terms of broadband build to rural
America, a key goal of the Obama administration that has not been met. A
key goal of the FCC.
Gigi and others can pretend that would have happened otherwise. It
won`t have happened otherwise.
And so, we have the jobs issue, AT&T saying as late as yesterday,
we`ll not only commit to keep every call center job in the U.S. whether T-
Mobile or AT&T, but we`ll bring back 5,000 jobs from Asia.
SCHULTZ: OK.
COHEN: We have, on the other side of this, a likely Sprint deal that
will come, where Sprint has contracted out and offshore almost every single
job.
So, the question for this government is, which side are you on?
American workers or companies that export jobs and contract every job out?
Dollar store economy or a decent standard of living for American workers?
SCHULTZ: Gigi, why don`t you trust this deal? Why don`t you trust
AT&T when they openly state they will create jobs and invest $8 million to
create more jobs?
GIGI SOHN, PRESIDENT, PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE: Ed, I love unions as much as
any good Democrat. But this merger, as the Justice Department found would
not only be bad for consumers resulting in higher prices, less choices and
less innovation. They said it would lead to less jobs.
Let`s be frank here. Mergers do not lead to new jobs. The whole
point of a merger is to have efficiencies. If you have an AT&T store down
the street from a T-Mobile store, they`re not going to keep both of them.
They`re not going to keep duplicative antennas or duplicative call centers.
If AT&T is desperately making promises now, because they knew that
the merger was in bad shape.
SCHULTZ: What about that, Larry?
COHEN: Number one, that`s what regulation is all about. You get
commitments with the FCC and Justice Department. They committed in
writing, no call centers close.
As for stores, they committed in writing that the employees. Why do
we care about the store? We care about the number of employees, it`s about
the number of customers. And just as they`ve done in all other mergers,
all those employees kept their job. They went to the nearby store and
worked there.
SCHULTZ: This is what Deputy Attorney General James Cole had to say
about the impact of jobs. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLE: Through innovation and competition we create jobs, and we look
at these kinds of innovations and this kind of industry as where there is
competition, where there is innovation, there are more jobs created. The
general experience with mergers is that there is what`s called
efficiencies, which is redundancies when the two companies come together,
which usually reduces jobs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Gigi, what about the stability of T-Mobile? Many people
think they weren`t going to make it anyway?
SOHN: Well, that`s not exactly true. And first of all, I need to
rebut what Larry said about the only two purchases for T-Mobile were Sprint
and some hedge fund manager. In fact, there are a lot of cable companies,
including your parent company, Comcast, that would be very interested in T-
Mobile if it were to leave the U.S. market.
But I need to make a point. T-Mobile employees, 20,000 of them were
already being served is with severance papers as we speak today. AT&T has
a long history, in the past nine years, they have gotten rid of 100,000
jobs. In the past year and a half, they got rid of 30,000 jobs.
So, this notion that AT&T is going to be some kind of job creator is
belied by their history. And by the way, that`s a history where they
gobbled up three different cell phone companies. So, the notion that a
merger is going to lead to more jobs is a fantasy.
Larry`s numbers come from a self-serving report that they did for
themselves. And, in fact, AT&T told Wall Street it was going to invest $10
billion less money, where Larry`s report found it was $8 billion more.
SCHULTZ: All right.
SOHN: So don`t believe the hype. This might be a good merger for
unions, but for Americans or -- or this particular union. For American
workers overall, it`s terrible. And it`s bad for Americans generally.
SCHULTZ: All right. Larry Cohen, Gigi Sohn --
COHEN: Gigi, as you know, every single union supports this merger,
as does most environmental and civil rights groups.
SOHN: Well, I respectfully disagree with you, Larry.
COHEN: You`re trying to say you have a consumer argument, but that`s
a single minded argument. Don`t say you love unions and then you go
against union workers at every turn -
(CROSSTALK)
COHEN: -- at every turn you go against union workers. At every
turn.
SCHULTZ: We will have more coverage of this obviously.
COHEN: Every turn, Gigi.
SCHULTZ: Obviously, this affects millions of Americans. Larry Cohen
and Gigi Sohn, thank you for joining us tonight. Obviously, a very hot
issue.
Tea Partiers want nothing to do with Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin
wants nothing to do with Christine O`Donnell. The latest drama in the Tea
Party world is next.
Former New York Governor George Pataki, who I never thought was
psycho talker, takes a page out of the Giuliani playbook. He thinks he has
a monopoly on September 11th. Pataki said the Obama administration doesn`t
understand 9/11? He`s going to the zone. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW. Thanks for watching tonight.
When he was the Republican front-runner, Mitt Romney was able to
successfully just ignore the Tea Party. Then along came Rick Perry and
everything changed.
Now Romney`s campaign has announced that the currently unemployed
father of five will be sucking up to the Tea Party types at a major rally
in New Hampshire this weekend. Well, Dick Armey`s Astroturf group Freedom
Works, they don`t like that one bit.
In fact, the group plans on protesting Romney`s appearance. A Freedom
Works spokesman says in a statement, "we have to defend ourselves, our
brand against poseurs."
Really? I thought the Tea Party didn`t even like the French.
Whatever. And speaking of poseurs, try to follow me on this one. Sarah
Palin was slated to attend the Tea Party of America`s rally in Iowa this
weekend. That is until Christine "I`m Not a Witch" O`Donnell got an
invite. Palin then put her appearance on hold.
A source tells the "Wall Street Journal" that Palin was upset over the
continual lying of the event organizers. So Christine O`Donnell -- well,
she got uninvited. Now back to Palin. She`s back in and it looks like
O`Donnell is out of luck. So it goes.
No disaster relief unless there are spending cuts. That`s been Eric
Cantor`s mantra over the past several days. Well, today, Cantor slightly
changed his tune. And you`ll never guess which Republican is hitting back
at him.
Also July, an absolutely fabulous month for the American automobile
industry. Vehicle demand is at the highest level in more than eight years.
Hey, Bush, can you hear me now? It`s a bad time for Dick Cheney to be
saying he was against those auto loans, don`t you think? Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: So the word has been no disaster relief unless there are
spending cuts. That`s been House Majority Eric Cantor`s attitude towards
thousand of people suffering in the wake of Hurricane Irene.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ERIC CANTOR (R), MAJORITY LEADER: Just like any family would
operate when its struck with disaster. It finds the money it needs to to
take care of a sick loved one, or what have you, and then goes without
trying to buy a new car or put an addition on to the house.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: They just find the money. It just falls from the trees, I
guess, in the yard. They just find the money. Kind of difficult to think
about putting an addition on your home when you don`t have one and you`ve
lost it in the storm.
But fortunately not everyone agrees with the gentleman from Virginia.
Virginia`s newly elected Republican Governor Bob McDonnell, he is telling
Virginians, quote, "my concern is that we help people in need. For the
FEMA money that`s going to flow, it`s up to them on how they get it. I
don`t think it`s the time to get into that deficit debate."
So today the majority leader, who happens to be from Virginia, backed
off ever so slightly, telling reporters, quote, "I believe there`s an
appropriate federal role and the monies will be there."
That`s a 180. No mention of the offsets this time around. But for
thousands of folks along the eastern seaboard, the damage has already been
done. Record flooding in Vermont and New Jersey is destroying entire
towns. People left those towns with nothing.
People seeking refuge at this shelter in Paramus, New Jersey, well,
now they have to pack up and move to another one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to cry, but I can`t cry. So I got to
keep strong for my kids. Everything I worked for is gone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: With large sections of his state under water, Republican
Governor Chris Christie hit back at Cantor`s shameless politicking.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: We don`t have time to wait for
folks in Congress to figure out how they want to offset this stuff with
other budget cuts. Our people are suffering now. You want to figure out
budget cuts, that`s fine. You going to turn it into a fiasco like that
debt limit thing, where you`re fighting with each other for eight or nine
weeks, and you expect the citizens of my state to wait? They`re not going
to wait. And I`m going to fight to make sure that they don`t.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Joining me now from the flood ravaged Paterson, New Jersey
area, this is Congressman Bill Pascrell. Thanks for your time tonight,
Congressman.
What do you make of Governor Christie`s comments? He`s talking like a
Democrat, talking like a guy who has some compassion for people. What`s
your take on it?
REP. BILL PASCRELL (D), NEW JERSEY: Well, when you keep your boots on
the ground, as you well know, you come to reality. This isn`t a Democrat
or Republican storm. This is a storm that has hit everybody.
We need to do what we did with the tornados out in the Midwest, what
we did with the floods in Missouri, what we did with the forest fires and
the plains fires out in the west. We come together.
We don`t say, if we cut from this pile, we`ll be able to deal with
this. We tried to deal with it. These people are hurting. This is a
personal thing to the American people when catastrophe happens.
This is not a river in back of me. This is a river that`s
overflowing. We`ve evacuated four to five thousand people at Paterson, New
Jersey, and we`ve had evacuations throughout the metropolitan area.
We need to come together. I have to give the governor credit. He`s
brought the agencies of the state together. We need to bring the agencies
of the federal government together. Napolitano was here. The
administrator for FEMA was here today.
I think they`re doing a great job as well. This was well planned,
well organized. We`re going to find the money, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Do you think Eric Cantor, the majority leader, has finally
gotten the message to back off? Or do you think he`s going to still go
down this vicious road? What do you think?
PASCRELL: He is really definitely eating some mothballs. There`s no
question about it. He`s backed off already today, as you said. I`m ready
to duke it out.
First, though, let`s take care of the people. Let`s not have the same
kind of battle we had four weeks ago on something that should have never
happened, which was a natural thing too, when we dealt with the debt of
this nation.
We need to pay our bills, but we need to take care of folks. That`s
what the federal government is all about. We have a history of this in
America. This separates us from all the other countries. We come together
in a time of need. This is the American way. I don`t know what country
Cantor lives in.
SCHULTZ: Yes. Congressman Pascrell, inspections are taking place
tonight of the dams in New Jersey. There`s been an awful lot of
conversation in this country about infrastructure. How concerned are you
about the integrity of these dams and more infrastructure being
compromised? Your thoughts, sir?
PASCRELL: I`m very concerned. No difference, Ed, than when that
bridge collapsed in Minneapolis a few years ago. If you don`t take care of
that infrastructure -- I hope the president makes this one of the mantras
when he talks to the country in September.
We can put people to work. This is not make work. This is something
that needs to be done in order to keep the country together, whether it`s
roads, whether it`s dams, whether it`s any kind of device that keeps the
water back. There is no silver bullet to end flooding in many areas of
this country, including right here in Paterson, New Jersey.
There`s no silver bullet. We need to prevent things from happening.
It costs money. You can`t just wish it away. It`s not going to work. We
need to stop throwing money after money, three or four times, when people
have flooded out if this is going to continue to happen. We need to say
enough already, buy them out, raise the structure, do something
constructively, instead of coming back and having the same TV shows over
and over again.
SCHULTZ: And congressman, quickly, when do you think people are going
to be able to get back into their homes. The waters are receding tonight.
That`s the good news. The rivers have crested. But when do you think
they`re going to be able to get back in their homes?
PASCRELL: Well, this river, Ed, the Passaic River -- the mighty
Passaic was the last river to crest in New Jersey. The river has gone down
just a little bit. We expect by tomorrow evening, we`ll have a lot -- most
of our bridges, hopefully some of them will be open.
We only have one bridge open in Paterson, the third largest city in
the state of New Jersey. That`s unacceptable. Our first responders out
have to get from one side of the city to at side of the city. This is a
serious business. Lives are in jeopardy. We evacuated 4,00 to 5,000
people. They are in shelters. They`re doing the job.
The president is going to be here on Sunday. We welcome the president
here, as do all the people in the metropolitan area. It`s not Democrat or
Republican time. This is time to step up to the plate. Maybe Mr. Cantor
doesn`t understand that.
SCHULTZ: Congressman Pascrell, good to have you with us tonight from
New Jersey. Thank you, sir.
PASCRELL: I`m a big follower of yours. Stay what you`re doing,
because you put your money where your mouth is.
SCHULTZ: I will do that, sir.
PASCRELL: I support everything you try to do.
SCHULTZ: Thank you, sir.
PASCRELL: Count on me.
SCHULTZ: All right. Eleven years ago, George Pataki was on the short
list to be George W. Bush`s running make. Now he`s just spewing right wing
garbage over on Fox. What a career move, huh? He thinks the
administration that took out Osama bin Laden doesn`t understand 9/11?
Psycho Talk is next. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And in Psycho Talk tonight, former New York Governor George
Pataki is struggling to remain relevant after saying he`s not running for
president. He`s upset about a set of guidelines the White House gave
government employees about commemorating the tenth anniversary of 9/11.
The guidelines include honoring those who died, thanking the military
and law enforcement, and encouraging people to remain united and resilient
to prevent new attacks.
They also remind people America isn`t the only country affected by
terrorism. And they encourage American diplomats to praise our foreign
allies. The last part led Pataki to this conclusion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE PATAKI, FORMER GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK: At a fundamental level,
this administration has never understood the meaning of September 11th. We
have been attacked time and time again. This administration, from its
refusal to call terrorists , to now saying when you talk about September
11th, minimize al Qaeda and mention other terrorist incidents, just doesn`t
understand.
Our president needs to understand that the fundamental -- the most
important role of government, our government, is to protect our people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: So Pataki wants to play word games. Well, really? The
president who ordered the mission to take out Osama bin Laden, the world`s
number one terrorist, doesn`t understand the meaning of September 11th?
This administration just isn`t talking about minimizing al Qaeda and
playing word games. They`re actually doing it. And they didn`t stop with
bin Laden`s death. Just last week, U.S. officials announced al Qaeda`s
brand new second in command was killed in Pakistan.
So for George Pataki to say President Obama doesn`t understand the
meaning of September 11th is pathetic Psycho Talk.
American manufacturing got yet another boost in July. And auto
companies are leading the way. The president of the United Autoworkers,
Bob King, joins me next. Stay with us. The numbers are awesome.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Dick Cheney`s please don`t prosecute me war crimes tour --
publicity tour continues. And the latest gem from his new memoir puts him
in good standing with the Tea Party. Cheney claims in his book that he
opposed President Bush`s decision to provide General Motors a 13 billion
dollar loan, and that he still believes the government should have not
gotten involved in helping the automobile industry.
He`s a real Tea Party patriot, isn`t he? But the actual Vice
President Dick Cheney didn`t always act in a way that matched his words.
Even with a congressional record of opposing an auto rescue package back in
1979, Cheney became President Bush`s bulldog on getting Republican support
for the 2008 auto loan.
As the "Los Angeles Times" reported back then, Cheney rounded up
skeptical Republicans and told them "if we don`t do this, we will be known
as the party of Herbert Hoover forever."
You might say Dick Cheney was for the auto loan before he was against
it. Even though he`s ideologically opposed to government intervention,
Vice President Dick Cheney knew that failure to act would be catastrophic
for the U.S. economy.
Well, guess what, Dick Cheney. You don`t have to hide from your past
actions. The auto bailout worked. The auto loan worked. And there are
new numbers to prove it. If the vice president is watching tonight, I hope
he sticks around to find out just what they are.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And finally tonight, make sure you`re sitting down,
Republicans. The American automobile industry is back. U.S. factory
orders surged in the month of July thanks to a 9.8 percent increase in
demand for motor vehicles and parts. It is the biggest leap since January
of 2003. And manufacturing is strong across the board.
Commercial airplane orders are also up. Overall factory orders
increased by 2.4 percent in July, the largest jump since March. And the
Associated Press reports economists are predicting the manufacturing sector
will continue to grow.
So for those righties out there hammering President Obama for making
the economy worse, the automobile industry and the manufacturing sector as
a whole tell a totally different story.
Joining me now is the United Autoworkers` president, Bob King. Mr.
King, good to have you with us tonight.
I think Americans want to know -- I do -- what does 9.8 percent
increase mean? How big a deal is that?
BOB KING, PRESIDENT, UNITED AUTOWORKERS UNION: It`s a tremendous
deal. Before the 9.8 percent increase, there were 75,000 new jobs created
through the revitalization and the turnaround of the American auto
industry. It`s a great story. The U.S. auto industry, because of
President Obama`s support, because of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid`s
support, we`re the biggest job creator in middle America right now,
creating more middle class, good paying jobs than anywhere else.
We`re very excited about it, very proud of it.
SCHULTZ: So within the span of three years, you`re the biggest job
creator in the country. That`s quite a statement. And of course, the
Republicans were against it. Are you optimistic this trend is going to
continue?
KING: Yeah, I really am. And the company`s restructuring with the
tremendous sacrifices and help of our membership, that they`re all
structured to be profitable at 10 million. Obviously, we`ll be much better
than that. As people get more disposable income, if we get more people
back to work -- if we would do an infrastructure bill, we would even see
the economy grow tremendously more.
SCHULTZ: What about the overseas market? Will we see more American
cars being purchased overseas?
KING: Yes. It`s really exciting. Chrysler just announced they`re
going to build the Maserati right here in Detroit, Michigan, for export
around the world. The Ford Explorer, built in Chicago, Illinois, is going
to be exported around the world.
The Chevy Volt -- an Opal badged Chevy Volt is going to be sold in
Europe. So we`re making off in General Motors and Ford and Chrysler.
We`re making vehicles for export.
SCHULTZ: How wrong were the Republicans who opposed it?
KING: Well, it was crazy. It`s just -- they don`t care about
American workers. They don`t care about the middle class. They just want
to get more tax breaks to the wealthiest and corporations.
President Obama and the Democrats, against all the polls, they stood
up for the American worker. They stood up for the American companies. And
look at the success . They were right.
Let`s stay with them. Let`s support them and doing right for America,
creating more jobs for America.
SCHULTZ: And the United Auto Workers, you`re in negotiation right now
for a new contract. Will their be any major hurdles? Will your union be
with you if you make a deal with the big three?
KING: You know, they`re complicated issues. There are always major
hurdles in negotiations. But I`m upbeat about it because we`ve worked
through much tougher issues. We`ve worked through much tougher times with
these companies. I think we have good management in all three companies.
So I`m upbeat and positive. It won`t be easy, but we`ll find a way to
do it.
SCHULTZ: What do you want to hear President Obama say on September
8th? Should he go big, bold, greater than anticipated when it comes to a
jobs package? What do you have in mind?
KING: Yeah, I think he should really challenge the Republicans. He
should use the bully pulpit. He should show Americans that he -- just as
he did for the auto workers, he stood behind us. He`s got to stand behind
every person that wants a job in America today.
I hope he has a bold infrastructure plan. I hope he has a bold
highway plan. I hope that he really puts it to the Republicans, put your
money where your mouth is. Are you going to support initiatives to create
jobs in America? We cannot cut our way out of this trouble?
SCHULTZ: Yes. Mr. King, good to have you with us tonight, president
of the United Auto Workers.
KING: Great to be here.
SCHULTZ: Great job. Tonight, in our survey, I asked do you -- do
Republicans care about creating jobs for the unemployed? Seven percent of
you say yes; 93 percent of you say no.
That`s THE ED SHOW. I`m Ed Schultz. You can listen to my radio,
Sirius XM Radio, Channel 127, Monday through Friday, noon to 3:00 pm.
Follow me at Twitter, @EdShow and @WeGotEd.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY
BE UPDATED.
END
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The Ed Show for Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Read the transcript to the Wednesday show