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The Ed Show for Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Read the transcript to the Wednesday show

Guests: Harold Schaitberger, Krystal Ball, Mike Papantonio, Harold Cook, John Nichols, Lizz Winstead, Dr. James Peterson


ED SCHULTZ, HOST: Good evening, Americans. And welcome to THE ED
SHOW tonight from New York.

The president is fighting tooth and nail to put teachers, police
officers and firefighters back to work.

And Mitch McConnell is playing games on the Senate floor.
Republicans are taking obstruction to new heights. An tonight, we`ll tell
you all about it.

We have a programming note you want to stick around for.

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Rick, again -- Rick, I`m
speaking.

GOV. RICK PERRY (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You had the -- your
newspaper -- the newspaper --

ROMNEY: I`m speaking. I`m speaking. I`m speaking.

(CROSSTALK)

SCHULTZ (voice-over): The debate is over, but the hits keep coming.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Perry did really throw up on himself during the
debate.

SCHULTZ: New ads and new accusations in the Romney Perry fight.
Democratic strategist Harold Cook will give us his scoreboard.

In Ohio, dozens of exotic animals are dead and Governor John Kasich
is feeling some heat.

REPORTER: Governor, a lot of people are blaming your administration
this morning for the situation in Zanesville.

SCHULTZ: We`ll show you the governor`s response.

And on the 99 percent movement, Congressman Allen West thinks he
knows better than Martin Luther King`s family.

REP. ALLEN WEST (R), FLORIDA: Martin Luther King, Jr. would not have
backed these types of protesters.

SCHULTZ: Tonight, we set the record straight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCHULTZ: Good evening, folks. Thanks for watching. Good to have
you with us.

Senate Republicans are going to get yet another chance to prove to
the American people that they actually care about jobs.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to make Republicans vote on a
bill to fund teachers, police officers, firefighters, before the end of
this week.

Now, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is warning Harry not to do it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MINORITY LEADER: They are actually
designing legislation to fail on the other side so they`ll have someone
else to blame for the economy 13 months from now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Give us a break, McConnell.

McConnell is whining about the Democrats putting a measly -- get this
-- a 0.5 percent tax on people making a million dollars and above to pay
for this bill. Think about that -- the first million dollars if you are in
that category, you are not going to get taxed at all. But the first dollar
past a million, it`s 0.5 percent.

Mitch is also bent out of shape because Harry Reid said Republicans
want the economy to fail.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCONNELL: My friend, the majority leader is out there telling
Republicans are rooting for the economy to fail. Nothing could be further
from the truth. Look, if Republicans wanted the economy to fail, we`d all
line up behind the president`s economic policies rather than opposing them
because they haven`t solved the jobs crisis. We have been there. We`ve
done that. The president got everything he wanted the first two years he
was in office.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Really? The gentleman from Kentucky is completely wrong.
President Obama faced more filibusters in his first two years than any
other president ever has. It was a record number.

A few times President Obama did get something through the Senate, it
saved a million jobs in the automobile industry and prevented another Great
Depression. The president`s jobs bill will put 2 million Americans back to
work and McConnell refuses to give the White House a win. It`s all about
winning, politically.

The minority leader wants President Obama to park the bus and stop
campaigning?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCONNELL: It`s completely preposterous at a time when 14 million
Americans are looking for a job in this country for the president to be
riding around on a bus saying we should raise taxes. Think about that.
We`ve got 14 million people out of work, and two self-identified
conservatives for every liberal in this country, and the president is out
there doing his best Howard Dean impersonation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: You know, McConnell might be on to something. The
president should incorporate Howard Dean`s 50-state strategy. I`m all
about it.

President Obama should visit every state and show people this number.
Show Americans that 63 percent of Republicans are in favor of providing
federal money to state governments to hire teachers and first responders.
President Obama needs to shout about the Republicans ignoring their own
voters.

The president needs to stay on the bus and follow this road map.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD DEAN (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We`re going to
California and Texas and New York. And we`re going to South Dakota and
Oregon and Washington and Michigan. And then we`re going to Washington,
D.C. to take back the White House! Yea!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: And don`t forget, Ohio, where Senate Bill 5, the vote
coming up on November 8th. Mr. President, you need to be there in my
opinion.

Vice President Biden, he isn`t shy about campaigning. He hammered
the Republicans in Pennsylvania on Tuesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: People say we`re
campaigning. We sure in heck are campaigning. We are campaigning to
change this environment.

(APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: Change this environment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: The vice president is President Obama`s best weapon in the
fight for the 99 percent movement. Today, the vice president met with
members of the international firefighters in the nation`s capital. The
vice president clearly laid out the stakes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Are you going to put 400,000 is schoolteachers back in
classrooms? Are you going to put 18,000 cops back on the street and 7,000
firefighters back in the fire houses, or are you going to save people with
average incomes of 1 million a 1/2 of 1 percent increase in tax on every
dollar they make over a million?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Biden is spot on. For the last few nights, we have listed
the names of the senators who voted against the president`s bill. The
crawl will stay on the bottom of the screen until the Republicans stop
obstructing American jobs. And grasp again, if I may, what we are talking
about here. This is how we would pay for this, piecemealing it out from
the American Jobs Act.

Let`s just get these folks covered and into the economy again for
education, of course, for firefighters and, of course, also for police
officers -- 0.5 percent -- a half a percentage point for every dollar you
make over $1 million. It`s a fraction. If you make $1.1 million, we`re
talking about a $500 put in to the government for this and the Republicans
don`t want to do it.

It`s amazing.

Get your cell phones out. I want to know what you think.

Tonight`s question: Is Harry Reid right? Do Americans want the
economy to fail? Text A for yes, text B for no to 622639. Our blog is
ready for you at Ed.MSNBC.com. We`ll bring you results later in the show.

Joining me now is Harold Schaitberger, a good friend of mine. He is
the president of International Association of Firefighters.

Harold, great to have you with us tonight. You were with the vice
president today.

What will the American jobs bill mean to firefighters? To put it in
direct context for our viewers tonight, what does this mean?

HAROLD SCHAITBERGER, IAFF PRESIDENT: Well, first of all, it means
jobs. It means jobs for teachers to be put back in the classrooms. It
means jobs for cops to be put back on the beat. It means jobs for
firefighters and paramedics to be in their stations and on their apparatus
to respond the next emergency.

And, Ed, what is so incredible about this is this is about 400,000
jobs, teachers, cops and firefighters, providing some of the most essential
services that our government is supposed to provide to the citizens of our
nation, the very reason to have government is to educate our children, keep
our streets safe and respond the next emergency that a citizen could
experience.

And these jobs, these 400,000 jobs, will be paid for mortgages,
buying automobiles. They will be consuming. They will be helping to fuel
this economy while helping to keep our communities safe and our children
educated.

SCHULTZ: Mr. Schaitberger, you heard Mitch McConnell there on those
sound cuts. That`s the first thing he did on the Senate floor this
morning. They are spot on going after it for their base.

But is the Republican obstruction putting American lives at risk? Is
that the case?

SCHAITBERGER: Well, I`ll tell you, I heard on the lead up to this,
you used the word preposterous. I`ll tell you what is preposterous, Ed.
It`s preposterous that Senator McConnell and the Republican Caucus would
see fit to vote no against keeping our communities safe, against trying to
make sure that we are able to respond to the emergencies that our citizens
experience. They always talk about entrepreneurs and that the private
sector will create jobs.

Well, who`s going to teach the children to become the next set of
entrepreneurs? Who is going to be the next engineers and the next doctors?
It`s our school system. It`s our teachers.

SCHULTZ: Yes.

SCHAITBERGER: This is about essential government services, but at
the same time it is about putting hundreds of thousands of people back to
work that have lost their jobs.

SCHULTZ: Mr. Schaitberger, earlier this year when we were in
Wisconsin, you told me the International Association of Firefighters would
not support any candidate who doesn`t back labor. Where do you stand right
now?

It seemed to me that Vice President Biden is pretty much in your
corner.

SCHAITBERGER: Well, first of all, Vice President Biden has been an
incredible friend of workers and working America and the working middle
class his entire 40-year public career. And we are going to hold everybody
accountable, Ed. It`s no different than it was this spring.

SCHULTZ: Yes.

SCHAITBERGER: This is a very simple choice right now.

SCHULTZ: Do you back President Obama?

SCHAITBERGER: Members of the United States Senate have a choice this
week. They can choose to put people back to work, to educate our children,
and to keep our communities safe -- or they can take the political
expediency to try to maybe influence an election and to block our economy
recovering and people actually getting jobs again.

SCHULTZ: Does --

SCHAITBERGER: That`s the choice.

SCHULTZ: Does your organization support President Obama right now?

SCHAITBERGER: We are supporting President Obama. We support the
administration and we`re going to support anyone who continues to support
the ability for our members to have jobs, to do their service, to be able
to provide the incredible and important work that is so important in all of
our neighborhoods and communities.

SCHULTZ: Harold Schaitberger, always a pleasure. Good to have you
with us tonight on the program.

Now, let`s turn to Democratic strategist Krystal Ball, and host of
the "Ring of Fire" radio show and ED SHOW contributor, Mike Papantonio.

Great to have you with us tonight.

SCHULTZ: Krystal, is the president doing the right thing with the
bus tour? Should he continue this? Is it working?

KRYSTAL BALL, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: It`s absolutely working. I
mean 75 percent of Americans agree with getting firefighters and teachers
back to work. I mean, it`s kind of a no brainer. This is what the
president should have been doing a long time ago, taking his case to the
American people, rather than trying to negotiate with a bunch of people
who, quite frankly, have no interest in negotiating.

It`s resonating and if this is his Howard Dean impression, as Mitch
McConnell said, I`d love to see more of it. It is going over great in my
book.

SCHULTZ: Pap, do the Republicans want the economy to fail? Is Harry
Reid right when he says that?

MIKE PAPANTONIO, "RING OF FIRE" HOST: That`s part of the program.
Look, unfortunately, the only way the GOP could be so cockeyed and confused
about their position on job creation is they are spending too much time
reading the damn Drudge Report or listen to the FOX News spin about how bad
Obama is doing with the economy.

My advice is to Boehner is look at the polls and see how seriously
Republicans look helpless like helpless losers here. News flash to Cantor
and Boehner, Obama jobs stimulus bus tour is working. It`s killing the
Republicans. The majority on both sides, the Republicans and the
Democrats, believe in Obama`s program. Not parts but all of it.

What Boehner and McConnell really should be worried about, Ed, is
that virtually every credible poll is now showing that most Americans
believe that Obama and the Democrats are better able to solve the
unemployment problem in this country than the Republicans. Boehner better
think again before he has his whiney out of touch Republicans lead another
filibuster to prevent job creation in America because right now the
Republicans are being blamed for the problem. They are not part of the
solution. They are part of the problem.

Understand, the Republicans didn`t just filibuster, Ed, to stop a
vote on the jobs bill. They filibustered to completely stop a discussion
at all about the debate -- just cut off the debate at all. Fourteen
million Americans are out of work and they don`t want to talk about it.

SCHULTZ: Well, I found the interview with Jake Tapper pretty
interesting, Krystal, because the president talked about filibusters. He
hasn`t talked about that, that I know of in the past and talked about the
obstruction he faced. Is that a good path for him to take?

BALL: Well, I think, absolutely, because the Republicans have been
coming up with this narrative that the president got everything he wanted
in the first two years. He had a Democratic Congress. He had a Democratic
Senate. So, of course, he got everything he wanted.

When the reality was, Republicans from day one said we will defeat
this president and they did everything they could to obstruct progress, to
obstruct focus, to obstruct doing anything that would help the American
people.

So, I think it`s very helpful. You know, sometimes we have short
memories and sometimes we forget the way things actually went down. I
think it`s important for the president to remind folks that these
Republicans have been obstructing from the very beginning of his
administration.

SCHULTZ: Well, I`ll tell you what? It`s amazing that Mitch
McConnell can throw out sound bytes like that that this president has
gotten everything he wanted. You go on the street and you ask what a
filibuster is, most don`t know what it is. They don`t know the rules of
the Senate.

BALL: Right.

SCHULTZ: I venture to say that. But, Pap, what about the
millionaires, do you think the majority of wealthy people in the country
would be with OK with 0.5 percent over a million dollars? What do you
think?

PAPANTONIO: I don`t think they have problems with it, Ed, because
most millionaires understand, they believe in capitalism. In order for
capitalism to work, you have to put money in to the system. You have to
move it, if you move it by way of government into people`s hands -- that
works.

Most millionaires believe in capitalism and become millionaires by
believing in capitalism. In order to that, we have to put money in the
hands of people, and this is one way to go about doing it. So, I don`t
think most people would have problems with that.

SCHULTZ: All right. Krystal Ball, Mike Papantonio, great to have
you on the program tonight. Thanks so much.

BALL: Thanks, Ed.

PAPANTONIO: Thank you.

SCHULTZ: And before we continue, we want to tell you about a
programming note. Beginning on Monday, THE ED SHOW will begin the new time
slot at 8 p.m. Eastern, 7:00 Central, 6:00 Mountain and 5:00 on the West
Coast. I appreciate all of you who have been watching us here at 10:00. I
hope you join us two hours earlier starting on Monday.

Today on my radio show, I got a phone call from a gentleman who is 57
years old in Chicago. We had a conversation. He said, Ed, you know, we`re
with hurting out here. He says, I`ve lost everything. I`ve lost my home.
I had to give up my home to pay my bills and we`re hurting and I need a job
and I have been out of work 14 months.

So, I just want you to know, I feel very fortunate to be able to sit
in front of the camera every night and have a job. It`s a good time to
have a job. It`s always a good time to have a job. I feel very fortunate.

I hope you will follow us at 8:00 and we will continue to do the same
kind of stories with the same commentary at 8:00, as what we have done at
6:00 and at 10:00, and now, we`re at 8:00.

In fact, MSNBC can put my show anywhere. I`m just glad to be here.

Don`t forget to answer tonight`s question at the bottom of the
screen. I want to know what you think. Mitt and Rick Perry went at it
last night. We`ll survey the damage.

And tragedy in John Kasich`s Ohio. A man sets dozens of exotic
animals loose and takes his own life. Authorities were forced to kill
nearly 50 of these aggressive creatures. And according to neighbors, the
animals had a history of getting loose.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were going to the ranch one day and me and a
couple of friends seen a buffalo, a camel and a giraffe on the road. It`s
pretty crazy. We thought we were drunk but we weren`t with drinking yet.
It was only 3:00 in the afternoon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: You don`t want to miss the latest on this story. Stay with
us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: A revealing moment from the last night`s Republican debate,
was the audience`s attitude towards the nation`s unemployed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, MODERATOR: Two weeks ago, you said, "Don`t blame
Wall Street, don`t blame the big banks. If you don`t have a job, and
you`re not rich, blame yourself."

That was two weeks ago. The movement has grown. Do you still say
that?

(APPLAUSE)

HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes, I do still say that.
And here`s why.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

SCHULTZ: Wow! A GOP debate crowd taking pleasure in the misfortune
of others. Where have we seen that before?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN WILLIAMS, NBC NEWS: Governor Perry, a question about Texas.
Your state has executed 234 death row inmates, more than any other governor
in modern times. Have you --

(APPLAUSE)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN: Are you saying that society should just let him
die?

AUDIENCE: Yes.

REP. RON PAUL (R-TX), PRESIDNTIAL CANDIDATE: No.

STEPHEN HILL, SERVING IN IRAQ: Do you intend to circumvent the
progress that`s been made for gay and lesbian soldiers in the military?

(BOOING)

RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes --

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

SCHULTZ: You know, if the audiences are that extreme, what does it
say about the candidates they are coming to see?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

PERRY: It is a Ponzi scheme.

SANTORUM: We need to repeal Obamacare.

REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Do not raise
the debt ceiling.

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you want to put people
in jail, I want to second what Michelle said, you ought to start with
Barney Frank and Chris Dodd.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

SCHULTZ: Well, the crazy talk finally got personal last night.
We`ll have the fallout from the Romney/Perry showdown, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW.

I think we finally saw the true Mitt Romney last night. He`s a guy
that usually gets his way and always has. This is how he reacted when Rick
Perry knocked him off of his game.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK: You hired illegals in your home and you knew about it for a
year. And the idea that you stand here before us and talk about that
you`re strong on immigration is on its face the height of hypocrisy.

(LAUGHTER)

COOPER: Governor Romney?

ROMNEY: Rick, I don`t think I`ve ever hired an illegal in my life.
And so, I`m afraid -- I`m looking forward to finding your facts on that,
because that just doesn`t --

PERRY: Well, I`ll tell you what the facts are.

ROMNEY: Rick, again -- Rick, I`m speaking.

PERRY: You had the -- your newspaper -- the newspaper --

ROMNEY: I`m speaking. I`m speaking. I`m speaking.

(CROSSTALK)

ROMNEY: You get 30 seconds. This is the way the rules work here, is
that I get 60 seconds and then you get 30 second to respond, right?

Anderson?

PERRY: And they want to hear you say that you knew you had illegals
working at your --

ROMNEY: Would you please wait? Are you just going to keep talking?

PERRY: Yes, sir.

ROMNEY: Would you let me finish with what I have to say?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Joining me tonight is Harold Cook, Texas Democratic
strategist and author of the political satire blog, "Letters from Texas."

Great to have you with us.

I want to play the rest of the exchange between Romney and Perry.
Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: We hired a lawn company to mow our lawn, and they had
illegal immigrants that were working there. And when that was pointed out
to us we let them go.

You have a problem allowing someone to finish speaking and I suggest
that if you want to become president of the United States you have to the
let both people speak. So, first, let me speak.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Harold, how does Mitt Romney`s reaction speak to his
character?

HAROLD COOK, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I don`t think he did
himself any favors. He was trying to defend himself against Perry`s
attacks, and turn it around and attack Perry. But I think they both
sounded shrill and I think they both sounded like children.

SCHULTZ: Well, they wanted to get across at one another for sure.
But it seems to me that Mitt Romney lost his composure a little bit. This
is not the Mitt Romney that we have seen in other debates and I think it
might be a snapshot of what he really is like.

What do you think?

COOK: Well, I think, look, Mitt Romney has been becoming -- he is en
exponentially better in this presidential election at debates than he was
the last time he ran for president. But this is not one of his finest
moments but neither was it Rick Perry`s finest moment.

Frankly, I think this gets away from politic and in to psychology in
which it seems to me that both of these men are feeling extremely insecure
about their vulnerabilities on the issue of immigration.

SCHULTZ: This was the statement from Mitt Romney after the debate.
They said, "He`s extremely thin-skinned. He got very rattled, and I think
that`s something we hadn`t seen before."

Then, today, the Romney camp struck back with ad questioning Perry`s
composure under question. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PERRY: He was before -- he was before the social programs from the
standpoint of -- he was for --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do or die for him.

RICK: Not whether we will have this or that policy.

We don`t need any plan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Perry did really throw up on himself during the
debate.

PERRY: The fact is Americans understand faith.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Rick Perry plunging in the polls, rolling the
dice.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He wouldn`t just calm down. He seemed very
agitated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Who`s looking like this a winner at the end of the day,
Harold?

COOK: Well, I`ll tell you, I think the pundits that I heard today
seemed shocked that Perry was so mean. I got to tell you those of us in
Texas were not shocked at all. This is just Perry throat clearing. He
hasn`t gotten his mean engine warmed up yet. It`s got to get a lot better
than that.

But one thing that Perry is, is composed. I think that is calculated
on his part, and Romney looked out of control, so I think it advantaged
Perry.

SCHULTZ: So this is the Rick Perry that we really haven`t seen
nationally but you have seen a lot of this in Texas?

COOK: Oh, yes. He`ll get up in people`s faces all the time when he
thinks it is going to get him something. And I`ll tell you, if the post-
debate polling shows he has a bump for showing that side of him, you expect
a lot more of that. But it`s not going to be just from him. You expect
the super PACs that are supporting him to start to rip the hearts out of
some of these other candidates.

Look, Perry has never won an election because his raises his
popularity. He wins elections by raising everybody else`s negatives. And
that, I think, is the way he`s concluded he can do that.

SCHULTZ: Harold Cook, thanks for joining us tonight. Appreciate
your time.

A right wing FOX News lie hit the mainstream when debate moderator
Anderson Cooper repeated it last night. "Psycho Talk" is next.

And Michele Bachmann -- well, she pals around with Mr. Las Vegas
himself in Sin City. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: In Psycho Talk tonight, an elitist righty lie hits the
mainstream. Fox News has put a lot of time and effort and energy into
pushing this false talking point --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRETCHEN CARLSON, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Forty percent of the country does
not pay any tax.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Forty three percent of households don`t pay any
federal tax.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Forty seven percent of households pay not a single
dime in taxes.

CARLSON: Forty seven percent of all Americans don`t pay any taxes.

GLENN BECK, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Forty nine percent don`t pay any
tax.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fifty one percent of the country isn`t paying any
taxes at all.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Half of the Americans now don`t pay
taxes.

Fifty percent of the people aren`t paying, households. Fifty percent
of households are.

Fifty percent of the American people, households in America, don`t pay
taxes anymore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Of course, it is not true that half of Americans don`t pay
any taxes. About forty six percent won`t pay federal income taxes this
year, mainly because they don`t make enough money. Even the lowest income
Americans still pay other taxes, payroll taxes, gas taxes, sales taxes,
state and local taxes. Are they taxes? Do they count? You are damn right
they do.

But this is what the righties do. They repeat a lie over and over
again until it becomes accepted as fact. CNN`s Anderson Cooper even said
it last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Congresswoman Bachmann, you also said at
the last debate that everyone should pay something. Does that mean you
would raise taxes on the 47 percent of Americans who currently don`t pay
taxes?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Anderson corrected himself tonight on his show. But the
fact that he said it in the first place shows why these guys keep repeating
bogus talking points, because it works. And Fox News isn`t letting up.

Eric Bolling, well, he was back at it again today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC BOLLING, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: 9-9-9 was so easy to understand.
People loved it. They loved Herman Cain. They said I need to sign on to
this. All of a sudden, the "Wall Street Journal" comes out and says 84
percent of Americans will pay more. That`s because 50 percent or so don`t
pay taxes anyway.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: "Don`t pay taxes anyway." The endless reputation of a
completely false claim is typical Fox News Psycho Talk.

Why did a man with criminal past and a history of animal abuse keep
over 50 wild animals on his Ohio farm? Well, because the law allowed him
to. It`s just another day in John Kasich`s Ohio. That`s next.

Congressman Allen West says Martin Luther King Junior could not have
backed the 99 percent movement. West is wrong. Stay with us. We`re right
back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stay inside. There just might be a lion, a tiger
or a grizzly roaming in your neighborhood.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Can you believe that? It has been a terrifying 24 hours for
the residents of Zanesville, Ohio. They found out firsthand what
deregulation is all about.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are some of the animals killed overnight in
what can only be described as an open season slaughter of wild and
dangerous animals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Here`s the story. The animals were owned by Terry Thompson.
Thompson kept them on his 73-acre farm, despite his criminal record and
history of animal neglect. Authorities believe that Thompson freed the
animals from their cages and then killed himself.

Schools were closed and residents told to stay indoors as police
searched. And scores of animals, described as mature and aggressive --
they were forced to be killed -- forced to kill nearly 50 of them,
including 18 rare Bengal tigers, 17 lions, six black bears, three mountain
lions, two grizzly bears, two wolves, and one baboon.

Six animals have been captured. At this hour, all animals have been
accounted for, including a diseased monkey that was thought to be on the
loose.

So how did a guy with a criminal record keep an entire zoo in his
backyard? Because the law permits it. Simple as that. Ohio doesn`t
regulate private ownership of exotic animals.

The state`s last governor, Democrat Ted Strickland, wanted to change
that. In January, he signed an emergency executive order that banned the
keeping of exotic animals. When John Kasich took office, he was asked if
he would extend the executive order. Here`s what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R), OHIO: We`ll look at it. I mean, it doesn`t --
it sounds reasonable, but let me just take a look at it. I would be
inclined to say we should continue it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Take a look at it. Well, Kasich ended up letting the order
expire. Today he was answering for that decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor, there`s a lot of people blaming your
administration this morning for the situation over in Zanesville. They are
saying that that would have been avoided if you hadn`t allowed the exotic
animal ban to expire. How do you respond to that? And where do you stand
on exotic animal rules?

KASICH: Yes. Well, first of all, the people in charge in our
administration said they didn`t have the authority, nor did they have the
infrastructure to even carry out something that was put in in the last days
of the last administration.

As a result of that, they started working on, you know, a working
group to get that done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: I think a good attorney would probably look in to that to
verify what the governor is saying. Joining me now is MSNBC contributor
and Washington correspondent for "The Nation" magazine, who`s following the
story, John Nichols. John, great to have you with us.

Why did Kasich allow this order to expire? And speak to that last
answer he just gave to that reporter.

JOHN NICHOLS, "THE NATION": It is a bogus answer, Ed. Here`s the
problem: this governor had an order from the previous governor that would
have shut down this particular farm, this particular exotic animal
situation, by about May one of 2011. It was all structural. It was all
planned.

Didn`t make for an immediate removal. So it didn`t create some sort
of crisis situation where Ohio Department of Natural Resources folks would
have had to rush in. They had time. They could have implemented an order
and taken folks out.

Instead, Governor Kasich decided not to trust the Ohio Department of
Natural Resources to be able to implement this thing. It fits with what
governors -- Republican governors across this country have been doing.
They don`t like these Department of Natural Resources operations because
these are the folks who often implement environmental rules, who put
regulations on business.

So there is a tendency to not go along with the DNRs in the states.
And I think that`s exactly what Governor Kasich did. Unfortunately, it
created a carnival situation, horrible mess.

But the reality is that, again and again and again, these Republican
governors refuse to, or avoid implementation of smart regulations, because
they think it will be some kind of burden on business or they just think it
won`t be popular with their campaign contributors.

SCHULTZ: Everyone from the Humane Society to Ted Nugent is pouncing
on the governor from Ohio, John Kasich. How does this impact him
politically, if at all? .

NICHOLS: I think it has an impact. John Kasich looked pretty
uncomfortable today when he was taking those questions. As the day has
evolved -- remember, the whole state of Ohio has looked at this issue
around the clock. It`s been an intense, very passionate moment for Ohio.

Here they see their governor being casual about it, still taking no
responsibility, refusing to step up. And I think they have to juxtapose it
with the Issue 2 debate. Here`s a governor who somehow found all of these
extraordinary powers to go after public employees, to cut their wages, cut
their benefits, to crack down on their unions. But he says he doesn`t have
the authority to protect people from wild animals.

SCHULTZ: Jack Hanna says that he is going to work with the governor
to get some kind of legislation done. So do you think that will happen?

NICHOLS: I`m sure it will happen. Look, I`ve covered Governor Kasich
for years. I was a newspaper editor in Ohio for a long time, back when he
was a congressman. He`s a pretty smart politician. At the end of the day,
he knows he will have to clean this up.

But I do think, Ed, we should focus on the reality that across this
country, every day, there are these Republican governors, including Kasich,
who don`t take regulation seriously.

SCHULTZ: Sure.

NICHOLS: They don`t see why we have regulations. And this is going
to be highlighted here. Even if the governor cleans up this one, there`s
an awful lot of other regulations that should be looked at as well.

SCHULTZ: In that last sound byte we played of Kasich, he infers that
the past governor wasn`t on solid legal ground to continue with the
executive order. It is something that should be looked into. I`m sure
that the state legislature will follow up on it.

A very harrowing situation in Ohio today.

NICHOLS: It was.

SCHULTZ: Thanks, John. John Nichols of "The Nation" magazine with
us. Just another reminder, beginning on Monday, THE ED SHOW will start at
a new time, 8:00 Eastern, 7:00 central. We will get to work two hours
earlier. I hope you join us at 8:00 here for THE ED SHOW starting on
Monday.

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann gets cozy with Wayne Newton after the
Republican debate last night. "Daily Show" co-creator Lizz Winstead will
weigh in and talk about her own encounter with Mr. Las Vegas next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: There`s a reason why a healthy majority of Americans support
the 99 Percent Movement. It is all about economic justice. That`s why Dr.
Martin Luther King Junior would have supported it. But Tea Party
congressman Allen West thinks he knows better.

And next, Wayne Newton kisses Michele Bachmann. You won`t want to
miss it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: In my Playbook tonight, Minnesota Congresswoman Michele
Bachmann is back down in the single digits in the presidential polls. But
she still has at least one very enthusiastic fan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Wayne Newton. Tell me, listen,
it looks like you are on a date.

WAYNE NEWTON, SINGER: I will support this beautiful lady as long as
she wants to go.

VAN SUSTEREN: What do you --

BACHMANN: That`s pretty good, don`t you think, Greta?

VAN SUSTEREN: That is pretty hot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Just how hot was it? Bachmann spent the entire interview
snuggled under Wayne Newton`s armpit. And then Mr. Las Vegas headed for
first base.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VAN SUSTEREN: Thank you to both. And good luck to both of you.

WAYNE: Thank you very much. And thank you for allowing me.

BACHMANN: Thank you.

Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Yowza. Now in slow motion replay, can we go to the
videotape. Yes, we can. Michele Bachmann seemed to flinch a little there,
before she got her ready for TV smile right back on. But the congresswoman
is no stranger to awkward public displays of public affection. She has
experience here.

After the 2007 State of the Union Address, Bachmann kept a death grip
on George W. Bush`s shoulder until he let her plant a wet one on him.

Yes.

Joining me now is comedian Lizz Winstead, co-creator of "The Daily
Show."

LIZZ WINSTEAD, COMEDIAN: My god. That was like the worst eHarmony
commercial ever.

SCHULTZ: What do you make the of this love fest between Wayne Newton
and Michele Bachmann?.

WINSTEAD: You know, when you have to go home to Marcus at night,
maybe it was a nice little change up. But I -- looking at Wayne Newton, it
is -- first of all, I don`t know what happened to -- he`s a little
surgeried out, which is kind of creepy.

If you look at him, he kind of looks like actually somebody just took
-- you know when you take the wax and you seal an envelope? They just kind
of waxed his face out.

But the little lady, I love this little lady. This little lady, I
love this lady.

SCHULTZ: Here`s a clip of Bachmann gushing over Newton last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VAN SUSTEREN: Going up and down the strip, getting other celebrities,
congresswoman?

BACHMANN: Hey, why not? We will take support everywhere we can. It
doesn`t get better. This is a picture of America right here. This is like
John Wayne, Wayne Newton. So I`m just thrilled.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: John Wayne? OK. Is Wayne Newton as good as it gets now for
Michele Bachmann in this race.

WINSTEAD: You know what? It doesn`t get better than Wayne Newton.
John Wayne Newton Gingrich.

SCHULTZ: I hear that you have your own kind of run in with Wayne
Newton.

WINSTEAD: I went to see Wayne Newton because, of course, I`m a big
fan, in Vegas. And I was the youngest person there by about 40 years. And
he does a thing where he does Danke Schoen for about 20 minutes and goes
into the audience and sings and kisses all the women, whether they like it
or not.

And he does that whole thing where he`s like "Danke Schoen," and then
the people -- the band plays and he kisses women. He literally stared at
my boobs for a minute, to the point where it was uncomfortable and he is
like "Danke" -- I`m like Danke Schoen, dude, eyes up, eyes up.

For one minute, my date is like he is really focusing on your rack.
And I am like, yes, he really is. But now I see he has moved on to more
powerful, sexy ladies like Michele Bachmann.

SCHULTZ: Lizz Winstead, always a pleasure. Good to have you with us.

WINSTEAD: Thanks, Ed.

SCHULTZ: Tea Party Congressman Allen West sounds off on Martin Luther
King Jr. and the 99 Percent Movement. That`s next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Survey tonight, I asked you, do Republicans want the economy
to fail? Ninety eight percent of you said yes; two percent of you said no.
You agree with Harry Reid.

Coming up, Allen West says Martin Luther King Jr. would not have
supported the Occupy Wall Street protests, just days after Dr. King`s
daughter said the exact opposite.

Dr. James Peterson on Dr. King and the 99 Percenters next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW. The Tea Party congressman from
Florida Allen West has joined other Republicans in criticizing the Occupy
Wall Street Movement. But he`s taken it a step further. West said Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. would not have supported it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALLEN WEST (R), FLORIDA: Martin Luther King Jr. would not have
backed these type of protests. First of all, Martin Luther King Jr. had a
focus and he had a message. He was divinely inspired. I don`t know what
the inspiration is for these individuals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Congressman west, the inspiration and the message is pretty
straightforward. It`s a call for economic justice in America. In fact, in
August of 1963, the Sunday before a march on Washington, Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. said this on NBC`s "Meet the Press."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR., CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER: We have waited for well
now 345 years for our basic constitutional and God-given rights. And we
still confront the fact that we are at the bottom of the economic ladder.
We confront the fact that the gap between the medium income of Negroes and
whites is widening every day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: I don`t know, congressman, does that sound familiar to you;
the income gap between the working class and the wealthiest Americans is
widening every day. That`s why King`s very own daughter, the Reverend
Bernice King, said her father would have supported the 99 Percent Movement.

He stood for both racial and economic justice. One part of the 99
Percent Movement has now formed a demands working group and called for a
national convention. A list of suggested demands includes a jobs plan and
single-payer health care.

But the suggestions by the working group have not yet been embraced by
the movement as a whole. Let`s bring in the director of Africana studies
and associate professor of English at Lehigh University, Dr. James
Peterson.

Dr. Peterson, good to have you with us.

DR. JAMES PETERSON, LEHIGH UNIVERSITY: How are you?

SCHULTZ: Doing fine. I want your take on this. How do you think Dr.
Martin Luther King would have seen the 99 Percent Movement? And why is it
so important?

PETERSON: Well, it`s -- clearly Dr. King would have embraced this
movement. Remember his principals of nonviolence. Remember that when he
gave his life for the movement, he was focused on addressing poverty
directly and marching, nonviolently to Washington.

When he got shot in Memphis, when he was working with the sanitation
workers, this was his platform precisely. So this -- the kind of -- I`m
just disgusted by this in some ways, Ed, because Representative West -- and
I hope the people from the 22nd district in Florida can hear me on this.
For a Congressperson to have this kind of nonsensical grasp on American
history, at this particular moment, where we are commemorating the life and
work of MLK, is really disheartening and disappointing.

SCHULTZ: Well, he put it in the Congressional Record. He just didn`t
say it on a radio talk show with a righty. He went on the House floor and
said this.

Congressman West connected Occupy Wall Street and the progressive
movement to communism and socialism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WEST: This progressive movement is really what communists were called
back at the turn of the century, between the 19th and 20th century. So we
are starting to really see the face of who liberal progressives are, being
it Marxist, Stalinist type policies, going to socialist type of policies.

(END VIEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: The does this man have any credibility at all.

PETERSON: He just doesn`t have a grasp on history. Again, he is
politicizing things that he should not be politicizing. We should not
politicize the legacy of MLK.

He`s sort of -- the juxtaposition of the Tea Party and Occupy Wall
Street is misguided. And it`s set -- he does this just to compete. He
just wants to win. It is just about making political moves and political
stratagem.

99 Percent Movement is one of the most important movements of my
entire lifetime, where folks are actually standing up and standing in to
try to get some economic justice in this country. At a time where the top
one percent% control more wealth and more land than they have since the
1920s, it is about time for the 99 percent to stand up and challenge that.

That is what capitalism is about. You want to talk about socialism
and communism? All of that kind of government sort of socialism has been
directed towards the corporate sect. So now we have people standing up.
And you have politicians like this politicizing these movement and
destroying sort of the legacy of MLK. It almost leaves me speechless, Ed.

You know, I have been on a few times. I have a lot to say. but this
story almost leaves me speechless.

SCHULTZ: What do you make of the demands working group? This
organization that they are focusing in on some things they want. They want
to have a national convention. What do you make of this?

PETERSON: I feel like the organic nature of the Occupy Wall Street
Movement needs to be allowed to live and breathe as it is. The working
group certainly should make recommendations. But I`m not going to be
disappointed if the movement doesn`t take on all the recommendations.

We need to support the movement, if you believe in what they are
doing. Give it direction and leadership, if you believe in what they are
doing. But the idea that a working group understands better than the
people themselves is a misunderstanding of what this movement is.

SCHULTZ: Well, they are talking about a convention in July of 2012.
They are talking about putting candidates in every district. And they say
if they can`t get it done `12, they are going to go to 2014, 2016.

Where does this leave the Democrats? Because if you look at some of
the demands that they`re talking about, it parallels that of the Democratic
platform of the convention they just had back in Denver in 2008. What
about that?

PETERSON: That`s true. I think the DNC should certainly be looking
at Occupy Wall Street very, very closely. Obviously the movement itself
has been a little bit reticent about embracing politicians, because
sometimes politicians get to Washington and they forget about the movement.

So we need to have -- the convention should be more about how do we
marry some of these movements together. There`s lots of different
progressive movements. How do we marry some of these together to make a
really strong push to make real change in this country?

SCHULTZ: I`m going to ask Congressman West to come on this program
and have a conversation with you, if I may.

PETERSON: I`d love to debate the congressman.

SCHULTZ: I`d love to have him on board and have the two of you
exchange ideas.

PETERSON: Anytime, anywhere. Anytime, anywhere.

SCHULTZ: We`ll work on it. Thank you so much for joining us tonight.
That`s THE ED SHOW. I`m Ed Schultz. You can listen to my radio show on
Sirius XM Radio channel 127, Monday through Friday, from noon to 3:00.

I`ll have a lot to say tomorrow. Follow me on Twitter @EdShow and
@WeGotEd.

"THE LAST WORD" with Lawrence O`Donnell starts right now.

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

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