THE ED SHOW with ED SCHULTZ
November 8, 2012
Guests: Bernie Sanders, Sherrod Brown, Krystal Ball, Ari Melber, Eugene Robinson, Michael Tomasky
ED SCHULTZ, HOST: Good evening, Americans. And welcome to THE ED
SHOW from New York.
The president won the fight for the middle class on Tuesday. Now,
it`s time to take the fight to Congress.
This is THE ED SHOW -- let`s get to work.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: America, I believe we
can build on the progress we have made and continue to fight for new jobs
and new opportunity and new security for the middle class.
SCHULTZ (voice-over): The president is promising a fight. But
Republicans in Congress won`t go down easy.
Tonight, Bernie Sanders is here to remind the president that he has
the upper hand.
The Citizens United disaster continues to unfold for Republicans. The
biggest loser is losing control.
KARL ROVE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: But the president has a real -- he
succeeded by suppressing the vote.
SCHULTZ: Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio on his massive victory against
piles of dark money.
And righties continue to freak out over the death of traditional
America?
BILL O`REILLY, FOX NEWS: It`s not a traditional America anymore.
SCHULTZ: Eugene Robinson weighs in tonight.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCHULTZ: -- with us tonight, folks. Thanks for watching.
The Obama campaign has just released video of the president addressing
his staff in Chicago. The president gets very emotional. It`s remarkable
video. We`ll bring it in just a moment.
But President Obama doesn`t have a lot of time to bask in his
electoral victory. The fight for the middle class starts right now in
Congress. The confetti was still on the floor after the celebration in
Chicago, and House Speaker John Boehner was already hinting at another
major fight in Congress over taxes and spending.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: In order to garner
Republican support for new revenues, the president must be willing to
reduce spending and shore up entitlement programs that are the primary
drivers of our debt. Mr. President, this is your moment. We`re ready to
be led, not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: President Obama will make a statement tomorrow in the East
Room of the White House. He will address this so-called "fiscal cliff".
The automatic spending cuts and tax hikes kicked in January 1st if
Washington can`t reach a deal.
A lot of people fear it`s going to be a repeat of what happened in
2011 when the Republicans held the debt ceiling hostage to get what they
wanted.
But things, I guess, you could say are a little bit different this
time around. We are two days removed from a landslide victory for the
president in Electoral College, as well as a new 55 to 45 Democratic Senate
majority. The president is also the winner of the popular vote.
Did you hear that, Republicans? He is the winner of the popular vote
with the majority of the country supporting him.
The only area in government where the Democrats fell shot was in the
Congress, the House of Representatives.
The Senate minority leader believes the Republican control should be
enough to deny President Obama a mandate. Mitch McConnell made a statement
saying, "The voters have not endorsed the failures or excesses of the
president`s first term, they have simply given him more time to finish the
job they asked him to do, together with a Congress that restored balance to
Washington after two years of one-party control."
Now, not so fast. The actual number of votes cast for House seats
favored the Democrats by a half a million votes. This is no mandate for
House Republicans, but, of course, they`re trying to swing a big stick
again.
There`s a reason Republicans were able to capture more House seats
with a majority of the vote. For example, look at Pennsylvania in 2008.
Take a good look at that. Where is the red? About the middle of the
state. A lot of blue districts, right, on the east and the west?
Now, take a look at Pennsylvania in 2012. Wow. What happened?
There`s a lot more red. It`s because Democratic districts have been
gerrymandered into unwinnable seats. You know, those Republicans are
pretty slick. Reliable blue districts in the southwestern and southeastern
part of Pennsylvania were combined into comfortable red districts.
"Real Clear Politics" reported that last year, Pennsylvania underwent
the gerrymander of the decade.
This is what happens when Republicans take control of state houses.
Elections have consequences, and all politics is local.
Despite Democrats having an electoral majority, Republicans are able
to cling to control of the House.
This is not enough to override the political capital picked up by the
president on Tuesday. Americans voted for an agenda of what? Social --
strong social programs and income equality in America. They want the
president to deliver on his campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I want to reform the tax code so that simple, fair and ask the
wealthiest households to pay higher taxes on incomes over $250,000 -- the
same rate we had when Bill Clinton was president, the same rate we had when
our economy created nearly 23 million new jobs, the biggest surplus in
history, and a whole lot of millionaires to boot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Now, that was before the election. That was in the -- let`s
see, I think they have some convention? Very clear where President Obama
was and very clear where the American people voted.
Americans want progressive action by their government, including
higher taxes on the wealthiest Americans. This is a pivotal moment for the
Democrats. I don`t think that they cave in. The Republicans are already
trying to make it hard for him.
President Obama reached out to Speaker Boehner and Senator McConnell
right after the election victory. He said -- he was told that they were
already asleep.
Today, Speaker Boehner told ABC News tax increases are still off the
table.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOEHNER: Putting increased revenues on the table but through
reforming our tax code. I would do that if the president were serious
about solving our spending problem and trying to secure our entitlement
programs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Revenue through reforming or tax code? This is the same
stuff voters just rejected.
This was a bright spot in Boehner`s interview. He was asked if
Republicans will still pursue full repeal of Obamacare.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOEHNER: I think the election changes that. It`s pretty clear the
president was reelected. Obamacare is the law of the land.
DIANE SAWYER, ABC NEWS: But you won`t be extending the time next year
trying to repeal Obamacare?
BOEHNER: There are certainly maybe parts of it we believe that need
to be changed. We may do that. No decisions at this point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Wait a minute. A short while later, Boehner walked back his
answer on Twitter. "Obamacare is the law of the land, but it`s raising
costs and hurting small businesses. Our goal remains full repeal"?
It looks like Boehner is still scared of those Tea Partiers in the
caucus, don`t you think? Don`t forget, President Obama was close to
persuading John Boehner on a grand bargain before Boehner buckled to the
Tea Party pressure.
President Obama and the Democrats, I guess you could say this time
around they don`t need Boehner. They hold not all the cards, but more
cards, and the American people clearly are behind this president. The
American people elected a more progressive Senate. You can`t deny that,
including corporate reformers like Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts.
Senator Patty Murray, who led the Democratic Senatorial Campaign
Committee, says her party is ready to link arms and jump off the cliff.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. PATTY MURRAY (D), WASHINGTON: If we can`t get a good deal, a
balanced deal that calls on the wealthy to pay their fair share, then I
will absolutely continue this debate into 2013 rather than lock in a long-
term deal that throws middle-class families under the bus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: OK. So here we go. President Obama himself said he will
not let a bill pass his desk extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest
Americans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will you veto any legislation that extends all
of the Bush tax cuts even to what you call the wealthy?
OBAMA: Yes, and the reason is we can`t afford it. I mean, it would
cost us a trillion dollars.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: So, here we are, two days after the election, and we`re
already in a vital period of time for President Obama`s next four years.
We got to go back to the old tax rates if we want to deal with the deficit
reduction, and we`re not willing to bargain with the big three to get
there? That`s where I think we ought to be.
This is what we voted for on Tuesday. Fasten your seat belts,
Americans. This will come upon us real fast.
Get your cell phones. We want to know what you think. Tonight`s
question: does the president`s victory give him more leverage in the
economic fight? Text A for yes, text B for no to 622639, and you can
always go to our blog at Ed.MSNBC.com. We`ll bring you the results later
on in the show.
Joining me tonight is independent Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont.
Senator, great to have you with us tonight. Are you --
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: Good to be with you, Ed.
SCHULTZ: You bet. Are you surprised Republicans are already
announcing their intentions to obstruct? How else do we interpret that
interview that Mr. Boehner gave?
SANDERS: No. These guys -- the Republican Party is now an extreme
right-wing party. It is owned by their campaign contributors and the
millionaires and billionaires of this country. It doesn`t surprise me.
But the American people have been very, very clear on this issue.
When you talk about deficit reduction, Ed, every single poll that I have
seen what this election is about is the American people are saying, no,
we`re in the midst of a horrendous Wall Street-caused recession. We are
not going to cut Social Security -- which, by the way, as Harry Reid just
reminded us, has nothing to do with the deficit. We`re not going to cut
Medicare. We`re not going to cut Medicaid.
Yes, at the time when wealthiest people in this country are doing
phenomenally well, and their tax rates are low, we are going to ask the
rich, we are going to ask corporate America, one out of four corporations
in this country paying nothing in taxes. We`re losing over $100 billion a
year because of these tax havens in the Cayman Islands, that corporate and
America and the wealthy take advantage of. Yes, we`re going to do deficit
reduction.
But we will be damned, especially after this election, if we`re going
to balance the budget on the backs of the elderly, the children, the sick
and the poor. I hope very much that the Democrats stand tall on this
issue. I hope that the president is prepared to go to every state in this
country and ask the people, no matter how conservative that state is, do
you really believe we should give tax breaks to billionaires and cut Social
Security and Medicare.
And, Ed, I don`t think there`s one state in this country where the
people will say yes, that makes sense.
SCHULTZ: So, Senator, you want President Obama to hit the road after
the first of the year and go sell the American people, just like Bush did
in 2005 when he won reelection? He went around trying to privatize Social
Security. What do you think the president should do with this capital?
SANDERS: I think on this issue, Ed, on this issue of whether we do
deficit reduction in a way that is fair or whether we give more tax breaks
to millionaires and billionaires as John Boehner wants, whether we cut
programs that struggling people desperately depend upon, I think we have
the overwhelming majority of the people on our side.
I think if we cannot reach an agreement in D.C., which is very likely,
because the Republicans will continue to obstruct, I think the president`s
got to go around this country and say to those people in Oklahoma, in
Mississippi, in Alabama, guess what? This is the issue. Tax breaks for
the billionaires, you`re going to cut Social Security, what do you think?
Call up your congressman, write to your senator. We can win this debate.
SCHULTZ: Do you think that would turn Speaker Boehner? I mean, it`s
very clear he does not want a revenue component. He does not want taxes
going up on the wealthiest Americans. The president says that he is not
going to sign a bill unless it has that in it. So where are we?
SANDERS: Well, I`ll tell you what, Ed. If I was Speaker Boehner, if
I were a Republican congressman or senator and my phone lines were bouncing
off the hooks, because people were saying, do not vote to cut Social
Security, stop protecting billionaires, you know what? I would get a
little bit nervous.
Now, I am already working with a number of senior groups and veterans
groups who are very clear on this issue. There`s a petition out there. We
have one on my Web site, Sanders.Senate.gov. There are other petitions.
Millions of people have got to get involved in this fight. We have
the people on our side. They have got to stand up and fight back and take
on the big money interests who want to do deficit reduction in an extremely
unfair way.
SCHULTZ: Would you characterize this period of politics between the
end of this election and the first of the year as intense as it`s going to
get?
SANDERS: This is a very, very significant moment not only for
millions and millions of people, but for the future of politics in this
country.
SCHULTZ: OK.
SANDERS: Barack Obama won this election. The Democrats won. They
have now got to stand with the working class, the middle class of this
country and now allow Wall Street and big-money interests to run over us.
SCHULTZ: Senator Bernie Sanders, great to have you with us tonight.
Congratulations on your victory, Senator. Great to have you with us.
Thank you.
Remember to answer tonight`s question there at the bottom of the
screen. Share your thoughts with us on Twitter and on Facebook. We want
to know what you think.
Up next, raw emotion from the president, as he addresses his campaign
staff in Chicago just earlier today. The campaign just released this video
and you`re going to want to see it. You`re not going to see it anywhere
else.
Stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: After the president was reelected, he stopped by the
headquarters of the campaign in Chicago to address the staff who worked so
hard on this campaign. He talked to his workers about the amazing
accomplishment that they had all played a part in and it became very
emotional.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I grew up. I became a man during that process. So I come
here and look at all of you, what comes to mind is not that you remind me
of yourself. It`s the fact that you are so much better than I was in so
many ways. You`re smarter, and you`re better organized, and you -- you`re
more effective.
And so I`m absolutely confident that all of you are going to do just
amazing things in your lives. And, you know, the -- what Bobby Kennedy can
be called the "ripples of hope" that come out when you throw a stone in a
lake. That`s going to be you.
I`m just looking around the room thinking, wherever you guys end up,
in whatever states, in whatever capacities, whether in the private sector,
not-for-profit or you decide to go into public service, you`re just going
to do great things. And that`s why even before last night`s results, I
felt that the work that I have done in running for office had come full
circle, because what you guys have done means the work that I`m doing is
important. I`m really proud of that. I`m really proud of all of you, and
-- and what you just --
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: This is a man who laid it on the line for what he believes
in. He knows those in that room and millions like him care about the
middle class in this country and the future of America.
Coming up, Senator Sherrod Brown on his victory over dark money in the
Buckeye State. Share your shots with us on Facebook and on Twitter using
#EdShow. We`re coming right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And we are back. Karl Rove and the super PACs managed to
achieve an epic failure. Now, there`s no other way around that. Despite
all of the money they spent, President Obama was reelected, and Democrats
increased their margins in both the Senate and the House.
Six of the eight senate candidates supported by Karl Rove lost.
Overall, Crossroads had only a 1 percent return on investment on the $103
million spent on attack ads according to a study by the Sunlight
Foundation.
About 1.3 billion was spent by outside groups overall, two thirds of
it from the Republican side, with similar results. A spokesman for the
American Crossroads dismissed the analysis, saying, "GOP super PACs helped
kept the race close and winnable despite President Obama`s massive
financial advantage." It sounds like the latest excuse from Rove and his
buddies is that, well, you know, it really could have been worse.
Here`s the Obama campaign senior adviser David Axelrod.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
DAVID AXELROD, OBAMA CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: If I were one of those
billionaires who were finding Crossroads and those other organizations, I
would be wanting to talk to someone and asking where my refund is. The
heartening news is that you can`t buy the White House, you can`t buy -- you
know, you can`t overwhelm the Congress, you know, with these super PAC
dollars. I would think there will be reluctance in the future when Mr.
Rove and others come knocking on the door because of what happened on
Tuesday.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Let`s bring in Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, who was
victorious on Tuesday night.
Congratulations, Senator. Good to have you with us.
SEN. SHERROD BROWN (D), OHIO: Thanks, Ed. Good to be back.
SCHULTZ: We know they could buy the White House if they`re going to
lie all the time. They haven`t tried the truth yet. So I guess we`ll have
to wait another four years to see how it goes.
But you were one of Karl Rove`s prime targets. How did you survive
just the plethora of money that poured into your state against you?
BROWN: They spent $40 million here, $31 million or $32 million on TV
and radio, and then another $7 million or $8 million on mailings. They ran
50,000 individual ads. The last two weeks, there were eight different
groups kind of directed by Karl Rove directing the choir in the state and
doing attack ads, at the same time, polluting the air waves, if you will.
I think we won because, you know, we stayed on a progressive message.
It`s not left/right, liberal/conservative, progressive, which is it`s whose
side are you on? We talked jobs, we talked auto rescue, we talked standing
up to China on currency, and leveling the playing field, we talked about
community colleges like Tri-C and Saint Clair.
And we also have the best grassroots effort in the country working
with the Obama campaign. We had 65 full-time field organizers, tens of
thousands of volunteers, and you really need the strong message of
progressive strong effort, and you also need a good grassroots
organization.
Forty million clearly did us damage. I mean, it made the race a lot
close are than it would have been, but I think voters in Ohio, as we talked
on your radio show today, I think voters in Ohio started to ask themselves
why all this outside money? It`s the oil companies, it`s Wall Street, it`s
these groups that Karl Rove calls upon to fund his political.
SCHULTZ: What about the pickups in the Senate? It`s going to be a
more progressive caucus. What does that mean?
BROWN: Yes. It means that we`re going to -- I think the Senate will
have more backbone, when I see people like Tammy Baldwin that are joining
us. And Mazie Hirono from Hawaii, I think that the Senate will -- I talked
to Jeff Merkley -- will see a difference in filibuster rules so that we can
actually enact what the country wants us to, working with the reelected
president.
I think that we`ll see a stronger progressive move in this country,
where John Boehner and Mitch McConnell are going to have to listen a little
bit more than they have to the voters. I mean, they said there was a
mandate in 2012 when they won. It`s pretty clear this year as you said at
the beginning of the show, pickup in House seats, unbelievable Senate.
See, this is the most members of the Senate in one party, 25 Democrats
were elected out of I believe 33 races this year. That`s more than any
year in either party since 1964.
SCHULTZ: Yes.
BROWN: That`s a strong, strong message to move forward.
SCHULTZ: Here`s Karl Rove today talking about how President Obama
won. I want your reaction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROVE: He succeed by suppressing the vote, by making -- by saying to
people, you may not like who I am, and I know you can`t bring yourself to
vote for me, but I`m going to paint this other guy as simply a rich guy who
only cares being himself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Suppressing the vote I thought was cutting hours and cutting
days, and not putting voting machines where they should be, stuff like
this. What`s your response to that?
BROWN: Yes. That`s the first thing that jumped out. I have not
heard that clip yet about suppressing the vote. I mean, that`s what they
tried to do all over this state.
On the one hand, that was the most cynical after they try to buy them,
on the one hand, they to suppress the vote on the other.
But Karl Rove had a bad night, bad day on Tuesday. He`s got a lot of
explaining to do to a lot of billionaires whose money he talked them out
of, and I think he`s kind of desperate.
(CROSSTALK)
SCHULTZ: So now he`s trying to sell -- so now he`s trying to these
people that President Obama suppressed the vote. I mean, they really have
no boundaries, do they, Senator?
BROWN: Yes, I`ve never heard of suppressing the vote because you made
good speeches or because you organized your own people to vote. I --
obviously, that`s -- probably one of those things he said he wished he
hadn`t said, because it does sound ludicrous. But I`m still concerned
about this money. And we still got to fight back. We`ve got to change the
rules, the Citizens United, either through the court or a constitutional
amendment.
SCHULTZ: Yes.
BROWN: Because this is clearly bad for our system.
SCHULTZ: OK. Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown with us on THE ED SHOW --
Senator, congratulations on your win. Thanks so much.
BROWN: Thanks.
SCHULTZ: Up next, the shamefully long lines and I mean shamefully
long lines on Election Day. The president says we got to fix this. Find
out what America needs to do to fix this before the next election.
And the election marked the end of traditional America? According to
Bill O`Reilly, of course, he`s always looking out for you. How will
O`Reilly cope? I`ll ask MSNBC political analyst Eugene Robinson.
Stay tuned. You`re watching THE ED SHOW on MSNBC.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Whether you voted for the very first time or waited in line
for a very long time -- by the way, we have to fix that.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: I wonder if they`ll filibuster that effort. Thanks for
staying with us tonight.
Democrats had a great night Tuesday, but there is something we cannot
forget. We started reporting on the long lines at the polls days before
the election. The wait stretch from four to five to six, in some cases,
seven hours in some cities across the country.
These lines did not deter the 120 million people who did vote. And
we`re grateful that they got out and voted. No doubt. But to me there`s
something really un-American about this whole process. It`s ridiculous to
force moms and dads and students and workers and elderly folks to wait four
hours to cast a ballot.
And it turns out minorities suffered the longest waits. The AFL-CIO
reports that minorities were more likely to wait at least 30 minutes to
vote; 22 percent of African-Americans and 24 percent of Hispanics waited
the longest. At least one election official is now apologizing.
These were the early voting lines at Lee County Election Headquarters
in Ft. Myers, Florida. On election night, some voters were still in line
long after the polls closed. The last ballot was cast in Lee County at
1:30 a.m. in the morning. That would be on Wednesday.
But here`s something we haven`t seen before. The election supervisor
gave this emotional apology.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHARON HARRINGTON, LEE COUNTY SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS: I want to
close by apologizing to the voters of Lee County, to those who waited in
long lines -- excuse me -- during eight days of early voting, to those who
waited in long lines at their precincts, and to those who got discouraged
and left without voting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Florida counties say these didn`t have enough ballot
scanners. In Ohio, the voting machines broke down. Dozens of California
poll workers overslept. Nineteen polling places in Hawaii ran out of
ballots.
Folks, I just think that this is terribly unacceptable. The president
said we have to fix this. I say let`s get to work.
Let`s turn to Krystal Ball, co-host of "THE CYCLE" here on MSNBC, and
Ari Melber, correspondent for "The Nation" magazine. Do you think that
maybe the American people and the Democrats -- I think the Democrats want
to do something about this.
Is there any way we could shame Republican leadership into doing this,
Krystal?
KRYSTAL BALL, MSNBC ANCHOR: Well, probably not. Although I think if
the American people get upset enough about any issue and make any issue hot
enough, you can make a change. And I would point to our home state of
Virginia. Republicans took over the state Senate. They already held the
House of Delegates.
They were trying to push through all this extreme legislation on
women`s rights. And eventually they went too far and were mandating trans-
vaginal probes. People in Virginia got upset. And even though Republicans
controlled every level of government, they still had to pull back that
bill.
So anything is possible. But I think the big thing here is it`s very
unusual and it`s a very bad idea to have partisan officials in charge of
elections at all.
SCHULTZ: Well, how do we fix this? I mean, is this going to take a
federal law? I mean, the president said we need to fix this. Well, you`re
not going to fix it on a state level. This is with all these state houses,
as Krystal said -- we`ve seen it in Ohio, seen it in Florida, seen a
radical governor down there. I mean, it`s been an iron fist. How do we
fix it?
ARI MELBER, "THE NATION": I think that`s the question. And I have to
say, to start, Ed, I`m glad you`re covering this. This is not considered
always an exciting story, people waiting in line. But it`s an important
story. It goes to the heart of democracy.
We had the Help America Vote Act, which was sponsored by Chris Dodd
and came out of the 2000 reforms with all the frustration over Florida.
But we need federal requirements. We need protection for early vote. We
need an ability for the great number of people who want to vote, which by
the way, is a good thing, to make sure they have access from the start.
I think it really goes -- I`ll say this briefly. It goes to what our
democracy is about. If you define it as everyone being able to vote, we
were not a democracy in the 1700s or the 1800s. We`re a new democracy.
SCHULTZ: We fund whatever we want to fund in this country. We`ve had
billions go out of a back end of a truck in Baghdad and nobody ask any
questions whatsoever. This is America, and this is how we treat the
taxpayers.
They have rigged it to do this. And one party has done it. The
Democrats haven`t done this. Is this a funding issue? Of course it is.
The Republicans don`t want to fund it.
BALL: They don`t want to fund it, but as you pointed out in your
statistics, it`s not like everyone is suffering the same under these rules.
SCHULTZ: Well, what about that?
BALL: I mean, it`s obviously that minority communities, communities
that tend to vote Democratic, are being unfairly burdened and forced to
wait in much longer lines, given much less adequate resources. But I do
want to sound one positive note.
You know, all these voter suppression efforts, all the efforts to
increase the number of IDs you have, shorten the early voting hours,
eliminate Sunday Souls to the Polls, I think it made people so determined,
there was no way they were going to get out of that line. They were angry.
They were bound and determined that they would cast their ballot.
SCHULTZ: We should point out that there were no Democratic
statehouses anywhere in America that wanted to suppress the vote. How is
that, Ari? How could this be just such a real good Republican idea?
MELBER: Look, I think Krystal hit it on the head. The problem for
the Republicans here is that people can see what they are up to. People
are roundly rejecting it.
But you`re speaking to policy. You`re speaking to what should be the
minimum requirements, regardless of what the politics are. I think you
need federal requirements that secure early vote, and access to the polls
without any intervention by partisan state officials.
SCHULTZ: Krystal, you just saw the videotape of the president talking
to his campaign staff. What do you think?
BALL: It has been amazing. I mean, it has been incredible to see the
president sort of give a sigh of relief at the end of this campaign, and
look back with nostalgia at his own life and what he`s accomplished, and
what his campaign means not just for him but for the entire country.
Seeing with him connect in that emotional way with the young people
who worked their tails off for him, it`s really moving.
SCHULTZ: I think getting reelected means more to him than getting
elected the first time. I mean, I think he really realizes now that he`s
on the cusp of doing something huge in American history. No doubt.
Ari Melber and Krystal Ball, great to have you with us.
BALL: Thanks, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Lots more coming up in the next half hour of THE ED SHOW.
Stay with us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL O`REILLY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: The white establishment is now the
minority.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Up next, Eugene Robinson on the right-wing freakout over
minority voters.
And how did righties gets this election so wrong?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KARL ROVE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: He succeeded by suppressing the
vote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Michael Tomasky of "the Daily Beast" breaks down the
conservative crapola.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW. Despite the best efforts from
the Republican state legislators to suppress the vote in America, despite
the best efforts from Fox News and other right wing conspiracy theorists to
paint the president as other, women, African Americans, Latinos, Asian
Americans turned out to vote on Tuesday. And they turned out to vote for
President Obama.
The thought was just too depressing for Fox News to even contemplate.
Bill O`Reilly took one for the team and delivered the bad news.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: How do you think it got this tight?
O`REILLY: Because it`s a changing country. The demographics are
changing. It`s not a traditional America anymore. And there are 50
percent of the voting public who want stuff.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: O`Reilly and the chorus of right wing talkers are mourning
the loss of what they call real America.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O`REILLY: The white establishment is now the minority. You`re going
to see a tremendous Hispanic vote for President Obama, overwhelming black
vote for President Obama. And women will probably break President Obama`s
way.
People feel that they are entitled to things. And which candidate
between the two is going to give them things?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Ann Coulter doubled down on the rhetoric.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANN COULTER, CONSERVATIVE COLUMNIST: People are suffering. The
country is in disarray. If Mitt Romney cannot win in this economy, then
the tipping point has been reached. We have more takers than makers and
it`s over. there is no hope.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Republicans ran on extreme and unpopular policies. You
know, but instead of rethinking their positions on the issues, they are
lashing out at women and minorities. Here`s Rush Limbaugh on Latinos and
the Democratic party.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: If it were true that the primary
reason that people -- illegal immigrants were coming here was to work, a
Democrat party would be the ones building the fence on the border. Why do
you think the Democrats welcome them? Why do you think the Democrats want
amnesty? They know that they have got them as voters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Joining me now, Eugene Robinson, MSNBC political analyst and
associate editor and Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for the "Washington
Post." Eugene, good to have you with us.
Just a few weeks before the election, I interviewed Colonel Lawrence
Wilkerson. This is what he had to tell me before the election. I want
your response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAWRENCE WILKERSON, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN
POWELL: My party is full of racists. The real reasonable a considerable
portion of my party wants President Obama out of the White House has
nothing to do with the content of his character, nothing to do with his
competence as commander in chief and president, and everything to do with
the color of his skin.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: All right, Eugene, there`s a lot to unpack here. Let`s
start with the Fox crew. What do you think?
EUGENE ROBINSON, "THE WASHINGTON POST": You know, watching them just
freak out, it`s -- you know, Ed, it`s touching. I feel sorry for them. I
almost want to cry. But I think I`m going to manage to restrain myself.
At least Bill O`Reilly had the guts to say what they mean, which is that,
you know, we are shocked and amazed that white people don`t get to run
every single thing anymore. And we`re horrified by that.
You know, if he actually looks at demographic trends in this country,
he will just have conniptions (ph) and the vapors and just pass dead away.
So let`s hope he never gets to see those figures.
You know, he takes absolutely the wrong lesson from the debacle that
Republicans suffered on Tuesday, however. The lesson he takes is that all
these dusky interlopers, all they want is stuff. That`s absolutely not
true. That`s absolutely the wrong lesson.
The right lesson is Republicans have a platform that calls for a
dysfunctional health system, that excludes 51 million people. Gee, is that
popular? They called for an electoral system that excludes people from
voting. Is that popular?
They want a tax system that has basically no taxes on the very
wealthy, and that soaks everybody else, and decimates the middle class. Is
that popular? Why do they think these things will be popular?
SCHULTZ: But people that want stuff is what he said. And he
specifically said, you know, African-Americans and Latinos. I mean, how
insulting is that?
ROBINSON: Well, it`s insulting. It`s racist. It`s -- it`s -- you
know, I would say it`s unacceptable as a part of our public discourse,
except what is unacceptable anymore, especially from the likes of the
Roakes (ph) Gallery that we quoted in the beginning of the segment.
But, frankly, we can also say that this is the kind of stuff that one
hopes will fade gradually into relevance as time marches on. Because guess
what? The country did get out and vote on Tuesday. And the country is
moving forward.
SCHULTZ: I guess I`m not too concerned with how Mitt Romney lost.
I`m more excited about why President Obama won. And I don`t care if the
Republican party rehabilitates itself. They are so out of touch, and those
comments right there, we all now how they`re connected to the Republican
party and to the conservative movement.
But does this strengthen the Democratic party? Does this kind of
thinking just shove more people right into the independent-minded arena
that is going to favor the progressive agenda in America? What do you
think?
ROBINSON: I think it absolutely does. Look, if you want to just look
at minorities, African-Americans went 93 percent for the president.
Hispanics went 71 percent for the president. Asian-Americans, now the
fastest growing minority group in the country, went 73 percent for
President Obama and the Democrats.
These are numbers that make the Republican party, not just in the long
term, in the medium term, and maybe in the short term, unsustainable. It`s
untenable to be losing the future of the country by these kinds of margins.
So either they change or they die. They go the way of the Whig Party. And
the civil war that we`re going see within the Republican party, which -- in
which the opening salvos were fired today, is going to be bloody.
SCHULTZ: Eugene Robinson, great to have you on THE ED SHOW. Thanks
so much.
ROBINSON: Great to be here, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Coming up, the right-wing spin machine works so hard to
paint the election as a win for Mitt Romney. Even the candidate bought
their lies. Interesting details ahead. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And in the big finish, President Obama`s win could force
Republicans to abandon their alternative reality and maybe try to come back
to Earth. Republicans have been fabricating information for years, don`t
you think, on things like Iraq, Katrina, tax breaks, social issues and the
social safety net, among other things?
Then they rely on the right wing spin machine to spread their lies.
But this election put their information campaign in the spotlight big time.
And people took notice. For months, all the numbers pointed to a win for
President Obama. But Republicans have been making things up to convince
people that Romney was going to win this thing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROVE: If they`re in trouble in the early vote in Ohio, they are going
to lose Ohio and with it the election.
LIMBAUGH: We know these polls are all conducted by people who want
Obama reelected, who want the Obama agenda.
ROVE: Too many people are weighting their models in the state and on
the national average to a 2008 model. That is to say they`re showing a
disproportionate Democrat turnout.
DICK MORRIS, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: It will be the biggest surprise in
recent American political history. It will rekindle a whole question as to
why the media played this race as a nail biter, where in fact I think
Romney is going to win by quite a bit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Republicans and the Romney campaign actually believed all of
this garbage. So their defeat was, as you can imagine, pretty hard to
handle. One Romney advisor told CBS News Romney was, quote, "shell-shocked
by the loss."
Meanwhile, the mastermind behind most of the lies is still making
stuff up. Karl Rove wrote in an op-ed today, quote, "the president was
also lucky. This time, the October surprise was not a dirty trick, but an
act of God. Hurricane Sandy interrupted Mr. Romney`s momentum and allowed
Mr. Obama to look presidential and b bipartisan."
Wrong again, Turd Blossom. That`s what Bush used to call you, so I
thought I would borrow it. The hurricane was -- had absolutely nothing to
do with the president`s win. This chart shows poll tracking over the last
month. You can clearly see President Obama regained his momentum well
before Hurricane Sandy hit.
Reality is finally catching up to Republicans and their misinformation
campaign is coming back to haunt them in the electorate. Let`s bring in
Michael Tomasky, special correspond for "Newsweek" and "the Daily Beast,"
who wrote about this. You wrote an article, a theory on conservative
crapola. I love it.
Michael, this election was I think just a great example of how the
Republican party thinks one thing and then the conservative media just
regurgitates it out and pays no attention to the truth or fact. What about
it?
MICHAEL TOMASKY, "THE DAILY BEAST": Their point, Ed, they don`t exist
to assess the facts. They exist to rebut the facts. They exist to try and
challenge the existing reality and to try and create a new reality. That`s
what they do. That`s what they tried to do for the several weeks leading
up to the campaign.
I was struck many mornings, Ed. I would go to my computer. I would
turn on my Twitter feed. I would see that a poll came out that showed that
Obama led Ohio by four points or led Wisconsin by five points or what have
you. And within 10 minutes, within five minutes sometimes of seeing the
poll result, I would see some conservatives on my Twitter feed start to
say, but that poll had seven percent more Democrats than Republicans.
That`s crap. That`s nonsense. That`s never going to happen. That`s --
that`s a fake world.
SCHULTZ: It was pretty entertaining. You have to admit.
TOMASKY: It was. It was. It was greatly entertaining. It was
especially entertaining on election night when, sure enough, the numbers
came in and what were the results? The electorate was six percent more
Democratic than it was Republican. The electorate was eight percent more
Democratic in Ohio than it was Republican. So reality, in the form of the
polls, in the form of Nate Silver -- these things that they spent weeks
denouncing -- turned out to be exactly right.
SCHULTZ: What do you think about Romney reportedly being shell-
shocked. That was what one of his aides said. Do you think that he bought
into all this spin and all this garbage?
TOMASKY: I`m almost touched that he was shell-shocked.
SCHULTZ: Showed some emotion.
TOMASKY: But it`s also -- it also shows that, yes, he obviously did
buy into this. I`m sure that he only watched Fox News and he only listened
to the people who were reinforcing what he wanted to hear. and I think he
really did believe that he had tremendous momentum.
And I`m sure he assigns it all to Sandy, as you mentioned in your
intro, that if that hadn`t happened, he was going to be the president.
It`s just -- it`s just really weird. But the pernicious thing about it,
forget Mitt Romney, it`s continuing now. They`re constructing an
alternative reality about now that`s even more concerning.
SCHULTZ: I mean, they just lied in this campaign. They just flat out
lied. These guys across the street just backed them up all the way. All
these conservative talkers around the country, it is amazing.
Michael Tomasky, great to have you with us tonight. Thank so much.
TOMASKY: Pleasure.
SCHULTZ: That`s THE ED SHOW. I`m Ed Schultz. "THE RACHEL MADDOW
SHOW" starts right now. Good evening, Rachel.
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 Thursday, November 8th, 2012
Read the transcript to the Thursday show