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The Ed Show for Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Read the transcript to the Wednesday show

THE ED SHOW
December 11, 2013
Guest: George Miller, James Clyburn, Connie Schultz, David Corn, James
Hoffa

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ED SCHULTZ, MSNBC HOST: The number that`s going to be on the board is
going to be well in to the millions.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nearly 1.2 million people are now on tract to have
health care coverage.

SCHULTZ: A pack of lies coming from Fox News.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The problem is that it`s falling apart.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there a point to this?

REP.MICHELE BACHMANN, (R) MINNESOTA: It really literally kills women,
kills children, kills senior citizens.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m going have to start by apologizing and as a bit of
a tension for being (ph) dramatic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is only Washington fuzzy math.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could you possibly be and able to accept the truth?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know who`s playing it smart? Young invincibles,
the young who set out there who are not buying into ObamaCare.

SCHULTZ: Are they running out of material?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are running out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, justice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bottom line, of course, is that the federal website
is now beginning to catch up.

SCHULTZ: The stories are going to multiply.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

Do you ever wonder if the conservatives ever go back and look at their old
tape? We all do it in the business from time to time just to kind of see
how it all looked at home.

At home, I think, they`re looking real bad right now. And the exciting
thing is it`s only going to get worse. Now, I have spoken with a couple of
Congressional Democrats in recent days and they have asked me, you know,
"What do you think we should be saying right now" and I`ve said, "It
works." That`s all you have to say, it works, and it`s only going to get
better. Prices are going to go down. More people are going to get
covered. They ought to be excited to be going home for the holidays
because you see, it`s been more than two months since ObamaCare`s rollout
and more people are signing up more than ever.

The website problems have been fixed and the numbers are starting to show
just that. Now, I`m a numbers guy, OK? If you`re in business and you`re
an entrepreneur and you pay attention to numbers, you might like this
story.

Since October 1st, roughly 1.2 million people have gained health insurance
through the state and federal exchanges. Hold it right there. There isn`t
a media person in front of a camera that wouldn`t like to have this many
more followers on Twitter or on Facebook or Hey Baxter subscribers? I
think you`d like that number.

365,000 people have enrolled in a private insurance plan. You mean, I
wonder if all these people got phone calls and said, "You know what, you`re
losing it, you got to go into the exchange," and they got a better deal.

803,000 people have been deemed eligible for Medicaid. More good news.
Over all, another 1.9 million people have been deemed eligible for coverage
but they have not selected a plan yet. So let`s do some numbers here.

We`re talking 3 million, aren`t we? We`re talking 3 million people in this
country, have gone to this website, and this is what is happening. Three
million people have responded to all these mistakes and all this bad
rollout and it`s going to be a little bit different form in 2014.

You know, you got to keep in mind. If you want coverage by January 1st,
you have until December 23rd to enroll and if you miss that deadline, you
can still sign up for ObamaCare by March 31st. And make no mistakes, these
are real numbers. These are big numbers. This is proof that ObamaCare is
gaining steam day by day and, you know what, we got a chart to prove it.
Doggone it. I love charts, always have.

This graph shows enrollment. In the federal exchange, this is the federal
exchange right here over the past 9 weeks and it goes all the way up until
November 30th. Now, let me ask you a question. This is for you boys down
on Wall Street. If you, investment brokers, could go to a client and show
them this kind of a chart, do you think they might have their interest peak
a little bit? Do you think they`d buy? Do you think they`d ask you, "What
the heck is that? What is that thing growing like there?"

There isn`t a stock broker in the world that wouldn`t like to see a chart
like that. And as you can see, enrollment has skyrocketed over the past
few weeks. If this trend keeps up, ooh, December, it`s going to be a
dandy, a heck of a month for ObamaCare.

This chart, of course, right here is, really, its bad news for the
Republicans and it proves that they`ve been doing nothing but lying over on
Fox News. If you`re a Fox News viewer, your morning coffee wouldn`t be
complete without your daily dose of ObamaCare trashing.

Here`s how the Curvy Couch crowd trying to spin today`s ObamaCare numbers
before they were officially released.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Later on this morning, 9:00 A.M. Eastern Time, the
Administration is going to release the November numbers for the number of
people who signed up for ObamaCare. And they are -- The numbers are
embargoed until 9:00 this morning. By the way, I`d love to double check on
those numbers whatever they are.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can`t .

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Listen, when you see him, you won`t believe it. Let`s
just put it this way. When you see this, you realize there are a lot of
people out there who simply don`t want to sign up for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Three million is a bad number. I know, of course, we`re throwing
in 1.9 that haven`t picked a plan yet. You`re going to just hate it. You
won`t believe how bad they are.

Clearly, the Fox and Friends crew, well, they haven`t seen the enrollment
chart. If they did, their story might have been a little bit different.
Now, later on the show, they started fear mongering about fire fighters
being required to buy ObamaCare.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They protect us quietly without asking for a dime. And
now, volunteer fire fighters all across the country could become the next
victims of ObamaCare.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Victims? Fire fighters are now going to be victims because
they`re going to be getting a better rate on their health care. But, you
know what I noticed about that production? It was the music. Grabbing
that emotion, get ready, we`re getting ready to give you some really gut-
wrenching news here. If anyone needs health care, it`s the people who are
consistently running into burning buildings, don`t you think?

Meanwhile, Fox News, well their afternoon line up isn`t much better than
their hard hitting morning show. Here is Senate Minority Leader Mitch
McConnell with Neil Cavuto on Monday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R) KENTUCKY: Well, Neil I don`t think Albert
Einstein could fix the ObamaCare problem. I wish him well. But their
problem is the substance of ObamaCare and how it`s impacting America in all
kinds of negative ways.

Yeah, I mean, it`s not fixable and actually the President said he doesn`t
want to change it anyway. Now he says he`s going to spend the last three
years of his term in office defending the legislation. So, he`s ought to
shouldn`t changing it either.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Well, not really Mitch. The Democrats are going to spend the
next three years making it better in getting more people covering. You are
in denial. Kind of like that guy from Kentucky, your buddy Doctor Denial.

That interview is exactly what is wrong with the Republicans in their
stance on ObamaCare. The Republican Party non-solution position is
starting to hurt them in the polls. Get a load of this number, 50 percent
of Americans are with the President on ObamaCare compared to 32 percent who
trust the Republicans. Down by 18, that`s not good.

This is because Republicans don`t have a plan and basically they have
already started to surrender. I wonder what they`re saying behind closed
doors because now, Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson has let the cat out of the
bag. He said Republicans need to start talking about transitioning that
they have lost to the repeal battle. He also said that he`s not opposed to
state-based exchanges and that they may be useful, really? And they might
be usable.

Here`s the bottom line. A lot of these politicians, they come to New York
and they go meet the media. They try to raise some money. Apparently, Ron
Johnson went over to the National Review Online here on New York and gave
him an interview and ended up getting caught. Unless there`s been a frog
in his throat or something. He`s actually not against the state exchange.
In fact, they`ve lost the repeal effort on ObamaCare. He ought to pick up
the phone and tell that to Boehner.

Here is the bottom line. If we show you the numbers again on that chart
and this trend is going this way, where do you think it`s going to go in
the month of December? Where do you think that chart is going to be in the
month of January and February and then into March? I mean, if we have got
3 million people who have been on to it already, where are we going to be
in April? These baby is going to be off the chart.

I`m going to make a prediction tonight. It`s going to hit 5 million by
March 1st. That`s right. Five million people signed up by March 1st. Get
your tapes rolling at home folks because it`s going to be a big "I told you
so."

Get your cellphones out. I want to know what you think tonight`s question.
Are Republicans lying about ObamaCare because they know it`s successful?
Text A for Yes and text B for No to 67622. You can always leave a comment
on our blog at ed.msnbc.com. We appreciate that. Of course, we`ll bring
you the results of this poll later on in the broadcast.

For more, let me bring in Congressman George Miller of California.
Congressman, good to have you with us. We`ve had this conversation in the
past talking about the trend, where this is all going to end up. How big
are these numbers today? Your thoughts.

REP. GEORGE MILLER (D) CALIFORNIA: Well, these numbers are huge when you
consider the immediate problems that we had with the rollout and people
were very concerned about that. But what these numbers continue to show us
is that people even when the site wasn`t working well, continued to shop,
they`re hungry to get coverage for themselves or for their families. They
realize that they now have access to health care that they`ve never had.
The letters we`re getting from families and from individuals just tell you
how important this is to them and how excited they are that they`re going
to be able to have health insurance that they`ll never lose again no matter
what happens to their families.

So the trend is really very positive now that we`ve gone through the big
glitches in the beginning.

SCHULTZ: Congressman, I view the Senator from Wisconsin starting to
surrender saying that they`ve lost the battle on repeal and that really the
state exchanges are usable. Is this a turn? Would we have heard this kind
of conversation from the conservatives four months ago, five months ago?

MILLER: No, clearly when they thought they had a chance to repeal it to
kill ObamaCare, all of their forces, all of their energy were put into that
effort.

Now, they see that if they were to be successful and then they`re not going
to be successful but if they were -- they would have to start to tell
several millions of people that they`re going to take away their health
care from them, that they`re not going to get the coverage for their
families for their children, for preexisting conditions, and that system
message is not going to work with the American public .

SCHULTZ: You know.

MILLER: . especially when you see the figures that we`re seeing now.

SCHULTZ: And George, they have got such a habit of doing this. They`re
losing on this. They told us that you can`t raise taxes on the job
creators. They told us that if you raise minimum wage, it`s going to be a
job loss. They told you that if we keep going with unemployment benefits
that it`s going to hurt the economy. They`re wrong on everything. And now
.

MILLER: Well .

SCHULTZ: . this is a real opportunity is it not for the Democrats to take
these numbers and run home with them.

MILLER: I think it`s very important. I think people in this country now
clearly understand that the Republicans, certainly the Republicans in the
House is controlled by the Tea Party, have a very narrow ideological view
to get rid of government, to get rid of ObamaCare, to get rid of
unemployment insurance to get -- have no increase to the minimum wage and
people all across the country see that as inconsistent with what they think
is best for their families and their communities. And that`s why you see
communities now setting out independently to raise the minimum wage. They
know they can`t have a vibrant community on the backs of poor people
working all day long.

SCHULTZ: Yeah. Congressman, I want to switch gears on you now on the
budget deal. Your thoughts on the deal that was announced yesterday, the
vote is going to be tomorrow in the House. How -- What`s the conversation
in your caucus among your colleagues and how do you feel about it?

MILLER: Well, I think that the conversation is very mixed. We`re learning
more and more about what is in the deal, but my sense is that the
Republicans decided to place small ball because they didn`t want to put
anything controversial on the table. So, you know, it`s kind of a balanced
package but they`re not going to address on the unemployment insurance
running out on -- at the end of December. But, I don`t know yet.
Obviously, everybody is waiting to see what happens in the Republican .

SCHULTZ: So it`s not a slam dunk?

MILLER: . caucus in the House of Representatives.

MILLER: It`s not a slam dunk at this stage. Not at all. Not at all.

SCHULTZ: OK. I want to ask you about the -- what about the President`s
approval ratings? His numbers are close to an all-time low at 43 percent.
What -- Does this mean anything? I mean, the gentleman is not running for
reelection. His mission is to make sure that the Affordable Care Act is
successful and to get a budget deal and to move the country forward and
create jobs. What do you make of his approval rating?

MILLER: I think they`re only going to get better. I think this is a
President that had to fight every inch of the way. They spent the last two
years trying to, as we say, repeal the Affordable Care Act, to try and deny
people health care. We saw when they shutdown the government, they`ve done
huge damage to the Republican brand and I think this people start to see
President Obama talking about the inequality in this country, talking about
making sure that people have access to health insurance, talking about
raising the minimum wage, people are going to understand that he`s on their
side.

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

MILLER: And that they want to derail him at any cost to the rest of the
country.

SCHULTZ: Congressman George Miller of California, good to have you with us
tonight on the program. I appreciate your time, sir.

MILLER: Thank you.

SCHULTZ: Thank you.

Remember to answer tonight`s question there at the bottom of the screen.
Share your thoughts with us on Twitter @EdShow and on Facebook. We
appreciate that. We want to know what you think.

Coming up, the Conservative media is still trying to shake up controversy
over President Obama and Raul Castro`s handshake. Plus, protecting the big
three was one thing in the bipartisan budget deal. It`s a proposal but I
think right now, it`s got to bring a no vote. And I`ll tell you why. Stay
with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: And it`s Trender time. What`s the world talking about in social
media? This is where you can find us facebook.com/edshow,
twitter.com/edshow and ed.msnbc.com. On the radio, noon to three Monday
through Friday Eastern Time Sirius channel XM 127 and of course we got the
Ed Tour coming up. First stop going to be Fort Lauderdale Florida on
February 18. Go to my website at wegoted.com and find out more.

The Ed Show social media nation has decided and we are reporting. Here are
today`s top Trenders voted on by you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: The number three Trender, unpopular opinion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you approve the job Republicans are doing in
Congress? Just 22 percent approve.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You`re tacky and I hate you.

SCHULTZ: Bill O meets Michele Bachmann`s blame the media strategy.

BACHMANN: Over 80 percent of all of the messaging regarding Conservatives
in media is negative.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is all your fault.

BILL O`REILY, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You say the media is responsible for
the folks thinking Republicans aren`t doing the job?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let`s bury the attitude a little bit.

O`REILY: The media has been pounding for the last month. ObamaCare, do we
think that the Republicans would benefit from that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Help me help you.

SCHULTZ: The number two Trender, shaken and stirred.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Reaching out and shaking hands with none other than
Raul Castro.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lets go Jay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With the gesture so meaningless, you can train a Basset
Hound to do it.

SCHULTZ: Reaction to the Obama-Castro hand shake gets out of hand.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President O sure is seen cozy with the commies.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I mean, what`s the point? Neville
Chamberlain shook hands with Hitler.

MICHAEL BARONE, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, he`s doing his Neville
Chamberlain invitation.

MARK LEVIN, MARK LEVIN SHOW HOST: Honestly, I was surprised that Obama and
Raul Castro didn`t exchange spit. Really.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What else are you going to do at a funeral? Give the
guy one of this, oh, yeah how you doing?

SCHULTZ: And today`s top Trender, lets make a deal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These people, dressed as they are come to line over the
United States to make deals.

SEN. PATTY MURRAY, (D) WASHINGTON: We have broken proof, the partisanship
and the gridlock and reach a bipartisan budget compromise.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The usual Washington dysfunction is on hold tonight.

SCHULTZ: The bipartisan budget deal will protect the big three.

MURRAY: I know many Republicans had hoped this would be an opportunity to
make some of the kinds of changes to Medicare and Social Security they`ve
advocated for.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s not going to happen.

SEN. PAUL RYAN, (R) WISCONSIN: And so, the arbitrary cuts we make smart
targeted reforms.

MURRAY: This bipartisan deal will help millions of Americans who were
wondering if they were going to keep paying the price for DC dysfunction.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a very, very modest proposal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it a deal that moves the ball on the right
direction?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Joining me now Congressman Jim Clyburn of South Carolina.
Congressman, good to have you with us tonight on the heels of this deal,
but -- and of course before the vote.

REP. JIM CLYBURN (D), SOUTH CAROLINA: But thank you so much for having me.

SCHULTZ: Let me be the fly in the ointment here. The Republicans are
going to go home and say, "We didn`t raise your taxes. We`re not going to
shut down the government. You still got the big three." Those are pretty
good talking points. What do the Democrats get out of this?

CLYBURN: Well, we`ll tell them first of all that we`ll go home, we did not
destroy Medicare. We did not do anything to Medicaid and we preserved a
government shutdown which a big portion of the Republican caucus want it
and I think they still are.

I will say this, what we did was established top line numbers. The
appropriate is still must to their work between now and January 15th in
order to avert any kind of a government shutdown. But I think this a
pretty good deal, not everything that I wanted, not everything that would
fit in it if I were right in it.

But the fact of the matter is we do have a compromise that I think we all
can get adjusted to and I`m just waiting to see whether or not the
Republicans will keep their end of the bargain this time around.

SCHULTZ: Congressman .

CLYBURN: The last time we had something like this, they walked away from
it with the top, you may remember that.

SCHULTZ: How many Democrats are going to walk away from this in your
opinion, Congressman? Because you`re leaving unemployment benefits is
going to cut three days after Christmas 1.3 million people and then 90 days
after that is going to be another 1.6 million people if they don`t find a
job. You got three people looking for every one job in this country and
this is going to be a real sticking point in the caucus, isn`t it?

CLYBURN: Yes it is going to be. But that`s not necessarily a budget
issue. We want to pass unemployment insurance. We could do that if the
speaker were to bring it to the floor before we leave on Friday. Put it up
on suspension. I think there are enough Republicans who know that they
have constituents who fall into this category as well and we could do
unemployment insurance. That doesn`t have to be and I don`t think it
should be a part of this budget but it could be a part of the budget deal
because I think they`re going to be coming up with a rule .

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

CLYBURN: . to deal with other issues that a rule could be brought that
will deal with unemployment insurance as well.

SCHULTZ: And what do you think the feasibility of that happening is?

CLYBURN: Well I don`t know what the Speaker is thinking is going to be. I
do know this. I`ve heard from enough Republicans who are seeing to believe
that it`s these people`s fault that they`re not at work, they don`t believe
in unemployment insurance and because it violates their sensitivities if
not their sensibilities, they may not be for it .

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

CLYBURN: . no matter what happens.

SCHULTZ: Well if the Speaker commits to that and the way he went after
some of the Right Wing groups today who were criticizing this deal. I
think that would probably bring a lot of Democrats to vote yes on this
budget deal.

CLYBURN: You are absolutely correct about that. Absolutely.

SCHULTZ: Even though the corporations are going to be getting off scot
free here with no change at all. I mean we`ve got a revenue issue, there`s
no new revenue into this, there`s no change in closing any loopholes. How
big a problem is this? And can you get around it?

CLYBURN: Well that`s always a problem for us. We would like to close
these loopholes, but I do believe they come in -- after the first of the
year, we ought to get serious in this Congress both the House and the
Senate about reforming our tax code. The tax code needs to be reformed and
we ought to do it. And I think that we should do it, we can do it and come
back the first of the year. We ought to start that process.

It will take up to two years to get done what really needs to be done
without tax code but it is .

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

CLYBURN: . absolutely a mess, we all know it but I don`t think you could
do it in a bill in this short period of time.

SCHULTZ: So the Republicans get $23 billion worth of budget cuts with no
new revenue and no taxes being increased and the corporations get away with
no change in the loopholes. This is a -- And you protect the big three,
but not to be negative about this, Congressman, but the fact is the big
three Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security already poll heavily in favor
of where the Democrats are. How can that be considered a big victory?

CLYBURN: Well we preserved all of that. We didn`t hurt Medicare at all,
we didn`t do a thing to Medicaid .

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

CLYBURN: . and you know that`s what they`ve been arguing for now
entitlements are entitlements, sometimes they`re social nets, other times
they are tax cuts. And so entitlements ought to be tackled .

SCHULTZ: OK.

CLYBURN: . on both end to the spectrum and we can do that after the first
of the year. Also, they will do something very soon on the raising the
minimum wage. I think we`ll be able to do that first of the year.

SCHULTZ: Amen to that. That`s polling heavily as well positively by the
American people. Finally, Congressman are you going to vote yes on this
budget deal?

CLYBURN: Well, I`m going to make up my mind between now and Friday. I`m
leaving in that direction.

SCHULTZ: OK.

CLYBURN: No question about it.

SCHULTZ: Congressman Jim Clyburn, thanks for your time tonight. I
appreciate it.

CLYBURN: Thank you so much for having me.

SCHULTZ: Coming up, no time for Ted Cruz. The Republican Senator get
snobbed by Time Magazine.

Still ahead, Sean Hannity`s laughable segment on ObamaCare lands him in
tonight`s Pretenders.

But next, I`m taking your questions, Ask Ed Live is just ahead, stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Welcome back to the Ed Show, time for the question Ask Ed Live.
Our first question comes tonight from Tom, he says, "Why do the GOP thump
the Bible but don`t walk the walk of Jesus or Pope Francis?

Well, actually I think some of them do, but many of them in the Congress
certainly use Scripture to their political benefit and I think that that
really infuriates a lot of people. And I think they misquote and
misinterpret the Bible quite often. Michele Bachmann would be one of them
and of course they connect it to the Affordable Care Act and President
Obama.

Our next question is from Debbe Lowden, she wants to know "What are
Republicans for?

What are they for? They are for being against everything President Obama
would like to accomplish in his second term.

Stick around Rapid Response Panel is next.

SUE HERERA, CNBC HOST: I`m Sue Herera. Stocks tumbled hard for the second
straight session. The Dow shutting almost 130 points, the S and P fell 20,
the NASDAQ down 56.

Among the losers, COSTCO has slid after the retailer posted weaker than
expected earnings. Reports today that the White House is close to
nominating former Bank of Israel Head Stanley Fischer as Vice Chair of the
Federal Reserve.

And Delta Airline`s hiked its domestic fares. Several other airlines
matched that hike within hour. It`s unclear, though, whether that hike
will stick.

And that`s it from CNBC. We are first in business worldwide.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Welcome back to the Ed Show. I guess this is a story about
vision and leadership. One man has used his pulpit to call for social and
economic justice. The other used his position of leadership to bring our
nation to the brink of default. These two men were listed as contenders
for Time Magazine`s person of the year.

Just -- After just 9 months in office, Pope Francis has been given the
magazine`s title of Person of the Year for "pulling the papacy out of the
palace and into the streets, for committing the world`s largest church to
confronting its deepest needs and for balancing judgment with mercy."

Pope Francis has earned universal praise for his more populous approach to
the papacy. He`s rejected luxury accommodations and shifted the focus
towards helping the poor and less fortunate. In his first major work as
Pontiff, Pope Francis denounced trickle down economics and warned off a new
tyranny caused by the idolatry of money.

We talk about income inequality all the time here on the Ed Show. Pope
Francis used its title to bring that discussion to a broader audience. So,
who could follow that act? Time Magazine runner up, Tea Party Senator Ted
Cruz. That`s right. The freshman Tea Party senator who provoked the first
government shutdown since 1996 costing our country $24 billion.

The senator staged fake filibuster and held our nation hostage while
reading Green Eggs and Ham on the Senate floor. The senator from Texas was
motivated to use that moment and national platform to advance his own
celebrity, the same Ted Cruz who has made it his mission to prevent
Americans from getting affordable health care. As Time Magazine put it,
"Love him or hate him, he is a vision of the future." That`s scary in
itself.

Joining me now on our Rapid Response Panel, MSNBC Political Analyst, David
Corn, and nationally syndicated columnist, Connie Schultz. Great to have
both of you with us tonight.

Connie, what does it say that Senator Ted Cruz is even on the list?

CONNIE SCHULTZ, NATIONALLY SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: Well, when you look at
the criteria for person of the year, it`s somebody who`s having an impact,
negative or positive. I think it was a brave decision on the part of Time
Magazine and I say this is a non-Catholic. As a columnist who`s been
critical of the church many times in the past, because you and I both know,
you know, we write for the public, you broadcast for the public, but we`re
always paying attention to what fellow journalist think of what we`re doing
and this is bound to generate a lot of criticism from journalists.

But I think what Time Magazine decided to do was celebrate a messenger of
hope and civility which if anyone was reporting outside of Washington, any
of us who do that know when you talk to people outside the beltway, they
are yearning for civility, they are yearning for signs of hope in a very
difficult time.

SCHULTZ: David Corn, what the pope has been talking about has been
important conversation in this country and it polls to the majority, income
inequality, helping the poor. Pope Francis is bringing the church back to
its roots, some say. Cruz is pushing the Republican Party to the fringe.
Will this recognition embolden some called rogues like Cruz?

DAVID CORN, MNSBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, you know, it`s really hard to
have a serious conversation when you`re mentioning Ted Cruz and Pope
Francis in the same breath, you know, I mean.

SCHULTZ: Well, I want you to have a serious guy who`ll say this.

CORN: I know that`s.

SCHULTZ: Because he is on the front page of Time -- but, yeah.

CORN: I know there`s some kind to do here and, you know, when you talk
about who had the most impact this year, what you`re measuring is positive
impact, Pope Francis versus negative impact, Ted Cruz, and I think many
Americans would hope that .

SCHULTZ: Well then why was he -- why was he considered?

CORN: Because again, I mean, I`m not comparing Ted Cruz to a dictator but
I think Stalin, Hitler, other people have been, you know, persons of the
year, it`s who has the most impact, good or bad. And I think is Ted Cruz
is playing more on the negative side that will lead you there. But this is
a guy who shut down the government as you noted, cost the American economy
$28 billion. You know, people couldn`t get pay checks, lost -- their
families -- we were hard strapped, all because he wants -- he doesn`t want
more Americans to have health insurance.

And then you look at what Pope Francis says about serving the needs of the
needy and putting, you know, free market economics and trickle down
economics. The greed is good mantra (ph) which, you know, Tea Party seems
to believe in bring that aside. So, you really have two opposite views
what`s best for the world here and fortunately, right now, we`re
celebrating Pope Francis` view in that regard.

SCHULTZ: Connie, do -- his discussion and his talk of wealthy people and
the idolatry of money and what does this do to the conversation of income
inequality in this country? Does it embolden that conversation?

CONNIE SCHULTZ: I hope it does. And in fact, I hope that emboldens more
journalists to talk about this as well. I wrote about this in my column.
I just filed it about an hour ago for Creators Syndicate. And I talked
about the impact that had on me personally to watch the pope embrace and
kiss the face of a man who was -- by any measure dramatically deformed and,
you know, I`ve covered these issues in my entire career as a columnist, but
I really stopped and asked myself some pretty tough questions, "Would I
ever have been willing to do that" and I hope that as -- I know I`m not the
only journalist who felt that way and I hope that we trust that feeling
inside us that makes -- because that`s what connects us to our readers and
our viewers and to so many people that, you know, you and I and David Corn,
we all say we champion this people, how often are we actually mingling with
the people that we are constantly fighting for. I think that`s so
important.

SCHULTZ: David, your thoughts on that. I mean, this pope has rejected the
luxury life. He goes out on the middle of the night to be with the poor
people. He has made really political statements about wealth and what
people should do with their money .

CORN: Right.

SCHULTZ: . and how they should -- how it could lead to something very
negative in our society, almost asking society to change and reminding them
that there is a faith-fazed feeling within the Catholic church that with --
somewhat got in the way from our roots. I mean, that`s the way I take it.

CORN: I think any conversation about social justice is a good conversation
and it does, I think, encourage people individually to look at what they`re
doing in their own lives. But also we talk about politics here in this
show a lot.

Let`s talk about how our political system, you know, addresses the issue of
social justice and I do think in the last few years it`s becoming more, you
know, a more sharper divide between the Left and the Right Wing. When you
talked about this with the Tea Party libertarians really saying that social
justice comes about .

SCHULTZ: Sure.

CORN: . from the free market system and nothing else. And there is no
role for government and collective communal action in that regard. And I
think Pope Francis is talking on these terms shows that, wait a second,
this really should be our foremost concern, not just making a buck for
ourselves. That`s not the best way to serve the needy of the world.

SCHULTZ: Well, I`ll find it rather interesting that within 24 hours of the
congressional leaders coming out with the budget saying that we`re going to
let unemployment benefits expire if they go .

CORN: Yeah.

SCHULTZ: . to 99 weeks. The Pope is same person of the year on Time
Magazine which flies in the face of exactly what he would have decided to
do, Connie.

CONNIE SCHULTZ: Well, and I want to remind your viewers. Members of
Congress pay attention to who does and does not call into their offices.
Who does and does not write to them and complain, who does and does not
post about them on social media. And there is pressure to be brought here.
What it was really striking between the contrast of Ted Cruz and the Pope
is how institutional power is being exercised. And that is -- I would
think instructional for anybody who presumes to be a leader in this
country.

SCHULTZ: I don`t think there`s any doubt that the Pope is going to
continue his move forward in this direction with this conversation and I`m
anxious to see if he has a profound effect on diocese throughout the
country. I mean this is really going to be a story to follow. Isn`t it
David?

CONNIE SCHULTZ: Yes.

CORN: I think so. I think he has elevated this discussion that we`ve been
trying to have in this country for years and he`s going to keep it at a
high level. He`s not going away. He`s not going to shut up about this.

SCHULTZ: David Corn, Connie Schultz great to have you with us tonight.

CORN: Thank you Ed.

SCHULTZ: Thank you so much.

CONNIE SCHULTZ: Thank you Ed.

SCHULTZ: Coming up. Teamsters and union members are demanding more
transparency in the TPP. The White House is turning its back on labor, the
very people that put President Obama in office. That`s next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: And in Pretenders tonight, Mr. Fix it, Sean Hannity. Now, we all
know that Fox News has been lying about ObamaCare. They are desperate to
change the momentum now that the charts are out.

Sean Hannity has proven, he`ll even try comedy. The Fox News anchor
brought on the networks foremost authority on health care.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Have you followed on this health care thing?

LARRY THE CABLE GUY: Sean, it`s a disaster.

HANNITY: It`s a -- I know.

LARRY THE CABLE GUY: But I have figured a lot after that.

HANNITY: Yeah.

LARRY THE CABLE GUY: I`ve figured out the bronze plan.

HANNITY: You did.

LARRY THE CABLE GUY: The bronze plan is what go to your fingers going to
look like after you gave yourself a prostate exam then I figured out. And
the -- which is a gold plan .

HANNITY: Yeah.

LARRY THE CABLE GUY: . is when you start to measure wedding ring after you
have to pay for the deductibles

HANNITY: Yeah.

LARRY THE CABLE GUY: The silver plan is what your hair is going to be
after you`re done signing up for it.

HANNITY: That`s true.

LARRY THE CABLE GUY: I got four winners of 60,000 people signed up at one
point there.

HANNITY: Yeah, something like that.

LARRY THE CABLE GUY: 60,000 people?

HANNITY: But more than 6 million lost their -- got their playing cans.

LARRY THE CABLE GUY: But 60,000.

HANNITY: Saving.

LARRY THE CABLE GUY: Art Linkletter has more Twitter follower than that
and he`s been dead for many years.

HANNITY: He`s been dead for a number of years.

LARRY THE CABLE GUY: I need more Girl Scout cookies than 60,000.

HANNITY: Oh, gosh.

LARRY THE CABLE GUY: Which is the reason why we need health care.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: If Sean Hannity thinks Larry, the cable guy`s jokes about
ObamaCare can get it done. He can keep on pretending.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Welcome back to the Ed Show. This is the story for the folks who
take a shower after work. The teamsters and other unions are calling for
an into-the-secrecy surrounding the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

This Trans-Pacific Partnership is a free trade deal that would benefit
large corporations, large multinationals, and devastate the service and
manufacturing jobs in this country. That`s what organized labor is saying.
Twelve perspective members of the multinational trade deal failed to meet a
self-imposed deadline to reach an agreement by the end of the year. But
there`s new concern that the Obama Administration should -- could secure
fast track trade promotion authority from Congress early in 2014.

Republican House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp says lawmakers
are making progress in pulling together a trade promotion authority bill
and expect to pass it within the first few months of 2014. Despite efforts
to keep the deal out of the public view, details about the partnership
continue to leak which is leading to more concerns and more questions. The
teamster say people have a right to know how the TPP will affect them.

James Hopper, President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters joins
us tonight. Mr. Hopper good to have you with us.

What are your issues with this deal as it stands and what you know of it?

JAMES HOFFA, PRESIDENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS: It`s
about the secrecy, I mean, what is wrong? Why can`t they show this bill to
the public, to Congress, to the media? We want to see what`s in this bill.
This Administration is going to be asking people for fast track. How can
they vote on fast track if they haven`t seen the bill or at least the
proposals?

What is the secrecy? Let`s get this out in the open, let`s debate it and
talk about it, and talk about it on this show. And so we all know what`s
going on. And the second part of it is, we have had too many trade
agreements that have been like NAFTA and this is another NAFTA on steroids
that export American jobs, not export American goods.

What we want to do as a trade agreement, a good trade agreement, should put
American workers to work so we can export and that hasn`t happened.

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

HOFFA: Everyone of the trade agreements that we`ve done whether it`s
NAFTA, whether it`s CAFTA, whether it`s WTO have result in a huge trade
deficits. We have lost jobs, we`ve lost basically technology, we`ve lost
everything. We don`t need anymore of those.

I call on this administration. Let`s have a good trade agreement. Let`s
be transparent. Let`s talk about what the agreement is and let`s go get a
good one.

SCHULTZ: How do you expect to achieve transparency at this point?

HOFFA: Well, they`re putting pressure on just like what we`re doing
tonight. What is the secret? If they are doing this agreement, that means
it`s probably thousands of pages. They say there are 600 corporations
putting, you know, parts of this together. I want to see it. I think the
media wants to see it. And let`s talk about it and let`s debate it before
we make any decision about whether its fast track or whether it`s just
bolding out up or down.

So let`s get it out, let start talking about it, and let`s not do a bomb`s
rush in a middle of the night. Here it is, a thousand pages, vote on it
tomorrow. We don`t need that right now, we`ve got to basically change our
policy and make one so it`s pro-active. Let`s make -- put America back to
work and let`s start opening up markets, not closing markets. And the
other thing about this agreement is, this isn`t really opening up the U.S.
market to these other countries that want to export here.

I mean, what is Vietnam going to buy from us? They have no money and they
don`t really want anything. The other thing is, what about the freedom of
people to associate or to join unions. That`s not going to be on this.
What about Vietnam? They`re not going to let people join unions there.

And what we`re going to do as I heard talking about those issues. Another
issue is buy America. That is a basic thing in the American law and I
understand in this agreement, they want to take that out. That`s wrong.
We want to buy America and basically have the government make sure they buy
things from this at least from America where we can basically support
ourselves.

SCHULTZ: Mr. Hoffa, do you think the President really wants this or he is
just waiting for the push backs so it will be an easier decision on which
way to go on this? Do you think that President Obama, who would not be in
the White House had it not been from the efforts in the boots on the ground
and the support of labor unions? He wouldn`t be in the White House if
weren`t for you guys.

All of you collectively, I mean, played a big role in Pennsylvania, played
a big role in Michigan and Ohio, a swing state. And now here, the
President is putting at your door said something that no one has explained
arguably will get American jobs. Do you think he`s just waiting for the
push back or do you think he really wants it?

HOFFA: Well -- And this Administration has been hell-bent on doing trade
agreements, they did, you know, South Korea, they did Panama, they did
Columbia. We said don`t do it, it`s a mistake, and he went ahead and did
it. They got enough votes together. They`ve got a number of trade
agreements. He likes trade agreements and this Administration does like
trade agreements .

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

HOFFA: . good or bad. They like NAFTA.

SCHULTZ: And .

HOFFA: .And we don`t like NAFTA and it`s a debate we should have. We
support the President in a lot of ways, but on this one, we have to part
company with him because we basically want to have a good trade agreement
and we want to work with him to have a good trade agreement that benefits
United States.

SCHULTZ: Where to do you think Congress is? The 173 have signed on to a
letter to the president telling him not to do fast track?

HOFFA: Well, I think that, you know, we work very hard on that and talked
to people across the aisle. Both Republicans and Democrats saying, you
know, why are you blind a pig and a poke? I mean, you know, basically we
don`t want to have fast track. We want to debate this, we want to see it.
And if there`s input or things in there that we don`t want, Congress under
the constitution has the right to make the treaties and they are the ones
that should ultimately not be .

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

HOFFA: . delegating this authority.

SCHULTZ: Don`t you find it interesting that Tea Partiers aren`t more vocal
about this because there is a provision in this that would threaten the
sovereignty of the country and circumvent United States law? That there is
an international tribunal that could end up making decisions on lawsuits
that would undercut American law. I mean, where are the Tea Partiers on
this? I thought they were all about the Constitution?

HOFFA: Well, I thought so to, you know. It`s one of the points that I`ve
made, and I`ve tried to reach out to some of these people to say, you`re
the big sovereignty guy, you`re so big on the United States in building
walls in the border, protecting our sovereignty. Maybe that`s a good idea
but if you`re doing that why aren`t you standing up to say, "Hey, we`re not
going to give anybody a right to sue to take -- to change our laws here in
America .

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

HOFFA: . that American legislatures have made.

SCHULTZ: All right.

HOFFA: And why aren`t they standing up for that? And the answer is,
they`re strangely silent and I think it`s because big business is for this
treaty.

SCHULTZ: All right. Mr. Hoffa, I want to take you back just a couple of
years. I know that you`re a former football player at Michigan State. You
had big win over the weekend as Michigan State beat Ohio State. This is
19-year-old James Hoffa as an offensive lineman at Michigan State. The
legendary Duffy Daugherty said, "This kid is quick and he`s tough."

I know you`re still tough. I won`t ask you about your quickness at this
time.

HOFFA: I`m not too quick anymore.

SCHULTZ: What was it like now? You`re going to be excited that Michigan
State won?

HOFFA: I`ll tell you, I couldn`t believe it. I was so proud. They were
6.5 point underdog, they played lights out. It was a great game. I had a
party at my house. We were singing the Michigan State Fights On. That`s
how good it was.

SCHULTZ: All right. Mr. Hoffa congratulations. Enjoy the Rose Bowl.
Thank you so much.

HOFFA: Thank you.

SCHULTZ: That`s the Ed Show. I`m Ed Schultz. Politics Nation with
Reverend Al Sharpton starts right now. Good evening Rev.


END

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