THE ED SHOW
December 20, 2013
Guests: Mark Pocan, Tim Ryan, Mike Papantonio, Goldie Taylor
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PAUL RYAN (R), WISCONSIN: With a net majority of Americans are takers
not makers.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), KENTUCKY: The broken promises, double standards
and raw power.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And what did Santa bring you, honey?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Merry Christmas.
BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PRESIDENT: I think 2014 needs to be
a year of action.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ED SCHULTZ, MSNBC HOST: Thanks for joining us tonight, folks. Republicans
have thrown unemployed Americans under the bus and Democrats are fighting
back in a big way as they said they were going to do.
Earlier today, President Obama came out and made a passionate case for an
unemployment extension.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Because Congress didn`t act, more than 1 million of their
constituents will lose a vital economic lifeline at Christmas time, leaving
a lot of job seekers without any source of income at all.
I think we`re a better country than that. We don`t abandon each other when
times are tough.
Keep in mind, unemployment insurance only goes to folks who are actively
looking for work. A mom who needs help feeding her kids when she sends out
her resumes or a dad who needs help paying the rent while working part-time
and still earning the skills he needs for that new job.
So when Congress comes back to work, their first order of business should
be making this right. I know a bipartisan group is working on a three-
month extension of this insurance. They should pass it and I`ll sign it
right away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Do you agree with the President? He says that we are a better
country than that. Well, we`re going to find out. Republicans, you heard
the president. Send him an extension and he`s going to sign it. The
burden is on the Republican Party to pass unemployment extension.
Democrats on onboard. Not a problem.
One-point-two -- three million Americans are still on track to lose their
unemployment insurance on December 28th. There is some good news, my
friends. The Washington Post has reported Democrats are planning a two-
step Christmas media offensive to extend unemployment insurance. This is
their focus.
Democrats want to publicly pressure Republicans to do the right thing and
help the unemployed in this country. Senate Democrats are already speaking
out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL), MAJORITY WHIP: For many of these people,
unemployment benefits are their only source of income. It may mean the
difference of whether they`re homeless or have a place to live.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: The extension of unemployment benefits
will be the next test in the fight between the hard Right and the
mainstream Conservatives in the Republican Party.
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NY), MAJORITY LEADER: I am very, very pleased, happy
and proud of my colleague, Senator Heller, who joined with Senator Reed of
Rhode Island to introduce a three-month extension of unemployment
insurance.
I hope we can get cooperation and set a vote before we leave. But if not,
we`re going to vote no later than January 6th or 7th.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
The question is, how much can the economy grow in the next three months?
Well, if you look at the last year where we`ve had a two million jobs,
three months. There`s going to be a lot of people that are going to be
coming off unemployment if we continue to help them out right now because
they`re going to be able to continue to look for jobs.
Harry Reid`s vote on an unemployment extension will likely take place the
first week of January, and it should. Democrats know that they got a bad
deal in this, they`re trying to fix it, it`s the best they can do. This is
why liberal groups are planning a TV adlibs starting the day after
Christmas. This is what you`re going to see.
Groups like Americans united for change and a number of unions including
AFSCME and the UAW are backing this entire movement. The ads will run on
national cable shows and hit Republicans hard for letting benefits expire
for over a million Americans.
The House Democrats are also planning a big push to the local media.
Democrats are planning to use local news coverage to highlight the damage
effects -- the damaging effects of this unemployment situation that these
folks are in.
They want to tell stories just like we had been doing quite a bit on this
program on how residents in Republican districts are going to be impacted
by these cuts. I mean this isn`t just exclusive to some districts. It`s
everywhere. And the Republicans need to own up and help fix this economy
instead of patching it up. And this is a patch job.
Instead of passing a jobs bill to get people jobs, this is the conversation
we`re having right now and it`s the Republicans` fault. They`ve done
nothing on a jobs package.
Here`s what Democrats want to do. Democrats want local headlines like this
that hurt Republicans right where it counts. Here`s one out of
Poughkeepsiee, New York, "Unemployment benefits due to expire for thousands
in New York." In Ann Arbor, Michigan, a headline reads, "Cutting benefits
for Christmas." And in Visalia, California, one reads, "Crisis remains:
Jobless benefit still vital."
The idea is to get similar news coverage in every small market in the
country. This is going to be the conversation, "Where do you stand?" They
hope to pressure Republicans into an easy vote. Just to vote. Just give
us the vote, Mr. Boehner and the Congress in early January.
You can`t call this a dog and pony show, this is real stuff. Democrats
really want to get this done. This is what was excluded out of the budget
bill. And the Republicans know that the Democrats have been honest brokers
and come to the table and giving them things that they want. Tax loopholes
have not been closed. Taxes did not go up. There will not be a shutdown.
And there are more reasons to slam the Republicans on not extending
unemployment.
A new report from the Congressional Budget Office shows letting benefits
expire could cost 300,000 jobs nationwide. That`s a step backwards, folks.
And Economist believe that the economic growth will be four percent lower
next year because of the cuts.
Do you want that? Do you want that? Do you think that`s the right thing
to do? Now, these are the numbers, that`s not even talking about the moral
component. Passing an unemployment extension should be an absolute no-
brainer. It helps over a million people and our economy plus the American
people. I know we don`t count very often, but for the record, we do want
to see this thing get done.
A new Pew poll shows American`s favorite keeping current aid (ph) to the
poor over deficit reduction by 59 percent to 33 percent. These numbers
along with the Democratic media offensive put Republicans I think in a
pretty tough spot. This has to be the conversation.
This will be under serious pressure. There`s going to be some serious
pressure that`s going to be put on the Republicans and their districts to
extend this in the beginning of January. And if they don`t do it, it`s
just going to be more material for the President in the State of the Union
Address to draw the focus on the heartlessness of the Republicans.
Get your cellphones out. I want to know what you think tonight`s question.
Are Republicans using the unemployed as a political pawn? Text A for Yes,
text B for No to 67622. You can always go to our blog at ed.msnbc.com.
And on that blog, I would like someone from the Conservative side to post
on that blog. What have the Republicans done for the economy? I must be
missing it.
Let`s see, a year ago this time, we were having this conversation about the
Bush tax cuts. Can`t raise taxes on the job creators. That`s what we kept
hearing. This was after President Obama won reelection. And in December,
there were Republicans running around saying, "This is a job killer.
ObamaCare is a job killer. If we -- let the Bush tax cuts expire it`s
going to hurt the economy." I mean how many sound bites do you want us to
pull out, folks? That`s what all of them were saying. From Cornan (ph),
the whole bunch, the most critical of the president.
Guess what? We`ve had two million jobs, we`ve got unemployment down to
seven percent, the housing market is coming back, strongest November we`ve
had since 1990. The automobile industry has turned around, go to your
local car dealer and ask them if the economy is pretty good. So put on our
blog, ed.msnbc.com. Tell us, Conservatives, I must be missing the story.
What have the Republicans done to help this economy? I`ll blog tonight and
say not a damn thing.
For more, let me bring in Congressman Tim Ryan from Ohio. Congressman,
great to have you with us tonight. Congressman, if this extension fails in
early January and you can`t get it to the House floor, the Senate does its
job. How long is this campaign going to go on, Tim?
REP. TIM RYAN (D), OHIO: Well hopefully just keep turning up the heat, you
keep squeezing both on economic grounds but, you know, as some local
examples here, we`ve got a company called Rotec, they do gear manufacturing
for windmills, a cutting edge new industry, 180 workers locked out that
will lose their unemployments in a few days in Northeast Ohio up in Aurora.
We have a steel mill that closed down many months ago, a lot of those
workers two to 300 are going to lose their unemployment insurance benefits.
So a lot of people like to say, "Well, these people aren`t looking for
work." you take Rotec for example, they were literally locked out. They
didn`t go on strike. They didn`t quit. They didn`t stop working. They
got locked out and they`re going to be punished for this. And so I hope we
keep the heat up that those are all steelworkers. So I know the
steelworkers and others who just keep ratcheting up the heat because there
are still millions and millions of families that have not been able to grab
that last rung of the ladder .
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
RYAN: . of this economic recovery.
SCHULTZ: So, Congressman, how much political capital are the Democrats
willing to spend on this fight? And how would you define political
capital? I mean this is going to take time, it`s going to take focus and
it might not happen. How do you see this playing out?
RYAN: Well, here`s what I think. I think the Senate obviously is -- it
was good to hear Harry Reid take a strong leadership roles obviously harder
in the House because we don`t have control of the, you know, legislative
leverage to bring pieces to the floor necessarily. But Harry Reid can do
it. And we can ratchet up pressure.
And 2014 is in the midterm elections are all about turning out your base.
And if we can get the unions energized, if we can get people who are
concerned about this and are more focused on the demand side economics
instead of this trickled down voodoo economics that we`ve been seeing in
America for the last 30 years .
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
RYAN: . get our based rolled up, we could be able to affect. This is --
these people in the companies that I was mentioning earlier, Rotec,
RGSteel, $430 a week, Ed. That`s what they`re getting. They got a couple
of kids. They`ve got health problems. $430 a month when Warren Buffett is
made in 2013, $37 million a day.
And I love Warren Buffett and I`m not against him making a lot of money but
what I`m saying is there`s a huge disparity in America when we don`t have
the -- where with all to say, "Hey, these people should get $430 a month to
be able to make ends meet when they`re looking for work or they`ve gotten
locked out of their job while Warren Buffett`s making $37 million a day."
Some thing`s wrong with that picture. So the Unions .
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
RYAN: . I`m proud of them for stepping up and making this an issue.
SCHULTZ: Congressman, the President held his yearend press conference
today before he took off on Holiday vacation to Hawaii. And this was one
of the questions that caught my attention. I want to play this. Here it
is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Has this been the worst year of your presidency?
OBAMA: What I`ve been focused on each and every day is are we moving the
ball in helping the American people, families have more opportunity, have a
little more security to feel as if they worked hard. They can get ahead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Mr. President, let me answer that question for you. Firs of all,
where is the mindset of the media in Washington when they asked a question,
"Is this the worst year of your presidency?" Are they asleep at the
switch? How the heck you`re going to get unemployment benefits focused on
when you`ve got an attitude like that in the mainstream media?
Just for the record for that AP reporter, two million jobs. We let the
Bush tax cuts expire. We have private sector job growth every month since.
We have returned the automobile industry to a very vibrant situation.
We`ve got health care in this country where people are signing up. We`ve
got the housing market which is doing very well. We didn`t raise taxes.
Look at the stock market, are you paying any attention? It`s having record
closes day after day.
Congressman, my question to you, how are you supposed to get anything done
in an environment when you got reporters sitting in front of the president
asking them if this the worst year he`s ever had when it`s been nothing but
a year of accomplishments?
RYAN: Yes. Well, and reporters are supposed to have some sense of
history. Where were they in 2009, 2010 when we were getting battered
losing 700,000 jobs a month just trying to .
SCHULTZ: Amen.
RYAN: . plug holes in the economy. We weren`t sure what was going on in
districts and back in Youngstown, we thought General Motors was going to
potentially go under. And we have a huge General Motors plan here all
throughout the industrial Midwest. We thought we were going to lose the
auto industry, the supply chain.
We had foreign car companies come and then Governor Strickland saying, "We
need to help the American car companies because we`ll lose our supply
chain." I mean I asked, "Where were these reporters when that was going
on? We`ve had some hiccups this year but my goodness gracious, we`ve
certainly turned the corner and that`s part of the problem, Ed. How do you
get the message out? How do you rally .
SCHULTZ: Well .
RYAN: . the American people today when you have such a decentralized
media?
SCHULTZ: Well, I think that we`ve had some good things happened. We`re
down to seven percent unemployment. Now, a lot of people like to argue
with that because they think that the numbers are higher to that, double
digit and what not. We`ve got income inequality. You show the graphs. We
show the graphs all the time.
Bottom line here is that people understand the economy and the y understand
hurt. And those who were unemployed who now have a job as that
unemployment rate has come down, they understand a three-month extension.
Let`s see if Congress does.
Before we leave this interview tonight, I want to show this picture. Here
he is. The young quarterback from Youngstown State, Tim Ryan. There it
is. That Howard (ph) kind of self that this man was extraordinary. He is
destined to help a country.
Congressman Tim Ryan .
RYAN: Wow.
SCHULTZ: . you have a great holiday. You have a great holiday. Good to
have you with us .
RYAN: A lot`s happened between then and now, Ed.
SCHULTZ: . and thank you so much. All right. See you buddy. Thanks a
lot.
Remember to answer tonight`s question there at the bottom of the screen.
Share your thoughts with us on Twitter at edshow and on Facebook. We want
to know what you think.
Up next, who would you put your money on in a fight between Ted Cruz and
Vladimir Putin? The Beckster (ph) is selling a delusional story line on
this one. Plus, cheap talk from Republicans on minimum wage. Stay with
us, we`ll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Time now for the Trenders, 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)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s on fire.
SCHULTZ: The number three Trender, having a ball.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Former NBA star Dennis Rodman is defending his latest
trip in North Korea.
DENNIS RODMAN, BASKETBALL PLAYER: I hope to see it brings a lot of coaches
together.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Rodman is using his third visit to the repressive
communist state to train North Korean basketball players for a birthday
tournament honoring leader Kim Jong-un.
SCHULTZ: Dennis Rodman makes another visit to his dear friend in North
Korea.
RODMAN: There isn`t (ph) and they`re afraid to come here. Don`t be
afraid, man. It`s all love. It`s love here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Rodman plans to meet with Kim who just last week
allowed his own uncle to be executed for alleged treason.
RODMAN: This country is pretty cool, man. It`s pretty cool land.
SCHULTZ: The number two Trender, Olympic games.
GLENN BECK, RADIO HOST: You`re dealing with Vladimir Putin.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The strongest man in the world.
BECK: He`s a guy who`s always, you know, out, you know, in the frozen
thunder without a shirt. He`s got a harpoon in one polar bear and he`s
clubbing a baby seal to death with a killer whale.
SCHULTZ: Glenn Beck thinks we need a new giver (ph) to stand up to
Vladimir Putin.
BECK: We are headed for the time that Ronald Reagan, OK. And there you go
again. I`m going to be the first to say that Ted Cruz maybe Ronald Reagan.
That guy is a thousand times smarter than 99 percent of the politicians I
have ever met.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don`t make me laugh. Ha-ha-ha-ha.
BECK: That guy is -- he might be Ronald Reagan.
SCHULTZ: And today`s top Trender, cheap talk.
JOHN BOEHNER, SPEAKER OF THE US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: When you raise
the price of employments you get less of this.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: Unemployment among young people will go up if
the minimum wage goes up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you raise a minimum wage too high. You`re going to
have not more jobs but fewer jobs.
SCHULTZ: A new study destroys the GOPs minimum wage talking point.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every time we`ve tried to raise the standard of living,
they`ve said, "Oh my goodness. You`re just going to kill off jobs." The
facts and statistics do not back it up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And this is probably not going to have a strong
disemployment effect if you raise the minimum wage.
REID: We have income inequality.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we raise the minimum wage with at least 10th in an
hour, about 30 million Americans would get a pay raise.
REID: We need to raise a minimum wage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Joining me now is Congressman Mark Pocan of Wisconsin.
Congressman, good to have you with us tonight. I want to point out,
according to the study by the Economic Policy Institute, increasing the
minimum wage would affect almost 30 million workers in this country and
create around 85,000 new jobs by 2016.
You believe these numbers? And how can the Republicans be against it if
it`s true?
REP. MARK POCAN (D), WISCONSIN: Ed, not only do I believe those numbers
when I was in the Wisconsin legislature and we were looking at raising
minimum wage, looked historically and every time we raise the minimum wage
in Wisconsin, more people entered the workforce.
So I know what happens from practical experience in my state, we`re seeing
it happen from that report and we need to do what we can to help that
rising tide lift all boats so we can help improve the economy. The best
way to do that is to raise the minimum wage.
SCHULTZ: Well, Harry, Reid on the Senate side says that raising the
minimum wage is a priority once everybody gets back to work in 2014. Does
the Senate plan have a shot of passing and I think they`d pass it, you
know, in the Senate. Who wants to stand against workers? I think there
will be some Republicans that would break to get the 60 vote threshold.
But what kind of pressure would that put on Boehner in the House if
anything at all?
POCAN: Well, that`s the pressure we have to put from the outside. People
in districts, other members of Congress to make sure that we`re making it
an issue of priority just like making sure people have their unemployment
benefits. And these are bread and butter issues that affect middle class
families and when you look at the people who actually make the minimum
wage, that myth of a high school kid who`s doing it for a little part time
income isn`t true. These are head of households, these are people who are
working two or three jobs to get by and this is a sort of case we have to
make in Congress if we get this passed it`s really important and we have to
do everything we can to get more Republicans to realize if they don`t do
this there could be a political prize.
SCHULTZ: Recent ABC News-Washington Post poll is showing that 66 percent
of Americans support a minimum wage increase. Is it a political loser for
the GOP? I mean do you think that this would put the GOP in a position if
they were to be against the minimum wage and not -- a vote not to come up
that it would be a factor at the polls that it would straight the
Democratic candidates in the midterms?
POCAN: Absolutely. You take this on top of the fact that they didn`t want
to an employment benefit that there`s cutting things like food stamps and
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. There`s really been these so
many attacks on the middle class that I`ve seen just in the last year that,
you know, people are really going to start wondering who has their back.
And clearly the Democrats have been putting an agenda out there to raise
the minimum wage, to make sure we`re extending unemployment benefits, to
invest in the economy and create jobs. And the Republicans want to take
care of the special interest in the most wealthy. That message just gets
reinforced every time they turn down an idea like raising the minimum wage.
SCHULTZ: But how aggressive, Congressman, do you think that Democrats
ought to get with their messaging, OK? They`re doing this PR thing trying
to get, you know, the unemployment extension going in the New Year.
They`ve got -- no doubt about, they want to make sure that the minimum wage
goes. But what if Boehner doesn`t do it? I mean how tough can the
Democrats going to get? I mean if Boehner doesn`t go along with it and the
Republicans bad mouth that I mean isn`t it enough for the Democrats to come
up with probably one of the most aggressive strategies ever?
POCAN: I agree with you, Ed. I mean absolutely. This is important to
middle class families across the country and this is who we need to be
fighting for. The special interest have plenty of lobbyist in Washington,
they`re getting their way with the Republican majority. We`ve got to fight
for the average family. And one of the ways we do that is an unemployment
extension and raising that minimum wage.
And I think the Democrats should have a very aggressive messaging, not let
off, just keep pushing that issue because the more people see who`s on
their side, it will only gives them a little bit of rhetoric but doesn`t
vote on their behalf. That`s going to change the face of Congress.
SCHULTZ: OK. Congressman Mark Pocan, great to have you with us tonight.
Appreciate your time on the program .
POCAN: Thank you.
SCHULTZ: . thank you so much.
Still ahead, duck and cover. A dynasty of hate reveals more hypocrisy
within the Republican Party. Plus, Florida`s cocaine Congressman goes from
rehab right into our Pretenders tonight.
But I`m taking your questions next, Ask Ed Live is just ahead here on Ed
Show at MSNBC. We`ll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to the Ed Show. We love hearing from our viewers.
I appreciate all the questions tonight in Ask Ed Live.
Our first question comes from Aria Harray (ph). "If you gave a Republican
a Christmas present what would it be?"
Now, that`s interesting. A Republican, not a law maker, just a Republican,
well I think that Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty has been in the news quite
a bit lately. He sure talks and acts and looks like a Republican. I would
probably give him a book on American black history and ask him to read it.
Our next question comes from Glen McIntosh, "How did you manage to get such
a beautiful wife?"
Well, you know, Wendy and I did meet until we were in our like late 30s.
But you know what? That picture right there, you`re right. She is
absolutely beautiful. It certainly wasn`t the football picture that I had
in college that made it happen and I`m glad that one still works for her.
Stick around, Rapid Response Panel is next. We`ll be right back.
DOMINIC CHU, CNBC ANCHOR: I`m Dominic Chu with your CNBC Market Wrap. The
Dow`s big gains faded but the industrials gained for 42 points to finish at
another record. The S&P 500 added 8 points also hitting a new high, and
the NASDAQ Composite rose 46 points.
Today`s third quarter GDP report help push stocks higher. It showed the
economy grew at the fastest ace in nearly two years.
And one of today`s big movers, BlackBerry. Its earnings report failed to
impress investors, but the company`s CEO says he extracts profitability by
the year 2016 and shares gross 15 percent.
That`s it from CNBC, first in business worldwide.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And in Pretenders tonight the cocaine Congressman Trey Radel,
after a four weeks staying (ph) in rehab, the law breaker from congress
claims that he is back in action and will not resign from congress.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. TREY RADEL (R) FLORIDA: I love what I do and I`m going to return to
what I do, what you sent me to do in Washington, D.C., which is working for
you and your family while I relish mine. And no one, no one will take away
my passion when it comes to serving Southwest Florida.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Nothing is going to takeaway his passion to serve South Florida
except when cocaine did of course.
Radel once voted for legislation that would have allowed states to make
food stamp recipients take drug test. According to Trey Radel, a failed to
drug test merits an empty plate for some and a get out of jail free card
for others. Radel isn`t ready for a return. He`s ready for retirement.
If Trey Radel thinks that he`s fit for anything but for ovation, he can
keep on pretending.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to the Ed Show. I guess it all started with the
Duck call. In the past 48 hours, more reaction is pouring in over the Duck
Dynasty scandal and it is a perfect example of conservative double
standards on their core principles of free speech and the free market. The
right wing noisy machine is on full blast defense of Duck Dynasty star Phil
Robertson.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible)
ANN COULTER: It`s outrageous. It`s unbelievable and people who believe --
I mean, first as a Christian, but far beyond Christian is people who
believe in speech. I mean, there is nothing offensive about what Phil
Robertson said.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is all about freedom of free speech. You know,
so many American families have spilled blood and treasure to guarantee Phil
Robertson and everybody else is right to voice their personal opinions.
And once that freedom has lash (ph) on, everything is lost in our country.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To express shock over his opinions now is B.S. This is
repressive tolerance of fear of angry activist. If A&E had guts, they
should have said, "Sorry, that`s Phil."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a family that speaks its mind. And so, if
you don`t like it, then don`t watch the show. Take care of it that way,
reflected in the ratings.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Duck Dynasty, we would be proud to have you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: And it just wasn`t the talking heads. Louisiana Governor Bobby
Jindal released a statement saying that Phil Robertson and his family are
great citizens of the State of Louisiana. The politically correct crowd of
tolerant of all isn`t -- is tolerant of all viewpoints, except those they
disagree with.
Senator Ted Cruz also jumped into the ring saying that "If you believe free
speech or religious liberty, you should be deeply dismayed over the
treatment of Phil Robertson." I mean, this is just amazing to me. No one
is infringing on Phil Robertson`s first amendment rights. The government
and the media aren`t curving his ability to express his opinions or
stopping him. So, Robertson has a right to be a bigot. But, Phil
Robertson`s employer has made a business decision in suspending him.
This is the free market at work folks, this is capitalism at work, and the
A&E network can say private business of business trying to protect its
relationship with viewers and advertisers. Suspending Robertson is a
business move plain and simple. And it`s also about image. Republicans
claim to be the party of business. It just seems really strange that they
don`t understand the suspension. No one in the government, no one anywhere
is telling Phil Robertson that he can`t go out anywhere across America and
say the exact same things tonight that he did in that interview to GQ
Magazine.
Joining me now for our Rapid Response Panel, Goldie Taylor of theGrio.com,
and also the Ring of Fire Radio Host, Mike Papantonio. Great to have both
of you with us tonight. I`ve got lot of opinions on this. My talk show in
the last two days has been one call after another. Pap, why are
politicians even jumping into this dispute? Ted Cruz is always jumping in
front of the parade. You got Bobby Jindal who`s got a successful show in
his own backyard from a business standpoint must feel -- compelled that he
has to defend the local folks. But I mean, this is that, you know, the --
Newt Gingrich is out there comparing Robertson to the Pope. What`s the
political upside of this?
MIKE PAPANTONIO, HOST, "RING OF THE FIRE RADIO": Well, they don`t want to
talk Ed, and you know, they don`t want to talk at all if you really
consider Ed, about the idea that we have an economy that`s improving has
improved for the last 45 months that we have. We have millions enrolled in
Obamacare. They don`t want to talk about positive things like 45
consecutive months of job growth.
So, this is one of those Black Santa kind of moments when they`d rather
talk about Daddy Duck and say this is this poor Malayan character and let`s
take our focus there. So, we see this quite often. I mean, you know, this
-- when they want to move away from issues that really matter to Americans,
they go to issues like this. It`s no surprise.
SCHULTZ: You know, no issue is certainly more important than the other.
But Goldie, I find it interesting that there are -- the endurably (ph) C.P.
has responded. But, what this man said about African-Americans and what
they have gone through in this country, the life of the black people in
this country before Civil Rights, I mean, I just find absolutely amazing.
Your response as a black woman. I`d like to know. Isn`t this just
outrageous?
GOLDIE TAYLOR, THEGRIO.COM: I think it is truly outrageous. In fact, you
know, my ancestors were sold through ports in Louisiana before they were
shipped into Tunica into their plantation. So, I know a little bit about
Louisiana and a slave trade as well as its post reconstruction era. And
even today, Louisiana itself has a very, very troubled history in terms of
its ratio heritage.
But, you know, at the end of the day here, Phil Robertson isn`t going to be
jailed tonight. He isn`t going to be beaten. He isn`t going to be
shocked. Nothing bad is going to happen to him within the confines of the
law tonight. And so, his purged (ph) to amendment rights are intact. His
right of privacy is intact. His right of free press, his right of free
speech, his right of freedom (inaudible) was all intact, the very
constitution that we cloak ourselves in everyday.
I encourage those people in the right wing to take another read because
this isn`t about free speech. This is about free market capitalism, the
very thing that they trumpet on a day in and day out basis, that A&E has
the right to decide what product they want to bring to market in accordance
with what audience they are after. And so, to say to A&E, that you don`t
have the right to cut off Phil, you know, it to go against those so called
free market principles that they trumpet day in and day out.
SCHULTZ: I want to play a clip of Newt Gingrich praising Phil Robertson.
Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NEWT GINGRICH (R) GEORGIA: Ironically, if you read the whole
interview and that just take one section. He talks very specifically about
loving everybody. He talks very specifically about not being judgmental
towards anyone. That`s God`s decision, not his. I mean, it is remarkable.
There are sections there where he sounds a lot like Pope Francis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: What about that Mike Papantonio? Did you know that Phil
Robertson sounds a lot like the pope?
PAPANTONIO: Well, let me just tell you something. This is -- the Daddy
Duck here has run the gamut of hate talk. Look. Today, he`s attacking
sexual orientation. And the other day, he is attacking 107 million
Japanese because he doesn`t understand what Shintoism. I think is that he
believes it`s Nazism. Before that, as you pointed out, he`s attacking and
saying that Black Louisiana farmers were just happy with the idea in how
they live during in time when their family and friends were being lynched
from trees and buried in the swamps.
Look. We get it. We -- I understand. He makes millions pondering to the
same crowd that believes that Honey Boo Boo and the damn Gadermann is high
morale television. But when he becomes this red neck philosopher, this
theologian, preaching to us about Old Testament passages that supposedly
tell us to hate each other rather than to accept each other. He is moved
from simply being an old moon but TV oddity to something Moroccan (ph) to a
lunatic fringe that only has a place on places like Fox and Friends or
maybe Glenn Beck`s new TV show.
SCHULTZ: Yes.
PAPANTONIO: Daddy Duck is the new talking point. Daddy Duck is what they
call him. They say he`s a godly man and he`s not the same god that Jesus
preached about. I can assure you that.
SCHULTZ: GOP Congressional candidate Ian Bayne took in a step further in
an e-mail to his supporters writing, "In December of 1955, Rosa Parks took
a stand against an unjust societal persecution of Black people. And in
December 2013, Robertson took a stand against persecution of Christians."
Goldie, what`s your response to that?
TAYLOR: I had a very long conversation with a pastor friend of mine who
happened to be incredibly conservative. And his words to me were "Goldie,
they are seeing this not through their Christian hearts, but through their
political minds, that this has very little to do with the Jesus Christ.
You and I know, this has everything to do with talking your bigotry into a
Bible and trying to hide it.
The bigotry here, the period of hatred here, you know, is much bigger than
any Bible I think can hide. And so, I think that I`m offended on a number
of friends but I`m offended as a Christian first and foremost that you
would lay this out as some kind of religious thing.
SCHULTZ: Yes.
TAYLOR: . that you would hide behind that rather than the kind of, you
know, compassion and love that this current pope has called us to be.
SCHULTZ: Yes. Goldie Taylor, Mike Papantonio, great to have you with us
on the Ed Show.
Coming up, time is running out to sign up for full coverage under
Obamacare. We`ll tell you a bout a real surge that`s taken place. Stay
with us. We`ll be right back on the Ed Show.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to the Ed Show. This is the story for the folks who
take a shower after work. Americans have exactly 78 hours to sign up for
insurance plans created under the Affordable Care Act to get coverage
starting on January 1st. New numbers show fewer Americans are losing
insurance and more are signing up everyday where the exchanges are in
nationally.
President Obama addressed the growing enrollment just a short time ago at a
press conference.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: More than half a million Americans have enrolled through
healthcare.gov in the first three weeks of December alone. In California,
for example, a state operating its own marketplace, more than 15,000
Americans are enrolling every single day. And in the federal website, tens
of thousands are enrolling every single day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: The Republican Party is still trying to spend the negative
sentiment out there about Obamacare. House Speaker John Boehner
successfully enrolled himself just last month, but he`s still denying it`s
a good thing for Americans and it`s a good thing for the country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH) HOUSE SPEAKER: President`s health care law
continues to recover (ph) on American families, small businesses, and our
economy. And it`s not just a broken website, this bill is fundamentally
flaws.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Despite the negativity from the Republican Party, states are
seeing an uptake in demand.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID SIMAS, W.H. DEPUTY SP. ADVISOR: 13,000 people on Monday, 19,000
people on Tuesday, over 20,000 people on Wednesday, 3,000 per day in
Kentucky, 2,000 per day in Connecticut, and a huge, huge uptake in the
federal market places. People have options and they`re taking advantage of
them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: It`s all about the numbers folks. Many states are saying they
are expecting to see the numbers grow through the weekend leading up to
Monday`s deadline. Joining me now is Wendell Potter, Senior Analyst for
the Center for Public Integrity, a senior fellow and author of "Obamacare:
What`s in it for me?" What everyone needs to know about the Affordable
care Act.
Mr. Potter, good to have you with us tonight.
WENDELL POTTER, SENIOR ANALYST CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEGRITY: Thank you, Ed.
SCHULTZ: This is quite a nice holiday story for the Obama administration
who have stuck with this all along. Do you expect this surge in sign ups
to continue over the weekend and have a real impact?
POTTER: No. I`m sure it will. I think in fact, another weekends are
among the busiest times. And I think we`ll see the same thing on Monday,
the 23rd as well. I think we`ll see by the end of the day of the 23rd that
several million people will have signed up for coverage and will be many of
the newly insured stamp (ph) for the very first time in their lives or at
least since they were children on January the 1st.
SCHULTZ: Well, it looks like the American people are having confidence
that the website is fixed and it`s working properly now. And of course,
we`re seeing states reporting success stories. Why does Boehner still
stick to the talking point that it`s not any good?
POTTER: There`s no investment (ph) in this. Keep in mind. They began the
campaign against health care reform before the first word of legislation
was written. Back in 2009, they called it a government take-over of health
care from the very beginning. They`ve been spending in the inner allies
millions of dollars amidst the information campaign. They`re so heavily
invested in this that they`d got to keep that perception going. And I
think we`ll continue to see that through this year and in the next year
quite frankly.
SCHULTZ: The Department of Health and Human Services made an announcement
last night that people have the option of applying for a hardship exemption
that the insurance industry`s main trade group issued a statement saying
this. "The latest rule change could cause significant instability in the
marketplace and lead to further confusion and disruption for consumers."
What are your thoughts on this?
POTTER: Well, I think that`s nonsense. First of all, most of the people
who got those cancellation letters want to have coverage. They have
coverage that was discontinued. They will be signing up. In fact, most of
them already have signed up. My daughter Franklin was one of them who got
one of those letters and she got a letter from her insurance company just
last week saying that if she didn`t pick a new plan, she`d be assigned to
one. So, she`s got coverage. That makes you a lot of insurance companies
are doing that. Keep in mind that the America`s Health Insurance Plans
speaks for insurance companies and their CEO`s not for the American people
and that`s a big difference system that people that need to keep in mind.
SCHULTZ: Industry groups in the three of the states not expanding Medicaid
basically have effectively given up until political conditions change. Is
this a big blow to Obamacare across the board? Is there going to be a huge
difference between these states as time moves on?
POTTER: There will be a very big difference in these states and there will
be such a big difference. So that I`m betting that this time next year,
we`ll be seeing that most of the states will be -- they have not expanded
the Medicaid programs. We`ll do so for 2015. Not only will their
individual residence suffer those who are in low and moderate income
families, they are also going to see that hospitals and other caregivers
will be suffering as a consequence because they will not be getting the
same amount of money from the government as the states too that are
expanding Medicaid program. So, it`s going to be a very, very different
situation for people and hospitals in those states that are not expanding.
SCHULTZ: And we should point out Mr. Potter that they`re not done working
on the website.
POTTER: Right.
SCHULTZ: I mean, this is a play in motion, a constant upgrade of the I.T.
capability as we go on.
POTTER: Yes.
SCHULTZ: And finally, the attack on navigators, how much of a deterred is
that going to be?
POTTER: It`s so sad if they`re doing this. They`re attacking people who
are trying to help people enroll in coverage. It`s just really despicable.
But I think that the navigators.
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
POTTER: . are really wanting to make sure that people are covered. It
will go forward.
SCHULTZ: OK. Wendell Potter, great to have you with us tonight. I
appreciate your time here on the Ed Show this evening. You`ve done great
work on the Healthcare Act in informing people. I really appreciate you
being accessible to our program. It`s been a great resource. Thanks a
lot.
POTTER: My pleasure. Thank you.
SCHULTZ: There is a -- you bet.
There`s been a lot of talk in the media about Duck Dynasty. I`ve got an
idea for a new show. Come here buddy. Come on. Come on up here. Come
on. Come on. Come on. Come on Baxter. Come on. Come on up here. I
have an idea. I think we should have a show called Bax (ph) Dynasty. I
think Bax (ph) should have his own show. Hey, look at this, a good-looking
nine-year-old lab. I mean, nobody hunts better than this guy right here.
Here you go Baxter.
That`s the Ed Show. I`m Ed Schultz. Politics Nation with Reverend Al
Sharpton starts right now. Good evening Rev.
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 Friday, December 20th, 2013
Read the transcript to the Friday show