The Ed Show for Friday, March 14th, 2014

THE ED SHOW
March 14, 2014

Guest: Jan Schakowsky, Mike Papantonio, Matt Cartwright, Holland Cooke,
Annette Taddeo, Zerlina Maxwell

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN BOEHNER, (R-OH) HOUSE SPEAKER: It`s time to build it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The administration is now the only thing standing in
the way of thousands of American jobs.

BOEHNER: Increase of supply of American energy and build the Keystone
Pipelines.

JAMES L. JONES, GEN. USAAC, (RET): The international bullies who wish to
use energy scarcity is a weapon against us all are watching intently.

HON. KAREN ALDERMAN HARBERT, CHIEF EXEC. OFFICER, CHAMBER OF COMMERCE:
Energy vulnerability equals to a political vulnerability.

BOEHNER: And there`s no reason, scientific or otherwise to block this
project any longer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ED SCHULTZ, MSNBC HOST: Good to have you with us tonight folks. Thanks
for watching.

You know, we keep talking about this, people are going to be paying
attention and they`re going to start moving on it. Now we`re getting some
movement. Now we`re getting to the 11th hour. The fight over the Keystone
Pipeline is heating up big time in Congress.

Earlier today, House Democrats led by Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky of
Chicago sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry slamming the
pipeline. They wrote, "The Keystone XL would unlock huge reserves of
carbon that scientists have warned need to stay in the ground if we are to
avoid worsening climate change that could prove irreversible." That`s the
bottom line.

But wait a minute, overall, only 27 Democrats signed on the letter. Now
there`s 198 Democrats in the House. We got some work to do. I think that
voters deserve to know where their representatives are on this issue. 27?
Not a good number. Good start. A brave 27.

Meanwhile, we know where we can find some Democrats where they stand and
that would be none other than Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu, who is
making flat-out a dishonest push for the Keystone XL Pipeline.

At a budget hearing on Thursday, she made this bogus case for the project.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARY LANDRIEU, (D) LOUISIANA: A critical in my view a piece of
infrastructure that will transport safely the cleanest barrel of oil
produced in North America contrary to popular belief. Canada is our
closest and our strongest trading partner. You are aware that their
environmental standards are in fact higher than ours and among the highest
in the world. And this resource, a 30 billion barrels of oil, represents I
understand the largest single free enterprise resource in the world.

So from my perspective and in particularly the people that I represent,
it`s hard for us to even understand why there is a question as to whether
this infrastructure is in the national interest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Now, did I tell you when we started covering this that you --
left, right, blue, green, center, you can find experts everywhere. We got
a new one to the plate, a senator from Louisiana. Landrieu called the tar
sands oil the cleanest barrel of oil produced in North America. We have
heard that one.

Now, we`ve been covering this story for sometime here on the Ed Show but I
got to tell you, that one is a dandy. There`s no question about it. New
to us for sure.

Now, let`s go to NASA Climate Scientist James Hansen from Thursday Senate
hearing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JAMES HANSEN, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: Tar sands are among the dirtiest
and most carbon intensive fuels. It makes no sense to setup a system to
exploit them in a major way. If we don`t approve it, a lot of that tar
sands will never be developed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.

HANSEN: The world is going to realize pretty soon that we`ve got to limit
the amount of carbon we put in the atmosphere and must going to have to do
that via a price on carbon and that`s going to cause the most carbon
intensive things to get left in the ground and that includes tar sands.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Dr. Hansen is the scientist. He`s the expert. He is spot on.

Now, Senator Landrieu, I`m not going to call you a liar on national
television but I`m very, very curious. What`s your source? Can you take
us to your source because you said that it`s the cleanest barrel of oil
produced in North America. That`s an unbelievable statement.

Now, who are you quoting Senator? Well, the Ed Show producers, we called
Senator Landrieu`s office and ask them to produce that source. Who is she
quoting? They`ve yet to get back to us on that.

Could it be Russ Girling who`s the CEO of TransCanada? In fact, when you
look at all the research you have done on this, nobody from TransCanada has
even gone so far to say that it`s the cleanest barrel of oil produced in
North America. We`re making some headway here.

Tar sands oil is one of the most toxic box (ph) of fuels on the planet.
Oil companies, you know what they going to do? They have to heat the sands
with toxic additives to extract this oil from the ground. Mining tar sands
oil creates three times more carbon emissions than conventional oil. It`s
a fact. Oil companies are literally destroying the Morel Forest in
Northern Canada. They don`t like it up there either.

A study from the University of California shows people who live downwind of
Alberta`s tar sands, well, they`re getting blood cancer.

Senator Landrieu has a long and a lot of nerve to come forward -- by call,
it was the cleanest barrel of produced oil in North America. All we`re
looking for is a source, Senator. I`m not trying to be a jerk here. I
mean, I really want to interview this expert that you`re quoting here or is
that just your opinion or if somebody in Louisiana told you.

It`s important to keep in mind that Landrieu has a disturbing record of
protecting the oil industry. Everyone remembers this scene in the Gulf of
Mexico after the deep water horizon oil rig exploded back in April of 2010.
In the middle of this mess, Senator Mary Landrieu came on this program, the
Ed Show, and stuck up for the oil industry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LANDRIEU: I just want you to know that I am not and no one that I know in
Congress is trying to protect BP.

Secondly, I`m glad to know that you are concerned about jobs because we
need to be in this industry as bad as maybe some of the actors are and as
irresponsible as some are, Ed, one thing I hope that you could realize,
this is a big industry and it`s not just Big Oil, it`s small companies,
it`s independent companies. And in my state alone, just Louisiana it`s
300,000 people that go to work everyday in this industry.

And Ed, you can`t just beat up on them.

SCHULTZ: Are you for unlimited caps and liability?

LANDRIEU: I am for BP paying every single penny that they owe.

SCHULTZ: Unlimited does not fit with you?

LANDRIEU: Well, if it puts the industry out of work. No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: You know, that`s factual. What she`s saying about jobs in
Louisiana, there`s no question about that. But I`m just trying to find out
if it`s the cleanest barrel of oil produced in North America that`s going
to be coming through the Keystone XL Pipeline.

There`s a reason Mary Landrieu sticks up for big oil. Opensecrets.org is
the source here. They show Landrieu received just under $500,000 from oil
and gas companies from 2009 to 2014. There is a reason this senator from
Louisiana is calling tar sands oil the cleanest barrel of oil produced in
North America.

Let`s go back to the number of Democrats who have their names on this
letter that Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky and some of her colleagues put
together.

The numbers 27. That`s not a very good number. That would be a very slow
start if you`re talking about 27 protesters. Every Democrat or should I
say any Democrat who is on record to be concerned about climate change
should have their name on this letter that went to Secretary Kerry telling
him no to the pipeline. What`s the problem? Well, it`s Big Oil, one of
the biggest lobbyist in all of Washington comes from the industry.

I would venture to say that some of these Democrats in Congress, they don`t
want become political targets because that`s exactly what`s going to
happen. So accolades big time and a hats off to those 27 Democrats that
had the courage to step up in the midst of citizens united and money
floating all over the place attacking people, running negative ads to step
up and say, "We should not be building this pipeline."

Get your cellphones out. I want to know what you think. Tonight`s
question, "Has Big Oil intimidate the Democrats not to sign this letter
opposing the pipeline?" Text A for Yes, text B for No to 67622, you can
always go to our blog @ed.msnbc.com. We`ll bring you the results later on
in the show.

For more, I want to bring in Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky of Illinois who
is behind this letter. Congresswoman, thank you so much for doing this. I
appreciate it. I know that there`s millions of Americans across America
who are waiting for elected officials such as yourself to step up and make
a bold statement here and basically ask for the order, ask the Secretary of
State not to do this.

You got 27 signatures. Are Democrats afraid to oppose the pipeline
Congresswoman?

REP. JAN SCHAKOWSKY, (D) ILLINOIS: Well, first of all I want to tell you
Ed. There were just a few of us who are going to send this letter because
we wanted to get it to Secretary Kerry now. He`s the one that makes the
natural -- national interest determination and sends that on to the
president.

But there were actually more people who wanted to get on the letter, so we
opened it up to them. So actually there are more than 27 of us on the
Democratic side who are against the Keystone XL Pipeline. But certainly,
we would use more, we could, you know, if your listeners would ask their
members of Congress to please convey to Secretary Kerry our opposition.

But, you know, we know the science is very clear that this is the dirtiest
oil on earth and that`s certainly not the cleanest oil and we know about
that in Chicago. The Koch Brothers actually have a refinery here that
refines the tar sands oil and what happens with the waste is that it
creates a huge pile called "petcoke", a black nasty pile that when the wind
blows carries heavy metals throughout communities right now on the south
side of Chicago .

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

SCHAKOWSKY: . that are protesting that. This is very bad for people`s
health from the beginning to the end of this pipeline.

SCHULTZ: I got to ask you. It`s terrible there`s no question about but
the Senator from Louisiana says the tar sands oil is the cleanest barrel of
oil produced in North America. What`s you response to that?

SCHAKOWSKY: Well, I certainly would be interested as you are in seeing the
source of that because I have never seen anything other than saying there`s
at least 17 percent more carbon pollution from these tar sands, the threat
of polluting aquifers that never could come back if they are polluted from
this.

So I don`t know where that number comes from or that information comes
from. But the science .

SCHULTZ: It doesn`t.

SCHAKOWSKY: . I believe tells us -- no, but this could be .

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

SCHAKOWSKY: . catastrophic and irreversible.

SCHULTZ: You know that was by the Senator? That was a promotional
statement. That`s exactly what that was. It was almost as if she was
reading the oil industry bullet points and I will give as much time to that
source as possible if Landrieu`s office can produce that source.

Now, does the oil industry .

SCHAKOWSKY: Let me say .

SCHULTZ: . have to hold on certain -- go ahead.

SCHAKOWSKY: I was just going to say, you know, she also talked about jobs
I mean she was defending the oil industry.

First of all, we -- I believe obviously on good jobs for construction
workers but we have miles and miles of pipes here in the United States that
are already leaking that need to be fixed. We have underground water
infrastructure that desperately needs to be fixed. There .

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

SCHAKOWSKY: If we would do an infrastructure bill, we could put far more
people to work and good pipe jobs and we don`t need to build a pipeline
that is going to take the oil and export it on to the world market. Make
no mistake. This is not for domestic you said.

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

SCHAKOWSKY: This is not going to help with our oil supply.

SCHULTZ: So Congresswoman, I want to focus just quickly now back on the
politics of this. Are more Democrats going to put their name on the line
to tell the president, "Don`t do this."?

SCHAKOWSKY: I do believe that we will in fact, we`ve had letters that have
had more than we put in. People wanted to get on this letter. We wanted
to get it out quickly.

I think the numbers are going and we`re also seeing on the polling day that
the support by the American people is going down. And in Canada support
for the pipeline is barely over 50 percent now and dropping.

SCHULTZ: All right. The more we talk about it the more these numbers
turn. No doubt about it.

Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky thanks for your time tonight and thanks for
doing what you`re doing.

I want to bring in Ring of Fire Radio Host and my great friend, America`s
attorney Mike Papantonio. Mike, good to have you with us tonight.

What do you make .

MIKE PAPANTONIO, HOST, RING OF FIRE RADIO: Hi. Ed, how are you?

SCHULTZ: . did you know that this would -- did you know that this was the
cleanest barrel of oil produced in North Dakota? Is that some good -- in
North America is that some good promotional stuff for you?

PAPANTONIO: Ed, it`s another one of those myths. We`ve heard plenty of
myths. Do you remember, we heard the myth about 20,000 jobs being created
and then when all the lies cleared up, we saw there was 35 permanent jobs
that were going to be established. In other words, you could build two
Starbucks stores and create more jobs.

The next big lie was the cost of oil was going to drop. And as we see, as
we just heard, it`s not going to drop at all because this is not oil for
America. This is oil that goes offshore, it sits in ships and then the oil
company determines where the highest the bidder is and then the oil is
shipped there.

The other lie, Ed, the other lie was that it`s not going to affect our
environment and then we saw the studies that said a pinhole leak, a pinhole
leak in a pipe can empty 700,000 gallons of crude oil a day into the most
pristine aquifer in the country.

And so, didn`t we also .

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

PAPANTONIO: . have to look at history? You started this with a very
interesting thing about BP. We look at the history of these companies that
choose to externalize all the disaster. We look at Exxon Valdez where they
turned Alaska black and poison and then made the taxpayers basically pay
for all that. BP, they destroyed an entire ecosystem that still hasn`t
recovered and they make the tax payers pay for that.

So we have to look at who we`re dealing with and we have to say, "You know,
what? I`ll bet if a disaster, if a catastrophe happens here we`re going to
see the same kind of conduct."

SCHULTZ: Mike, if the President approves the pipeline, which of course
will deal with the oil coming over the boarder.

PAPANTONIO: Right.

SCHULTZ: What about the land owners and their recourse in Nebraska? How
do you see that? I mean .

PAPANTONIO: Very good point.

SCHULTZ: . this is really going to come down to the Nebraska state Supreme
Court if the President approves it, correct?

PAPANTONIO: Let me tell you how important it is. Nebraska had the guts to
put together a consumer complaint and they win after the governor who had
OK`d the XL. And then all of a sudden the trial court says, "No. We`re
not going to do that." And now it`s gone up on appeal. And so all of a
sudden TransCanada has to be able to say this to this administration that
there is an approved route.

Right now as we speak there is no approved route for the pipeline. Ed,
very, very important new ones here, OK? This president is a constitutional
law, law professor, this is what he did. He understands that there is a
state sovereignty issue that has to be resolved before the pipeline goes
anywhere. It`s not just Nebraska where we`re going to see these lawsuits.
We`re going to see them in South Dakota .

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

PAPANTONIO: . Kansas, Oklahoma. Now here`s what`s really interesting very
quickly, it is this. The president is talking like a decision might be
right around the corner. If he`s saying that, he certainly understands
that the appellate courts alone are going to hold this up for two years.

So it might be a bright spot for Keystone opponents. When the president
says a decision is right around the corner, I`ve looked at all this, I`ve
had it for a long time, he also knows Nebraska is saying, "Hell no. Not in
our backyard." And so there`s has to be a resolution here.

SCHULTZ: All right Mike Papantonio, Ring of Fire, Radio Host and also -- I
like to call you America`s Lawyer doggone it. Way to go Mike. I
appreciate your time tonight. I appreciated so much.

Remember to answer tonight`s question there at the bottom of the screen.
And share your thoughts with us on Twitter at Ed Show and on Facebook. We
want to know what you think.

Coming up, how to compete with Hillary Clinton? How`s that going to work
out? The Rapid Response Panel weighs on Joe Biden`s chances.

But first, House Democrats have had enough for Darrell Issa`s antiques
(ph). Congressman Matt Cartwright weighs on that. What`s the next move
for the Democrats and will it make a difference?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Time now for the Trenders on social media. Check us out on
Twitter at Ed Show and on the Radio Show you`re going to find me on Sirius
XM Channel 127, Monday through Friday, noon to 3 p.m.

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, who turned out the lights?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The number three Trender, fire power outage.

PAT ROBERTSON, FMR. BAPTIST SOUTHERN MINISTER: Do you believe that God has
a sense of humor?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, that ain`t funny.

ROBERTSON: The Democrats had an all night marathon by advancing global
warming.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Climate change is real. Climate change is man-made.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You`ve got a point there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pat Robertson says our capital blackout was a sign from
God.

ROBERTSON: He dropped the temperature 40 degrees.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These blessings are raining down upon me. Wait, that`s
not rain.

ROBERTSON: Sent so much wind that it knocked out the lights in the Capital
dome.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why do you mock me, oh Lord?

ROBERTSON: The Lord is saying, "Democrat, it ain`t going to happen that
way."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s not going to happen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The number two Trender, McConnelling.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why are you smiling?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just like to smile. Smiling is my favorite.

JON STEWART, DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART HOST: I just learned to smile.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Crap, that`s terrifying.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Kentucky Senator Campaign ad spawns a new meme.

STEWART: We`re calling it hashtag McConnelling.

It`s funny. And I think everyone can play.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And today`s top Trender, the hot seat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It seems their Congressional cat fight has taken a new
life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Issa did apologize. Democrats truly want more
though.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Democrats keep the heat on Congressman Darrell Issa.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The House of Representatives strongly condemns the
offensive and disrespectful manner in which Chairman Darrell E. Issa
conducted the hearing and requires that he come to the well of the House to
issue a public apology.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He doesn`t deserve to be Chair.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (inaudible), close it down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Joining me tonight Congressman Matt Cartwright of Pennsylvania.
Congressman, good to have with us.

The Democrats are looking for an apology and then of course there`s also
the question about whether the Chairman actually broke the rules or not.
Are you going to get an apology? Is this going to have any impact?

REP. MATT CARTWRIGHT, (D) PENNSYLVANIA: It doesn`t sound like we are, Ed.
I need to tell you, I`m on that committee. I was 25 feet away from
Chairman Issa when he pulled that stunt and it was astonishing to me.

Actually they watched him reach over Elijah Cummings and hit the switch to
turn off Representative Cummings microphone. I`ve never seen anything like
that. And I checked with people who have been in the Congress for dozens
of years, they`ve never seen anything like that.

So to say that a simple phone call in the face of such a public affront,
such a public humiliation that he inflicted on ranking member Issa. To say
that a private a phone call apology is enough is ridiculous. And I totally
in agreement with colleague Dan Kildee out of Flint Michigan when we
brought that motion, demanding a public apology.

SCHULTZ: Did the Chairman break the rules? He says he didn`t. Democrats
say he did break the rules. What is it?

CARTWRIGHT: My understanding is he absolutely did, because there is a rule
and there`s a House rule that allows equal time. He gave zero time to the
ranking member of the full committee which is a flagrant violation of the
rules. I have no idea what Chairman Issa was thinking when he did that.
Other than that, Ranking Member Cummings was going to score some points,
was going to point out that what the witness could have said might have
shed some new light on this subject.

SCHULTZ: Bottom line here, Congressman, is if the Democrats don`t step up
to this kind of behavior who knows what the next hearing is going to be
like or how the next committee is going to be handled. God forbid if some
these Team Partiers end up being committee chairmen. Nobody is going to
have any dissenting voices in Congress. I mean, that -- isn`t that really
the motivation about what this could snowball too?

CARTWRIGHT: Well, you know, the over sighting Government reform committee,
I`ve been on it for a year and a quarter now. And all it is, is a press
generator for the Republican spin machine. You know, this thing that you
seen infecting all of Congress, the dysfunction that you`re seeing, it`s --
first of all it`s a zombie legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act 40
plus times maybe over 50 times, depending on how you count it. But that`s
infected the committees as well. And we this in the oversight committee,
where they keep, you know, respinning, recasting the same old phony
scandals over and over again.

SCHULTZ: So the bottom line now is the next move for the Democrats, will
there be an effort of fight to remove Issa as the Chair of the oversight
committee? And what avenues can the Democrats take?

CARTWRIGHT: Well, what we`ve seen so far as we bring motions and then, you
know, because the GOP have the majority in the Congress, they can simply,
you know, Eric Cantor got up and move to table our motion. And that went
to recorded vote .

SCHULTZ: He`s there?

CARTWRIGHT: . and they win and that`s the end of that.

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

CARTWRIGHT: That`s right.

SCHULTZ: So what we saw yesterday is about the best thing the Democrats
can do to bring attention to the country that this is how overbearing and
how insulting the Republicans can be. And this is the best way to call for
an apology, call for protest and do what the Democrats did. But removing
Darrell Issa, it isn`t going to happen. And not in the age of obstruction
or fair play and debate, it won`t happen.

Congressman, good to have with us tonight, I appreciate your time. Thank
you so much. Matt Cartwright with us from Pennsylvania.

CARTWRIGHT: My pleasure, Ed.

SCHULTZ: Coming up, if Joe Biden wants to give Hillary Clinton a run for
her money, well we got a suggestion for him. The Rapid Response Panel
weighs in with some advice.

And later, the tides are turning in Florida politics. I`m here in Miami
this weekend to find out where voters stand on the issues that mater to
them.

But next, I`m taking your questions. Ask Ed live just ahead. Stay tuned.
We`ll be right back on the Ed Show.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Welcome back to the Ed Show. Love hearing from the viewers
tonight in our Ask Ed Live segment.

Our question comes from Debbie. This is a very important question. Are
you going to have time to go fishing in Miami? No, I`m not. Its all work,
no play, 100 percent firewall for the facts, for the audience, although, I
sure wish I could.

Stick around, Rapid Response panel is next.

SEEMA MODY, CNBC CORRESPONDENT: I`m Seema Mody with your CNBC Market Wrap.

Stocks, end of the week lower. The Dow falling 43 points, losing ground
for the first straight sessions. The S and P 500 shedding 5, and the
NASDAQ slipping by 15, hosting the biggest weekly drops in April of last
year.

As for the economy, consumers are less confident. The University of
Michigan`s measure of sentiment showed lower the expectations about the
future.

And wholesale prices fell slightly last month, the first decline since
November. Economists expected a gain.

That`s it from CNBC, first in business world wide.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Welcome back to the Ed Show. Thanks for staying with us tonight.
You know, nobody can pin down Vice President Joe Biden about what he`s
thinking about 2016. Now, during last night`s Ireland Fund Gala, Biden
received an invitation to hit the golf course with Prime Minister Enda
Kenny. He responded by explaining, "If you want to keep your handicap in
golf, don`t run for president."

Well, the vice president is making light about a campaign heard against
golf game, but a 2016 run will take more than hinting and joking.

Any Democrat who wants to have a shot at pulling ahead of Hillary Clinton,
I think, is going to have to run an unconventional campaign. Forget what
the calendar says. My advice, start early, get aggressive, and get with
those House members. Winning the House is what it`s all about. The
Democrats will back whoever can bring results to the base.

If Vice President Joe Biden is serious about a run, he`s going to have to
go out and work events early on. He will commit himself to winning the
House. If he does that -- because I can tell you, Democrats are all across
this country. They know the obstruction and they know exactly what is
going to take to win the House back. And I think a big key for the
Democrats, is "OK, who wants to work for us?"

Now, Hillary Clinton has never said to sit out the midterm elections. But
the PACs supporting the former secretary of state, they don`t seem to be
listening. They`re already taking a knee on 2014.

This is Vice President Biden`s chance as I see it. Hillary Clinton -- OK,
what does she have? She`s got the buzz. She`s got the money. She`s got
the experience. Well, so as Joe. She`s got the money. She`s got the
buzz. I don`t know if Joe`s got a lot of that. But, you can always
outwork the competition. This is going to be different and there are -- is
no doubt that Hillary Clinton is not your everyday candidate. It`s going
to take a real lift to defeat her. There`s no doubt about it.

So to make it interesting, I would like to see Vice President Joe Biden or
any of the other candidates do something way ahead of the calendar. Don`t
talk to me about burnout. This is a balanced ideological fight for the
country. This is about an attack on workers. This is about taking
healthcare away from millions of Americans. We`re in the now business
right now. We`re not waiting for 2016 or the calendar says to do it in
February right after the midterms in early 2015. I don`t buy that. I
think Democrats across the country, Liberals across the country, they want
a fighter, and they want to get in this fight.

Joining me now is our Rapid Response Panel, Zerlina Maxwell of theGrio.com,
and Holland Cooke, talk radio consultant and media consultant. Great to
have both of you with us tonight.

Holland, it`s an overused statement and it`s old and it`s outdated, it`s
called out of the box, I`m going to use the term "unconventional."

If Hillary Clinton is going to commit to running, why wouldn`t Joe Biden
draw us at the ring early on to mix it up and let the Democrats know where
he is?

HOLLAND COOKE, TALK RADIO CONSULTANT: First things first mister,
congratulations Ed Schultz, again this year, top 10 on the prestigious
Talkers Magazine, 100 most important radio talk show host in America, the
heavy hundred. Well done.

And as for your point about the timeline .

SCHULTZ: And puts us on the heavy. I got it.

Their words, not mine. But, as to your point on the timeline, the 2016
IOUs are being written in 2014. You made a point about the checks (ph)
being written. And what we found out this week in that special election in
Florida is that the name of the tune is do-re-mi. So, it would be very
smart of the vice president to get out there and I`m sure they want them.
The guy lights up a room not withstanding the caricature the talk radio has
painted for him.

Just like Jerry Ford, was caricatured as clumsy because the camera never
blinks, there is a bit of a Joe Biden blooper real going around may not be
longer than the double you have blooper real (ph), but you seen this guy
work a room. He does light it up.

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

COOKE: He`s very good with the eye contact and the smile. And I bumped
into him a bunch of times in Washington and in Delaware. And every time I
do, he`s polite enough to pretend he remembered me. So, it`s that human .

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

COOKE: . contact that he ought to get out on the stamp for the 2014 crowd.

SCHULTZ: You know, Zerlina, I think there`s an interesting dynamic here.
Joe Biden wants every Democrat to win, OK? And every Democrat doesn`t have
to endorse Joe Biden, but I think they want him -- want Joe Biden to come
into their district to help motivate the base and get people going. I
mean, it`s a win-win for everybody. And those voters out there, I mean,
I`m talking about how are you going to defeat Hillary Clinton, how is
anybody going to make this a competitive race? Your thoughts on that.

ZERLINA MAXWELL, THEGRIO.COM: Well, I think that you`re absolutely right
that the focus needs to be on turning out the votes in the midterms. And
Joe Biden as, you know, has been very effective in his role as the populous
and chief of this administration and the one who can really speak to the
blue collar crowds. But in addition to that, he also is a really effective
messenger when it comes to women, young people, and people of color. He
had a very good appearances in front of all black crowds during the 2012
cycle.

And so, I think, that the focus for Democrats and for Joe Biden and anyone
that wants Democrats to be successful and want ambitions to go into the
White House, needs to be thinking about Geo TV, targeting voters that
brought Obama into his second term in 2012, that`s woman, that`s people of
color, that`s young people. And particularly, black woman.

I think that, you know, if the vice president can be an effective messenger
to women of color, we got this thing in the bag. And I think that all of
the narrative that this is over already, eight months out is wrong because
nobody has voted yet. We need to get those people to the polls.

SCHULTZ: Yeah. What do you think is going to motivate the base? What do
you think is going to be the big driver in the midterms here, the next
seven months, Zerlina? Where do you think this base is going to go and are
they motivated?

MAXWELL: I think the base is motivated. I think, you know, as someone who
is recently signed up for Obamacare and just received my insurance card,
number one, I want to make sure that Democrats go to the polls, so that
Republicans can`t come and take away my card, right? And so, 4.2 million
Americans, just like me, has signed up for Obamacare and now have that
financial security they never had before. Joe Biden as populous and chief
can go out and message, and make sure that Republicans don`t win, because
they want to take away your insurance card. That`s the message that I
think Joe Biden can hone in on .

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

MAXWELL: . as well as the minimum wage and reproductive health.

SCHULTZ: Holland, you talked about the effectiveness of Joe Biden, what`s
the strategy if he does get in here to take on Hillary Clinton? What`s the
best strategy to use?

COOKE: Well, oppress the flesh, I respect him biding his time because Mrs.
Clinton is such a presumptive candidate and all of that though is on third
base. It`s actually a high class problem for the Democrats because between
Mrs. Clinton and the vice president, if two people who would need no on-
the-job training, and they`re both very familiar to voters, there`s no Paul
Ryan effect where suddenly the voters have to meet this guy, have to learn
him. He`s been by the president`s side conspicuously, like a handful of
vice presidents, Walter Mondale for President Carter, certainly Al Gore
during the Clinton administration, Dick Cheney for W. These were all very
activist, very visible vice presidents. So as Woody Allen said, the 80
percent of life is showing up. And I think you just get Joe Biden out
there and let Joe be Joe.

SCHULTZ: You know, both of them uniquely qualified as you say -- Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton, foreign relations, Joe Biden spend decades on
foreign relations committee in the Senate, I mean, they`re two highly
qualified people. And so, I don`t think, Zerlina, there`s going to be any
split of any base.

I think, at the at the end of the day, they`re going to say, when you look
at qualifications, when you`re looking experience, when you look at level
handedness, either one of them.

MAXWELL: Right.

SCHULTZ: What do you think?

MAXWELL: I think that`s a great place to be if you`re a Democrat. And I
think that the focus here should be in the midterm elections, 2016 is a
long ways away. And you know, anybody that runs in 2016 is going to need a
Democratic majority in the House and the Senate in order to be effective.
We saw that under President Obama. If you don`t have that, then you really
can`t get much done. And so, I think that Hillary and Joe Biden both need
to focus on the midterm elections. I think that the super PAC needs too as
well, all hands on deck here.

SCHULTZ: Yes. All right, Holland Cooke, you told me back months ago that
you thought that Ted Cruz wanted to be the next big talker that this was
all, you know, a grand standing effort by the senator from Texas. I`ve got
one for you tonight. You got nothing but subpoenas surrounding some of
these Republican candidates, you got low poll numbers, you got bad job
numbers.

You know, who`s going to jump in? He`s name is Dick Cheney, that`s the one
I`ve given. He`s got a new heart. He`s ready to go. He`s out there very
interestingly right now, getting after President Obama. And I think that
there`s going to be a circle of Republicans who are going to be saying.

COOKE: And he`s being so coy about it too.

SCHULTZ: . "Come on Dick, don`t you have just one more run in you?

COOKE: And he`s so coy about it too, isn`t he?

SCHULTZ: Yeah. This is going to be another one of those draft means as
vice president, except, let`s want to go one step up.

MAXWELL: Right.

SCHULTZ: Zerlina Maxwell, Holland Cooke, great to have you with us
tonight. Thanks so much.

Coming up, polls are showing a shift in Florida politics. I`m here in
Miami to find out what issues really matters most to the voters in this
state. Stay with us, we`re right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Welcome back to Ed Show. The steel industry is facing major
challenges due to a bad trade deals. Manufacturing is being outsourced to
countries with lower wages and lower quality standard regulations. I
visited the steelworkers in Lorain, Ohio last week to see why American-made
steel can`t be beat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: These workers are high-tech. I mean, they`re basically are
looking for quality control.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You`re absolutely right. The people here are
technical. They understand. They`re passionate about it.

These are they guys who make -- these are the guys and girls who make it
happen

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: We`ll have more starting on Monday as we start our series,
"Fighting Chance: American Steel" all next week right here on the Ed Show
on MSNBC. We`re coming right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Welcome back to the Ed Show. This is the story for the folks who
take a shower after work.

Less than eight months from the 2014 midterm elections and Florida Governor
Rick Scott is already in big trouble. In the words of a top Florida
Republican quote, "There`s no way to sugarcoat this, it`s awful". RicK
Scott has been lagging in the polls for some time now. Quinnipiac poll in
January, now, Democratic opponent Charlie Crist with an eight-point lead.
University of Florida poll in February found Crist with a seven-point lead.

This weekend it got a whole lot worse for Rick Scott when the Miami Herald
published cross tabs from six internal GOP polls. That`s right folks. A
dozen members of Rick Scott`s own party leaked some pretty damaging poll
numbers to the press. The numbers show broad support for Charlie Crist
across a wide array of demographics according to one business interstate-
wide survey.

Crist leads Scott by 34 percentage points in Broward and Miami-Dade
counties. Get out the vote. It`s going to be big. Crist leads by six
percentage votes according to a poll of Republican-controlled State House
districts. North Florida is a Republican stronghold and Crist leads Scott
by four percentage points there, which is almost unheard of. That`s a
cumulative 17-point shift in favor of Democrats compared to the 2010
election.

This weekend, I am down here in Florida to talk to voters about the issues
that matter to them with the focus group. We`re going to be talking about
jobs, healthcare, and voting rights.

Annette Taddeo, Chair of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party joins me tonight
and vice chair of the state party. Annette good to have you with us
tonight. What message does it send when you`ve got Republicans leaking
poll numbers to the press?

ANNETTE TADDEO, CHAIR OF THE MAIMI-DADE DEMOCRATIC PARTY: Wow, well, maybe
they`re trying to wake up their base or maybe I don`t really understand why
they would leak these polls. But, you know what? I just think these
Republicans are really, really worried. Although they`re certainly seen a
little light at the end of the tunnel with what happened this week in the
panhandle with Alex Sink. But I still think that we, on the other side,
the Democrats, as the opposite, we should wake up. We shouldn`t look at
these polls and say, "Oh, we`re going to win. He`s a horrible governor.
We`re going to be Scott-free."

That would be awesome. But the fact of matter is we tend to vote less in
midterm elections as Democrats, we don`t get out the vote as much. And so,
if we don`t do something to entice our base, to get out our base, I believe
that we`re going to see a repeat of 2010 in Florida.

SCHULTZ: Why do you think that Sink lost that special election on the Gulf
Coast around Tampa? I know that that`s a hard place. The Republicans have
had it for a long time and it was a very close race, it was only two
percentage points. But, do you view that as tea-leave (ph) that it`s going
to awfully tough in Florida in 2014?

TADDEO: No. I don`t, because it`s a very Anglo-Saxon older area. And
that`s now what the rest of Florida looks like. Florida is very diverse.
And certainly, those Hispanic voters, African-American voters, they vote
for Democrats and they`re going to vote for Democrats, if we can get them
out to vote, which is why we have to work .

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

TADDEO: . so hard on to get out the vote. And also, the base, it was base
election. And I think that that was something that should have been done a
little bit more from the Democratic side to entice the base to go out just
like the Republicans did.

SCHULTZ: On Wednesday, Scott said that he would back a Senate proposal
here in Florida to allow undocumented immigrants to qualify for in-state
tuition, so long as they meet certain requirements. Couple of questions
here, does this progress or is this just an attempt to ponder to the Latino
and minority voters ahead of the election?

TADDEO: It is amazing what an election will do to change this governor.
This governor has been flip-flopping on a lot of things, but especially to
appeal to the Hispanic vote. And this is all that is. It is very obvious
that he still -- he still uses the word "illegal" to call these students
who came here to no fault of their own, some of them very young. But yet,
you know, he wants to change his mind about this, because he`s trying to
appeal to the Hispanic vote. I think we`re all going to see right through
that.

SCHULTZ: What about -- he says that undocumented immigrants would qualify
for in-state tuition so long as they meet certain requirements. Question
is what requirements is he talking about?

TADDEO: Well, there`s always these catches, right? It`s all -- yeah, of
course, we`re for immigrants and they`re going to try to do certain things
here and there. But, at the end of the day, they don`t. Just look at the
CPAC event where, Ann Coulter said, this -- the "Browning of America." I
mean, these kinds of comments are the comments that totally insult us as
Hispanics. And we know that they`re just pondering and trying to say
things. But at the end of day, they just want our vote.

SCHULTZ: OK. Annette Taddeo, thanks for your time tonight.

TADDEO: Thank you.

SCHULTZ: Chair of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party. And of course we`re
down here in Miami for the weekend. We`re doing a focus group tomorrow
with a number of voters here in the Miami area, and we`ll bring that story
to you in the coming days.

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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