The Ed Show for Wednesday, August 27th, 2014

THE ED SHOW
August 27, 2014

Guest: Bernie Sanders, Brad Woodhouse, Terence Moore, Larry Cowan


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (I) VERMONT: Billionaires are on the warpath.

It is oligarchic.

They want more, more, more.

And I think the American people are catching on.

We are fighting for the soul of America...

Four-hundred individuals in this country own more wealth than the bottom
150 million Americans.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You`re welcome

SANDERS: People do not appreciate how far right the Republican Party has
gone.

Do you support chained CPI?

REP. MICHELE BACHMANN, (R) MINNESOTA: But I will tell you.

SANDERS: Do you support chained CPI?

BACHMANN: . what is going to hurt the economy.

SANDERS: You`re not answering the question. Do you support a chained CPI?

BILL O`REILLY, FOX NEWS HOST: ... cradle-to-grave entitlements -- you have
to tax. So.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.

SANDERS: I asked you a question. You didn`t give me an answer.

BACHMANN: Well, calm down.

SANDERS: Do you support a chained CPI?

O`REILLY: I just want to get your positions on the record.

SANDERS: Do you hear me cringing? Do you hear me running under the table?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ED SCHULTZ, MSNBC HOST: Good to have you with us tonight folks, thanks for
watching. I want to ask you to use your imagination tonight as a viewer,
as someone that consumes the news, someone that plays with the political
game and sees what`s happening and sees what`s unfolds. Use you
imagination for just a few moment if you can.

When was the last time somebody asked you to use your imagination to think
about dreaming or where it`s going to go? My wife and I have been together
now for -- we`re in our 17th year. We`re married more than 16 years. As
Tom Hanks would say, "We`re an American family". We have 6 kids, 11 grand
kids, and there`s more on the way. They`re not 20 somethings anymore,
they`re 30 somethings.

They have jobs, they have kids, they have dreams, and I asked them at the
lake when we talk late at night I say, "Do you know where you`re going to
be when you`re 40? Do you have an idea what this whole thing about life is
going to be when you`re 50, and how this is all going to work out? What
are you`re goals?"

What`s you`re imagination -- use you`re imagination, dream about how this
is going to all work out and what you want to do, and then drive like hell
and get there. That`s life. That`s America. That`s what we do. We dream
about things and then we go out and try to make it happen.

So tonight I want to start in relating that personal story and just a
little flavor of the Schultz family. I want to start with the picture of
this man, this gentleman. This is a man who is determined. This is a man
who we all know -- if you watch this show, Senator Bernie Sanders. He`s my
favorite senator, because when I ask him questions, I get answers.

Now if you`re a real liberal, and if you care about the progressive
movement in this country and where we`re going for the next generation, I
can easily make the case, this is you`re guy. Now, we know what Bernie
Sanders stands for. He`s not afraid to speak out on the issues, it just
seems like there`s no gray area with this guy, he knows who he is and knows
what the issues are, and I just get a strong sense that he is with the
American people. He knows where working families are.

Bernie Sanders is for workers, no doubt about that. He`s all about
protecting unions and collective bargaining. He wants to raise the minimum
wage, he talks about it as much or more than anybody. He`s for fixing
income inequality. I bet this man has been interviewed by more national
media on income inequality than anybody because he`s the one that believes
it`s a real issue. Bernie wants to fix the tax code, he talks about tax
fairness, he wants to make corporations pay their fair share.

If you interview him, he`ll tell you that one in four corporations in this
pay zero tax. He`ll you that back in 1952, 30 percent of the treasury got
money from corporations and now it`s less than 10 percent. Bernie is a
believer in regulating big banks and doing something about thieves on Wall
Street. There would have been prosecutions if this guy had been president.

He supports universal healthcare. He took and advocated for the public
auction, didn`t get it but is a supporter of Obamacare because he realizes
generationally with -- this is a good first step. But he`s a universal
healthcare guy. He is a firm believer in climate change. He`s the last
thing from being a denier. He says it`s a problem. Bernie Sanders is
against the Keystone XL pipeline. He wants to invest in clean energy. But
most importantly Bernie Sanders, I believe connects with average Americans.

He`s not a typical politician, he doesn`t weight (ph) his answers, he cuts
right to the chase and tells you where is at on the issues. Bernie cares
about people not his own political self interest. I guess you could say
he`s a rare bread in this day of Citizens United and protecting political
backsides. In this day and age, it`s hard to find Bernie Sanders, there`s
only one Bernie Sanders, there`s not a whole lot more, there`s a few but
not very many.

Bernie Sanders is thinking, he`s thinking about running for the
presidential nomination. The question is, is he going to run as an
independent or is he going to run as a Democrat? He caucuses with the
Democrats. Well, Senator Sanders if you haven`t been paying attention has
been hitting the trail and he is on the trail.

Today he was on Charlotte, North Carolina accepting the American Legion`s
Patriot Award. Tonight Senator Sanders is going to be traveling to
Raleigh, North Carolina where he`s going to holding a town hall.
Interesting, a story in The Hill the other day says that not many
politicians are holding town hall meetings anymore, Bernie does. He`s a
real -- retail (ph) politicker, no doubt about it, he goes right to the
folks.

And tomorrow Senator Sanders is going to be speaking in a Town Hall meeting
in Columbia, South Carolina. And on Friday he`s going to speaking in a
Town Hall meeting in Jackson, Mississippi. The senator from Vermont will
speak at the AFL-CIO breakfast in Manchester, New Hampshire over the Labor
Day weekend. And on September 27th he plans to speak at the Stafford
County Democrats annual dinner near Durham, New Hampshire.

That`s a busy schedule isn`t it? Senator Sanders is also going to be in
Iowa, let`s not leave them out. He`ll be there in September. He`s going
to be hosting a series of town hall meetings in Dubuque, Waterloo, and Des
Moines. On September 13th and 14th, Hillary Clinton and former Vice
President Clinton are going to be in Iowa at the same time that weekend
attending Tom Harkin`s famous and annual steak fry.

If Sanders runs for president, he`s going to be a real challenger to the
obvious front runner Hillary Clinton. Who can argue with her resume, her
success? People love Hillary, polling through the roof. No liberal wants
to see Hillary Clinton run unchallenged and absent of the key issue and the
key discussions that have take place. Debate is a good thing, competition
is a good thing. Competition is what makes us Americans great. We get
better because of it.

Clinton has remained quite on a number of issues. Now I realize it`s
early. A Bernie Sanders run would force, no doubt, former Secretary of
State, former first lady, former Senator Hillary Clinton to step out and
start talking about things that liberals are concern about and what they
want to hear about. This is something else that I want to point out, look
at the calendar, look at the history. We are 803 days away from the 2016
presidential election, it`s a long time.

Look at a Gallup Poll between June 1st and June 4th of 2006. This poll was
taken 884 days before the 2008 election, roughly the same amount of time
we`re talking about right now in relationship to the 2016 election. This
was an open-ended poll. People were asked simply, who they wanted to
become president.

This poll was mostly about name recognition. And this guy named Barack
Obama didn`t fair very well. Hillary Clinton won the support of 25 percent
of Democrats. Barack Obama came in at just 1 percent. And it`s important
to remember, the 2016 election is over two years away. This proves --
history shows us anything is possible.

So someone has gotten to Bernie Sanders and gotten him to imagine, what it
would be like if he were to run for president. Could he win, would he gain
the support? It seems to me he`s on a fact-finding mission. He`s going to
North Carolina, he`s there tonight. He`s going to South Carolina, he`s
going to Mississippi, he`s going to New Hampshire, he`s going to Iowa, he`s
going to all these primary states where you have to take the polls to the
people to figure out if you got a change to do this stuff.

But if you believe and if you`re solid on the issues, history tells us
anything can happen. I like that arena, I live knowing anything can
happen, and it`s going to be wide open, and there`s not going to be anybody
absent when we`re talking about climate change, there`s not going to be
anybody absent when we`re talking about jobs and the economy, because right
now that`s where the country is.

Nobody is going to be absent when we`re talking about Citizens United and
should that be overturned, because that`s where the country is right now
folks. They`re on Citizens United, are we going to save our democracy,
they are on jobs and full employment, that`s what we want, that`s what the
30 something, back on the lake are talking about. That`s where the country
is. And if Bernie Sanders jumps in, and I`m not here to break a story
tonight that he`s going announce anything.

I just know one thing, the things that people care about are going to be
discussed by any Democrat who runs and wants to be president. So I can`t
tell you if Bernie is going to get the nomination but I can sure as he`ll
tell you that the vetting process as far as the liberals and the
progressive movement is concern, the vetting process is going to go through
the guy who`s on the road quite a bit right now. And I like that.

Get your cellphones out. I want to know what you think. Tonight`s
question, should there be a competition on the Democratic primaries? Text
A for yes, text B for no to 67622, you can always go to our blog at
ed.msnbc.com. We`ll bring you the results later on in the show.

For more, I bring you the man we`re discussing tonight, Senator Bernie
Sanders of Vermont. Senator good to have you with us tonight, I appreciate
your time.

SANDERS: Well Ed, thank you very much for all of those kind words.

SCHULTZ: Well, it`s the truth. When I asked you a question about climate
change I get a straight answer. When I asked you a question about income
inequality, you give me a straight answer. When chained CPI, play the
tape, there it is, you have an answer. Now, senator, what do you want to
accomplish with these upcoming trips that we have mapped out and the
schedule`s been made available to us. What do you want to accomplish here?

SANDERS: Well Ed, number one, I want confirmation of what I believe is
true and that is the issues that I care about, the issues that you care
about, the issues you`d just been talking about. The collapse of the
middle class, the fact that we have so many people today living in poverty.
Income and wealth inequality so that we have today the worst and most
disproportionate income and wealth inequality of any major country on
earth, we`re the only country in the industrialized world that doesn`t
guarantee healthcare to all of its people.

We have a highest rate of childhood poverty. I believe that all over this
country, in so-called red states and in so-called blue states, people are
profoundly disgusted about what is happening, and that they want real
change. Now, I`m going to go to Mississippi. I`m going to go to South
Carolina. These are not generally considered to be "progressive states",
but I believe that in those states, people want to hear voice and say,
enough is enough.

The billionaire class can`t have it all. The middle class has got to get
some of it. We need to change our trade policies so the corporate America
invest in this country not in China, that it is wrong, the Burger King and
all the large corporations are fleeing America because they don`t want to
pay their fair share of taxes, that we need to rebuild our crumbling
infrastructure and create millions of jobs. That yes, the scientist are
right, climate change is real and that we have to transform our energy
system away from fossil fuel.

I believe that these are not radical ideas.

SCHULTZ: No.

SANDERS: In fact, I believe that every one of these ideas, the vast
majority of the people agree.

SCHULTZ: Its populace is what it is. That`s where the American people are
what you just described on these issues. And if we go through a vetting
process for whatever candidate is going to be representing that the
Democrats, we`re hurting ourselves. And so, I think the discussion that
you have with the American people on these town halls right now is vitally
important to the country.

Because if the other side had it their way, they wouldn`t be talking about
any of these things that you`re bringing up, where American families are
because of Citizens United and the bankrolling that can be done from a
local level, all the way from school boards, all the way to the White
House. And so...

SANDERS: Ed...

SCHULTZ: ... having a discussion is vitally important.

SANDERS: And here is the point, here is the point of Citizens United. I
believe passionately that if we do not overturn Citizens United, this
country is well on the way to becoming an oligarchic form of society where
the billionaire class is going to control out political life. But you know
what? It`s not just like you. That`s not just you of you. That is what
people across the political spectrum belief. Nobody that I know regardless
of their political views thinks that American democracy has anything to do
with billionaires like the Koch brothers being able to spend hundreds of
millions of dollars...

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

SANDERS: ... to elect candidates to represent the rich and the powerful.

SCHULTZ: Senator, give us a snap shot of you. How do you stay
unvarnished? How do you stay unspoiled? Is it because...

SANDERS: Well...

SCHULTZ: ... being from a small state, being from where there`s not a lot
of people that you can really reach out probably better than someone that`s
in a big populated state, not to say that other senators aren`t real to
their people but there is a quality about you where you`re unspoiled.
You`re not afraid to attack the issues. There`s not a political
calculation always being made by Bernie Sanders on what`s right and what`s
wrong. And I find that refreshing and I hope the candidate whoever it may
be is going to be just that way.

SANDERS: Ed, let me tell you a brief story. I was elected mayor of the
city of Burlington and probably, a lesson that I`ve learn there -- I`ve
never forgot, and that is that when you stand up and fight, ordinary people
respond. In my second run for office, we have a two-year term there, voter
turn out in Burlington, Vermont almost doubled, almost doubled because
people said, you know what? Bernie is standing with us, we`re going to
stand with him.

And I think all over this country, when we`re looking in an election coming
up with 60 percent of the American people have given off and are not going
to vote, what we need to do is remind the American people. You use the
word dream. This country can be so much more than we are right now if we
work together...

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

SANDERS: ... if we`re prepared (ph) to standup to the big money interest
and when that happens, when that kind of discussion and excitement takes
place people are going to come out of the woodwork. And that is I think
what has got to happen, and if we got to bring about change in America,
that is exactly what must happen.

SCHULTZ: So, this schedule is about you collecting information and
ascertaining whether you would have an opportunity, whether you would have
a legitimate shot to get the nomination and of course I`ve got to ask you
about, would you run as a Democrat or as an independent but this is about
you collecting momentum and to see if there`s a polls out there, correct?

SANDERS: This is about seeing whether ordinary people are prepared to
stand up and fight and create a political revolution in the sense of what
we have not seen for a very, very long time.

SCHULTZ: OK. Democrat, independent, have you thought about that?

SANDERS: Well, that`s exactly what I`m thinking about and that`s exactly
what I`m talking to people about.

SCHULTZ: All right. Senator, good to have you with us tonight, I
appreciate your time. We`ll follow you on the trail and see how it all
unfolds, and thanks for speaking up here on the Ed Show tonight. Thanks so
much.

SANDERS: Thank you.

SCHULTZ: Coming up, with Republican stars mired in controversy. Uh oh,
how about this one? Mitt Romney mauls (ph) yet another run for the White
House. Rapid Response panel weighs in. But first, ESPN takes heat after
reporting on Michael Sam`s shower habits. Trenders is next, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: What`s hot, what`s not, what`s out there? Time now for Trenders.
Join the ED Team, social media. This is where you can get with us,
facebook.com/edshow, twitter.com/edshow and ed.msnbc.com. My podcast is
available on a number of websites, wegoted.com, rawstory.com,
ringoffireradio.com. On iTunes search for Ed Schultz and you`ll get the
podcast 24/7. It`s free, get after it and have a good one today.

Ed Schultz social media nation had decided. We`re reporting.

Here are today`s top trenders voted on by you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shut it down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The number three trenders, shutdown sequel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: McConnell is already threatening to use a Republican
majority in the senate, pass bills in limiting the administration or let
the president veto and risk the government to shutdown.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, it sounds like a broken record.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, (R) KENTUCKY: All across the federal government,
we`re going to go after it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Republicans plan for a second round of government
shutdown.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president, "needs to be challenged and the best way
to do that is through the funding process".

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But wait, there`s war.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Florida Senator Marco Rubio says that President
Obama`s threat of unilateral action on immigration to do reform and leads
with government shutdown.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m seeing double here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The number two trender, crimes of fashion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Republican Governor of Texas, Rick Perry turned
himself into authorities.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The governor with finger printed. He had his mug
shot taken.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Say cheese.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Perry`s tax looks a profit of his mug.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His Rick pack. He`s put out a t-shirt with his mug
shot on a front.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where did you get those clothes? At the toilet store?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now, that is unusual in terms of fund raising.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And today`s top trender, washed out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Michael Sam has become a national story. He`s the
first openly gay player in the NFL.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How is he fitting in his Rams teammates so far?

JOSINA ANDERSON, ESPN REPORTER: Kendall Langford said, Michael Sam is
simply just one of the guys.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn`t see you in there.

ANDERSON: But another Rams defensive player told me that, "Sam is
respecting our faith" and that from his perspective, he seems to think that
Michael Sam is waiting to kind of take a shower and not to make his team
mate feel uncomfortable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ESPN tries to clean up after its controversial
Michael Sam story.

BRYAN BURWELL, ST. LOUIS POST DISPATCH: For the most part, locally, this
is not that social story.

ANDERSON: Michael Sam so far through three preseason games has recorded
five tackles, five quarterback hits and also three sacks...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can`t hear you. I`m in the shower.

BURWELL: But most part, this has been a football story.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Joining us tonight, Terence Moore, National Sports columnist and
journalist and instructor at Miami of Ohio University. Professor, good to
have you with us tonight, I appreciate your time. I was absolutely
appalled when this story was presented the way it was. An unnamed source,
it made it sound like Michael Sam goes into the locker room and goes into
the shower looking for something other than to get clean. It`s -- when are
unnamed sources going to be taken out of the media?

This, I think is very damaging to his character. It`s unfair, it`s
discrimination and so I`ll ask you. Your impression to story and I guess
what the hell was ESPN thinking?

TERENCE MOORE, NATIONAL SPORTS COLUMNIST: You sounded like that Vince
Lombardi clip, "What the hell going on out here?"

SCHULTZ: That`s right.

MOORE: But I`ll tell you some Ed and you initially pointed out. This
semester I`m teaching upper level sports journalism course at Miami of Ohio
my alma mater and if this story would come across my desk, automatic F.
There are two big things that are wrong with this. First of all, OK? When
you are talking about a small simple size of about two or three guys which
was done in this particular story out of 75 and that`s how many players are
still not on rush (ph) right now, that`s not big enough and you`re exactly
right.

You cannot take something, this explosive and use unnamed sources, OK?
That`s number one. Number two, it`s false, you know, one of the dirty
little secret is there have always been gay athletes and professional
sports. And there`s a good friend of mine who was a prominent player for a
prominent NFL team in the last 30 years. I`d just talked to him today
again about the gay players on that particular team and I asked him point
blank, I said, "Did you guys have trouble with that guy or that guy being
in the shower with you?" And he kind of laughs and says no. They helped
us win and then he pause and they said, and they also give us towels.
That`s not a big deal.

SCHULTZ: Should ESPN reveal the source? Should the reporter have to
reveal the source?

MOORE: Well, in this particular case, the way it has gone, no. You know,
if you go this far along then it`s just a done deal. And the best thing
that ESPN could do -- and I guess I should qualify this by saying that I do
some work for ESPN, OK, just two (ph) confession here.

SCHULTZ: Sure.

MOORE: That they`ve done a pretty good job I think, of coming out and say
hey, we blew this, we made a mistake, let`s move on. And, that`s the
second thing about journalism, if you do blew it, admit it and just make
sure it didn`t happen again.

SCHULTZ: Rams defensive man Chris Long twitted in response to the story.
There ESPN, everyone but you is over it. It sounds like that is the case.
Moving forward, does this story help Michael Sam down the road now that
really unethical and journalistic line has been drawn as to how they
covered this athlete? I don`t know if I`m wording that correctly or not
but I`d tell you what...

MOORE: Yeah.

SCHULTZ: ... it would seem to me that other reporters are going to tread
lightly when they start talking about Michael Sam.

MOORE: Well, first of all Ed, let me tell you something. I would be
shocked if he doesn`t make the team. In the cut down date, this coming
Saturday, they`ve got a 75 men rooster. All NFL team is now -- they`ll be
down in 53 by Saturday. And as you mentioned before in the earlier piece,
I mean this preseason, he`s playing pretty well, I mean he`s got five
tackles, three sacks, even of the setter Johnny Manziel. And, you know
what Ed? He`s the guy that`s playing on a team that`s got this prolific
defensive lineman.

And here is the thing, Jeff Fisher the coach of Saint Louis sort of tip his
hand. He said that, defensive ends, normally they`ll make the team, as a
special team guys and that`s how people said he was going to make the team.
So, it is all but Jeff Fisher`s say whether or not he`s going to make the
team.

SCHULTZ: Given the preseason stats of five tackles and three sacks, two of
them on Johnny Manziel, I would say that his name is on the chart. That`s
for sure. There`s no question about that and if he doesn`t make with the
Rams it would seem to me that someone else will give him a look. But it
looks like with these kind of numbers and the way he`s played, he`s got a
more than formidable chance to make this work for a team.

MOORE: Well, yeah. And Ed, let`s put this in context too, he was the Co-
SEC player of the year.

SCHULTZ: Oh yeah.

MOORE: . OK. He`s the guy that led the SEC and tackles for loss, so this
is not anybody. And one other quick thing, you know, a few weeks ago I was
on a show talking about defending Tony Dungy.

SCHULTZ: Sure.

MOORE: And this is exactly what I`m talking about. Tony Dungy was not
being anti-gay. He was saying that, he as a coach wonders about dealing
with these outside distractions you have no control over. Now, I would
give Jeff Fisher credit, Jeff Fisher being the Rams` coach. Jeff Fisher
said from the beginning, he`s willing to deal with the distraction, OK?
Not -- it`s not because of his team mates, because of him. So that`s
another thing that tells me that he`s going to make the team.

SCHULTZ: Well, I like this interview because you`ve told that your
students at Miami of Ohio that you can get an F, you better pay attention
what the heck is going on. You can get an F in Terence Moore`s class.

MOORE: Well, one of the things I told them in the first day of class
yesterday was reporting, reporting, reporting.

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

MOORE: I don`t like off the top of your head type stuff, give me reporting
and this was not very well reported.

SCHULTZ: Terence Moore, good to have you with us my friend. Thanks so
much. I appreciate your time tonight.

Still ahead, Romney rooters, they`re rejoicing, he`s saying there`s a
chance. Rapid Response panel weighs in on Mitt`s possible 2016 run. Plus,
from Fox News with love, the network, Putin-pondering lands anchor Kimberly
Guilfoyle in Pretenders tonight. Your question is next, Ask Ed Live.
We`re coming right back on the Ed Show on MSNBC.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: And we are back. Ask Ed Live, appreciate the questions. Our
question, first comes in tonight on our Ask Ed Live segment from Debbie.
She wants to know, "Do you think the President is doing a good job dealing
with ISIS?"

Yes, I do. I don`t buy into all the fear mongering that I`m hearing from
the right-wing. We are bombing the door out of them. We`re getting after
them. We`re picking targets. It`s aggressive action against ISIS. And
the Iraqis know that we`re there, but they have to step up and be the main
player in all of this. And so, early on, yes, I think the President`s
doing a good job handling it.

Our next question is from Ray. He wants to know, "What are your thoughts
about 9-year-olds with automatic weapons?" What a sad story this is. Poor
parental judgment unfortunately, and now a 9-year-old has to live with the
circumstances of what unfolded in that gun range.

I don`t know why a 9-year-old has to have an automatic weapon or have
training for an automatic weapon. It`s a stunner is what it is, and so my
thoughts about a 9-year -old with an automatic weapon, not in my house.
Stick around, Rapid Response panel is next.

HAMPTON PEARSON, CNBC MARKET WRAP: I`m Hampton Pearson with your CNBC
Market Wrap.

Stocks end little changes, the Dow adding 15 points, the S&P and up a
fraction closing above 2000 for a second day, the NASDAQ falling by a
point.

Tiffany shares gained ground after the high-end jewelry retailer. Reported
stronger than expected earnings and raised its full-year guidance. And
Apple closed slightly higher, according to a report the company is looking
to release a bigger, nearly 13-inch version of its iPad tablet next year.

That`s it from CNBC, first in business worldwide.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: And we are back. Thanks for watching tonight. The perennial
presidential candidate Mitt Romney has insisted that he has no plans to run
again in 2016. Then on Tuesday, Romney admitted well, circumstances can
change.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

FRM. GOV. MITT ROMNEY, (R) MASSACHUSETTS: This is something we gave a lot
of thought to when early on I decided we`re not going to be running this
time. And again, we said look, I had the chance of running. I didn`t win.
Someone else has a better chance than I do and that`s what we believe and
that`s why I`m not running and, you know, circumstances can change, but I`m
just not going to let my head go there.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: You better believe circumstances can change, absolutely. Just
look at the field of governors who are once considered the future of the
Republican Party. Let`s start with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie,
knocked out of the Marquee front-runner position with Bridge Gate Scandal.
Federal investigation in the George Washington`s bridge lane closure is
ongoing.

And we got our old buddy, Scott Walker, from Wisconsin. The governor had
hold inquiry in the weather he -- and top aids illegally coordinated with
conservative interest groups during the 2012 recall election. Then of
course, there`s former Governor from Virginia Bob McDonnell. He`s battling
a 14 count public corruption indictment.

And speaking of indictments, not long ago August 15th, good ol` Rick Perry
from Texas became the first Texas governor being indicted since 1917. So
yes, circumstances do change. I like the lineup, isn`t it? So, exactly
what kind of circumstances would convince Mitt Romney to get back in the
ring?

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

HUGH HEWITT, SALEM RADIO HOST: I`ve always also said that I thought if
you`d fight, you were the only guy who could win, you`d do it.

ROMNEY: Well, you know, let`s say all the guys that were running all came
together and said, "Hey, we`ve decided we can`t do it, you must do it".
That`s the one of the million we`re thinking about.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Joining me now in the Rapid Response panel, Brad Woodhouse,
former Democratic Party Communications Director and also Ring of Fire Radio
Host and America`s Attorney, Mike Papantonio. Gentlemen, you`re smiling at
this story, I am too. This is one of these, bring it on moments, I
couldn`t get enough of it. What`s your response, Brad. I mean is there
truth in the possibility that circumstances can change, and could Mitt
Romney resurrect the effort. What do you think?

BRAD WOODHOUSE, PRES. AMERICAN BRIDGE 21ST CENTURY: Ed, let me be the
first on your show to offer my endorsement of Mitt Romney`s candidacy for
President. Look, I don`t if he`ll run. I do think that the circumstances
you laid out are exactly the circumstances that he`s referring to. Mitt
Romney is a calculating guy. It wasn`t an accident that he said
circumstances may change and actually, I think circumstances have changed.

They have a feel that he`s in trouble, that he`s weak and that he`s either
under indictment or under investigation, or has offended some segment of
the Tea Party. And those are the circumstances that might make Mitt Romney
run, possible and I say, bring it on. I mean no one better than Mitt
Romney can exhibit what the differences are between Republican policies on
the economy and Democrat policies on the economy.

SCHULTZ: Yeah. Well, he is sure doesn`t pass up any opportunities to
criticize the President although...

WOODHOUSE: That`s absolutely right.

SCHULTZ: ... we -- but we have to point out that since the 2012 election,
we have gained in private-sector job growth every single month.

WOODHOUSE: Right.

SCHULTZ: So, this idea that the President don`t know anything about the
economy, certainly that doesn`t match up with what Mitt Romney was telling
the country. And how does he transform himself with the 47 percent
incumbent, Pap?

PAPANTONIO: Ed, there`s no way to change circumstances. This is a guy who
squandered $433 million to lose the last time he ran. My take is that what
we see is pride talking with the Mittster. He`s a little bit of a tragic
character, Ed. His father was a well-loved and respected political figure
who had many dimensions. The Mitt on the other hand created legacy for
himself, the legion with the image of a predatory Bain Capital corporate
hitman who left a trail of suffering and pillage all along the way.

If the ghost of Christmas, Ed, were to visit the Mitt, he`d remind Mitt of
the tens of thousands of Americans who were laid off from their jobs
because of Mitt`s brutal vulture capitalism. He`d also be reminded that
he`s a wildly rich Wall Streeter. He was worried more about mansions and
jets while the average American was worried about how to feed his family or
how to send their children to college or how to pay 30 percent taxes while
Mitt was paying 11 percent.

So, even as bad is the GOP clown car starts looking with criminal trials,
criminal indictments, probability of more criminal indictments, Mitt is a
two-time campaign loser who is beyond being in full rehabilitation. So
there are no circumstances that I see that this guy is going to be in a
race.

SCHULTZ: Well, that`s why Brad Woodhouse just endorsed him for what you
just said. All right, no, but the folks who were having some legal issues
and some political issues who we mentioned in the run after this piece,
Brad, can they rehabilitated in time to fix the reputations to make a
successful run for the presidency?

WOODHOUSE: Well, look I think it`s possible but, you know, for example, in
New Jersey, Chris Christie, who know, maybe there won`t be a smoking gun.
Maybe he won`t be indicted but I don`t believe all these investigations
have going on all this long without some legal actions being taken against
people around him. Scott Walker is in a very tight race, he made lose his
race for governor in Wisconsin. And guess what? Ain`t no way he`s going
to run for President after that.

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

WOODHOUSE: I would just say this, Ed. I hate to disagree with one of your
guests, I do not believe that it`s not a real possibility that Mitt Romney
will run for President again. And I think because of what you alluded to,
he`s got the ego for it.

SCHULTZ: Oh, yeah.

WOODHOUSE: He`ll believe that he`s the only one that could win because of
the problems these other folks are facing.

SCHULTZ: Would the Tea Party extremist go along him? Would they be the
roadblock, Pap?

PAPANTONIO: Well, I don`t think the Tea Party extremist have ever been in
love with him. And there`s a bigger problem, though, if anything the
average family in America right now is feeling the effects of our 1 percent
class division, even worse than they did the first time Mitt ran. So, you
have a public even more suspect of corporate vultures who now control 40
percent of America`s wealth. In the eyes of many, the 99 percent it`s hard
to tell the difference between Bernie Madoff, Bank of America, and Mitt
Romney. And so that`s always going to be in his way whether he runs or not.
I would agree, I would love to see him run but I don`t believe it`s ever
going to happen.

SCHULTZ: We still have the 47 percent tape, we can pull that thing out,
he`s got to edit that thing or come up with a new line to fix the folks out
there who need a little bit of help out there in the economy. Great to
have you with us, Brad Woodhouse, Mike Papantonio, I appreciate your time.

Coming up, labor rights under attack. Larry Cowen joins me to discuss the
fight for workers` rights as America gears up for Labor Day weekend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: And in Pretenders tonight, Putin-envy Kimberly Guilfoyle. The
Fox News anchor wishes Putty, Vladimir Putin was her president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Can I just make a special request in
the magic lamp? Can we get Netanyahu, or like Putin in 48 hours, you know,
head of the United States, I don`t know. I just want somebody to get in
here and get it done right so that Americans don`t have to worry and wake
up in the morning fearful of the group that`s murderous and horrific like
ISIS.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Guilfoyle says that if Putin were in the White House, ISIS would
be gone over the weekend. George Bush thought he could stamp out terrorism
easily too and, how did that worked out? Kimberly Guilfoyle is not the
first conservative to fawn over the Russian president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He makes a decision and he executes it quickly than
everybody reacts. That`s what called a leader. President Obama, you got
to think about, he`s got to go over it again.

REP. MIKE ROGERS, (R) MICHIGAN: I do think Putin is playing chess and were
playing tic-tac-toe.

FRM. GOV. SARAH PALIN, (R) ALASKA: Look, people are looking at Putin as
one who wrestles bears than drills for oil. They at our president as one
who wears mom jeans and equivocates and bloviates.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Let me remind all conservatives on alert out there who are
rekindling their love affair Vladimir Putin of the facts. He oversees a
nasty human rights records, he violated the weapons treaty and lost
international trust, his reckless behavior led to sanctions hindering
Russia`s economy. Putin can`t lead our country he`s too busy crippling his
own. If Kimberly Guilfoyle thinks making Putty our leader is patriotic,
she 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. Millions of Americans are heading in the Labor
Day weekend without labor rights. Conservative lawmakers are staging an
assault on workers` rights which labor unions fought for decades to
achieve.

Income inequality is getting worse and economic opportunity is getting
further out of the reach for many working Americans. Now the labor
participation rate hit a 36-year low earlier this year and stood at only
62.9 percent in July. The size of our workforce is a crucial factor for
the economy to grow.

The latest stats show productivity is growing but wages are not.
Collective bargaining coverage has fallen to the lowest level in eight
years, only 6 percent of private sector workers in the United States have
collective bargaining rights. Public sector workers bring the percentage
of U.S. workers with bargaining rights up to 11 percent. Now this is down
from 35 percent from 50 years ago. We`re a changing country, no doubt.

No other country has experienced a decline like that. And it`s time for a
change. Let`s make this Labor Day less about the end of summer and more
about restoring rights for American workers which clearly are under attack.
More and more states are throwing out right to work legislation in state
legislative sessions. I believe the number is 26. So, how do you reverse
all this? Win elections? It might be more than that.

Larry Cowan, President of the Communication Workers of America joins us
tonight. Mr. Cowan, good to have you with us. Let me ask you, what does
reverse this very long troubling trend that is out there? I mean I know
that there is a political party that`s doing everything to dismantle
workers` rights but getting workers to understand that it`s in their favor
is also part of the battle, is it not?

LARRY COWAN, COMMUNICATION WORKERS OF AMERICA: Yeah, absolutely and I
think, what we would say is that we need to make those issues part of a
broader democracy movement that links together, you know, rights that work
with getting the big money out of politics, with voter registration and
voter suppression issues, with continuing to work to get the Senate to
function so that when we do have a landslide election like 2008, we can
actually move in and make the changes that people voted for.

And those -- what we call democracy blocks, the big money in politics, the
way that Senate operates, voter suppression, 20 million immigrants not able
to vote. What these things add up to, is victories for the Koch brothers
in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that prevents workers` rights from ever
being on the national agenda. And as working people, whether we have a
union or not, we need to use Labor Day to remember it`s origins and what
our lives are about.

SCHULTZ: Give us a quick history from your perspective on how important
Labor Day is, how and why it started. There`s a lot of young Americans out
there that, "Labor Day, oh, that`s a day off. We don`t have to work that
day." What is it?

COWAN: Yeah. Well, it actually started in New Jersey, where I`m from.
And, it was about the rights of workers on the job. It was about
collective bargaining rights. It was about how people could together at
work, on the one hand have a vital enterprise, their employer but on the
other hand, that when we lift the wages and the conditions of employees, we
lift all boats, and that`s what a good economy looks like.

That`s what the economy looks like today in Germany where -- with 80
percent, it`ll be soon 80 percent collective bargaining coverage, they can
lift all boats, and they don`t have to use public sectors stimulus, workers
do it themselves. And even in countries like Brazil and Uruguay where
workers` rights are increasing, so is the economy. And, that`s what Labor
Day was about. It was about the rights of workers, not just the last
picnic before kids went back to school.

SCHULTZ: Earlier today, the Congressional Budget Office released its
forecast and said that the United States economy is going to be growing by
just 1.5 percent in 2014. Undermine by a poor performance starting the
first quarter of this year. What need to be done?

COWAN: Well, everybody calls that a consumption problem, that people have
to work, most of us to consume and the roots of that problem, are that we
don`t have collective bargaining giving any stimulants to the economy. We
can talk about a higher minimum wage that`s a good idea, but that covers a
few percent of the population. The way we`re going to get -- one of the
key ways to get to everybody is to restore collective bargaining rights
across the private sector.

And also, to promote trade policies that don`t ship our jobs out of the
country because of foreign policy advantages but recognize the trade must
help enable, a vital economy here at home. That`s the kind of Labor Day
that I`m dreaming about and that`s the kind of Labor Day that we`re ready
to work for day in and day out.

SCHULTZ: What do you see in these midterms? What kind of lift is it going
to be to get progressives out to vote? I mean I hear all the time, "Oh,
it`s going to be low voter turn out history is not on our side." The
issues have never been more critical for working families. In your
opinion, what is it going to take to get the motivating factor involved
here to turn the tide on these numbers?

COWAN: Well, I think it`s just that and we`re up for -- we`re up against
the most money ever in this kind of election cycle. But it`s about getting
people to focus in the key economic issues that unite us rather than the
social issues that divide us. And that is the challenge, that`s what we
will be doing in the CWA and other progressive groups, whether they`re
green, or student, or civil rights, let`s focus on what government is
supposed to do.

This election is critical, it`s not just about looking past -- who`s the
next president going to be, it`s about turning out people to make sure we
hold on to a senate majority and the majority leader that will stand up for
working people. Whether it`s on trade or workers` rights but meantime,
building the broader movement so that one day, we get back to talking about
fundamental rights on a job as well. Those are out of reach right now.

SCHULTZ: And Mr. Cowan quickly, do you envision someday a world labor
effort?

COWAN: Yeah. I mean I think that`s what we need to do, to talk about what
should the global economy be like, what is fair trade, what are workers`
rights mean around the world so we have a level playing field.

SCHULTZ: Yeah, a level playing field is what it`s all about and we can do
something about that. The entire story that`s unfolding right now is
another classic example of how we work against our own economy. Larry
Cowan, CWA President, great to have you with us tonight. Appreciate your
time and you have a great Labor Day weekend coming up.

Don`t worry I`ll be here the next two nights. We`re not out of here yet.

That`s the Ed Show, I`m Ed Schultz.

PoliticsNation 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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