Show: THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW
Date: October 24, 2014
Guest: Christina Jackson, Irwin Redlener
RACHEL MADDOW, MSNBC: Good evening, Chris. Thank you, my friend. And
thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. We`ve got a big show.
There`s lots of news, including a lot late breaking news tonight. We`ve
also got a shaky new experiment that we`re going to do at the end of the
show tonight that I have very little confidence is going to work, but we`re
going to try it anyway.
But we begin tonight in South America. Can we put up a map of South
America? On the continent of South America, there is a country called
Guyana. It can be a little confusing because Guyana is near another
country in South America that has a similar name, French Guyana, it`s just
two borders over. But both of those countries are roughly on that same
part of the Eastern Coast of South America. What neither of those
countries has anything to do with is Africa.
Africa. Whole different continent. Africa, Western Africa, is where the
nation of Guinea is. Guinea is one of the countries where Ebola is now an
epidemic. So to be clear, Guinea is in Africa, Guyana is in South America.
Armed with that knowledge, go, Congress, go.
(BEGIN VIDEO PRESENTATION)
DARRELL ISSA, CALIFORNIA REPRESENTATIVE, REPUBLICAN: Beginning in March
2014, in the West African nation of Guyana, the world first learned about,
yet another new outbreak of the Ebola virus.
(END VIDEO PRESENTATION)
MADDOW: Republican Congressman, Darrell Issa, today, telling the world
that Ebola started in a nation called Guyana, which is a nation in South
America, which has nothing to do with it. But at least in that sentence,
he did get the word Ebola right.
(BEGIN VIDEO PRESENTATION)
ISSA: Yesterday`s news was a doctor in New York City tested positive for
Eboli and this is particularly distressing. CDC declared that a nurse at
this hospital who became infected with Eboli must have contracted it. The
news of that medical doctor returning from Guyana has -- the news that a
medical doctor returning from Guyana now has tested positive to foster the
development of Eboli treatments.
President Obama`s appointment of Ron Klain to serve as the Eboli czar,
sadly, in my opinion.
(END VIDEO PRESENTATION)
MADDOW: Oh, yes. Give us more of your opinion, you well-informed -- on
the one hand, who cares that a member of Congress thinks that E-coli and
Ebola might be maybe the same thing and that Ghana, Guyana, Guinea --
whatever. They`re all G to me. I mean, on the one hand, who cares that
some guy who runs car alarm company has abso-freaking-lutely no idea what
he is talking about when it comes to a deadly disease that has now been
diagnosed in two U.S. cities. Who cares, right?
Except, beyond just his car alarm empire, that same person also runs the
committee in Congress that has now decided that it ought to be doing
oversight hearings on Eboli, E-cola, Coca-Coli, Shinola, whatever. And he
has convene those hearings in part so he personally, genius, can get on
television, adding important information like this to our nation`s
understanding of the Recola, the Canoli, the e-mail, whatever you call it.
(BEGIN VIDEO PRESENTATION)
ISSA: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes?
ISSA: So, when the head of the CD says -- CDC said, "You can`t get with
somebody on the bus next to you," that`s just not true.
(END VIDEO PRESENTATION)
MADDOW: No, actually, you can`t get Ebola on the bus, Darrell Issa, or on
the subway. There is New York City Mayor, Bill de Blasio, tall guy there,
riding the subway today at New York City to show everybody that it`s safe
to ride the subway. There is New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, doing the
same thing. These are not guys you usually see on the subway, but they`re
doing these subway rides today to show that it`s safe.
They`re doing this today to counter any worry that might have been stirred
up by news by the doctor who spent the last few days in New York City after
returning from Guinea, spiked a fever yesterday morning, was diagnosed with
Ebola last night. The message is that yes, New York City has its first
patient, but it`s OK 8 million residents of New York City. It`s OK. It`s
OK to take the subway. It is OK to take the bus.
That doctor went bowling on Wednesday night before he got sick. It`s OK to
go bowling at that bowling alley. It`s OK to go bowling even at other
bowling alleys, even ones in other cities or states, even in South America.
Do they bowl in South America? It`s OK to drink coffee from places that
Dr. Craig Spencer got coffee before he got sick. It`s OK to eat at the
places where the doctor ate before he got sick. These are pictures of our
staff dinner tonight which we ordered from The Meatball Shop, which is a
delicious New York City joint where Dr. Spencer ate this week before he got
sick. It`s not the first time we`ve ordered dinner from The Meatball Shop,
but we did it tonight. It was delicious and it`s all OK. It`s all going
to be OK.
Dr. Craig Spencer is in isolation in Bellevue Hospital, New York where he
is being treated for his illness. New York health officials say they`re
confident he was transported safely once he was symptomatic. They`re
confident they can safely handle his treatment and his isolation at
Bellevue. All right, so at that very local level, that`s how it`s being
handled. He`s being treated, New York continues to be New York while he`s
being treated in the hospital here.
Beyond that local immediate level though, we do have something really
important going on in the country. I did not expect this, maybe I`m naive.
But we`ve got two very different tracts, two totally opposite and divergent
types of responses to Ebola as a nation. When we think back on this time
as a country (inaudible) right? When we look back on this time, when books
are written about this, and they will be, about this as a challenge and a
health crisis and a moment that called for leadership in this nation, it`s
almost impossible to believe but that historical record is going to have to
show that there has been a huge partisan divide in the response, a sharply
divergent difference in the two kinds of responses that we`ve had in this
country. I mean, this really is turning out to be the Republican response.
(BEGIN VIDEO PRESENTATION)
ISSA: You can get Ebola sitting next to someone on a bus.
(END VIDEO PRESENTATION)
MADDOW: No, you can`t. Darrel Issa today, right, who can`t tell Guinea
from Guyana or Eboli from Ebola, but he knows better than any doctor.
Don`t take the bus, America. Darrell Guyana leading the charging Congress,
it`s New York Republican Congressman, Peter King, telling Long Island talk
radio that it`s time for the -- look at his quotes, "It`s time for the
doctors to realize that they were wrong." He, Peter King, is determined
that Ebola has now mutated as a virus to become an airborne disease. You
wouldn`t have heard about that from the doctors, but Peter King has figured
it out, it`s airborne, it`s mutated. You probably already have it if you
breathe out in the air people. Wake up, it`s everywhere.
So, on the one hand, you have people in positions of power who have no idea
what they`re talking about, nevertheless, deliberately using their
positions of power to get into the media as much as they can. Try to let
everybody know that they know and the authorities don`t, to try to freak
people out as much as possible and deliberately to undermine confidence in
public health authorities, try to make people doubt anything that they
might hear from public health authorities, encouraging as much panic as
possible with made-up disinformation.
So that`s one model for how to lead in response to a crisis. That really
is what they`re doing. I mean, that`s Rand Paul saying, "Hey, I`m a
doctor. Trust me when I tell you that you`re going to get this thing at a
cocktail party." Don`t go to cocktail parties. I mean, that`s Darrell E-
coli Guyana saying, "Everybody on the bus is getting it." That`s Peter
King saying, "The doctors are wrong. The doctors are wrong," and he, Peter
King, is right because he looked up the word, "Mutated," this morning and
he decided it applies here.
So, that really is -- it`s impossible to believe, but that really is one
way that we are responding as a nation. And against that, against whatever
storm surge of panic could be generated by that tide of nonsense, against
that, there`s the Brooklyn Borough President saying, "I`m going to bowl at
that bowling alley," it`s OK. There is the mayor of the countries largest
city and the governor of New York State riding the subway, it`s OK. At the
NIH today in Bethesda, the first person to become infected in this country,
nurse, Nina Pham, was declared cured, declared free of the disease.
But they couldn`t make that announcement without a lot of deliberate
hugging of her by public health officials for everybody to see in front of
the camera. And I think, in part, they`re doing that because they do
really seem to like her, but they`re also doing it on purpose to show that
she is safe, it`s OK.
(BEGIN VIDEO PRESENTATION)
NINA PHAM, NURSE, EBOLA SURVIVOR: Good afternoon. I feel fortunate and
blessed to be standing here today. Although I no longer have Ebola, I know
that it may be a while before I have my strength back. So with gratitude
and respect for everyone`s concern, I ask for my privacy and for my
family`s privacy to be respected as I return to Texas and try to get back
to a normal life and reunite with my dog, Bentley. Thank you, everyone.
ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS
DISEASES: Thank you all very much. We appreciate you being here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dr. Fauci, how much are you going to miss Nina?
FAUCI: I`m going to miss Nina a lot. I gave her my cellphone number just
in case I get lonely.
(END VIDEO PRESENTATION)
MADDOW: After Nina Pham was released from care at the NIH in Bethesda, she
then went to the White House, to the Oval Office, and met in person, one on
one with President Obama. And President Obama probably likes her as much
as Tony Fauci does. But you know what, it was more than just affection, it
was deliberate when the President of the United States hugged her in front
of the cameras to show that it`s OK.
Not only is she cured from Ebola, by virtue of having recovered from it, it
should be noted she`s actually immune to it now, at least for some time.
And so, there really are two ways to respond to this in terms of national
leadership. It`s amazing that two ways are so divergent, that there is a
pro-panic response as well as the anti-panic response. It is amazing that
that`s what we`ve got on offer as a nation right now, but it`s true.
Choose one, I guess.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO PRESENTATION)
ANDREW CUOMO, NEW YORK GOVERNOR, DEMOCRAT: We believe it`s appropriate to
increase the current screening procedures for people coming from affected
countries from the current CDC screening procedures. We believe it is in
the state of New York and state of New Jersey`s legal rights to control
access to their borders. We will establish an interview and screening
process to determine an individual`s risk level by considering the
geographic area of origin and the level of exposure to the virus.
(END VIDEO PRESENTATION)
MADDOW: That`s New York Governor Andrew Cuomo earlier tonight. He and New
Jersey Governor Chris Christie jointly announced that these two states will
begin issuing mandatory 21-day quarantines. Quarantines, for any health
worker returning from West Africa who had direct contact with Ebola
patients while abroad. That`s a new policy. It was announced this
evening.
Now this was earlier tonight at university hospital in New York, New
Jersey. The person in the ambulance where told is a doctors without
borders staff person who arrived at New York Airport today.
She had been in abroad. She had been involved in a treatment of Ebola
patients in West Africa, this staff worker apparently had no symptoms when
she flew in. But the New Jersey Department of Health put her under a 21-
day quarantine because she had been treating Ebola patients in West Africa.
This evening we`re told that health worker did developed a fever. And she
is now in isolation being evaluated at university hospital in New York. So
it is not yet clear if the New York and New Jersey region has it second
patient in two days, but that maybe the case, if it is the case, both of
those people will have been infected under similar circumstances
essentially being infected abroad and becoming symptomatic once they came
home, after they arrived home in the untied states.
Joining us now is Dr. Irwin Redlener. He`s the director for the national
center for disaster preparedness. He`s a special advisor at the New York
City, Mayor Bill DeBlasio here in the city. Dr. Redlener, thanks for being
here.
IRWIN REDLENER, CHILD HEALTH & DISASTER RESPONSE EXPERT: Good to be here
Rachel.
MADDOW: The 21-day quarantine announcement today, this is New Jersey and
New York specific. It goes beyond -- what they`re doing another states
goes beyond CDC recommendations at this point. Is it a smart move? Does
it make sense to you?
REDLENER: Well, I certainly understand the public pressure to do this, but
it is an evolving process. The policies are changing as we speak. And the
reason is that as we learn more as we`re trying to appreciate what the
actual risk are, the policy is involving. We have to be careful though
because if we go too far in making people alarm then we`re increasing the
amount of screening and the amount of quarantine.
There is a downside to this which is to discourage people from wanting to
go and volunteer at the most important thing we can do which is to treat
the Ebola as it source in West Africa.
MADDOW: You`re saying by making it so essentially inconvenient upon return
from home for American health workers to go participate in that, you may
discourage people. You`ve been slightly participating these efforts?
REDLENER: This -- yeah, these are extraordinary decisions being made by
doctors and nurses say they`re going to leave their practice and they`re
going to go and help out and deal with this predators disease in Africa.
And they`re trying to make this decision that couple of kids at home,
they`re getting pressure, you know, police don`t go, do go. Person says,
I`m going to go four weeks or eight weeks but now (inaudible) it has to be
quarantined when I get back, it could tilt the decisions and going in the
first place in the wrong direction in terms of actually providing services
in those three countries in Africa.
So, there`s a downside to all these policies while on the other hand,
there`s the policies are evolving an what I`m hoping for is that we keep
focus on the science, and not go above and beyond what makes sense from a
rational public health point of view and scientific point of view.
You know, we`re going to spectrum (ph) here. So in one end, we`re dealing
with policies and protocols derive from the science, what we really know
for sure that the other end is kind of abundance of caution and to the
spectrum where we`re sort of balance of public pressure. And we have to
find that balance. This is what the I think the policy members are
struggling with, worst and right balance between the science only and
giving, you know, some greatness to the affect of people are nervous about
it.
If we go too far as I said becomes a discouragement to the very most
important thing we need to do which is treat Ebola as a source.
MADDOW: Is there a public health consequence and emergency response
consequence to having political leader say things like "Don`t take the bus,
you`re going to get late at the cocktail party, don`t believe what the CDC
tells you, the doctors don`t know anything, don`t believe the authorities."
REDLENER: It`s a little horrifying when politicians are saying things that
are actually literally contrary to the scientific information.
MADDOW: Yeah.
REDLENER: You know, that does no good whatsoever, except cause a lot of
chaos and, you know, we understand it`s a midterm election season. We
understand all that. We understand the fact that some people may does not
understand anything about this.
But if you`re political leader and you`re in the public eye, really is
better to stick with the things that the scientist have told us are true.
It is would make sense to me.
And then, one of the things that`s actually been impressive about the
process in New York has been an extraordinary amount of focus on the
science and how do you developed policy, the protocols from the science.
MADDOW: From the science, right.
REDLENER: So, this is really what we`re sort of battling here. People are
nervous, they`re anxious. We shouldn`t make statements that will make them
anxious especially when they`re not true.
MADDOW: The last thing we need is chaos. Dr. Irwin Redlener, Director of
the National Center for Disaster Preparedness, who`s been the advisor to
Mayor Bill DeBlasio. Thank you for being here.
REDLENER: Thank you, Rachel.
MADDOW: Thank you. All right. Busy Friday nights in the news lots ahead
including, as I mentioned earlier, something I`m sure is doomed technical
failure as far as I can foresee that will nevertheless going to try to pull
of life here on the air at the end of the show. Lots ahead, stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MADDOW: This is a place called Caf‚ Racer. And it`s a coffee shop in the
university district in Seattle. It`s an Espresso Bar near the University
of Washington which also host a local art exhibit and live music.
In May 2012, May 30th at around 11:00 a.m. A 40-year-old Seattle man
walked into Caf‚ Racer and started shooting. He was armed with two
pistols. After he walked into the caf‚, he shot one victim near the door
in the back of the head. Then he would towards the bar areas started
shooting another group of patrons.
Two of those who were shot at the caf‚ died at the scene. Tomorrow were
later pronounce dead at a local hospital. The shooter then fled the scene
at the caf‚ in about half an hour later and shot until the 52-year-old
woman in the nearby parking lot while attempting to carjack her SUV.
Seattle police department wants to full scale manhunt for the shooter
residence warned to lock their doors, local schools put on locked down
eventually after police closed in on a suspect he shot and killed himself.
It was May 2012 in Seattle, six people dead, including the shooter. Two
years later, in June of this year, a 26-year-old walked onto the campus of
Seattle Pacific University, a small Christian school near downtown Seattle,
he was armed with a shotgun, he entered a Science and Engineering building
and open fire, he managed to shoot three people and killed one of them
before he was tackled while he was trying to reload. Students and faculty
members held the shooter down until police could arrive at the scene. They
later said that he was "hell-bent" on killing a lot of people.
Those mass shootings in the Seattle area followed a spate of other
shootings like them in recent years. In `08, a shooting spree left six
people dead, including a local sheriff`s deputy, four Seattle area police
officers were shot and killed during a shooting rampage at a coffee shop in
2009, and then today, it happened again. This time the scene was a high
school.
In a suburb north of Seattle, at around 10:30 this morning, a freshman at
that high school armed with what`s been described as a pistol, started
shooting inside the school`s cafeteria. Students who witnessed it said he
remained calm the whole time. The students who were shot were sitting with
the gunman at that time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was quiet, he was just sitting there. Everyone was
talking. All of the sudden I see him stand up, pull something out of his
pocket -- and at first I thought it was just someone making a really loud
noise, looks like a bag, like a really loud pop until I heard four more
after that. And I saw three kids just fall from the table like they were
falling to the ground dead.
I jumped under the table as fast I could. And when it stopped I look back
up and I saw he was trying to reload his gun, and when that happened I just
ran in the opposite direction and I was out of there as fast as I could.
MADDOW: They say tonight that a total of six people were shot at this
Washington State high school today, including the gunman who died at the
scene of a self-inflicted wound. So he killed himself and he shot five
others. One female student has been pronounced dead tonight, four other
students, two boys and two girls were rushed to local hospitals which is
where they remain tonight.
It`s perhaps the sign of just how common school shootings like this have
become -- not just across the country but in the Seattle area specifically,
that one of the local hospitals that was taking in these young patients
today said they had been preparing for situation just like this.
(START VIDEO CLIP)
JOANNE ROBERTS, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, PROVIDENCE REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER:
We`re ready to handle this cases. We are a level two trauma center. We`ve
been drilling for this, we had a very good response from our medical staff,
about 25 doctors showed up. We had two neurosurgeons on the scene, we had
two heart surgeons, we had a vascular surgeon, a chest surgeon and multiple
trauma surgeon as well as our ED doctors.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you talk a little bit about any kind of planning or
drill that you`ve had at this high school that could shed some light into
how you prepare for a horrible day like this to potentially happen?
ROBB LAMOUREX, MARYSVILLE POLICE COMMANDER: Yeah. We have done training
at the school. It`s -- with our SWAT team. I cannot say when exactly that
took place or when the last time that took place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MADDOW: The police had done training for this at that school. The local
hospital had been conducting drills from multiple shooting situations just
like this.
And now, tonight, Marysville, Washington gets added to the list of towns
across the country that have to deal with a normal school day turning into
a scene of a violent rampage of gun violence. Hospital official say
tonight that of the four students who were rushed to the hospital after
today`s shooting, three of the four are in critical condition, one is in
serious condition. We`ll let you know as we learn more.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
RACHEL MADDOW, MSNBC HOST: OK. Time to visit an alternate universe.
Time to visit the email inbox of your older male relative. Let`s call him
your uncle who watches FOX News all day, the one who makes you half love
Thanksgiving dinner with your extended family and half dread it all
yearlong because he`s going to be there.
In the alternate universe of your FOX News-watching conservative
uncle`s email inbox, in that world of a grieved, conservative, all capital
letters, paranoia, this is the biggest deal in the world right now -- this
is official surveillance camera footage shot inside the board of elections
in Maricopa County, Arizona.
Now, it`s surveillance video, so it`s a little herky-jerky. But you
can clearly see people entering the facility, coming through the doors.
And they`re coming in there to drop off their ballots for the election.
This county has a collection box set up. You see person after person
coming through the doors and dropping off their ballots.
But, then, in this video -- there`s this guy. And your FOX News-
watching uncle is very upset by this guy right now.
As you can see, the guy is wearing shorts and flip-flops and a t-
shirt. The t-shirt is from a group called Citizens for a Better Arizona.
Citizens for a Better Arizona is a group that says they`re trying to
increase Latino voter participation in that state. And, in fact, the guy
in this footage works for that group.
But what you see in this footage that has your uncle so upset is that
the dude is not just dropping off a ballot. He`s not just there to cast a
vote in the election. That guy is there to drop off a whole bunch of votes
for the election.
You can see him, clearly, in this footage. He doesn`t just drop one
ballot and then leave like everybody else. He stays longer because he`s
putting in ballot after ballot after ballot -- oh, my God.
Examiner.com, liberal activist caught on video stuffing hundreds of
ballots. This one, oh, all caps, red letters, you know it`s good, video.
Left wing activist caught stuffing ballot box in Arizona. Does this video
show a Hispanic activist committing vote fraud? Hispanic -- emphasis on
panic.
Glenn Beck`s blog adds the damning red arrow to the still from the
surveillance camera footage, in case you can`t see the human without it.
Surveillance video apparently catches guy doing something at the ballot box
that leaves Republican monitors stunned.
The frenzy started spread at Arizona right wing blog. It spread from
there and all the national right wing blogs. And now, I guarantee you,
your aforementioned conservative uncle is painting his Facebook wall with
this story, and with this damming surveillance camera footage, as we speak.
Did I mention that the guy in the video is clearly Hispanic?
A few things to know about this. First, the timing. I know it`s
nice. The weather is always nice in Arizona. But this footage of a guy in
flip flops and shorts and a t-shirt was actually shot in August, when
Arizona was having a primary election. This whole thing happened in
August, but it`s just being rolled out now by the conservative media a week
and a half before our big, national election, in order to create a scary
feeling for gullible conservative people all over the country.
Yes, sure, down at your local precinct, you might be planning to just
vote your one little vote. But Latinos, like this guy, they`re stuffing
the ballot box with hundreds of ballots, blatantly stealing the elections.
Be afraid. Be aggrieved.
That`s one thing to know about it. The timing, it happened months
ago. But they`re making it a story now. And it has turned into a huge
story on the right.
The other thing to know about this story is that the guy is not
actually stealing the election. It is perfectly legal and a longstanding
practice in Arizona that it`s OK to drop off other people`s absentee
ballots at the board of elections. You can even drop off multiple people`s
ballots at once. It`s OK.
And that fact of Arizona law has led to some hilarious journalistic-
ish updating of some of the initial freak-out about this. So, for example,
at the Glenn Beck, where they added the super scary be afraid damning red
arrow pointing at the perpetrator, they`ve still got the headline about the
surveillance video catching the guy doing something at the ballot box. And
you can still read through 10 pretty breathless paragraphs about how a man
was seen stuffing hundreds of ballots into the ballot box. The entire
incident caught on surveillance video.
They give you the exact time for the crime. It was between 12:54 and
1:04. They caught the local Republican Party chairman saying, quote,
"America used to be a nation of laws where one person had one vote. I`m
sad to say, not anymore."
So, you get through 10 paragraphs of this terrible, breathless,
damning reporting about this horrible ballot stuffing that has happened.
And then, oh, look, you skip to the bottom. Editor`s note: this post has
been updated.
Yvonne Reed. Oh, go back, skip 11 paragraphs into the story. It
turns out Yvonne Reed is spokeswoman for the county elections department.
She eventually gets a call from the Glenn Back folks after they`ve posted
their damming story and, unfortunately, she tells them, quote, "People can
bring in someone else`s ballot. There`s no law against bringing in ballots
and placing them in the receptacle for early ballots."
But, still, leave the story up. Surveillance camera catches guy
doing something. Red arrow.
The crime of legally participating in the normal voting process while
appearing to be Hispanic has blown up on the right this week like a dirty
bomb. And your uncle is not going to pass you the marshmallow yams at
Thanksgiving this year until he gets a straight answer from you about what
really happened in Maricopa County because he saw the tape.
So, from the alternate universe of America`s right wing media, you
should know that that is part one of what they rolled out this week. But
it is a week and a half before the national election, and your paranoid
conservative uncle`s inbox does really need filling at this point in time.
So, it`s not just the blogs, the FOX News Channel is also doing its
part, as well. The FOX News Channel this week decided to invent their own
blood curdling tale of people legally voting, except their blood curdling
tail is set not in Arizona, but in Colorado.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS: Breaking tonight with two weeks to the
midterms, we are getting warnings that a new law has opened the door to
possible voter fraud in a critical Senate race that could decide the
balance of power in Congress. It was roughly 16 months ago when the
Democratic governor of Colorado signed a first-of-its kind new election law
-- a set of rules that literally allows residents to print ballots from
their home computers and then encourages them to turn ballots over to
collectors in what appears to be an effort to do away with traditional
polling places. What could go wrong?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MADDOW: What could go wrong? It sounds terrible. That`s because
they made it up. So it would terrible.
Local news stations in Colorado have been correcting the FOX News
Channel ever since they started making up this story this week.
Here`s KUSA in Colorado trying to calm down their viewers. Quote,
"Tuesday`s episode of FOX News host Megyn Kelly`s program incorrectly told
viewers that Colorado voters are now able to print ballots using their home
computers and vote by turning them in. The segment prompted several
confused viewers to reach to 9NEWS toe learn more, the claim that Colorado
law allows for home-printed ballots is simply false.
Most Colorado voters cannot print a ballot on their home printer and
use it to vote. There`s only one category of Colorado voter who can, those
serving in the military. That system has absolutely nothing to do with
Colorado`s new election law. It was in place beforehand."
So, Colorado has a vote by mail system this year, which other states
have, too. FOX has now decided that in the state of Colorado, that`s
terrifying, even if it doesn`t terrify them anywhere else in the country.
And the longstanding way that Colorado military voters have always voted,
that`s also on FOX News, now a Democratic lot to steal the election. And
it`s something brand new, everyone though it`s only for military voters and
it`s not new at all. But the election is a week and a half away and your
uncle needs reading material.
Conservative media needs the Republican base to get really alarmed
that this might be voting going on out there. Some of it by people who
appeared to be Latino -- fraud. And some of it in places that have started
to frequently vote for Democrats -- fraud.
So, it started now on the right wing blogs, on FOX News, on talk
radio. This is what the next week and a half is going to be like heading
into the election, right? A frenzy of made-up stories about stuff that
they`re hoping people will think seems illegal about potential Democrats
voting in the upcoming election.
Now, to be fair, the Republican Party proper is not responsible for
fringy right wing blogs and the stuff that they make up on the FOX News
Channel and your uncle and his where`s the birth t-shirt, right? I mean,
that is what`s going on in the right, but you can`t expect the Republican
Party to answer for all of that, just as you don`t expect the Democratic
Party to answer for the whole left.
I mean, in mainstream Republican politics at least, you sort of
expect a different tone. You expect them at this point, a week and a half
out, to be talking about what they have to offer the electorate. So, like,
take their great hope, New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie, head
of the Republican Governors Association. So, he`s in charge of electing
Republican governors. He`s also setting the stage for his own widely
anticipated run for president.
Here`s Chris Christie speaking this week to the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce about how important this election is if Republicans have any hope
of winning back the White House in 2016.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: If all you`re concerned about
is 2016, let me suggest this to you -- if you have any chance of electing a
Republican president, there`s a bunch of things we need to do. But the
first is to have a good bench of Republican candidates. And I am convinced
that the next president of the United States is going to be a governor, and
it needs to be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MADDOW: Guess who`s a governor?
Chris Christie building himself up as a potential 2016 candidate. He
says that electing Republican governors now this year will also help the
party put up a good of slate of candidates to run in 2016. So, he says, in
order to win the White House, the first thing Republicans need is a good
bench of candidates for the presidential field. That`s the first thing
they need in order to get a Republican in the White House.
And now, here`s the second thing they need.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIE: Secondly, what would you rather have if you were a
Republican candidate and the nominee for president? Would you rather have
Rick Scott in Florida or we`re seeing the voting mechanism, or Charlie
Crist? Would you rather have Scott Walker in Wisconsin overseeing the
voting mechanism, or would you rather have Mary Burke? Who would you
rather have in Ohio, John Kasich or Ed Fitzgerald?
Fact is, if you`re just a pragmatist, and you don`t really care about
what happens in the states, you`re going to care about who`s running those
states in November of 2016, and what kind of political apparatus, they set
up, and what kind of governmental apparatus they set up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MADDOW: Wow. You know, in theory, who`s in control, which party is
in control of a governmental apparatus in a state shouldn`t be a factor in
who`s likely to win an election in that state. All right. Gaining
partisan control of the voting mechanism isn`t really supposed to be what
you admit is your plan for winning elections in those places where you
control who counts the ballot.
When the Chris Christie remarks this week were first reported in "The
Bergen Record" in New Jersey, the usually mild-mannered, non-controversial
political scientist Norm Ornstein links to Christie`s remark and paraphrase
them this way, quote, "How can we cheat on vote counts if we don`t control
the governorships?"
After breaking the news about these comments this week, "The Bergen
Record" itself editorialized about them like this, quote, "The governor
seems to suggest that control of the voting mechanism by a Republican
governor can help a Republican candidate." The paper calls the governor`s
comment, quote, "disturbing" and says, quote, "Christie`s point can only be
interpreted one way. Republican candidates would do better in elections
running in states with Republican governors at the helm."
That editorial appeared yesterday morning. Yesterday afternoon,
Governor Christie did another appearance. He was asked about what he said
and what he meant. He then gave a clarification which actually makes the
whole thing much, much worse.
This was his clarification, quote, "Everybody read too much into
that. You know who gets to appoint people, who gets to decide what in part
the rules are. I would much rather have Republicans counting those votes
when we run in 2016 as Republicans than I would have Democrats."
Listen, I`m a Republican. I`m going to run as a Republican. I want
Republicans counting the votes when I`m running.
Usually, it`s the conservative media that`s willing to actually say
stuff that radical. That`s willing to talk about taking over the vote
counting so when the votes are counted, Republicans will win. Usually,
that`s the crazy stuff coming from the conservative media. And official
Republicans are careful to avoid language like that.
This year, though, you can take those goalposts and run down field
with them, because this year, even the mainstream GOP is saying they need
Republicans to win governorships so they`ll control the vote counting to
ensure Republican presidential candidate wins the count.
I mean, in order to find any space at all to the right of that, we`ve
got to have conservative media pointing and screaming at people who commit
the crime of voting while Latino. Or, in the case of FOX News, making up
scandalous voting laws that don`t exist and telling their primetime viewers
that what they just made up is how Democrats are stealing the election.
This is how they`re stoking their base for the elections this year,
when it looks like the Republicans are going to do well. If the Democrats
end up doing well on this election, imagine what they`re going to make up
then?
This is nuts this year. Tell your uncle I said so.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MADDOW: My best party trick. You know, last week, we tried a new
thing on Friday night. It was really hard to pull off, but we worked
really hard at it, and it worked. By the skin of its teeth, it worked.
So, tonight, we decided to change that thing to make it way harder.
I`m absolutely sure that this is going to be a disaster. Maybe, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MADDOW: Admit it. Admit it. It has been an unusually tough week.
So, let`s now do something completely different.
Now is the time where one of this show`s faithful viewers will have
the opportunity to prove right here on the show that they have been paying
attention to the show all week long. It`s our "Friday Night News Dump."
Who-hoo!
I like the splat noise in the middle, as if it`s been dumped
literally on you. Our producer Julia Nutter is here to help with the
logistics tonight.
Hello, Julia.
JULIA NUTTER, PRODUCER: Hello.
MADDOW: On whom shall I be dumping news tonight?
NUTTER: Tonight, you`ll be dumping on Christina Jackson. She owns a
design animation studio. She also plays the mandolin, which is awesome.
MADDOW: OK.
NUTTER: She has no pugs named Gracie and Maddy and a cat named Emma.
MADDOW: All right.
NUTTER: You`ll meet Christina.
MADDOW: Look, there you are.
Christina Jackson, nice to meet you.
CHRISTINA JACKSON: Nice to meet you, too, Rachel.
MADDOW: I have been given an additional note that says -- this can`t
be right -- if you win our game tonight, this will be the first time you
won a prize of any kind since you were 5 years old. Can that be true?
JACKSON: That`s correct.
MADDOW: What did you win when you were 5?
JACKSON: An eggplant.
MADDOW: Were you at an eggplant competition? Or did you really
lose?
JACKSON: We did a field trip to a grocery store and the grocery
store held up the eggplant and said whoever can guess this will win it.
And I guessed that it was an eggplant.
MADDOW: And that taught you to never compete again.
JACKSON: Exactly.
MADDOW: At least until now.
All right. I`m going to ask you three questions. If you get two or
more of them right, you will win an awesome piece of swag.
Julia, what is tonight`s awesome piece of swag?
NUTTER: It`s this awesome mini cocktail shaker.
MADDOW: Right. It`s teeny tiny, nobody will get hurt.
Christina, before we get started, we need to bring in the disembodied
voice of Steve Benen. He puts the mad in Maddow Blog. But he`s also going
to listen in right now to tell us when you get a question right or wrong.
Steve, are you there?
STEVE BENEN, PRODUCER: Yes, good evening, Christina. Good evening,
Rachel.
MADDOW: Good evening.
JACKSON: Hi.
MADDOW: Yay.
All right. Are you ready to go, Christina?
JACKSON: I am.
MADDOW: You know, we`ve only done this once before and my experience
with like things that you do for the first time is that you follow the
recipe really close the first time it works. And then the second time you
get cavalier and it completely fails. So let`s see what we can do. Ready?
JACKSON: I`m ready.
MADDOW: Twice this week, we told you about the Democratic candidates
for statewide office who had decided they would not participate in
previously scheduled debates with their Republican opponents.
So, one of those Democrats eventually did decide to debate this week,
but one of them did not. And that decision resulted in that candidate`s
opponent getting an hour of free unopposed TV air time, opposite an empty
chair. Who was that Democrat? I need the name and the state.
JACKSON: Oh, I know Martha Coakley changed her mind. She decided to
go in. And, you know, I`m really afraid I don`t remember the person who --
MADDOW: I will give you a hint.
JACKSON: OK.
MADDOW: The person who got to sit on stage for an hour debating an
empty chair instead of this Democratic candidate is a person named Thom
Tillis. Does that help?
JACKSON: It doesn`t actually. So I really am going to have to win
the second and third to get that prize.
MADDOW: You are going to have to win the second and the third.
Steve, can you give us what the answer is or can you walk us through
it?
BENEN: Sure. Let`s turn to the debate`s moderator to answer that
one.
MADDOW: OK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MODERATOR: You`re watching "Capital Tonight." We`re in a
conversation with Republican U.S. Senate candidate Thom Tillis. Senator
Hagan declined our invitation to appear.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BENEN: So, the answer is Senator Kay Hagan, who, of course, is
running for reelection in North Carolina. Unfortunately, Christina did not
get that one.
MADDOW: All right. But you`ve got two more chances, Christina. Are
you going to be all right?
JACKSON: I think so.
MADDOW: All right. Well, let`s go to question two. This one is
multiple choice.
On Wednesday this week, as part of our reporting on the attacks in
Ottawa, we discussed another attempt to attack the Canadian parliament
which happened back in 1966. In that incident, a would-be bomber brought
an explosive device to the Canadian parliament. But in a last minute, in
this miscalculation by the bomber saved the day and nobody in parliament
got hurt. What did the bomber screw up back in 1966?
Was it A, the bomber forgot to bring a match or a lighter to light
the fuse on the bomb. B, the bomber took a wrong turn inside parliament
and got stuck behind a locked door. C, the bomber cut the wrong wire and
actually defused the bomb. Or D, the bomber thought the fuse would take
longer to burn than it did and it ended up blowing up too soon.
What`s the right answer?
JACKSON: This is one of the few that I didn`t study.
Let`s say accidentally defused the bomb.
MADDOW: Steve, what`s the wrong answer?
BENENN: The correct answer is D, the bomb thought the fuse would
take longer to burn and it blew up too soon killing only him.
MADDOW: Christina, all right. At this point, you`re playing for
honor. But I also have to tell you we`re notorious cheaters. So, although
we said you have to get two or three right in order to get the swag. You
could probably persuade me if you get the last one.
Are you ready for the last one?
JACKSON: I`ll do my best.
MADDOW: All right. Don`t be -- it`s going to be fine.
All right. Veteran "Boston globe" reporter Walter Robinson, this
week he nailed another Massachusetts politician for being less than
forthright about his military record while runs for public office. In the
past, Walter Robinson who`s exposed other politicians for lying serving in
Vietnam when they didn`t, for receiving battlefield promotions or saying
they did when they actually hadn`t received those promotions.
Well, this week, that reporter, Walter Robinson nailed another
politician, nailed a Massachusetts congressional candidate for not telling
the voters about an important part of his military record.
Who did Walter Robinson expose in the "Boston Globe" this week and do
you remember what it was for?
JACKSON: Seth Moulton for winning a bronze star and the marine army
medal.
MADDOW: Marine army medal? Bronze star? Steve? Steve?
BENEN: The candidate is Seth Moulton who is running for the 6th
congressional in Massachusetts. As to what the "Boston Globe" uncovered
about him, let`s turn to Monday`s segment for the rest of the answer.
MADDOW: OK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MADDOW: In this case, it is a lie only by omission because the guy
didn`t want to tell people about the awards he received for combat heroism
and for bravery.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BENEN: Yes. So that means, the answer is Seth Moulton who was outed
by "The Boston Globe" for not bragging about two medals for valor while he
served in Iraq. He didn`t even tell his parents. And, Christina got it
exactly right.
(LAUGHTER)
MADDOW: All right. I will say, do you want to know how we`re going
to manage the cheating we`re about to do on the air?
JACKSON: Sure.
MADDOW: That was, give me the name of the guy and then extra credit,
what did he lie about? And you got sort of the extra credit. So even
though we`re totally cheating I`m going to call that two right answers.
And if it was two right answers, does that mean that Christina won, Julia?
NUTTER: Yes, she wins the cocktail shaker.
(CHEERS)
MADDOW: Thank you for playing. Thank you for letting me cheat on
your behalf and thank you for watching the show this week and knowing even
more about the Seth Moulton thing than I did. I appreciate it.
JACKSON: Thank you. Good to see you. Bye-bye.
MADDOW: Good to see you, too. We will send you your tiny shaker.
All right. If any of you out there think you have what it takes to
survive the "Friday Night News Dump." Whether or not we are willing to
cheat on your behalf, all you need to do if you would like to be a
contestant is go to MaddowBlog.com. We have all the details there about
how you can apply.
You can do that really fast. But very, very shortly, you are due in
prison.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY
BE UPDATED.
END
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