Guests: Bill Halter, Chris Van Hollen, Walter Hang, Rep. Dennis Kucinich,
Adam Green, Stephanie Miller, John Feehery, Laura Flanders, Robert
Greenwald
ED SCHULTZ, MSNBC HOST: Good evening, Americans and welcome to THE ED
SHOW tonight. From New York, these stories are hitting my hot buttons
tonight at this hour.
Say, the progressive base, in case you were wondering, is alive and
well and kicking in this country. It feels good, doesn‘t it? Joe Sestak,
he swept Pennsylvania. In Arkansas, Blanche Lincoln is headed to a runoff.
Her opponent, Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter, will join me in just a
moment.
The Tea Party also got a big victory last night. Rand Paul is the
republican Senate nominee in Kentucky. With all the crazy stuff this guy
has said, this is going to be a lot of fun. I think the democrats will
chalk one up here.
And BP‘s sorry record on safety is catching up with its leadership
while republicans are trying to tack this on to President Obama. It isn‘t
going to happen.
But this is the story that has me fired up tonight, and every
progressive in this country should be fired up tonight about this. You
see, Mr. President, it‘s okay and it is time to go left. The seasoned
political experts are spinning last night‘s election as a win for the Tea
Party and a big loss for President Obama.
Hold the phone. Listen up, everybody. The most liberal candidates in
Pennsylvania won, and Blanche Lincoln and Bill Halter are headed to a June
8th run-off. To be fair, President Obama is 0 for 5 after endorsing losers
in Virginia, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and the robo-call
that he cut for Blanche Lincoln, well it didn‘t come too close, right?
Now, the White House needs, in my opinion, they need to view this as
really a pre-midterm mandate. They need to put the hammer down with an
aggressive, progressive agenda and don‘t be embarrassed about it.
They can‘t miss this opportunity. Not this time around. Political
traditional thinking really is outdated at this point with the mood of the
country the way it is. People are focused and they want change.
The fact that the entire democratic leadership and establishment in
Pennsylvania totally missed this, I think is kind of troubling. The
democratic establishment pretty much has egg on their face right now. It
seems to me the official era of workers versus the corporations, well,
they‘re at the starting gate. It has begun.
And the question comes up basically for every candidate, whose side
are you on? The White House can‘t receive this in any kind of a passive
manner in my opinion. You know, nothing went wrong last night.
The people have spoken. Joe Sestak said to me on this program a month
ago this was how it was going to come down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: What about the Quinnipiac poll that‘s out right now. He‘s
up on you 53-32, but 15 percent are undecided. How are you going to turn
this around if this is accurate?
REP. JOE SESTAK (D-PA): Well, as you know, the last two polls since
then have me down like the Rasmussen, 44-42 so it‘s a dead heat right now.
The polls are changing rapidly right now because you know, Ed, out there—
not in Washington, but out there—
SCHULTZ: Yes.
SESTAK: People are trying to keep their jobs. They‘re just trying to
hold on, and now they‘re turning to this primary.
SCHULTZ: Congressman—
SESTAK: And you know, they‘ve already made a verdict on Arlen Specter,
because that other poll I mentioned is 52 percent undecided. We‘re going
to win this for the working families.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Got to hand it to him, he was the Lone Ranger standing with
the people who still want change. This is what I said about it last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: I think that Joe Sestak did President Obama a huge favor
tonight. He was certainly more the progressive candidate. Mr. President,
it‘s okay to go left. It‘s okay to move forward with progressives.
Republicans haven‘t done anything with the democrats.
They‘ve tried to block everything Obama wants to do, and I think Joe
Sestak has come up in favor or workers, in favor of a stronger health care
bill. He‘s ready to hold Wall Street accountable, and he connected with
small towns.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Who he connected with was lunch bucket democrats who are
sick and tired of big insurance, sick and tired of big oil, sick and tired
of Wall Street calling the shots in Washington, and they want a better
shake. As American workers, they want a better shake.
Labor poured in $5 million in to Bill Halter‘s campaign in Arkansas.
AFL CIO President Richard Trumka said last night, “Our efforts were about
more than a single race. We said we were going to be aggressive about
supporting candidates who stand with working families, and we backed that
up with action.”
Organized labor knows that Blanche Lincoln is Corporate America‘s
favorite democrat. They know Bill Halter is with them and the American
worker. This is the decision time I think for President Obama. He has
three weeks now to decide if he wants to go along with the people‘s choice,
or he wants to back a big corporate democrat, Senator Blanche Lincoln in
Arkansas.
And really what it comes down to as well, I think this is a residual
of the health care fight. I really do. There were four senators that were
really tough in liberals throughout this entire thing.
It was Joe Lieberman from Connecticut. It was Ben Nelson from
Nebraska, of course Blanche Lincoln from Arkansas, and Mary Landrieu from
Louisiana. Everybody talked about the Louisiana Purchase.
Well, you know, what‘s different about this, the only thing is here is
that Blanche Lincoln just happened to be the first one up. If he had been
Ben Nelson last night, it would have been his number.
If it had been Mary Landrieu it would have been her number. The
bottom line here is that all this talk about the Tea Party movement and the
republicans are on the surge, notice how quiet John Boehner was today. How
about Michael Steele? See any interviews with him?
They don‘t know what‘s going on because they‘re out of touch with the
people. They‘re about tax cuts. They‘re about corporate favors, and
they‘re not with the people. Get your cell phone out, folks. I want to
know what you think about all of this tonight.
Tonight‘s text survey question is, do you believe President Obama will
get the message from last night‘s election and move to the left? Text A for
yes; text B for no to 622639. I‘ll bring you the results later on in the
show.
Joining me now from Arkansas is Arkansas Lieutenant Governor Bill
Halter. He will face Senator Blanche Lincoln in a run-off election for the
democratic senate nomination on June 8th.
You didn‘t win, but it‘s the best victory I think a guy could have.
How do we look at that? Bill, great to have you with us tonight. You
closed the gap. It was 45 to 43. Recent polls had you ten down. What
happened?
BILL HALTER, LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF ARKANSAS: Well, at the end,
voters decided that they wanted change and not just the status quo. We
said over and over again, Ed, if you send the same people back to
Washington, you‘re guaranteed to get the same results, and 55 percent of
Arkansans yesterday said in a democratic primary, we don‘t want to send the
same people back.
That‘s why we have a run-off and that‘s why we‘re going to win on June
8th.
SCHULTZ: Well, D.C. Morrison got 13 percent of the vote last night.
Where are those voters? Who are they? Where are they going to go on June
8th?
HALTER: I think we get the lion‘s share of those voters on June 8th
because D.C. Morrison and I both talk about fiscal responsibility and
having Washington not just irresponsibly writing checks. And we also
talked about how on the estate tax, D.C. Morrison and I agreed.
Blanche Lincoln, by contract, wants to give another tax break to those
with $10 million in wealth or more. I think they‘re going to come our way.
I think the overwhelming vote yesterday was a vote for change; a vote to
send somebody to Washington who‘s going to stand up for Arkansas‘s middle
class families.
SCHULTZ: Governor, you have gotten the grass roots support, I mean
overwhelming compared to your opponent. Is it going to be there between
now and June 8th? Can you count on the same people that got you close last
night to close the deal for you?
HALTER: Well, Ed, I‘m just going to ask them right now. Go to
billhalter.com. Our average contribution has been $30. That‘s something
that people across Arkansas and across the United States can do, and I can
guarantee you this, we‘re going to put that money to good use.
We‘re up against the Chamber of Commerce. We‘re up against $1.5
million in negative ads from a republican group trying to intervene in a
democratic primary to buy a Senate seat. We need everybody‘s help, but
we‘re going to win.
Make no mistake about it, yesterday was step one. June 8th will be
step two. Step three is in November.
SCHULTZ: Yes, OK. What‘s the tone of this campaign going to be like
this battle between you and Senator Lincoln between now and June 8th?
Is it going to be negative? Is it going to be, you know knock-down drag-
out? Your thoughts on that.
HALTER: Well, look, I‘m not going to be negative, but I‘m not going
to be afraid to talk about her votes and her positions on issues, and to
make sure that everybody knows what the comparison is. The estate tax is a
clear position there that‘s different.
Senator Lincoln has had a number of different positions on health
care. We‘re going to talk about that. But what I‘m really all about here,
Ed, is a positive, affirmative vision for middle class families in Arkansas
and standing up against powerful interests who don‘t have those families‘
best interests at heart.
SCHULTZ: Governor, good luck to you.
HALTER: Thanks, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Looking forward to seeing you down there on June 8th. It‘s
going to be a heck of a battle. We‘ll follow it all the way. Thanks so
much.
HALTER: Come on down, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Well, I think, you know, you‘ve got union help. You‘ve got a
lot of grass roots support which tells me that Arkansas could tell a lot to
the American people about change in this country. Good luck to you. We‘ll
see you again.
HALTER: Thank you so much, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Got to be, really, the democrats getting a big win in a
major bellwether race last night. The special election to fill the seat of
late Congressman John Murtha. In Pennsylvania‘s 12th District, a district
John McCain won in 2008, democrat Mark Critz beat republican Tim Burns by
almost 10 points.
Congressman Chris Van Hollen, Chairman of the DCCC praised the face
that the republicans couldn‘t take the seat. Now the focus shifts in
November. Maryland Congressman joins us right now here on THE ED SHOW.
Congressman, this is one that a lot of people were watching thinking that
if the republicans couldn‘t win this one, which one are they going to win?
REP. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-MD): Well that‘s exactly right. This was
the one race in the country yesterday where you actually had a democratic
candidate against a republican candidate, and the republicans in this race
test drove their strategy for November, and they crashed.
They made the whole race about trying to make President Obama and
Nancy Pelosi the bogeyman. Mark Critz, the democratic candidate focused on
jobs. He focused on investing in the community, and he focused on making
sure that we get rid of tax incentives to send jobs overseas rather than
invest in jobs in America. So Mark Critz made a very clear choice.
SCHULTZ: Are we now defined as the people versus the corporations? I
mean last night in Pennsylvania the democratic establishment got it totally
wrong. Joe Sestak steps up, you know, he—it‘s David and Goliath. He
didn‘t have anybody on his side except the people. What do you make of
that?
VAN HOLLEN: Well that was certainly the issue in the special election
in Pennsylvania because essentially you had the republican candidate
following the same economic agenda and policies of the republicans in the
house.
It was a Washington republican economic agenda, which is essentially
the same agenda that got us in to the mess to begin with. And remember,
Ed, in the House, the republicans voted against all these bills. They
voted against Wall Street reform. They voted against health care reform.
They voted against fiscal responsibility. They voted against reducing the
role of banks and providing more—
SCHULTZ: I got all that. I don‘t mean to interrupt you, but I‘m
concerned that democratic leadership—how could the mayor of
Philadelphia, the governor of Pennsylvania, Senator Casey on this show last
night saying Specter was going to win.
The president, the vice president, I mean I‘m a little concerned—
and I think progressives around the country I‘ll take the liberty to say
that the question is democratic leadership listening to the people?
VAN HOLLEN: Look, Ed, I can speak to the House democratic leadership.
SCHULTZ: Yes.
VAN HOLLEN: We were involved in the House race. I will say with
respect to the Senate, you know, my understanding is when Senator Specter
moved over and helped deliver the deciding vote on the Economic Recovery
Plan, at that point you had a number of the, you know democratic leadership
in Pennsylvania rally around him.
I‘m not defending it. That‘s my understanding of it. Again, in the
House, we‘ve been focused on the special election in Pennsylvania and for
that election, it was a clear early test of the republican strategy of
trying to make this all about Washington and the president and Speaker
Pelosi versus focusing on the issues and giving the voters a choice on
where they want to go and the kind of agenda that you‘re talking about.
SCHULTZ: OK. Now do you feel a lot better, I mean there‘s all this
talk about, you know Newt Gingrich out there, Boehner out there saying that
there‘s an avalanche coming. You got to be feeling pretty good that you
might not lose anywhere near as many seats as the righties have projected.
VAN HOLLEN: Well, look, we know this is a challenging political
environment, but what happened last night certainly meant that the
republican hype about taking back the house and this being a 1994 wave all
over again, that hype ran into a brick wall of reality last night and the
brick wall won.
You know, Tom Davis, who‘s the former chairman of the National
Republican Campaign Committee said if the republicans can‘t win in that
kind of district, that McCain carried, then where is the wave?
SCHULTZ: That‘s right.
VAN HOLLEN: That was his question, and we have the same question but
that doesn‘t mean we you know, we still understand this is a tough
political environment. But if we follow through on an agenda for working
Americans, if we work on the jobs bill that‘s before the house including
the provision that Mark Critz talked about in his campaign—
SCHULTZ: Yes. It‘ll all work out.
VAN HOLLEN: -- which is to eliminate those tax subsidies for sending
jobs overseas. That‘s the kind of agenda we need.
SCHULTZ: Congressman, good to have you with us tonight, and
congratulations.
VAN HOLLEN: Good to be with you.
SCHULTZ: Good to get the victory.
VAN HOLLEN: Thank you.
SCHULTZ: All right. This is exactly the kind of stuff that I‘ve got
in my book coming out, going to be released on June 1st. It‘s called
“Killer Politics: How Big Money and Bad Politics Are Destroying The Great
American Middle Class,” you know, the middle class that spoke last night.
We got a series of town hall meetings coming up and book signings. You can
go to my website, wegoted.com, for the entire schedule.
Coming up, disturbing new video reveals how bad the gusher is . New
photos from space show the direction it‘s headed. I‘ll tell you what this
all means from the eastern shores, next. And Congressman Souder‘s sex
scandal has me wondering if it was in the righty water back in 1994? We‘ll
talk about that republican revolution at the bottom of the hour.
Plus, Miss U.S.A. wants to be Hilary Clinton when she grows up. And a
pirate walks the plank. You‘re watching THE ED SHOW on MSNBC. Stay with
us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And I am still fired up about the message sent to Washington
last night. The progressives in this country are speaking loud and clear.
This is a huge wakeup call for the president. Congressman Dennis Kucinich
is going to give me his take at the bottom of the hour. You won‘t want to
miss it.
And I‘ll tell you why the Tea Partiers will have nothing to party
about in November. That‘s in the Playbook. Stephanie Miller‘s here. Stay
with us. We‘re right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW and thanks for watching tonight.
Five billion gallons of oil have been spilled and all Washington can do is
play the blame game. Take a look at this stunning new picture from NASA of
the disaster from high above earth. It shows just how far out the oil has
spread.
And this new image from NOAH confirms the oil outlined in red has
spread into the loop current, and the blue line that carries the water
around Florida and up the Atlantic Coast. Officials said that the oil
would likely reach the beaches of the Florida Keys in 8 to 10 days.
But scientists confirm that the tar balls found there this weekend did
not come from the Gulf oil spill. Walter Hang is the president of the
Toxics Targeting Company that tracks environmental data from the
government. Mr. Hang, what do you make of the loop current?
How serious is this and how do we know exactly how much oil is going
to be getting around if it does?
WALTER HANG, PRESIDENT, TOXIC TARGETING: This is a very serious
development. The problem is that there‘s a massive amount of oil in the
Gulf. But once it gets into the loop current, it can spread out of the
Gulf, go through the Florida Strait and go up the eastern seaboard. So
that could tremendously increase the area that could ultimately be impacted
by this massive, uncontrolled release.
SCHULTZ: What about this solution that they‘re putting on top of the
oil to break it up? What does it do? How dangerous is it? Is it working?
HANG: This could actually make things a lot worse. What it does is it
breaks up this huge accumulations of oil into tiny droplets. But those
droplets might actually spread a lot father a lot faster. So there‘re huge
underwater plumes of these oil droplets, and they might actually get
carried away by the loop current and by these other massive ocean currents,
and ultimately just staggering areas might be impacted.
SCHULTZ: Do you think that the impact of this could be global?
HANG: It‘s really hard to tell. I think in the beginning, you know
they thought it would be localized in the Gulf. They were worried about the
beaches. They were worried about the wetlands in Louisiana, Mississippi,
Alabama, Florida. Now, they‘re more concerned perhaps about Texas all the
way around the Florida coast up the seaboard.
SCHULTZ: Yes.
HANG: But if it gets into the Gulf Stream, it could really go a long
way, and the question is how soon if at all are they going to be able to
control this massive release? I mean we‘re a month into this disaster.
SCHULTZ: Yes. And you deal with toxic spills and such stuff as this
when it comes to disasters. The permitting process, is it just flat out
crooked in your opinion? I mean is there any oversight whatsoever?
HANG: There is oversight, but it‘s completely ineffective. What
happens is the industry says we have proven technology. We have a
wonderful track record. Nothing‘s going to go wrong, and they basically are
allowed to pretty much do what they want.
But the liability is capped. So if, heaven forbid, there‘s a problem
they know they‘re not going to really get hit. And then everything is
going along, and when these problems invariably occur, the situation is
that the government doesn‘t require all of the pollution to be cleaned up.
And that‘s how come when you hear BP responding to the president‘s
request that they clean up everything they say we‘re going to deal with all
the legitimate claims?
SCHULTZ: Yes.
HANG: They say they‘re going to pay for the spill response, but
they‘re also saying we‘re not going to clean up all of that deep water oil.
SCHULTZ: Yes.
HANG: And so they basically just want to lie low, wait for this
problem to kind of go away, and they‘re going to hope that Mother Nature
will break this pollution down, but it probably won‘t happen.
SCHULTZ: It ain‘t going to happen, no.
HANG: It‘s just going to be bigger and bigger, go father and farther,
and ultimately the—
SCHULTZ: Very good.
HANG: -- the economic and environmental impact could be
unprecedented.
SCHULTZ: Mr. Hang, good to have you with us tonight. Thanks for
joining us on THE ED SHOW.
HANG: Thank you.
SCHULTZ: Psycho talk spreads from Fox newscasters to Fox
Sportscasters. I‘m calling a major foul on Chris Myers. We‘ll send him
into the timeout zone next. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Oh, we got a dandy tonight in Psycho Talk. We‘re bringing a
new member into the crazy club. Fox Sports Reporter Chris Myers shows he
has Fox News potential. He filled in on the Dan Patrick Radio Show
yesterday.
He started off, well, okay, praising Americans for their ability to
pull together in tough times. But then, he drove right into the Rush
Limbaugh territory.
(BEING AUDIO CLIP)
CHRIS MYERS, REPORTER, FOX SPORTS: It‘s a great country here. We
have disasters, issues when people pull together and help themselves, and I
thought the people in Tennessee, unlike—and I‘m not going to name names
when a natural disaster hits, people weren‘t standing on the rooftop
trying to blame the government, OK? They helped each other out through
this.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Buddy, even though you didn‘t name names, I think we cracked
your code on this one. The people standing on the rooftops were victims of
one of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history. They weren‘t on the
rooftops blaming the government.
They were there because it was their only shot at survival. George W.
Bush and his buddy Brownie failed them. And President Obama isn‘t getting
blamed for the flooding in Tennessee because his administration actually
did a heck of a job. FEMA was on the ground before the rain even started.
Now that he‘s in Psycho Talk, he‘s really going to probably get in a
lot of trouble. Media Matters reporting tonight that Fox Sports is going
to have, quote, internal discussions with Myers about all of this.
You know, why can‘t these sports guys just stick to sports? They
always get in trouble when they screw up the toy department. So Chris
Myers‘ disgusting attack on the victims of Hurricane Katrina puts you right
in the Psycho Talk zone.
Coming up, Admiral Sestak defied the odds. The president didn‘t back
him, and it really didn‘t matter. Congressman Dennis Kucinich joins me to
talk about the aggressive progressive movement next.
Plus, Congressman Souder joins the same old friends in the hall of
shame. A pirate gets locked up, and Miss U.S.A. wants Hilary to quit her
day job? That‘s right. You‘re watching THE ED SHOW on MSNBC. Stay with
us. It‘s all coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW. The Battleground Story
tonight, progressives are tired of watching the president‘s change agenda
just flat out die in the Senate bill after bill. Last night proved that
they are fired up and ready to vote. They helped Joe Sestak do the
unthinkable in Pennsylvania, beating Senator Arlen Specter by eight points.
In Arkansas, they forced conservative Senator Democrat Blanche Lincoln into
a runoff with Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter.
So much talk for all the, you know, fact that the Democrats aren‘t
motivated this year? Yes, they are. I think they are very motivated for
candidates who are willing to stand up to the powers and the special
interests in Washington and fight the good fight for the progressive
values.
Joining me now from Ohio is Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich, actually
at the Capitol. Congressman, good to have you with us tonight. I wanted
to talk to you because there really is no bigger change agent in the
Congress than you. What‘s your analysis of last night? What were the
people saying in your opinion?
REP. DENNIS KUCINICH (D), OHIO: They‘re saying status quo, status no.
They‘re basically taking a more anti-establishment approach. And with so
many people unemployed, with so many businesses having gone down, with Wall
Street having walked away with the Treasury, people are saying, look,
there‘s got to be some changes. I think we‘re seeing that reflected in the
votes that occurred yesterday.
SCHULTZ: How should the White House take last night‘s results? How
could the Democratic establishment in Pennsylvania, from A to Z, be so
wrong on what was coming down?
KUCINICH: I think there‘s this desire on the part of the people to
keep the change that people voted for in 2008 actually moving in the
direction of putting America back to work, of rebuilding our country‘s
infrastructure, getting out of the wars. And I think you‘re going to see
more and more demand for a change in the status quo. Of course, we have to
remember that some of these elections do have local characteristics which
may, you know, argue against an analysis that says it really is a demand
for a change in the status quo.
The bottom line is America is still churning with change, and that we
can expect to see more and more surprises in the coming months in
primaries, as well as in November.
SCHULTZ: So, what is this—does it bode well for Democrats in
November, what we saw last night? And where the mood of the country is
right now? I mean, I think the Tea Partiers have got some supporters, but
they‘re not in the majority. And I think last night speaks volumes. Your
thoughts?
KUCINICH: Well, you know, let‘s face it, Rand Paul‘s victory in
Kentucky was aloft by Tea Party activists. I think we should respect the
fact that there are many Americans who feel that both parties have not done
their job, and they formed together in a Tea Party and they‘re picking and
choosing, you know, Democrats and Republicans to support. And I think what
happened in Kentucky ought to be—we ought to pay careful attention to
it.
However, if the Democrats are going to hold control of the House of
Representatives, we‘ll do it because we put millions more Americans back to
work. We‘ll do it because we‘ve seen a recovery on Main Street, not just
Wall Street. We should not confuse recovery on Wall Street with recovery
on Main Street. I think that is still the challenge that faces the
Democratic party and faces the Obama administration.
SCHULTZ: It is exactly what Joe Sestak talked about in Pennsylvania.
Congressman, good to have you with us tonight.
KUCINICH: Thanks so much, Ed.
SCHULTZ: For more, let me bring in Adam Green. He‘s the co-founder
of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, very involved in the race
down in Arkansas. How do you view this? It was closer than anticipated,
Adam.
ADAM GREEN, PROGRESSIVE CHANGE CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE: Yeah. No one
expected it to be this close. It‘s a real testament to the kind of people
power campaign that Bill Halter is running. Let‘s be very clear, for the
next three weeks now, this race here in Arkansas is ground zero in the
battle between people power and big corporate power. These big
corporations have invested millions and millions of dollars in Blanche
Lincoln. She‘s gone to bat for them over and over again. If Bill Halter
wins, which I think he will in three weeks, it will send shock waves
through the corporate establishment and, frankly, through the Democratic
party establishment, sending a signal that Democratic voters don‘t want
politicians that put big corporations ahead of their constituents.
SCHULTZ: Adam, what if the progressive movement in this country can‘t
pull it off in Arkansas? Would this be a big setback? Because I see this
as a real turning point right here. I mean, she is the first corporate
Democratic senator that fought hard against health care reform. I don‘t
think she held insurance‘s feet to the fire at all. If she is successful,
is that a real blow to the progressive movement?
GREEN: Sure. Any loss would be a blow to any movement. But we‘re
going to win, and here‘s why we‘re going to win. One by-product of the
fact that she has taken millions and millions of dollars from big
corporations is that she really has no grassroots support here on the
ground. You can feel it. Meanwhile, thousands of thousands of people are
chipping in with their time and their money to Bill Halter, either at
BillHalter.com or on our website, BoldProgressives.org. This is a people
powered candidacy. Because of that, we‘re going to win.
I‘ll tell you, I‘ve seen it firsthand. This is a grassroots campaign.
Yesterday, there were hundreds and hundreds of people volunteering for Bill
Halter, calling over 54,000 people in one day, let alone the 100,000 people
they called a couple days before.
SCHULTZ: Why do you think he‘s going to win June 8th? You think the
D.C. Morrison 13 percenters are going to go to over to Bill Halter? He
said earlier tonight he thought they would. Do you see it that way?
GREEN: Yeah. Just look at the math. Over 55 percent of the people
that voted just yesterday voted for change. They want change. They want
someone who is not blanche Lincoln, because she has not put them first.
She has put her corporate contributors first. We need to get those people
out to the polls. Those who I said yesterday on your show will be most
energized are those who want to have a change in leadership and who support
Bill Halter.
My guess is that a lot of the people who voted for Blanche Lincoln the
first time, because they were voting for other positions on the ballot,
actually won‘t return to the polls, and we‘ll have an even bigger infusion
of people for Bill Halter. It‘s about people power.
SCHULTZ: It is. It‘s the people versus the corporations at this
juncture in American politics.
GREEN: Ground zero here in Arkansas.
SCHULTZ: Adam Green, good to have you with us tonight.
Now, let‘s get some rapid fire response from our panel on these
stories tonight. Family-values Republican Mark Souder isn‘t alone in his
hypocrisy or his bad behavior. In fact, he‘s the 15th member of the
Republican class of 1994 to go down in flames of scandal.
Democrats are split over whether Connecticut Attorney General Richard
Blumenthal is dead in the water as a Senate candidate after he admits he
misspoke about fighting in Vietnam.
Primary voters in both parties sent a warning to Washington last
night. Our panel will take that on as well.
Joining us now is Laura Flanders, author of “Blue Grit” and host of
“Grit TV,” and John Feehery, Republican strategist. Great to have you with
us tonight. I want to talk about this Mark Souder story. I‘m sure back in
1994, we could have gotten hundreds of Americans to step out and give
character reference for all the people that were elected to Congress. But
why so many of them have gone down when it comes to sex scandals or other
kind of scandals. I want to ask you, John Feehery, does Washington just do
this to people, if they‘re there that long?
JOHN FEEHERY, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Ed, I worked in the class of
‘94, ‘95. I was in Congress when we passed unbelievable welfare reform.
We balanced the budget. We cut taxes. And it was a product of divided
government. President Clinton was president. The Republicans controlled
Congress. I think it‘s a harbinger of things to come when Republicans take
back the Congress. We‘ll get hard won compromises and put the country back
on a balanced budget. That‘s how I look at the class of ‘94, ‘95.
SCHULTZ: Despite the fact there‘s 15 of them that went down in
controversy. Laura, what do you make of this? Does D.C. do this to
people?
LAURA FLANDERS, “GRIT TV”: No, I don‘t think it‘s about D.C. I‘m
glad John reminded us that he was there at the birth. John was there with
the founding of I think it was called the Republican theme team, which was
great at training people like the class we‘re talking about to use sound
bites and talk family values talk, and use a lot of threats, too.
The sad thing is they weren‘t actually teaching folks how to treat
their partners right. It would be funny except it‘s really not. All that
hypocrisy held an entire administration hostage. You saw Democrats cave to
an attack that did bring us welfare reform and NAFTA and the kind of stuff
we‘re really paying a price for now.
SCHULTZ: Let‘s go to Connecticut. If I‘m a voter in Connecticut, I
would probably be thinking that the number-one law enforcement official in
the state is having a hard time remembering what he did in Vietnam. Laura,
is this a problem for Mr. Blumenthal?
FLANDERS: I think it‘s a problem for everybody. Sure, it‘s a problem
for him. But it‘s bigger than that. It reminds us that a lot of people
have bent over backwards to try to show support for veterans and for the
troops. There‘s only one way to show supports for the troops, and that‘s
with your actions, keeping troops out of harm‘s way.
SCHULTZ: Yes, but did he fabricate his war record? I mean, John
Feehery, this could be—I mean, credibility—of course you could say he
could be a great senator because he speaks out of both sides of his mouth,
I guess you could say. What‘s your take on this? Where do the Democrats
go from here?
FEEHERY: I think it‘s devastating for Blumenthal. I‘ll tell you why,
he had such a squeaky clean image. People thought he was always a truth
teller. Basically, I think people now think he‘s a big liar. These are
not just exaggerations. They‘re beyond exaggerations. I think it‘s really
troubling for the voters of Connecticut. And I think his campaign is in
big trouble.
FLANDERS: It may not just be senate, Ed. You know, it was Nixon and
Johnson. They all lied about what they did in Vietnam. Maybe he‘s running
for president.
SCHULTZ: All right, this is Joe Sestak last night after the big
victory over Arlen Specter. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOE SESTAK (D), PENNSYLCANIA: This is what democracy looks like,
a win for the people over the establishment, over the status quo, even over
Washington, D.C.!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Laura Flanders, how could the establishment get it so wrong?
They all lined up with Specter. He lost.
FLANDERS: I think that‘s one race in Pennsylvania to watch. But the
other one that I think is very interesting, particularly in light of what
Adam Green just said, is that congressional race, the one party fight—
partisan fight, the congressional race for Murtha‘s seat, where you had a
Democrat, really a—
SCHULTZ: Critz is not a huge lefty. I mean, he‘s got—
FLANDERS: he‘s a guy who campaigned on jobs. That‘s what I was going
to say. I think you saw in Pennsylvania that when a campaign really
focuses on jobs, as Critz did, you can be in a district that went for
McCain and get it back for the Democrats. That anger around jobs—he‘s
absolutely not a liberal. But the anger around jobs was addressed with a
really strong message around trade, around job creation.
SCHULTZ: John Feehery, nobody‘s safe? Nobody‘s safe?
FEEHERY: Let me say one thing. Behold the power of Ed Schultz. No
Ed Schultz, no Joe Sestak. He wouldn‘t have won without you, Ed. He owes
you a lot of honor and campaign contributions.
SCHULTZ: He owes me?
FEEHERY: He owes you. Without you, there‘s no Sestak.
SCHULTZ: I will tell you, he‘s one of the easiest books in cable TV.
The guy is on a mission to get on shows.
FEEHERY: He‘s out every day. Behold the power of Ed Schultz in the
Democratic primary.
SCHULTZ: I think a three-star admiral and his experience, when he
says he‘s not a Washington insider, I have to believe him because he spent
31 years in the military. Laura and John, good to have you with us
tonight. Thanks so much.
Coming up, Rand Paul‘s big win has the Tea Party crowd celebrating.
One person not celebrating today is Mitch McConnell. I say, enjoy it now,
big guy, because the party‘s over real soon. Stephanie Miller, I think she
thinks the same thing. Maybe not. That‘s coming up in the Playbook. Stay
with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAND PAUL ®, KY SENATE NOMINEE: I have a message, a message from
the Tea Party, a message that is loud and clear and does not mince words.
We‘ve come to take our government back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Back to what? In the Playbook tonight, the Tea Party is all
fired up. Their man, Rand Paul, steam rolled Mitch McConnell‘s guy, Trey
Grayson, in the Kentucky Republican Senate primary last night. It was a
huge blow to the Republican establishment. I think it makes Mitch
McConnell the biggest loser of the night.
Here‘s a message for all you Tea Party folks out there: the party‘s
over. For me, let me bring in radio talk show host Stephanie miller. We
should point out that Mr. Rand Paul gave his acceptance speech at a private
golf club. Stephanie, what does that tell us?
STEPHANIE MILLER, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Well, yeah, that‘s the one
section of the electorate they have yet to reach out to, the rich white
guys that play golf. Yeah, they probably didn‘t have that segment nailed
down yet. I think when he says take our country back, Ed, I think he means
back to a time when it was OK to discriminate against people of different
races or with disabilities, since he‘s apparently against the Americans
With Disabilities Act and other things like that.
SCHULTZ: This is the strange thing, he‘s actually on record with a
blogger saying he wants to repeal president 1990 American Disabilities Act.
Nobody‘s ever even talking about that. Can the Republicans control their
crazies at this point?
MILLER: I think this is all good news, Ed, the Tea Party. I‘m sorry,
but to me they‘re driving the Republican party, as you‘re saying, farther
and farther to the right, to the lunatic fringe. Good for them.
SCHULTZ: I don‘t buy this thing that he‘s not a Washington insider.
His dad‘s been there 20 some years, wants to get rid of the IRS, which some
people might go along with. What does this say about Mitch McConnell?
MILLER: I think you‘re exactly right. He‘s the biggest loser of the
night. They keep trying to—you know, talk about the power of the Tea
Party. If I were the Republican party, I‘d be scared to death. This is
what‘s happened so far, is they‘re driving anybody sane or moderate out of
the Republican party thus far.
SCHULTZ: Do you think John Boehner was tanning today or playing golf?
I‘m not sure. Which do you think?
MILLER: You know what, probably crying some of his bronzer off and
then reapplying it.
SCHULTZ: Stephanie, always a pleasure. Good to have you with us
tonight.
MILLER: You, too, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Final pages in the playbook tonight, President Obama hosts
Mexican President Felipe Calderon for his second state dinner at the White
House tonight. Calderon arriving and shaking hands with Mr. Obama just
moments ago. Of course, security‘s on the lookout for party crashers. We
all remember this infamous couple that found they way into their first
state dinner back in November. Pretty good pictures, too.
And the newly crowned Miss USA has been on the job for three days and
already show is talking about a career change. She joined David Letterman
for the top ten things she wants to do as Miss America. Looks like she‘s
interested in working in Washington. Let‘s take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID LETTERMAN, “THE LATE SHOW”: Here we go. Top ten things I want
to do as Miss USA. Number ten.
RIMA FAKIH, MISS USA: Fill in as secretary of state whenever Hillary
Clinton‘s on vacation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Finally, for the first time in over 100 years, a pirate has
been convicted in a U.S. courtroom. One of the Somali pirates who held
Captain Richard Phillips hostage off the coast of Somalia last April
pleaded guilty to hijacking a U.S. ship and kidnapping. He‘s expected to
serve up to 33 years in jail.
The top commander in Afghanistan says no one is winning. The cost is
growing. More troops are being deployed. Yesterday, we hit a sobering
milestone. Award winning filmmaker Robert Greenwald will help us “Rethink
Afghanistan” next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Finally tonight on THE ED SHOW, a sobering milestone in the
war in Afghanistan; 1,000 American troops have been killed since the war
began. The death toll has significantly picked up in recent years. The
first 500 American deaths spanned nearly seven years. But it took less
than two more to reach a thousand.
Now that progressives have shown they can win elections, it might be
time for President Obama to take a left turn on Afghanistan as well.
Joining me now is Robert Greenwald, the founder and president of Brave New
Films and director of the documentary “Rethink Afghanistan.” Good to have
you with us tonight. Can we comprehend how much money we‘re spending in
Afghanistan?
ROBERT GREENWALD, BRAVE NEW FILMS: It‘s really hard to understand or
to really put a face to the numbers, Ed. But just think about this for a
moment. How many people in our country are without jobs? Schools? Health
care? Homes? And this month we‘re going to spend seven billion—
billion, not million, dollars in Afghanistan on a war that everybody knows
is not making us safer, and everybody knows if we weren‘t other there now,
we wouldn‘t suddenly be going over spending seven billion in one month to
find less than 100 al Qaeda.
It fundamentally makes no sense.
SCHULTZ: It‘s over a trillion dollars, isn‘t it, for the entire—
GREENWALD: It‘s going to be over—May 28th, it will be a trillion
dollars we will have spent in this war. It‘s mind-boggling to think of
where that money could have gone. Again, the number of jobs—the
elections that you were talking about before, jobs, jobs, jobs. I want
some candidates to run for office and say, yeah, I think the best use of
your money is to send it over there and not provide jobs and not provide
health care and not provide schools.
It doesn‘t make any sense. I tell you, on our “Rethink Afghanistan”
Facebook page, the comments from people who are unemployed, the comments
from military people, over and over again, are talking about the waste and
abuse of our money and our resources, and the lives of Afghans and
Americans.
SCHULTZ: From your independent reporting, can you say that we simply
are not making progress there? What do you think?
GREENWALD: We can say it for sure. Our producers in Afghanistan can
say it. We have video showing it. Then you have General McChrystal saying
it. Nobody is winning. That‘s a horrific admission after what will be a
trillion dollars, 100,000 troops, over 100,000 private contractors.
When I was in Afghanistan, Ed, they need help there. It‘s the third
poorest country in the world. They need teachers, they need job programs.
They need health care. Not people with guns intimidating, killing and
occupying their country. It‘s fundamental to the way that our security can
be protected. And we‘re not protecting our security. And I‘m looking for
smart policy from Washington, not this policy.
SCHULTZ: Gosh, it sounds like they need all the things we need here
in America. Look at the age of the soldiers that we are losing. I find
this terribly interesting and troubling. From 2002 to 2008, the average
age was 28 years old. Last year, it was 26 years old. What do you make of
this? Now in 2010, the average age of loss of life of soldiers is age 25.
What do you make of that?
GREENWALD: First of all, Ed, it‘s heartbreaking. A thousand of
deaths, think of the number of families that are permanently scarred and
ruined and pulled apart because of those thousand deaths. And it‘s younger
and younger men being who are being taken from their families, taken from
their homes and taken from their cities.
It‘s a draft, but it‘s an economic draft of poor people going into the
service because it‘s the only way they can provide for themselves or their
families or their loved ones or get an education. And they‘re being killed
at a horrible rate.
I know it‘s unpleasant. And I know people want to turn their eyes
away from it. But I think we all have an extraordinary responsibility to
speak to our senators and speak to the members of the House in saying, what
is going on here? And how are—
SCHULTZ: That time is coming. Mr. Greenwald, good to have you with
us tonight.
Tonight our text survey question, I asked, do you believe President
Obama will get the message from last night‘s election and move more to the
left? Fifty one percent of you said yes‘ 49 percent of you said no.
That‘s THE ED SHOW. I‘m Ed Schultz. Chris Matthews and “HARDBALL” is
next. We‘ll see you tomorrow night.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY
BE UPDATED.
END
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