Guests: Jack Rice, Ron Wyden, Edward G. Rendell, Karen Hunter, Michael
Medved, Jonathan Alter, Lionel
ED SCHULTZ, MSNBC ANCHOR: Good evening, Americans, and welcome to THE ED SHOW tonight from Minneapolis.
These stories are hitting “My Hot Buttons” at this hour.
The right-wing conservatives are whipping up fears about airport security pat-downs to push their agenda of racial profiling. Profiling is completely anti-American. Has everybody forgotten?
The commentary on that and reaction from Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and Jack Rice, former CIA agent, coming up in just a moment.
The fat cats on Wall Street are rolling in the dough with a record year of profits, but they are still ripping President Obama. What a complete joke, although the president still wants to work with them. We‘ll get into that.
And it‘s time to really come to grips with this one, folks. Whether you like her or not, Sarah Palin, she is here to stay.
She is building, by the way, a media empire, redoing the brand that can‘t be matched by any other Republican candidate in the field. Governor Ed Rendell sounds off, and the strategy about fighting Sarah Palin coming up in “The Battleground” story tonight.
But this is the story that has me fired up tonight.
The conservative media basically is just stoking paranoia about airport security screenings. To hear them tell it, you would think that every preschooler in America is getting searched and little old ladies are just getting shaken down at the airport and mishandled by TSA agents.
Can we reel this in a little bit?
Now, I‘m a 98-percent. I got on a plane today. Nothing changed. I wasn‘t groped, I wasn‘t shot full of radiation. In fact, very few passengers across the country are actually subjected to the pat-downs that you are seeing all over the right-wing media and blasted all over the right-wing blogs.
Folks, less than two percent of Americans are getting—traveling Americans are getting the pat-downs. The conservative media has got the country whipped up into a frenzy, and their solution is to start profiling.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRETCHEN CARLSON, “FOX & FRIENDS”: So what do you think we should do instead?
STEVE DOOCY, “FOX & FRIENDS”: To do? I like the idea of the profiling.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN HANNITY, “HANNITY”: Israel has as big if not a bigger security threat than we do and they use a different system. They use profiling.
ANN COULTER, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right.
HANNITY: We don‘t—apparently, that‘s not a word we can even discuss in this country.
What do you think we ought to be doing?
COULTER: Right. It‘s—well, I have a little system I‘ve worked up. I like to call it profiling. It‘s the only advantage we have in this war, that the enemy looks exactly alike.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: A young male Muslim Arab puts explosives in his underwear. Now everybody has to be groped.
We know what they look like. We know what national origins most of them come from. We know these things. That‘s why we have intelligence agencies.
Those agencies profile those countries all the time. But for some reason, when it comes to air travel, we are to suspend all logic and reality and pretend that everybody‘s the same, regardless of these factors.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Did you hear “The Drugster” just say now that everybody has to be groped? When was the last time he flew commercial?
Fox News and “The Drugster” are cooking this story up with fear and using it to push their racial profiling. I can‘t believe that the American people are buying this garbage.
According to a new ABC News/”Washington Post” poll, 50 percent of the American people say enhanced pat-downs are not justified. We‘re split down the middle on that. Sixty-four percent of Americans support the full-body naked screenings and scanners. And 70 percent of the American people support profiling -- 70 percent of us support profiling?
Now, you know what this is? This is the classic right-wing media at work convincing the American people about something that‘s horribly wrong.
Congress goes away. And so what do they need to do? They need to cook up a story while they‘re gone and divide America.
Profiling, by the way, is a civil rights violation. And it‘s very dangerous territory for this country. I think Ben Franklin famously said, “Anyone who would trade liberty for security deserves neither.”
This is, my friends, trading liberty for a shorter security line at the airport. And, of course, we can‘t have that.
Now, do the Tea Partiers think that the founding fathers would support that? I don‘t think so. But the best case against profiling is that it doesn‘t work.
That‘s not my opinion. That‘s the verdict from the former Bush Homeland Security Secretary, Michael Chertoff.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL CHERTOFF, FMR. HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: I think relying on preconceptions or stereotypes is actually kind of misleading and arguably dangerous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: So, what we have in this country is a situation where we spend billions of dollars trying to get this right 10 years after the hit on America. But you know what we do have, and maybe something that we‘ll never figure out? Why do all of us have such a problem with skin color? Why is it that we are so afraid?
Where is the responsibility of all the cables out there? Is it our responsibility to make sure everybody gets all feared up, or is it our responsibility to tell the truth and paint an accurate picture of what‘s going on in this country?
Now, two percent of the American people are getting patted down, and maybe the White House didn‘t handle it exactly right. That‘s why they have come out with a PSA to explain to the American people, public service announcement, exactly how this is all going to work. But the stereotyping is alive and well the conservative right.
Why is that? Because they hate President Obama, because they want to see him fail. They will take any morsel of information they possibly can and turn it against this president, turn it against the liberals, turn it against the Democrats.
They‘re the only ones that can protect civil liberties. They‘re the only ones that can protect America. It‘s a phony argument.
I believe in our counterterrorism experts. If they say that we have to do this so none of us lose any family members or maybe our lives on an airplane during this holiday season, I say go ahead and feel me up. I don‘t like it, but there‘s only two percent of us doing it.
And it would seem to me the billions of tax dollars that we put into security in this country, that we would be able to figure it out. But one thing we can‘t seem to figure out is skin color and cultural diversity.
But the righties have got cultural diversity figured out. Any time they see it, any time they don‘t like it, it‘s all about fear and scare the hell out of the people. Some things just haven‘t changed ever since the Bushies left.
Tell me what you think in our telephone survey tonight, folks. The number to dial is 1-877-ED-MSNBC.
My question tonight is: Do you think the TSA should use racial profiling at the airport? Press the number 1 for yes. Press the number 2 for no. And I‘ll bring you the results later on in the show.
Racial profiling, it doesn‘t work. Do we need to get the intel people more involved in security at airports?
For more on that, let‘s go to Jack Rice, former CIA officer.
Jack, good to have you with us tonight.
Tell us in detail why profiling doesn‘t work. You just heard Limbaugh. You just saw the right-wing media out there, heck, it‘s skin color, it‘s profiling. We have to do it or we can‘t be safe.
Tell us about it.
JACK RICE, FMR. CIA OFFICER: Well, Ed, very simply, they‘re wrong.
Racial profiling does not work.
There have been multiple studies that actually make it more difficult to actually do your job. We have seen this in Los Angeles. We have seen this in New York.
So what we need to do is not look at what people look like, but how they act. If we start looking at where people have come from and where some terrorist attacks have taken place, then what we now have to do is target everybody with Middle Eastern characteristics.
With Abdulmutallab out of Nigeria, now we have to add everybody within African characteristics. Then we look at al Qaeda in places like Indonesia and the Philippines, and then we have to add everybody with Asian characteristics. So now we‘re only profiling literally three—well, 75 to 85 percent of the entire world.
That should narrow this down, don‘t you think?
SCHULTZ: Do we need—Jack, do we need the pat-downs? I mean, the counterterrorism people are telling the president, Homeland Security people telling the president, the determination has been made that they have to be intrusive on a small percentage of Americans to keep this country safe.
Do you agree with that? And is there another way?
RICE: Well, I think there‘s a couple of things that need to be looked at here. One of the problems that has come out of this White House this time is they haven‘t been able to explain to the American people and justify why it is they are acting like they have. That has been a failure from this White House, and that is clear.
But at the same time, I think what we also have to do is be very, very clear as to what it is that we‘re looking for. When we‘re talking about this from intelligence perspective, the failure is not that we‘re using TSA, the failure is that we‘re not using intelligence aggressively enough nationally in order to do the things that we need to do. And that is part of the failure. So, we have to do more on both sides to make sure the American people understand we are doing everything correctly.
SCHULTZ: OK.
I was on a plane today, Jack. There was cargo that was put on that plane that wasn‘t screened.
I mean, this should be what the American people should be upset about. You know, you can strip me, you can do whatever you want, do it to any traveler in the world that might go along with it, but the fact is, if you‘re putting cargo on passenger planes in this country that aren‘t being screened, that‘s where the outcry ought to be. I mean, we don‘t know what‘s in the cargo bay of a passenger airliner.
What the heck‘s going on?
RICE: It‘s one of the big problems, Ed, that we have right now, is we seem to focus in on certain areas while we‘re ignoring others. We‘re saying we‘ll do whatever is necessary in order to protect the American people, except for we ignore entire areas at the same time. I mean, that‘s one of the big problems, we just don‘t do the things that we should be doing. It is simply illogical.
But, you know, there‘s one other interesting aspect of about this. I can look back to the Bush years where members of the GOP and some of these old white talk show hosts who are conservatives, they literally would do anything that the Bush administration said.
We would talk about warrantless wiretaps. We would talk about searches. We would talk about torture. And that was all fine.
And now, all of a sudden, because we have a liberal black president, all of a sudden it‘s completely different and this is outrageous. I find it ironic that now, all of a sudden, we magically care about this when we never did for a good six years.
SCHULTZ: Jack Rice, former CIA officer.
Great to have you with us tonight. I appreciate your time on THE ED
SHOW.
I just, for the life of me, I can‘t understand why someone in an official capacity in this country, in our government, isn‘t stepping up saying here‘s what we are going to do with cargo. This is what we‘re going to do. We are going to do at least two percent of the cargo that goes on passenger planes.
I mean, folks, we‘re wide open. We are absolutely wide open.
Thanks, Jack. Appreciate your time.
Coming up, “Caribou Barbie” keeps saying she just can beat President Obama in 2012. Folks, I think she is a little off her rocker. But you know what? We‘ve got to pay attention to her. Her strategy is pretty solid.
Governor Ed Rendell sounds off at the bottom of the hour on, just how do you defeat this growing brand?
And shocking new video surfaces of Rand Paul comparing President Obama‘s rise to the presidency to the power of Adolf Hitler. I‘ll show you the tape and get “Rapid Fire Response.”
Plus, Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, well, he‘s at it again.
And a Fox businessman thinks that the 99ers can resort to cannibalism.
We‘re going to tear him a new one in “The Zone,” coming up.
You‘re watching THE ED SHOW on MSNBC.
Stay with us. We‘re right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW, and thanks for watching tonight.
Our next guest, Senator Ron Wyden, is on the Intel Committee. He‘s going to comment on screening cargo in this country to keep passengers safe across America.
But first, this story.
The Tea Party, of course, is coming to Washington with the righties, and their whole mission is to repeal the new health care law. It‘s at the top of their to-do list.
And folks, we just can‘t let a fringe minority exert their radical agenda on a law that is going to save lives. The more people that are covered, the better health care we get. It‘s that simple.
Now, they want to get rid of the federal mandate. And, you know, there‘s an argument to be made there. I want single-payer, most Americans do. Now they may both be able to work into the system together.
Now, progressives, listen up to this. This could be a huge step forward in getting a public option in your state.
Senator Ron Wyden and Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts have come up with a plan that would tweak the current health care law to allow states to implement alternative systems, but there are some catches.
For more, let‘s bring in the Senator from Oregon, Ron Wyden. He introduced the Empowering States to Innovate Act.
Senator, good to have you with us tonight.
SEN. RON WYDEN (D), OREGON: Thanks for having me, Ed.
And remember, if you just repeal this law, you would be going back to the days when the insurance companies could hammer somebody for a pre-existing condition. In effect, going back to the days when the only way the insurance system worked would be to have somebody healthy and wealthy.
SCHULTZ: Well, the McClatchy-Marist poll just out says that 59 percent of the American people like the pre-existing condition, 51 percent of the American people want to keep the health care law. But as you brought it up, that 59 percent of the American people are with the pre-existing condition. So there‘s a lot of good things out there, yet we‘re being told by the right-wing conservatives that we‘ve got to repeal this law because it‘s a government takeover.
What are you proposing to states if they can enhance the bill that‘s in place right now?
WYDEN: Ed, what Scott Brown and I are saying—and I think it‘s something that progressives and conservatives can come together on—is that what works in Springfield, Oregon, won‘t necessarily work for Springfield, Massachusetts. What we ought to be doing is creating the opportunity for folks to go to their legislature, advocate their own point of view.
And our proposal essentially lays out that if a state can meet the coverage requirements in the law, if a state has, for example, those critical insurance consumer protections, they can show they have an affordable plan, it isn‘t going to add to the deficit, they can pass a bill and they can get the federal government, the Obama administration, to sign off on it. I think it‘s something that can bring both sides together.
Conservatives have always said they believe in states rights.
Progressive folks have their ideas as well.
SCHULTZ: How did you get Scott Brown on board? He‘s going to catch hell from the righties on this.
WYDEN: Well, first of all, Oregon and Massachusetts have been two of the states that have consistently been interested in innovation. As you know, we elected John Kitzhaber in our home state. He has been in the vanguard innovation.
In fact, my state was one of the first to say that you could use dollars for seniors that were earmarked for nursing home care for home care. We were always trying innovative approaches.
SCHULTZ: But getting Scott Brown on board, I mean, there‘s going to be a lot of Republicans that are against this. Is this an admission that what they have done in Massachusetts has been measurably successful?
Your thought?
WYDEN: I‘ll let Scott Brown speak for himself, but I think he‘s taking the classic conservative position, which is we ought to empower the states, that the federal government doesn‘t have all the answers. The federal government is not some repository of wisdom.
That‘s what‘s so attractive about our approach. There are philosophical underpinnings that will appeal to both progressives and conservatives.
SCHULTZ: Well, maybe Oregon and Massachusetts will lead the way.
All right, Senator. You‘re on the Intelligence Committee. I want to get back to this TSA screening. I want to get back to cargo that is not being checked when it‘s put on passenger planes.
Senator, why aren‘t we doing that?
WYDEN: Clearly, Ed, this is a gap in our national security protections. This is an area where we‘ve got to do more, and I think it involves airports, it involves ports.
I‘m very proud that in my hometown, the port of Portland, is doing some innovative work center. Murray has made an effort to champion new approaches. But there is no question that this remains a gap in America‘s national security protection at a time—can‘t get into classified matters here because I‘m on the Intelligence Committee. It‘s a dangerous world.
SCHULTZ: OK. So—but we are inept in not screening cargo that goes on passenger planes. Is that what I‘m hearing you say tonight?
WYDEN: The way I characterize it, Ed, it has not been the priority it ought to be.
Look, the fact of the matter is, we are doing a number of things better than we did on 9/11. Clearly, we have taken steps, for example, to track what‘s going on with sleeper cells. That‘s critically important. We have learned a lot about that since 9/11.
This is an area where we have a significant gap. There‘s a lot more to do. It ought to be bipartisan priority for the next Congress, and I‘m glad you‘re identifying it on the show.
SCHULTZ: Well, “bipartisanship” is a real strong word on this, because safety is a concern to everybody. But it sure seems to me that the right-wing media in this country is focusing solely on the pat-downs and they‘re not saying a damn word about the amount of cargo that‘s going into the bays of aircraft of passenger planes.
Senator, good to have you with us tonight. I appreciate your time.
WYDEN: Thank you, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Thanks so much.
WYDEN: Thank you.
SCHULTZ: You bet.
SCHULTZ: Coming up, Fox businessman Charles Payne is challenging Glenn Beck for the title—the new title of News Corps‘s craziest host. It is a disgusting attack on the 99ers and it puts him in “The Zone,” next.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And in “Psycho Talk” tonight, now, some of the media blogs out there have question questioned why we do “Psycho Talk” and I might be looking for a feud with somebody.
Folks, pay attention to what some of these whack jobs are saying. So, we‘re sending a first timer into “The Zone” tonight. It‘s not about a feud, it‘s about what he said.
Fox Business Network‘s Charlie Payne, he is trying to earn his right-wing wacko stripes. Now, he‘s following in Glenn Beck‘s footsteps, now attacking the 99ers.
Beck once called the long-term unemployed in this country un-American. But yesterday, Payne took it even further during a conversation with one of the leaders of the 99ers‘ union.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You‘re telling me people would rather go hungry and homeless than to get a job? Does that make sense?
CHARLES PAYNE, FOX BUSINESS: I‘m telling you that if people are faced with going hungry or homeless, they will find a job, they will create a job, they will create opportunities. Because guess what? When the first Americans landed here, there was nothing.
Some of them froze to death. Some of them resorted to cannibalism.
But they made it. They created the greatest country in the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Cannibalism. Did you hear that? This is an award-winning “Psycho Talk.”
Cannibalism. He‘s suggesting that cannibalism is an option for unemployed Americans who have been there so long they‘re 99ers?
No nation, let alone the greatest country in the world, should let its citizens get so desperate that they even consider cannibalism. But it‘s thrown out there.
You know, Beck, you better watch out. You better watch your back, buddy. Charlie Payne is nipping at your heels with all this level of crazy talk.
Suggesting that cannibalism is a viable option for long-term unemployed is disgusting “Psycho Talk.”
Coming up, liberals—well, they are downright giddy about the idea that Sarah Palin just might get the nomination someday to take on President Obama in 2012. Well, you know what? I‘m not laughing.
Folks, the money that she is going to rake in is going to blow your mind. Governor Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania sounds off on her chances ahead. And what is the strategy against this growing media giant?
And the greedy millionaires in corporate America are making record profits and still blaming President Obama. It‘s time to fight back.
Plus, Chris Christie, governor of New Jersey, blows more hot air.
Sharron Angle won‘t go away.
And Lionel is in the house tonight. He‘s got a pat-down story that you just will not want to miss.
You‘re watching THE ED SHOW on MSNBC.
Stay with us. We‘re right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And in our “Battleground” story tonight, well it is Sarah Palin. Folks, you got to admit, she is putting on a clinic on how to build a brand in the 21st century when it comes to new politics. Palin spoke through FOX in an hour-long interview with slant head last night. She told Hannity that she could beat President Obama.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH PALIN, FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: Of course, I believe that I could beat Barack Obama, otherwise, why would I even be contemplating a run? And again, of course it is only contemplation at this time but I would be in it to win it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Notice how the answer gets a little bit stronger as time goes on. Don‘t discount the quitting governor from Alaska, she is perfectly positioned to knock off the rest of the republican field and face President Obama in 2012. Sarah Palin is breaking the mold of the traditional republican candidate. She has got a reality show. She has a show on FOX News. It is Facebook, it is twitter. Her daughter, Bristol is being watched by 20 million Americans every week and there is more conversation, more name recognition. She headlines fund-raisers all across the country.
She is working the rubber chicken circuit, no doubt about it. She had a best seller. She‘s got another book out. I mean it is brand building. And the bottom line is that no political figure on the republican side in America can match Palin when it comes to building a brand like this. It is unconventional, it is new-age strategy. And she is really perfectly positioning herself to make a run at President Obama in 2012. Liberals are champing at the bit. They think that Palin is just going to be the perfect remedy to get all of Obama‘s supporters out. But they need to consider why Palin plays with the rest of the country.
Most Americans don‘t follow politics on a daily basis. She is trying to win in the pop culture arena. Here are the numbers. A recent pew poll shows that only 46 percent of Americans even know that the Republicans won back the majority in the House. And at the same time, five million people watched the premiere of Palin‘s reality show on TLC and 20 million people a week, of course, watching her daughter dance, it doesn‘t hurt. Palin is spinning it all to her advantage. She used Bristol‘s controversial win to attack the Palin haters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PALIN: The haters are going to hate. Bristol has said it best. Bristol has said, mom, doesn‘t matter what we do, we are going to get criticized anyway, so we might as well dance. For me, you are right, honey, we might as well dance and fly and soar and surf and speak about issues that are important to this country. We might as well do it and we will take that criticism because we know that at the end of the day, truly being committed to a cause is worth it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Oh, yes, the cause of making big bucks and staying visible, it‘s really a tough job, isn‘t it? Palin loves to manufacture the public response to any controversy by playing the victim. She thinks anyone who disagrees with her ideas is waging a personal attack. It is a personal attack against her and against her friends.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PALIN: I‘m not the only one and Sean, you know, even when you talk about the personal attacks that the Palins receive on a daily basis, you do, too, and Rush does and Glenn Beck and, you know, all the other folks, Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, Michelle Malkin, these folks who have been out there on the front lines with this message about common sense conservative solutions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: All Sarah Palin and her friend do is personally attack the president of the United States. Didn‘t they call him a Nazi and a socialist and a Marxist? You know? Nothing personal about that and I believe she writes about the president‘s family. The president, let me tell you something, don‘t pay any attention to her now. Michelle Obama‘s book is going to definitely—Michele should I say that Sarah Palin‘s book is definitely going to come out and sell a lot of books and he‘s going to help her image with the people that believe in this kind of stuff, this is exactly what Republicans worship.
They love a player like this keep but keep in mind, Sarah Palin stands a real chance of being the first republican presidential candidate after the Supreme Court ruling, which says that unlimited funds can go into campaigns. I mean, she is going to be the beneficiary of this or whoever the republican nominee is and I predict she is going to get more corporate money than any other candidate in the history of American elections.
Joining me now is Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell. Governor, good to have you with us tonight. The Quinnipiac poll has Sarah Palin at 19 percent, Mitt Romney at 18, Mike Huckabee at 17, then Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty at six percent, but the media machine that has been created, do you see any of these other candidates getting the kind of exposure that Sarah Palin gets in the—say the pop culture arena that might attract people that are just novice political followers? What do you think, Governor?
GOV. EDWARD G. RENDELL (D), PENNSYLVANIA: No. I think your analysis is absolutely right. She can sweep the republican primaries for no other reason than, you know, it will be too late to get her one-on-one. If she gets that field that you just said, one against five, she will get 30 percent and win those primaries and sure enough, a lot of delegates and a lot of early victories, no question. And the last person standing against her probably will be too late for him to make any sort of an impact, if it‘s him. So, I think if she decides to run, she will be the republican nominee and I also agree with your analysis, Ed, her ability to raise money, her ability to the appeal to a voter who hasn‘t really voted before very much makes her a formidable candidate.
I don‘t think we should be sitting here and laughing. She has weaknesses. Her weaknesses are that independents find her to simply not be competent enough to be president of the United States. Her weakness is that she left Alaska after two years as governor, in the middle of a recession. Gosh, there was no way that I would ever have left Pennsylvania in the middle of the recession. No way, even if the president asked me to come down to Washington. I would have said, Mr. President, I have to stay here and fight for the people of Pennsylvania. They elected me to do a job and I belong here. And I think those are real weaknesses that could be developed but she is going to be a very strong candidate in the republican primary and we should not take her lightly.
SCHULTZ: In this process right now, it is about building the brand. She doesn‘t have to get into the devil and the detail when it comes to politics to get into the minutiae of what America should be doing. And she is continually chipping away at the liberals, continually chipping away at President Obama. When does she have to get detailed, because a lot of Americans might be thinking, OK, we have seen this story, we have seen this act before, but this is the full-court press, the total package, the media assault. And I have to say, is somebody is—if she is doing it on her own, she is either lucky or brilliant, either one. What do you make of it?
RENDELL: Well, I think she has got enough fame and celebrity that she can sort of avoid having to speak with any detail or any specificity on the issues for a long while. I think she can even avoid it in the republican primary, she can talk in broad strokes. It won‘t be until after she is the nominee that she is going to have to face a great deal of scrutiny and explain her position on issues. But celebrities get away with an awful lot in this country. I mean, I think you‘re keenly aware of that and there are a lot of candidates who ran this year for governor, for example, who said we are going to cut the budget. We are not going to raise revenue or taxes, we‘re not going to borrow money, we are going to cut the budget. And when they were asked, well, tell us what cuts you‘re going to make sir or madam, all they would say is, we‘re going to cut out waste, fraud and abuse.
Well, that was good enough to get a lot of people elected. So, this is perilous grounds. Now, fortunately, people take the presidency seriously. And if you look at the polls, Sarah Palin, if she tries that type of campaign, I think she will lose because people are not going to believe that she‘s got the breadth of acknowledge and the experience and the intelligence to deal with the serious issues. So, at some time if she wants to win, at some time, she has got to grasp the issues, she‘s got to work hard, she‘s got to make speeches that demonstrate that she has a grasp on these tough and complex issues. She hasn‘t done it yet. Can she win the republican nomination without doing it? Absolutely. Can she win the presidency without doing it? No way.
SCHULTZ: Governor Ed Rendell, always a pleasure, great to have you with us, governor. Thanks for your time tonight.
RENDELL: Thanks, Ed.
SCHULTZ: You bet.
Now, let‘s get some rapid fire response from our panel on these stories. I want to know if they think Sarah Palin will actually run in 2012 and if they think she has a chance of winning.
And a new video has surfaced showing Rand Paul in 2009 comparing President Obama and the health care law to Hitler‘s rise to power.
Joining us tonight, Karen Hunter, journalist and publisher and also Michael Medved, nationally syndicated radio talk show host is with us tonight.
Karen, what do you make of this media push, this total package that Sarah Palin is putting together, how much of an impact do you think it is going to have? I should point out that her reality show was off 40 percent on Sunday night. It was off to three million viewers from the opening of five million viewers. Have we seen this act before? Is it going to wear out or is this just the start? What do you think?
KAREN HUNTER, JOURNALIST: I think it is just the beginning and I don‘t think it is going to wear off. And I think she says that she is going to run, which I do believe that she will, that she—I don‘t agree with Governor Rendell. I think she has a chance. And it‘s unfortunate, but it is where we are right now in this culture of ours that there are so many people that are buying into this pop culture thing that you just laid out, Ed. So brilliantly, you laid it out brilliantly. This is why she can win, because most people do not focus on the details. They definitely focus on substance—style over substance and she has a lot of style. I was wondering if that was real fur around that collar there.
SCHULTZ: Michael Medved, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, Tim Pawlenty, they don‘t have the media machine that Sarah Palin has. They don‘t have the reality show. They don‘t have the hot books, they don‘t have a daughter dancing. You know, all of these things, it is all part of the package. What do you say to these other hopefuls in the Republican Party? Are they going to get deep sixed early on because they can‘t match it? Your thoughts, Mike.
MICHAEL MEDVED, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Well, it is all too early to handicap the whole thing. The one thing that I think you have to understand, why it is that Sarah Palin connects so much with the American people and it is basically because people think that the politicians, our political leadership, Republicans as well as Democrats are a bunch of phonies, that they‘re a bunch of elitists, that they look down on ordinary Americans. Sarah Palin comes across, as she did in the interview last night that she has been expert at doing, she comes across as real, as an ordinary person, as a salt of the earth kind of lady you would love to have as your neighbor, as your friend.
HUNTER: As your girlfriend.
(CROSSTALK)
SCHULTZ: So, how do you counter that?
MEDVED: How do you counter that?
SCHULTZ: Yes.
MEDVED: Well, you counter that by talking about what just happened in the Korean peninsula. Look, I think that the most effective ad for Hillary Clinton in the campaign against Barack Obama was who do you want answering the phone at 3 a.m. in the morning? There are a loft us out there, I wish there had been someone else answering the phone other than Barack Obama. I‘m not sure that Americans are going to want Sarah Palin answering that phone at 3 a.m.
HUNTER: That is exactly what no one is saying. Barack Obama, one-term senator, actually beat Hillary Clinton for the nomination. It can happen again and I think we‘ll be burying our heads in the sand if we don‘t.
MEDVED: Yes it can.
HUNTER: Mike, what you just said was very powerful. She resonates with men who think that she is hot, right? And this is a kind of woman who is not going to emasculate them, he‘s a kind of woman they really, you know, can relate to women, she‘s raising, you know, a handicapped child, she has another daughter with a kid out of wedlock, oh, yes, she has a son that just came back from Iraq, who is in the military, serving the country. She is, for many Americans, just like us, you know...
MEDVED: Salt of the earth. A regular person and a real person. And this is one thing that I think people don‘t get. The reason that Sarah Palin seems so fresh is because she—and this is true, this came across in the “New York Times” article, glowing “New York Times” magazine piece about Sarah Palin. She is not somebody who has been all processed and remade and image manufactured. Her main adviser is her husband, Todd, the first dude. What you see with Sarah Palin is what you get and a lot of Americans like that down-home, down-to-earth, honest, real perspective that she is offering.
HUNTER: And it‘s the thing that kept George Bush in office. We elected him, maybe once, for sure.
(LAUGHTER)
MEDVED: Actually, yes.
SCHULTZ: Well, I want to point out, you know, it is huge news what is happening in North Korea and South Korea. But I think people are paying attention to Sarah Palin.
HUNTER: Yes.
SCHULTZ: That‘s it. And tomorrow, it is going to be more and it‘s going to go on for months on and it‘s going to be interesting to see if she can maintain the presence and the intensity throughout all of this. She didn‘t even give it to thanksgiving, I should point that out. I mean, she is going right after—I mean, she didn‘t wait for Thanksgiving and she‘s got this huge push going on. Michael Medved and Karen Hunter. Great to have you with us tonight.
HUNTER: Happy Thanksgiving, Ed. Thank you.
SCHULTZ: You bet. And you, too, thanks so much.
Coming up, the greedy fat cats on Wall Street are making money hand over fist. That would be profit. And they are still attacking President Obama. And the president says, what do you say we have lunch? I guess that‘s what you got do as president, but why is he doing it? Chris Christy is a disgusting bully, got that governor? Wait until you hear what he said about Senator Lautenberg, who has given so much to this country. In war, I might add. It is all coming up in the “Playbook.” Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And it‘s still not too late to let us know what you think. The number to dial is 1-877-ed-msnbc. Tonight‘s telephone survey question is, do you think the TSA should use racial profiling at the airport? Press the number one for yes, press the number two for no. Again, the number to dial is 1-877-ed-msnbc. We‘re right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And in my “Playbook” tonight, the White House still hasn‘t figured out that big business righties, they are not your friend and they are not interested in compromise. President Obama is extending yet again an open hand to corporations with plans to speak to the Chamber of Commerce but business leaders are, well, they‘re slapping it away, demanding more corporate-friendly policies from the White House. So, what is their problem? Well, Obama‘s policies have helped Wall Street bounce back from the recession, taxes have not gone up on the top two percent. And corporations just had their best quarter ever. Check this out.
During the third quarter of 2010, American businesses earned profits at an annual rate of 1.66, that‘s a T, trillion dollars. Mr. President, let‘s face it. Now, these folks in big business and their buddies, they are all corporatists, and of course, the Republican Party is out to destroy you. Mitch McConnell has said that, that his number one goal to defeat you in 2012. So, why are you still trying to make nice to these folks? Isn‘t it time to draw some battle lines? I think that you should tell them, you know, take a hike until you are ready to really focus on the middle class in this country, the people that are hurting.
For more, let‘s bring in Jonathan Alter, national affairs columnist for “Newsweek” and MSNBC political analyst.
JONATHAN ALTER, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Ed.
SCHULTZ: This is the—how you doing, Jonathan? Great to have you with us tonight, as always. What‘s the strategy here for the White House? Is it an obligation of being the president of the United States that you just can‘t give up? What do you think?
ALTER: Yes. You have got to be president of all the people and that includes, you know, greedy billionaires. I mean, and you have to reach out to them and find some area for compromise, so that you and I differ on that in order to get that job creation going. Look, you and I favor and Ed Rendell and others who appear on the show favor a lot of public infrastructure to put some people back to work. But the bulk of job creation comes from the private sectors. You have got to figure out some common ground and some areas to encourage more investment in jobs and a lot of these are sort of details of tax policy, accelerated depreciation. Things like that, so you can write off your equipment faster that Democrats and Republicans can agree on that help business get more into that job creation. You cannot give up on them, no matter how irresponsible they act.
SCHULTZ: Even in times of record profits, they are tight with the dollar.
ALTER: Yes.
SCHULTZ: The bankers, I mean, we have just seen this administration do as much as it possibly can for small business to get access to capital, but yet it is still tough out there and until that loosens up, I don‘t know how the Obama administration is going to deal with this. What do you think?
ALTER: Well, there are some other things to do, you know, for instance, making the research and development tax credit permanent. You know, some things that are down into the weeds, but I guess the thing that bothers me about the business community at this point is not that they are, you know, talking to the president or the president‘s talking to them, it is that there is still a whiny tone that you get where they seem to be focused on the fact. Oh, the president insulted them like a year ago on “60 Minutes.” He talked about fat-cat bankers, it‘s not like he goes out there every day and he‘s hitting them with a two by four.
And yet they act as if they—as if he is doing that. When I talked to people in business, they keep coming back to his tone, as if they can‘t, you know, can‘t handle the truth when he talks about corporate greed and the like, so they have to grow up a little bit, stop whining about the president. The president has to make distinctions between where he does need to compromise with business and where he does need to, you know, slap them around a little bit.
SCHULTZ: Jonathan Alter, always a pleasure. Have a great holiday, good to have you with us tonight.
ALTER: You too, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Thanks so much.
ALTER: Take care.
SCHULTZ: Final pages in playbook. Sharron Angle, she just won‘t go away. She might be ducking reporters in 2012, but she is considering a run for Nevada‘s second congressional district seat. She said, quote, “I have a lot of options next cycle.” Oh, boy.
And finally, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is at it again. He lashed out at long-time Senator Frank Lautenberg for criticizing his plan to cancel that tunnel project that would have gone from Manhattan to New Jersey. Well, Christie resorted to personal attacks, saying that all Frank knows how to do is blow hot air. He went on to say that he doesn‘t care what Senator Lautenberg has to say about anything. To attack the oldest member of the United States Senate, like he‘s some kind of a dog, and should be dismissed. A man who served in World War II honorably, I might add, and has done so much for the residents of New Jersey and this country, I think he deserves, Mr. Governor, just a little bit more respect, you disgusting bully.
Coming up, I have no problem with pat-downs at the airport today, but that‘s not exactly the case for my next guest. Lionel, he is here. He‘ll tell you what to do when they pat you down. That‘s next on THE ED SHOW. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And finally tonight, I want to go back to the story about the new TSA screening measures that‘s got all the righties all wound up across America. Now, I flew to Minnesota this morning, I went through airport security, it wall all pretty normal to me. Nothing has really changed. I guess, I am a 98 percenter, I didn‘t felt up. Nobody took any naked pictures of me or put me through any special machines. And I kind of liked it. But a friend of mine has got a different look at all of this. Let‘s bring in New York‘s picks 11 commentator, Lionel, who we can turn to at lionelmedia.com. We need a solution, my friend. What is it?
LIONEL, LIONELMEDIA.COM: Ed, you kill me. Nobody touched me. Nobody touched my naked body, and for good reason, Ed, for God‘s sakes. I‘ve got a very simple answer of what we are going to do. Here‘s what we do, Ed. We take American ingenuity, we take our military geniuses and we direct—we direct, Ed, an energy activation beam of some sort, some type of energy force field on somebody and we tell them, you see that over there? That‘s a chamber. That‘s a sound proof, blast-proof chamber, and you are going to walk in there and we‘re going to focus this thing on you.
It‘s not eye on eye radiation, it‘s not going to cause cancer. But if you‘ve got anything on you, no matter where it is, kaboom. You want to step in there, now they say, I‘d rather not. That is the guy we want to talk to. Ed, listen, these people, bless their hearts, they‘re trying their best, they don‘t know what they‘re doing. These TSA folks, they are glorified sky caps. And my favorite is, after they grab you like this looking for what they have no idea, little people, aunt bee from Des Moines, little kids, mommy, why are they touching me? Shut up, it is for a good cause. What they do is they use the back of their hand. This is my favorite, we‘re using the back of your hand.
Ed, the next time you‘re on a subway, caught up to a woman in front of you, and grab her with the back of your hand, and when the cop comes, you say, officer, I was just doing like this. They don‘t know what they are doing, they grabbed my wife out of the line and you got this big old guy, Boss Hogg says, you little lady, out of nowhere. Why? Let me go through the magnetometer like everybody else. No, no you are going to walk through this ionizing back track x-ray radiation field two, porn tube, we‘re going to take a picture of your naked body. Why? I don‘t know, it‘s just random. And now, I know nobody wants to profile but profile doesn‘t mean, you know, a lack of common sense. Look at me, Ed. I‘d stop me. Look at me.
SCHULTZ: Got to run, Lionel.
LIONEL: Ask me a question, for God‘s sakes. Back of the hand. I‘m leaning forward, grabbing my ankles, Ed. The rest of us are leaning forward, they‘re grabbing their ankles. The terrorists have won.
(LAUGHTER)
SCHULTZ: Do you think the TSA.
LIONEL: That‘s it.
SCHULTZ: .should use racial profiling at the airport? Twenty three percent of you said yes, 77 percent of you said no.
That is THE ED SHOW. I‘m Ed Schultz, we‘ll back here tomorrow night.
I will have a commentary on the 99ers as they head into thanksgiving. “HARDBALL” with Chris Matthews starts right now. We will see you tomorrow night.
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