Guest: Sen. Patrick Leahy, Joan Walsh, Brian Bilbray, Mike Papantonio, Michael Graham, Sam Stein, Nick Shay, Mary Ann Patti, Joe Arpaio
ED SCHULTZ, MSNBC HOST: Good evening, Americans, and welcome to THE
ED SHOW tonight. From New York, these stories are hitting my Hot Buttons
at this hour. The Times Square terror suspect is behind bars, and he‘s
talking to investigators, and we‘re not even torturing him.
And that, of course, is making the republicans go crazy. They can‘t
stand the fact that the President of the United States is succeeding when
it comes to keeping us safe. Much more on that in just a moment.
And the party of big oil is trying to blame President Obama for the
disaster in The Gulf. Didn‘t move fast enough. Mr. Heck-of-a-job Michael
Brown says the president deliberately delayed the federal response to make
drilling look dangerous and get political gain. I got commentary on that.
Plus, a majority of Americans support Arizona‘s harsh, new anti-
immigration law. America‘s toughest sheriff, Joe Arpaio, is going to be
here to talk about that, and why he‘s not running governor. It‘s all
coming up tonight on THE ED SHOW. Thanks for joining us.
This is the story that‘s got me fired up tonight. The Republican
Party, they just can‘t stand the fact that the president of the United
States Barack Obama is keeping America safe. They will never be able to
bring themselves to give him any credit whatsoever.
And at this hour, the Times Square bomber is sitting in a jail cell,
and he is making major confessions. The government complaint? Well, they
say that he‘s even fessed up to receiving explosives training in Pakistan,
yet all the right wing can do is absolutely complain.
They were at it bright and early this morning.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO HOST: Guess what? Faisal Shahzad is a
registered Democrat. I wonder if his SUV had an Obama sticker on it.
Faisal Shahzad is a registered Democrat.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GLENN BECK, FOX NEWS HOST: I hope that we‘re holding him in our arms
right now and cradling him and asking him why. Why? What don‘t we
understand about you?
(END AUDIO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Obama has made things much, much worse because
he promised the Muslim world things that he will never do. He recognized
that our relationship with the Israelis was a problem. He‘s never going to
change that.
He accepted the courtesy and even hugged Hosni Mubarak, who is one of
the most brutal dictators in the Muslim world. He bowed to the Saudi king
when he was out there in Saudi Arabia showing his subservience.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Who are these people routing for? Do their people have to
be in power all the time? Elections don‘t matter, or they‘ll turn against
the country? The war monger had to get in on the action too.
John McCain said this on a radio show this morning. “Don‘t give this
guy Miranda Rights until we find out what he‘s all about.” Justice, huh?
The Obama haters can‘t handle the fact that President Obama is getting
the job done when it comes to fighting terrorism. They miss the Bush-
Cheney leadership and diplomacy, right?
The president got his proverbial, I guess you could say, three a.m.
called and responded like a real leader. Here‘s how you‘re supposed to do
it, and he did.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: As Americans, and as a nation, we will not be
terrorized. We will not cower in fear. We will not be intimidated. We will
be vigilant, and we will work together.
And we will protect and defend the country we love to ensure a safe
and prosperous future for our people. That‘s what I intend to do as
president and that‘s what we will do as a nation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Such a difference in the demeanor from the last guy and the
smart guy. President Obama doesn‘t need to run down the field and spike
the ball in front of the cameras.
You know, his policies have got Al Qaeda on the run in the Middle
East. Don‘t—aren‘t you righties out there, aren‘t you excited about the
fact that he‘s beefed up troops in Afghanistan?
And he‘s putting suspected terrorists behind bars right here in the
United States. The world appreciates the fact that America elected the
smart guy, and then put an end to all this cowboy diplomacy.
We actually talk to people now. The conservatives want you to believe
that they are the only ones that can keep this country safe. And it just
kills them every time a democrat looks tough and effective on terrorism.
The Republican Party and their psycho-talkers have been on a longtime
mission to see President Obama fail ever since day one, even on national
security.
And do you remember early in 2009 when this pair was coming out just
ripping on the president? Dick Cheney and his arrogant daughter have run
around this country for the last 18 months screaming about how President
Obama is making us less safe.
The Cheneys, I think, don‘t have the character to give this president
the credit that he deserves or this country when we get a victory on
fighting terrorism.
And if you‘re thinking about voting in the midterms, let‘s just get it
on, because you can go with the republicans who side with Wall Street; who
side with big oil; who protect big insurance; and claim to have a lock on
the market when it comes to protecting the country.
And their silence is absolutely deafening. I bet it just tore up Mitch
McConnell today to go to the floor of the Senate and just make a couple of
words for the record. But the sound chamber is what counts.
That‘s who‘s leading the Republican Party, and they can‘t stand the
fact that the due diligence, the cross-checking of the agencies—which we
didn‘t have during the Bush Administration—got the job done. And they
paid attention to what people were saying.
Tell me what you think about this in our telephone survey tonight,
folks. The number to dial is 1-877-EDMSNBC. Our question tonight is: Do
you feel safer under the Obama Administration‘s watch? Press 1 for yes.
Press 2 for no, and I‘ll bring you the results later on in the show.
Joining me now is Vermont Senator, Patrick Leahy, Chairman of the
Senate Judiciary Committee. Senator, good to have you with us tonight.
It‘s been too long. How you been?
SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D-VT), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: I‘ve been
very well, Ed, and it‘s good to be with you.
SCHULTZ: Good to be with you, my friend. All right. We read Miranda
Rights. We didn‘t torture, and we‘re getting information. This is kind of
a textbook case on how it‘s supposed to work, isn‘t it?
LEAHY: Listen, I spent eight years in law enforcement, and this has
been perfect all the way through. You had Ray Kelly, Commissioner of
Police in New York City, his people did a textbook fashion.
And Bob Mueller from the FBI, Eric Holder from the Justice Department,
they all worked together and they got the person. They got the person.
Apparently from what we‘ve read they‘ve gotten cooperation. The press
is even reporting—I don‘t know if they saw it or not—but we‘re even
getting cooperation from Pakistan, but the most important thing, we got the
person who did this.
They crossed all the T‘s. They dotted all the I‘s. But what I find
frustrating are the people—Mr. Limbaugh, of course, said he wants the
president to fail even though the country would fail.
This really bothers me because after 9-11 even though the ball had
been dropped, even though 9-11 could have been avoided if everybody had
done what they should have, democrats and republicans came together and
said, okay, that happened. Let‘s make it better so this doesn‘t happen
again.
We have steadily improved the law enforcement and the intelligence
agencies working the best today they‘ve worked in my 35 years here in the
Senate under either democrats or republicans.
We are taking out Al Qaeda leaders all over the world. I wish we
could talk—we can‘t, but I wish we could talk publicly about all the
plots that we‘ve disrupted, that we stopped before they even got to our
soil. It‘s been one success after another.
SCHULTZ: One of the things, Senator, that we‘ve seen is the
conversation in law enforcement community actually complaints to the
previous eight years about how there was not the proper communication that
took place.
And one former law enforcement official told me today, who‘s now a
private investigator, there were not star seekers in this. There wasn‘t
anybody doing any headline grabbing. It was just the due diligence of
these agencies working together and following up and getting it done.
LEAHY: They were working.
SCHULTZ: Yes.
LEAHY: Go ahead.
SCHULTZ: How much credit does the president get? How much credit
does his administration get when this happens? I mean obviously the people
in law enforcement certainly love the country as much as the last crowd.
LEAHY: They all deserve credit, because they worked so well together.
The president was getting briefing almost hourly, sometimes more than that
by Mr. Brennan. He was on top of all this.
But he trusted the professionals to go out and do the work they had to
do. They did it—the professionals in New York City worked well. The
federal authorities, the state authorities and local.
I mean, as one who‘s spent eight years in law enforcement, I can not
think of a case where they have worked so well together. And they ought to
be praised for this. Not these nitpicking, the people who sit back and had
nothing to do with it, trying to second-guess it.
They‘ve done very well, and as we know, they gained a lot of
cooperation from this person.
SCHULTZ: Here‘s Attorney General Eric Holder talking about the
situation today and what came down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: We anticipate charging him with an act
of terrorism transcending national borders; attempted use of a weapon of
mass destruction; use of a destructive device during the commission of
another crime; as well as assorted explosives charges.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: So Senator, are we going to have a big debate and discussion
in this country now about where we try him? Are we going to try him in
Manhattan, New York? Or are we going to try him in Manhattan, Kansas?
What do you think?
LEAHY: I hope we try him right in a court that knows how to handle
this. We‘ve tried a lot of these major cases in New York City, and we‘ve
gotten the convictions there.
I‘ll leave it to the prosecutors to pick the venue, but I would rather
be the prosecutor than the defense attorney on this one.
SCHULTZ: After the confessions, absolutely.
LEAHY: Well, they‘ve got a really good case, and it shows. What
happens is you have the people do all the rhetoric, oh, we got to pass up
this. We got to short change this. No, they‘re not the ones who were
doing the work.
SCHULTZ: And finally, Senator—
LEAHY: The ones that are doing the work did it right.
SCHULTZ: And finally, Senator, doesn‘t the silence of Dick Cheney,
doesn‘t that—don‘t you think that‘s rather interesting at this point?
LEAHY: Well, he knows they‘ve done a better job than he ever saw when
he was there. And he realizes if he tries to criticize this, people will
point out they did a better job than they did under his watch.
SCHULTZ: Senator, great to have you with us tonight. Thanks so much.
LEAHY: Thank you.
SCHULTZ: Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Pat Leahy, with us here
on THE ED SHOW. Let‘s go now to Joan Walsh, Editor-in-Chief, Salon.com.
The discussion that‘s out there by the right wing is almost as if they are
anti-success when it comes to fighting terrorism. Or am I overreacting to
this? What do you think, Joan?
JOAN WALSH, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, SALON.COM: No, I don‘t think you‘re
overreacting, Ed. You know, I was listening to MSNBC this morning, and
Republican Congressman Mike Rogers was calling this a success for terrorism
just because the guy got the SUV into Times Square.
And let me say I was born in New York. My daughter goes to school in
New York. Your show is in New York. None of us want there to be any
threat of terrorism in New York. But we‘re also grown-ups, and we‘re New
Yorkers at heart.
And we know it‘s going to happen from time to time. And then what
happened was textbook New York. You had some really street savvy vendors
who did the right thing. They found a cop. The cop investigated. The
rest of the cops came.
And then the federal government got involved, and then they found this
guy within 48 hours. How awesome is that? I mean we don‘t know—we
can‘t say we‘re safe. We can‘t say it‘s completely over. But so far, as
the Senator said, it has worked wonderfully.
We should all be applauding it to this point. And instead, these
jackals are braying and making politics out of it. You know, it‘s just
what they do.
SCHULTZ: Now, I want to bring up the point, because you were recently
in a discussion on a number of different media levels about the left versus
right and who‘s saying what and how it‘s being said.
How would you characterize the sound cuts that I played earlier in
this segment of both Limbaugh and Beck, the demeanor. It sounded as if
they were—they didn‘t want the president to win at any level.
WALSH: Well, they don‘t. They—
SCHULTZ: You believe that?
WALSH: Well, I mean, Rush has said it. I take him at his word. He
wants the president to fail, which I do agree with Senator Leahy, that
means he wants the country to fail.
Glenn Beck, you know, he‘s got serious problems that I‘m not equipped
to diagnose. I don‘t really know what he thinks. He‘s really a puzzle to
me. But they clearly—they‘re getting wealthy off betting against this
president, riling people up, making people think this president is making
us less safer rather than more safer.
Again, as Senator Leahy said, they have foiled many plots. But you
know, they can‘t ever give him credit for anything. They never will, and
it‘s just up to the rest of us to call them out on it and focus the country
on the things that matter, which is, you know, we‘re fighting this.
We‘re never going to be completely safe, but they are apparently doing
a very good job to this point.
SCHULTZ: Joan Walsh, Editor-In-Chief, Salon.com, thanks for your time
tonight.
WALSH: Thanks, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Coming up, the wackos across the street are playing dirty
politics when it comes to The Gulf oil disaster. I‘m taking on Caribou
Barbie and Slant Head at the bottom of the hour, and it‘s going to be easy
too.
And the righties are making headway. You won‘t believe how many
Americans want to see your papers. I‘m going to go head-to-head with
Republican Congressman Brian Bilbray next on this show.
Plus, the Beckster proves that he is the mother of all haters in The
Zone. And Michele Bachmann, believe it or not, has got a brother psycho-
talker in politics up in Minnesota. I‘ll tell you all about that. You‘re
watching THE ED SHOW on MSNBC.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW, and thanks for watching
tonight. The harsh, anti-immigration law in Arizona has taken a lot of
heat for allegedly encouraging legal racial profiling.
But even as Arizona republicans are trying to soften the law with
changes, a new poll shows the majority of Americans are pretty much okay
with it.
In a New York Times/CBS News poll, 51 percent say the current Arizona
law is about right. Thirty-six percent say it goes too far. Nine percent
say it doesn‘t go far enough.
In Arizona, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon has hit a roadblock in his
efforts to challenge the new state law, which he calls embarrassing. But
the city attorney says the mayor can‘t sue the state without the city
council‘s authorization.
Mayor Gordon is now asking the United States Justice Department to
take a stand. For more, let me bring in California Congressman Brian
Bilbray. He‘s the chairman of the Immigration Reform Caucus.
Congressman, good to have you with us tonight. We have some agreement
in some areas on this, but specifically on this law in Arizona, the fight
that‘s going on, do you really think that we‘re making headway when it
comes to securing our borders, making sure everybody‘s paying their taxes?
I mean, where are we going with this whole conversation in this
country in your opinion?
REP. BRIAN BILBRAY ®, CALIFORNIA: Ed, we ought to be finding those
things we do agree on. Look, I grew up on the border. I‘m probably the
only member of Congress to have rescued illegals when they were drowning.
I was a lifeguard. I recovered their bodies. I saw them slaughtered on
the freeways.
But, you know, we always talk about securing the borders when you and
I know the problem is not at the border. That‘s a symptom. The real
problem is that Washington D.C. had to have clear and precise procedures to
stop employers from hiring people illegally.
And then you wouldn‘t have people going through the neighborhoods of
Arizona and creating the problems and the crisis that Arizonans are trying
to address, and people may not agree with the way they‘re addressing it.
But I think everybody agrees that there‘s real justification for
Arizona, and a lot of people along the border, to be frustrated that the
rest of the country isn‘t requiring employers to stop the problem.
SCHULTZ: So Congressman, there‘s 10 states out there that pretty much
want to emulate what Arizona is doing. There‘s a poll out there that says
51 percent of Americans are in favor of what‘s happening here.
Does this mean that the country is behind Arizona?
BILBRAY: Well, I think it‘s that Arizona was behind the federal
government‘s program. And Ed, the 287-G—which is a federal program—
what they‘d done is they‘ve implemented as a statewide program.
Cities and counties around this country have implemented 287-G, which
is a federal program that even President Obama has been pushing very
strongly on.
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
BILBRAY: The real problem here is that it outlaws amnesty cities.
And I think a lot of people really resent the state telling the cities that
they can‘t put a gag order on their law enforcement on this issue.
You know, there are federal issues that law enforcement gets involved
with all the time. Bank robbery is a federal issue. Drug smuggling is a
federal law. But we don‘t tell local law enforcement they can‘t
participate.
But again, I think the one thing here is you‘ve got to do it within
the constitution. You‘ve got to set very clear guidelines that you can not
use racial profiling, and I—
SCHULTZ: Well that‘s the fear in all of this.
BILBRAY: -- identify people with. Well it‘s—
SCHULTZ: That‘s the fear in this Arizona law, that that‘s what it‘s
going to lead to. There‘s a lot of room for human error in all of this.
But the fact that ten states have gone on to it, and there‘s probably going
to be more I think is very telling.
One more point I want to make with you. If we‘re headed towards
immigration reform in this country, wouldn‘t this be a good political stand
for the republicans to take, to reach out to the president?
Wouldn‘t this be one issue? Because let‘s face it, votes do count.
BILBRAY: Well, I think the one issue you get into is Arizona two
years ago implemented E-Verify and everybody thought that was going to be
the end of the world.
SCHULTZ: Yeah, but E-Verify, Congressman, I have to challenge you on
that. E-Verify is a program, and not every employer goes by it. There‘s a
lot of cheating going on out there.
BILBRAY: And that is why what you do with the Shuler Bill, which is a
democrat bill, you also require that you got to E-Verify and check if you
want to take IRS write-offs.
And you and I know, Ed, you want to crack down on employers, you have
the IRS auditing them for tax evasion when they hired illegals. Not just
the INS, and you and I know that‘ll put the fear of God in them and be able
to really make the point that we need to focus on the fact that illegal
employers start getting nailed, they will be too frightened to continue the
problem.
SCHULTZ: I‘m all for that. I‘m all for going after people that hire
illegals. I‘m also all for getting more people paying taxes and getting
money in to the treasury which immigration reform would do for this
country. Congressman, good to have you with us tonight. Thanks for your
time.
BILBRAY: Thank you very much.
SCHULTZ: Coming up, chalk up another one for Glenn Beck. He‘s found
a way to trash Mother‘s Day. Only he could do it. That lands him in The
Zone.
(COMMERICAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And another classic in Psycho Talk tonight. The Beckster is
at it again. Yesterday, he was in the middle of doing a Mother‘s Day theme
spot for Vermont Teddy Bear Company, but you know, the guy just couldn‘t
hold back. He stopped to rail against Mother‘s Day.
(BEING AUDIO CLIP)
GLENN BECK, FOX HOST: Vermont Teddy Bear is getting ready for
Mother‘s Day weekend. Mother‘s Day. It‘s a scam. It‘s a big business
scam. Mother‘s Day started in 1914. Woodrow Wilson. I hate that guy. Love
my mom. Hate the holiday.
Now, you go to Hallmark because Hallmark and Woodrow Wilson would like
you to do that. Well there‘s something new from Vermont Teddy Bear. Three
handmade teddy bears in pink, green and white.
The bears are scented, each one with a different scent -- strawberry,
watermelon, and cupcake. It‘s like a bouquet of flowers only it‘s a bear
bouquet for life.
Something new this year for mom to let her know that you love her and
you‘re thinking about her. Don‘t forget, guys. It‘s Sunday.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: You know, I‘m guessing an anti-Mother‘s Day rant wasn‘t
exactly what the advertiser had in mind for his commercial. Although, the
Beckster may actually want to re-think things.
After all, the Teddy Bear was named after one of his favorite
progressive punching bags, President Teddy Roosevelt. Glenn Beck‘s attack
on Mother‘s Day in the middle of a Mother‘s Day commercial. It is complete
Psycho Talk.
And the Psycho Talk continues from the righties on The Gulf oil
disaster. Slick Rick‘s talking about an act of God? And heck-of-a-job
Brownie says Obama wanted this to happen. What?
Mike Papantonio brings the Straight Talk in just a moment. And the
alleged Times Square bomber is behind bars and spilling his guts to
officials. I want to know where Shooter and his daughter are.
They just refuse to give the president any credit for keeping America
safe. Plus, why on earth did the cops think it was necessary to tase a 17-
year-old kid at a Philly—he‘s a Phillies fan—at a ballpark last
night. Come on.
I‘ll show you that tape in The Playbook. You‘re watching THE ED SHOW
on MSNBC. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: It‘s the Battleground Issue. Welcome back to THE ED SHOW.
Thanks for watching tonight. The party of big oil is trying to play
politics with the disaster in the Gulf Coast. They are spewing lies about
the Obama administration‘s response.
First up, former FEMA director, and alleged hero, Michael Brown—you
know, the guy who did a heck of a job responding to hurricane Katrina? I
mean, such a heck of a job that Fox decided to have him on yesterday and
give his expert opinion on how President Obama is handling the crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL BROWN, FMR. FEMA DIRECTOR: Only now is the president
appearing to be engaged. And I think the delay was this: it‘s pure
politics. This president has never supported big oil. He has never
supported offshore drilling. And now he has an excuse to shut it back
down. This is exactly what they want because now he can pander to the
environmentalists and say, I‘m going to shut it down because it‘s too
dangerous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Well, stay tuned, because Brownie is coming up with Chris
Matthews on “HARDBALL” following this show. Brownie thinks that President
Obama was not engaged. Now, this is the same guy back on August 31st,
2005, that was told that the situation in New Orleans was, quote, “past
critical,” and that, quote, “many will die within hours.” And his press
secretary e-mail that, you know, they should, you know, schedule more time
for dinner. There was an e-mail exchange that says all of that. Brownie,
you were doing a heck of a job.
Sean Hannity also brought up Katrina on his show last night, whining,
just whining, about a double standard. He said that President Bush was,
quote, “what! for fumbling the Katrina response, while no one is
criticizing President Obama.”
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: They were there and on it from day
one, and it‘s 1,000 barrels a day. They would have burned this thing off,
and it could have been far less catastrophic. Ten days, the government did
nothing. But they claim they were there from day one. I want them to be
honest with the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Honest? Honest with the American people? Let‘s see, early
on, we were told by the oil experts, it‘s not really leaking, it‘s not
really that bad. Don‘t worry about it. How are you supposed to respond to
that?
Now, I don‘t want to minimize what‘s happening in the Gulf right now,
but let‘s be serious. Hurricane Katrina was the worst natural disaster—
natural disaster in this country‘s history. And more than 1,300 people
died. Americans died, drowned, waiting for the Bush administration to get
its act together instead of strumming the guitar.
Unlike the oil rig explosion, the hurricane wasn‘t a surprise. The
Bush people had plenty of advance warning. Now, Brownie, didn‘t you have
some satellite pictures of this big thing in the Gulf that was heading
towards the coast? And you did what? They chose to do nothing but sit and
watch the news.
Now, there is room for criticism that the federal government for
allowing offshore drilling in the first place. Why do we even have that?
And not requiring oil companies to pay for emergency shutoff involves. How
about that?
Let‘s bring in environmental lawyer Mike Papantonio, who is the firm
leading the class action lawsuit against BP. If I have to, I‘m going have
you on every night! I‘m not getting off this story.
MIKE PAPANTONIO, ATTORNEY AGAINST BP: Ed, I can listen to you every
night, my friend. You are delivering the message. I‘ve got—I‘ll assure
you of that. The country knows that, and we appreciate it.
SCHULTZ: Go ahead. Have at it.
PAPANTONIO: There is a formula for corporate response when corporate
America creates a catastrophe like this. The first thing we se is we see a
misdirect anger. Change the direction of anger, take it to somebody else.
So we have these corporate shields from the oil industry that are focusing
on the Obama government, saying Obama didn‘t do this, didn‘t do that. They
ignore—they ask you to ignore and look away at the fact that you have
these companies that intentionally brought about a failure that is
catastrophic.
Now, look, it‘s very popular to misdirect. And one way you do that is
you scare the hell out of people. Scare tactic we‘re seeing right now, the
American Petroleum Institute. Look at what they‘re saying. Let me distill
what they‘re saying. They‘re saying be very, very afraid if you don‘t have
our fossil fuel. Be very afraid if we close down, because it will mean a
horrible death for all Americans. That‘s the first scary thing.
We see Sarah Palin drilling. Here‘s what Sarah Palin—here‘s her
message, that drilling is going to make us secure. It‘s going to make us
prosperous and more peaceful. And if we don‘t have drilling, we‘re not
going to have those things.
And then, Ed, it really gets crazy. You have what I call the crazy
bumpkin talk. That‘s where you have the people you talk about all of the
time. You have the Tom Delay knock off, Rick Perry, saying God caused all
this. You have the AM radio burn out Rush Limbaugh saying that—blame it
on crazed eco maniacs who caused this disaster.
But you know what? Here‘s what‘s ugly, Ed. There is an audience—
the Tea Bag mentality audience want to hear this. We can‘t believe it. We
can‘t believe that people would buy this. But there is a Tea Bagger
mentality that wants to hear this crazy talk.
And corporate America knows that. You could go back in every one of
these catastrophic disasters and hear the flying monkeys like we‘re seeing
today being unleashed by corporate America. You‘re going to see the clown
car every time, unload next to the curb, and have the Glenn Becks and the
Rush Limbaughs and the Mike Browns, you name it, all the crazy talk we‘re
going to hear. And there is a part of America that buys that and corporate
America knows it.
SCHULTZ: This is just—the rationalization that‘s taking place is
border line comic. Rick Perry, governor of Texas, “from time to time,
there are going to be things that occur that are acts of god that cannot be
prevented.”
Now, here‘s the thing, it was no act of god for them to go down and
seek out profit at a place where they had never been before with an
exploratory rig that they didn‘t have the safety measures on or enacted.
And now for BP to come out and say well, it‘s really not our fault. The
hell it wasn‘t, they were going to be the ones getting the money off this
thing, on the heels of record profits.
What are you hearing from the people? What are they saying to you
about this class action lawsuit and going after? Do you have the people
behind you?
PAPANTONIO: They are behind this. There is not enough money BP is
able to throw at it at this point. Here‘s what they‘ve done. They have
put together a virtual army of reptilian lobbyists, of three piece suit
lawyer types, that have converged on this coast. We have a lobby that‘s
been paid 16 million dollars last year. This year, the projection is the
same BP lobby will be paid 80 million dollars.
So what they‘re doing, Ed, they‘re talking not to the people. The
people are just the first—this lobby money is going to Washington. And
we have characters like Jeff Miller, who is our local congressman, who
says, gee whiz, we need to drill anyway.
SCHULTZ: We also have—this really is a time, Mike—and I‘m short
on time here. This really is a time for liberals and environmentalists in
this country to push back. If we don‘t do it now, I don‘t know when it‘s
going to happen. You have the Supreme Court out there ruling that
corporations can give as much money as they want to an issue or a
candidate. That‘s the scary thing behind this.
Mike Papantonio, keep up the fight. Good to have you with us tonight.
Let‘s get some rapid response from our panel on these stories tonight.
Less than 72 hours after police stopped a bomb in Times Square, the suspect
is in custody, and he‘s talking. That‘s how the fight against terrorism is
going on President Obama‘s watch. And the righties, they just can‘t stand
it.
Republican Whip Jon Kyl of Arizona thinks it‘s appropriate to joke
about drowning the president, the Democratic leaders in the Congress.
Well, he got a big laugh at the Republican retreat when he joked, “if
Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are in a row boat, and it springs
a leak and starts to sink, who gets saved? The American people.”
With us tonight, Sam Stein, political reporter, “Huffington Post,” and
Michael Graham, radio talk show host and author of the book—boy, am I
giving you a plug—“That‘s No Angry Mob, That‘s My Mom, Team Obama‘s
Assault on Tea Party Talk Radio Americans.”
All right, Michael, is your friend Jon Kyl over the top talking about
the death of the president and also the Democratic leaders? Where does
this go?
MICHAEL GRAHAM, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: You know, when I was a kid, I
wanted to grow up to be a liberal like you, Ed, because liberals partied,
got lucky with chicks, smoked pot and had a sense of humor. This is so
pathetic. Every time someone gets in trouble for a joke, whether it‘s Jon
Kyl or whether it‘s the union hack up in New Jersey who rewrote the
Internet joke going around about God, these are my favorite people, you
took them all, Governor Christie is my favorite governor—it‘s a joke!
Have a sense of humor. It is pathetic.
When did the left become a bunch of humorless stooges? You‘re no fun
anymore.
SCHULTZ: No, we‘re plenty of fun. In fact, the president did a great
job the other night. And you folks were taking him apart for his routine.
By the way, I don‘t smoke pot and I never have smoked pot. That is a fact.
I‘m just a boring guy. I like to hunt and fish. And I drink cold beer
every now and then. Stan Stein, is Senator Kyl over the top on this?
SAM STEIN, “HUFFINGTON POST”: How do I interject in this debate? I
don‘t think so. I mean, humor is humor. I have to say, we should all
lighten up a little bit. The president made a joke during a speech about
drone attacks on the Jonas Brothers. I thought it was poor taste. But
whatever, it‘s funny. I can‘t get myself worked up.
SCHULTZ: Let‘s talk about some good law enforcement. It didn‘t take
very long for the Obama terrorism team, Mike, to get it done. How about a
pat on the back tonight? Can you do that?
GRAHAM: Okay. I want you to look in the camera and tell us again you
haven‘t smoked pot.
SCHULTZ: I have never—first of all, we‘re not going to turn this
around, but I will tell you—
GRAHAM: No, not because of that.
SCHULTZ: God as my witness, I have never smoked pot in my life. You
can blog that. You can—Youtube it, do whatever you want. I am taking
it—I have never. You cannot produce anybody on the face of this Earth
that has ever smoked pot—it hasn‘t happened!
GRAHAM: Well, Ed, we want you to. Trust me. Because you sound high
right now.
SCHULTZ: OK.
GRAHAM: Only reason there aren‘t dead people in New York is because
the machine didn‘t work. The only reason the airplane didn‘t blow up in
Detroit is because the underwear didn‘t explode. This has been a dismal
failure. And my sources on this are those right wing media outlets, the
“New York Times,” and MSNBC, which reported late today that this whack job
Islamist should never have gotten on the plane. Quote, we were extremely
fortunate that we stopped the guy.
SCHULTZ: You‘re right, we were fortunate that there was a no fly
list.
(CROSS TALK)
SCHULTZ: Even after the plane was leaving. Mike, I know I can always
count on you taking a cheap shot. Sam Stein, go ahead.
STEIN: I just think we need to look at the broader picture here. We
have done things over seas that have crippled al Qaeda‘s recruiting
efforts. The fact that they‘re turning to practitioners who are probably
not the best—I say this without expertise. But the fact that they‘re
turning to practitioners who are not the best terrorists actually is sort
of a success story, in many respects.
And yes, we are lucky, in some respects, that the bomb didn‘t go off
in this man‘s underwear or in Times Square. But the fact of the matter is
that you are going to have to live and we are going to have to learn to
live with an element of terrorism in our lives. This is just the reality.
It‘s happened under the Bush administration. It will happen under the
Obama administration.
SCHULTZ: Michael Graham, can you tell our audience tonight that you
have never smoked pot, because I can?
GRAHAM: Sadly, I have never smoked pot.
SCHULTZ: Well, you ought to be behind bars. You are a law-breaking
son of a gun.
(CROSS TALK)
GRAHAM: When I was a kid, I was in the garage one time, I snorted
some Midol.
(CROSS TALK)
SCHULTZ: You‘ve been boring ever since. Good to have you with us,
Michael. Sam, good to have you with us tonight.
Coming up, Florida is on red alert. A current is sending oil from the
Gulf towards the Keys. Locals are saying that this would be an epic
disaster. More on that in just a moment. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: In my playbook tonight, a strong current in the Gulf of
Mexico could carry the massive oil slick clear down to the Florida Keys and
beyond within a week. Right now, the spill is close to being swept into
the fast-moving Loop Current, which would carry the oil around the tip of
Florida, and into the Gulf Stream.
From there, the oil could flow all the way up the east coast of the
United States. Joining me now is Nick Shay, a professor at the University
of Miami School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.
Professor, good to have you with us tonight. Just put and capsulize
for us how serious this is if that loop does, in fact, take place.
NICK SHAY, PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHER: Well, thank you for inviting me on
your show, Ed. It is serious. The current is very strong. And it‘s
notorious for pushing a lot of nutrients and toxins towards the south,
towards the Florida straits when we have—when we have toxins entering
water column, such as we‘re having with this oil slick.
They get pushed away by the current, and they can enter into the
Florida straits. And it can affect the ecosystems, a very delicate and
fragile ecosystem associated with the coral reefs and the fisheries through
the Florida Keys. And once it exits the Florida Straits, it is clear to go
up the eastern seaboard, and create some problems for our neighbors towards
the north.
SCHULTZ: On the coral reefs, are we talking about irreversible damage
in our lifetime?
SHAY: That‘s an—that‘s unclear, whether it‘s irreversible. But it
certainly isn‘t going to help the matter with those delicate ecosystems in
the Florida Keys. And it‘s also going to depend on how much oil is
actually getting in there.
SCHULTZ: Well, what would it do to the economy? I mean, would it be
as devastating as we think it would be?
SHAY: Well, if this—if this well continues to spew oil into the
Gulf of Mexico, and we can‘t cap it for another month or two, it will be—
it will be a very difficult situation for a lot of folks in Florida, and
delicate ecosystems could be destroyed for a long time.
SCHULTZ: Professor, good to have you with us tonight. Thank you so
much. The oil spill is, of course, not only hurting the environment, it‘s
wreaking havoc on local businesses across the region.
Let me bring in Mary Ann Patti. Her family owns Joe Patti‘s seafood,
a mom and pop operation in Pensacola, Florida. Mary Ann is a local
attorney who was involved in Mike Papantonio‘s class action suit against
BP. Can you put into words tonight what your family, business, community
could be facing?
MARY ANN PATTI, JOE PATTI‘S SEAFOOD: It‘s absolutely horrendous.
We‘re looking at catastrophic damages for what is happening. And when I
say that, you‘ve got to look at my family has had this seafood company. My
grandparents started it back in 1935. All of our family is either off
shot, they all have their own companies. We‘ve got our company. But all
of our companies have fishermen, oystermen, distributors, all of these
people are going to be affected. We have already—I was talking to one
of my uncles today. He is already having to send his mullet fishermen down
east, so they can still go into that area to mullet fish. The price of
mullet has already gone up. That‘s just something simple.
But when you sit back and look at what it‘s doing to the economy, what
it‘s doing to the local fishermen, you‘ve got people that this has been
their entire life. They don‘t know anything else, other than fishing, or
oystering, or shrimping. And what are they going to do now?
This is not something that‘s going to go away overnight. It‘s
something that we‘re going to feel for years to come. Before they were
even talking about—like, Mr. Shay, that it could possibly go up the east
coast, my family was already talking about it, something they have lived
and breathed for years. They have—
No one knows what‘s going on. All of the other business owners are
calling, because this is something that we rely upon. No one realizes the
devastation that‘s going to happen from this, not only when you look at it
ecologically, but economically.
What are these families going to do when all of a sudden they can‘t
make their mortgage payments? Yeah, that‘s going to be happening. You‘re
going to have people who aren‘t going to be able to make their mortgage
payments, who aren‘t going to be able to make their car payments. Why?
Because they can‘t go out, they can‘t fish, they can‘t shrimp, they can‘t
oyster. They can‘t get the products, so that way they can come in and sell
it.
Then what are we going to have to do as a business, the seafood
company we own? Well, we‘re going to have to get the product from
elsewhere, from other countries. It‘s just absolutely devastating what‘s
going to happen. And it‘s not going to end in the next day or so.
SCHULTZ: Mary Ann Patti, you have said it all and said so much.
There will be a real emotional strain to all of this, as well. This is
going to change a lot of lives if it continues to move forward. Thanks,
Mary Ann. All the best to you. Thanks for being with us tonight.
SCHULTZ: Final page in my playbook tonight. It seems as though the
Philadelphia police officer got a little taser-happy last night at the
Phillies‘ game. In what appears to be a completely unjustified use of
force, a 17-year-old kid was tased as he ran around the outfield at
Citizens Bank Park.
I‘m pretty sure they could have caught him, the unruly fan, without
using a taser. But I don‘t think he will run out on that field anymore.
The Philadelphia PD said it‘s opening an investigation into the incident to
determine if the tasing was the proper use of equipment.
Also, we want to extend a warm welcome to some brand new MSNBC
viewers. We are now airing on South Africa‘s Top TV in Kenya, Tanzania,
and South Africa. Thanks to all of you for joining us. We‘re excited
about having you, watching us right here from New York and Washington on
MSNBC.
Coming up, the so-called father of Arizona‘s immigration law, Sheriff
Joe Arpaio, is being probed for racial profiling. He says he can be
governor—he says he wanted to be the governor of Arizona, but he decided
not to run. The Republican sheriff goes one-on-one with me next right here
on THE ED SHOW. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW. Finally tonight, one name is
going to be missing when it comes to the gubernatorial race for the
Republicans in Arizona. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio says he‘s not
going to be running, and he may be emboldened by the most recent poll that
51 percent of the folks in Arizona think that this law is OK. The sheriff
joins us tonight from Arizona.
Joe, good to have you with us tonight. What do you make of this poll,
51 percent of Arizonans think that this law is about right?
JOE ARPAIO, SHERIFF, MARICOPA COUNTY, ARIZONA: Well, I thought it was
70 percent. I don‘t know what poll you‘re talking about. But most people
here in Arizona like this new law. You know, I‘ve been enforcing these
type of laws for three years. Really haven‘t had any problems. So I don‘t
know why everybody is—
SCHULTZ: Well, actually, you have had some problems, sheriff. You‘re
being investigated for racial profiling, but—
ARPAIO: well, wait a minute, let me answer that, Ed. That‘s been a
year and a half that the Justice Department Civil Rights has been floating
around this county, and nothing has happened. So they can investigate all
they want.
SCHULTZ: OK. So you‘re totally innocent of that. But to say that it
that you‘ve been enforcing the law, in the eyes of some, you‘ve been
somewhat overbearing, or is that an overstatement?
ARPAIO: No, I—I‘m not overbearing. I took an oath of office to
enforce all the laws. So I‘m aggressive against any type of crime,
including illegal immigration. It‘s not overbearing.
SCHULTZ: Why aren‘t you going to run for office? Why aren‘t you
going to run for governor?
ARPAIO: Well, I could be the governor. I don‘t want to brag, but
everybody knows that. By the way, if I announced yesterday for governor,
you wouldn‘t be talking to me as the sheriff, because I would have to
resign. In some county, officials would not like—
SCHULTZ: That‘s not right, Joe, you‘re good copy. I‘ll talk to you
all the time.
ARPAIO: OK. But these county officials would not appoint a guy like
me. I think they‘re having a bad day today, when I refused to resign. I‘m
going to continue on doing my job as sheriff.
SCHULTZ: OK. And what do you say about all these states that are
following Arizona? There‘s ten of them. Do you think there will be more?
Quickly.
ARPAIO: You know, at least—let‘s hope that Washington follows the
Arizona law.
SCHULTZ: OK.
ARPAIO: Which is patterned after Washington‘s federal law, anyway,
Ed.
SCHULTZ: Sheriff, good to have you with us tonight. Telephone survey
tonight, I asked you, do you feel safer under the Obama administration‘s
watch? Ninety one percent of you said yes. That‘s THE ED SHOW. I‘m Ed
Schultz. Chris Matthews is going to be talking to Brownie coming up next.
Stay with us.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY
BE UPDATED.
END
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