Guests: Al Sharpton, Joe Madison, A.B. Stoddard, Edward G. Rendell, Karen Hunter, Heidi Harris, Justin Coussoule, Robert Greenwald
ED SCHULTZ, MSNBC ANCHOR: Good evening, Americans, and welcome to THE ED SHOW tonight from New York.
These stories on the table and hitting “My Hot Buttons” at this hour.
Well, Glenn Beck‘s circus of delusion and ego will be on full display in Washington, D.C., tomorrow. See, he‘s trying to twist the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, but he‘s not going to get away with it.
My commentary, plus the man who really knows how to honor Martin Luther King Jr. Reverend Al Sharpton will join us in a moment.
And an interesting story today. Joe Madison, “The Black Eagle” radio talk show host, went nose to nose with “The Beckster” himself. Did Beck actually apologize for saying racist things about the president? We‘ll tell what you went down coming up in a moment.
Michele Bachmann has a wakeup call for progressives. If the Republicans win back control of the Congress, it‘s going to be nothing but subpoenas and investigations. That‘s their plan for America. It should be a call to arms for lefties when it comes to getting to the polls in November.
And the Tea Party goes to Wall Street. Some of the richest, some of the most wealthiest men in the country are comparing President Obama to Hitler and Mussolini. That‘s right.
But Mr. President, isn‘t it time to get it together and fight back when these people say stuff like this?
That‘s all coming up.
But this is the story that has me fired up tonight. The culture war in America will be on full display and in full force in the nation‘s capital on Saturday. Race-baiter Glenn Beck and his pack of followers will occupy the very same space that Martin Luther King occupied when he gave his “I have a dream” speech 47 years ago.
Now, Beck claims he didn‘t pick the date on purpose.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GLENN BECK, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: What an appropriate day. At first we picked that day and we didn‘t know. And I thought oh, jeez. Now I think it was almost divine providence. I do.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: I thought he was a history buff.
Beck says that he‘s not going to use talking points when he gets up to talk in case the spirit wants him to speak through him. OK.
Now, Beck is also hitting back at those who is question his motives for his rally. Here‘s the secret.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: Saturday‘s message? Shh. It‘s a big secret. I‘ve only talked about it for six months on one of the biggest cable news shows in history and the third largest radio show in America, but only six months.
So, shh. Keep it down. Just between us. Don‘t tell anyone in the media. The secret is God.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: The secret is God.
Well, I don‘t think God was speaking through Beck when he said this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: This president I think has exposed himself as a guy over and over and over again who has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture. I don‘t know what it is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Can‘t you just feel the lord speaking through Beck on that one?
Beck is a master at painting the picture of reverse racism. He‘s doing the same thing with his rally.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: Do white people own the legacy of Abraham Lincoln? Because I don‘t think they do. And I don‘t think black people own the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Well, let‘s talk about that, folks.
The plight of black people in this country is far different from the history of the white folk.
Black people were slaves you see, Glenn, and white people, they were the slave owners.
African-Americans have fought to overcome state-sponsored oppression and segregation for generations in this country. Yes, African-Americans do own the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. Absolutely. He fought to bring his race out of the darkness when it comes to dealing with equality and social justice.
Beck is so twisted in his thinking, he thinks the struggle for blacks and whites has been equal in America? It‘s been anything but equal to this very day in this country.
African-American unemployment is almost double the rate of white unemployment in America. Just last week, Beck called unemployed 99ers un-American and constantly rails on the Democrats for trying to extend any help to Americans in need.
The average black family, well, makes over $20,000 a year less than the average white family in this country.
Wonder if it has anything to do with that thing you hate, Beck, called public education?
I challenge beck to stand on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial tomorrow and tell his followers that the country needs to make sure that black people earn as much as white people. He won‘t do it, because, you see, that would be social engineering, socialism. It wouldn‘t be about equal opportunity in our society.
I also need, Beck, to explain how blacks and whites are equal when it comes to this story. This story, in Mississippi, a middle school in Nettleton, Mississippi, handed out flyers to every sixth, seventh and eighth grader to inform them that black students, well, they‘re not allowed to be class president.
This is in America today. Check this out.
In the eighth grade, the highest office an African-American student can achieve is vice president. Seventh grade, well, how about just secretary of the treasury? And in the sixth grade, well, they can achieve to the heights of being a reporter.
Now, after being in the media spotlight all day, late this afternoon the Nettleton School Board voted to reverse this abomination equality. Yes, this is 2010.
Glenn Beck says he‘s trying to restore honor in America after he spent a year dishonoring our first African-American president? I hope Beck understands that honor should be equal for all Americans, black or white, rich or poor, employed or unemployed.
And I think Beck ought to make very clear to his followers tomorrow where he stands on segregation, because the conservatives in this country have absolutely attacked public education time and time again. And through their lack of support of public education, this will drive them right down the road of segregation because, you see, they‘re all about school vouchers. See, school vouchers is for the rich people in America.
Tell me, economically challenged families in this country, what‘s their option to fix this unemployment number when it comes to education and moving up in society? Making a better life for yourself.
The conservatives and Beck and the ilk of them all, what they have tried to do to the American people is convince them that public education is not only a failure today, in their opinion, but is something that should be abolished. They talk about getting rid of the Department of Education. They talk about getting rid of opportunity for Americans who are economically challenged or born into poverty.
Where‘s their school voucher? There isn‘t.
This leads them right down the road to segregation and to the haves and the have-nots. And I can only wonder as I have read through Martin Luther King‘s speech this week, what would he say about the situation in America?
We‘ve made some strides, but, you know, we haven‘t come far enough. And if we allow people to go unchallenged the way Beck in many cases has gone unchallenged, it‘s only going to get worse. We have an obligation to the next generation to make sure that this gap is closed through opportunity.
Get your cell phones out, folks. I want to know what you think about this subject tonight.
Tonight‘s text survey question is: Do you think conservative talkers like Glenn Beck are distorting Martin Luther King‘s dream for America?
Text “A” for yes, text “B” for no to 622639. We‘ll bring you the results later on in the show.
Joining me now is Reverend Al Sharpton, president of the national action network. He‘s hosting an incredible event tomorrow, the Reclaim the Dream Rally at the Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C. And I am honored to be a part of it. I will have an opportunity to stand up side by side with civil rights icons like Martin Luther King III and celebrate the anniversary of the “I have a dream” speech. Reverend Sharpton asked me several months ago to do this, and I appreciate the opportunity to do it.
And I can‘t write anything, Reverend. I have to speak from my heart tomorrow. You know me well. I‘m not a scripted guy.
But you have made it very clear to all of the speakers there tomorrow that this is not a counter rally. This is about Martin Luther King, what his message was, and where America needs to go.
Correct?
REV. AL SHARPTON, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK: That‘s correct.
This is about Dr. King‘s dream and about how we are still not there.
As you stated in your commentary quite accurately, we still have a race gap in the employment area in, education, in the criminal justice system. We‘ve made a lot of progress, and America can be proud of electing President Barack Obama and electing governors. But that does not achieve the full dream.
People need to read Dr. King‘s speech. We posted it n nationalactionnetwork.net, and it will be posted tomorrow at the rally, because I think if they read his speech, he called for us to continue until all of these things were solved. And it‘s ironic to me that those that fight it the most are the ones now choosing to act like they want to take his day and his speech and turn it around to their interpretation.
We can all have different interpretations, but you can‘t redo a speech. The speech speaks for itself.
Maybe if we were talking about his birthday, Ed, we can debate our interpretation of his legacies. You can‘t deal with the fact that his speech plainly says what it says about having fairness and justice and equal opportunity despite race.
SCHULTZ: Well, we had the No Child Left Behind bill that was passed, and then the federal funding never got properly to the local school districts across this country, which, of course, forced a lot of school districts to raise taxes. And, of course, there was a shortage of resources.
So what do you get with all of that? Let‘s take a look at some of the numbers.
This is a study that was done by the Schott Foundation for Public Education. Forty-seven percent of black kids in this country, that‘s the graduation rate. Seventy-eight percent for white male graduation. The black male graduation is at 47 percent.
Reverend, it‘s 2010. What are we going to do about this number?
SHARPTON: And that‘s what we‘re going to talk about tomorrow. That‘s what our rally is about, is how do you have less than half of blacks graduating high school, almost 80 percent of whites, and we‘re acting as though the dream has been achieved? And I think that this is the critical issue.
You have to remember, the march on Washington 47 years ago was about equal rights, civil rights, jobs and freedom. You can‘t redo it and make it a religious rally or a values rally. It was a civil rights rally.
No problem with Mr. Beck and they want to have a values or religious rally. But don‘t say you‘re reclaiming the civil rights movement, which he said. Don‘t claim that you‘re giving your interpretation of King. You have to deal with King the way it was. Or if you disagree, say you disagree.
I wouldn‘t say I‘m reclaiming Reaganism because I didn‘t agree with Reagan. I wouldn‘t stand where Reagan spoke and try and make Reagan what I believe in. So why go and deal with something and cover yourself with something if you don‘t believe in it?
SCHULTZ: And Reverend Sharpton, there‘s another number that‘s out there. The inner city situation in this country for black kids is really tough.
Twenty-five percent, that‘s the graduation rate in New York City for black men in this country when it comes to a high school degree. In Detroit, it‘s 27 percent. In Baltimore City, it‘s 35 percent.
SHARPTON: And when you have those numbers, Ed, these are people that you‘re not—not at all think they‘re going to get a job. They can‘t care for their families. They can‘t even build a family. Many of them end up in a life of crime which we become the victims of, and they become part of the prison and the incarceration rates, which are astronomical.
We‘ve got to deal with that and we‘ve got to deal with some of your succumbing to that. So we‘ve got work to do. And while they‘re doing whatever they‘re doing, we‘re going to do what we believe that speech meant.
SCHULTZ: Reverend Sharpton, stay with us for a moment. We‘re going to probably want to get your reaction to our next interview.
Joining me now is Sirius XM radio talk show host “The Black Eagle,” Joe Madison. He had a heated confrontation face to face in his radio studio today in Washington, D.C., with Glenn Beck.
And Joe, good to have you with us tonight.
JOE MADISON, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Thank you.
SCHULTZ: Did Glenn Beck—did he walk back his comment that he made months ago on the Fox morning show about the president having a deep-seated hatred for white people? Did he apologize for that?
MADISON: I mean, he looked like Michael Jackson doing the moonwalk. I mean, I made it very clear to him, and all week I have. You can hear the entire interview on Sirius XM on “The Power” this evening, and POTUS. We‘re going to replay it I think around 8:00 Eastern Time.
SCHULTZ: Did he apologize?
MADISON: Yes, he did. I asked him, “Why would you call the president racist? He is not racist.” And he said, “Well, I didn‘t understand his liberation theology.”
Now, what does that have to do with anything? He said—he also shocked me by saying, “Well, I don‘t believe in social justice.”
And then I told him, “You claimed the civil rights movement and that you started it.” And he said, “No, I didn‘t say that.” And we ended up playing the tape where he said exactly that very same thing.
SCHULTZ: The guy is—he is dazed and confused.
I want to go back to Reverend Sharpton.
Reverend Sharpton, do you accept the apology of Glenn Beck now saying that he apologizes for saying that President Obama has a deep-seated hatred for white people? Where is this guy coming from? On the day before his rally it just happens to come out.
SHARPTON: Well, I think that it‘s suspect with the timing. But I think if he needs to apologize to someone, it‘s to the president.
But I think what is curious here is for him to say he doesn‘t believe in social justice when Dr. Martin Luther King, if anything, was a student and exponent of social justice and the philosophies of theologians like Reinhold Niebuhr and others who really kind of perfected that.
So I think that, again, he‘s got the right place, wrong speech, wrong person. You can take someone‘s venue, but you really don‘t believe in what they were saying if you don‘t believe in social justice.
SCHULTZ: Joe, did you get a sense that Beck was secure in what he was saying?
MADISON: Oh, no. I got just the opposite, that he is totally insecure and extremely confused in what he was saying.
I mean—and let‘s understand, this was impromptu. He just happened to wander by my studio. And quite honestly, I didn‘t know it was Glenn Beck. And I thought it was just people touring. I said, “Come on in.”
He walked in, Ed. I said, “No, no, no. You‘re going to have to explain to me—the president is not a racist. Why would you call him a racist?” “Oh, I just didn‘t understand his liberation theology.”
It made no sense whatsoever.
SCHULTZ: No sense at all.
Reverend Al Sharpton and talk show host, a great one, extraordinaire, Joe Madison.
Great to have you guys with us tonight.
SHARPTON: Look for you in the morning.
SCHULTZ: You bet. I‘m looking forward to it. Thank you, Reverend.
MADISON: See you tomorrow morning.
SCHULTZ: You bet.
Coming up, the crazy Tea Partiers, they‘re not the only ones slamming the president. Wall Street fat cats are comparing him to Hitler and Mussolini. It‘s time to fight back. I‘ll explain all of that.
And “The Tan Man” lands the latest punch in his fight with the vice president. I‘ll show you how Boehner could be taken out if you want to fight when it comes to an election.
You‘re watching THE ED SHOW on MSNBC. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW, and thanks for watching tonight.
Progressives, pay attention on this one. This might be the wakeup call for the midterms. If “Speaker Boehner” doesn‘t scare you, this will. Republicans are already plotting to do what they want to do if they win control of the Congress in November.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MICHELE BACHMANN ®, MINNESOTA: I think all we should do is issue subpoenas and have one hearing after another and expose all the nonsense that has gone on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Well, the Republicans are reportedly planning to issue subpoenas to investigate the bailouts, which they will forget were authorized by President Bush, and the alleged White House job offer made to Joe Sestak. Remember the right-wing crusade against President Clinton?
Trust me, this is going to be worse because it‘s personal.
Their only plan is personal destruction, political manipulation and creating an appearance of corruption. Folks, this is the rallying cry I think for progressives.
We‘ll have to watch the country go through this again if we stay home in November? We‘re not happy with everything that has happened on the left and in the progressive movement, but this is what we‘re—what we have to look forward to if Boehner and his crowd gets control of the House.
Joining me now is A.B. Stoddard, associate editor and columnist from “The Hill.”
A.B., good to have you with us tonight.
How serious do you think the Republicans are with all this chatter about subpoenas and investigations and how Darrell Issa is getting all cranked up and some other committee members? What do you think?
A.B. STODDARD, ASSOCIATE EDITOR AND COLUMNIST, “THE HILL”: Well, I mean, Congressman Issa has shown himself to be quite the investigator during the Democratic majority. Even though he is a ranking member of that committee, he spends most of his time launching investigations.
With the majority, with control of the House, you can definitely envision a scenario where there would be tremendous pressure from the right on the Republicans in a majority in the Congress to launch a series of investigations. It would obviously depend, Ed, on what those were.
I mean, if they‘re going to spend a lot of time when we‘re still in a recession, at 9.5 percent unemployment, expected to continue for a year or two or more, spending their time investigating ACORN or what Bill Clinton said to Congressman Sestak, that would probably not be very politically wise for the Republicans. I actually don‘t think Americans would look down upon actually an investigation of how decisions were made in a very quick way to pass a $700 billion TARP program, or even something like the Minerals Management Service and what‘s gone on there.
I think there‘s actually areas that are right for oversight that the Republicans could spend some time investigating that would keep the middle and the Democrats would be very slow to criticize. But if they go on witch hunts, obviously that will be a political mistake.
SCHULTZ: Well, they‘re concerned about e-mails and communications from Jim Messina out of the White House and also Rahm Emanuel to prospective candidates in certain races and whatnot. I just don‘t believe that the American people have got an appetite for that when we‘ve got the economic situation that we have right now.
The money, would they be forced to investigate based on who is lining the pockets of Republicans? Because right now, their war chest is at $400 million. Heck, they don‘t need Michael Steele and the RNC.
You got the Chamber of Commerce throwing in $75 million; American Crossroads at $52 million that they‘ve committed; Rove‘s group, Americans for Prosperity, $45 million; and the list goes on and on. It totals up to $400 million.
Now, this is big money in a midterm election. So how are the Democrats going to fight back on this?
STODDARD: Well, the interesting thing is, Ed, obviously, I mean, these conservatives were quiet and they weren‘t writing these big checks to the extent that they are now during eight years of the Bush administration. You know, the Tea Party is a group of disaffected conservatives, largely, and these people stayed quiet.
They‘re very upset now. They were upset with policies during Republican control of the Congress and during President Bush‘s administration. And they‘re coming out now because the Democrats are in control and they‘re spending more money.
This is probably something that you could expect to see from the left of the Democratic Party if the Republicans took the White House back and ran the Congress again. Right now, they‘re disappointed with President Obama, but they try to keep it quiet.
SCHULTZ: But A.B., with this Supreme Court ruling, I mean, the corporations are going to line the pockets big-time.
STODDARD: This is true.
SCHULTZ: This is just the beginning of it all.
A.B., great to have you with us tonight. Appreciate your time.
STODDARD: Thank you, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Up next, something must be in the water up in Alaska. Palin golden boy Joe Miller says he won‘t let Lisa Murkowski pull a “Franken” on him?
Well, I‘ll school him up on some Minnesota math next in the “Zone.”
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And in “Psycho Talk” tonight, my favorite segment, well, we‘ve got another nitwit up in Alaska, Senate candidate Joe Miller. He‘s challenging incumbent Senator Lisa Murkowski for the Republican nomination. And he has the support of Alaska‘s finest wing nut, Sarah Palin.
Now, after Tuesday‘s primary, Miller is less than 2,000 votes ahead of Murkowski, with 20,000 absentee ballots left to count. The election, it isn‘t over yet, but he‘s already accusing Murkowski of fixing the race.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
JOE MILLER ®, ALASKA SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: We‘re looking right now to make sure that the election—that the votes are accounted for fairly without any type of game play. It concerns us any time somebody lawyers up and tries to pull an Al Franken, if you will. We are very concerned that you know there may be some attempt here to skew the results.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Oh, a Republican accusing a Republican of possible fraud.
Buddy, if you‘re smarter than Sarah Palin, it ain‘t by much.
This guy thinks Al Franken skewed the election result when he ran against Norm Coleman in Minnesota. Remember that long process we had where they counted every vote?
Well, in fact, after a manual recount, Franken did win. And it‘s really interesting how Minnesota‘s right-wing Republican governor, Tim Pawlenty, he signed off on it, Joe.
At least Joe Miller‘s in good company up in Alaska with this kind of ignorant “Psycho Talk.”
Coming up, former RNC chairman Ken Mehlman comes out as gay. All right. And guess who didn‘t cover one minute of the story? You got it.
Where was O‘Reilly and Hannity and all those guys over at Fox when the story came out? I‘ll get “Rapid Fire Response” on that.
And the richest men in the world are declaring war on the president. Think it‘s time for his team to maybe get in the trenches and fire back and defend the boss a little bit? They were silent today.
Governor Ed Rendell is ready to rumble on that one. He‘ll do it.
And all that, plus righty talk show host Heidi Harris says there‘s domestic enemies in Congress?
All I want to know is, Heidi, who are they? And FOX Businessman Neil Cavuto, I want to know what kind of smoke he‘s been blowing as of late. You‘re watching THE ED SHOW on MSNBC. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW. The Battleground story tonight, Wall Street tycoons are adopting Tea Party rhetoric about the president of the United States and his administration. Last month, the chairman of Blackstone that Stephen Schwarzman told “Newsweek” that raising taxes on private equity firms is something the Nazis would do? Schwartzman said it‘s a war. It‘s like when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939. That‘s right. Direct quote.
This month, Steve Forbes went nuts in an anti-Obama editorial. He wrote for his magazine calling the administration hostile and ignorant. Here‘s the quote, “The truth is that not even the Franklin Roosevelt administration was as hostile to and ignorant about free enterprise as this administration is.” Then Forbes took it a step further. This quote, “One hesitates to bring up the economics of Benito Mussolini and his ilk because fascism means ugly nationalism and racism as well as mass murder and aggressive war.” Wow.
Forbes said, he shouldn‘t have brought up Mussolini but the fact is he did it anyway. Now I want to know why the White House isn‘t fighting back and defending the boss on this? Do they just not answer to these people? The president should step up and get after it himself. Now I‘ve been telling you that Wall Street wants President Obama to fail. Look how tight the money is and they‘re trying to financially strangle this administration and basically, their Waterloo plans seem to be wok working if you look at some of the numbers that are out there.
The Commerce Department just issued a revised second quarter gross domestic product. It shows sharp drops in growth. It‘s stoking fears of another recession. And it‘s just in time for the midterms just the way they wanted it.
Joining me now is Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell. Governor, good to have you with us tonight. I look at what is happening here. You have the White House taking a shot at the, quote, “Professional Left.” But now you‘ve got business leaders, CEOs, respected men who have been successful comparing President Obama to Hitler and Mussolini. When do the democrats and when does the White House return fire on this kind of rhetoric?
GOV. EDWARD G. RENDELL (D), PENNSYLVANIA: Well, it ought to be immediately. Number one. I heard you earlier, Ed. You talked about what‘s necessary to fire up our base. Well, think of how ludicrous it is, the very people who brought the economic collapse about are now criticizing the president. I was on a FOX show yesterday and one of the commentators suggested that we needed someone from Goldman Sachs, in the government who knew how to run business. Well, as I recall, it was Goldman Sachs and a lot of their colleagues on Wall Street who plunge this country into the greatest recession since the great depression. Is it “Alice in Wonderland” and is the Mad Hatter in charge? We ought to be getting angry, not just angry at the fact that they‘re opposing the president but angry at the tenor and the language that they‘re saying. These guys sound nuts to me.
SCHULTZ: Well, that is the point. That is the very point. The rhetoric that right wing talkers, the foundation that they have laid in this country, the Tea Partiers, the signs, I mean, what‘s Steve Forbes and what this other guy from Blackstone is talking about? They might as well be carrying a racist Tea Party sign.
RENDELL: There‘s no question. And if we need anything to get fired up, it ought to be this. Look, it‘s not just our base but if I‘m an independent voter out there and I‘m a reasonable person, first I look at the Tea Partiers and I look at the birthers and the people who want to get rid of the 14th amendment and the people who call the president a Muslim. I‘ve got to say to myself, we want to put this party in charge of the reins of government? No way, even if the candidate in my district is reasonable. Do I want to vote for that republican meaning that the Republican Party that‘s so much influenced by these nuts are going to be in control and now you‘ve got business and not all business but certainly some business leaders on a vendetta in the most vicious of terms.
SCHULTZ: Governor, have you ever seen successful businessmen at this level use this kind of rhetoric? I can‘t remember it.
RENDELL: Never, never. I mean, business certainly has been involved in elections and they have every right to be. But never with this type of rhetoric. It‘s disgraceful. It‘s outright disgraceful.
SCHULTZ: Should the president address it, Ed? Should the president address it?
RENDELL: I‘m not sure the president himself should but the White House sure should and every democrat should go everywhere and say come on, folks, this country was founded on decency, it was founded on basic fairness. Are we going to lose our country to these nut bags? Are we going to lose our country to people who are interested in nothing but profit? Look, profit is important. There‘s no question about it, but when profit comes before decency, when profit comes before fundamental fairness, there‘s something wrong and we‘ve got to correct it. So, everybody who is listening out there, it‘s time to get fired up.
SCHULTZ: This should be the issue.
RENDELL: It‘s time to get fired up. No question. The issue should be threefold. Number one, the whacko people that are getting elected and getting more and more part of the Republican Party. Number two, the viciousness of some, not all but some of the business leaders. Number three, the fact that the majority—the minority leader‘s economic proposal was a joke, was a joke. There wasn‘t one concrete thing in it. We want to turn the government back to them? No way. So get off your duff and vote and get other people to vote.
SCHULTZ: Governor Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania. Great to have you with us tonight, Ed.
RENDELL: Thanks Ed. Thank you.
SCHULTZ: Thank you so much.
Now let‘s get some rapid fire response from our panel on these stories tonight. Conservative groups, they plan to spend $400 million to help republicans win back control of the Congress in November? A lot of doubt.
Sharron Angle won‘t disavow the claim that America has domestic enemies in Congress?
And FOX News ignores the fact that the republican operative who ran the GOP‘s anti-gay playbook in 2004 has just come out and admitted that had he‘s gay.
With us tonight, Karen Hunter, journalist and publisher and Heidi Harris, radio talk show host from Las Vegas. Let‘s talk about the money. Karen, how are the democrats going to counter $400 million in the midterms with just a little over 60 days to go?
KAREN HUNTER, JOURNALIST: I don‘t know that they will. But they‘d better get on their horses really quickly because we know that money talks in this country. We know that the mayor of New York City may not be mayor if he didn‘t have the billions of dollars behind him to fund his own campaign. And we‘ve seen it in California and other states where people have plunged a lot of money, money talks in this country. And it‘s going to be a really tough law if they don‘t get their act together.
SCHULTZ: The president talked about this in his Saturday radio address last weekend. And I thought, it was an under covered story. Here‘s what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You think that reducing corporate and even foreign influence over our elections wouldn‘t be a partisan issue. But the republican leaders in Congress said no. In fact, they used their power to block the issue from even coming up for a vote. This can only mean that the leaders of the other party want to keep the public in the dark. They don‘t want you to know which interests are paying for the ads.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: This of course, is an effect of the Supreme Court ruling.
Heidi, what do you make of it?
HEIDI HARRIS, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Well, you know, whether you have McCain-Feingold or any kind of regulatory reform when it comes to campaign, you‘re going to always have influences and people spending a lot of money. You know, if the left doesn‘t have the enough money, tell George Soros to write another check or have another party in Hollywood and have Hollywood come up with some money for these democrats.
HUNTER: This is not the way our government was supposed to be run, Heidi and...
HARRIS: Oh, come on. I understand what you‘re saying Karen but the reality is both sides do it all the time. And no matter how many regulations you put in effect, you‘re going to have people who are going to be finding ways to funnel money to their candidate.
HUNTER: But it doesn‘t make it right. We don‘t have the right representation when it‘s all about the money. Who‘s running this asylum?
HARRIS: Well, the left can‘t complain when the right does it. The right complains when the left does it. Both sides do it. I‘m not saying it‘s necessarily the best thing. It shouldn‘t be that the candidate with the most money wins. I agree with you there. We don‘t always get the best candidates. Well, we‘ve almost never get the best candidate.
HUNTER: Thank you.
HARRIS: But the reality is, you‘ve got to get your message out. And the only way to do that is with money. And there‘s never going to be any way to eliminate the corruption or the weirdos.
SCHULTZ: Heidi, the conservatives in this country say it‘s all about free speech. That‘s what the Supreme Court ruling is about. The free speech, the one who gets the biggest microphone is the one who raises the money. And corporations are republican. They are conservative. They hate taxes. They don‘t want to pay anything. I mean, certainly you can admit that there is an unfair advantage and clearly this takes away the voice of the little guy.
HARRIS: Really, what about all the people in Hollywood? What about the George Soros‘s of the world? There‘s plenty of money coming in on the left.
SCHULTZ: You just can‘t say that one person and there‘s plenty of money on the left. The fact is this is a fundamental change in the way our elections are run. The president is now addressing it, Karen. And I just wonder if anybody‘s listening how important this is.
HARRIS: Well, it‘s interesting that the Republican Party which is supposed to be for the little people, they‘re the voice of the people who are voiceless right now that this has become their biggest hammer. I mean, you can‘t have it both ways, can you, Heidi?
SCHULTZ: All right. Sharron Angle, she will not disavow that there are domestic enemies in the Congress? Heidi, you did this interview with the Republican Tea Party candidate out in Nevada. What is she talking about? Do you think we‘ve got enemies in the Congress?
HARRIS: What happened is that we know talk show host by the name of Bill Maher (ph), he‘s a friend of mine, had asked her about that, he‘s basically said, I think we have people in Congress who are enemies of the country. And she agreed with him. I think you‘re right, OK, that‘s all she said. I had her on my show this week, I asked her about that. And I agree with her. I mean, I think that there are people in Congress, left and right by the way whose policies are very detrimental to our country.
(CROSSTALK)
SCHULTZ: Wait a minute. There‘s a difference between a detrimental policy and an enemy to the country.
HARRIS: OK. Well, I‘ll use the word enemy.
SCHULTZ: I need names of some of these enemies that we‘ve got to, you know, vet out in the Congress that have been elected. Who‘s an enemy of the United States in the Congress?
HARRIS: I will tell you that there are people in Congress whose policies, whose attitudes will do nothing but destroy this country.
HUNTER: Name them.
HARRIS: When you talk about foreign trade and there are people who don‘t do enough about foreign trade, when you talk about weakening our military, those things are detrimental to our country.
SCHULTZ: So, you think that there are people in the Congress who are working against America‘s best interests?
HARRIS: Yes. No question about that. Absolutely.
SCHULTZ: All right. Karen what, do you think?
HUNTER: I think what Heidi is doing is exactly what the problem is in this country. She‘s putting out these blanket statements and not naming any names. Name some names so we can all rally behind what you‘re saying, if it‘s true, name the names, Heidi. Who are they?
SCHULTZ: She doesn‘t have any names. We‘ve got to go. I do want to point out that this is the same story that put Michele Bachmann on the map when she told Chris Matthews on “HARDBALL” a little over a year ago that she thought that there are members of Congress should be investigated for their anti-American views. So it bumped her up to primetime. Maybe it will do the same for Sharron Angle. I don‘t know. Karen Hunter and Heidi Harris, we‘ve got to run. I appreciate your time tonight.
Coming up, I want to tell you what Neil Cavuto and Alan Simpson and a cow‘s backside have to do with this baby smoking. OK. That‘s next in the Playbook. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And it‘s not too late to let us know what you think. Tonight‘s text survey question is, do you think conservative talkers like Glenn Beck are distorting Martin Luther King‘s dream for America? Text A for yes, text B for no to 622639. Results coming up. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And in my Playbook tonight, well, the tan man‘s got to go, fortunately there a couple of progressive groups trying hard to unseat the this guy. First, they put up a billboard in Boehner‘s home district letting constituents know just how much he loves golf and how often he plays. And by tomorrow, another billboard will go up slamming Boehner for failing to hold BP accountable. There‘s also a new campaign commercial targeting the republican leader.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Tax cuts to help Ohio businesses buy equipment. John Boehner voted no. Tax cut for car sales to help rescue Ohio‘s auto industry. John Boehner voted no. Tax cuts for Ohio‘s unemployed workers. John Boehner voted no. Tax cut for millionaires that adds $700 billion to the deficit but won‘t create jobs. John Boehner votes yes. For everyone who thinks millionaires need a break, there‘s John Boehner. For everyone else there‘s Justin Coussoule.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: The gulf thing works every time. The message is clear, Boehner does not care about the middle class Americans in this country.
Joining me now is Justin Coussoule, the democratic candidate running against Boehner in Ohio‘s eight district. Justin, how do you feel about this race right now? Sources have told me that you had cold feet about a month ago. Then things kind of turned around a little bit when you got some support from people who really didn‘t want to be aggressive on Boehner. Where do you stand now?
JUSTIN COUSSOULE (D), RUNNING AGAINST REP. BOEHNER: Sure, Ed. Well, I‘ve never had cold feet, Ed. We‘ve been working hard on the ground since seven months ago when we first got in the race. But, you know, we have some good momentums, the billboards, some national press helped move us along. We‘re on all volunteer operation here and a real Grassroots Campaigns. And I‘m feeling great. I think people on the ground know that this is a real viable race.
SCHULTZ: What has Boehner done that you have an issue with outside of playing a lot of golf?
COUSSOULE: All right. Well, he‘s the most coin operated politician in Washington. You know, I think, it builds on everything you‘ve been talking about for the last half hour or so, Ed. You know, this is somebody who couldn‘t be further out of touch with the working middle class.
SCHULTZ: Has he been a beneficiary of a lot of corporations that are now operating under new rule unlimited funds or are you up against that?
COUSSOULE: Oh, absolutely. This is somebody whose top contributors are the health insurance industry, pharmaceutical industry, big oil, big tobacco, pesticides, you name it. About 60 percent of his money comes from out of district and from big corporations and the super rich. He‘s a classic example.
SCHULTZ: What are you hearing on the ground in Ohio in your district?
COUSSOULE: Where are the jobs? How do we get back to economic recovery, you know, what is the long-term sustainable answer. And that‘s not directed by the way at the president of the United States or the democratic Congress who‘s been there for 18 months. That‘s directed to people like John Boehner who have been in office for 20 years. And the question is, you know, people see the failed economic policies of the last two decades and they‘re saying, you know, what‘s next? Where do working class blue collar people get work?
SCHULTZ: And quickly, the people in your district where you go door to door and talk, are they satisfied with Boehner‘s answers when he‘s asked a question about turning the country around economically?
COUSSOULE: No, after 20 years, Ed, they see through this act. And the most frequent comment I hear from people on the ground here, republican independent or democrat is that he‘s an embarrassment.
SCHULTZ: Justin Coussoule, good to have you with us. Keep up the fight.
Final page in the Playbook tonight. This week, Alan Simpson compared Social Security to a cow with 310 million, you know what‘s. Neil Cavuto has his own analogy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEIL CAVUTO, FOX BUSINESS ANCHOR: Instead of equating Social Security to this, should he just be equating it to this? All of us are that kid. Me minus the cigarette. Smoking baby, 2-years-old, completely hooked out of his gourd.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: So, Mr. Business is comparing Social Security to a 2-year-old smoker. I‘m not sure what Neil is smoking across the street but I think he is the one out of his gourd.
Up next, Glenn Beck is trying to upstage Dr. Martin Luther King, award-winning documentarian, that would be Robert Greenwald our friend is about to make it very clear there‘s absolutely no comparison. Next on THE ED SHOW. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And finally tonight on THE ED SHOW, Glenn Beck saying that he wants to reclaim the civil rights movement on the anniversary of Martin Luther King‘s “I have a Dream” speech is pretty much disgraceful. And the production company Brave New Films has released a new video showing just how ridiculous the idea is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR., AMERICAN ACTIVIST: I have a dream. That one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed.
GLENN BECK, FOX BUSINESS ANCHOR: This president I think has exposed himself as a guy over and over and over again who has a deep seated hatred for white people or the white culture. I don‘t know what it is. This guy is I believe a racist.
KING: We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.
BECK: Every undocumented worker is an illegal immigrant, a criminal and a drain on our dwindling resources.
When I first stood on those stairs after I had announced that had we were doing this, I stood on those stairs of the Lincoln Memorial, I went down to Washington, D.C., and I thought to myself, who do you think you are?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Director Robert Greenwald of Brave New Films joins us now. Robert, you‘re a hard worker but this had to be an easy production to put together.
ROBERT GREENWALD, BRAVE NEW FILMS: Yes, that was a wealth of opportunities and quotes unfortunately, Ed. But we decided that really what we would do is stick with the words, the eloquent beautiful inspirational words of Dr. King and the raging and the ranting and the anger and the mean spiritedness of Beck. And we had a debate internally about which Beck quotes to use because as you well know, there were probably hundreds, maybe thousands of them.
SCHULTZ: What is your take on this entire production that he‘s putting together going so far now as to say that he really didn‘t even know what the date was although he‘s a history buff. And now of course, today in a radio interview, he‘s backing off that comment about and apologizing to Joe Madison about the deep seated hatred for white people? What do you make of this?
GREENWALD: Well, I think it‘s a combination of opportunism of the worst kind and it‘s also what we‘ve seen from the right. And this is I think the important message here which is they‘re always on the offense, they‘re always looking for new ways to attack and go out there, make trouble, reframe. Create narratives and that‘s one of the things I mean, this is—we were playing defense here, frankly. But more and more I think as we go forward, Ed, and you‘ve talked about this a lot, we have to be looking for ways where progressives can be on the offense about issues, not just waiting and reactions for the lunatic of the moment.
SCHULTZ: In your documentary film that you put together on this, the comparisons, is Beck consistent where he stands on race?
GREENWALD: Well, I would say he‘s consistent in that it‘s hateful. It‘s angry. It‘s racist at times. And it spans across people of color and that has not varied. You know, people call the FOX Network though, how are we going to scare white people network? And Beck is a leader of that have charge.
SCHULTZ: Is it promotional or do you think he believes it?
GREENWALD: Well, I think it‘s probably both. I think he really believes the myths and the paranoia that he spins about how endangered old white guys are but he‘s also an extraordinary opportunist than he‘s making millions and millions of dollars every year by being an opportunist.
SCHULTZ: And where can folks see this, Robert?
GREENWALD: Well, they can go to Brave New Films. They can see on the website. They can see it on Facebook. We‘ve had over 30,000 people sign their statement about standing with Dr. King in less than 24 hour.
SCHULTZ: Robert Greenwald, Brave New Films. Great to have you with us tonight. Thanks so much.
GREENWALD: Thanks, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Tonight in our survey, I asked, do you think conservative talkers like Glenn Beck are distorting Martin Luther King‘s dream of America. Seventy seven percent of you said yes. Twenty three percent of you said no.
That‘s THE ED SHOW. I‘m Ed Schultz. And I hope to see you at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow at Reverend Sharpton‘s reclaim the dream rally in Washington, D.C. at Dunbar High School. Chris Matthews is next with “HARDBALL” on the place for politics MSNBC. Have a great weekend. We‘re back on Monday here at 30 Rock.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
END
Copyright 2010 Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by
United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed,
transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written
permission of Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark,
copyright or other notice from copies of the content.>
PASTE THE TRANSCRIPT HERE