Guests: Robert Greenwald, Jim Wallis, Elijah Cummings, Ben Jealous, Bill
Press, John Feehery, Nicole Lamoureux, Chuck Collins
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.
“The Beckster” is attacking me?
Buddy, you‘re barking up the wrong tree, because I‘m going to expose you for the fraudulent phony that you have been along.
My commentary on that in just a moment.
The Tea Party express is picking up steam. Another Palin pick has taken down a Republican establishment candidate. NAACP president Ben Jealous is going to stop that train in “The Battleground” story tonight.
And corporate greed is literally out of control. Companies are firing people by the thousands while their CEOs are raking in millions.
I‘ll tell you who they are and how they‘re screwing the American worker and what we can do to stop them. That‘s all coming up tonight.
But this, of course, is the story that has me fired up tonight. Glenn Beck, the man who is bringing the country back to God, took his eye kind of off the Lord long enough to come attack me.
“The Beckster” didn‘t like my observation that a lot of the folks, thousands of the people at his rally, were old, white, angry, Palin-McCain leftovers. He also took issue with the fact that I‘m on a mission to level the playing field on radio and TV for years in this country.
Conservative talk and Fox News, well, they‘ve been doing a pretty good job of spreading lies and righty propaganda in ways that I think has been very damaging to the country. You know, like those WMDs in Iraq. But if you have fire in your belly, and you‘re a liberal, oh, gosh, you must be really angry.
Look, I‘m an ex-jock. I‘m an ex-football player. You know what jockstraps do. We get in the locker room, we get fired up, we talk to our team and get after it.
I told my radio audience that I want to kick Fox‘s rear end when it comes to ratings. Well, who doesn‘t?
Beck played a clip of my radio show to illustrate how angry liberals can be. I wasn‘t angry, I was passionate.
Take a listen to what real anger on the radio sounds like.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where is your logic? What would you do? I‘m asking you, what would you do to change this health care system for the better? After all, every time you people bring up costs, you don‘t care about the trillions of dollars to bail out the banks and all the credit card companies.
GLENN BECK, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Cathy (ph), get off my phone! Get off my phone, you little pinhead! I don‘t care? “You people don‘t care about the trillions.” Get off the phone!
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Now, I was just passionate about beating Fox. I mean, Beck, he went mental on a caller because he didn‘t think Americans should get health care?
I was at a free health care clinic yesterday in New Orleans. Is Glenn Beck screaming at those Americans?
I‘m trying to use my radio and TV platforms to help people get health care, to have a better America, to help the unemployed—the ones that Beck say are un-American—push the president to do the correct things in this country for the middle class—and he talked about it last night and I‘m glad he did—keep jobs from being shipped overseas and help small businesses stay afloat, all the things that Beck doesn‘t talk about, and all the things that we know we‘ve got a lot of work to do in this country.
Now, NBC News reported that Beck had 300,000 people at his rally. CBS put it under 100,000.
Now, I also said on my radio show I could get 300,000 people. You give me six months of promotion, six months of production, and two billionaires who are paying for busing the people in, hey, we‘ll get ‘er done -- 99ers, outsourced American, let‘s see, probably teachers, union workers, those dirty sons of guns out there, you know, wage earners of America, those cab drivers, those truck drivers, I‘m confident that if I were to do this, that they would walk with me.
Beck‘s rally, I‘m telling you, folks, was no big shakes. It is not
going to have any impact on the midterms. It‘s what‘s in our hearts and
what we want to do to save this country is what it‘s all about. Thousands
of his followers—let me say it again so they don‘t have to edit the tape
they were old, white, angry Americans who can‘t stand the fact that there‘s a black guy in the White House.
Now let‘s get into the grandiose side of Glenn Beck. Beck wants to lead the nation back to God. Well, let‘s start with this sound bite --
(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: Oops. Wrong sound bite if we‘re talking about God.
Let‘s get to the God part.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: Something beyond imagination is happening. Something that is beyond man is happening. America today begins to turn back to God.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Even the birds overhead were on a mission from God.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: At 9:59, what happened was there was a flock of geese that ran. It was a fly-over, if you will. Someone caught it on tape. Here‘s the fly-over. This was happening just as the opening music was starting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
SCHULTZ: Anybody who spends any time at all in Washington, D.C., know that the geese fly all over the city and they crap over everything. In fact, the air traffic controllers at Reagan National Airport have complained about having too many geese.
You know, I just have a hard time with a talk show host wrapping himself in the flag and the bible to promote a personal agenda. And let‘s not forget the fear mongering.
Beck just told Newsmax—this is what he said—“I fear a Reichstag moment. God forbid, another 9/11, something that will turn this machine on, and power will be seized and voices will be silenced.”
What voices? Are you hearing voices, Beck? What voices are you going to be silenced? Has Barack Obama tried to silence voices?
Beck also sounded the alarm on his TV show.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: I believe we‘re approaching a last call. All aboard God‘s train. Buckle up, because trouble is coming. Get behind the shield of God. That is the message.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Oh, it is?
Beck, you‘re off your rocker. You have no faith, in my opinion.
This guy thinks America is on the road to Armageddon.
Go ahead, buddy, call me angry, call me anything you want. By the
way, I do want to mention the fact that I‘ve gotten a lot of e-mails from
Beck‘s fans, I guess, and they always like to say I‘m fat—“Hey, you fat”
I just want to let you know that I was fat right after college. I‘ve been fat for a long time.
I was fat yesterday. I‘m fat today. I‘m going to be fat tomorrow.
Why? Because I like to eat stuff.‘. I‘m kind of a normal American. And I get passionate about issues when I see jobs that are being shipped out overseas.
You Beck supporters that have been leaving me hate voicemails and hate e-mails, bring it on, baby. Just bring it on. I‘ve got the truth on my side. It‘s amazing how you change your attitude about America once your job has been shipped overseas.
Beck hates unions. He hates the working folk of America. He never talks about the middle class.
And I can say with confidence that he would never take his show, as I did yesterday, to a free health care clinic, because, you see, he‘s already labeled those 99ers as un-American and questioned, well, how long should we help you? Well, you know what? How long should we be in war? How much money should we actually spend?
You know, it‘s all about the money with the conservatives. And I can tell you, even with Beck in this whole circus that he‘s got cooking, it is about the money. I give the guy credit. He knows how to make it.
But when it comes to leading the country to God, no. No. He won‘t even apologize for his comment about the president of the United States.
And when he talks about a 9-year-old in the crowd who might be listening to what‘s going on, that‘s the danger in all of this. The hate merchanting that he does is touching a lot of Americans who are at a very influential period in their time and development.
Another thing that I find very interesting about Beck, he never advocates for the American worker. If you check his hats, his Glenn Beck hats and his T-shirts and everything else, they‘re all made in China. They‘re not made by American workers. He‘s a phony.
Get your cell phones out, folks. I want to know what you think.
Tonight‘s text survey question is: Do you think Glenn Beck is a phony? I‘m texting “A” for yes. Text “B” for no to 622639. We‘ll bring you the results later on in the show.
Joining me now is award-winning filmmaker Robert Greenwald, Brave New Films. Robert directed and produced the documentary “Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch‘s War on Journalism,” and also the brains behind a recent project called “Glenn Beck is Not Martin Luther King.”
Robert, good to have you with us tonight.
Is it really a scam? Is it all about making money, or does Beck really want to bring this country back to God? What do you think?
ROBERT GREENWALD, BRAVE NEW FILMS: Well, according to “Forbes” magazine, Beck Enterprises made $32 million last year. So, unless Glenn Beck is prepared to turn all of that money over to charities, I think that we can clearly and safety call him on his hypocrisy. And maybe it‘s a good campaign for you to lead, Ed, which is we encourage Beck, who‘s found religion, to give the money away, because he wouldn‘t want to profit from something, right?
So I think that there‘s a strong, clear case about what you were saying, the money is a driving force here. And the irony of this man sort of taking on the mantle of Dr. King, you know that Dr. King would be right up on the board with Van Jones and Color of Change and all the other people that Beck has gone after.
SCHULTZ: Why is it then when liberals are passionate, we‘re labeled as “angry”? Yet, when conservatives get passionate, they‘re just great Americans? Is this just a conversational trip that these folks are on? What do you think?
GREENWALD: Well, it‘s the fact that they‘re always playing offense and they‘re always looking at a way to attack. You know, if they can attack our messengers, which they do over and over again, whether they attack you, Ed, or the unions or ACORN, or they attack the way we deliver our message, it effectively puts them on offense.
And one of the things—and we‘ve talked about this—that we need to keep doing is find a way for progressives to go on the offense so we‘re not always reacting. But, you know, the fact that he can go out and slander and accuse, the hypocrisy, the justification, all in the name of religion, is frankly disgusting.
SCHULTZ: Well, Robert, if I decide to march on Washington, I know I can count on you for promotion.
GREENWALD: I‘ll be there.
SCHULTZ: I won‘t shake you down for any money so we can bus people in, but I know that you—
GREENWALD: But Ed, if you march on Washington, you have to promise you‘ll have the geese flying above you when you do.
SCHULTZ: I‘d rather have pheasants, but that‘s OK.
(LAUGHTER)
SCHULTZ: Robert, good to have you with us tonight. Thanks so much.
GREENWALD: Thanks, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Now, more serious talk on this.
I mentioned Beck‘s God talk earlier. Here‘s something you might know about him—or might not know.
He‘s a Mormon. Fine. His religious overtones and rhetoric have begun to raise red flags with some Christians in this country.
Joining me now is Reverend Jim Wallis, who has been a target of Beck from time to time. He is the president of Sojourners.
Reverend Wallis, can Christians in this country take Beck serious when he says he wants to bring the country back to God?
REV. JIM WALLIS, PRESIDENT, SOJOURNERS: Well, first of all, it doesn‘t matter if Glenn Beck is a Mormon. And we don‘t want anti-Mormon bigotry any more than anti-Muslim bigotry, which is flaming up across the country.
The problem with Glenn Beck is I think he‘s wrong about some of the things he‘s saying, and I think he‘s more wrong about the way he says what he says. He‘s been attacking a lot of us because we are what he calls “Social Justice Christians.”
Now, the archetypal social justice person of faith was the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We take—I was one of his disciples. And I believe, as Beck does, in personal salvation. But the question is, for what? Not as a ticket, or just for me, but for the world, for God‘s purposes in the world.
So, Dr. King talked about his faith leading him to fight for economic justice, racial justice, social justice. So I like to still not just be attacked by Glenn Beck, but have a civil dialogue with Glenn.
He is a Mormon. That‘s fine. But he doesn‘t understand Christian theology very well at all, or what Jesus said, or what the prophets had to say about social justice.
SCHULTZ: But quickly, Reverend, he has such an angst for people who have lost their job. He has such contempt for minorities. It‘s well stated.
How could he be a man of any faith that acts like this?
WALLIS: Well, again, I want to talk about what people mean when they say let‘s turn to God. I try and do that every day. A lot of us do turn back to God.
What does that mean? What does our faith mean in the world?
Now, Glenn Beck says he doesn‘t like the version of Christianity practiced by Barack Obama, or he names me or other people. Well, Jesus said in his opening sermon—he said, “The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, to release the captives, and set at liberty those who are oppressed.”
That was a call for social justice. So, does Glenn Beck agree with Jesus‘ version of Christianity? I‘d like to have a dialogue with him about that.
SCHULTZ: Well, there are people in this country who are oppressed by the medical profession because they‘re sick and dying, they don‘t have insurance, and they can‘t afford it. Can‘t think of any more oppression than that.
WALLIS: Right.
SCHULTZ: And he has total contempt for the government, the people of this country trying to help those people.
We‘re short on time. I know if I were to call for a march or ask you to join me, I know you would join me, wouldn‘t you, Reverend?
WALLIS: Well, I think standing up for social justice is something I‘ll march for any day of the week.
SCHULTZ: Absolutely.
WALLIS: So I want to say to Mr. Beck—
SCHULTZ: Well, I‘ve got Robert Greenwald and I‘ve got Reverend Wallis. So now I need 299,998 people.
We‘re on a roll here in the first 15 minutes of the show.
WALLIS: Ed, I‘m just saying the country needs not just name-calling and attacking—
SCHULTZ: Exactly.
WALLIS: -- but a serious conversation about something as serious as what social justice really means.
SCHULTZ: I totally agree.
WALLIS: I would love Glenn to talk with me and not just call me names. I‘d prefer that much better.
SCHULTZ: All right. Reverend Wallis, great to have you with us.
WALLIS: Good to see you.
SCHULTZ: Coming up, it wasn‘t just war talk for the president last night. He fought for jobs and economic recovery for the middle class.
Congressman Cummings has a message for the righties who are trying to stand in the way.
And Sharron Angle was a teacher, but trust me, she doesn‘t value a good education. And I‘m going to give her a lesson in the “Playbook” tonight.
And all that, plus I‘m exposing the greediest CEOs in the country.
Names will be named.
You‘re watching THE ED SHOW on MSNBC. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our most urgent task is to restore our economy and put the millions of Americans who have lost their jobs back to work. We must jump-start industries that create jobs and end our dependence on foreign oil. We must unleash the innovation that allows new products to roll off our assembly lines and nurture the ideas that spring from our entrepreneurs.
This will be difficult. But in the days to come, it must be our central mission as a people and my central responsibility as president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW. Thanks for watching.
I thought the president hit all the right notes last night. He‘s shifting his focus to what America needs most right now, and that is jobs. There‘s no doubt Americans are hurting.
The president has got a lot of work to do on this to make things better. But I can tell you who will not be working hard on this to put Americans back to work, and that‘s semi-pro golfer John Boehner and his party of do-nothing obstructionists.
They want President Obama and this economy to fail, and they‘re going to do anything they possible can to stop him. They‘re disingenuous when they say that they have a plan. They don‘t and they never have had a plan. It‘s all about Waterloo and that‘s it.
They are blocking a jobs bill that has been held up in the Senate right now.
And for more on this, let‘s turn to Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings, who has his name on 370 bills that are over in the Senate that have been stalled by the folks that want to stop President Obama.
Congressman, good to have you with us tonight. I appreciate your time.
REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D), MARYLAND: Good to be with you, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Can we take what we spent on Iraq and now turn it to the jobs market? And can we do it without Republican help?
What do you think?
CUMMINGS: It‘s going to be difficult, but I do believe that we can do it. Keep in mind, Ed, that we were spending $2 billion every day in Iraq. And that‘s a lot of money on a war that should have never been fought. But the fact still is, is that we‘ve got to do better.
You know, the president talks constantly about a bill that we have in the Senate—it‘s past the House—that would give $30 billion to community banks so that they can lend to small businesses. And it also—
SCHULTZ: Some are laughing at that number. Some say that that‘s not even close to scratching the surface.
What do you think?
CUMMINGS: I say I would love for them to come and visit my district and see the 60 or 70 small businesspeople who met with the Federal Reserve not long ago and basically said, look, we just need lines of credit. Many of them, they‘ve lost their lines of credit because of banks and the situation that we find ourselves in.
And Ed, I ran a small business, a law firm for almost 20 years. And these people were saying if they only had a $25,000 or $30,000 line of credit, they could do more business.
But the fact is, is that the banks have not done their part. Our Republican colleagues have stood in the way of a bill basically that Republicans like. They‘re Republican ideas, and as soon as President Obama proposes it, suddenly there‘s something wrong with it.
And my friends on the Republican side are looking into the eyes of their constituents and basically saying there‘s nothing that can be done. And sadly, there‘s a lot that can be done if only we would come together.
SCHULTZ: Congressman, this is a vital point I want to make that I don‘t think that there has been enough discussion about.
You go into a bank today and you have got to personally guarantee the loan. There are a lot of businesses in this country that don‘t have owners that can personally guarantee the loan. They‘re very fragile.
But would this money help those people back up the loan with federal money? Is that how this is going to work? Because if the Republicans are against that, they are totally against small business.
CUMMINGS: This would do that and more, Ed. It would help them—it would give them access to capital.
The Kauffman (ph) Business Report says the number one concern of small business, the thing that they want the most, is access to capital.
SCHULTZ: No doubt.
CUMMINGS: That is so important to them. And I can tell you, like I said, Ed, you‘re talking about $15,000, $20,000, $30,000 in a line of credit. It could literally give people opportunities to do, say, $125,000 worth of business off of that $30,000 because it allows them to get from one day to another. And that‘s the key.
SCHULTZ: Congressman, good to have you with us tonight. Keep up the fight. Thanks so much.
CUMMINGS: Good being with you, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Coming up, I‘m not done with “The Beckster.” He really needs to start practicing what he preaches. The truth will set you free, but I‘m locking him up in the “Zone” next.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And in “Psycho Talk” tonight, if “The Beckster” really wants to restore honor to America, he should start with telling the truth.
Listen to what he told the crowd at the rally on Saturday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: I went to the National Archives and I held the first inaugural address written in his own hand by George Washington.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Really? Small problem there, big guy. The folks at the National Archives told “Mother Jones” that there was no way, anyone, even Glenn Beck, would be allowed to touch precious documents like Washington‘s inaugural address.
So what‘s the conclusion here? Well, Beck, he‘s either lying, which he does a lot of, or he snuck into the National Archives illegally.
But even after telling that whopper, Beck still had the gall to lecture his followers about the importance of telling the truth.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: Tell the truth! America is crying out for the truth! Tell the truth in your own life and then expect it from others.
The truth shall set you free. The truth shall set you free.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Interesting, the videotape there, all the people that were leaving.
If the truth really does set you free, Glenn Beck should be in a maximum security lockup after all his bogus “Psycho Talk.”
Coming up, this is scary as heck. Sarah Palin endorsed nut job Joe Miller, who‘s just one giant step closer to the Senate. He joins Rand Paul and Sharron Angle. The Tea Party folks, they continue to grow.
NAACP president Ben Jealous brings the straight talk next in “The Battleground.”
And secrets about the wonderful Sarah Palin are revealed. “Vanity Fair” has an explosive report on her hidden anger. Can you believe it? And bad tipping. I guess she‘s really cheap. And habits about just power-tripping, ego stuff.
Details and all coming up in the “Playbook.”
All that, plus Democrats fight back against Fox News, the president knocks one out of the park. And Sharron Angle, she needs a real timeout when it comes to education.
You‘re watching THE ED SHOW on MSNBC. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW. The Battleground story tonight, the Tea Party has taken out another republican incumbent. Last night, Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski conceded her primary race to Tea Party favorite Joe Miller. This makes Miller the fifth republican Senate candidate to take out an establishment favorite in the primaries. He joins fellow Tea Partiers Rand Paul of Kentucky, Nevada‘s Sharron Angle, Colorado‘s Ken Buck and Mike Lee of Utah. Now, if those five candidates win in the general election, Tea Partiers will make up 10 percent of the republican caucus in the Senate next year.
Let me bring in Ben Jealous, president of the NAACP. If that scenario plays out, Mr. Jealous, what does that signal to your organization and how do you feel about that seeing that these Tea Partiers have been so volatile when it comes to race?
BEN JEALOUS, NAACP PRESIDENT: You know, we‘re very pleased that the Tea Partiers begun to heed our call and be more civil. I mean, the fact that Glenn Beck asked his followers to leave their guns and signs at home, the fact that Mark Williams was thrown out of the Tea Party nation, put out in an anti-racist statement and you know, all of a sudden, we‘re finding all these Tea Party leaders of color, that they‘ve never going to see before, we see those as all, you know, very good signs.
SCHULTZ: Well, you‘ve asked the Tea Party to denounce racism. Have they done that?
JEALOUS: We‘ve asked them to denounce the racism, the ranks. As I was just talking about that, that‘s begun to happen. You know, we are concerned, because we‘ve seen groups like the Council of Conservative Citizens, you know, brag about being active in the Tea Party. This is literally dilemma—the Council of Conservative Citizens. So, you know, again, we‘re seeing great progress there, and we‘re—but what we‘re also very cognizant of the mainstream of this country, the mainstream of this country wants to keep—where we‘ve been heading for the last two years.
Solving the problems like health care, doing what the president talked about last night which is get out of these, you know, begin to disentangle ourselves from these wars overseas, so we can focus from the crisis here at home, get folks back to work, make sure that every school is a great school, keep solving issues in our justice system and keep moving towards that place that all of us want our country to be at, which is a place where every worker, you know, where things get better.
SCHULTZ: How active is the NAACP going to be in this midterm, about 60 days out?
JEALOUS: We are working very hard to get people focused on what is at stake. On 10-2-10 on October 2nd, we‘ll have a big national rally here. The focus of this rally is jobs, justice, fixing the problems in our schools, and making sure that we keep on moving forward as a country and we don‘t start moving backwards. We have come way too far, we have made way too much progress for us to start heading backwards now.
SCHULTZ: No question about that. Ben Jealous, appreciate your time tonight. Thanks for joining us.
JEALOUS: Thank you, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Now let‘s get some rapid fire response from our panel on these stories. President Obama praised George W. Bush‘s love of country and the commitment to security last night. But it wasn‘t enough for former Bush Secretary Ari Fleischer. He thinks W. deserved credit for the troop surge.
The democratic Governor‘s Association has been ranking in the cash since News Corp. gave a million dollars to the republicans. The DGA has already match News Corp. donation.
And hate radio talk show host Bill Cunningham out of Ohio says Mr. Tan Man is letting him broadcast from his office in the United States capital on Election Day. That‘s a hot one with me.
Tonight with us, we‘ve got nationally syndicated radio talk show host Bill Press and also joining us is republican strategist John Feehery. Let‘s talk about the president‘s speech last night. Bill Press, did the president go far enough? Ari Fleischer says, he didn‘t.
BILL PRESS, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Hey, he went too far for me, Ed. I groaned when he said it, but I thought it was a class act from the part of the president to give President Bush a credit, at least for following his beliefs, loving his country, supporting the troops. But the president made it clear, if he were president at the time, he never would have gone there in the first place. If he had praised the surge, if he had said, this was a good war after all, and I was wrong, nobody would have believed him, nobody would have hypocritical. Ari Fleischer is just never satisfied unless you know, you put George Bush on the pedestal.
SCHULTZ: This is what the president said last night. Talking about his conversation with the former president. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This afternoon I spoke to former President George W. Bush. It‘s well known that he and I disagreed about the war from its outset. Yet no one can doubt President Bush‘s support for our troops and his love of country and commitment to our security.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: A lot of liberals think that that was over the top. John Feehery, was it a class act?
JOHN FEEHERY, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Listen, I think President Obama gets some credit for this. But President Bush was right on the surge. President Obama was wrong on the surge and that should have been acknowledged in the speech.
SCHULTZ: You know, that‘s like having the arsonist call the Fire Department, isn‘t it?
FEEHERY: Not at all. We actually—we‘re in a much better position in Iraq because President Bush stood up and made the courageous call to call for more troops in the surge and that‘s why we are as in good a situation in Iraq as we are today.
SCHULTZ: Bill Press, what do you think?
PRESS: Well, I just think that Bush is just forget it—look, we know this was an illegal war, we‘ve never should have gone there in the first place. We‘ll give him some credit for loving our country and supporting the troops but damn it, we‘re not going to go back and say, this is a good work, and the surge worked. It didn‘t. Thank God, the combat mission is over. Let‘s move on.
SCHULTZ: All right. Bill Cunningham, radio talk show host out of Ohio, who is a severe righty is saying that he is going to be broadcasting from the tan man, John Boehner‘s office on election night. I want to remind our audience, in case you didn‘t know, that it was Trent Lott who would not let this broadcaster broadcast out of the heart Senate building and Harry Reid told me, Ed, you can‘t come in here anymore. What is going on with this, Bill Press?
PRESS: Well, first of all. I checked today, Ed. It is legal in the House for members to allow broadcasters to broadcast from their offices. I‘m sorry to say. But first of all, this guy is one of the ugliest and one of the craziest that I talk about him in my book, “Toxic Talk.” He‘s called President Obama the antichrist and his slogan is, you know, Bill Cunningham, what is your Willie thinking? I mean, this is how crazy this guy is. You know what I got to tell you, Ed, so it‘s illegal to be there. But if I were Bill Cunningham, I would stay home. Because once the results come in, it‘s going to be like a morgue in Boehner‘s office.
(LAUGHTER)
PRESS: You and I are the broadcast, Ed. You and I are the broadcast from Nancy Pelosi‘s balcony. That‘s where the part is going to be.
SCHULTZ: John Feehery, what do you think?
FEEHERY: I tell you, I am shocked, shocked that two out of three guys right on this panel are talk show hosts and they‘re not me, and they‘re saying that this guy shouldn‘t be able to broadcast from the capital. Of course, he should be able to.
(CROSSTALK)
SCHULTZ: I don‘t care where he broadcasts from. I don‘t care. I just want to point out the fact that the righties would not allow me to broadcast in the Senate building.
(LAUGHTER)
FEEHERY: The Senate and the House are completely different things Ed, you should know that.
PRESS: Hey, and Ed, it just shows this connection between the republican leadership and these whackos extreme right wingers on the radio. I mean, they‘re led around by the nose.
SCHULTZ: All right. The Democratic Governor‘s Association has decided to go to the Grassroots and get some money. After News Corp. gave a million dollars to the republicans. Here come the Grassroots. Bill Press, what do you make of it?
PRESS: You know what? I love this. I got to tell you. If this some are backfire with Rupert Murdoch so, two things, Ed. Number one, I hope the Governor‘s Association, democratic governors keep this going, right? A million is not enough. Keep it going, get $2 million. Secondly, I hope Rupert Murdoch gives a million to every democratic committee. Because that‘s one way, maybe the only way the democrats are going to be able to match them in fund-raising. This is great. This is great.
SCHULTZ: John Feehery, I‘ll tell you what, isn‘t this kind of a new day when media types, big corporations start writing checks for candidates? I mean, where is the fair and balance in that?
FEEHERY: Let me say that the democrats already have a huge financial advantage. Mostly because they‘re getting money from the special interest.
SCHULTZ: I‘m talking about a media company, John.
(CROSSTALK)
SCHULTZ: I‘m talking about a media company.
FEEHERY: You know, they‘re taking money from the poor working stiffs and taking it against their will and contributing it to democrats who are fighting against them.
SCHULTZ: John, wait a minute. Hold the phone here.
(TALKING OVER EACH OTHER)
SCHULTZ: Unions do not take money from workers against their will. They give $7 a month into a fund and that‘s where it goes from. It‘s not against their will whatsoever. All I‘m asking you, John, isn‘t this new territory when you have a big media company funneling money to an election and then going on the air? I mean, how are people supposed to think that they‘re going to be honest brokers when it comes to the news?
FEEHERY: How about this network we‘re on? I mean, how many contributions from G.E. go to people from the democrats? Come on, you know what, the fact of the matter is.
PRESS: Come on, John. Look, this proves, Ed, if there were ever any doubt that FOX is nothing but the propaganda arm of the republican committee.
FEEHERY: What is MSNBC? Give me a break!
SCHULTZ: Well, I haven‘t seen a million dollar check—All right, let‘s close it out tonight with this final point. Can Glenn Beck bring this country back to God? Bill Press?
PRESS: God, no. I would say.
SCHULTZ: John Feehery?
PRESS: You know, I say stick to politics, Glenn, because you know nothing about religion.
SCHULTZ: John Feehery?
FEEHERY: Let me say that religion is much too important to leave the talk show hosts.
SCHULTZ: All right.
PRESS: Amen.
SCHULTZ: I would agree with that. And I know that Bill Press will march with me if I decided to...
PRESS: You got it, Ed. That‘s three of us.
SCHULTZ: So three people in less than an hour. I‘m on a roll.
Fellows, good to have you with us.
Coming up, outgoing Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty will stop at nothing to help his lame presidential run even if it means a quarter of a million people will be in danger. He wants to pull the plug on the health care law. Nicole Lamoureux runs the National Association of Free Clinics. She‘ll put Pawlenty in his place. We‘ll get an update as she is saving lives down in New Orleans today. That‘s next. 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 Glenn Beck is a phony?
Text A for yes, text B for no to 622639, results coming up. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And tonight, in my Playbook, outgoing Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty is trying to boost his chances to get the republican nomination for 2012 by sticking it so citizens of his own state when it comes to health care. On Tuesday, Pawlenty signed an executive order forbidding Minnesota state agencies from applying for grant programs made available under the new health care law. Pawlenty said, “Obama care is an intrusion by the federal government into personal health care matters and it‘s an explosion of federal spending that does nothing to make health care more affordable. To the fullest extent possible, we need to keep Obama care out of Minnesota.”
Pawlenty, who polled at a whopping one percent in the latest Iowa straw poll, is trying to build his Tea Party credentials with the radical Republican Party. The National Democratic Committee immediately pointed out Pawlenty‘s grandstanding will cost his state $7.8 billion and deny care to a quarter of million Minnesotans. This move by Pawlenty is flat out cruel in my opinion. The man will only be in office for the next few months. And his decision could deny health care to Minnesotans in need for years to come. This is sick, ugly politics on the worst possible level.
Joining me now is the executive director of the National Association of Free Clinics, Nicole Lamoureux. Nicole, thanks for your cooperation yesterday. Our team is certainly was inspired by the work you wonderful professionals were doing down in New Orleans at the Free Clinic. I would like you to respond tonight to this move by this radical governor in Minnesota and how it‘s going to hurt a lot of Americans which of course would probably put more people at your Free Clinics.
NICOLE LAMOUREUX, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FREE CLINICS: Exactly, I would like to invite him to come to one of our Free Clinics or go to visit one of the Free Clinics in Minnesota. These are people who need help. How can we continuously put dollar signs on someone‘s life? I‘m going to ask every viewer, look to the person next to you wherever you are and tell me what their life is worth to you. And then say, it doesn‘t matter.
SCHULTZ: I think that this could really have a domino effect. There‘s going to be some other governors out there on the righty side of things that are probably going to try to do the same thing. Maybe he‘s just the first one, but it‘s a very radical move and this definitely will hurt Americans. What are you seeing in your clinic down in New Orleans? Are the people there sicker? Tell us some of the stories from today.
LAMOUREUX: The people here are so much worse off than when we were here last year. We have people now who are sharing their medications. They can‘t afford medication. They‘re taking the wrong dosages, they‘re taking them from their children, from their aunts and uncles. We‘re hearing stories of people wearing glasses that are four or five years out of date. But most importantly, I had a woman who came in today with a throat nodule which was diagnosed before Katrina and she‘s still not gotten help. Because no one is going to help her.
We were able to help her today but she came in with paperwork two days before Katrina hit. That‘s what were seeing and that‘s constant over and over again. We just sent four people to the hospital right before I came on your show. We‘re hearing respiratory problems. We had someone who has a broken wrist and he didn‘t even know it. Because it was too important for him to work.
SCHULTZ: What do you say to Governor Pawlenty in Minnesota who says that the health care law is a personal intrusion?
LAMOUREUX: I say that to health care law is still isn‘t going to help our patients even now as it is. I talked about it yesterday, I‘ll talk about it again. These patients are saying to us, before 2014, I‘m going to die. There is something that needs to be done that actually gives quality health care to the people who need it the most. And I‘m not thinking it‘s a personal intrusion, because when it comes down to your health, it‘s the most important thing that each and everyone of us have. And it only becomes an issue to the people who are insured when they‘re fighting on one side or the other. But when you‘re uninsured, you‘re fighting for your life.
SCHULTZ: Did you save more lives today in New Orleans?
LAMOUREUX: We did save more lives today. We‘re at 1,344. That‘s how many people have come through the door. Again, people walking up to us saying thank you for being here. We didn‘t believe you were going to come.
SCHULTZ: And they better believe you‘re going to be on December 7th in Charlotte, North Carolina.
LAMOUREUX: That‘s the truth.
SCHULTZ: Nicole, thanks so much for joining us and thanks for what you do.
Some final pages in our Playbook tonight. Sharron Angle has a plan for education, get rid of the Federal Department of Education, she thinks education is better taken care of at the state level. That‘s a real smart idea, Sharron, cut the agency that serves America‘s students, a department that establishes policy and coordinates the most assistance to education. She can use some schooling of her own in my opinion.
And a bombshell story in Vanity Fair rips into Sarah Palin, the momma grizzly is revealed to be hot tempered. Does Beck know that? And paranoid. A paranoid woman who is also a real bad tipper. You know what? I just can‘t stand cheap people. It‘s also revealed that Sarah has become more private and secretive distancing herself from old friends and colleagues. The writer exposes her word of fear and anger saying, anywhere you peel back, the skin of Sarah Palin‘s life is sad and moldering strangeness lies beneath. Wow.
Mayor Bloomberg is talking about last weekend‘s golf match with President Obama on Martha ‘s Vineyard. The mayor of the city of New York said other than golf, they talked a lot about the economy. Now, there‘s some speculation of Obama asking Bloomberg to replace Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner but representatives for the White House and City Hall denied any job discussions.
Coming up, I‘ll tell you why your hard-earned dollars are lining the pockets of some fat cats on Wall Street. It‘s disgusting but you need to hear this. It‘s next on THE ED SHOW. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And finally tonight, are you as appalled as I am? If you know the story, greed just oozing from the heartless CEOs on Wall Street. The Institute for Policy Studies just released a report on executive pay and the findings have got to get your blood boiling. It does mine. CEOs of the 50 firms that laid off the most workers since the start of the economic crisis in 2008 took home an average of $12 million last year.
These fat cats raked in about $600 million at the same time laid off over -
excuse me, 531,000 people. And here‘s the real kicker, many of them took bailout money. There is a class war going on, folks. The big shots are laying of people and cutting wherever they can so they can maintain their outrageous salaries.
Joining me now is the co-author of this report, Chuck Collins. He‘s the senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies and directs their program on inequity and the common good.
CHUCK COLLINS, INSTITUTE FOR POLICY STUDIES, CO-AUTHOR: Hey, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Chuck, good to have you with us tonight. My eyes fell out when I read this story. I mean, I knew it was bad but I didn‘t know it was this bad.
COLLINS: Yes, here we are in the great recession and we‘re seeing that the Wall Street business model of shedding jobs and boosting executive pay to the top. And we looked at, as you say, you know, the top 50 companies, the top 50 layoff leaders. Their pay is 42 percent higher than their overpaid peers on the Standard and Poor‘s. And some of those big layoff leaders, you know, if you look at Fred Hassan, Schering-Plough, paid $50 million, laid off 16,000 workers at the Drug Company. William Weldon, Johnson & Johnson, 9,000 workers, $26 million pay package. Mark Hurd over at Hewlett-Packard, again laying off 6,400 workers. Seeing his pay package, you know, he‘s had a little bit of embattled situation.
SCHULTZ: And this was after getting government assistance to stay afloat, after taking the money from the taxpayers to stay afloat, this is how they rig the system.
COLLINS: That‘s right. I mean, these are, we call them the bailout barons. So take American Express, got $3.4 billion of assistance and the CEO Kenneth Chenault, you know, walks off with $18.6 million in compensation. At the same time that he lays off 4,000 workers.
SCHULTZ: Here‘s CEO pay versus average American worker. The Institute for Policy Studies last year, CEO pay versus the 1990s is over doubled.
COLLINS: That‘s right.
SCHULTZ: CEO last year versus the 1980s more than quadrupled. Average worker last year made less than the 1970s. This is a two-class system, no doubt about it.
COLLINS: It‘s really sort of a reflection of the great betrayal that we see between Wall Street and financial elites and ordinary workers that they‘ve actually benefit from a system where millions of people are losing their jobs. And they‘re paying themselves more than said. That short term outlook trying to, you know, boost their own earnings in the short term but it‘s really in the long term but for the companies that obviously for their employees and the costumers.
SCHULTZ: And then the bailout sorbed because it gets rid of the—to take the money at the top and get rid of the workers. Chuck, great work, I appreciate your time tonight.
COLLINS: Thank you, Ed.
SCHULTZ: In our telephone text survey tonight. I asked you tonight‘s question, do you think Glenn Beck is a phony? Eighty percent of you said yes, 20 percent of you said no.
That‘s THE ED SHOW. I‘m Ed Schultz. Back tomorrow night. “HARDBALL” with Chris Matthews starts right now. Top story tonight, how hard the unions are working to help the democrats win in the midterms? Stay with us. We‘ll see you tomorrow night on THE ED SHOW.
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