Guests: Jonathan Alter, Holland Cooke, Justin Coussoule, Scott Paul, Laura
Flanders, Heidi Harris, Lizz Winstead
ED SCHULTZ, MSNBC ANCHOR: Good evening, Americans, and welcome to THE
ED SHOW tonight, live from Minneapolis.
These stories are hitting "My Hot Buttons" at this hour tonight.
The Tea Party`s newest star, Christine O`Donnell, wants you to know
that she didn`t go to Yale. She didn`t go to Oxford either. But she`s
like you and me.
The righties are playing games again, folks. Don`t fall for it.
Commentary on that in just a moment.
NRCC chairman Pete Sessions is the latest Republican under fire for
racially insensitive remarks. Democrats have identified an ugly pattern.
Reverend Al Sharpton here to respond on all of that.
And Sharron Angle is getting too much of that Vegas sun, don`t you
think? She`s accusing Harry Reid of providing Viagra to child molesters
and trying to scare us that Sharia law is taking over American cities?
It`s a Friday. We`ve got "Rapid Response" on that one.
But this is the story that has me fired up tonight.
Very seriously, America is at an ideological crossroads, and the
future of this country is hanging in the balance. Now, you have to admit,
there is a real bumper crop of wing-nut Republican candidates out there
trying to take over the Congress in the next 25 days, and millions of
Americans, the question is, are they going to get fooled again?
Tea Party darling Christine O`Donnell released another dandy of a
commercial today. Let`s take a look at it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE O`DONNELL (R), DELAWARE SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: I didn`t go
to Yale. I didn`t inherit millions like my opponent. I`m you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: You betcha. She didn`t go to Yale, and she also didn`t go
to Oxford and a couple of other schools she put on her online resume.
This commercial is flat-out a joke. But low-information Republican
voters, you see, they absolutely eat this stuff up. Christine O`Donnell
reminds me of a guy who actually did graduate from Yale.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know the human
being and fish can coexist peacefully.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O`DONNELL: American scientific companies are crossbreeding humans and
animals and coming up with mice with fully functioning human brains.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Pretty close. Bush got elected twice because people, you
know, they just wanted to sit down and have a beer with him in the back
yard, and have a barbecue as well.
Republicans have been lowering the bar on elected officials ever
since. The Tea Party is filling -- is just actually just totally filled up
with anti-intellectual candidates who want you to believe that they`re just
like you.
The wing-nuts and their ideological followers are, I think,
incorrigible, because, you see, facts just don`t matter. They employ this
KISS philosophy, just Keep it Simple, Stupid. Their answer for any problem
that`s out there boils down to two words, and that`s "tax cut."
At the same time, Republicans love to talk about what the American
people really want.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), MINORITY LEADER: The American people are still
asking the question, where are the jobs?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The American people don`t want a government
takeover of health care.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ERIC CANTOR (R), MINORITY WHIP: Shutting down discussions is not
a route to achieve that, that could fairly produce what the American people
want.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH PALIN (R), FMR. ALASKAN GOV.: I don`t know who organizes the
efforts that is needed to put obsessive partisanship aside when in gets in
the way of just doing what`s right for the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: That`s biggest lie of them all. Republicans don`t have a
clue what the American people want. All the polls show that the American
people want tax cuts for the top two percent to expire, to be done with.
Americans hate outsourcing jobs to overseas` countries, and they need
jobs desperately. The latest poll shows that 86 percent of Americans are
concerned about that.
Christine O`Donnell and the other brain wizards in her party are on
the wrong side of all of these issues. But she`s, remember, just like you.
Democrats nominated the president, if we can remember. I think that
Barack Obama was the "Harvard Law Review" president and a constitutional
scholar, and that`s what we did in the last elections. But, you see,
Republicans chose this instead --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLES GIBSON, ABC NEWS: Do you agree with the Bush doctrine?
PALIN: In what respect, Charlie?
He`s also known as the maverick, though.
KATIE COURIC, CBS NEWS: So I`m just ask you one more time, not to
belabor the point -- specific examples in his 26 years of pushing for more
regulation?
PALIN: I`ll try to find you some and I`ll bring them to you.
COURIC: What newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before
you were tapped for this to stay informed and to understand --
PALIN: I read most of them, again, with a great appreciation for the
press, for the media.
COURIC: Like what one specifically? I`m curious that you --
PALIN: All of them. Any of them that have been in front of me over
all of these years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Folks, the bottom line is this -- not a whole lot has
changed. Republicans love to appeal to the lowest common denominator when
it comes to candidates. And I know the American public is angry and
scared, but it seems like half the voters have taken a leave of their
senses.
I know the Tea Party whack jobs are entertaining for cable news shows
and consumers, but let`s face it, they are dangerously out of touch when it
comes to knowledge, out of touch when it comes to the problems that we face
as a country right now. The stakes couldn`t be any higher. I mean, we`ve
got 25 days left. The Democratic base needs to listen to this message and
be reminded --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: There`s an old saying in Tennessee. I know it`s in Texas.
It`s probably in Tennessee, that says, fool me once, shame on you. Fool
me, but you can`t get food again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: He fits right in, doesn`t he? Working class Americans, I`ll
tell you, you can`t afford to get fooled again. This is who these folks
are.
There hasn`t been any improvement at all. It`s the same old policies,
and the choice is very clear. America needs smart leaders now more than
ever.
Get your cell phones out, folks. I want to know what you think about
all of this tonight.
Tonight`s text survey question is: Do you think Christine O`Donnell is
just like you? 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 Jonathan Alter, national affairs columnist,
"Newsweek," and MSNBC political analyst.
Well, let`s just say, Jonathan --
JONATHAN ALTER, NATIONAL AFFAIRS COLUMNIST, "NEWSWEEK": Hi, Ed.
SCHULTZ: -- that we have a bevy, a collection of very unusual
candidates this year. But the question is, will the anger, will the anger
of the voters push the quality of the candidates to the side and may they
focus on just the change? What do you think?
ALTER: It may be. Look, it`s too soon to know whether the House is
going to go Republican. The Senate is not going to go Republican unless
something totally different happens in the next few weeks. So it`s touch
and go in the House of Representatives.
I think liberals and Democrats have to be careful about making this
argument on intelligence. That`s pretty off-putting for a lot of voters.
There`s a reason that Christine O`Donnell said, "I didn`t go to Yale."
Most people didn`t go to Yale. And it`s -- you know, it`s a cheap
political trick, but you can`t win an election by saying, you know, we`re
smarter than the other side. It`s just bad politics.
But it does remind me, Ed, of something that happened in the Nixon
administration when Richard Nixon nominated a man named G. Harrold Carswell
to the United States Supreme Court. And Carswell was rated unqualified by
the American Bar Association. He was denounced as having a mediocre
intelligence.
And there was a senator from Nebraska at the time named Roman Hruska,
and he said, "I`m for Carswell because mediocrity deserves some
representation on the Supreme Court, too." So there are people who do want
to have somebody who is like them in public office, even if they don`t
think they`re so smart themselves. And it`s a factor that we have to kind
of deal with in our politics.
SCHULTZ: With that comment you`re making, and looking at the overview
of what the Republicans like to do, they like to talk about what the
American people are thinking, what the American people want.
ALTER: Yes, it`s annoying.
SCHULTZ: What do you make of that? I mean, this is just this generic
broad brush that they are projecting that they know exactly what the
country needs.
ALTER: Look, Republicans, some of their office holders might not be
as smart as their Democratic counterparts, but they`re pretty smart
politically. They know how to stigmatize the word "liberalism," for
instance. They know how to repeat a series of buzzwords over and over
again. President Obama is less good at repeating phrases that stick in
people`s minds.
And wrapping yourself in the flag, wrapping yourself in the American
people, you know, you can say it`s cheesy, but it does work a lot of the
time. And so I don`t think there`s anything wrong with Democrats talking a
little bit more about patriotism, entrepreneurship, the American people,
things that do resonate.
You do that quite well, actually, Ed. And that`s where I think you`ve
got that heartland connection, because you`re not afraid, you know, to be
patriotic. So what we need to do here is kind of get past the annoyance
that these dumb ads like the Christine O`Donnell ad represent and focus on,
how do we get smarter in getting more progressive messages out there?
SCHULTZ: Jonathan Alter, great to have you with us. Thanks so much
for joining us on a Friday.
For more, let`s turn to Holland Cooke, radio talk show consultant
who`s been around the media wars for a long time.
Holland, you told me a long time ago that the two most important words
in talk radio is "you" and "your," and when you`re communicating with
people directly, face to face, you want to talk about them. She comes out
with an ad that does just that, and I would have to say that the commercial
outdoes the candidate.
What do you think?
HOLLAND COOKE, TALK RADIO CONSULTANT: First of all, and for the
record, I am not a warlock and I didn`t go to Yale either. But the more I
watch this commercial, there was something hauntingly familiar to it. And
the next time you see it, tell me if you don`t get this -- it`s Sally
Field, just a little younger.
"I am you" is "You like me." And it`s like Sally Field in the BONIVA
commercial where she says, "I`ve got this one body." She`s kind of putting
herself out there to you and smiling at the camera, and otherwise has
remained in seclusion notwithstanding the stated reason for her not being
available to the national press was that she was going to be busy locally.
Well, she`s been busy making these TV commercials.
SCHULTZ: Well, the commercial is much more polished than the
candidate. But she also hits home on the economic strife I think that`s
happening in this country. She says -- she talks about how tough it is to
keep a dollar.
Do you think that resonates?
COOKE: I think she`s playing that well. And I think that she is
smart to remind the voters in Delaware that her opponent is a millionaire.
But she has spun her personal financial woes in a very relatable way
because who isn`t sweating out the mortgage? You know, many Americans are
jobless. So she kind of turns lemons into lemonade in that regard.
SCHULTZ: What is her biggest downfall? As we always seem to talk to
you on Friday for the Christine O`Donnell week in review, did she have a
good week, or was this another tough week?
COOKE: She had a better week this week than she had last week. Last
week we found out that Mike Castle was not going to run on a write-in.
That was not good for her. And the thing about the resume inflation came
out.
She stayed under the radar this week, but it`s not going to last long.
She`s got a debate on Wednesday night. So she`s going to have to come out
of the bunker. And then on Tuesday, the 19th, she`s going to do another
debate.
And on the 19th, that debate is at 8:00 a.m. There`s going to be no
national TV coverage. But you can see or hear the debate on the 19th live
if you go to WDEL.com.
And I checked with our friends down there. They`ve actually gone to a
third party Internet provider and added server heft so that if everybody
who`s watching tonight finally want to see her have to answer a live
question, their server can take a punch. So that`ll be on the morning of
Tuesday the 19th at 8:00 a.m.
SCHULTZ: Holland Cooke, always great to have you with us. Thanks so
much tonight.
COOKE: You bet.
SCHULTZ: Coming up, Sharron Angle is officially a Vegas freak show.
She just accused Harry Reid of providing Viagra to child molesters.
We`ll get "Rapid Fire Response" on that.
And "The Tan Man" put on quite an act at home today pretending he
cares about the working class.
Boehner, nobody`s buying it. The only jobs you`re creating are for
your caddies and your tanning salons.
And of course, Chris Christie gets tunnel vision. Meg Whitman gets
slammed. And "Daily Show" co-creator Lizz Winstead casts her spell on
Christine O`Donnell. It`s all coming up in "Club Ed."
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.
Boehner, "Mr. Tan Man," back home in Ohio today, trying to whip up
anti-Obama sentiment by pretending to be a man of the people even though
he`s been in Washington since 1991.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOEHNER: I grew up working in my dad`s bar, and just a few miles down
the road from here. I mopped floors, waited tables, tended bar.
I`m a small businessman at heart and always will be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: I`ll tell you what, don`t you love the flannel shirt? Huh?
It never fails. They all go home and put on a shirt like you and I wear,
right?
Boehner also slammed President Obama on jobs, citing September`s newly
released unemployment numbers. Last month the economy lost 95,000 jobs and
the unemployment rate stayed steady at 9.6 percent.
And, of course, Boehner, he blamed it all on the Obama administration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOEHNER: This coming election is about one issue -- jobs. It`s about
jobs that were promised to the American people by the current
administration that never delivered.
Your government is disrespecting you, your family, your job, your
children. Your government is out of control.
Do you have to accept it?
AUDIENCE: No!
BOEHNER: Do you have to take it?
AUDIENCE: No!
BOEHNER: Hell no you don`t!
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: My next guest is a guy who`s trying to send "The Tan Man"
home for good, Justin Coussoule, Boehner`s Democratic opponent in Ohio`s
8th District.
Mr. Coussoule, good to have you with us tonight. I appreciate your
time.
I want to point out that you`re a graduate of West Point and a former
captain in the United States Army. You`ve served this country extremely
well, a businessman who has stepped aside to try to get into the sector of
public service in this country. Congratulations.
What did you think of Mr. Boehner`s speech today? Do you take issue
with anything he said?
JUSTIN COUSSOULE (D), OHIO CONGRESSIONAL NOMINEE: Well, sure, Ed. I
take issue with most of what he said.
You know, that`s some of the first audio from the speech I`ve heard.
It was a private, by-invitation-only event. They bused seven, eight
busloads of people into that event to have a crowd there, invitation only.
You know, the public wasn`t invited. I certainly didn`t get to hear
those words. So it`s more of the same. More of the same empty talk
points.
SCHULTZ: So this was a choreographed event. This was a manufactured
event, John Boehner in his back home. It was almost like a Bush event.
Is that fair?
COUSSOULE: Yes. This was a staged photo-op.
This was held at a business owner who is a longtime supporter of
Republicans, given Republican candidates thousands and thousands of
dollars, including Boehner. Even ran for office in northern Kentucky.
It`s laughable to call them local small business owners that are
supportive of John Boehner. And the other thing that`s laughable is to
hear John Boehner talk about as if he`s the outsider.
He`s been in Washington for 20 years. The president`s been in office
for 20 month, and he`s talking about how Washington has abandoned the
working class? I mean, where has John Boehner been for 20 years for the
constituents of his district?
SCHULTZ: Well, I asked our viewers tonight to make a comparison how
often Nancy Pelosi has been home and how often John Boehner`s been home?
And we`ll come back with that story on Monday. I think you`ll find it to
be very interesting.
Justin Coussoule, can you beat John Boehner? You don`t have the money
he has, but what does it feel like on the ground when you`re out and about?
COUSSOULE: We`ve got the momentum building, Ed, where you can`t
outspend your opponent. And you can sure as heck outwork him, and that`s
exactly what we`re doing.
And I`ll tell you one thing for sure. We`ve got a fighting chance in
this race, and what I do know for sure is John Boehner is not nearly as
popular in his home district as he thinks he is, and we`re going to prove
him wrong.
SCHULTZ: And how much do you think this choreographed event could
hurt him today? Do you think that that plays well with Ohio voters?
COUSSOULE: No, I don`t, because this is-- as you alluded to, Ed, this
is an instance where he`s come back to his district for the first time in
months. He comes back for this staged event.
The voters here want an opportunity to engage with him in an open
forum, asking questions, have the media ask questions, hear him make his
case to be rehired. These kind of events are just more of the same empty
talk points that voters here are just sick of. They`re tired of it.
SCHULTZ: Have you challenged Mr. Boehner on where he`s getting his
money? There`s a big story all this week long, we`re going to cover it a
little bit more later in this show tonight, about the Chamber of Commerce
filtering money into campaigns with overseas` money.
What do you make of that?
COUSSOULE: I think it`s disgraceful. You know, the majority of
Boehner`s money comes from out of district. It comes from corporate
interests, health insurance industry, pharmaceuticals, big oil, big
tobacco.
Now we find out this story about the chamber receiving all this
foreign money. Much of that goes to Boehner, and certainly almost all of
it goes to Republicans.
It`s shameful to have foreign governments and corporations buying our
elections. That`s exactly what`s happening, and the American people need
to be made aware of it.
SCHULTZ: Justin Coussoule, good to have you with us tonight. I
appreciate you`re time. All the best to you.
COUSSOULE: Thanks, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Coming up, the kids over at "Fox & Friends" think Vice
President Biden helps the president by putting his foot in his mouth. I`m
wondering who they`re trying to keep and trying to help every morning. I`m
kicking them right into the "Zone" next.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And in "Psycho Talk" tonight, a gathering of the great
political minds showed their stuff on the set of "Fox & Friends" this
morning.
Here`s Gretchen and Doocy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRETCHEN CARLSON, "FOX & FRIENDS": People like Joe Biden. OK? He`s
going to a lot of districts that the president doesn`t dare to show up in.
That`s where Joe Biden is going. That`s the best thing the president
has going for him right now.
STEVE DOOCY, "FOX & FRIENDS": Well, because you can always count on
him to stick his foot in his mouth --
CARLSON: That`s right.
DOOCY: -- and make the boss look good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Yes, this coming from the experts of the foot and mouth
disease. Take a look at this phony story they bought hook, line and
sinker.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: The jetpack is ready for liftoff now. The city of Los
Angeles already ordering 10,000 jetpacks for its police paramedics and fire
departments.
DOOCY: Are you kidding?
CARLSON: Can we afford that?
The jetpack can fly up to 63 miles per hour and get as high as 8,000
feet in the air.
BRIAN KILMEADE, "FOX & FRIENDS": Here`s my thing -- you`ve got to
make up some rules, because you could have jetpacks flying into choppers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
SCHULTZ: Relax, Kilmeade. No need to get all worked up over that.
There won`t be any flying cops ramming into helicopters. That story was
completely false.
And speaking of fake news, here`s another classic "Fox & Friends"
foot-in-mouth segment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KILMEADE: So you seem excited today. Is it about the line or is it
because you feel pretty from the inside out?
DOOCY: Are you girls here to tell us that Victoria`s Secret has
essentially reinvented the brassiere?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They have.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They have.
DOOCY: All right.
KILMEADE: So that is the news. This is great news that -- I`m just
glad they`re working on the bra on a daily basis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: I mean, who needs Joe Biden when you have awkward banter
with Victoria`s Secret models, huh? The brain wizards at "Fox & Friends"
are doing their part to make real news look good. The whole "Fox &
Friends" team is a shoo-in for "Psycho Talk."
Coming up, speaking of "Psycho Talk," Sharron Angle is completely off
of her rocker. She`s accusing Harry Reid of helping child molesters get
Viagra? Then she`s caught on tape saying that Sharia law is a threat to
America.
Reaction from Vegas up next.
And the right-wing Chamber of Commerce is going berserk because I
won`t stop hammering them on this issue -- the foreign money scheme. I
won`t back down.
Scott Paul is demanding answers, and a lot of Americans are right with
him. That`s coming up in "The Battleground" story.
All that, plus Chris Christie back in the news with Big Eddie. He`s
under pressure. Charlie Christ needs a pitching coach. And "Daily Show"
co-creator Lizz Winstead, she`s getting after Lou Dobbs.
You`re watching THE ED SHOW on MSNBC. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW. The Battleground story
tonight, well the Chamber of Commerce is punching back after President
Obama called the group a threat to our democracy. I agree. The chamber
carpet bombing, the airwaves with attack ads on Democrats, claiming that
Democrats are bad for business and job creation. Voters have a right to
know what companies are bankrolling these attacks. I think it`s coming
from other countries overseas. You know, countries where American jobs are
being shipped.
A spokesperson for the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi summed it up
like had. Republicans voted 11 times in four years to protect tax havens
for corporations that ship American jobs overseas, and now the United
States` Chamber of Commerce is possibly using funds from foreign interests
and foreign governments to influence the election. The chamber claims,
anger over foreign influence in our elections, here we go, is all a big
liberal conspiracy. They`re blaming right wings` favorite boogie man
George Soros, he`s back at it again. The chambers vice president for
communications said this, "This coordinated effort is a desperate attempt
to silence those who support free enterprise and a diversion from their
lack of progress on job creation."
Give me a break. This is all a bunch of garbage. The Chamber has no
comeback. So, they`re resorting to name-calling. This sums it all up,
folks. Today the Chamber hosted an event for Bahrain Bank Association. Is
Bahrain`s money trying to influence the election and our district and in
your district? Don`t you want to know? What is it is the wheels are just
continuing to get greased to just make the American middle class nothing
but road kill.
Joining me now is Scott Paul, the executive director for the Alliance
for American Manufacturing. Mr. Paul, good to have you with us on tonight.
I appreciate your time.
SCOTT PAUL, DIRECTOR, ALLIANCE FOR AMERICAN MANUFACTURING: Thank you,
Ed.
SCHULTZ: How do you view -- how do you view this story, the lack of
accountability, the lack of transparency? Here you have the Chamber of
Commerce in the Middle East today with the Bahrain association bringing in
a bunch of money. Your response to all of this?
PAUL: Well it seems really fishy to me that they would not reveal the
sources, the Chamber that is, of their donors. And there is a very real
possibility that these campaign attack ads against Democrats who oppose
outsourcing are being financed by a lot of companies overseas that have
attracted American investment, and also perhaps even state-run companies,
so that`s essentially foreign government controlled companies that are
influencing American elections. Look, I welcome foreign investment when
it`s creating jobs to the United States. I think that it can play a very
positive role but I think there`s something very shady about using a lot of
offshore resources to try to influence a key election in America when one
of the top issues is off-shoring.
SCHULTZ: Yes. The head of the Chamber of Commerce is saying that the
Chamber is being vilified. That the liberals are going after them and it`s
way off base and in a speech, he said, "The regulatory impact on the
business community is pervasive, insidious and needs to be exposed, it`s
suffocating the entrepreneurial spirit." Is this the standard comeback in
your opinion? Was this expected?
PAUL: Well, I think that it is. And you notice, Ed, they didn`t deny
the allegation at all. They called it a diversion and they tried to do a
little bait and switch. But the reality is that when you go on the road
and you go into these communities where the Chamber`s running these ads,
local businesses agree with us about off-shoring. They don`t want to see
jobs off-shored. They want to see China be held to account and they
definitely don`t agree with the National Chamber of Commerce on this issue.
So in a lot of ways, they`re working against the interests of their own
businesses on Main Street in these towns that are suffering from off-
shoring. It just kind of baffles the mind and then you don`t see a single
republican call up and try to get the Chamber of Commerce to be much more
forthcoming about this one. They were all over the issue in the 1990s when
it was the other party that was being accused. The Democrats were being
accused of having foreign money into the campaigns. It`s just a big
hypocrisy as well.
SCHULTZ: Well, you`re exactly right on where the American people are
on this. We can generically say that there is a poll out there, NBC News,
Wall Street, Journal Poll, outsourcing has hurt the American economy.
There it is. Eighty six percent of the people agree, 12 percent disagree.
But there really is nothing -- no mechanism in place, Scott Paul, to stop
this funding at this point. And they are outgunning the unions 26 to one
financially. The special interest groups are out doing the Democrats who
support manufacturing jobs by seven to one at this point. How is this all
going to play out in your opinion?
PAUL: Well, even in some races, Ed, these groups are outspending
either candidate. It`s quite remarkable to see that in our American
democracy. The thing that advocates going for us and people who wanted to
keep jobs in this country is the real grassroots. And when you look at
that poll that you just showed, it`s not only Democrats, but it`s the
Republicans and the independents, who think that our trade policies are
off, who don`t support off-shoring, who want to hold China to account.
When they look at where both parties are on these issues, I think that they
can draw a connection. But I think it is also very difficult to compete
against that sort of money. It`s hard to dominate the airwaves but we`re
going to do it the old-fashioned way, we`re going to go out with shoe
leather and tell the truth.
SCHULTZ: Scott, good to have you with us tonight. Thanks for your
time.
PAUL: Thank you.
SCHULTZ: Tea Partier Sharron Angle has just thrown her campaign
against Harry Reid, I guess you could say into psycho overdrive. I want to
get some rapid fire response on her action. She claimed Sharia Law is
taking hold in the United States, including in Texas. Her latest
commercial accuses Harry Reid of voting to give Viagra to child molesters.
And her pastor is attacking Harry Reid`s religion saying, the Mormon Church
is a cult. That does illegal things.
With us tonight, Laura Flanders, author of "Blue Grit" and host of
Grit TV and Free Speech TV. And Heidi Harris, radio talk show host in Las
Vegas who is our Sharron Angle expert talker. I tell you what, you have
got so much material out in Las Vegas, you could do a six-hour show a day.
What is this about Harry Reid allegedly giving -- supporting, giving
funding of Viagra to child molesters? I mean how is that playing out
there, Heidi?
HEIDI HARRIS, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Well, Tom Coburn tried to put an
amendment in the health care bill that would prevent people who were not,
maybe not imprisoned, who were child molesters, rapists, convicted sex
offenders from potentially receiving Viagra because he felt that it wasn`t
clear in the health care bill that they would not be able to get it. Harry
Reid voted against it, so that`s what Sharron`s saying in her ad, and
that`s true.
LAURA FLANDERS, AUTHOR, "BLUE GRIT": I mean, to be clear here..
SCHULTZ: All right. Here is the ad right here. Hold on just a
second. Here is the ad. Here`s the Sharron Angle commercial linking Reid
to the child molesters with Viagra, here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Do you want to know just how out of touch Harry
Reid is? Spending $787 billion on a stimulus that failed is a start. For
Reid voting to give illegal aliens special tax breaks and Social Security
benefits is another big clue. But here`s the kicker, Reid actually voted
to use taxpayer dollars to pay for Viagra, for convicted child molesters
and sex offenders. What else could you ever need to know about Harry Reid?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: They`re very cleverly tagging an amendment where Tom Coburn
was trying to stop health care. Heidi, you`re right about that. What
about this, Laura?
FLANDERS: Well, there was no voting for is the point here. It`s the
complete of what you might call, lie. What happened was the Democrats
tabled the vote on this Tom Coburn red herring health care scuttling
amendment. And that`s what Angle is apparently getting at, but there was
no vote for, money to go to molesters for Viagra. That`s complete lying
and anybody who says different is crazy.
HARRIS: Politics, I love politics.
SCHULTZ: Heidi?
HARRIS: I love politics. Obviously, he did not vote against it.
This is something that he didn`t think was really worth his time. This
kind of thing goes on all of the time.
FLANDERS: It`s not the same as voting for it, it doesn`t happen.
There isn`t a problem. There was an amendment that was intended to do
something else that they tabled, didn`t even vote against. This is not the
same as voting for, and Sharron Angle`s constituents deserve better.
Rather than to be treated as complete idiots, they can tell the difference.
HARRIS: Well you know what the facts are, politics is the way it is
and people will poll things, take things out of context at times and pull
things out of context that you said at events and vote that you have taken,
they will parse the votes. Like we talked about a couple of weeks ago from
the vote Sharron Angle was accused of making. When you look into what
actually happened, it was entirely different than the way Harry Reid was
trying to characterize it.
FLANDERS: There was not a vote for Viagra for child molesters.
HARRIS: When he tried to say that she voted not to protect the women
who were domestic violence victims, that was incorrect. This is what
happened.
SCHULTZ: Heidi, would you admit that this -- Heidi, would you admit
that this ad is a flat-out lie.
HARRIS: No.
SCHULTZ: There was no money. There`s no money for Viagra to child
molesters?
HARRIS: No, the point is that Tom Coburn was trying to make it very
clear because the law doesn`t say that you can`t give these guys Viagra.
That`s the whole point. It is not clearly prohibited, then potentially
taxpayer money could be used for child molesters.
FLANDERS: I mean, I think, really, I think the point, Sharron Angle
voters are going to have to get up and say, you know what, we`re smarter
than this. This is an insult and you can try to get around it all you will
but you`re tiptoeing around the reality that it`s a lie. And if you want
to say, well, other people don`t tell the truth in their campaigns, that`s
no kind of different.
SCHULTZ: Here is the sound cut from Sharron Angle on Sharia Law.
Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHARRON ANGLE (R), GOP SENATE CANDIDATE: In Dearborn, Michigan and
Frankford, Texas are on American soil, and under constitutional law, not
Sharia Law and I don`t know how that happened in the United States. It
seems to me that there is something fundamentally wrong with allowing a
foreign system of law to even take hold in any municipality or government
situation in our United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Laura Flanders, is that psycho talk?
FLANDERS: Well, you know, almost makes you feel sorry for the woman.
Maybe this was a got you, reminds me of the woman with the comedian asked
George W. Bush if he had ever heard of the band, the Taliban, and he said,
oh, yes, I think it`s a band or something like that. I mean, this is such
a got you silly comment but it doesn`t come as a surprise that Sharron
Angle would believe conspiracy theories. I mean, come on, this is a woman
who got the power as much as she`s got by hanging out with folks who think
Obama is you know foreign born so it`s not exactly new but it is worrying.
SCHULTZ: Heidi?
HARRIS: Well, I don`t exactly know what she`s talking about, about
actual Sharia Law. But let`s face it, we live in a country where somebody
can go to work at Disneyland and force Disney to allow them to wear a
Hijab, that`s ridiculous. People try to sue their companies to allow them
to have Muslim prayer time in America, that`s ridiculous.
FLANDERS: Sharia Law -- Heidi, come on.
HARRIS: No, no, no.
FLANDERS: Sharia law as opposed to being allowed to practice your
religion is a little distinction there.
HARRIS: No, no, no, no, no. It`s ridiculous for anybody who is a
Muslim to come to this country and work at an American company.
FLANDERS: We live and we attract people to this country by the fact
that we have freedom of religion, freedom of faith.
(CROSSTALK)
HARRIS: Yes, but you don`t have the right to sue your employer. No,
no, no. Your employer should not be sued to allow you to practice your
religion. I don`t ask my boss to give me a break so I can go pray as a
Christian.
FLANDERS: So, you are going to say that your right to be able to pray
in the work is equivalent to Sharia Law, come on now.
HARRIS: Those are aspects of it that people see creeping into our
culture.
FLANDERS: Sharia Law in Texas cities and in Dearborn, Michigan,
that`s what Sharron Angle was talking about.
HARRIS: I understand that.
FLANDERS: You might be smarter than that but that`s what she said.
SCHULTZ: All right. Ladies, great to have you with us tonight.
Laura Flanders, Heidi Harris, always a pleasure. Thanks so much.
Coming up, Texas republican Pete Sessions is under fire for a
rationally insensitive remark. The Democrats see an ugly pattern here.
Reverend Al Sharpton issues a warning to the congressman, next here on THE
ED SHOW. 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 Christine O`Donnell is just
like you? Text A for yes, text B for no to 622-639. We`ll bring you the
results coming up. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And in my "Playbook" tonight, on the lighter side since it`s
a Friday, if Charlie Crist doesn`t win his election in Florida, I think
it`s pretty safe to say that he isn`t going to be playing baseball anytime
soon. He`s not going to have baseball to fall back on. It was kind of a
rough day at the Ballpark for the Florida governor. He threw out the first
pitch in game two of the playoffs between the Texas Rangers earn the Tampa
Bay Devil Rays. Holy smokes, his pitch was high and it was just a little
wide, wasn`t it? But don`t feel bad, Charlie, because you know, what we`ve
seen worst. I`ve hit the dirt in the Florida Marlins game a few years ago
and here is a couple of other dandies.
How about Mariah Carey, the singer, oops. Mark Mallory, Cincinnati
mayor, how did he do? Mark, throw it in there. He hit the water boy on
that one. And here, oh, President Obama, he`s a lefty and the wind-up.
Well, that`s not too bad. Now we don`t have a text poll on this one but I
think that you probably have to say that President Obama could out pitch
Charlie Crist, don`t you think?
And Paul Krugman, Krugman slammed New Jersey Governor Chris Christie
for halting construction on a major rail tunnel under the Hudson River.
Krugman said, it`s arguably the worst policy decision ever made by the
government of New Jersey. He argued that Jersey would lose huge matching
funds from the federal government, and simply delay a project that New
Jersey definitely needs. After getting beat up, Christie said, well, he`ll
rethink his decision. I think he should. Jobs are a good thing.
And the California race has just gotten a little bit uglier. An aide
to Jerry Brown thought -- you see he had hung up his phone after leaving
someone a voicemail, well he didn`t. A private conversation was caught on
tape. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JERRY BROWN (D), GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: Do we want to put an ad
out?
(INAUDIBLE)
I`ve been warned that if I crack down on pensions, I will be, that
they`ll go to Whitman and that`s where they`ll go because they know Whitman
will give them, (bleep) will cut them a deal, but I won`t (bleep).
(INAUDIBLE).
Well, I`m going to use that, it proves you`ve cut a secret deal to
protect the pensions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Getting tough out in California. Brown`s campaign
apologized to Meg Whitman for using such salty language.
And Sharron Angle`s pastor is attacking Harry Reid`s religion, saying
the Mormon Church is a cult that does illegal things. For more on that,
Laura Flanders and Heidi Harris back with us tonight. The Mormon Church is
a cult? Heidi, what`s happening? I mean, she`s -- Sharron Angle is
pulling out all stops hitting every angle for a lack of a better term.
How`s this playing out in Nevada?
HARRIS: Well, actually, you know, Mormons wouldn`t appreciate that
kind of conduct. We have a lot of Mormons out here. Let`s be honest,
Sharron didn`t say it. A guy that she hasn`t gone to church within six
years ago. He was a pastor, he`s not anymore, he said it, she didn`t. Of
course they`re trying to make a stick just like the old Obama-Reverend
Wright thing. You know, there are a lot of people sitting in churches who
were told that premarital sex is wrong, you get pregnant out of wedlock.
So, not everybody listens to their pastor. Sharron has denounced this,
Sharron never said it.
SCHULTZ: What about that, Laura?
FLANDERS: Just like the Jeremiah Wright thing. I can hardly wait.
Do we really think it`s going to be just like the Jeremiah Wright thing? I
doubt it. I think, we`ll going to hear conservatives all over the country
saying exactly what Heidi just said. Oh, that was a pastor eight years
ago. She doesn`t listen to anything he says. You know, the point here is
that it was a very strange campaign move, so close to the midterms. Nevada
has, I think the third largest population of Mormons of any state. You`ve
got about 14 million Mormons in the country including, well, Glenn Beck,
Mitt Romney. Maybe she needs to go back or give her pastor that nice
speech that Mitt Romney gave about how Mormonism is not a cult.
HARRIS: Well, he`s not her pastor. That`s the whole point. He used
to be and he`s not anymore, so let`s not pin that on Sharron, that`s the
whole point.
FLANDERS: Yes, I look forward to go back and checking of what you
said about Barack Obama and Jeremiah Wright.
HARRIS: Well that`s the point, if you`re going to blame Barack Obama
for what Jeremiah Wright said, then fine. But if you`re not, then you
can`t. You can`t pin that on Sharron Angle. She has never said that
Mormonism was a religion cult.
FLANDERS: I hope your archives are right up there at your website.
(LAUGHTER)
SCHULTZ: What about Chamber money going into Sharron Angle`s
campaign?
FLANDERS: Well, this is a huge story.
SCHULTZ: Is that playing out there?
FLANDERS: It`s a big story, Ed, and I`m glad that you`re on this
Chamber story. We`ve got a big investigative report on exactly this coming
out on Grit TV this coming week.
SCHULTZ: OK.
FLANDERS: We don`t know where the money is coming from for Sharron
Angle.
SCHULTZ: We don`t.
FLANDERS: .or anyone else`s. And that`s the problem. We`ve got to --
I think go to publicly funded campaigns so that we can get out of this
mess.
(CROSSTALK)
SCHULTZ: Well, it won`t happen with the Republicans insurance, that`s
for sure. Laura, Heidi, great to have you with us tonight. Thanks again.
Coming up, Christine O`Donnell wants you to know that she did not go
to Yale. She came up with that theory about mice having humans. You know
what? All on her own. "Daily Show" co-creator Lizz Winstead. We`ll teach
her a lesson in "The Zone" and in "Club Ed." Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW. If it`s Friday, it`s time for
"Club Ed," with "Daily Show" co-creator Lizz Winstead. Lizz, great to have
you with us tonight.
LIZZ WINSTEAD, "DAILY SHOW" CO-CREATOR: Hi, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Gosh, it`s been an interesting week again for Christine
O`Donnell, Sharron Angle, and even Lou Dobbs. Let`s start with the
candidate from Delaware. She didn`t go to Yale and she`s just like you.
What do you think about that?
WINSTEAD: Well, couple things. Of course she didn`t go to Yale. She
didn`t go to any colleges that she said she went to. I mean really? She
didn`t go to Yale, she went to fail, Ed. Is it that simple, she went to
fail university. It sounds the same but that`s where she went. And then
this whole Chinese thing, I mean, honestly, do you think that Christine
O`Donnell has secret information about the Chinese takeover and here`s the
scary thing, is that, if you swallow that heaping pile of Chinese plate
full of nothing, an hour later you`re going to want more crazies, so that`s
what happens.
SCHULTZ: All right. Sharron Angle and this Viagra thing, she says
that Harry Reid voted for an amendment that would fund Viagra for child
molesters.
WINSTEAD: Well, first of all, I think it`s fair to say that of all of
these nut bags, Sharron Angle may be the cream of the crap. I really
believe that. Now, to say that Harry Reid funded Viagra, we know isn`t
true, because we don`t want to Viagra to sex offenders in prison. We want
to give them scientology massages. Second of all, we know that Harry Reid
-- it wasn`t sex offenders, he wanted to give tax-payer funded Viagra to,
he wanted to give him illegal immigrants at a mosque near Ground Zero.
That is what he voted for.
(LAUGHTER)
SCHULTZ: All right. And how about Lou Dobbs, Mr. Illegal
immigration, lo and behold that the story by "The Nation" saying that he
hired just that, undocumented workers, although he claims that he went
through a company and they didn`t check things out. So how does this play
out?
WINSTEAD: Yes, you know what? It plays out the same way, all of
these anti-gay people plays out. You know, these rabid anti-gay people and
then the rabid anti-immigration people always seem to end up in bed with
the same people that they reel against, isn`t that interesting?
SCHULTZ: Lizz Winstead, always a pleasure. You got to be performing
in Denver on October 15th and in Asheville on October 22nd. Details are at
lizzwinstead.com. Always a pleasure. Great to have you with us.
WINSTEAD: Thanks, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Tonight, in our text survey I asked you, do you think
Christine O`Donnell is just like you? Ten percent of you said, yes, 90
percent of you said, no.
That`s THE ED SHOW. I`m Ed Schultz. "HARDBALL" with Chris Matthews
starts right now on the place for politics. Have a great weekend. We`ll
see you back on Monday.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY
BE UPDATED.
END
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