Guests: Sen. Bernie Sanders, Van Jones, Ed Pawlowski, John Harold
ED SCHULTZ, HOST: Good evening, Americans. And welcome to THE ED SHOW tonight from New York. Great to be back with you.
This afternoon, the president interrupted the Casey Anthony coverage to reveal that he will reject a short-term deal on raising the debt ceiling. Meanwhile, Republicans are still holding the country‘s economy hostage, but at least they‘ve agreed to another meeting at the White House.
This is THE ED SHOW. Let‘s get to work!
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It‘s my hope that everybody is going to leave their ultimatums at the door, that we‘ll all leave or political rhetoric at the door.
SCHULTZ (voice-over): Republicans say no to closing tax loopholes on the wealthy and corporations.
Tonight, Senator Bernie Sanders unveiled his massive petition, calling for shared sacrifice.
Van Jones is asking the questions no Republican wants to answer.
VAN JONES, POLITICAL ACTIVIST: If we are broke, how come only some of us are suffering?
SCHULTZ: Van Jones is here tonight.
An ED SHOW exclusive: Last week, Mitt Romney said Obama policies shut down Allentown Metal Works. Tonight, the shop‘s foreman is saying the opposite.
And tonight, Lizz Winstead, co-creator of “The Daily Show” on the media‘s fascination with the Casey Anthony trial.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCHULTZ: Great to be back with you tonight here on THE ED SHOW. I had a great vacation. I missed you. I‘m glad you‘re with us.
President Obama broke out the olive branches again today with the Republicans. The president took a much different tone on the debt talks than he did last week at his conference when he compared the Republicans to his children.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Malia and Sasha generally finish their homework a day ahead of time. Malia is 13, Sasha is 10. It is impressive. They don‘t wait until the night before. They‘re not pulling all-nighters. They‘re 13 and 10.
You know, Congress can do the same thing. If you know you have to do something, just do it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCHULTZ: Yes. Today, the president said he hopes Republicans will leave political rhetoric at the door when they come to the White House on Thursday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: It‘s my hope that everybody is going to leave their ultimatums at the door, that we‘ve all leave our political rhetoric at the door, and that we‘re going to do what‘s best for our economy and do what‘s best for our people.
And I want to emphasize, I said this in my press conference, this should not come down to the last second. I think it‘s important for us to show the American people and their leaders that we can find common ground and solve our problems in a responsible way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: You know, hanging around the lake in Minnesota, I didn‘t hear anybody talk about the debt ceiling. Nobody was talking about the debt ceiling. We‘re talking about the debt ceiling, because Washington is talking about the debt ceiling. I mean, is this really a big deal?
Later this week and as we go through our series of shows now that I‘m back, I will show you exactly what it means to have the government shut down because this shutdown is going to be a heck of a lot of different from the one back in the Gingrich years.
Republicans have no interest in finding any common ground whatsoever.
It didn‘t take Boehner very long to get away from happy hour and hammer the
president‘s remarks. The tan man put out a statement this afternoon about
the president‘s remarks. He says, “The American people are worried about
our economy and our future. More than two years after the start of
Washington Democratic stimulus spending spree, they‘re still asking, ‘Where
are the jobs?‘”
Boehner‘s House—let me point out has not passed a single job creation bill or measure since he‘s had the power. Now, Nancy Pelosi got health care done. She had the gavel. She got it done. Boehner wants to play golf, and this guy‘s had the gavel in his hand for six months.
Where the hell are the jobs?
Now, I did hear him talking about that. It‘s a little soft out there, although we are adding jobs. But just think if the Republicans were honest brokers? Do you think we‘d be a little bit better off?
See, this is all about—as I‘ve said many times—about defeating President Obama. Boehner and the Republicans have no interest in raising taxes to eliminate debt. Today, President Obama called for a balanced approach. Keep dreaming.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I believe we need a balanced approach. We need to take on spending in domestic programs, in defense programs, in entitlement programs, and we need to take on spending in the tax code, spending on certain tax breaks and deductions for the wealthiest of Americans. This will require both parties to get out of our comfort zones and both parties to agree on real compromise.
I‘m ready to do that. I believe there are enough people in each party that are willing to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Boehner and the Republicans will never get out of the comfort zones when it comes to taxing the rich. The speaker drew his line in the sand. The legislation the president has asked which would increase taxes on small business and destroy more American jobs cannot pass the House—as I‘ve stated repeatedly, the American people simply won‘t stand for it.
Once again, Boehner has no clue what the hell he‘s talking about.
Two-thirds of the American people are with the president of the United
States when it comes to raising taxes on Americans that make over $250,000
a year
A Pew polls released in late May clearly shows 66 percent favor increasing taxes on people who earned over that number, $250,000 a year.
Let‘s get the scorecard out for a moment. Republicans have burned the president on the stimulus repeatedly. They hoodwinked him on health care. And, of course, they took the president to the cleaners and the Democrats to the cleaners in the lame duck session of the Congress by extending the Bush tax cuts.
And hold it there, remember, we can‘t raise taxes on the job creators. Remember I heard that old voice from the past? Guess what? Here we are in July now of 2011, six, seven months after that lame duck session, and where are we?
These job creators ain‘t investing in the markets. The president and the Democrats need to quit playing gaming with the Republicans over this phony debt ceiling debate that nobody in the heartland is talking about.
In the past, Republicans have voted to increase the debt limit. And this time is no different. The American people—they don‘t care about this game that‘s being played in Washington. Nobody asked me anything about the debt ceiling when I was hanging out in the long bridge bar having a cool one on vacation. Come on!
They want to know where the jobs are, and then you‘ve got the Republicans who have the power in the House that are doing absolutely nothing to help the job market whatsoever.
This is a Washington insider‘s dangerous game of chicken, and President Obama and the Democrats—please don‘t blink on this. I mean, I come back from vacation, and I turn on the tube this afternoon and see the president playing nice with the Republicans.
What is it that the White House doesn‘t get about the language that they use?
Just today Rand Paul, this new senator from Kentucky, says he‘s going to filibuster everything—absolutely everything. I guess the people of Kentucky are talking about the debt ceiling the way he‘s talking today. He‘s going to filibuster everything until they get a deal on this.
Get your cell phones out. I want to know what you think.
Tonight‘s question: Are the Republicans negotiating in good faith?
Text A for yes, and text B for no—and I‘m a “no” tonight—at 622639. And you can always go to our blog at Ed.MSNBC.com. Results are coming up later on in the show.
This is the guy I want to talk to off vacation, it‘s Bernie Sanders, independent senator from Vermont.
I see you haven‘t cooled off at all about this all of this, and I appreciate that.
Clearly, Senator, there was a tone change by the president from the press conference last week and what we heard today in a statement that I have to say really wasn‘t that meaty. It was kind of like running it up the flagpole to see which way the wind is blowing.
Was there a change in tone? What was your impression?
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: I have no idea, Ed. But what I do know is you‘re absolutely right when you quote polls that say overwhelmingly the American people believe it is insane, it is wrong, it is absurd to balance the budget, to do deficit reduction on the backs of working families, elderly people, children, the sick and the poor.
The wealthiest people in this country today are doing phenomenally well. And yet their effective, their real tax rates are the lowest in 50 years. Corporate profits are soaring—and yet you got major corporation after major corporation making billions of dollars in profits paying nothing in taxes—sometimes getting a rebate from the IRS.
SCHULTZ: What was your response to Bill Clinton? He was at a think tank over the weekend out in Aspen, at Ideas Festival. He said we ought to lower the corporate tax rate. What do you think of that?
SANDERS: I don‘t think so. I mean, I know—I don‘t think so. I think what you want to do is do away with all these loopholes—you want to do away with the absurdity of losing $100 billion a year because these corporations and wealthy people are putting their money in Bermuda or in Cayman Islands, other tax havens and avoiding taxes in the United States.
You want to end the absurdity of people getting tax breaks for throwing American workers out on the street and moving abroad.
We now have—we have, just in the last weekend, over 100,000 people went to my Web site, Sanders.Senate.gov. They signed a letter to the president that said, “Mr. President, stand tall, don‘t cave. The American people are behind you when you talk about shared sacrifice and not balancing the budget on the most vulnerable people in this country.”
SCHULTZ: So, why isn‘t he doing that? I mean, I didn‘t hear anything about shared sacrifice today.
(CROSSTALK)
SANDERS: Get him on your show. I don‘t know why. I really don‘t know why.
But I do believe that if this president stood tall, went all over the country, we could put the Republicans on to the defensive, because all over this country, in red states and in blue states, people are calling up their Congress people and their senators and saying, it is insane to be talking about cutting Medicare and Medicaid and nutrition when we have the highest rate of childhood poverty in the industrialized world with so many people are unemployed. Ask the people on top to become Americans again.
SCHULTZ: All right.
SANDERS: To join the American society.
SCHULTZ: The president said today that he is against a short term deal. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I‘ve heard reports that there may be some in Congress who want to do just enough to make sure that America avoids defaulting on our debt in the short term, but then wants to kick the can down the road when it comes to solving the larger problem of our deficit.
I don‘t share that view. I don‘t think the American people here—sent us here to avoid tough problems. It‘s, in fact, what drives them nuts about Washington, when both parties simply take the path of least resistance—and I don‘t want to do that here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)\
SCHULTZ: And where do you stand on that, Senator? I mean, is it worth a short-term deal to make sure we do pay our bills?
SANDERS: You know, everything is in the details. I mean, of course, you want a long-term solution. But the question is, what‘s that solution going to be?
SCHULTZ: Yes.
SANDERS: What the letter that I wrote said is that half of the deficit reduction should come from the wealthy and large corporations. If the president is prepared to fight for that, let‘s make that a long-term deal.
SCHULTZ: Senator, good to have you with us tonight. Thanks so much.
SANDERS: Good to be with you, Ed.
SCHULTZ: For more, let‘s turn to Van Jones, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and the president of Rebuild the Dream.
Van, good to have you with us tonight.
VAN JONES, CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: Welcome back, brother.
SCHULTZ: How do you rebuild the dream when you got a senator from Kentucky out there, throwing it out, saying he‘s going to filibuster everything? I mean, the climate in Washington is toxic. It‘s poisonous when it comes to deals right now.
What do you make of it?
JONES: Well, first of all, I mean, I just applaud you coming back off vacation full of fire. I mean, I had the same experience that you did. There‘s nobody in America right now off of Capitol Hill talking about anything but jobs and the economic pain people are going through right now.
We‘ve got these young veterans coming home that nobody is talking about. What are they coming home to? No jobs, no hope. They had all kinds of support when they‘re out there on the military battleground. They come to an economic battleground with no support.
We got schoolteachers scared they‘re going to lose their jobs.
I mean, all across America, the pain is unbelievable. People are sitting on a white hot stove, and these guys in D.C. are stuck on stupid playing little games with each other. And that‘s—
(CROSSTALK)
SCHULTZ: You‘re right on the mark, Van. You‘re right on the mark.
No question about that.
But why is it that the White House continues to try to strike deals with the Republicans when they know all too well that it‘s all about the demise of the president? That‘s the only thing that they are interested in. Yet, the president comes out today still looking for a deal. I mean, why are they acting like this?
JONES: Well, I‘ll tell you why they‘re acting that way. D.C. as a whole is never going to be any better than the American people. It is time for the American people to stand up. You are out there in Madison, Wisconsin, 150,000 people came out in September 2009 called the Tea Party movement, and the whole world was shocked. Oh, my God, 150,000 people came to D.C.
You were out there with 150,000 Americans in Madison, Wisconsin, alone. There is a movement growing, and this is the most important thing I think folks in D.C. don‘t understand. They‘re so busy chasing their own tail inside of these games that are being played.
Look at the American people, though—the biggest protest in the history of Montana happened two weeks ago about these cuts. Major protests are now happening in Ohio about these cuts. Twenty thousand people marched down the street protesting in Wall Street—
SCHULTZ: They‘ve got enough signatures in Ohio to go after Senate bill 5 --
JONES: Exactly.
SCHULTZ: -- which is a big deal. So—
JONES: So, this is—here‘s the big story: Washington, D.C.—surprise, surprise—doesn‘t get it.
SCHULTZ: Yes.
JONES: But the American people aren‘t stupid. They know we‘re not broke. We‘re not the poorest country in the world. We‘re the richest country in the world.
The problem is that it‘s not that the pie is getting smaller. It‘s that the middle class slice is getting smaller, even as the pie gets bigger. That‘s the main issue.
And these people who continue to let these Republicans hold America hostage, this is not about deficit reduction. It would be easy enough to deal with the deficit.
Here‘s how I deal with deficit—go back to Bill Clinton‘s tax policy, go back to Bill Clinton‘s military expenditures, the deficit is done in 10 years. If it was about that, we‘re done. If it was about the deficit, do what the president says. He wants to do a balanced approach.
This is not about deficits. We are not broke.
SCHULTZ: And finally --
JONES: This is about holding American hostage to an extreme agenda.
SCHULTZ: And, Van Jones, do you think that the Republicans are going to operate in good faith and negotiate in good faith?
JONES: The Republicans will do what the American people insist they do. Listen, we put up a Web site, rebuildthedream.com. And today, we open it up.
We said, listen, D.C. stuck on stupid. Do you have any ideas, American people? Hundreds of thousands of people, Ed, have gone to rebuildthedream.com in a single day and put brilliant, creative, amazing solutions on the table that could be passed on a bipartisan basis, that could put people back to work.
Here‘s the deal—don‘t worry so much about the letdown from D.C. The American people are smarter than this, and you‘re going to see through the course of this summer—
SCHULTZ: I hope so.
JONES: -- that these cuts come down. When the American people stand up, this cowardly nonsense is going to start to recede.
SCHULTZ: All right. Van Jones, great to have with us—Center for American Progress—thank you for your time tonight.
JONES: Glad to be here.
SCHULTZ: Remember to answer tonight‘s question right there at the bottom of screen. I want to know what you think.
Mitt Romney says President Obama‘s economic policies are responsible for a plant closing in Allentown, Pennsylvania. So, we got the former foreman of the plant and mayor of Allentown to give they are takes.
And 22,000 Minnesotans are out of work as the state government shutdown continues. I‘ll tell you why one Republican presidential candidate thinks a shutdown is a good thing.
We‘ll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: OK. I got some numbers for you tonight. This is the National Job Creation Index. It‘s the percentage of new hires in the country minus the percentage of people who have been let go from their jobs.
Now, take a close look at this. You got a big dip to go along with the financial collapse of 2008, and then a steady increase. In fact, last month, it was at its highest point since September of 2008.
Now, if you look at this graph, you can plainly see employers are hiring more people than they are firing—son of a gun. How about that? It‘s been that way since early 2010. And job creation is the same across the country.
Now, take a look at this regional breakdown of the job creation index. The green number, of course, tells us the folks that are getting hired and the red number are the folks getting let go. Each region of the country is in line with the current national average—meaning there‘s growth everywhere.
And all these increases have happened under some guy named President Obama. And yet there‘s one Republican candidate who wants to be president who just continues to say that President Obama made the economy and the recession worse. He lied about it again yesterday, and we‘re not letting him off the hook and that‘s next.
Stay with us on THE ED SHOW.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW.
Mitt Romney is having so much fun talking out of both sides of his mouth it‘s a wonder he finds time to eat. Yesterday in New Hampshire, he went back to a lie about the economy under President Obama.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY ®, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, there‘s no question that the recession was made deeper and more painful for more Americans by virtue of the president‘s plans. The recovery has been slower and more painful for millions of Americans because of president‘s failures. He made the recession worse and the recovery mother anemic.
We face extraordinary challenges right now. Our president has failed us. The recession is deeper because of our president. It‘s seen an anemic recovery because of our president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: You know, I could never go to a Republican rally because I‘d be screaming at what I just heard.
First of all, Romney can‘t decide whether to focus on the recession or the anemic recovery because he‘s been forced to admit a recovery has been under way. And for saying the recession was deeper and more painful because of President Obama—it‘s factually wrong. He‘s lying.
We‘ve shown Romney‘s claim to be false as have other news outlets.
That‘s why Romney tried to backtrack on it last week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: I didn‘t say that things are worse. What I said was that the economy hasn‘t turned around.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Ooh, a little wordsmithing going on here. He actually tried to say he never said it. So, we have to keep rolling the tape. Here‘s more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: The Obama administration has not been able to deal with the number one issue that the country was concerned about as he became president—which was the economy. He did not cause the recession, but he made it worse.
Barack Obama has failed America.
When he took office, the economy was in recession, and he made it worse and he made it last longer.
What this president has done has slowed the economy. He didn‘t create the recession, but he made it worse and longer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Fifteen months of private sector job growth is making it worse? What school did you go to, mister?
But, of course, Mitt is now back to saying Obama made the recession deeper. The Mittster isn‘t tied down by the facts. And when he was in Allentown, Pennsylvania, last week, he actually said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: We‘re standing on the site of the Allentown Metal Works. This is the place President Obama visited a year and a half ago and indicated that this was a symbol of the success of his stimulus program. As you look around and see the weeds growing and the windows boarded up, you can recognized that it‘s more of a symbol of the failure of Obama economic policies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: This, of course, from the man who as governor of Massachusetts presided over a state 47th out of 50th in job creation.
Let‘s bring in the former foreman of that Allentown Metal Works facility, John Harold, and also the mayor of Allentown, Pennsylvania, Ed Pawlowski.
Gentlemen, great to have you with us tonight.
John, let‘s start with you. I‘d like to hear from you first. Were you the foreman at that plant, and can you tell us why it closed? And President Obama, was he responsible for that?
JOHN HAROLD, ALLENTOWN METAL WORKS: First of all, I wasn‘t the foreman. I worked in quality control there for 16 years, and I worked in the machine shop for another 22 years. And I was also the unit president of the steel workers there.
SCHULTZ: OK. Did—I mean, Mitt Romney is blaming this plant shutting down on President Obama. Do you agree with that?
HAROLD: No, I don‘t agree with that. At this point this is business as usual, putting the blame on somebody else. At this point, you just can‘t blame anybody.
SCHULTZ: Mayor Pawlowski, Governor Romney has a political ad of himself at this Allentown plant. Is there more to the recovery in Allentown that you‘d like to tell us?
MAYOR ED PAWLOWSKI (D), ALLENTOWN, PA: Sure. First off, Ed, we don‘t appreciate Mr. Romney using the closing of this plant as a political prop. There‘s been so many good things that happened as a result of the intervention of President Obama and former Governor Rendell.
We had tremendous job growth in the state. Over 15,000 jobs have been created in Pennsylvania alone as a result of the Recovery Act; 44,000 within the last year.
In Allentown, at this very site, Ed, it‘s right across the street, we had a new plant open up, 100,000 square feet industrial building that employs about 130 people. We had an old Mack Truck facility which is right behind this plant that is now fully occupied with three new businesses. One makes tactical water systems for the military and another one manufacturing steel and another one that‘s actually doing form structures manufacturing.
So there‘s a lot of manufacturing still going on here. And even in the general vicinity that Mr. Romney did his press conference on.
But what‘s really ironic is that the region as a whole is one of the fastest-growing regions in the state of Pennsylvania. It is—it has declined in its job loss. We‘re about 8.4 percent lower than the national average, and Mack Truck even, which has been a symbol of some of the recession‘s decline, actually added 125 jobs within the last year.
SCHULTZ: All right. So, Mayor Pawlowski, what do you make of Mitt Romney standing in front of that plant saying that plant is shut down because of President Obama?
PAWLOWSKI: I think it‘s wrong. I mean, I understand why he‘s flip flopping. He‘s flip flopping because he‘s wrong. And, you know, if you just look at his statements, he has to backtrack because he was wrong on the facts. He‘s wrong about the facts in this particular plant.
He‘s wrong about the facts and he‘s tainting the city of Allentown and the entire region. He‘s wrong on the facts of Pennsylvania and the facts about this country.
You said it yourself many times. We‘ve added jobs. Over 238,000 manufacturing jobs have been added since 2009 in this country.
I don‘t know where Mitt Romney is getting in his statistics, but he better start getting get his facts straight. If he wants to help this company, maybe part of his platform should be that he should stop the shipping of foreign steel into this country. That would help smaller metal manufacturing companies like Allentown Metal Works. But I don‘t see that as part of his platform either, do you?
SCHULTZ: I don‘t. And I was going to ask you as a mayor, have you heard anything from Mitt Romney that he would bring forward any kind of economic policy that, say, Allentown, Pennsylvania, could look forward to it? What have you heard from him?
PAWLOWSKI: I haven‘t heard anything about his economic policy, have you? I mean, he hasn‘t really put forth what his policy would be.
You know, when you‘re in a glass house, you shouldn‘t throw stones. I mean, you just quoted the fact before the segment. He ranked 47th out of 50 states under Mitt Romney‘s leadership, that was Massachusetts -- 47 out of 50 in job growth.
I mean, the other ones further behind were Michigan, Ohio and Louisiana. Two Rust belt states and one that was hit by a hurricane, OK?
So, I mean, he has no policy, he has no track record to basically stand there in front of this plant and talk about that he‘s going to bring jobs because—you know, manufacturing jobs in Massachusetts under Mitt Romney was twice that below the national average.
And so, you know, if you look at what the president has done, that our president has done over the course of the last couple years, building jobs, bringing jobs to Pennsylvania mostly because of the Stimulus Act, you know, we have seen tremendous growth right here in Allentown. We got a new $80 million bridge going up, a new arena being built. We have this massive growth in the health care industry, and we have manufacturing jobs now coming back.
SCHULTZ: It sounds good to me.
PAWLOWSKI: And for him to sit there and say that this is a part of the decline is just erroneous.
SCHULTZ: John Harold and Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, great to have you with us tonight. Thanks so much.
HAROLD: Thank you, Ed.
PAWLOWSKI: Thank you, Ed.
SCHULTZ: You bet. President—the Republicans keep saying that President Obama‘s health care plan is destroying America. But in reality, folks, it‘s already saving people money.
The verdict is in. A Florida jury decides the fate of Casey Anthony, but the media already convicted her. We‘re right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Did you know that the president‘s health care law is already saving people money? You don‘t hear that anywhere, do you? Especially on the Republican platform. On Friday, the Obama administration reduced the premiums on its pre-existing condition insurance plans in 17 states and in the District of Columbia.
Some states saw the rates drop as much as 40 percent. The changes were made to comply with a part of the health care law requiring cost of the pre-existing condition plan to be similar to individual policy rates in each state.
Here‘s an example of what the change actually means. Take the state of Virginia, for example. In Virginia, a 55-year-old who would have paid almost 500 dollars a month will now pay less than 300 dollars. Two hundred dollars is pretty huge savings to working families, don‘t you think?
Maybe some of the Republican candidates want to challenge those savings. That would be a good story for them. Of course, they have been running around the country saying that the health care law is going to cost Americans and destroy the country, when in reality the law has provided a lifeline to people who are rejected by the private insurance companies.
Of course, there are still many people across the country who don‘t have access to health care and they need it. And that‘s why we‘re getting into gear again. MSNBC and THE ED SHOW are teaming up with the National Association of Free Clinics to hold a health care clinic in New Orleans on August 29th. I‘ll be there. And we need your help. And I‘m not bashful about asking for it.
The donations made through MSNBC over the past two years have helped stage seven clinics, which have provided health care for some 13,000 patients. And the ones that I saw there desperately need it. This is a donation that will certainly go to a fabulous cause and save lives.
To donate, please go to FreeClinics.us or you can go to our website at Ed.MSNBC.com, and you can also text the word “HEALTH” to 50555 and donate 10 dollars. We‘d appreciate it.
Tim Pawlenty says he was the winner of the Minnesota‘s last government shutdown. But another former Minnesota governor joins me to explain why the current shutdown might turn Pawlenty into a big-time loser.
Rick Santorum gives President Obama credit for creating—listen to the number -- 240 million jobs? His mathematical ignorance puts him in the zone, next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Well, we got a shutdown of the government up there in Minnesota. Minnesotans spent the Fourth of July unable to go to the state parks or use the highway rest areas or get a lottery ticket, which makes money for the state. The state‘s government shutdown put 22,000 people out of work and left many government services unavailable.
Now, Democratic Governor Mark Dayton won‘t give the Republican lawmakers what they want. They want to balance the state‘s budget by cutting services instead of taxing the state‘s millionaires. Now, today a bipartisan commission was announced by former Republican Governor of the state, Arne Carlson, and former Vice President Walter Mondale.
They say the commission they formed will find an alternative solution to the shutdown by the end of the week. I thought that‘s what elected officials were supposed to do, but it‘s good to have them involved.
But another former Republican governor of Minnesota is urging the budget crisis for his own personal gain. Presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty has a new ad on the air in Iowa declaring victory during a similar government shutdown he orchestrated in 2005.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Minnesota government shut down? Why? Because Tim Pawlenty would not accept Democrats‘ massive tax and spending demands. Result? Pawlenty won.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Well, in reality, Governor Pawlenty left Minnesota with a budget deficit more than a billion dollars higher than when he took office. And now the people of Minnesota are feeling the consequences.
Here‘s the key in all of this. This is the first state to do a government shutdown. What do you think other Republican governors are doing right now? You think this is going to be, say, a microcosm? Well, they shut her down in Minnesota, and look what happened. Let‘s shut us down, whatever state we‘re in.
Joining me tonight is former Republican Governor of Minnesota, Arne Carlson. Governor, good evening. Good to have you with us tonight.
ARNE CARLSON, FORMER GOVERNOR OF MINNESOAT: My pleasure. Thank you.
SCHULTZ: Do you think it can be presented as a possible microcosm, that people are watching Minnesota and the shutdown of the government? What‘s your take on that?
CARLSON: I think both Vice President Mondale and me are very, very concerned about that. I think our viewpoint is that Minnesota will rapidly become nationalized by a variety of interest groups coming in with large amounts of money, and that that will ultimately paralyze our political decision from being able to make decisions.
SCHULTZ: Now, this was Tim Pawlenty‘s statement about this commission that you have put together with six other people, along with Walter Mondale. He says that “Walter Mondale ran for president against Ronald Reagan on a platform that called for higher taxes. Arne Carlson supported John Kerry, Barack Obama and other Democrats. It should be a surprise to no one that they both support more spending and higher taxes in Minnesota. We did it the right way for the last eight years with dramatically lower spending and tax cuts.”
Did he do it the right way in the last eight years, governor?
CARLSON: Let me put it very simply. That is if any governor feels he did it the right way, then the question is why do we have the 5.1 billion dollar deficit? We know this much. In Minnesota, we elected a new governor. He took office in January.
We elected a new legislature, and they took office in January. How in the world can we blame them? Whatever we may think of how they perform, the reality is they did not create the problem. That was created prior to their ascendancy.
But the goal that both Vice President Mondale and I have in creating
this committee—and let me say Senator Durenburger (ph), who is in
California, enthusiastically joins us in this effort. That‘s to create a
very talented, very competent group of people—there will be six of them
working with the State Department of Management and Budget, and trying to come out within the next couple of days, two, three days, with a proposition that gives the people of Minnesota a third alternative.
So they can look at the governor‘s budget. They can look at the legislature‘s budget. They can look at the alternative budget and prayerfully bringing this to an end.
SCHULTZ: Do you really think this is going to work? This is what lawmakers are supposed to do. They‘re supposed to get together and do this. Why does it take this outside group to do it, and how effective do you think it will be?
CARLSON: Well, the honest truth is that all institutions, at some point, suffer from gridlock. And so it‘s not uncommon to bring in mediators or certain kinds of negotiating techniques to adjudicate a dispute.
SCHULTZ: A “Star Trib” poll says that Minnesotans overwhelmingly favor a combination of taxing and spending cuts to resolve this, 63 to 27 percent. What do you make of that?
CARLSON: Yes, they would much prefer a balanced approach. Here‘s the problem, Ed, that we‘re in, both in Minnesota and nationally. I thought Bill Frenzel, a very capable retired Republican legislator from suburban Minneapolis, said it very well. That is that we have a left. We have a right. But the big center is getting smaller and smaller.
It‘s the center that brings a legislative body to be able compromise.
That‘s now missing.
SCHULTZ: Well—
CARLSON: And so I‘m fearful that we see paralysis not just in Minnesota, but I‘m fearful we may see it in Congress as well.
SCHULTZ: But it looks like the Republicans in Minnesota are playing out of the national playbook for the Republicans. They just are not going to allow anybody‘s taxes to go up. In fact, they‘re talking about decreasing the tax obligation in that state. I think it is a template. And I think this is a story to watch.
Governor, great to have you with us tonight. Thanks so much.
CARLSON: Ed, let me ad one thing if I can.
SCHULTZ: We‘ll do it again some other time. I appreciate your help.
Last month, Rick Santorum said a liberal conspiracy was preventing students from learning about American history. Now the former senator seems to need help with basic math. And I don‘t think in—you can‘t blame this one on the liberals, can he? Psychotalk is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: In Psychotalk tonight, presidential candidate Rick Santorum shows his ignorance about the American workforce and his complete lack of common sense when it comes to the numbers. This morning, Santorum tried to attack President Obama by bringing up a report from the White House Counsel on Economic Advisers.
The report actually says the 2009 stimulus created between 2.4 and 3.6
million jobs, OKA
But Santorum decided to make up some new completely unrealistic numbers of his own.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK SANTORUM ®, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We passed a huge stimulus package, which now we know, over the past two quarters, has actually cost American jobs. And that‘s from the report of his own administration. They claimed in December that by the end of last year that they created 280 million jobs. And now they‘re saying they created only 240 million jobs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That‘s not a loss of jobs, senator. That‘s a smaller aggregation of jobs. You can‘t go on a national campaign with this kind of math, senator. It‘s just incorrect.
SANTORUM: Sure you can because that‘s not incorrect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Well, you don‘t need to know anything about the stimulus to realize that there is nothing even remotely correct about what Rick Santorum said. He claims the stimulus package created 240 million jobs.
Think about that for a minute. There‘s only 309 million people in America who are actually working. The entire work force is only 153 million people. About 14 million of them are unemployed. So if President Obama created 240 million jobs, every man, woman and child in America could have a job. And we‘d still have to bring in people from other countries to fill all the available positions.
Rick Santorum wants to be elected president of a population he knows nothing about. His total ignorance about the American work force is mathematically challenged Psychotalk.
Shock ‘n Awe in Florida today. But not about state housing crisis or high unemployment. Liz Winstead will reassure me that it‘s OK not to care about the Casey Anthony case.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK0
SCHULTZ: Finally tonight, shock, outrage, dismay felt across the country today, not over our impending debt crisis or two wars being fought and money going out the door daily. Not over our crumbling middle class or stagnant job growth. The disbelief and anger felt by many had to do with this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As to the charge of first-degree murder, verdict as to count one, we the jury find the defendant not guilty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Florida jury delivering their verdict earlier, finding 25-year-old Casey Anthony not guilty of killing her two-year-old daughter back in 2008. Surprising, considering many in the media had predicted a much different outcome.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are in a very somber mood right now because the verdict in the Casey Anthony—
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You OK?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Help me out here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God! It is a stunning verdict. I think that this is incredible. Do I necessarily agree with this verdict? No, I don‘t.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Apparently just claim there‘s a zany nanny and it will save your fanny.
BILL O‘REILLY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: How does a good mother go to a wet body contest when her baby is missing?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let me just say, the devil is dancing tonight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Joining me now is comedian and co-creator of “the Daily Show,” Liz Winstead. Liz, what‘s your response to all of that reaction by the media?
LIZ WINSTEAD, COMEDIAN: Well, you know, the reaction to the media maybe because it‘s putting them dead in their tracks and what are they going to talk about now. It‘s like, oh, my God, she‘s going home on Thursday. We can‘t fall this nauseating story through sentencing either.
You have a young woman. You have hot girl on girl photographs. And you have a child that disappeared and a funky trunk. It‘s a recipe for the journalistically lazy at it‘s finest.
It is a buffet of crap that yet again—it‘s so interesting, Ed, because I‘m writing this book. One of the essays I‘m writing about is creating “the Daily Show” and the climate of the media and what was going on at the time.
What was going on at the time we launched was wall-to-wall O.J., baby shaking nanny, the Versace trial, all of that stuff. So then I‘m watching today and this breaks in, no commercials, this happens.
It‘s like if more people knew as much about Rick Scott as they do about Casey Anthony, Florida would be a much better state.
SCHULTZ: Why are so many people fascinated by this?
WINSTEAD: I think—the prurient nature of it, you know. Does it go back to our, wow, at least I‘m not that bad of a mom. I really don‘t know. But it‘s a local news story that they grab onto because of the salacious nature of it.
It‘s sickening. It‘s a white girl. Chris Hayes was great today filling in for Lawrence, telling another story of another guy who was put on trial who, you know—it was amazing. So I feel like the stories of great trial redemptions don‘t get told, and the prurient nature of the hot woman with the photos every time will score. It‘s sickening.
SCHULTZ: Liz Winstead, thanks for your time tonight. Appreciate it. Tonight in our survey, I asked you are the Republicans negotiating in good fate on the debt ceiling. Nine percent of you said yes; 91 percent said no.
Great to be back with you. That‘s THE ED SHOW. I‘m Ed Schultz. The MSNBC Special, “The Casey Anthony Trial,” begins now.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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