PoliticsNation, Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Guests: Chaka Fattah, Bob Shrum, Maria Teresa Kumar, Erin McPike, Nia-
Malika Henderson, Victoria DeFrancesco Soto

AL SHARPTON, MSNBC HOST, "POLITICSNATION": Let`s talk turkey when it
comes to Republicans and jobs. President Obama wants to put more money in
your pocket. Tonight, how the GOP are playing the role of scrooge this
holiday season.

New outrage over Willard`s false political attack ad. The Romney
people are actually defending putting a blatant untruth on the public
airways.

Also, if you like illegal spying, racial profiling, and war, then you
loved last night`s GOP debate. It`s quite a party over in the Grand Old
Party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Use every tool that you
can possibly use to gather the intelligence --

RICK SANTORUM, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Obviously Muslims would be
someone you would look at.

MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Covert action within Syria
to get regime change.

RICK PERRY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We better get serious about
Syria and Iran.

GINGRICH: Don`t complain if we kill people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHARPTON: Welcome to POLITICSNATION. I`m Al Sharpton. Tonight`s
lead, the fight for the middle class. With the holidays here, President
Obama wants to make sure middle class Americans have jobs and more money in
their pockets. It`s been what he`s been fighting for almost every day for
the last three months.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am sending this
Congress a plan that you should pass right away. It`s called the American
jobs act.

Maybe they couldn`t understand the whole thing all at once.

(LAUGHTER)

So we`re going to break it up into bite-sized pieces.

Keeping first responders on the job, that`s a jobs plan. Putting more
teachers in the classroom, that`s a jobs plan.

(APPLAUSE)

"Rebuilding our infrastructure is common sense." That`s a quote.
And, quote, "an investment in tomorrow that we must make today." That
president was Ronald Reagan. Since when do we have Republicans voting
against Ronald Reagan`s ideas?

We can`t simply wait for Congress to do its job. If Congress won`t
act, I will.

Tell them, don`t be a Grinch. Don`t vote to raise taxes on working
Americans during the holidays.

Congress has a very simple choice next week. Do you want to cut taxes
for the middle class and those who are trying to get into the middle class,
or do you want to protect massive tax breaks for millionaires and
billionaires, many of whom want to actually help?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHARPTON: But Republicans are more interested in helping the rich.
Three times in the last three months they`ve been faced with a choice
between creating jobs and protecting millionaires from paying their fair
share. Every single time they voted with the wealthy. But the president
is keeping the pressure on. Next week Congress is expected to vote on the
president`s plan to extend the payroll tax cut that would save the average
household $1,500 -- $1,500 to help folks pay the bills and get through the
winter.

Republicans have blocked the president every step of the way. Will
they do it again?

Joining me now is Congressman Chaka Fattah, Democrat from Pennsylvania
and a proud member of the progressive caucus, and Bob Shrum, Democratic
strategist and NYU professor who served as senior adviser to the Kerry and
Gore campaigns. Let me start with you, congressman. Will Republicans
really vote to raise taxes on virtually every American right during the
holidays?

REP. CHAKA FATTAH, (D) PENNSYLVANIA: Well, they very may do such a
thing, reverend. First of all, we`re showcasing part of the lie now, which
is that poor families or working class families don`t pay income taxes.
No, they pay payroll taxes. And what the president has done is put in
place a payroll tax deduction that`s in place now. If we don`t extend it,
then this is going to be for the average family about a $1,000 to $1,500
tax increase.

Now, they say they`re against tax increases. And the president is
really going to put them in a position now because he`s saying let`s extend
this over the next period of time here. And a lot of them are saying,
well, they may not be able to vote for this even though it would forestall
this tax increase.

So we`re going to put them on the spot. But you never can count
Republicans out. They can do things that don`t make a lot of sense,
especially when they`re trying to fight a president that they are
determined, it`s their number one priority to defeat this president. And
in the meantime, they don`t have the Solomon-like wisdom to not put the
country in a bad situation just because of their politics.

SHARPTON: Bob, not only is it contradictory at its worst for them to
allow a tax increase since they`re against any tax increases at all. The
fact is some of them voted to extend the tax -- the payroll tax cuts. Many
voted in 2010, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Eric Cantor. But now they
have a wait-and-see attitude. Now, that is blatant partisan politics at
the expense of the American people.

BOB SHRUM, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Look, they don`t want to do it.
They don`t want to approve it. They don`t want to approve it for a simple
reason. Even though in the beginning, by the way, a lot of Republicans
pushed this idea hard. They don`t want to approve this now because it
might help improve the economy. I think the Republican --

SHARPTON: Even though they voted for it last year?

SHRUM: That`s right. Consistency doesn`t matter to them anymore than
it matters to Mitt Romney. They don`t care if they were for it before they
were against it. What they`re interested in is having this economy in as
bad a shape as possible come next November. They then want to blame it on
the president even though they have taken action after action after action
that`s putting the economy in a tough place. They don`t want to extend
unemployment compensation. They don`t want to extend this payroll tax cut.

Now, I think the country is beginning to see through this. The
president is out there fighting on it. He`s fighting hard on it. He`s
standing up for the middle class. He`s standing up for people in tough
times and in trouble. And you know, if you look at the polling, on every
single one of these issues the country is with the president.

SHARPTON: No doubt about it, and so were they when it was a year ago.
I want to keep pointing out these people themselves voted for this exact
same thing in 2010. Congressman Fattah, Bob mentioned Willard Mitt Romney.
Let me show you what Willard said about extending the payroll taxes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If the payroll tax cut is not extended, that
would mean a tax increase for all Americans. What would be the
consequences of that?

ROMNEY: What it takes to create jobs is more than just a temporary
shift in a tax stimulus.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So you would be OK with seeing the payroll tax
cut --

ROMNEY: I don`t like temporary little Band-Aids.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHARPTON: "I don`t like temporary Band-Aids," Congressman Fattah.
That`s what he said about extending the payroll tax cut.

FATTAH: This has been an invited job from the beginning. The
Republicans put forth a major, trillion-plus-dollar tax cut, didn`t create
any federal programs, ran up a debt so when the president was sworn into
office, we were in debt $11 trillion, in the hole when he was sworn in on
January 20th just a few years ago.

And now what they`re doing is saying, well, you can`t cut taxes. You
can`t increase taxes. You can`t do anything that could move our economy in
a positive direction because they know the Reagan story. Reagan was at 8.5
unemployment at this point, four million jobs created during the election
year. He won 49 states. And they want to see the economy be in a shape in
which it is as dire as possible, and they don`t want to see this recovery
take hold going into the New Year.

SHARPTON: Bob, even Republicans that are being polled, 58 percent of
them support extending the payroll tax cut, 56 percent support taxing
millionaires. They`re not even listening to the members of their own
party.

SHRUM: They`re listening to the far right part of their party, to the
Tea Party part of their party. They`re pursuing in my view a conscious
strategy as Congressman Fattah just said, of getting this economy in as bad
a shape as possible. They think if they keep millions of Americans from
getting jobs, they`re going to get the job of president of the United
States. It`s cynical. It`s transparent.

Look what they did with this deficit committee. At the deficit
committee, they proposed to give bigger tax breaks to the wealthy while
instituting the Ryan plan to voucherize Medicare. You can`t negotiate with
people like that. JFK once said it, there`s no way to negotiate with
someone who says, what`s mine is mine and what`s yours is negotiable.

(LAUGHTER)

SHARPTON: Congressman, I`m glad you raised the debt ceiling
negotiations because you and I talked during that time. We were saying
that maybe the president was playing chess while they were playing
checkers. And it seems like that`s the case because they put themselves in
an untenable position. They`re now where they`re faced with the trigger,
the trigger nightmare for them.

The Bush tax cuts expire January 1st, 2013. The Pentagon cuts, $600
billion. And they negotiated and negotiated and negotiated and the
president really ended up in a place that we would have never gotten had
they just negotiated fairly at that time.

FATTAH: Well, look, if nothing happens, he gets basically almost 3.5
to one income to cuts based on present law. This is the deal where
Republicans said they got 98 percent of what they wanted when they got it a
few months ago. Now they say it`s a lemon, not lemonade, that somehow this
was a bad deal, that Obama should have rescued the talks.

I heard Majority Leader Cantor say, look, we don`t need the president.
This is what he said when he walked away from the talks at the White House.
He decides whether he signs them or not. Now all of a sudden they`re
saying, well, the talks didn`t work because the president us away on an
Asian trip. His trip to Asia brought almost $40 billion worth of contracts
for Boeing. Boeing has workers at 40 states in our country. They`re going
to be working for a long time. He got a lot more done on that trade
mission than he did listening to Republicans here.

But they have selective amnesia. They don`t care what they say.
Months before Gadhafi fell, they were accusing the president of being some
kind of deal to get Gadhafi`s guy released from a Scottish jail.

SHARPTON: They`re all over the place. But we`re going to be
monitoring and heading toward progress in the country. Happy Thanksgiving,
Congressman Fattah.

FATTAH: We`re going to lean forward. Happy Thanksgiving.

SHRUM: Happy Thanksgiving to you.

SHARPTON: Both of you have a safe and happy holiday.

Ahead, what`s old is Newt. The guy who is against child labor laws
now leading the GOP field. Meet your GOP, America.

And Willard can`t get away with untruths in this new ad. And now he`s
stretching the truth about his own name.

Plus, who will be the POLITICSNATION turkey of the year. With so many
options, it`s a tough one to pick. We`ll have them all, the Thanksgiving
guests who can`t stop talking about how great Republicans are. My tips on
how to handle him with the facts. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SHARPTON: Welcome back. Folks, we know Willard Mitt Romney has a
hard time finding his way to the truth. We`ve seen him flip-flop on
everything from immigration to abortion to gun control to stimulus to
health care. If there`s an issue out there, he`s probably taken both
sides. But his latest non-truth is a whopper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I am confident that we can steer ourselves out of this mess.
It`s going to take a new direction. If we keep talking about the economy,
we`re going to lose.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHARPTON: But the president was actually quoting an advisor to John
McCain, his then rival for the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Senator McCain`s campaign actually said, and I quote, "If we
keep talking about the economy, we`re going to lose."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHARPTON: The ad is clearly false. But the Romney campaign admits
it`s being intentionally deceptive. They just don`t care.

"Politico" asked Romney advisers about using the out-of-context quote.
Here is their statement, quote, "We used that quote intentionally to show
that President Obama is doing exactly what he criticized McCain of doing
four years ago. Obama doesn`t want to talk about the economy because of
his failed record."

Unbelievable, unbelievable. Not only is this ad a lie, so is the
campaign`s so-called explanation a lie. President Obama`s been talking
about the economy almost every day for months. This untrue ad is airing on
one TV station, WMUR in New Hampshire, where the general manager came up
with a preposterous justification for airing it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By federal law we`re not allowed to censor in any
way a legally qualified candidate for federal office`s ad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHARPTON: Let me get this right. Something can actually be wrong and
it will still air. That`s quite a standard, about as low as Willard can
go.

MSNBC contributor Maria Teresa Kumar is the executive director of Voto
Latino, and Erin McPike is a reporter for Real Clear Politics. They are my
guests. Thank you both of you for coming.

MARIA TERESA KUMAR, VOTO LATINO: Thank you.

ERIN MCPIKE, REAL CLEAR POLITICS: Thank you.

SHARPTON: Maria, if a campaign admits this ad is intentionally
deceptive, should it be on the air at all?

KUMAR: Well, one, it`s truth in advertising. If you`re a company and
you actually do something wrong and not advising -- if you advertise
falsely, you can get fined. They should do the same thing.

But I do caution the Mitt Romney campaign, because what he doesn`t
understand is this is not politics of 2000 or 2004 or even 2008. Citizens
are very, very conscious and very, very thoughtful about whether or not
candidates are lying to them. In the face of twitter and Facebook, citizen
journalism, "I gotcha" is going to spread. I would caution them on being
careful.

SHARPTON: Erin, the fact is that we are looking at a blatant
manipulation of what happened, and aside from, in my opinion, a ridiculous
notion by the general manager that they had to put it on which to me is
absurd, if you`re being accused of being a flip-flopper, do you have any
respect for the people, if on top of being a flip-flopper you`re going to
be intentionally deceptive and let your spokesperson admit it?

MCPIKE: They do have a problem because the Obama campaign is saying -
-

SHARPTON: I think we lost Erin. Maria, why don`t you answer that.
We`ve just lost Erin.

KUMAR: He clearly already sees himself as a front-runner. So because
he already considers himself a front-runner and he`s also been a flip-flop
per and the Republicans will have a hard time grabbing their base, now it`s
important for Obama to use this time and start defining Mitt Romney as a
fat cat, someone who is completely out of touch with the middle class, and
basically kind of do what Clinton did against Bush, basically saying he`s
out of touch. Does he know the cost of a turkey, the cost of gas?
Republicans are not going to appreciate someone that is not giving them the
straight facts.

SHARPTON: Now, they`re saying that the president has not been talking
about jobs. That`s why they came up with this deceptive ad. Let me show
you the president`s jobs tour. You might have a jobs tour to talk about
jobs.

KUMAR: Slightly.

SHARPTON: Willard, you know, that`s why they have jobs tours. Look
at the tour -- 11/22, 11/21, the 8th -- all of these November, the 7th, the
2nd. I mean, the man has been on tour all over the country on a jobs tour
discussing jobs. Yet they claim we had to do this because he won`t talk
about jobs.

KUMAR: I think what it`s saying is that Mitt Romney is having a hard
time dominating the airwaves when he`s being paired up against the
Republican candidates, and that the Obama campaign is being very effective
by going locally and dominating the local media. That`s what basically
that demonstrates, he`s trying to figure out how do I get the Obama
campaign to talk about me because nobody else really is.

SHARPTON: The other point I think is when you made the point that
we`re in a different time with citizen journalism and all kind of
technology, this was a small ad by New Hampshire. Because I think they`re
so out of touch with the times, they think they can get away with a little
small ad bite, not knowing that everything now is global. You put it
anywhere and it`s going to be everywhere, especially if it`s something that
is this blatantly deceptive.

KUMAR: It`s global and transparent. I think voters have been able to
demonstrate time and time again they have very little tolerance for someone
who is blatantly lying to them. The Tea Party is a perfect example. The
Tea Party believes the government is about them and believe in as much
transparency as possible. Mitt once again is demonstrating once again that
not only does he not have their core values, but at the same time he`s
willing to do anything to get a vote, even lie to them.

SHARPTON: Yes, it`s going to be interesting. He`s the assumed
nominee. Maybe what the president should do if he is the nominee is not
debate Romney. Just let Romney debate himself. Maria Teresa Kumar,
thanks, and have a great holiday. And my apologies for Erin McPike for
losing her shot. We hope she has a great Thanksgiving, too.

Folks, last night we saw another case of Romney fudging the truth, and
it wasn`t in his ad. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I`m Mitt Romney. And, yes,
Wolf, that`s also my first name.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHARPTON: What? Mitt isn`t your first name. It`s Willard, Willard
Mitt Romney. That`s been your name your whole life. But Willard, I`m a
little hurt. If you forgot your real name, you must not be watching
"POLITICSNATION," because I remind you every night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHARPTON: Willard Mitt Romney has done it again.

Willard Mitt Romney says --

Maybe you can break that down from Willard-ese to me.

Willard, Willard, Willard, you never cease to amaze me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHARPTON: Governor Romney, your name is Willard. If not, I`d like to
see your long form birth certificate, please.

Ahead, you won`t believe what conservatives are saying now about the
Occupy Wall Street movement.

And we are moments away from crowning the "POLITICSNATION" turkey of
the year. It was a tough call this year. The top turkey revealed next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SHARPTON: Thanksgiving is upon us. And in the spirit of the holiday,
we`re honoring the Republican turkey of the year. This was not easy for
our "POLITICSNATION" team because there`s so many turkeys to choose from.
But without further ado, drumroll, please.

Here are the nominees. First we`ve got Illinois freshman Congressman
Joe Walsh. Our next contender Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. And the
final contender for the "POLITICSNATION" turkey of the year, House Majority
Leader Eric Cantor.

Let`s start with Congressman Joe Walsh. He`s been in office for less
than a year, but we all got to know him very well from saying despicable
things like the president`s a liar. And this year we also learned he has
the same rage for his own constituents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOE WALSH, (R) ILLINOIS: The government sets the rules. Don`t
blame banks and don`t blame the marketplace for the mess we`re in right
now. I am tired of hearing that Crap! I am tired of hearing that crap!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fighting the situation, taking --

WALSH: There are already mechanisms in place.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You don`t have to scream at me.

WALSH: This pisses me off. Too many people don`t listen. There are
already mechanisms in place to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHARPTON: Joe makes a strong case, but let`s move on to Wisconsin
Governor Scott Walker. Walker became the poster child for union busting
this year. We got used to hearing nonsense like this over and over again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. SCOTT WALKER, (R) WISCONSIN: This reforms, budget reforms help
us protect middle class jobs and middle class taxpayers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHARPTON: Walker, of course, gutted collective bargaining rights for
public workers, slashed funding for schools, and made it tougher for
Wisconsin residents to vote. Walker might be tough to beat, but last but
not least we have House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. He made a very strong
case for turkey of the year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ERIC CANTOR, (R) HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: Yes there`s a federal
role. Yes, we`re going to find the money. We`re just going to need to
make sure that there are savings elsewhere.

Growing mobs occupying Wall Street.

Stimulus bill which failed to get people back to work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHARPTON: This year, Cantor also walked out on negotiations with the
vice president and asked for stimulus money after bashing it. Well, you`ve
seen the nominee. Now it`s time to give the award away. And, as I said,
it wasn`t easy. Drum roll, please. The honor of turkey of the year goes
to Eric Cantor. Congratulations, Mr. Cantor! Congratulations for going
above and beyond all of the turkeys.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SHARPTON: Welcome back to POLITICS NATION. We`re learning more and
more about who this group of GOP contenders are. Last night, they gave us
some frightening insight to how they really think about the world. It
starts with spying on people in this country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RICK PERRY (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The Patriot Act. And
we need to keep it in place. We need to have -- strengthen it if that`s
what`s required to update it with new technologies as they come along.

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Use every tool that you
can possibly use to gather the intelligence. The patriot act has clearly
been a key part of that.

HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If there are some areas of
the Patriot Act that we need to refine, I`m all for that, but I do not
believe we ought to throw out the baby with the bath water. The terrorists
have one objective that some people don`t seem to get, they want to kill
all of us. So, we should use every means possible to kill them first or
identify them first.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHARPTON: And racial profiling? They say it`s perfectly acceptable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Obviously Muslims would be
someone you`d look at, absolutely. Those are the folks who are the radical
Muslims are the people that are committing these crimes.

CAIN: Targeted identification. If you take a look at the people who
have tried to kill us, it would be easy to figure out exactly what that
identification profile looks like.

RON PAUL (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are not fighting a war on
terrorism. Terrorism is a tactic. We are fighting a war against radical
Islam.

GINGRICH: Being honest about radical Islam and designing a strategy
to defeat it wherever it happens to exist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHARPTON: And one thing is for sure. They`d love nothing more than
to declare war on the rest of the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The right course in America
is to stand up to Iran with crippling sanctions. This is a time to use not
only sanctions but covert actions within Syria to get regime change there.

PERRY: We better get serious about Syria and Iran and we better get
serious right now.

CAIN: If we pull out of Afghanistan too soon, Iran is going to help
fill that power vacuum in Afghanistan.

REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Pakistan has
been the epicenter of dealing with terrorism. This is more than an
existential threat. We have to take this very seriously. The United
States has to be engaged.

GINGRICH: You tell the Pakistanis, help us or get out of the way.
But don`t complain if we kill people you`re not willing to go after on your
territory.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHARPTON: I tell you my take from last night. I don`t want anyone on
that stage taking that 3:00 a.m. phone call.

Joining me now is Nia-Malika Henderson, a "Washington Post" national
reporter who also writes for the election 2012 blog, and Victoria
DeFrancesco Soto, visiting scholar at the University of Texas, Austin.
Thank you both for being here.

VICTORIA DEFRANCESCO SOTO, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS: Great to be here.

SHARPTON: Nia-Malika, how scared should we be of these folks?

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Well, it`s funny, in
listening to those sound bites, it`s almost like the Republican Party is
still in 2008 or still in 2004 and using this tactic that George H.W. Bush
was able to use so well and essentially scare people into voting for him.
I think one of the things that we`re seeing from this party is that it is
in this post-Bush era, an era beyond neo-conservatism and beyond this idea
that America`s foreign policy should be used to impose democracy across the
world. So, you did see these wide-ranging opinions up there about how to
engage with the rest of the world. You had somebody like Ron Paul
essentially saying that Israel should be left alone, that Iran if it gets a
nuclear weapon, that`s OK.

And then you had somebody like Jon Huntsman right in the middle there
saying that they should withdraw, we should withdraw troops down in
Afghanistan even faster than Barack Obama is doing. So, I think it`s a
party that`s all over the place in terms of foreign policy. When you think
about Mitt Romney, I think for him one of the strategies that he`s
employing is to be really conservative, he is basically using two issues,
immigration as well as defense and America`s foreign policy to really seem
like he`s the true conservative. So, I think that`s what you saw from him
last night. And I think you`ll continue to see that from him on the stump.

SHARPTON: I agree. And the hard right position is being taken by
some. But Victoria, can they then bring that into the general election and
win with these far right, hard right positions?

SOTO: You know, the irony is that foreign policy is one of the
strongest suits of President Obama. And in particular we see that the
president is in sync with the American electorate, his middle-of-the-road
approach, not too hawkish, not too dovish. A couple of weeks ago, Gallup
had a poll that showed that 75 percent of the American electorate supported
the withdrawal of troops in Iraq.

SHARPTON: Well, let me show you. Not only that you write about
Gallup, CBS had a poll that showed that 77 percent approved of withdrawal
from Iraq. Sixty seven percent says, Iraq war not worth the costs. Fifty
three percent, U.S. shouldn`t be in Afghanistan. Fifty percent, Iran can
be contained with diplomacy. Seventy percent says, the U.S. shouldn`t try
to over throw dictatorships. So, the American people are clearly not where
those on the stage last night are.

SOTO: They`re done with that neocon model, you know. The American
public is supporting the foreign policy where they don`t want any more of
the George W. Bush. You know, Nia-Malika said that was so 2008, so 2004.
Today, the American public clearly wants a middle of-the-road approach.

SHARPTON: Now, Nia, the front-runner this week is Newt, Newt
Gingrich. And the poll has him -- the latest poll we have, he`s leading
right now on every poll across the board. And last night, he offered the
one humane moment of the evening. Now, I don`t know what got into Newt,
whether it was strategic or whether it was Newt whose, you know, I had a
five-city tour that President Obama sent us on. And one thing I knew about
Newt is always full of ideas, he`s shooting ideas, most of which I think
are absurd, but he`s an idea person. And I think maybe he was just
shooting his ideas and not thinking consequentially about what may happen.
Because the last time you had a republican candidate talking a humane way
about the immigration issue, his name was Rick Perry. And let me show you
what Perry did, and then I`m going to show you what happened to her. Watch
this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PERRY: If you say that we should not educate children who have come
into our state for no other reason than they`ve been brought there by no
fault of their own, I don`t think you have a heart.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHARPTON: Now, that`s somewhat what Newt said last night. He said it
a little more refined, but we are talking about Rick Perry. But the same
point. But then, let me show you what happened. Mr. Perry who came in the
day of the debate 28.4 percent. Then by October 3rd, he was down to 25.
Then by the 13th down to 13.7, then the 23rd, 12.5. November 3rd, 9.7.
Now he`s down to 7.7 percent. Which means by the time you finish your
apple pie tomorrow night, Newt may be headed south if he has the same fate
that Rick Perry is showing some humane feeling in the immigration area.

HENDERSON: No, I think that this could be true. I think in many ways
Newt Gingrich was channeling the Republican Party of 2006. And that was
when the Republican Party was the party of immigration reform. This is a
bill that passed overwhelmingly in the Senate, that talked about a pathway
to citizenship and also talked about increased border security. So that
was Newt. Newt, to be fair, he has been talking about the importance of
having a Republican Party which is a more big ten party. He`s been taking
Spanish lessons. He set up a Web site that was targeted at conservative
Latinos. So, it wasn`t exactly a surprise that he came out so boldly in
this debate and said that. And I think you raise a good point. This whole
idea of Rick Perry and not being as refined in talking about this issue,
that I think is where Newt Gingrich could make a difference with this. And
he might be the one that can really communicate this idea to the rest of
his party because a lot of moderate Republicans really see that this race
runs through Latino America.

SHARPTON: Well, that`s the point, Victoria. Can they be competitive
as a Republican Party in the general if they don`t appeal to Latino voters?
And how do they make that appeal if they have this far right position on
immigration?

SOTO: They absolutely have to appeal to Latino voters. We know that
Latino voters, the most Latinos are neither republican, nor democrat.
They`re independents. And they will swing to the right if they feel that
they have the candidate who can represent them. They did that with Bush.
But more importantly, we see that in the 2012, we have a large Latino
population in a lot of our swing states, in Nevada, in New Mexico, in
Colorado, in Florida. So you cannot win the general election by ignoring
them. And Newt knows this. And he has been establishing this path for a
long time with his Web sites and his outreach.

But I think the difference with Perry, I actually don`t think this is
going to hurt him in the republican primary. First of all, he owned it.
He knew very well what he was doing, and he did not use the rhetoric of the
heart. He used the rhetoric of republican family values and he keeps going
back to Reagan because, if we really want to talk about Republicans and
immigration, we need to go back to Reagan. And he was a staunch advocate
of legalizing immigrants in this country. So that is what Newt Gingrich
was doing.

SHARPTON: Well, Nia, I think there were at a disadvantage because
unlike any predictions, foreign affairs and national security is not going
to be an easy fight against this president who does have a record that he
can stand with. So they are in between a rock and a hard place in this
particular area.

HENDERSON: No. I think you`re exactly right. And you see them
grappling with really trying to take the mantle of foreign policy away from
Barack Obama and really try to figure out what is the republican philosophy
about foreign policy in this era after two wars, after one war that was
based on faulty intelligence. So, that`s what you see this party grappling
with.

SHARPTON: Nia-Malika, Victoria, thanks for your time this evening.
And Happy Thanksgiving to both of you.

HENDERSON: You, too, Rev.

SOTO: Thank you.

SHARPTON: Ahead, more fallout from the pepper spray outrage at UC
Davis, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SHARPTON: We`re back with new fallout from the pepper spray outrage
at UC Davis. We`re learning more about Lieutenant John Pike, the police
officer in the now infamous video casually pepper spraying student
protesters. It turns out that in 2003, he was involved in a $250,000
discrimination lawsuit alleging that he used an anti-gay slur against an
openly gay officer. But this is bigger than just UC Davis. The right wing
is doing everything it can to undermine the 99 percent movement since it
started over two months ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CANTOR: I, for one, am increasingly concerned about the growing mobs
occupying Wall Street.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I see it sort of like a Paris mob.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: That`s anti-American.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Attack upon freedom.

GINGRICH: Go get a job right after you take a bath.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHARPTON: And now the republican architect Karl Rove has an attack ad
out against the ultimate fighter for the middle class, Elizabeth Warren.
And here is why. They`re scared. Take a look at these numbers. The
average Bush tax cut for the richest one percent this year will be greater
than the average income of the other 99 percent. Sixty six thousand dollar
to $58,000. And the national conversation is changing. A progressive wave
is gaining strength every day from protests to recalls, to standing up
against voter I.D. laws. The fight is on, and the GOP knows it. They`ll
push back, but we will continue to keep the pressure on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SHARPTON: Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday, a chance for all of us
to be with family and friends and be thankful for all we have. Of course,
at some Thanksgiving tables, there`s that one guest who just ruins the
dinner conversation with his political arguments. You know who I`m talking
about. He might be your brother-in-law who gets all his talking points
from Rush Limbaugh. Or maybe it`s your aunt repeating points from the fan
balance crowd. But if that happens at your table this year, don`t get
upset, don`t get angry, don`t take a swing at him with your drumstick.
Just smile. Hit them with the facts. Rev. Al`s turkey tips.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I am thankful for this meal, and I am thankful for
my yacht, and I am thankful to live in a country that gave us Ronald
Reagan. I miss him so much. Now, let me tell you something. There was a
man, Ronald Wilson Reagan was a leader who knew how to run the economy.
You didn`t see him trying to raise taxes left and right like Obama.

SHARPTON: That guy is a bigger turkey than the one on the table. If
he try it is Reagan stuff, just ask him this. Are you talking about the
Ronald Reagan who raised taxes 11 times? The same Reagan who was
responsible for the largest peacetime tax increases in U.S. history? That
Ronald Reagan? Now, giving him the facts should knock the stuffing out of
him. But you know he`ll bounce right back to the next talking point by the
time you pass the sweet potatoes.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: If John Boehner and Eric Cantor have taught us
anything, it`s that you can`t raise taxes on job creators, the job
creators. The Bush tax cuts are the only thing saving this economy from
going down the tubes.

SHARPTON: Now, when he comes to distorting the real story about tax
cuts, you can let this guy pass the gravy, but please don`t give him a pass
on the truth. Explain to him that the Bush tax cuts would add $420 billion
to this year`s deficit. That means they account for nearly one-third of
our deficit every year. You remember the deficit, that`s what we all want
to lower. If we let the Bush tax cuts expire, they`d return to the levels
seen during the Clinton administration. Remember what the economy was like
then? More than 22 million jobs were created. But even then, chances are
this guy just won`t quit. His ideas are more half-cooked than Auntie`s
potatoes.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: You know what I like? I like marshmallows on my
sweet potatoes and I like Michele Bachmann. Now, she is right about the
war on terror. Obama`s just handed over the interrogation of the
terrorists to the ACLU. I mean, this guy is treating Al-Qaeda with kid
gloves.

SHARPTON: Kid gloves. If they hit the president on National
Security, then just pull this clip out of your DVR.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. BARACK OBAMA (D), UNITED STATES: Tonight, I can report to the
American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an
operation that killed Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Al-Qaeda.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHARPTON: Then hand out the President`s foreign policy resume. In
addition to wiping out Bin Laden, he also took out a top Al-Qaeda terrorist
and handled a mission in Libya which ousted Moammar Gadhafi and oh yes, he
also announced the withdrawal of troops from Iraq. But knowing this guy,
he`ll want to hit you with the lazy argument.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I heard the president called the American people
lazy. I mean, what is he talking about? Well, I didn`t actually hear him
say that, but that`s what my friend said. My friends over at FOX and
Friends. That`s where I get all my political facts from. I mean, what is
it with Obama? Why does he just love to put down the American people?

SHARPTON: Put down the American people. Not so fast. What the
president actually said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: We`ve been a little bit lazy I think over the last couple
decades. We`ve got to taken for granted, well, people will want to come
here and we aren`t out there hungry selling America and trying to attract
new businesses into America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHARPTON: He was talking about business practices, not individuals.
In fact, in that very speech he called Americans, quote, "the best workers
in the world." And when he`s all tapped out, chances are he`ll talk about
the wealth gap.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: As we sit down to this beautiful feast, I think we
should take one moment to reflect that half the people in this country are
getting a free lunch. And between them and those dirty hippies down at
Wall Street, this country is going to hell in a hand basket.

SHARPTON: Folks, there is reasons, real reasons why this country is
up in arms about income inequality. The richest one percent have seen
their income grow 275 percent in the last three decades. The poorest in
this country, they`ve only seen 18 percent growth. We`ve gotten less fair
as a country. And no matter where you stand, that`s not a good thing.
After all this, your dinner guest should be giving thanks to you for
enlightening him.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Thank you, Reverend.

SHARPTON: You`re welcome.

I`d like to thank Todd Brisco (ph) for helping us out tonight us our
dinner guest. You can get more information on Todd and his sketch group at
politicalsubversities.com. And we posted all of Rev Al`s turkey tips at
Facebook.com/Politicsnation. Bring them with you to your Thanksgiving
dinner just in case. I wish you a very safe and healthy Thanksgiving.
Thanks for watching. I`m Al Sharpton. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Hardball starts right now.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY
BE UPDATED.
END

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