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The Ed Show for Thursday, August 2nd, 2012

Read the transcript to the Thursday show

THE ED SHOW with ED SCHULTZ
August 2, 2012

Guests: Patrick Gaspard, Dean Baker, Jesse Jackson; Marcia Dyson; Mark
Simone


MICHAEL ERIC DYSON, GUEST HOST: Good evening, Americans. Welcome to
THE ED SHOW. I`m Michael Eric Dyson, in for Ed Schultz.

Ninety-six days before the 2012 election, Mitt Romney is horsing
around with billionaire donors in Aspen while President Obama is fighting
for the middle class.

Tonight, I`ll show you Mitt`s fancy dancing on taxes.

This is THE ED SHOW -- and as Ed would say -- let`s get to work.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AD NARRATOR: Mitt Romney`s middle class tax increase. He pays less,
you pay more.

DYSON (voice-over): On the air and on the stump, President Obama is
drilling Mitt Romney over his middle class tax hike. And the Romney team
is trying to change the narrative.

ERIC FEHRNSTROM, ROMNEY CAMPAIGN: That report you referenced is a
joke.

DYSON: Tonight, Karen Finney and the DNC`s Patrick Gaspard on the
politics of Romney`s ongoing tax nightmare, and Dean Baker on the
undeniable policy implications.

And why on earth is Twitter getting on the great young gymnast Gabby
Douglas over her hair? I`ll explain in the Dyson-ary.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DYSON: President Obama has Mitt Romney on the ropes over a tax plan
that doesn`t add up and would raise taxes on the middle class from Mr.
Romney. Just one day after a damning independent analysis, the Obama
campaign put out an ad that will air in eight battleground states.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AD NARRATOR: Mitt Romney made $20 million in 2010 but paid only 14
percent in taxes, probably less than you. Now he has a plan that would
give millionaires another tax break and raises taxes on middle class
families by up to $2,000 a year. Mitt Romney`s middle class tax increase -
- he pays less, you pay more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DYSON: The Romney campaign has been I caught completely flatfooted.
On a conference call this morning, Romney advisers struggled to combat the
truth about their tax plan. Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom called the
independent analysis a joke.

Another adviser said the Romney plan would create 5 million to 10
million jobs but couldn`t explain how the campaign arrived at that number.

It`s important to understand what they`re saying here. After an
independent analysis says Romney`s plan would raise taxes on 95 percent of
Americans, Romney`s advisers call that report a joke. And yet won`t
provide details to dispute the report. Then those same advisers claim the
Romney tax plan will explode job growth.

Today, Governor Romney tried a similar strategy saying he`d put out a
tax plan that can`t even be analyzed, not by any group, ever.

So the Romney campaign deliberately created a tax plan that can`t be
analyzed, and yet somehow the Tax Policy Center scored it.

The Tax Policy Center bent over backwards to analyze the Romney plan
in a very favorable fashion to Mitt Romney and it still didn`t add up.

President Obama`s new line of attack on Romney`s tax plan continued
today on the campaign trail in Orlando, Florida.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He`s asking you to pay
more so that people like him can pay less. So that people like me pay
less.

First, they said this is a liberal organization despite the fact it`s
headed by an economist who worked for George Bush. Then they said that the
study failed to fully take into account the massive economic boom that
would come from cutting taxes on the wealthiest Americans and the biggest
corporations, because we all know how well that worked out the last time we
tried it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DYSON: The Obama campaign also revealed a digital tool to calculate
the effect of the Romney tax plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just enter some simple information to see how
much you`ll save thanks to President Obama and you`ll also see how much
extra you would pay under Mitt Romney.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DYSON: Now, let me get this straight. In the course of 24 hours
since the release of this independent analysis, President Obama is
hammering Mitt Romney on the stump, the Obama campaign has a new ad out and
the campaign has a new tax calculator comparing the Obama plan to the
Romney plan.

But, hey, the Romney camp didn`t make this and they certainly didn`t
take it lying down. Today, they rolled out a presidential accountability
score card on President Obama.

Here`s Mitt Romney`s presentation of the presidential accountability
score card in his speech in Colorado today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I`m going to start off with
a bit of a report card. Some of you`ve been handed a little piece of paper
here. If you haven`t gotten that, you will. I see some people opening
these things up.

I`m going to talk about those in a minute. You don`t need to open it
up yet. I`ve got a report card here. And it shows his report card.

If you look at the arrows, you look at it -- it says jobs on the far
left the Obama record. It has a little red downward arrow. We have fewer
jobs under President Obama. Then there`s unemployed and underemployed.
That`s gone up, that`s in red because it`s a bad direction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DYSON: Kind of corny, ham-handed and cute, huh? Which by the way is
not true. It`s a tough economy, but it has gotten better under President
Obama despite Mitt Romney`s report card.

Get your cell phones out. I want to know what you think.

Tonight`s question: which one is the joke, Mitt Romney`s tax plan or
independent analysis of Romney`s tax plan? Text A for Mitt`s tax plan,
text B for the analysis to 622639.

Or go to our blog at Ed.MSNBC.com. I`ll bring you the results later
in the show.

I`m joined by Patrick Gaspard, executive director of the Democratic
National Community and Karen Finney, MSNBC political analyst and former
communication director for the DNC. It`s a DNC kind of night tonight.

(LAUGHTER)

DYSON: I want to return to Mitt Romney on CNBC a few months ago.
Let`s take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: And so I haven`t laid out all the details of how we`ll deal
with each of the exemptions. So, I think it`s funny for the groups to try
to score it because frankly it can`t be scored, because those kinds of
details are going to have to be worked out with Congress and we have a wide
array of options.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DYSON: Patrick, is that comment coming back to bite Mitt Romney where
he couldn`t sit reasonably healthily in the saddle of the horse he claims
not to own?

PATRICK GASPARD, DNC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Good to be on, Michael.

That comment is absolutely ludicrous and almost comical if not for the
tremendous stakes we`re contending with here. Mitt Romney has laid out a
plan that clearly raises taxes by an average of $2,000 per family on folks
who are making less than $200,000 a year in order to pay for his deficit-
busting tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires who aren`t even asking
for these kinds of benefits.

An independent analysis has demonstrated this. And, as the president
noted, the center that released that analysis is headed by someone who was
a principal on George W. Bush`s economic council and Mitt Romney`s own
campaign a few months ago called the Tax Policy Institute fair and
impartial when it leveled the critique against Rick Perry.

So, it`s clear that he continues -- Mitt Romney continues to try to
run for president by not being transparent, not releasing the details of
his plans to the American people by hiding his taxes, by doing all that he
can to misrepresent this president`s record who has done a tremendous
amount to pull us out of the great recession that he inherited.

DYSON: So, Karen, in light of that shredding and deconstructing he
delivered there, simply put -- how big a problem is this for Mitt Romney?
Because in the last 24 hours, the Obama campaign employing this independent
report, really seems to have the Romney campaign on the defensive and, dare
we say, on the ropes.

KAREN FINNEY, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. Here we have yet again
team Romney not prepared. I mean, the fact that they thought they were
going to get through this campaign without having to give any real details.
And as you pointed out in the opening, the Tax Policy Center themselves
tried to bend over backward, to try to make the numbers work out and the
numbers still didn`t add up.

This is part of the problem they`re having when it comes to his own
tax records and for policy after policy. He`s giving us rhetoric and
platitudes and kind of generalities without filling in the details.

And in the context of a campaign, it`s incredibly naive of his team to
think that the rest of us aren`t going to at least figure it out on our
own. We`re not just going to take his answer as the only answer. We`re
going to say wait a second, let`s look at how these numbers might work out.
What we`re seeing is the devil`s in the details.

And time and again, it goes to the whole thing -- again, his tax
records, he doesn`t want to give them up because he says there`s stuff in
there that people will go through and pick through. He doesn`t want to
give us the details of his economic plan because -- guess what? -- it`s
going to give a tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires and it`s going
to gouge the middle class with an additional $2,000 increase.

PINSKY: Yes. If he can`t play ostrich and hide this stuff in the
sand and pretend we`re not going to look at it, hey, we`ve got Google and
we`ve got a thinking cap.

So, Patrick, the Obama campaign has been making connections between
Romney`s Bain Capital years and his refusal of releasing more tax returns
as Karen has alluded to and you said earlier. And now, they`re connecting
that to his tax plan to paint a picture of a candidate incapable of
connecting to the middle class.

Do you think the narrative is taking a toll on the Romney campaign?

GASPARD: Well, I think, Michael, that we have seen from their
reactions to this that they are quite concerned about how it`s abundantly
clear that their candidate is radically out of touch and their campaign
can`t conform to policies that benefit middle class voters in any real way.

If you look at how they explain how they`re going to pay for their tax
cuts, they say that they`re going to reduce tax expenditures. Well, what
are tax expenditures, Michael? The American people need to understand that
by the reduction of tax expenditures, Mitt Romney means that we`re going to
eliminate benefits for families that rely on the earned income tax, we`re
going to eliminate benefits for families who had interest on their home
mortgages, we`re going to eliminate benefits for folks who rely on these
tax breaks to provide for their health care as well and for their child
care.

So when you dig a little deeper, it becomes clear they`re trying to
hide the facts and Mitt Romney basically comes as that sleight of hand
artist in the carnival, right, the local carnival, who`s distracting you
with his smooth, salesman`s pitch while he`s reaching deep into your
pockets to take your hard-earned cash.

DYSON: Wow.

GASPARD: The American people are realizing that. It`s right there in
the polling and they`re trying to run from that kind of a record.

DYSON: Karen, let me ask you this. (INAUDIBLE) aside, that`s being
described by Patrick, I didn`t know he was a fan of magic. So, after the
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he`s been told Mitt Romney didn`t
pay taxes for 10 years, the greatest piece of political gossip in a long
time, Romney said this to Sean Hannity. Take a look.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

ROMNEY: Well, it`s time for Harry to put up or shut up. Harry`s
going to have to describe who it is he spoke with because that`s totally
and completely wrong. It`s untrue, dishonest, and inaccurate. It`s wrong.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

DYSON: Now, who`s got to put up or shut up here? Doesn`t Mitt Romney
have to put up or shut up so that everybody else can shut up?

FINNEY: Absolutely. It`s time for Mitt Romney to put up or shut up.
There`s another issue here. We`ve got Patrick, I`m going to give him this
advice. Think about the specter of what we`ve just seen in the last
several days. You`ve had Democrats and our president fighting for a tax
cut for the middle class while Republicans blocked that.

And while the Republican nominee for president is pushing a plan that
will raise taxes on the middle class, that is the contrast in this
election. That -- we have to take that to the people. I want every
candidate down ballot -- I want candidates to explain how they can dare
defend something like that. That`s the put up or shut up.

Make Mitt Romney explain how it is by raising taxes on the middle
class or raising taxes by taking away those wind credits that is a
burgeoning industry in America, that that`s going to help our economy.

DYSON: All right. Let`s listen to President Obama today some more.
Patrick, let`s listen to President Obama. Let`s take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: They have tried to sell us this trickle-down tax cut fairy
dust before. And guess what? It didn`t work then. It will not work now.

It`s not a plan to create jobs. It is not a plan to reduce the
deficit. It is not a plan to build our middle class. It is not a plan to
move our economy forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DYSON: Sleight of hand, fairy dust, you guys are really getting deep
into the comical arts here.

President Obama is attacking trickle-down economics and he`s painting
Romney as the same old things on steroids. Does this resonate or do voters
get fooled into believing Romney`s actually offering something new? What
do you think?

GASPARD: I think that voters always realize that elections are more
about the future than they are about the past. They know that this
president inherited a terrible mess and he`s done all that he could to
right the ship. And they know he`s pushing us towards a future where our
children are going to have a chance to out-compete and out-innovate their
competitors overseas.

Whereas Mitt Romney is trying to advance policies that are only going
to help the wealthiest folks who aren`t even looking for the kind of break
that he`s forwarding.

Mike, if I could, I want to touch on the put up or shut up moment.
Mitt Romney says we need to put or shut up, this is a man who refuses to
release his tax returns to the American public, a man who misrepresented in
private equity where he said he created hundreds of thousands of jobs, but
we know he outsourced jobs instead, somebody who hid the hard drives from
his tenure as governor of Massachusetts, and we`ve now discovered that he
was hiding his resources under mattresses in Bermuda and in the Cayman
islands.

So he`s the one who needs to put up immediately if he intends to be
the chief executive of this land.

DYSON: Karen, briefly, do you want to respond?

FINNEY: Well, I just think. I want to point out that think progress
put out a really great piece that showed -- I think it`s important we
remind people and I think most people in this country remember, the supply
side economics, the longitudinal data shows us does not work. Wages tend
to stagnate. Investment isn`t better. The economy grows a little bit
slower.

So, again, you don`t even have to take it from President Obama or from
the Democrats. The numbers actually tell the story. That what they`re
pushing is snake oil and it doesn`t work and hasn`t worked for this
country. >

DYSON: Fairy dust, slight of hand, snake oil -- great stuff.

Patrick Gaspard and Karen Finney, thank you so much for your time
tonight.

FINNEY: Thanks.

GASPARD: Thank you, Michael.

DYSON: Remember to answer tonight`s question at the bottom of the
screen and share your thoughts on Twitter @EdShow and Facebook. We want to
know what you think.

Mitt Romney once said his tax plan could never be scored. Now we know
it would never work either. Economist Dean Baker explains why Romney`s
plan isn`t worth the paper it`s printed on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DYSON: Coming up, Mitt Romney`s tax plan just doesn`t add up for the
middle class. Economist Dean Baker weighs in on the problem within the
Romney`s plan, next.

A young man in Arkansas dies after he`s detained by police. Now, his
family is searching for answers. We`ll have the details.

And Mitt Romney hit the campaign trail in Colorado where the wounds of
last month`s shooting are still healing. I`ll ask the Reverend Jesse
Jackson if either candidate will have the guts to lead on gun control.

Share your thoughts with us on Facebook and Twitter using #EdShow.
We`ll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DYSON: The Romney camp called the report on the candidate`s tax plan
a joke. But when you look at the Tax Policy Center`s analysis, it`s clear
why the Romney campaign ain`t laughing. We already know the plan would
raise income for people making more than 200,000 bucks a year while cutting
income for those making less.

But as "The Washington Post`s" Ezra Klein points out, the plan is not
even workable. Keep in mind the Tax Policy Center gave Romney the benefit
of the doubt when testing the plan, accounting for implausibly large growth
effects from tax cuts. Under that best-case scenario, Mitt Romney has said
the plan would work because rich people would pay the same they do now or
more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: For middle income families, the deductibility of home
mortgage interest and charitable contributions, those things will continue.
But for high income folks, we`re going to cut back on that. So we make
sure that the top 1 percent keeps paying their current share they`re paying
now or more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DYSON: Yes, but ain`t that the problem? The top 1 percent paying
what they`re paying now. Can`t they pay more?

Here are some tax expenditures from the tax code in order to lower
rates across the board: employer-provided health insurance, Social Security
benefits, moving expenses, education related tax credits, medical expense
deductions, state and local taxes, mortgage interest, charitable
contributions and many others.

Not only is it implausible to cut most of those credits, there aren`t
enough of them to make up for the size of the tax cut for the rich. So
what else could Romney do? Cut spending.

According to the report, cutting spending would make the plan even
more regressive because government spending tends to benefit low and middle
income households. How many times do you have to say that?

And if Romney did cut spending, we already know it wouldn`t come out
of the military.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: I will reverse President Obama`s massive defense cuts. Time
and again, we`ve seen the attempts to balance the budget by weakening our
military only lead to a far higher price in the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DYSON: No cuts on the military but they sure will raid your pockets.

For a guy running as businessman in chief, his tax plan isn`t across
the board done.

Let`s turn to Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy
Research and author of the book "The End of Loser Liberalism."

Welcome to the show.

DEAN BAKER, CENTER FOR ECONOMIC AND POLICY RESEARCH: Thanks for
having me on.

DYSON: Yes.

Does the Romney campaign know that this really doesn`t work? I mean,
do we have to come up with empirical verification for that fact?

BAKER: Well, I think they must know because they don`t put the
details on the table. You know, what`s striking here is the response to
the Tax Policy Center.

You know, they`re calling them partisan. These are people who have
worked in both Republican and Democratic administrations. Their model is
open. It`s not a secret.

Mitt Romney himself had praised the Tax Policy Center during the
primaries when they modeled Rick Perry`s plan and said how much money it
would cost the government.

If he thinks they`ve done it incorrectly, he has good economists on
his team. What they do is put their alternatives on the table. If they
think they did something wrong, you go, hell, we ain`t going to get rid of
the mortgage interest deduction, we`re going to get the money somewhere
else and tell us where the somewhere else is.

But, you know, I`ve looked at what the Tax Policy Center did. I think
you`d be hard pressed if you`re a Mitt Romney supporter saying, here`s our
solution. We`re going to come up with the way that looks better for the
middle class. Really hard to see what they would do.

DYSON: Yes. If they`ve got a better way, tell us. Spill the beans
or, you know, keep talking.

Romney was noncommittal to an across the board tax cut until he felt
some pressure from his Republican rivals in the primary. Here`s his
declarations on taxes back in February so people will remember.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: There are a couple things I`d like to announce today. I`m
going to lower the rate across the board for all Americans by 20 percent.
All right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DYSON: Now, Dean, doesn`t that mean if Romney had his druthers, would
he have stayed away from a tax plan like this? Doesn`t seem to favor what
his ideas are.

BAKER: Well, it is very hard to tell. Obviously the Republicans got
into a bidding war who`s got the bigger tax plan and tax cuts, certainly
very popular with the Republican base. We know when he was governor in
Massachusetts, Romney was a relative moderate.

So what does he really think? You know, I couldn`t say. I mean, so
what he would try to do if he were president, that`s something for people
to guess at. What we have to do is look at what he`s saying now, and what
he`s saying now he`s talking about big tax cuts for the wealthy, which,
again, he`s saying it`s going to be paid for, the only way we can see -- if
he has something else, put it on the table -- is taking away things like
mortgage interest deductions which are big things for middle income people.

DYSON: Well, this is what I`m trying to figure out, too, Dean -- how
can the Romney camp but any spin on this tax plan to make it sound good for
anyone but the wealthy? I just don`t get it.

BAKER: Well, I think their whole effort thus far is to be vague and
say we`re not going to do this or that and try to get away with numbers
that clearly don`t add up and hope that he`s not called on it. That`s why
it`s great that the Tax Policy Center took the lead and did this. They do
have a well-respected model. It`s not just out of the blue. Their models
have been used for years and years. I think they`re respected across the
political spectrum.

So, again, they put the cards on the table. And I think it`s really
incumbent on the Romney campaign now to say if it`s wrong, here`s why.

DYSON: Well, you know, you head a campaign before. Do you expect
Romney will ever fill in the blanks for us, or is this as much detail as
we`ll ever get on his tax plan?

BAKER: My guess is he will try to be evasive because I don`t see any
good blanks. Again, I`m willing to be charitable to him. If there`s
something -- I would tell you right now, if I thought the Tax Policy Center
had missed something, oh, they did it wrong, I would say that because I`m
not on the Obama campaign, they`re not paying me. I would say that.

I don`t see it. I don`t see any way to interpret his plan and be more
generous to the middle class. Unless you`re going to say he`s not serious
about having balanced cuts, in other words, he`s just going to give people
a big tax cut and not pay for it, which may be what he intends. But that`s
certainly not what he`s saying.

DYSON: Yes. Well, he ain`t saying much.

Dean Baker, thank you so much for joining us.

BAKER: Thanks for having me on.

DYSON: Coming up, a 21-year-old man is picked up by police. Minutes
later, he`s dead. What happened to Chavis Carter? We`ll have the latest.

Michele Bachmann is trying to save America from the Muslim
Brotherhood. Mark Samoan, Marcia Dyson and Jimmy Williams weigh in.

Stay tuned. You`re watching THE ED SHOW on MSNBC.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DYSON: What happened to Chavis Carter?

Police say a 21-year-old man killed himself in the back of a squad
car. But Carter`s mother says that story doesn`t add up. Over the
weekend, Carter was arrested in Jonesboro, Arkansas, for drug possession
and a missed court date.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: He was searched twice, handcuffed behind his back, and
double-locked. But police say shortly after placing him in the car, they
heard a loud thumping noise. When they checked on Carter, he was slumped
over with the shot in the head and a small-caliber gun nearby.

POLICE OFFICER: Any given officer has missed something on a search,
be it drugs, be it knives, be it razor blades. This instance happened to
be a gun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DYSON: Police say Carter committed suicide, but how does a person
reach for a gun and shoot themselves in the head while handcuffed?
Carter`s mother said her son was left-handed yet he was shot in the right
temple.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: What do you think happened to your son?

TERESA CARTER, VICTIM`S MOTHER: I think they killed him. I mean, my
son wasn`t suicidal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DYSON: Police are still investigating the incident. Jonesboro police
chief Michael Yates (ph) admits the story is bizarre and defies logic and
is now ordering and offering further details.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL YATES, JONESBORO POLICE CHIEF (via telephone): We`ve reviewed
the dash cam video, and, as late as today, managed to have some witnesses
come forward that observed the incident from start to finish. And their
statements tend to support that whatever transpired in the back of that
police transpired in the back with the officers in a different location.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DYSON: Yates met with local African-American leaders and reportedly
told them that the FBI is also investigating. The community wants answers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. ANDRIAN RODGERS, FULLNESS OF JOY CHURCH: The point is this is
strange. You know, and it`s certainly demands further investigation and
explanation. It`s not just a black thing. A human being died in the back
seat of a police car while handcuffed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DYSON: Amen, Reverend. Chavis Carter is dead and we don`t know why.
The police report shows that Carter had just $10 worth of marijuana on him.

There`s a lot more coming up in the next half hour on "the Ed Show."
Stay tuned.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I think accusations
like this being thrown around are pretty dangerous.

DYSON: Michele Bachmann has doubled down on her Islam phobic remarks.
I`ll ask the big panel.

At what point is Mitt Romney needs to answer question on this witch-
hunt.

And why is Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas getting all kinds of tweeter
for the way she wears her hair? I`ll explain in the Dyson-ary.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Hey, Congress woman, how are you?

REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R), MINNESOTA: I can`t talk right now. I`m on
my way to a meeting.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Senator McCain was on the senator floor
saying what you`re doing after Huma --

BACHMANN: I can`t do it right now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Can you do an interview later?

BACHMANN: Yes. I can but I`ve got to get here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: All right. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DYSON: Now, Congressman wants to stay in shape. She`s running away
from the television camera. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is determined
to save this country from the Muslim brotherhood. She won`t answer
questions about it, but she is determined to save this country from the
Muslim brotherhood.

In June Bachmann along with four other House Republicans sent letters
to five federal agencies suggesting certain U.S. officials included
longtime aide to Hillary Clinton Huma Abedin, are part of a Muslim
brotherhood plot to infiltrate the government. Due to Bachmann`s baseless
claims, Miss Abedin now receives extra protection from the FBI.

Several top Republicans publicly chastised Bachmann`s tactics
including speaker of the House, John Boehner. But that hasn`t stopped
Bachmann. The former presidential candidate has now written an op-ed in
the Minneapolis star tribune telling Americans she`s protecting them from
Islamic extremists.

"I`m on the case because someone has to question Obama
administration`s indulgence. It is my duty as a member of Congress to ask
why the Obama administration has repeatedly undermined America`s national
security and vows to political correctness on issues related to radical
Islam. The safety and security of every person in my district is of
imminent concern to me."

Wow. Let`s turn to radio talk host, Mark Simone on the radio and
socio-activist Marcia Dyson.

Let me ask you, Mark, how big of a problem is this Islam phobia for
the Republican party? Is this as extreme as Michele Bachmann has made it
out to be?

MARK SIMONE, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Well, let me be honest first. I`m
not the biggest Michele Bachmann fan. I don`t know what she`s up to. It`s
the same promotable guy like Harry Reid shooting off his mouth yesterday.
And it is problem it`s all through our politics. Sometimes there`s a
legitimate concern but you get this hysteria and this hyperbole and it
clouds the issue with nonsense.

You know, and Huma Abedin seems like a fine woman. Is she trying to
hurt her reputation by bringing up ties to the Muslim brotherhood? She has
ties to Anthony Weiner. I mean, what could be worse than that?

But, I think -- I think Bachmann is not as crazy as she acts. It is
the same thing with Harry Reid yesterday. I think sometimes, they just
love that controversy and the attention it brings. It`s the cheapest way
to get attention, but they do it.

DYSON: Well Marcia, since this controversy has erupted, Michele
Bachmann has raised a million bucks. So, what does that tell us about the
Republican party, about her kind of politics?

MARCIA DYSON, SOCIO, POLITICAL ACTIVIST: Well, it shows that it sells
and paranoia is lucrative. But it also, you know, when she also talked on
this with about the Republican party to try to talk about the political
correctness of the Democratic Party and not going at the so-called
terrorists at our country when they forget about the kill of Osama bin
Laden. And forget about the incubation of tourist themselves. They have
not likely the affordable care act.

They have, I`m afraid of the Muslims and don`t give a damn about the
other citizens. They don`t care about proliferation of guns by the, you
know, and gun regulation with the NRA and the mass killings within our
inner cities. And they don`t really care about - I mean, when you have the
Republican Representative Mike Kelly from Pennsylvania saying that it was a
terrorist act when an August the first, the affordable act was placed, you
know, I think into motion, then I think they`re totally off base. And
Michelle is playing to the right wing Republicans in the party which they
forget this most crucial thing is that Americans like women who want pro
choice and Catholics and gays and homeless and jobless people and Mormons
are American citizens too.

DYSON: Do you agree with Kelly?

SIMONE: Yes. But don`t tell all Republican to it. And you may have
answered your own question. What she said is probably answers and raised a
million dollars. It`s a fund raising gimmick. It`s not that she is
appealing to the base because sometimes you`re appealing to the worst
element of the base. Listen, we`ve got crazies on both sides of the aisle.

DYSON: But Eric Cantor has come to her defense. So, is he one of the
crazies she`s appealed to?

SIMONE: Well, you know, remember, these people all work together.
It`s like you are one of your colleagues here does something crazy, you
know, you`ve got to decide -- it depends what their relationship is. You
know, Harry Reid crazy with that statement yesterday. You know what it`s
like when you work with someone. You`ve got to defend them.

DYSON: Well, I don`t want to - there`s no parallel between - I don`t
want to drop between what Harry Reid said and certainly what Michele
Bachmann has done consistently.

MARCIA DYSON: Right.

DYSON: Marcia, you were an ambassador at large for the Middle East
for the civic forum, you know, participating in civic, you know, engagement
between Israelis and Palestinians. What does this kind of conversation do
to the nature of the argument between Israelis and Palestinians and for a
possible peace pact? I mean, creating that kind of dissension has to be
bad news.

MARCIA DYSON: You know, as to Michele Bachmann, a lot of the
congressional people here there is a specific participation that typically
going on where actually you`re getting the citizens of the countries of the
Middle East whether they`re Israelis or Jewish or Christians. They have
that conversation so they can have their own piece. And what it signals on
is you have possible people leading this country who are intolerant of the
so-called other world creates scares.

And you know, when you say about Tim Reed, he was attacking President
Obama.

DYSON: Harry Reid.

MARCIA DYSON: Harry Reid. But when you talk about what Michele
Bachmann is saying, she is talking about American citizens who fought in
many wars which attacking those countries who are doctors, are lawyers, and
are teachers and have them witch-hunt in a very vulnerable community with
in American society. And as an African-American woman, I take quite
offense to that. And it is a form of witch hunt. She`s doing it for
dollars, then it`s the wrong dollar bill.

DYSON: What about that? I mean, the fact is that many Muslim people,
people who follow Islam have been loyal citizens to this country. Have
served, as Marcia says, in every echelon of this society and they`re being
witch hunted by Michele Bachmann. I know you are not a fan of hers, but
why doesn`t the Republican party stand up to that?

SIMONE: Well, I think half of them do and half don`t. But you know,
you`re not wrong with about what you say. It is not equivalent, but what I
meant was it`s the same stupid tactic. If you have a concern, bring it up.
You don`t have to use this hysteria to make your point. Think about what
Harry Reid is saying. An investor in Bain told him that Romney paid no --

DYSON: You keep coming back to this. This is not about Harry Reid.
We have a segment on that. We are talking about Michele Bachmann.

(CROSSTALK)

DYSON: Huma Abedin is getting death threats as a result of this. Let
me ask you this, both of you. Is Mitt Romney going to have to weigh in on
this pretty soon? When is he going to weigh in?

SIMONE: If I were him, I`d stay far away from this.

DYSON: But, wait a minute. How would you if you`re the lead of the
Republican party and some person who is representing the Republican
standard is now speaking out in a way to besmirch the character of those
who are unjustly besmirch. What do you do, Marcia?

MARCIA DYSON: I think if he can deal we the situation of the conflict
between Christians, I`ll say Michele Bachmann, and our Middle East
situation here stateside, he won`t be able to do anything if he`s the head
of our foreign policy of our government. He has to speak to it because
people are being demonized and vilified not about returning their taxes or
having disclosure off scatting, you know, whatever their financial records
are. We`re talking about people threatened, who targeted, and are being
profiled in America. We saw them going at there, because we`re so ignorant
sometimes internationally, people going after people who are east Indians,
not knowing the difference. So, I take that to heart.

SIMONE: Yes. But you get this crazy stuff year in and year out.
Every administration whether it was Obama`s birth certificate. If I were
the candidate, I wouldn`t respond to that. whether it was with Bush it was
leaving the National Guard going AWOL, with Clinton it was who killed Vince
Foster. If you`re the candidate, you`ve got to stay away from that
nonsense.

DYSON: But you have to say this is not what represents us at our
best. Because it is not simply about Michele Bachmann is it? It`s also
about what the Republican party`s values are, isn`t it Marcia?

MARCIA DYSON: I think absolutely what their values are. You call
terrorism, you know, about some people you think are incubating from the
Middle East when you don`t consider about the terrorist think about
everyday life for individuals who won`t get health care and things of that
nature.

DYSON: All right. I`ll have to end that conversation there. Thank
you so very much, Mark Simone and Marcia Dyson. Thank you so kindly.

Coming up, she`s an Olympic champion and only 16. But that`s not what
people are talking. I`m cracking it open to Dyson-ary to give you the 21st
definition of the priorities. Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DYSON: Coming up, the twitter verse erupts over an American gymnast`s
hair. We`ll look at the idea of priorities next in the Dyson-ary.

Don`t forget to go to facebook and like "the Ed Show" and while you
are there, make sure and vote on our facebook poll. We want to know who
you think is the greatest Olympian of all time. Remember, if you don`t
like "the Ed Show" on facebook, you have only yourself to blame.

We`ll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DYSON: 16-year-old Gabrielle Douglas has achieved more than most
people can even dream of. Douglas and her fellow gymnasts dominated the
Olympic team competition winning the first gold in that since 1996.
Tonight, Gabby is one of two Americans competing for the gold again yet
again. This time in the individual all around final.

Americans have taken to twitter throughout the Olympics to show their
support for team USA and to respond to the games in real time. Well, in
tonight`s Dyson-ary, I`ll tell you what the word priority means to the
critics on twitter.

First the actual definition. Priority, noun. Something given or
meriting attention before competing alternatives. By that definition, you
would think that people would be focusing on Gabby`s accomplishments, her
team`s big win, the fact she has the potential to be the first African-
American to win the all around gold medal in gymnastics. And that she`s
done this at an age most girls are dreaming of getting their driver`s
license.

But instead most people in the African-American community have taken
to twitter to insult Gabby Douglass` hair. Let`s look at some of the low
lights.

Gabby Douglas, you made history with your impeccable talent and
hideous hair. We, as a black community got to fix Gabby Douglas` hair.

Congrats to Gabby Douglas on her gold metal. Wish I could say about
that hair. Oh, my God, horrible.

Gabby Douglas shouldn`t be the standout in those commercials until she
gets her hair done.

And it goes on and on. Gabby Douglas is an Olympic champion. A title
reserve for the best athlete in the world. She`s being recognized on the
world stage for her ability to outperform her competition in a sport. And
to get there she had to break a sweat just like everyone else. That should
be the focus.

Let`s check the Dyson-ary. Priority. According to the twitter verse,
noun. Petty, shallow, self-hating, disgraceful.

Let`s turn it back to the text poll survey I asked you at the
beginning of the show. In the spirit of the Olympic games we`re going to
issue a spoiler alert for those of you who wait until the re-air to find
out the results of our nightly text poll. Mute your televisions now if you
are in that category.

Tonight`s survey question was based on the Romney campaign`s claim
that the analysis of Romney`s tax plan is a joke. We asked which one is a
joke, Mitt Romney`s tax plan or independent analysis of Romney`s tax plan.
Ninety four percent say Mitt`s tax plan, six percent say it`s the analysis.

Coming up, Mitt Romney signed an assault weapons ban as governor of
Massachusetts. Now he`s running away from those issues, thanks to tea
party radicals.

Up next the Reverend Jesse Jackson will weigh in on banning assault
weapons. Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DYSON: Welcome back to "the Ed Show."

Mitt Romney had busy days of campaigning in the swing state of
Colorado today. While there, He took some time to meet with the victim of
last month`s movie theater shooting in Aurora. And there is no doubt about
it, it was a great thing for governor Romney to do.

President Obama also visited shooting victims and their families in
Colorado on July 22nd. Just a few days later he gave a speech to the
national urban league in New Orleans. The president said gun ownership was
part of our national heritage, but went on to say common sense steps should
be taken to reduce gun violence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I also believe that a
lot of gun owners would agree that ak-47s belong in the hands of soldiers,
not in the hands of criminals. I believe the majority of gun owners would
agree we should do everything possible to prevent criminals and fugitives
from purchasing weapons. That we should check someone`s criminal record
before they can check out a gun seller. That any mentally unbalanced
individual should not be able to get his hands on a gun so easily. These
steps should be common sense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DYSON: Unfortunately President Obama hasn`t called for a single piece
of legislation furthering sensible gun regulations since he`s been in
office.

Meanwhile, Mitt Romney signed an assault weapons ban when he was
governor of Massachusetts. But now that he`s beholding to tea party
radicals in his party, he doesn`t have the guts to tackle this kind of
issue.

For more on this, let`s turn to Reverend Jesse Jackson, president of
the Rainbow Push Coalition and a legendary civil rights leader.

Welcome to the show, Reverend Jackson.

REV. JESSE JACKSON, PRESIDENT, RAINBOW PUSH COALITION: Good to be
part of the Dyson family reality show tonight. Thank you, sir.

DYSON: Reverend, what`s it going to take for someone to stand up and
lead on increasing gun control in this country?

JACKSON: Well, first of all, the issue is not just about gun control.
It`s about automatic, semiautomatic weapons control. Guns for your house
to protect your castle if that`s your choice, guns for hunting. Semi-
automatic weapons in a different zone. An ak-47 shot in the White House
last 11-11. Twenty five police were killed this year, killed by semi-
automatic weapons. The same weapon that was used to kill people in Aurora,
Colorado, could be used to bring down airplanes. This is a matter of
national security. You do not hunt deer or elk or rabbits with these guns.
You do not protect your house with them. They only use to kill people.
And they should be banned.

DYSON: Reverend Jackson, governor Romney signed a ban in
Massachusetts but he said this only a day after the deadly Colorado
shooting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don`t happen to believe
that America needs new gun laws. A lot of what this young man did was
clearly against the law. But the fact it was against the law did not
prevent it from happening.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DYSON: Doesn`t this muddy the situation here? Is this the type of
thinking that really exacerbates or at least escalates the problem?

JACKSON: Well, because it`s assumed that vice president Dan Gore lost
the election based on a gun position is a kind of fear. (INAUDIBLE).
That`s why police chiefs around the country are now rallying. They don`t
want you to police chief in Philadelphia, the police chief in Detroit,
police chiefs are now crying out because their men and women are less able
to defend the public because they cannot defend themselves. If these
semiautomatic weapons can get past the zone or protection of the secret
service and the police, they have no place in the civil society.

And what you`re looking at now is not just any answer that you are
looking at a pattern. And if al-Qaeda or if Taliban can come to America
without an airplane, can buy six to 10,000 rounds of ammunition, can buy
unstoppable semiautomatic weapons, this is a threat to national security.
This is domestic terrorism. And domestic terrorism economic really cannot
coexist.

So, when the president says, let`s rise above gun laws and gun control
to semiautomatic weapons and bullets out of control.

DYSON: Well, your home state Illinois governor Pat Quinn proposed an
assault weapons ban earlier this week. It comes at the time when Chicago`s
homicide rate has seen a 31 percent increase compared to last year.

Reverend Jackson, what impact will this have on violent crime if it
passes?

JACKSON: Well, it would have some impact. Factor in criminal
behavior today is, in these areas, guns in, drugs in, and jobs out. In
Iraq, as the opposite, guns out, jobs in, and a budget. We need such an
urban policy within our own country. But you don`t have guns sold within
Chicago, guns are sold and manufactured in the suburbs. The city is the
target market for the guns and the target market for gun-trafficking and
drug trafficking. Until we break that cycle of guns in and drugs and jobs
out, we`re going to be looking at an ugly dangerous bottomless pit. We all
deserve more and better security.

DYSON: Yes, sir. Ugly, dangerous, and bottomless pit to be sure.

Earlier in the show we told the story of Chavis Carter. Police say he
killed himself in the back of a squad car. But there are question
surrounding the incident.

Reverend Jackson, what do you make of these kinds of incidents that
routinely happen to young African-American or other people of color?

JACKSON: You know, over a hundred young African-Americans have been
killed this year while in custody, or police or some security office. In
the case in Arkansas, here`s a young man who they`ve searched twice, all
right? Who was handcuffed and they say shot himself in the right temple
with his left hand. He was left-handed. That`s Houdini. It is
incredible. The department of justice must act right now. This is more
Trayvon Martin and worse.

DYSON: Right.

Switching gears and let me, for the sake of full disclosure say that
Jesse Jackson Jr., congressman, was my former student, your beloved son.
We know that he has been battling a serious health concern. Can you tell
us the latest about the health of your son in 30 seconds here?

JACKSON: Well, the revelation by the mayo is that some of the
depression maybe connected to intestinal surgery. But that`s not
conclusive. All we can say is that he`s under the best medical
supervision. He`s resting to regain his strength. And the prayers of the
many are appreciated by our family and him and his family very much.

DYSON: Our prayers go out to you and him as well. Reverend Jesse
Jackson, thank you for your time tonight.

JACKSON: Thank you.

DYSON: That`s "the Ed Show." I`m Michael Eric Dyson, in for Ed
Schultz. "The Rachel Maddow Show" starts now.

Rachel, always great to see you.

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

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