THE ED SHOW with ED SCHULTZ
August 23, 2012
Guests: Cecile Richards, Jennifer Brunner, Nina Turner, Antonio Villaraigosa, Larry Wilmore
ED SCHULTZ, HOST: Good evening, Americans. And welcome to THE ED
SHOW live from Los Angeles.
Seventy-five days until the 2012 election, as tropical storm Isaac
heads towards Tampa, hurricane Todd is already ripping apart the Republican
Party.
This is THE ED SHOW -- let`s get to work.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANN COULTER, COLUMNIST: This selfish swine, Todd Akin, is going to
hurt the Republican Party.
SCHULTZ (voice-over): Todd Akin`s enemies are getting louder. And so
are his allies.
TONY PERKINS, FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: Our position on him and his
candidacy has not changed.
SCHULTZ: And Mitt Romney is now demanding that the media stop asking
him about the forcible rape controversy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One stipulation to the interview was not I not
to ask him about abortion or Todd Akin.
SCHULTZ: Brand-new polling proves Mitt Romney`s Medicare lies aren`t
working. We`ll break down the new numbers.
The Obama campaign says they have the answer to stop Republicans from
stealing Ohio. State Senator Nina Turner is here.
And how did Mitt Romney get completely shut out among African-American
supporters in the latest NBC News poll?
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I`m going to eliminate every
nonessential, expensive program I can find. That includes Obamacare and
I`m going to work to reform and save --
(BOOS)
SCHULTZ: The "Daily Show`s" senior black correspondent, Larry
Wilmore, is here to explain Mitt Romney`s zero.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCHULTZ: Good to have you with us tonight, folks. Thanks for
watching.
Liberals, you got to be loving this. I mean, Congress and Todd Akin,
he ain`t going anywhere, and the Republican establishment -- they can`t do
anything about it.
Last night, Akin bragged about a one-day fund-raising effort --
100,000 people stepped up and helped us raise over $100,000. The message
is clear: voters should pick candidates, not party bosses.
"Politico" reported on a closed-door meeting between Akin and top
conservatives last night. The meeting was held in the heart of the storm
for Republicans, Tampa, Florida, the site of Republican National
Convention.
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins confirmed the meeting
on MSNBC today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PERKINS: There was a private meeting that took place with Todd Akin,
just to talk with him and encourage him in the stand that he`s taking.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: You got to love it. I mean, we have them holding secret
meetings. Social conservatives are no longer shying away from throwing
their support behind their kind of guy, Todd Akin.
Failed senate candidate Sharron Angle, she is now in the act. She
engaged her right wing supporters today by tweeting out, "Missouri
conservatives, support Todd Akin." You can just hear her voice, can`t you?
The party accomplishment is having what`s known as a complete
political meltdown over all of this. They just want Todd Akin to go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS: I wanted him to drop out. You wanted him to
drop out. Rush Limbaugh suggested for the good of the party to drop out.
Romney, Ryan.
COULTER: This selfish swine Todd Akin is going to hurt the Republican
Party. It is not we`re not only going to lose a guaranteed Republican pick
up seat. But it is going to bleed over into other races. Todd Akin was
the one who was chosen by the Democrats. They spent millions of dollars to
get him elected because he`s the candidate they wanted.
HANNITY: I don`t want to talk about it anymore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Akin is doing to FOX News what Democrats should have been
doing all along, just ignore those folks over there.
But Akin is getting pressure from pollsters as well. The Rasmussen
organization has a history of polls favoring Republican candidates and
right wing causes, the latest Rasmussen poll has Senator McCaskill up 10
points over Todd Akin. McCaskill says -- I don`t believe it. The
"Rasmussen poll made me laugh out loud. If anyone believes that, I just
turned 29."
The senator also linked to an article from the "Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel" showing that Rasmussen`s close ties with Karl Rove, another
Republican who wants Todd Akin gone.
It certainly looks like former Republican National Committee Michael
Steele was right on the money right here on THE ED SHOW.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL STEELE, FORMER RNC CHAIRMAN: The timing in my estimation
could not be worse for the Romney campaign and for the RNC going into this
convention.
(END VIDEOI CLIP)
SCHULTZ: So the last thing Republicans want is a repeat of the 1992
GOP convention. Remember, infamous Pat Buchanan`s culture war speech
alienated moderates from the Bush/Quayle ticket and helped pave the way for
Bill Clinton`s first term?
The Romney campaign says it`s too late. A senior official told
"Talking Points Memo." "I think hurricane Todd has already borne down on
Tampa and the damage has been done." That coming from the Obama campaign.
The Romney campaign is trying to limit the damage and radio silence is
the name of the game right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You were one of only four local reporters to get
to talk to him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And what did you ask him?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, I had about five minutes and we got
through a fair amount of material actually in that five minutes. The one
stipulation to the interview was that I not ask him about abortion or Todd
Akin. He`s the Missouri Republican who created a firestorm after saying
women`s bodies shut down in a legitimate rape to prevent pregnancy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: After the news report, the Romney campaign released this
statement to reporters about the off limits questions. "This is not how we
operate, the matter is being addressed."
Someone better get that memo to Paul Ryan. In his stop at the
campaign trail, Ryan was at a question and answer session in North
Carolina. He adopted the silent treatment as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re going to take a few more questions from
the audience. Congressman Ryan will answer media questions in a little
bit. Any other questions here?
Is that a no? I`m sorry, I thought that was part of it. I don`t see
any other hands going up --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s the press.
REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We`re just doing
it from the audience.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Audience, audience, audience. OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Exciting stuff, isn`t it? Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan cannot
talk about Todd Akin. If they support him they`re in trouble with the
mainstream, if they vilify him they`re in trouble with the Republican base.
They can`t have that.
Todd Akin has created a perfect political storm for Republicans. And
he has some friends in high places making sure that he doesn`t go quietly
into the night.
Check this out. Today, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee sent
out this letter to his supporters. "If Todd Akin loses the Senate seat, I
will not blame Todd Akin. He made his mistake but was man enough to admit
it and apologize. I`m waiting for the apology from whoever the genius was
on the high pedestals of our party who thought it was wise to not only
shoot our wounded but run over him with tanks and trucks and then feed his
body to the liberal wolves."
Mike Huckabee, keep in mind, is a key figure in the Christian
conservative movement in this country. He`s so important, he was granted a
speaking role at the Republican National Convention. Huckabee is sharing
the stage with folks like Rand Paul, the senator from Kentucky, Senate
candidate Ted Cruz and former presidential candidate Rick Santorum.
We all know they`re moderate, don`t we?
They are the outspoken proponents of the official party platform
banning abortions in all cases.
Now, Todd Akin knows he does not have to step aside. If he does, if
he goes, a large part of the Republican base will go right with him. There
is a perfect storm brewing in Tampa, Republicans are going to need more
than umbrellas on this one, don`t you think?
Get your cell phones out. I want to know what you think.
Tonight`s question, which storm will have a bigger impact on the
Republican national convention? Text A for hurricane Todd, text B for
hurricane Isaac, to 622639. You can also go to our blog at Ed.MSNBC.com.
We`ll bring you the results later on in the show.
On a very serious side, we have to think about what their platform is.
And joining me tonight is Cecile Richards, president of the Planned
Parenthood Action Fund. Also with us tonight, Karen Finney, MSNBC
political analyst and former communication director for the DNC.
Great to have both of you with us tonight. Cecile, you first, here.
You know, the platform, if you look at it closely, by the Republican
Party is really an attack on women. And now we have Mitt Romney and Paul
Ryan, they have gone silent on this issue. What does that tell you? What
does that tell women? What`s the message here?
CECILE RICHARDS, PLANNED PARENTHOOD ACTION FUND: Well, I think,
obviously -- I don`t think they have a Todd Akin problem. I think they
have a Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan problem. Mr. Ryan`s record in Congress is
almost identical to Mr. Akin. I think what we`ve seen unfortunately is the
Republican Party leadership, not the party membership, but the leadership
who have been willing to throw women overboard completely.
I think they`ve been very clear. Mr. Romney has been very clear, not
only that he wants to overturn Roe versus Wade, that he wants to defund
Planned Parenthood, wants to end family planning program in America, and
women are concerned. I think this is just a tip of the iceberg.
SCHULTZ: Karen, has Akin boxed Republicans in? I mean, how do they
manage themselves out of this? Or do they?
FINNEY: They can`t. I mean, here`s the deeper thing that Todd Akin
is revealing. This is the kind of extremism we have been dealing with here
in Washington since 2010. I mean, we`ve seen, remember -- it was just a
year ago when we were having this conversation about redefining rape and
letting people die and turning IRS tax agents into abortion cops.
I mean, that`s the kind of extremism, that meme, that`s why we haven`t
been able to get infrastructure funding done, the budget worked out, and
we`re on the fiscal cliff.
So, I think part of their problem is, and you see this in the platform
that`s going to likely be adopted on Monday, very extreme views that they
know are not popular with a majority of Americans. That`s why Mitt Romney
didn`t want to talk about it today. He already knows he`s got a huge
deficit with women.
But also I think moderate voters and independent voters just aren`t
comfortable with this kind of language and this kind of extremism when we
talk about taking away health services for women.
SCHULTZ: Yes.
FINNEY: But also suggesting that men should be deciding what kind of
medicines women take or what kind of health care procedures women should
have access to.
SCHUTLZ: You know, maybe they`re thinking that the media or people
who pay attention to the news aren`t going to pay attention to their GOP
platform. I don`t know which one it is.
But the fact is this is the most radical platform they`ve ever had.
Cecile, it`s communication and mobilization at this point. Cecile,
you`re starting a bus tour in swing states promoting women`s health issues,
what`s the message going to be as a backdrop?
RICHARDS: Well, I think it`s that women are watching in this
election. And I was just talking to our folks on the bus. They were in
Columbia, Missouri, tonight where they`ve had hundreds of folks turn out.
I think because women are paying attention, women and men, who realize
that women`s health care in many ways is on the ballot this November, I`m
in Columbus, Ohio, tonight. We`ll be in Ohio for the next couple of days.
And I think that Karen`s point is correct. This is not a Democratic
or Republican issue. This is an issue about women`s health care. What we
have been hearing from Republican women and independent women who
understand that not only this Republican platform, but frankly the
positions of Mitt Romney are too extreme and they`re not ready to go back
and turn the clock back on women`s access to health care in America.
SCHULTZ: Karen, how is this going to end with Todd Akin? Will we see
the Republican Party eventually embrace this guy and realize that this is
really how we want our members in the Senate to vote, so we might as well
just go along with this guy? When do they cry uncle on this one?
FINNEY: You know, I don`t think they can fully embrace him. This
kind of thinking and extremism is so dramatically unpopular in this
country. Also because -- not just as a women`s health care issue, but for
women, these issues are also economic issues. These issues also speak to
do you perceive of women as equal human beings in our culture?
So, they can`t afford, if they have any chance at winning, they will
not be able to afford to embrace him. They`ll have to let him kind of
continue to do his thing. Now, if his money dries up, that`s the way he
ends up getting out of the race. And I believe they have a procedure where
they can actually still remove him up to the next month or so.
So, I would not be surprised if they don`t try to shut off the money
and see if they can get him out that way.
SCHULTZ: Cecile Richards, Karen Finney, great to have you both with
us tonight on THE ED SHOW. Remember to answer tonight`s question at the
bottom of the screen. Share your thoughts on Twitter @EdShow, and on
Facebook. We always want to know what you think watching THE ED SHOW.
Coming up, Romney and Ryan -- well, they tried their lies about
President Obama`s approach to Medicare. But the lies -- you know what?
They`re not working.
A brand-new poll out shows President Obama far ahead on the Medicare
issue. Howard Fineman joins me for the politics.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Coming up, when it comes to Medicare, the Romney campaign`s
lies are not working. Howard Fineman will help us break down the latest
polls and what is their next move if all they do is lie?
The block the vote effort continues to Ohio and there are new
developments in the fight to overturn Pennsylvania`s voter ID law. We`re
going to have all of the details, it`s a big one.
And later, zero -- that`s how much support Mitt Romney has from the
African-American community according to a new poll. How do you get a zero?
Well, the "Daily Show`s" senior black correspondent Larry Wilmore will join
me and give an explanation.
Share your thoughts with us on Facebook and on Twitter using #EdShow.
We are coming right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW.
Today, we got clear evidence, the Republican lies about Medicare --
they`re not working. And the public sees the GOP plan for Medicare is a
real threat. A new poll in three big battleground states shows President
Obama holding a wide margin and advantage on Medicare.
On the question of whether Medicare should continue as it is or switch
to a voucher program, the numbers were pretty overwhelming. In Florida, 62
percent said it should just stay as is. And in Ohio, 64 percent agreed,
and in Wisconsin, 59 percent agreed. Now, this translates into a real
advantage for President Obama.
In Florida, by an eight-point margin, voters think President Obama
will do a better job on Medicare than Mitt Romney. President Obama holds a
ten-point margin on the issue in Ohio and a nine-point margin in Wisconsin.
Now, just think for about what this means. We know how big health
care is in this country.
The Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan created a plan to
end Medicare as we know it and the guy on the top of the ticket embraced
it. It`s what Republicans really want to do after all.
Now, when Romney announced Ryan as his running mate, the Obama
campaign immediately connected the dots with the American people. These
are the guys who want to fundamentally change Medicare. The course of the
GOP ticket -- well, it countered. They told falsehoods about President
Obama was making the same cuts to Medicare to pay for part of the
Affordable Care Act, which they call Obamacare.
Now, they failed to mention how Obamacare strengthens Medicare and
adds to its life expectancy under the program. Today, we see who is
winning the argument and it`s not close. On the question of whether
Medicare is worth the cost to taxpayers, the numbers are overwhelming
again. 76 percent of Floridians say, yes, the same huge percentage of
voters in Ohio and Wisconsin agree.
Let`s turn to Howard Fineman, NBC News political analyst and editorial
director for the Huffington Post media group.
Howard, great to have you with us tonight on this issue.
I just view this thing in kind of a comical sense because you have to
think the Romney campaign behind closed doors is saying, you know, it just
wasn`t supposed to be like this. Now, look what we`ve got on our hands.
What are they going through?
HOWARD FINEMAN, THE HUFFINGTON POST: They`re trying to make a virtue
of it if they can. It`s very difficult. They`ve run four different ads in
the last 10 days, Ed, on Medicare. They have a new one up now saying the
president wants to change Medicare forever.
They`re trying to use apocalyptic language and they`re going at that
$700 billion cut, which is, of course, the same one that is Medicare. They
have a new one up now saying the president wants to change Medicare forever
and they`re trying to use apocalyptic language and they`re going at that
$700 billion cut, which is the same one that is contemplated by Paul Ryan
in his original health care reform budget.
I don`t think this is the fight that the Romney campaign wanted. They
didn`t pick Paul Ryan because they wanted to have this fight. It`s when
they picked Paul Ryan, they had to have this fight. And they`re trying to
neutralize the damage which you see clearly in those polls if they can.
Now, it is true that Obamacare is not uniformly popular by any means.
A lot of seniors are scared about it. And they were scared in the 2010
election.
But it`s not the same thing to have doubts about Obamacare as it is to
have doubts about Medicare. As those polls showed, and as these recent
polls showed, he -- Medicare is popular, the president is preferred as a
protector of Medicare.
The Republicans don`t want to spend the entire campaign on this, and
the way you know that, Ed, is today, Mitt Romney did not mention Medicare.
If this was -- he pivoted to energy. If this was a winning issue for him,
he`d still be on it today.
SCHULTZ: Yes, we`ll talk about that later about now how he`s into the
coal industry. There are some real discrepancies there as well. It seems
like their counteroffensive is going to be one commercial after another, as
you pointed out.
But, Howard, can they keep lying on the issue? There are so many news
organizations who are saying they`re fundamentally not telling the truth to
the American people on exactly what their plan is versus what we have in
Medicare right now and what the president wanted to do for the future. Can
they keep going down this road?
FINEMAN: Well, Ed, I would like to say today, or any frankly, any
campaign would be shamed by criticism into taking down ads that weren`t
fully truthful. That`s not what`s going to stop the spending on the ads.
By the way, I don`t think they`re buying as much placement of these
ads as they claim. They`re not saying exactly where they`re putting the
ads up. I think part of it is a smokescreen to defend what they claim that
their strength is.
I think it`s if the ads don`t work. If more and more polls show that
the president remains highly regarded and trusted on Medicare, that
Medicare remains so popular, that they don`t trust Republicans to reform
it. They`ll stop spending money on it because it`s not working. That`s
what will change the flow. And you can see with Mitt Romney pivoting away
from this issue, I would bet that except in a couple of places, those ads
will be gone within days.
SCHULTZ: Well, the issues won`t be gone, that`s for sure, and this is
something the Obama campaign is probably going to ride pretty hard because
they got he numbers and the wind at their back when it comes to healthcare.
FINEMAN: But, Ed -- the Democrats have to explain it carefully and
consistently and concisely, because the Republican attack on the notion
that the president wants to take $700 billion away from Medicare is a
powerful argument that was shown to have worked in 2010. The Democrats,
even though they have good numbers here, Ed, they can`t assume that
everybody is going to understand the argument or take the argument for
granted.
SCHULTZ: Yes.
FINEMAN: If I were the Obama camp, I would keep making the case.
They should not expect the public to go with him automatically on it.
SCHULTZ: Howard Fineman, great to have you with us, always enjoy your
take. Appreciate it so much.
FINEMAN: Thanks, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Up next, Republicans are stealing -- I want to use this
word, hear me correctly -- they`re stealing the vote in Ohio. They are
setting the table to do just that. Find out how they`re doing it and why
the stakes are higher than ever.
And Mitt Romney is trying to make up ground with Hispanic voters. But
it won`t be easy to shake the etch-a-sketch on this one. We`ll bring you
the latest.
Stay with us. We`re coming right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW.
Thanks for watching tonight. An update now on what I believe -- what
I believe is the biggest story in this presidential race. Republicans,
they are setting the table to steal the election in Ohio.
Let`s make sure we don`t stand silent and watch this. Two new polls
show how tight this race has become. The Ohio poll shows President Obama
and Mitt Romney are only three points apart. That`s within the margin of
error.
The Quinnipiac/"New York Times"/CBS poll gives Obama a slightly larger
lead over Romney, there`s been no change in those numbers since July. So,
if the Republicans manage to block a small percentage of Obama voters,
Romney could win Ohio.
So far, the Republican vote stealing plan, you have to say, is right
on track. They`ve shortened voting hours in all 88 counties in Ohio, 88
counties. They`ve shortened the hours. It`s a direct attack on Obama
supporters.
Forty-seven percent of people who voted in 2008 in that election cast
their ballots during the extended hours made available to citizens. Those
early voters were mostly African-Americans.
So Republicans are stealing almost half of the vote by changing the
polling hours. It`s social engineering of the votes. It`s very clear what
they`re doing.
But when reporters asked the Ohio secretary of state about it, he
insists, hey, it`s fair.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You may not like the hours of operation. You may
think they`re too long, you may think they`re too short. But they`re fair
for everybody. Everyone you talk to believes that`s fair, easy, and
accessible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Everyone you talk to, he says? No.
More on Ohio in just a moment. And there`s a new development in
Pennsylvania where they`re fighting that controversial voter ID law. The
state Supreme Court says it will hear the appeal on September 13th. Now,
Republicans wanted them to hold off until October. That, of course, would
leave voters weeks before the election.
But, right now, 758,000 voters might not have valid IDs that they will
need to cast their vote on November 6th. In Pennsylvania and Ohio,
organizers are going to have to step up the effort to fight these laws and
help people get to the polls. It is all about education, communication and
mobilization. No doubt.
Let`s turn to Ohio State Senator, Nina Turner. And also with us
tonight, Jennifer Brunner, the former Ohio secretary of state and author of
the upcoming book about her time in office. Jennifer, great to have you
with us tonight, and senator as well. But Jennifer, I want to ask you
first, why did you expand voting laws when you were the secretary of state?
What was the motivation behind that to expand them?
JENNIFER BRUNNER, FORMER OHIO SECRETARY OF STATE: Interestingly
enough, Ed, the laws were expanded by the current secretary of state when
he served in the Ohio House of Representatives. We just implemented them.
We followed federal law. We followed state law. And we made sure that
voting was as accessible to people as possible. They`ve enjoyed it.
And now that it`s being pulled back, you`re experiencing quite a bit
of kickback.
SCHULTZ: So -- so why are we seeing, Jennifer, the reversal? My
opening commentary in this is that it`s the Republicans trying to suppress
the vote. Would you go so far to come to that conclusion?
BRUNNER: I think there`s a fundamental misunderstanding of the Voting
Rights Act. The Voting Rights Act -- you look at states like Alabama or
South Carolina. Anytime they change a voting law, they have to get it
approved by the Justice Department.
Now Ohio doesn`t have to do that. New York doesn`t have to do that.
So equal doesn`t necessarily mean pro forma across the board. It means
bring everyone up to the same level where those who have been suppressed,
who have been oppressed, have the same access that everyone else has had.
If that means we have to do a little bit more for those folks in the urban
area, then we have to do a little bit more.
But we shouldn`t set the standards for the entire state based on a
rural county that may have 10,000 registered voters.
SCHULTZ: Senator Turner, Secretary of State Hustead says that the new
rules are fair. I know you don`t agree with that. What`s unfolding here?
NINA TURNER, OHIO STATE SENATOR: Ed, certainly he didn`t ask me. He
said everyone he talked. Well, he did not ask me and he didn`t ask the
residents of Cuyahoga County. This is nothing more than uniform voter
suppression. Make no mistake about it.
Ohio and four other states, Ed, have extremely cut early voting hours.
And get this, in Ohio and Florida, they cut Sundays. We know exactly who
their targets are. Again, in Cuyahoga County, African-Americans make up 26
percent of the registered voters. But during 2008, early in early in-
person voting, they made up 56 percent of the vote.
How dare we forget how got over in this country, how African-Americans
had to dodge the barks and bites of dogs, how they had to leap over
grandfather clauses and literacy tests and poll taxes. And here we are in
the 21st century with the elections officer, who is supposed to adhere
morally and legally to expanding the vote -- but here he is surprising the
vote.
I`m going to tell you something, Ed, if you are poor, working class,
middle class, elderly, African-American, Hispanic or a woman, you are SOL
when it comes to Republicans. They are making it very clear that they
don`t care, that they are here to oppress and suppress, and they don`t care
how they steal the vote.
SCHULTZ: Jennifer, do you agree with that?
BRUNNER: I think we`ve got some real problems with anything being
partisan connected to voting. Look, voting itself is not a partisan issue.
It`s really -- what everyone needs to do is to come into the room when
we`re talking about changing the voting laws, drop the partisan cloak,
stand up, be adults, do what they know is fair, because our future depends
on it. If we --
SCHULTZ: Where is your governor on this, Jennifer? Where is Governor
Kasich on this? He likes to present himself as a fair-minded guy. How can
he go along with something like this?
TURNER: He is MIA, Ed, when it comes to this voting issue. And it`s
a shame.
BRUNNER: I think typically you have got, Ed, the problem where it`s
the purview of the secretary of state. The secretary of state is the chief
elections officers. So it`s very rare in any state where you get a
governor who will step in and interfere, even when they`ve previously been
a secretary of state.
But this is a situation where neither party should try to step in and
grandstand and turn this into something other than making sure that the
person in the lowest position on the street who`s going to have the most
difficult time voting is going to be accommodated, is going to be accounted
for, is going to be, on election day, the one when every person truly is
supposed to be equal.
SCHULTZ: We haven`t even gotten to the voter machines. We haven`t
even got to the number of voting machines that are going to be made
available to all of these 88 counties in Ohio. Who knows what kind of plan
they are going to come up there? Senator Turner, are you concerned about
that?
TURNER: Very concerned, Ed. If you extrapolate out the data from
2008 with the hours that have been eliminated, unilaterally by the
secretary of state, about 200,000 Ohioans will be impacted by that. If we
remember, Governor Kasich beat Governor Strickland by about a two percent
margin.
Every vote counts. No one should suppress the vote. As far as I`m
concerned, I don`t care if people carry the title secretary of state or
not. If you`re a policy maker in the state of Ohio, if you are someone who
cares about fairness and justice, it is all of our responsibility to stand
up and tell the truth. And the truth of the matter is that it is
Republicans who are suppressing the vote. And, oh, by the way, over 180
bills were introduced in states across this country by GOP-led
legislatures.
And I wonder why. Could it be because President Barack Obama is an
African-American? I wonder.
SCHULTZ: State Senator from Ohio Nina Turner and also Jennifer
Brunner, great to have you with us tonight. We`re going to continue to
stay on this story because I think fundamentally it is the biggest story in
this election cycle, to set the table where it`s going to be harder for
Americans to vote. I would like to know if the Tea Partiers think that
that`s what the forefathers really had in mind for America. I don`t think
so.
A lot more coming up in the next half hour of THE ED SHOW. Stay with
us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: The answer is self deportation, which is people decide that
they could do better by going home because they can`t find work here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Mr. Self-Deportation sets his own goal for support among
Latinos. And he is coming up woefully short.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa joins me next.
And according to a new poll, Mitt Romney is laying a goose egg with
African-American voters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: I do love that music. I have to tell you, I do love
listening to that organ music.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Later, I will ask "The Daily Show`s" senior black
correspondent, Larry Wilmore, why Mitt Romney has zero support from
African-American voters.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW. Mitt Romney is living in a
fantasy land. He is hoping Hispanic voters will just forget everything
that he`s said about immigration over the past year.
The Romney campaign released a statement on Wednesday saying that "our
goal is to hit 38 percent with the Hispanic vote. They have a whole lot of
work to do, folks. President Obama has had a two to one lead among Latino
voters for months on end.
And new polling shows President Obama with a whopping 35 percent lead
on Romney among Hispanic voters. They have a lot of work to do, folks.
The latest poll shows President Obama with a whopping 35 percent lead on
Romney among Hispanic voters.
It won`t be easy for Mitt to shake the Etch-A-Sketch on this one.
That`s for sure. He`s taken a hard line stance -- let`s count them -- on
immigration, and wasn`t afraid to speak out during the primary season.
Remember he said this about Arizona`s infamous SB-1070 law.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: I think you see a model here in Arizona. They passed a law
here that says that people that come here and try and find work, that the
employer is required to look them up to e-verify.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Romney is also not a fan of the DREAM Act.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: The question is, if I were elected and Congress were to pass
the DREAM Act, would I veto it? And the answer is, yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Then there is the time that he hammered his opponent, Rick
Perry, Republican governor from Texas, for not -- for just being too soft
on immigration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: When you were governor, you said I don`t want to build a
fence. You put in place a magnet -- you talk about magnets. You put in
place a magnet to draw illegals to the state, which is giving 100,000
dollars of tuition credit to illegals that come into this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: And of course there is Romney`s famous self-deportation
policy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: The answer is self-deportation, which is people decide that
they can do better by going home because they can`t find work here, because
they don`t have legal documentation to allow them to work here. And so
we`re not going to --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Republicans love self-deportation policy so much that
they`ve adopted it into their party platform at the GOP convention. And of
course, the icing on the cake, Sheriff Joe Arpaio will speak at the GOP
convention next week. What else do you need to know? We won`t get into
Sheriff Joe`s colorful past on immigration.
Joining me tonight is the mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa.
Mayor, it is great to have you on THE ED SHOW. I appreciate your time
tonight.
MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA (D), LOS ANGELES: Great to be with you,
Ed.
SCHULTZ: You bet. After that litany of issues that we just played
where Mitt Romney has been with just -- in just the last 12 months, how in
the world do Latino voters warm up to a candidate like that, if at all?
VILLARAIGOSA: With great, great difficulty. You mentioned he was
somewhere, I was thinking Mars, when they think that they`re going to get
anything close to 38 percent of the Latino vote. They`re just not. Every
poll I`ve seen, it`s at least two to one, sometimes as high as 70 percent
for the president, never higher than 21 or so percent for Governor Romney.
I just don`t see it happening. And you said -- you mentioned why. He
calls Kris Kobach, the author of the Arizona and Alabama laws, a great
American. He touted his endorsement. He called the Alabama and Arizona
laws a model for the nation. The DREAM Act a handout, serving the
military, going to college.
The self-deportation of 11 million people -- those 11 million
undocumented have five million citizen children. So the party of family
values and the man who speaks about family is saying that they ought to
leave their kids here in the United States, the kids who are citizens, the
kids who are maybe dreamers who know no other country but this one.
I don`t know how they do it. If you remember during the debates --
and I`m glad you referenced those debates. Didn`t Mr. Cain talk about
electrifying the fence? Mr. Romney had an opportunity when he said that to
chime in and have a McCain moment and say, we`re not going there. Maybe we
want to secure the border, but we`re not electrifying fences.
So when you see the kind of rhetoric, the castigating of immigrants,
the Ryan budget that would devastate Medicare and Social Security, the fact
that their cuts would disproportionately impact our kids who are starting
to go in school in greater numbers, scholarships for them, for all of those
reasons -- cutting the president`s Affordable Care Act; nine million
Latinos will benefit from that. They`re the demographic group that most
benefits from the Affordable Care Act.
So for all of those reasons, I expect that they`re not getting
anything above 25 percent.
SCHULTZ: In the midst of all of what you just said, mayor, the GOP --
it`s not just Mitt Romney. The GOP has now put the self-deportation policy
into the party platform.
VILLARAIGOSA: I saw that.
SCHULTZ: Isn`t this generational damage that the Republicans are
doing to themselves with the Latino voters?
VILLARAIGOSA: Absolutely, and having Sheriff Arpaio speak at the
convention I think speaks volumes about that party and that they`re
captured by the extreme right of their party. There are a lot of decent
Republicans out there that believe in the DREAM Act and support
comprehensive immigration reform. And I think even they are turned off by
this self-deportation call and their opposition to the DREAM Act and other
things.
SCHULTZ: Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, great to have you on THE ED
SHOW. We`ll do it again. Thank you so much for joining us.
VILLARAIGOSA: Great to be on, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Coming up, Mitt Romney`s grand scheme to fix the nation`s
energy problems? Well, it won`t fund wind power, but it is full of hot
air. Find out what Romney wants to do when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW. Now we have told you how Mitt
Romney lies about everything from Medicare to his tax returns. But we got
a new one today. Mitt Romney might be lying to himself. He announced his
so-called energy plan this morning. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: North America -- North American energy independence by 2020.
North American energy independence by 2020. It is achievable. This is not
some pie in the sky kind of thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: OK. So Romney`s goal is to make the entire continent of
North America completely energy independent in eight years? Now, to do
that, we need to drill a lot.
Romney decided to unveil his grand plan at a trucking supply company
in Hobbs, New Mexico. He had a chart there, but Romney admitted that it
was too small to read. So let`s help him out.
Mitt Romney wants to increase all forms of drilling. He claims he`ll
magically expand off-shore drilling by two million barrels a day. He wants
another two million a day doing so called "tight oil" drilling or fracking.
Romney claims American can drill for an extra 28 million barrels of
oil a day. That`s his plan, just more drilling.
He doesn`t mention emission standards at all to reduce oil use.
Cutting fuel use should be a key to reducing our dependence on foreign oil.
Romney doesn`t expand wind, solar or nuclear alternatives. In fact, he
wants to cut initiatives for those power sources, because he thinks they`re
unfair to drilling companies.
Whose pocket is he in? And one more key to the Romney energy plan.
He would give states all of the regulatory power and ease back on safety
laws.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: Using the law to stop production of energy is not in the best
interest of the United States of America and our people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: So we have here is more drilling, fewer safety regulations,
and decentralized regulation. Now what could possibly go wrong with that?
Well, ask the people in the Gulf coast who are still struggling to clean up
the Deepwater Horizon disaster more than two years after the explosion.
If Romney thinks more of this is good for America, playing Russian
Roulette with our environment, he`s just lying to himself and the voters.
Tonight in our survey, I asked you which storm will have a bigger
impact on the Republican national convention? Ninety three percent of you
said Hurricane Todd; seven percent of you said Hurricane Isaac.
Coming up, Mitt Romney says he`s the best choice for the African-
American community. But a recent poll finds that African-American voters,
they couldn`t disagree more. Comedian Larry Wilmore joins me. Stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEIL CAVUTO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: As you know, four years ago, Barack
Obama got 90 percent of the black vote. Do you expect to chip away on
that?
ROMNEY: I do, actually.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Well, the results are in. And folks, it ain`t pretty. The
latest NBC News/"Wall Street Journal" poll shows a whopping, count it, zero
percent of African-American voters support Mitt Romney. That`s right, zero
percent. It is such a shame considering how hard Romney has tried to win
over the African-American community.
Romney`s pandering led him all the way to the NAACP`s annual
convention where he reportedly brought in supporters and delivered this
speech.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: I submit to you this, if you want a president who will make
things better in the African-American community, you are looking at him.
(APPLAUSE)
ROMNEY: You take a look.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: I`m joined tonight by comedian Larry Wilmore whose Showtime
special, "Race, Religion, and Sex" premieres this Saturday. Larry,
congratulations on your new show coming up.
You know, how do you get zero percent after going to the NAACP and
guaranteeing that it`s going to be a better world?
LARRY WILMORE, "THE DAILY SHOW": That is unbelievable. I have no
idea how that even registers. You would think even the brothers that even
don`t like to vote might show him some kind of percentage. It`s
unbelievable.
SCHULTZ: Even John McCain got some black votes. That`s like -- is
Romney going to get any black people to step up? Is he going to get into
double digits at all with just voters?
WILMORE: Yes, it`s pretty tough, because there may be brothers that
vote for them. And then they might regret it and might ask for their vote
back. So you might get negative black votes at the end of the day. You
never know.
SCHULTZ: You recently compared Mitt Romney`s Mormonism to Barack
Obama`s blackness. Explain that.
WILMORE: Well, it`s as unique as Obama`s blackness is in this
election. We`ve never had a Mormon candidate for president before.
Certainly it`s more exotic than this is blackness. I think more people
know about blackness than about Mormonism.
So it`s kind of interesting. In fact, what is interesting, Ed, we
don`t have a WASP in this presidential election. The closest is Obama
because he has a half-white side and he`s Protestant.
SCHULTZ: No White Anglo Saxon Protestant in this election, not this
time around. You went to Salt Lake City. Your special is called "Race,
Religion, and Sex." You went to Salt Lake City, Utah. Here`s a clip. I
want to play it.
WILMORE: Thanks, Ed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILMORE: Hello Salt Lake City, I`m going to be hosting a special town
hall meeting. It`s about race, religion and sex, three of your favorite
things. Know what`s interesting? I`ve been pedaling for three hours and I
haven`t seen a single black person.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Was there anything that surprised you about that community
at all?
WILMORE: I tell you, Ed, it really is surprising. It actually is a
very progressive city, Salt Lake City. It was actually named by "The
Advocate" as the gayest city in North America. I swear to God.
It`s not actually the gayest city, it`s the gayest unknown gay city in
North America, because .You would never think that Salt Lake City is like
that. But it`s very progressive, to be honest with you.
SCHULTZ: Well, what is your show -- the sex end of it, Republicans
are always good for a sex scandal every now and then. Are we going to get
one this year?
WILMORE: You know what, didn`t the strippers double down in Tampa
this week or something? They`re putting on an unbelievable show, I hear
there, because apparently the Republicans pay more for strippers I think
than Democrats, like they outspend them by like 100 dollars per stripper.
It`s amazing to me, Ed, that people actually go out and find these
numbers out. Basically on my special, we talk a lot about sex. We talk
about how the Mormon church is handling gay marriage. And we have a pretty
good lively discussion about it.
SCHULTZ: All right, Larry Wilmore, all the best to you. Good luck to
you. Thanks for joining us tonight on THE ED SHOW. You bet. We`ll do it
again.
WILMORE: Appreciate it.
SCHULTZ: That`s THE ED SHOW. I`m Ed Schultz. "THE RACHEL MADDOW
SHOW" starts right now. Good evening, Rachel.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY
BE UPDATED.
END
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The Ed Show for Thursday, August 23rd, 2012
Read the transcript to the Thursday show