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All In With Chris Hayes, Thursday, December 26th, 2013

Read the transcript from the Thursday show

ALL IN with CHRIS HAYES
December 26, 2013

Guest:


ANNOUNCER: Hey, now, America. It`s time for the ALL IN All-Star 3/4
of a Year in Review Show.

CHRIS HAYES, MSNBC HOST: Good evening from New York. I`m Chris
Hayes.

And welcome to the ALL IN All-Star 3/4 of a Year in Review Show.

Tonight, we have a strong line up of ALL IN`s greatest moments from
the last nine months, since this show launched on April 1st, 2013.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COUNTDOWN: Five, four, three, two --

HAYES (voice-over): 2013, what a year it was. A president`s second
term began. The king of all babies was born. And a show was launched.

(on camera): Good evening from New York.

Good evening from New York.

Good evening from New York.

Hi, there. I`m Chris Hayes.

(voice-over): Since we began in April, we`ve brought you 170 shows,
that`s almost 8,000 minutes of television.

(on camera): We have a very fun show tonight.

We`ve got a packed show tonight.

An amazing, strange, weird, fascinating news day.

(voice-over): As the show went on, I got a tie, a new pair of
glasses, changed my hair, and I even became what we in TV call relatable.

(on camera): I come from a good stock of repressed Irish Catholics,
who understand that the way to deal with problems and sources of conflict
is to push it deep, deep down.

(voice-over): Over the past year, we`ve strived to give you different
perspectives.

REP. RENEE ELLMERS (R), NORTH CAROLINA: The point being that two
cents of every federal dollar was cut from our budget.

HAYES: How many economists do you have on staff?

MICHAEL SALTSMAN: The only reason this is a story --

HAYES: How many economists do you have on staff?

REP. TOM COLE (R), OKLAHOMA: You can talk to the Russians --

(CROSSTALK)

HAYES: I`ve heard that talking point a lot.

COLE: Well, it`s a good talking point.

HAYES: It is a good talking point and that`s what it is.

SALTSMAN: The only reason this is a story is because --

HAYES: How many economists do you have on staff?

SALTSMAN: People like "Salon" magazine --

HAYES: How many economists do you have on staff?

(voice-over): We let you know when people were being awesome.

(on camera): I`m thinking, best pope ever.

(voice-over): And we never let you down when it came to breaking
news.

REPORTER: There`s breaking news regarding Toronto`s embattled mayor,
Rob Ford. Hey, watch out for that camera, eh?

(EXPLETIVE DELETED)

HAYES (on camera): That`s the first time I got to see that. It`s
awesome.

(voice-over): We imagined a world in which a Republican Congress
actually got stuff done.

(on camera): Good evening from New York. I`m Chris Hayes.
Tremendous news out of Washington today.

(voice-over): While we reported on the reality.

(on camera): We`re going to dip in now live to the junior senator
from Texas, Ted Cruz, who last I heard was reading "Green Eggs and Ham."

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: I will eat them with a goat. And I will
eat them in the rain, and in the dark and on a train.

HAYES (voice-over): We talked with some of the biggest newsmakers in
the country.

STATE SEN. WENDY DAVIS (D), TEXAS: People are hungry for leadership
that`s going to stand up and take positions on their behalf.

HAYES: From world-famous actors.

(on camera): The first time I heard you interview, I was like, whoa,
whoa, whoa, hold the phone. Where`s this guy from?

(voice-over): To world famous critics.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am so inappropriately dressed for this occasion.

HAYES: At times, we even left our guests speechless.

(on camera): Taking the rhetoric seriously is then meant as an
indication that they are not serious about diplomacy, which is used as an
argument that there`s a military solution as opposed to a diplomatic one.
Right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

HAYES (voice-over): We were there when the Supreme Court made
history.

(on camera): This is a watershed moment in the centuries-long
struggle for equality in this country. It is a sweet, sweet victory and it
is important in this life to savor those.

(voice-over): We reported on the country going over the hunger cliff,
that nobody else was.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) I pay taxes. And when it`s time
now, I believe that I should get some help. Look what came and happened
now.

HAYES: And we brought you the stories of people standing up across
the country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is their home. Where else are they going
to go?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can`t do anything with $8. I have three kids
and a husband.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You cannot just ignore evil.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re human beings, we`re citizens of the state of
Florida, who have a right to petition our government.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not momentary hyperventilation.

PROTESTERS: What do we want?! Justice! When do we want it?! Now!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a movement.

HAYES: As far as launches go, the ALL IN team had a pretty good 3/4
of a year.

(on camera): That is ALL IN for this evening. I`m Chris Hayes.

"THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW starts now. Good evening, Rachel.

RACHEL MADDOW, TRMS HOST: You did it!

HAYES: We did it!

MADDOW: You did it.

HAYES: We did it, America.

MADDOW: You launched!

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HAYES: Yes, we have, indeed launched. And tonight we`re going to
bring you back to some of the most entertaining and important stories we`ve
covered this year, with a little #click3 awesomeness sprinkled in between.

We begin our trip down memory lane with what was certainly the
political story of the year, the disastrous Republican-led government
shutdown.

Remember, it was the Republican Party led by Senator Ted Cruz and his
outside interest groups who convinced the United States House of
Representatives that it would be a good idea to hold the United States
government hostage in exchange for a repeal of Obamacare.

But this time, the hostage taking didn`t work. This time, it didn`t
work because after giving into the hostage takers in years past, President
Obama and the Democrats stiffened their spines and held firm.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning. Crisis averted. President Obama
and congressional leaders agree on a plan to raise the nation`s debt
ceiling, but not everyone on Capitol Hill is happy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The president of the United States saying that
the leaders of both chambers and both houses have agreed to a deal to avoid
the first-ever default in the history of the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A modest victory for the forces of compromise and
centrism.

HAYES (voice-over): Two years ago, faced with a similar debt ceiling
hostage situation, the president cut a deal with republicans.

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: You know I got 98
percent of what I wanted. I`m pretty happy.

HAYES: In exchange for raising the nation`s debt limit, Democrats
agreed to sharp cuts in government spending. It was a huge victory for
Republican extortion.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to thank the
American people. It has been your voices that have compelled Washington to
act in the final days.

JON STEWART, LATE NIGHT SHOW HOST: Let me just stop you right there.
You are not pinning this turd on us.

HAYES (voice-over): This week, the "New York Times" reports that in
the summer of 2011, after that historic compromise, the president pulled
together his inner circle of senior advisers and told them, quote, "I`m not
going through this again. It`s bad for democracy. It`s bad for the
presidency."

For the better part of two years, the president has repeated in public
what he told his staff in private.

OBAMA: I have been very clear. We are not going to negotiate around
the debt ceiling. We are not going to negotiate under the threat a further
harm to our economy of middle-class families.

You don`t negotiate by putting a gun to the other person`s head.

HAYES: And, today, what appears to be a resounding republican defeat
seems like it was inevitable, but it wasn`t. Yes, today`s victory for
democrats was due in part to MacGruber-like planning on the part of
Republicans.

WILL FORTE, AS MACGRUBER: Vicki will walk in dressed as Hoss, and
then we`ll just, you know, see what happens. You ready?

RYAN PHILLIPE, AS LT. DIXON PIPER: Wait. Wait. So, we are just
going to wing it?

FORTE, AS MACGRUBER: Piper, there is a big difference between winging
it and saying what happens. Now, let`s see what happens.


HAYES (voice-over): But, today`s victory was also a product of
democrats holding the line.

SIR IAN MCKELLEN, AS GANDALF IN LORD OF THE RINGS: You shall not
pass!

HAYES: Every time Republicans threw out a new piecemeal plan to fund
the government, the Democratic response was singular.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You get nothing. You lose, good day, sir!

HAYES: When House Republicans voted to fund the NIH, Democrats didn`t
bite.

REP. ERIC CANTOR (R-VA), MAJORITY LEADER: I believe that Senator Reid
must take up this legislation today for the sake of those children and
their health.

HAYES: The Republicans` stunt to reopen the national parks that
Republicans closed was rebuffed.

REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R), MINNESOTA: For political purposes,
President Obama and Harry Reid wanted the government to shutdown.

HAYES: The president and Democrats never took the bait.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), MINORITY LEADER: Let us reject this because
this is -- you know, they took hostages by shutting down the government.
And, now they`re releasing one hostage at a time.

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: What right do they have to
pick and choose what part of government is going to be funded?

OBAMA: We don`t get to select, which programs we implement or not.

HAYES: And, as the democrats refused to cave, Republicans were
banking on winning the media war.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: I think they can`t -- we are going to
win -- we, I think, well I know we don`t want to be here, but we`re going
to win this, I think.

HAYES: But, in end, the polling told the different story. The latest
NBC News poll found the Republican Party has their lowest favorable numbers
in the history of the poll. With the party in disarray, Republicans rushed
to cast blame.

REP. STEVE STOCKMAN (R), TEXAS: This president is determined to
destroy the Republican Party.

HAYES: Today, Democrats defended the Democratic principle, one party
in one house of Congress does not get to threaten destruction in order to
dictate terms of policy they lost in a national election -- one can only
hope that chasten Republican Party have learned their lesson, as well.

BOEHNER: We fought the good fight. We did everything we could to get
them to the table and to negotiate. They just kept saying no, no, no.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HAYES: John Boehner had the unfortunate honor of being the nominal
leader of house Republicans when the United States government was brought
to its knees. But behind the scenes, there was another force at work. A
band of House Tea Party Republicans, who effectively executed a hostile
takeover of the Congress, with their defund Obamacare or else strategy.
There are about 80 of them, and we profiled some of them in our series,
these are the people who are running the country.

Tonight, we reintroduce you to one of our favorites. Meet congressman
and current candidate for U.S. Senate, Paul Broun Brown of Georgia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HAYES (voice-over): Congressman Paul Broun won a special election in
2007. He won re-election in 2008, 2010 and again in last November. Now,
he wants to be Georgia`s next senator.

His credentials? Well, he is a doctor. He was a lobbyist for the
Safari Club International, a group that advocates for hunters and he brags
about being the first member of Congress to call the president a socialist.
Congressman Broun who sits on the House Science, Space and Technology
Committee last year, told the Tea Party audience in a room where the walls
had ears his take on the history of the human race.

REP. PAUL BROUN (R), GEORGIA: God`s word is true. I have come to
understood that all the stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology,
Big Bang Theory -- all of that is lies straight from the pit of hell.

HAYES: But, he was not done there.

BROUN: I believe the Earth is only about 9,000 years old. I believe
it was created in six days as we know it. That`s what the bible says.

HAYES: With statements like that from a man who went to med school,
there`s no wonder that when Broun was re-elected last fall, Charles Darwin
received almost 4,000 write in votes. But, when it comes to Obamacare,
Broun was on the House floor in 2010, drawing some interesting historical
analogies.

BROUN: If Obamacare passes, that free insurance card that`s in
people`s pockets is going to be as worthless as the Confederate dollar
after the War Between the States, the great war of Yankee aggression.

HAYES: A couple of things here. Of course there is no such thing as
a free insurance card. And, as for that last part --

BROUN: As worthless as the Confederate dollar after the War Between
the States, the great war of Yankee aggression.

HAYES: That is more commonly referred to as the Civil War, calling it
the great war of Yankee Aggression on the floor of the House is not that
different from waving a Confederate flag outside the White House.

Giving his undying devotion to the lost cause, it is not surprising
that when a letter circulated this summer demanding that John Boehner used
a threat of a government shutdown in support a bill to defund Obamacare,
signed on the dotted line.

That`s how Congressman Paul Brown, Georgia`s 10th district became "One
Of The People Who Is Running The Country."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HAYES: On the night of his re-election, New Jersey Governor Chris
Christie made a promise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: I pledge to you tonight, that I
will govern with the spirit of Sandy.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAYES: I`m going to tell you why that promise is much scarier than it
sounds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: Let`s get right back to the ALL IN All-Star 3/4 of A Year
in Review Show.

HAYES: 2013 was a big one for the governor of the great state of New
Jersey, even as he wraps up the year amid allegations from Democrats that
his administration might have created a traffic jam for four days as
political retribution.

The story of Chris Christie in 2013 is a story about 2016. It`s a
narrative he created from atop his landslide re-election, as he cast
himself as the pragmatist candidate, invoking the spirit of recovery from
Hurricane Sandy. But the recovery effort Christie is banking his
reputation on is less flattering that he`d have you believe. A day before
Christie`s big win, we took a look at the recovery effort Christie claims
to be so proud of.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Big news, big election results across the country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Big win for Chris Christie in New Jersey, a boost
for his presidential prospects.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Republicans are crowing about the big Chris
Christie landslide in New Jersey.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Governor Christie, wow --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- as he prepares to become the national
frontrunner for the 2016 race.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was that a campaign speech for running for
president in 2016?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That wasn`t an acceptance speech. That was an
announcing speech.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So Chris Christie is running for president on the
theme "I can do it".

HAYES (voice-over): Chris Christie emerged from last night`s election
as a frontrunner for the 2016 Republican nomination. And he got there,
thanks in no small part, to Hurricane Sandy. But don`t take our word for
it.

CHRISTIE: My pledge to you tonight is I will govern with the spirit
of Sandy.

HAYES: The spirit of Sandy that Christie evoked so many times last
night is one thing. But the facts of Sandy recovery are something else
entirely. New Jersey received billions of dollars in federal aid to
rebuild, and $1.8 billion of that came from the U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development to get people back in their homes. To get that
money, Christie promised that 60 percent of the funds would be reserved for
low to moderate income households.

Right now, it appears that Chris Christie is breaking that promise.
Of course, we don`t know for sure.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fair Share Housing Center, an advocate group for
affordable housing, insists they`re just frustrated. The center sued the
sate for what they call the administration`s failure to provide the most
basic documents, on why thousands of families have been denied assistance
in rebuilding post-Sandy.

HAYES: Because the Christie administration has released almost no
information about how the federal money is being spent. What we do know
came out of a lawsuit that alleged that the Christie administration was
improperly holding data on the use of the funds.

In response to that suit, Christie`s government released information
on where just a fraction of it all went, of that money, only 36.9 went to
the people Christie promised he`d give it to.

The whereabouts of the rest of the billion of dollars remains a total
mystery.

We do, however, know where an additional $25 million in Sandy aid
went, to a very well produced ad campaign -- in fact, a whopping $7.4
million federal dollars for this one commercial.

It turns out the firm hired to run the campaign had been chosen over
an advertising firm that had bid 40 percent less, but did not propose using
the governor`s family in the spot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jersey shore is open.

CHRISTIE: We`re standing because we`re stronger than the storm.

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: You bet we are.

HAYES: Right now, there are thousands of people still out of their
homes one year after the storm hit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you think when all this happened that a year
later you would be in this condition?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Never. We honestly figured maybe six months and
we`d have a home.

HAYES: Mortgage defaults are up over the past year in the Sandy-hit
areas. Seventy-five percent of New Jersey residents affected by the storm
say people like them have been largely forgotten in recovery efforts.

For many people in New Jersey, Sandy was the worst thing that ever
happened to them. For Chris Christie, it could have been the best.

CHRISTIE: You see a mission is different than a job. A mission is
something that is a sacred. It`s a sacred trust that was thrust upon me
and you.

HAYES: Chris Christie is not just benefitting politically from a
natural disaster, he is benefitting politically from a natural disaster
made more disastrous by his own administration`s failure to prepare.
During his first term, Christie de-funded the state`s Office of Climate
Change and Energy, after Sandy.

When reporters filed public records request to New York and New
Jersey, they found that New York City`s transit plans for severe storms is
detailed in five binders, each three inches thick. New Jersey`s transit
plan? Three and a half pages with everything blacked out.

CHRISTIE: My pledge to you tonight is I will govern with the spirit
of Sandy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HAYES: As the so-called knockout game and black-on-black crime
dominated headlines this year, one story fell by the wayside. The scourge
of white crime across the country. Whites attacking other whites. We took
a hard look at the issues plaguing the white community. And that very
important conversation is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HAYES: Cable news this holiday season has been peppered with debate
over Santa`s race, which sounds like a joke and probably should be a joke,
but, alas, it is, in fact, news analysis on FOX. And while the reaction
and the fear on the right to a black Santa was largely ruled by ridicule,
sometimes the largest combination to a takedown of that is satire. That`s
what we did over the summer with the help of Gawker`s Cord Jefferson to
address the very disturbing culture of violence in the white community.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

HAYES: Those shocking images are from Huntington Beach, California,
where at the conclusion of the U.S. Open in surfing on Sunday, a white mob
began rioting. The angry crowd vandalized property, broke the windows of
businesses, looted some stores and brawled with each other on the streets
of downtown Huntington Beach.

Police used rubber bullets on the unruly mob and arrested at least
seven people including a firefighter from Anaheim.

You probably haven`t heard much about the white riot in Huntington
Beach. That`s because the story of white criminal culture is not a story
the mainstream media will tell you. Once you scratch the surface, these
stories are everywhere you look.

Take billionaire hedge fund manager, Steve Cohen, for instance. How
many times this week have you heard about the federal charges he`s been
slapped with for alleged insider trading violations?

What about JPMorgan Chase, a company run almost entirely by white men?
Well, that financial giant quietly paid $410 million in a settlement after
being accused of manipulating the power markets.

The sad truth is that the white power structure in this country has no
clue -- no clue how to solve the problems within the white community.

Look, I don`t want people to be suspicious of white men, but the
Huntington Beach riot underlines a stark truth about white culture. The
fact is 84 percent of white murder victims are killed by other white
people. We really do have a question whether white leadership, where they
are on this issue.

Conversation is sorely lacking an appeal for the moderate white
community. After all, no one forces white people to throw haymakers after
their surfing competitions. And when white youth are raised with so much
privilege and so few boundaries, these young while white men reject
concepts of self-control and not being a jerk.

Some people may feel like I`m stereotyping. I don`t care. I`m
dealing with reality. The white community needs to ask itself, how are we
going to deal with this problem?

Finally, there is one brave writer in the mainstream writer raising
that question. Gawker columnist, Cord Jefferson, handed out a healthy dose
of truth following the Huntington Beach riot. "Whites in America have been
out from under their European ancestor`s boot heels for centuries.
California specifically outlawed preferences for nonwhites in state hiring
and education nearly two decades ago. So being oppressed is no longer an
excuse for behavior like this. How long must we wait for the white
community to get its act together?"

Joining me now is Cord Jefferson, West Coast editor for Gawker.com,
author of the aforementioned column, "A Dangerous and Irresponsible
Culture."

Cord, you`re not going to hear this kind of thing in the mainstream
media. My question to you is what inspired you to finally rip off this
taboo and talk about the problems with white culture?

CORD JEFFERSON, GAWKER.COM: You know, I am a person of color, Chris.
But, first and foremost, I consider myself an American citizen and resident
of Southern California. And, seeing what the mob did in Huntington Beach
on Sunday night, I just felt there was no way that I could sit on the
sidelines anymore in good conscience and watch so many white youths debase
themselves the way that they are --

HAYES: You know --

JEFFERSON: -- And, so I think that sometimes people have to stick
their necks out. I don`t want to use the word martyr, but I guess I`m kind
of a martyr on this front.

HAYES: You know, there are people that are going to tell you that
it`s just a few bad apples. If you look at the video, you can`t say this
whole group. You know, this has nothing to do with white people. It`s
just a few bad apples. What do you say to that?

JEFFERSON: To that, I say that if that`s your actual belief, then
you`re living with your head in the sand. I used to live in New York City
and would occasionally go to Hoboken, New Jersey`s, St. Patrick`s Day
Parade. And, there were so many young white men there vomiting in the
streets, urinating in the streets, getting in fist fights in the streets.
It was a sight to be seen.

HAYES: I have seen it. I have seen it myself. There are college
dorms you can go to. Every other room there`s a bong. There are people
talking about how much drugs, how much they enjoy drugs. A drug culture
that people -- and white elders don`t say anything about it. They kind of
mink -- they wink and they nod.

JEFFERSON: You`re looking at a -- they`re learning -- the thing is
that these young people are learning this kind of behavior in lacrosse
camps. They learning this kind of behave at college spring break. They
are learning this kind of behavior at Ivy League fraternities where drug
use and binge drinking are normalized behaviors. And, these kinds of
places are kind of the hives of moral debasement that are leading to, I
think, the -- with what we`re seeing, which is this white crime scourge.

HAYES: Here`s my question to you. What is it going to take to get
the white power structure, prominent whites, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden to
start speaking out on this kind of thing, to start talking about the St.
Paddy`s Day parade, to start talking about the drug culture on campuses.
To start -- to even just take the first step and condemn the Huntington
Beach riots?

JEFFERSON: You know, I wish that I knew. I wish that I knew. When I
look towards the white leadership, when I look toward the Justin Biebers of
the world and Rush Limbaughs of the world, and Sean Hannitys of the world,
I often hear them talking about the problems within the black community.

But, I have yet to really see them take a serious, long look at the
problems within the white community and then look at these kinds of violent
offenses that are going on within white neighborhoods and my college
campuses all the time. That has been difficult to watch.

And, then, so -- to them I would just say, a physician, heal thyself
first. And, then I`m glad that people like you are stepping up in the
white community and really sort of looking at this problem for what it is,
which is a serious, serious issue.

HAYES: We appreciate that. Cord Jefferson, the West Coast editor for
Gawker.com. Thank you.

JEFFERSON: Thank you.

HAYES: If you watched that segment and thought that`s an absolutely
ridiculous premise and an absolutely terrible way to talk about millions of
people who share nothing, nothing, except their general broad pigmentation,
you are correct. And remember that the next time you hear those same
arguments, but with a different word in place of the word "white." And
that`s the memo.

Almost a year`s worth of the awesomest things on the Internet. Well,
it was rough, but we narrowed it down to our favorites. We`ll be right
back with a very special "All In, All-Star 3/4 of a Year in Review" very
special ultimate "Click 3."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HAYES: If you`ve watched this show, you`re certainly familiar with a
little segment we like to call "Click 3." The three awesomest things we
found on the Internet that day. As you know our definition of awesome is
broad enough to cover all sorts of things from amazing robots to some
jokers in Russia with a giant deer statue in the back of their truck.

Sometimes we hail great scientific achievement or great works of art,
sometimes it`s great phenomenon at the universe. At other times, great
moments of, well, I don`t know what.

We`re so proud to be able to bring you this ridiculousness so there`s
no way we could do a 3/4 of a year in review show without naming our three
favorite "Click 3s" of the last 3/4 of the year and that, my friends, is a
tall order.

We`ve done the "Click 3" segment a total of 143 times, which is 429
awesome things we have found on the Internet, give or take. And so
choosing the three awesomest out of all that awesomeness is almost too
awesome a task for one awesome to awesome.

And it must be done, and so tonight I present you the three awesomest
things on the Internet for 3/4 of 2013.

The first thing came to us from Twitter fan Hillary Quitech (ph) on
May 11th, who said simply, "Dude, this." This was referring to the Ryan
Gosling meme to end all Ryan Gosling memes. Far surpassing all the hey,
girls or any of the Gosling knockoff memes, Paul Ryan Gosling, anyone?

This is Ryan Gosling won`t eat his cereal. These are a series of six-
second Vine videos. The title explains it all. As "Entertainment Weekly"
put it, just a spoonful of cereal slowly inching towards Gosling`s
beautiful but also sometimes tortured face on a television screen.

Creator Ryan McKenry (ph) since the idea came to him while watching
the film "Drive" and eating cereal. Perhaps a simple concept. The results
are simply amazing. And so inspired were we by the Gosling cereal
refusals, we created one of our very own. I just don`t care for corn pops.

The second awesomest thing we brought you on October 22nd, introducing
Mr. Chris Hayes, investigative reporter for FOX 2 News in St. Louis where
he lives with his wife and two boys. He`s won seven Emmy Awards and by all
accounts he`s an intrepid reporter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Tabott demanded we leave the property. A sign
on the front door of one of her stores says it all. "No media or
reporters, especially Chris Hayes."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAYES: Now that`s a badge of honor for a journalist. But another
thing about Chris Hayes is that FOX 2`s Chris Hayes should not be confused
with MSNBC`s Chris Hayes. And yet he is. Night after night, he`s
bombarded on Twitter by people thinking they`re interacting with this show.
And he couldn`t be nicer to them, tweeting responses like, "Very nice
compliment but it should be directed to Chris L. Hayes. I work in St
Louis."

Even to the mean ones, like the people saying, "You`re an idiot," he`s
exceptionally patient. "Thank you, but you`re looking for Chris L. Hayes.
It`s a common mistake." And when people offer an apology, he`s still a
gentleman. "No apology necessary. I certainly got the better Twitter
handle."

A class act all the way and he`s still there, still responding. I
heart Chris Hayes.

The third awesomest thing on the Internet this year, after careful
deliberation amongst the staff, it was a unanimous choice, we go back to
August 22nd to a demonstration in activism from a guy on a field in New
Zealand. This is what sheepocracy looks like.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you want? When do you want it? How do
you want it? Who`s your daddy?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAYES: OK. I`m really sorry about that. You can find all the links
for all "Click 3s" on our Web site, as always, allinwithChris.com.

We`ll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HAYES: 2013 will go down in history as the year the United States
Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act. In a 5-4 decision handed down
in June the court gutted the very core of the law that meant that nine
states, mostly in the south, will be free to change their election laws
without first getting pre-clearance approval from the federal government.

We spent a lot of time this year talking about the potential and
likely ramifications of this decision. On November 8th, we saw it play out
in dramatic fashion on Election Day in one city in Texas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HAYES (voice-over): Pasadena, Texas. A suburb of Houston, sometimes
called stinkadina for the smell of its chemical plants and oil refineries.
Home to 150,000 people. And the setting of the iconic film, "Urban
Cowboy."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you a real cowboy?

JOHN TRAVOLTA, ACTOR: Well, it depends on what you think a real
cowboy is.

HAYES: But like a lot of Texas towns, Pasadena has changed radically
since the days when John Travolta walked the streets in a 10-gallon hat.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pasadena no longer a small town, but a not-so-
small city.

HAYES: The change has come in the last 10 years, thanks to explosive
growth in the Hispanic population, which has risen in a decade from 48
percent to 62 percent, making white people a minority in the new Pasadena.
Luckily for them, they are still a majority of the voting population.

While the Hispanic population accounts for a majority of the Pasadena
residence, Hispanics make up only 32 percent of the city`s voters. But the
people who are running Pasadena see the writing on the wall. They know
they`re only a few voter registration drives and maybe a comprehensive
immigration reform bill away from being relegated to minority status.

So this summer, Pasadena Mayor Johnny Isbell came up with a plan.
Right now the city is run by the mayor and eight council members. Each
member is elected from one of eight districts, each representing a section
of the city. And for the first time in the city`s history, there are now
two Hispanics on the council. One is Cody Ray Wheeler.

CODY RAY WHEELER, PASADENA CITY COUNCILOR: We kind of came in there
and we were looking to bring change, reform, to really engage in a
community. And we`ve called the mayor out on a lot of things that we
thought weren`t very honest.

HAYES: In August, Isbell started pushing a plan to shrink the number
of districts from eight to six and replace those two with at-large seats to
be voted on by everyone in Pasadena. And by everyone, we mean the town`s
white voting majority.

WHEELER: He decided to make a full power grab and he didn`t care who
would have to step over to get it.

HAYES: To the community, the goal of the plan was pretty clear.

PATRICIA GONZALES, PASADENA RESIDENT: I think what he`s trying to do,
he`s trying to stop us from being able to get the things that we need and
be able to be the majority. He doesn`t like it.

HAYES: Dilute the power of the Hispanic vote and hand two council
seats to the majority white voting population, insuring the city-wide
majority white voting population could band together and retain their
power.

WHEELER: What this effectively does is give the south part of town,
the (INAUDIBLE) part of town, the majority of council.

HAYES: It turns out this is precisely the sort of thing Section 5 of
the Voting Rights Act was designed to block. In fact, Supreme Court
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg cited this precise type of discrimination for a
pre-Section 5 world when the Voting Rights Act came before the court
earlier this year.

JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG, U.S. SUPREME COURT: The second
generation barriers included racial gerrymandering, switching from district
voting to at-large voting.

HAYES: Did you hear that? At-large voting. It`s the old test trick
in the book. And it`s so immediately recognizable that when a neighboring
Texas town of Beaumont cooked up a very similar at-large plan, it was
blocked by the Justice Department in December of 2012. But then the
Supreme Court killed Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act in their 5-4
decision in Shelby v. Holder. And the mayor of Pasadena, Johnny Isbell,
made his move.

WHEELER: He blatantly said at the first meeting we had, now that the
preclearance from the Voting Rights Act is gone, we`re going to redistrict
the city.

HAYES: In the mayor`s own words --

MAYOR JOHNNY ISBELL, PASADENA: The Justice Department can no longer
tell us what to do.

HAYES: And so this summer, Isbell, arguing that certain council
members don`t care about city-wide issues, moved to put his own at-large
plan on the ballot.

WHEELER: The mayor is quite aware of what this does, but like I said
before, he just seems to not care.

HAYES: And on Tuesday, the folks of Pasadena went to vote on
Proposition 1 and the white voting majority won by a margin of 87 votes.
Now that Section 5 is dead, there are thousands of potential Pasadenas all
across the south.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HAYES: This year saw the launch, epic near-failure, and successful
re-launch of the online federal health care exchange. At one point, the
White House, the Democrats, and the media were all feeding the hysteria
around the botched rollout and I had had it up to here. That`s next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NARRATOR: And now for the exciting conclusion of the "All-In All-Star
3/4 of a Year in Review Show."

The heart of President Obama`s health care law, the signature law of
his administration began its rocky rollout in 2013. And well, it kind of
sucked for a while. The Web site didn`t work at first. The Obama
administration was forced to varying degrees to label the employer mandate
for providing coverage and the individual penalty for not buying it.
Overall, not awesome.

But here`s the thing. It is also not terrible. It`s lowering the
deficit over time. The government is not choosing your doctor. And yes,
despite what you might have heard from right-wing media, insurance
purchased on the Obamacare health exchange does cover babies.

If you take anything away from the story of Obamacare in 2013, it
should be that Obamacare is here, it`s what we have, and we have to and can
make it work.

You might have done a double take if you saw "The New York Times"
front page news analysis today. The paper of record, headlining its lead
story online, quote, "Health Care Rollout Stumbles," draws parallels to
Bush`s hurricane response. Of course, Obama`s Katrina is such a lame
played-out right-wing meme that it was already a "Daily Show" punchline all
the way back in 2010. That semantically bankrupt phrase you hear anytime
anything goes badly in America since 2009.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS CHANNEL: It`s been called Obama`s Katrina.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is this going to be Obama`s Katrina?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Obama`s Katrina.

JON STEWART, HOST, "DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART": It`s crazy. It`s
like, no matter what happens during the Obama administration, there`s the
perfect Bush (EXPLETIVE DELETED) up for the occasion.

BILL O`REILLY, FOX NEWS CHANNEL: Could health care be Obama`s Iraq?

HANNITY: Is this, as some are suggesting, Barack Obama`s Enron?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unemployment rate from 9 to 11 could be Obama`s
9/11.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Are we now watching
Obama`s mission accomplished speech?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They`ve got their -- you know, heck of a job
brownie moment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Obama`s my pet goat moment.

STEWART: The crazy part is, it`s conservatives and Republicans that
are in the biggest rush to make the comparisons. Remember that terrible
thing that Bush did, that we fought for eight years to convince you wasn`t
bad, but actually good?

Well, now we use those very incidents as the low watermark for your
guy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAYES: The Katrina comparison, specifically, deserves a five-second
rebuttal. You do it by showing this handy chart from Media Matters of
deaths in Katrina compared to those from the Affordable Care Act rollout.

So, no, "New York times," not Katrina. Obamacare is very much its own
thing. It is a long, brutal battle to make a little more real the promise
of a decent society for all.

If you`re anything like me, you`ve watched the last several weeks
unfold with a potent mix of rage, frustration, and exasperation. And I
will confess that as I follow the coverage and immerse myself in the
stories here at the studio every day, I find myself pissed off at just
about everyone.

I`m angry at a White House that failed to properly implement the
single most important law they`ve ever passed or that anyone has passed in
a generation, that handed their ideological and political enemies
ammunition, which they are now gleefully firing off at anything that moves,
including stalwart progressive allies and politicians who backed the White
House and vouched for the law with voters.

For those of us on the single payer left the entire spectacle is
particularly maddening, since many of us spent years noting the drawbacks`
complexities of (INAUDIBLE) in nature of the entire Romneycare mandate and
subsidies model. Those of us who worried that without a public option,
insurance companies would use the law to manipulate and panic consumers.

Those of us who worried about that but ultimately embraced and
celebrated and rejoiced at the ACA, as a massive step forward on the long
march for justice.

I`m also angry at a mainstream media that due to a combination of
gullibility, privilege, and sloppiness has managed to elevate the stories
of a very small sliver of the health insurance market into national panic,
while largely allowing the names and faces and fates of the millions of
poor people who will be denied health care by Republican governors, to
remain anonymous and untold.

But most of all, I`m quite simply appalled, as I watch a Republican
Party and conservative movement, not even pretend to hide their glee and
shout (INAUDIBLE) over problems with the law they have done everything in
their power to sabotage, destroy, and discredit. A law that at its base,
attempts to make sure that tens of millions of our fellow citizens are
delivered from the terror and anguish and hardship of a morally bankrupt
status quo to a modicum of security and care.

Jonah Goldberg, writing in the conservative "National Review," just
comes out and says, quote. "If you can`t take some joy, some modicum of
relief and mirth in the unprecedently spectacular be-clowning of the
president, his administration, its enablers, and to no small degree,
liberals in itself, then you need to ask yourself, why you`re following
politics in the first place? Because frankly, this has been one of the
most enjoyable political moments of my lifetime."

I read that and I thought, what the hell is wrong with you? That`s
why you`re in politics? That`s why you follow it? To point and laugh at
be-clowning. To work out some weird adolescent inferiority complex?

I mean, don`t get me wrong, it`s bracing to see conservatives stop
pretending to even care about the plight of the people they are pretending
to care about for expedient`s sake just a short while ago.

This is true. Even conservatives I like, even Phillip Klein, a
conservative reporter I like and respect and follow, he tweeted this today.
"Great news from Alaska. Parnell won`t expand Medicaid. This is how it`s
done, John Kasich."

Great news. No health care for up to 40,000 poor Alaskans. That is
great news for conservatives.

Those of us committed to a humane future of mutual support and
solidarity and compassion, that is what we are up against.

And finally, I`m angry at Democratic politicians who are starting to
go wobbly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s really disappointing to all of us, to the
people that we serve, that it hasn`t been rolled out better.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are provisions that need to be fixed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Many Americans donate feel well-served.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have been frustrated from day one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAYES: I will never forget the morning of January 20th, 2010. The
fight for health reform was not over, the House is more liberal bills still
needed to be reconciled with the Senate`s more conservative version, but
Scott Brown had just declared victory in the special election to replace
the late Ted Kennedy, and that caused Democrats their filibuster-proof
majority in the Senate.

I was walking on Capitol Hill to my office, and there was this
horrible, depressing blanket of quiet. It felt like the day of a funeral.
I ran into a member of the progressive caucus from the House, and he was
walking on the street. He looked like he`d been crying, stumbling around
in a daze, and he just shook his head and said, well, it`s over. And
walked away.

What happened next, from what I`ve been table to report myself, is
basically that Nancy Pelosi met with her caucus and told them to get it
together. That they would pass the law as-is, no matter what it took, and
for Democrats tempted to abandon the mission, she and others reminded them,
it was too late to distance themselves from the law. Everyone had already
voted for the thing.

The same is true now. There is no separating yourself from this law.
That goes for all of us on the left.

If you think the ACA can go down and leave you unscathed, you are
sorely mistaken. We are all on the same boat.

This law has had near-death experiences more times than I can count.
I`ve covered a dozen of them, and it`s not just bad luck or that the law is
cursed or the people pushing it aren`t good at their jobs, it`s because
it`s hard.

Health care is 20 percent of our economy. There are trillions of
dollars on the line, and shareholders and companies and workers and
doctors, and medical device manufacturers and hospitals and patients,
people, health care is something every single person uses.

And every time, in every country a society has decided to reform the
delivery of it, it has been done against the kicking and screaming and
sabotage and backlash and a rage of entrenched interests and reactionaries.

There is a reason almost a century`s worth of presidents and
congresses tried and failed to pass health care reform. There is a reason
passing and maintaining the Affordable Care Act has been so arduous.
Because it is the most ambitious piece of social legislation in this
country in a generation.

And so amidst the deserved criticisms and bad press and the undeserved
hysteria and shameful gloating, one thing is clear. The only path left for
those of us committed to the goal of health care for all is forward.

No retreat, no surrender, no going back. The only way out is through.
This won`t be the last battle. Others will come and there`ll be more after
that. And there`s never, ever going to be some calm, final equilibrium
where everything works and no one`s trying to take health care away.
There`s only struggle today, tomorrow, forever. Because nothing worth
doing ever came without.

Well, that does it for us tonight. All of us at ALL IN feel
exceptionally privileged to be able to share this hour with you, the
viewers and fans, really. It means the most to us that you come and watch
us every night and we try to do our best and we`re going to do a lot more
kick-butt stuff in 2014. We`re all extremely excited.

So good night, from all of us at the "All In All-Star 3/4 of a Year in
Review Show." We`ll see you in 2014.

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

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