The Ed Show for Tuesday, September 30th, 2014

THE ED SHOW
September 30, 2014


Guest: Nina Turner, Annette Taddeo, Sherrod Brown, Peter Hotez, Corey
Hebert

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DARRELL ISSA, (R) CALIFORNIA: How on earth did it happen?

JULIA PIERSON, SECRET SERVICE DIRECTOR: Our security plan was not properly
executed.

ISSA: How much will it cost to lock the front door of the White House?

PIERSON: The Secret Services conducting an ongoing investigation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m concern about our leadership.

PIERSON: I will make sure that it does not happen again.

REP. STEPHEN LYNCH, (D) MASSACHUSETTS: I wish to God you protected the
White House like you`re protecting your reputation here today.

ISSA: The American people want to know is the president safe? This is our
watch. 1 percent failure is not an option.

REP. STEVEN HORSFORD, (D) NEVADA: Someone should be held accountable.

PIERSON: It is obvious that mistakes were made.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We learn from our mistakes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president per say, he also have confidence in the
men and women at the Secret Service.

REP. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, (D) COLUMBIA: The time is right for a 21st
century makeover of the Secret Service.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not a Democratic issue, this is not Republican issue,
this isn`t American issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ED SCHULTZ, MSNBC HOST: Good to have you with us tonight folks. Thanks
for watching. You know, if you ask one of your coworkers, what does it
take to get fired? You`d probably get a pretty good answer, maybe even
strike up a lengthy conversation. I mean, come on. You know the do`s and
the don`ts in your workplace. You know, what`s going to get you`re fired
and you know what`s going to get your coworker fired.

This is a firing situation as I see it. Now, today, watching the hearing
on the Secret Service in how incompetent they were in protecting the White
House on September 19th. Look, you can talk about a number of differences
instances. Let`s just hone in on the most recent, September 19th.

I heard a bunch of government gobbledygook today about policy and procedure
and reviews and investigations, no. I wanted to know if heads were going
to roll, if there was really going to someone held accountable and where
people going to be reassigned because of this, because of the seriousness
of it. I didn`t hear any of that. And that`s why I think there`re really
has to be a change at the head of the Secret Service.

Madam Director, you got to go. You didn`t tell me that people were going
to be reassigned. You didn`t tell me the people were going to get fired.
You didn`t say that this was totally unacceptable and on my watch it will
never happened again because that`s what Americans wanted to hear from Miss
Pierson today. Americans are stunned that a man with a knife can go so
deep into the White House. That`s right.

Secret Service Director Julia Pierson took major hit from members of
Congress today. She defended her reputation through all of this and we
were told there`s great employees. We were told that they`re very
confident that they have got a tough job, you know, there`s a lot of good
people in America who have lost their jobs. You can roll it back to 2009
when the economy was changing. There`s a lot of good people that were out
of work. What does it take to get out of work in the Secret Service? What
does it take to get reassigned?

It`s completely unacceptable for folks who are in charge of guarding the
White House and the first family to fall asleep at the wheel. If you
remember the Secret Service, this just can`t happen. This isn`t about
policy. This isn`t about procedure. This is about performance. Pierson
should lose her job after what I heard today and everyone who was on duty
at the White House on the lawn should be reassign because they proven they
can fall asleep at the switch.

So, you might ask the question, well what kind of security do we really
want? I thought you`d never ask. Let me show you piece of video tape.
Now, this is how a security I`m thinking about. This is a guy in a
football game at Ohio State. Apparently, they know how to handle people
who are on the wrong turf, dud (ph), boom (ph). You`re on my turf. Your
ass is out of here. Do you think like we can get somebody like that on the
front loan of the White House?

I mean, this is how you handle somebody that ain`t supposed to be where
they are. You see, security is an attitude. You need to want to defend
that turf and I just didn`t hear that today. Maybe the White House ought
to hire a couple of guys from Ohio State who know what it`s all about that
can recognize the situation and they`ll take care of it.

So here`s what happened at the hearings today. Here is how it sounded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ISSA: There were a series of security failures. Not an instance of praise
praiseworthy restrained.

NORTON: An unsettling failure to disclose, perhaps even understand what
has occurred.

LYNCH: I wish to God you protected the White House like you`re protecting
your reputation here today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m concern about our leadership of the mixed messages
that are sent to those that serve in the Secret Service.

CUMMINGS: It`s not a democratic issue, this is not a Republican issue,
this isn`t American issue.

PIERSON: It is obvious that mistakes were made. It`s self evident that
mistakes were made. We must identity what the facts are. Learn from the
facts, asses, make changes, enhance training to ensure that this never
happens again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: OK. That`s about as good as a got but I`ll tell you, who else
ought to get fired? And that`s the public servants who took time away from
their last -- latest six-week vacation to crank out the false outrage
machine.

The Secret Service, you know what the story is? This is just another log
on the fire. The American people have lost faith and -- and there`re
everything, haven`t we? Come on, you can`t say that, Oh, yeah, I can say
that. Heck, we don`t even think the NFL is serious about stuff anymore.
Nobody trust their Internet service or their cable provider and we`re all
mannered (ph) our cellphone company, right?

In fact, most Americans have completely lost faith in democracy. It`s
dangerous that a guy can get so deep inside the White House and somebody
off duty decides to put the hammer down. It`s also dangerous for Congress
to punt on a war. It`s also dangerous for Congress to pass over 50 bills
that will actually take health care away for millions of Americans who
desperately needed and millions who have never had it before because of a
preexisting condition or they couldn`t afford it.

Five weeks from today could be a very dangerous day, the most dangerous of
all. At this moment, it seems the party of unprecedented obstruction is
going to gain control of the House and the Senate. Now, this will have
disastrous consequences. And let me just remind all of you that when you
don`t do what you have to do, bad things happen. Obamacare will be number
one, the number one target.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELE BACHMANN, (R) MINNESOTA: Let`s repeal this failure before it
literally kills women, kills children, kill senior citizen. Let`s not do
that. Let`s love people.

As people of faith, I`m a Born Again believer in Jesus Christ and I believe
that it`s part of my duty as a believer in Christ and what he has done for
me that we should do for the least of those who are in our midst. That`s
my personal belief and my personal conviction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: What`s the parallel here? It`s an attitude. They are going to
do it and if they are in a position to do it you can count on it. When
Republicans grab the race (ph) they will rush to put American boots on the
ground no matter what.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER, (R-OH), HOUSE SPEAKER: Maybe, we can get it up when
these forces trained and get them on the battlefield but somebody`s boots
have to be there.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS CHIEF ANCHOR: And if no one else step up,
would you recommend putting American boots on the ground?

BOEHNER: We have no choice. These are barbarians. They intend to kill
us. And if we don`t destroy them first we`re going to pay the price.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Sound like he`s serious to you? If they had the power, you think
they do it? Oh yeah. The military industrial complex would be revved up,
well oiled, and on roll. The war on women, it`s very real. And the effort
to roll back women`s rights will not stop if they get power.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE, (R) ARKANSAS: The Democrats want to insult the women
of America by making them believe that they are helpless without uncle
sugar coming in and providing for them a prescription each month for birth
control because they cannot control their libido or their reproductive
system without the help of the government, then so be it. Let us take that
discussion all across America because women are far more than the Democrats
have played them to be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Really? I thought we were about rights, people rights, equal
pay, you know, all the things that are important to every single American.
Let`s not forget, treating wage honors like road kills is what they`re all
about.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO, (R) FLORIDA: I want people to make as much as they can.
I don`t think a minimum wage law works. We all support. I certainly do,
having more tax payers meaning more people that are employed and I want
people that make a lot more than $9. $9 is not enough. The problem is
that if you can`t do that by mandating it in a minimum wage laws. Minimum
wage laws have never worked in terms of helping the middle class attain
more prosperity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: And do you trust the Republicans to do something on immigration
reform? Hispanics can kiss the American dream goodbye if these folks get
power.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. STEVE KING, (R) IOWA: It`s true in some case but they aren`t all a
valedictorians. They weren`t all brought in by their parents. For
everyone who is a valedictorian there`s another hundred out there that --
they weigh 130 pounds and they`ve got calves the size of cantaloupes
because they`re holding 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert. Those
people would be legalized with the same act.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: No stereotyping there. If you`re a parent, only one party wants
to make it easier for a psycho to run into your kid`s school with a weapon
in hand.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LOUIE GOHMERT, (R) TEXAS: Hearing the heroic stories of the principal
lunging trying to protect -- Chris, I wish to God she had had an M-4 in her
office, locked up so when she heard gun fires, she pulls it out and she
didn`t have to lunge heroically with nothing in her hands, but she takes
him out, takes his head off before he can kill those precious kids.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: One of the single most dangerous things is the conservative
obsession of making it harder to vote in America.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE TURZAI, (R) PENNSYLVANIA: Voter I.D. which is going to allow
Governor Romney to win the State of Pennsylvania. Done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: And now, did they stop after they lost in Pennsylvania? These
are dangerous times. Americans need to dig deep and stop this attack on
Democracy. No Supreme Court had done more to attack voting rights than
what this court has done, the last year in the way they have rolled back
protections and traditionally, racist southern states.

On Monday, they made it harder to vote in the biggest swing state in
America, Ohio. Americans need to recognize the moment. Recognize the
moment. What is happening? It`s not as fast as it takedown on a field.
It`s not as fast as the guy getting into the White House. There`s a little
mojo that it takes but over time, if you`re as sleep with the wheel and you
don`t recognize the moment, you`re going to find out someday that elections
have consequences.

Let`s roll it back 14 years, if Gore had really defeated Bush, right? We
know Bush stole it, right? Come on. Remember, Florida in 2000? Do you
really think that Al Gore would have put Roberts and Elido on the court to
bend at conservatives so they could do what they did yesterday? Render an
opinion without -- render or ruling without an opinion on voting rights?

Do you think that Liberals would have rollback voting rights of a Supreme
Court? Had Bush not won we wouldn`t have a Supreme Court so elections do
have consequences. So, get out and vote and protect your yard because
that`s what this is all about and when they say that they are a determined
to do things, believe them.

Get your cellphones out. I want to know what you think. Tonight`s
question, is the Republican takeover of Congress dangerous for America?
Text A for yes, text B for no to 67622, leave a comment at our blog at
ed.msnbc.com. We`ll bring you the results later on in the show.

This is no small order, what unfolded in Ohio yesterday through the Supreme
Court of the United States.

For more, let me bring in State Senator Nina Turner of Ohio who is running
for Ohio. Secretary of State and Ring of Fire radio Host, America`s
Attorney, Mike Papantonio.

Mike, you first, I want to ask you. What`s this ruling signal of a Supreme
Court? Would a liberal court have done this?

MIKE PAPANTONIO, AMERICA`S ATTORNEY: This is a court that`s become an
extension of regressive punitive Republican policy. Their intend on
keeping minorities, students, the elderly, the disabled away from the polls
because historically, that group has voted against Republicans. That`s
what this Supreme Court decision is all about.

There was no question in my mind or anybody who`s followed this court that
they were going to rule. We knew that they were going to rule like this
because they become comically predictable, the intend and political
motivation of this court is made clear in this -- Ohio voting case, the
dysfunctional predictable majorities -- it deprives thousands of Ohio
residence from the vote -- to vote early, that courts clearly understood
for many workers who want to vote.

Their only chance to cast the ballot is during this period called the
golden week in Ohio.

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

PAPANTONIO: Where voters can register and vote on the same day. And you
know what else they knew Ed? They knew that the Secretary Of State Jon
Husted last year, all but admitted that voter suppression efforts in Ohio
where to keep minorities for voting, he said it, it was clear, it was
unequivocal, and yet this Supreme Court, the sad truth is, they knew that
he said it when they made this ruling.

SCHULTZ: Nina, does this ruling by the Supreme Court sound the alarm
greater than ever? Your reaction to Tuesday`s ruling?

SEN. NINA TURNER, (D) OHIO: Yeah. It does Ed. It`s Un-American. It`s
immoral. And I agree with Mike, you know, this lays at the feet of the GOP
in the state of Ohio because but for the current Secretary of State, asking
the United States Supreme Court for an emergency stay, 16 hours before
early voting was supposed to start today Ed. People were ready to vote
today and that opportunity was taken away from them by the man that is
suppose to be protecting the rights of voters to vote.

People need to understand that what is happening in Ohio, North Carolina,
you name it all across this country, they are coming for the ballot box.
And if they are successful in taking away that great equalizer, what else
do we have left? Everybody should be outrage by this.

SCHULTZ: So Mike, if Nina Turner doesn`t win the Secretary of States
Office in Ohio, can we come to the conclusion or make the assumption or
speculate that there`s going to be more of this kind of stuff maybe even
through the Supreme Court before 2016 in a major state that has -- has
traditionally affected the White House run?

PAPANTONIO: I don`t think we have to speculate. We see it in Wisconsin.
We see in the North Carolina. What`s happened with court Ed is they become
so predictable. Look, the sign of a dysfunctional court, I don`t care what
level is, but when a court becomes so dysfunctional that you can predict
within 100 percent of what they`re going to do, when you have a majority
like Scalia and Roberts and Thomas.

When you have these characters altogether and you know ahead of time that
there`re always going to vote against the consumer, there`re always going
to vote against the expansion of voter of rights, there`re always going to
vote against the environment, there`re always going to vote for the
corporation against the little guy, there`re always going to vote for
person head of a corporation.

Would it become so predictable, comically predictable. You know that that
court has become dysfunctional, as a matter of fact, very quickly. There`s
a test that constitutional lawyers is use all over the world and that is --
this is one of the factors they look at. Can we look at that court and
understand ahead of time that what we have is politicians dressed up in
black robes. These aren`t judges anymore Ed. They`re politicians in a
robe.

SCHULTZ: So, Nina Turner, how big an uphill battle is this going to be?
How big of a road block is this for you?

TUNER: It`s big Ed, but people have to still get out to vote. We`re going
to utilize hours that we have left and we are going to continue to compel
people to get out there to vote. Ed 59,000 voters in 2012 utilized the
golden week, there was a study put out by the North East Ohio voter
advocate that said that African-American voters utilized that early and
person voting by 56 percent. They are hurting low income voters. They are
hurting the homeless.

But you know what Ed, they don`t care. They will put their party over the
people but the people will have the final say Ed. So I don`t want folks to
get discourage by this. I want them to use their energy and their synergy
to come out in the great state of Ohio and vote these folks out of office.
Our very democracy depends on it Ed. And people in Washington and all over
this country need to take note because Ohio is the swing state of swing of
swing states. This is a national crisis of consciousness and we need --
take elected officials out of office who don`t believe in the fundamental
right to vote Ed, immoral and Un-American.

SCHULTZ: State Senator Nina Turner from Ohio, also Mike Papantonio, great
to have both of you with us tonight. I appreciate your time on the story.

Remember to answer tonight`s question there at the bottom of the screen.
Share you thoughts with us on Twitter@edshow and @wegoted. Like us on
Facebook and thanks for that.

An update from the CDC health officials will be addressing the media in
about 15 minutes about a possible case of Ebola in the United States in
Dallas, Texas. We will bring you that news conference live right here on
the Ed Show. But first, states in play, a closer look at the governor`s
race, the GOP is at risk of losing. Annette Taddeo joins me from Florida.
Stay with us. We`re right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Coming up here on the Ed Show at the bottom of the hour we are
going to be covering live a press conference from the CDC, the Center for
Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia. The first case of the Ebola has
reached the United States. It`s in Dallas, Texas. We`ll bring it to you
live coming up at the bottom of the hour.

Trenders, social media, this is where you can follow us
facebook.com/edshow, twitter.com/edshow and ed.msnbc.com. The podcast
available for you 24/7 @wegoted.com, rawstory.com, ringoffireradio.com, and
on iTunes. It`s free access at 24/7.

Ed Show Social Media Nation has decided and we are reporting here today`s
top trenders voted on by you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: The number three trender, take a knee.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A penalty from a Monday night football game is getting
some attention.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Chiefs` safety right there Husain Abdullah.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The devout Muslim who stepped away from the game for a
year to make a pilgrimage to Mecca saw yellow flag is flying.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A 15-yard penalty, unsportsmanlike conduct.

SCHULTZ: A touchdown celebration is hit with controversy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mean (ph) started to come in. Tim Tebow gets a
trademark, Husain gets a 15-yard penalty.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As it turns out the referees were flagging Abdullah for
slide not for the frustration.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible), so I think he`s going to be fine (ph).

SCHULTZ: The number two trender, dry out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drought, drought, drought, drought, climate drought.
Climate change.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s so confusing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There have been more than 23,000 wildfires in
California this year plus a persistent drought.

GINA MCCARTHY, U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ADMINISTRATOR:
California is facing a historic drought with a projective job loss of more
than 17,000.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They need rain and unfortunately my next graph is
going to show they`re not going to get it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor Brown recently said climate change is to
blame.

SCHULTZ: A new study links California`s drought to climate change.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Climate change including severe drought is
threatening.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drought is causing major problems for -- just about all
the state`s crops.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This year experts say that they will suffer a $2.2
billion hit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is an industry (inaudible) fact that the earth is
getting warmer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell that to the polar vertex (ph).

SCHULTZ: And today`s top trender, the gov show (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I think Rick Snyder going to do, I think John Casey
going to do and Rick Scott, what a great Republican governors.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone`s going to give Scott Walker a shock of his
life.

SCHULTZ: Republican governors face uphill battles in November.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And Scott Walker...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The raise to watch, Florida.

SCHULTZ: Florida governor Rick Scott, one of my old time favorites.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Calling Scott, "Too shady for the sunshine state.

SCHULTZ: He is taking part in unprecedented -- I mean, unprecedented voter
suppression.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The two are now set the face off in what is likely to
be the nastiest and most expensive race in the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Joining me tonight, Miami-Dade Democratic Party Chair and
candidate for Lieutenant Governor in Florida Annette Taddeo.

Annette thanks for your time tonight. Describe the campaign in Florida for
our viewers. I have friends down in Boca Raton they say it`s hard to watch
television right now because all they`re doing is getting bombarded with
negative personal insult type ads. What`s happening in Florida?

ANNETTE TADDEO, (D-FL) LT. GOV. CANDIDATE: Well, Rick Scott is so
desperate to retain the governor`s mansion that he has spend already $35
million attacking Charlie Crist. And where has that gotten him? No where.

We are either tied or ahead, as of the latest poll today six points ahead.
So, that goes to show you that after four years of the failed policies of
Rick Scott -- the middle class has felt it and we know that we can`t live
with four more years of Rick Scott. We`re going to be Scott free.

And I will tell you, I am delighted about the fact that so many people are
responding to us. We have over 32 offices throughout the entire state. We
are doing a round game that this state has never seen before.

SCHULTZ: Is that going to be the difference -- a lot of people who
predicting a photo finish, is this going to be the difference, the ground
game and will it overcome the negativity and the amount of money that Scott
and his team were throwing at you?

TADDEO: Well we are now certainly up on television and defending ourselves
and we are -- we have raised more money than any Democrat in the history of
Florida for governor.

So, we are feeling good about it but I will tell you, you know, you can`t
buy the governor`s mansion. He did it the last time.

And, I think the people learned and we are about the people. And we`re
showing the faces of the people. For example, this week we started a
kitchen table tour where we`re actually going into people`s homes and
talking...

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

TADDEO: ... about people who lost their jobs, people who lost their
insurance, their electric bill going up, their insurance bill for their
house going up -- I mean, this is the kind of.

SCHULTZ: So it`s about the economy. When you`re out there, it`s about
what`s in people`s backyards, what`s important in them on the kitchen
table. And what we notice is that this effort to go big time austerity
with all of these Republican governors, they`re all struggling. What do
you make to that?

TADDEO: Well I think they`re struggling because again people are smarter
than what they think we are. And they realize that their priorities are
big corporations at the top, their lobbyist friends and that who they want
to take care of.

The rest of us, forget about us, small business owners, children at school.
$1.3 billion was cut right here in Florida and let`s not forget that Rick
Scott held a Tea Party rally to actually try to cut almost $4 billion from
our education. I mean, it is criminal what has happen to our education in
Florida.

So people are feeling and people are aware and I think, you know, they
realize that he was able to buy his way -- by the way, with money that he
got through the biggest fraud in the history of Medicare. So, now we`re
not going to let him do it. We`re going to be Scott-free on November.

SCHULTZ: Will it be a high-voter turn out? Everybody is saying, well
history is against you, it`s an off-year election, everything else, there`s
going to be a low-voter turn out. Well, how would you gauge it?

TADDEO: I think we`re going to surprise a lot of people with the voter
turn out but I will tell you I think that`s why I feel so good about the
offices throughout the state and the ground game and the phone calls that
people are making and the house parties.

We learned how to do that in 2012 -- in 2008 and in 2012. And yes, we
reduced the number of voters in off-year elections but there is no off
election. This election is actually more important for a regular working
people...

SCHULTZ: All of the...

TADDEO: ... the minimum wage.

SCHULTZ: All of these Republican governors have operated out of the same
play book, attacking workers, going after health care, making it hard for
families to move forward, favoring the corporations, the big tax breaks,
attack, attack, attack. Everything but the people count.

So we`ll see it all unfold. Annette Taddeo, great to have you with us
tonight.

TADDEO: Thank you.

SCHULTZ: I appreciate your time here on the Ed Show.

Coming up, income inequality and NFL. The FCC makes a ruling in favor of
the fans. David Goodfriend, founder and Chairman of the Sports Fans
Coalition is going to be joining me. Plus, in a just a short time, the CDC
Center for Disease Control will address the media about a possible case of
the Ebola in the United States.

We`ll bring that news conference to you live right here on the Ed Show.
Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Welcome back to the Ed Show. We are following breaking news out
of Texas. The United States health officials have confirmed the first
Ebola case diagnosed in the United States.

Officials at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas say the
unnamed patient has been placed in strict isolation due to the patient
symptoms and recent trouble history. The World Health Organization
estimates that at least 3,000 people have died since the outbreak was
identified in West Africa six months ago.

Local health officials in Texas are in close contact with the Center for
Disease Control and Prevention. A spokesperson for Texas Governor Rick
Perry says the Governor is aware. The Center for Disease Control had set
to hold the press conference at any moment to provide more details. We
will bring that to you live right here on the Ed Show.

Stay with us. We`re right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Welcome back to the Ed Show. Thanks for watching. We`re waiting
to hear from the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta. U.S. health
officials have confirmed the first Ebola case diagnosed in the United
States. We`re waiting for the CDC press conference at any moment and we
will bring to you live.

Joining me now is Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown who sits on the Finance
Committee and also deals with health care issues on the Finance Committee.
Senator, good to have you with us tonight on this breaking news story.

The President of the United States spoke not too long ago to the U.N. about
Ebola and challenged the world on what we have to do. We have to do more.
If this is unfolding as we are told tonight, the first case reaching the
United States, what does it mean?

SEN. SHERROD BROWN, (D) OHIO: Well it`s obviously bad news. But I also
know -- and I spoke with Tom Frieden -- Dr. Frieden is the head of the CDC,
I spoke to him by phone two days ago and he was in Cleveland here in the
city talking about infant mortality, and low birth weight babies, and
public health about three weeks ago.

And this is a -- it`s always a public health issue. I mean, we know how to
eradicate smallpox, almost entirely eradicates smallpox in the world. We
have managed the issue of HIV/AIDS pretty well including what whole country
and whole world is done in Africa. This is the biggest run in Africa and
also to (ph) United States.

I mean it speaks to the issue of public health internationally. It`s also
public health in this country. That`s a lesson to learn from this. We
need to be on alert. We need to fund public health infrastructure. We
need to listen to people like Dr. Frieden and Jim Yong Kim, Jim Yong Kim
the head of the World Bank and, you know, and manage this because we know
how to do it with everything from vaccinations to isolation units, to
health care generally.

SCHULTZ: Senator, there`s no doubt that we`re far ahead of these West
African countries when it comes to prevention and procedure. How confident
are you that we`re going to be able to handle this, that this won`t be
anywhere near the threat that it is in Africa?

BROWN: I mean, it won`t be that kind of a threat here. We shouldn`t be
alarmed ever about something like this. We know that we went years in the
U.S. without any significant tuberculosis then we have some, we were
surprised, we weren`t prepared. We`re more prepared for this but
consistently we underfund public health to this country.

We underfund public health whether it`s in Coyote County Board of Public
Health or Franklin County, Ohio or whether it`s Center for Disease Control.
I hope the lesson of this is to invest in public health infrastructure, the
way we should be investing and other infrastructure. It`s what grows our
country. It`s what protects our country. It`s what our country`s future
is all about.

SCHULTZ: Well that`s my next question. Does this change anything in
America? Does this change the priority list? Does this change funding?
Does this change effort? What does this mean? It is now here. That`s
what`s being reported.

BROWN: Well I think it should change priorities. It should be -- we`ve --
in many ways we`ve neglected public health. We don`t invest in our public
health infrastructure the way we should. The government can pay a
partnering role with places like metro hospital in Cleveland where I was
earlier today and all over the country in a way that really helps prevent
this.

And when something happens there`s always inevitably some problem that we
can contain that problem because we have the right public health
infrastructure. We`ve done that remarkably well in the last hundreds years
in this country.

People -- a child born in these country lives 30 years longer, 35 years
longer that a child born a hundred years ago and that was -- primarily
because of public health. I mean, we have high-tech, great high-tech
medicine but the real lengthening of life spans is about public health.
That`s the lesson of this and that`s what we need to do.

SCHULTZ: Isolation procedures, do they need to be properly funded? And I
don`t know just -- if more resources to this are going to change any
hospital procedures or not, your thoughts?

BROWN: Well, I don`t know. I don`t know enough about Ebola to know how
you do isolation and all that. I do know that -- I got a round table in
Akron early last week on the whole issue of antibiotic resistance. I mean,
we have allowed -- we don`t have the effective antibiotics we used to have
-- not again to be alarmist but we have too many hospital acquired
infections in this country partly because we have left that atra (ph) field
for the last many years.

And I think there`s a real public awareness. The President just came up
with an executive order a week ago to deal with antibiotic resistance.

We have a lot to do there, but again we know how do to these things, the
question is do we have the public commitment? And as tragic as any one
case of Ebola is in Dallas or wherever, I heard it was Dallas, I don`t know
any facts yet for sure. But, we are to somewhere (ph) it was, and we have
one case. I hope the lessons we learned from that tragic as it is, and
that person I would assume can be cured and saved but, you know, we need to
learn these lessons before outbreaks are more or wider spread than this.

SCHULTZ: If you`re just joining us here on MSNBC we`re visiting (ph) with
Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown and the story at this hour, we are waiting a
press conference from Atlanta, Georgia from the Center for Disease Control,
U.S. Health officials has confirm the first Ebola case diagnosed in our
country. And let`s go live to the press conference at Atlanta.

BARBARA REYNOLDS, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, CDC: . media briefing. I am
Barbara and also the Director of Public Affairs here at CDC. You`ll be
hearing briefly from four speakers and then take questions from the media.
Our first speaker is CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden.

TOM FRIEDEN, CDC DIRECTOR: Good afternoon everybody and thank you for
joining us. As you`ve been hearing from us, Ebola is a serious disease.
It`s only spread by direct contact with someone who is sick with the virus.
And it`s only spread through body fluids.

The incubation period is 8 to 10 days after exposure can be as short as two
days or as long as 21 days. It`s a severe disease which has a high case
deteriorate even with the best of care. But there are core tried and true
public health interventions that stop it.

Today we are providing the information that an individual traveling from
Liberia has been diagnosed with Ebola in the United States. This
individual left Liberia on the 19th of September arrived in the U.S. on the
28th of September, had no symptoms when departing Liberia or entering this
country but four or five days later around the 24th of September began to
developed symptoms. On a 26th of September initially sought care and
Sunday the 28t of September was admitted to the hospital in Texas and
placed on isolation.

We received in our laboratory today specimens from the individual tested
them and they tested positive for Ebola. The State of Texas also operates
a laboratory that found the same results the testing for Ebola is highly
accurate. It`s a PCR test of blood. So what is this mean?

The next steps are basically three fold. First, to care for the patient
and we`ll be hearing from the hospital shortly to provide the most
effective care possible as safely as possible to keep to an absolute
minimum the likelihood, their possibility that anyone would become infected
and second to maximize the chances of the patient might recover.

Second, we identify all people who may have had contact with the patient
while he could have been infectious. And remember Ebola does not spread
from someone who is not infectious. It does not spread from someone who
doesn`t have fever and other symptoms. So it`s only someone who sick with
Ebola who can spread the disease.

Once those contacts are all identified, they`re all monitored for 21 days
after exposure to see if they develop fever. If they develop fever then
those same criteria are used to isolate them and make sure that they are
cared for as well as possible so that they maximize their chances and to
minimize or eliminate the chance that they would infect other people.

The bottom-line here is that, I have no doubt that we will control this
importation or this case of the Ebola so that it does not spread widely in
this country. It is certainly possible that someone who had contact with
this individual, a family member or other individual could develop Ebola in
the coming weeks, but there is no doubt in my mind that we will stop at
here.

It does reflect the ongoing spread of Ebola in Liberia and West Africa,
where there are large numbers of cases and while we do not currently know
how this individual became infected they undoubtedly had close contact
within someone who was sick with Ebola or who had died from it.

In West Africa we are surging the response not only of CDC where we already
have more than 130 people in the field but also through out the U.S.
Government. The President has leaned forward to make sure that we`re
acting very proactively there and the Defense Department is on the ground
already strengthening the response.

We`re working with USAID and other parts of the U.S. Government as well as
with a broad global correlation to confront the epidemic there. But
ultimately, we are all connected by the air we breathe and we are invested
in ensuring that the disease is controlled in Africa but also in ensuring
that where there are patients in this country who become ill. They`re
immediately isolated and we do the tried and true core public health
interventions that stop the spread of Ebola.

REYNOLDS: Thank you Dr. Frieden. I`d like to next introduce our second
speaker Dr. David Lakey, Commissioner of the Texas Department of State
Health Services. Dr. Lakey?

DAVID LAKEY, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF STATE HEALTH SERVICES COMMISSIONER: Good
afternoon everyone and thank you Dr. Frieden. Thank you for your support,
the support of the CDC as we work through this current situation.

As I start of I first want to say, our thought and payers are with the
family, with the patient, and the treatment team for this individual. Our
laboratory, the Texas Public Health Laboratory in Austin has a specially
trained team to handle high-risk specimen like this.

We were certified on the 22nd of August to do Ebola testing. At 9:00 this
morning we received the blood sample. All of the controls were with
unexpected ranges and the PCR was definitely positive for Ebola Zaire and
we got that result back at 1:22 this afternoon.

I want to reiterate that we have no other suspected cases in the state of
Texas at this time, but we are closely monitoring the situation and we`re
ready to assist in anyway that is needed. We`ve been in significant
contact with the hospital, with the local health department and the CDC and
they have our full support as we worked through this situation and we`re
committed to keeping Texas safe.

So again I want to thank the CDC, the local health department in Dallas
County and the hospital for the work that they`re doing and we`re working
though this situation together. Thank you.

REYNOLDS: Thank you Dr. Lakey. Our third speaker is Dr. Edward Goodman,
the Hospital Epidemiologist with the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital
Dallas. Dr. Goodman.

EDWARD GOODMAN, EPIDEMIOLOGIST, TEXAS HEALTH PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL DALLAS:
Thank you Dr. Frieden, Dr. Lakey, and the CDC. I want to correct one
statement that might have been misinterpreted by Dr. Frieden when we
committed on air we breathe.

Ebola is not transmitted by the air. It is not an airborne infection.
Texas Health Dallas is a large community hospital with a robust infection
control system that works in close cooperation with the Dallas County
Health Department, the Centers for Disease Control as well as other
epidemiologist within the system and in the community.

We have had a plan in place for some time now in the event of a patient
presenting with possible Ebola, ironically enough in the week before this
patient presented we had a meeting of all the stake holders that might be
involved in the care of such a patient and because of that we were well
prepared to deal with this crisis.

Thank you.

REYNOLDS: Thank you Dr. Goodman. Our final speaker is the Dallas County
Health and Human Services Director, Zachary Thompson. Director Thompson.

ZACHARY THOMPSON, DALLAS COUNTY HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES DIRECTOR: Good
afternoon. Our hearts and prayers go out to the family as well. I want to
thank Dr. Frieden, CDC, Dr. Lakey, Department of State Health and Service,
as well as Texas Health Presbyterian for a response to this case in Dallas
Country.

I also want to commend Dr. Christopher Perkins our Medical Director Health
Authority and our Epidemiology team for their work that they have been
doing in conducting public health follow-up on the patient, which includes
contact investigation to gather information based on the patient`s travel
history, activities and close contacts.

Dallas County Health and Human Services will proceed with the public health
follow-up per CDC guidelines. In Dallas Country Health and Human Services
want Dallas County resident to be reassured that your public is a number
one priority.

Dallas County Health and Human Services staff will continue to work hard to
protect the health and welfare of the citizen of Dallas County. Thank you.

REYNOLDS: Thank you Director Thompson. We`ll not take questions. Dr.
Frieden.

FRIEDEN: Thank you very much and for questions will start in the room and
then go to the phone. What I -- thank you very much also for that comment
Dr. Goodman. As emphasized Ebola only spreads by direct contact, it does
not spread by any other route that we`ve seen in any outbreak. I also want
to thank Texas and.

SCHULTZ: You`ve been watching a press conference live from the Centers for
Disease Control at Atlanta, Georgia. Confirmation tonight that U.S. Health
Officials have confirmed the first Ebola case has reached the United
States. It is in Texas, also on the press conference were three doctors
and health officials from the State of Texas talking about the care and
prevention IDing the people who may have come in contact with the person
who has Ebola, and also saying very confidently that they are going to be
able to stop this.

Dr. Frieden from the CDC explaining exactly what the situation is at this
hour. Let me bring in Dr. Peter Hotez who was an Ebola expert at the Texas
Children`s Hospital, also with us tonight Dr. Corey Hebert, professor at
LSU Health Sciences Service Center, great to have both of you with us
tonight.

Dr. Hotez, you first. Tell us what we heard at this press conference and
how confident are you are that we`re going to be isolate this in this
country?

PETER HOTEZ, EBOLA EXPERT: Well I think Dr. Frieden, the CDC Director did
an excellent job summarizing the situation and I absolutely agree with him.
I think the likelihood that this patient could ignite an Ebola epidemic in
Dallas or in Texas is practically zero.

Remember, this is a virus that is not easily transmitted. It is difficult
to transmit Ebola. It`s only though direct contact and secretions. It`s
only because of the massive breakdown on public health infrastructure that
we`re seeing in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea that we`ve seen this kind
of outbreak in West Africa. It`s a completely different situation here in
United State, in Texas.

This case will be contained. It`s been isolated and the cases would any
contacts would be identified.

SCHULTZ: So you`re not concerned at all that we are going to be able to
handle this. Basic care and prevention procedures are going to be in
placed. It`s just the matter of paying attention to detail. That`s would
have sounds like.

HOTEZ: That`s a reasonable way to summarize it. This is not a virus
that`s easily transmitted. We do have tropical diseases here in West
Southern part of United States that are worrisome Ebola is not going to be
one of them.

SCHULTZ: OK, Dr. Hebert, your thoughts on what we`ve heard. How ready our
health officials to prevent the spread of Ebola here in the United States.

COREY HEBERT, PROFESSOR, LSU HEALTH SCIENCES SERVICE CENTER: I think we`re
very ready and, you know, I`m a straight shooter Ed. So the first thing I
want to say is to tell all the viewers, don`t panic. This is not a panic
situation, OK? That Ebola virus is spread, as we`ve heard many, many times
through direct contact.

Now, also I want to be very pragmatic here and let people know that, you
know, we have to educate all of our health care professionals now because
whether you see a nurse practitioner or physician assistant or doctor or
nurse, each time you see one of those people, now those people have to be
very vigilant about asking people`s health history and their travel history
because we do know now that there is a case here.

So we`re not worried about the spread from person to person. What I am
concern about is -- that missing a person that comes to the border yet
again that has the Ebola virus and there`s no way for us to be able to know
that a person that is going through customs is not carrying the Ebola
virus.

There is no way for us to know, there`s too many people coming in and out.
So health care professionals that are watching please asked all of the
questions you need to ask in your history and physical when you see the
patient.

SCHULTZ: Dr. Hotez, let me get rather graphic here. Are we talking about
sexual intercourse, are we talking about saliva, are we talking about any
kind of bodily fluid that could be transmitted in a particular way, and
what brings me to that question is that they want to I.D. the people that
the patient has been in contact with. Describe that for us.

HOTEZ: Well, remember if you look at the way that this disease is
transmitted inside Liberia or Sierra Leone it`s health care providers who
are directly touching patient`s secretions. It`s love ones who are
directly caring for patient`s who are actively sick and handling their
saliva or their blood or their feces or urine or other secretions, or it`s
-- and burying the dead where you`re directly handling bodily secretions.

So, as I said this is not something that`s easily transmitted. It`s just
that we had this total breakdown in infrastructure. I should also mention
that we do not expect to see a lot of patients coming in via air travel or
via ship. Remember it`s only patients who are actively sick, have high
fever often and they`re often too sick he can get out on the plane.

So, I personally do not think we`re going to see a lot of cases like this.
There`s going to be maybe one often (ph) to this here and there, but this
is not going to be a serious public health threat to the United States. In
part because we`re blessed with such a wonderful federal agency like the
Center for Disease Control in great state health department, and here
Houston we have a great county and city health department as well. All of
those factors mean that this is not going to translate into an epidemic of
Ebola here in U.S.

SCHULTZ: But there -- Dr. there is a chanced that people could becoming
from overseas that have it and not know they have it. Is that correct, I
mean, Dr. Frieden says it takes 8 to 10 days after direct contact.

How do we prevent that?

HOTEZ: Well, remember it`s only people who are actively sick and have high
fever that are capable of actually transmitting the virus. So, from that
sense I don`t think we have a big worry of being on an airplane of
contracting the virus when someone comes here if they have happen to get
sick afterwards, there is always that risk and we do have alert health care
provider.

What we have done here in City of Houston as we brought all of the
hospitals together, together with the city and county health department to
come up with a contingency plans in case the patient with the fever comes
in from that part of West Africa. We have great plans in placed at the
Baylor College of Medicine Hospitals and Texas Children`s Hospital which is
the largest health care provider of children in the city where we have gone
through drills.

So I think we`re reading a case the outpatient comes in with febrile
illness from that part of the country. But we don`t expect to see a lot of
this.

SCHULTZ: Dr. Hebert, your thoughts on people coming into the country that
may have had contact but yet do not know that they have Ebola. What do you
think we`re dealing with here?

HEBERT: Well, we do know. I mean I`ve traveled and worked in West Africa
and what we do know is that the incubation period is about 21 days. So we
have to hold someone up for 21 days to see if they develop symptoms. But
what you asked earlier is that, you know, as far of sexual intercourse and
these types of thing the Ebola virus can last and persist in human semen
for about 70 days.

OK, so that something that, you know, a lot of people are like to talk
about but that is the case. And once again, I would like to just say that
it`s not about panic. It`s about knowledge and so we have the best system
in the world to be able to contain anything that could have some type of
epidemic proportions in the world but at the same time we have to be
vigilant because this is something that is spread by direct contact but
there`s a lot of direct contract going on in United States and I`m very
serious about that.

So people that are out there specially in places where you know that you
have, you know, that a person has been infected or if you`ve traveled, you
need to go and see your health care provider because we just don`t want
anything to get out of hand here which I`m always certain it won`t.

SCHULTZ: And Dr. how easy it is? Is it -- it is a blood test and they`re
very accurate, that is the way it`s done, right?

HEBERT: Very accurate, yes. Very accurate and .

HOTEZ: That`s correct. It`s...

SCHULTZ: Go ahead Dr. Hotez.

HOTEZ: Sorry go ahead.

HEBERT: OK.

SCHULTZ: Go ahead Dr. Hotez.

HOTEZ: Yes, so it`s a blood test that detects what`s called viral RNA
because it`s an RNA virus and it`s called the PCR test. It is very fast
but it`s only done at a few specialty laboratories like state health
departments and the CDC. So it`s.

SCHULTZ: OK.

HOTEZ: . it has to be referred to right place to get the blood test done.

SCHULTZ: Dr. Peter Hotez and also Dr. Corey Hebert. I appreciate.

HOTEZ: ... I also like to mention that we have to keep in mind that we
still have a lot of tropical diseases here in the United States.

SCHULTZ: Yes.

HOTEZ: . that we also should be using this opportunity to pay attention
to.

SCHULTZ: OK, we got to go. Thank you doctors, I appreciate it so much and
in case you just joined us U.S. health officials confirming the first case
of Ebola has reached the United States.

That`s the Ed Show, I`m Ed Schultz.

Politics Nation with Reverend Al Sharpton starts right now. Good evening,
Rev.

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