THE ED SHOW
October 2, 2013
Guest: Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Barbara Boxer, Bob Shrum, Brad Woodhouse,
Tom Perriello, Larry Cohen, John Fugelsang
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL O`REILLY, O`REILLY FACTOR HOST: You won`t end (ph). Mano-a-mano,
this is a macho thing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This got to be our first.
ED SCHULTZ, MSNBC HOST: This is what we`ve come to.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The republicans are going to wind up getting something
out of this field (ph).
SCHULTZ: They will do anything they can because the political conservative
movement in America understands one thing, power.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They demanded ransom just
for doing their job.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey look, we could be backstabbing (ph) Ted Cruz.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was main old (ph) republican.
O`REILLY: You know what`s going to happen? He`s not going to backout as
you won`t end. Mano-a-mano. This is a macho thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: It`s a macho thing? Well, O`Reilly knows everything about that,
doesn`t he?
Good to have you with us tonight folks. I guess we got some breaking news
right at the start of the program tonight. At this hour, this guy John
Boehner and the other republican leaders are going to be over the White
House and of course the parties are going to come together, all the key
players going to meet with the president, of course I say, the president
doesn`t reach out. So, I don`t know, maybe it`s tea and crumpets. Maybe
that will do it. This meeting of course is about the government shutdown
and his plan for 5:30 here about 30 minutes. And if they come out in front
of the camera, we`ll bring you these congressional leaders live. You`ll
see a live shot just outside the White House right there.
Now, this republican caused the government shutdown which I know a lot of
you are sick of already has got all these writings just absolutely ducking
for cover. Republicans know it`s their fault. They`re trying to spin out
of it. They are down playing the consequences of this shutdown big time.
And all you have to do is watch Fox News for 30 seconds and you`ll figure
it out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARBARA BOXER, CALIFORNIA: This is not Armageddon, this is a pin
preach. It is not the end of the world that there is a partial government
shutdown.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This won`t be much different Neil from when we have a
big snow storm blizzard in Washington.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, for most people, it might be an inconvenience
you`re not really going to see a lot of this stuff that is happening. A
lot of it has to do with the National Parks and stuff like that.
STUART VARNEY, HOST "VARNEY & CO.": There`s a very limited to the economic
impact from the shutdown.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.
VARNEY: But, I don`t know how many millions of dollars a day it`s causing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe I`m just one of the few people. I`m just not --
this doesn`t impact me mentally. We`ve had 17 government shutdowns,
Governor. I`m not afraid of a couple of weeks of government being
shutdown.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Whoa! (Inaudible), what does affect you mentally? Isn`t it
interesting on Fox? A guy says he doesn`t -- he gives an opinion that
says, well, he doesn`t know. He backs it up with an "I don`t know what
it`s causing." You know what it`s causing? It`s causing a lot of
heartache and a lot of insecurity for a lot of Americans. Do they care?
No. Wealthy boy right here. He don`t care. It`s not affecting him. It`s
not mentally affecting of course. On top of all this nonsense, foxnews.com
headline called the shutdown a slim down. Give me an absolute break will
you? The first government shutdown in nearly two decades over this over a
law, it cannot be taken lightly. Fox News is simply giving cover to their
friends -- republican friends or psychos in congress who caused all of
this.
Maybe Fox News should be interviewing one of the 800,000 federal workers
who are furloughed this week. Maybe Fox News should give these workers
suggestions on. But, I don`t know. How do you pay the rent when the bill
doesn`t -- when the bill comes and the money doesn`t come in or even maybe
put food on the table? Of course, Hannity is an expert on that especially
when the minimum wage conversation comes up being always talks about beans
and rice. That`s his favorite on radio.
These folks at Fox News, well, they are well paid as we all are in cable.
And republican members of congress, they`re still getting paid. To them,
the shutdown is no big deal. They won`t feel any of it. Some republican
commentators even said charity can take care of you while you`re being
furloughed `cause it`s really not going to be that long. So the republican
plan is by these commentators, you 800,000 folks, just go to church, just
beg a little harder. And to the republican who play this, they just want
you to beg a little harder. Folks, this is more than just the panda cam
going dark if you know what I mean.
The FDA has suspended food safety inspections. That`s a big deal. The CDC
is halted flu tracking program. Of course the flu season starting --
getting ready to start. National Parks are closed. Now, it`s interesting
how the republicans always position themselves as the lovers and the
presenters of small business. There`s a lot of small businesses around
National Parks that are going to really feel the impact because the park`s
closed.
Millions of veterans, their benefits could be at risk and services are
going to be cut, payments are going to be late. What in the hell that they
do to deserve that? And of course the EPA is operating in just 7 percent
of its employees. You know, the guys who make sure that we have a drinking
water, make sure it`s all safe, things the republicans apparently don`t
care about.
This has Republican Congresswomen Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee. She is
jumping for joy, in fact she tweeted out, "There is some good news out of
the shutdown. The EPA can`t issue new regulations." That`s all they care
about, tax cuts and deregulation. And now this is a good thing that 15,000
people at the EPA aren`t getting paid and Blackburn, she couldn`t be
happier. It`s the republican world.
I`d like to see her give up her paycheck. Don`t count on it. The shutdown
is just another example of the Republican Party being completely out of
touch with average Americans. Republicans are living on the moon and they
often bed down at the country club, mentally in their minds. They are
shutting down the government. It`s an issue of fairness for all Americans?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOHN ANDREW BOEHNER, (R) OHIO: What our members want is fairness for
the American people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The house is going to take a position today reflecting
one very fundamental principle that our country stands for. No special
treatment for any one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need fairness for the American people.
BOEHNER: We believe that everyone should be treated fairly. We think
there are (ph) be basic fairness for all Americans under ObamaCare. I`m
going to tell you what, this is an issue of fairness.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is a founding principle of this country, no
special treatment for anyone.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Yeah. No special checks coming in from any special interest
groups that`ll cash whip the hell out of your opponent if you don`t vote
the way they want you vote. No special treatment at all.
Their argument is a complete joke, republicans are OK (ph), but damn about
fairness. And if they cared about fairness, they wouldn`t put 800,000
Americans out of work with a stroke of a pin while there`s still getting
paid. If they cared about fairness, they would want every American to have
health insurance, but of course they are voted over 40 times to take that
away.
Democrats don`t fall into this trap about what a nice guy John Boehner is.
If I`ve heard it once, I`ve heard it a number of times from democrats to
the talking heads on a talk radio. I really feel sorry for John Boehner,
you know, he`s really a nice guy. You know what? This guy has forgotten
where he came from. Comes from a big family in Ohio. Used to clean up the
bar. His dad was a small business owner. Used to go clean up the bar
early in the morning. You know what? He has forgotten where he`s come
from because he is hurting the very people where he came from, the middle
class of America.
So, don`t tell me democrats that John Boehner is a nice guy because nice
guys don`t do this. This is selfish, it is self-centered, it is
outrageous, it`s unnecessary, it`s for political gain, it`s mean spirited
(inaudible) all of that nice people don`t do this. And I don`t believe
that they are very well connected to the hurt that they`re causing. NBC
news went out and spoke to some federal employees about this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAWRENCE ALBERT: So we`re in paid leave. Yeah. It`s OK if it`s just a
half day but if it`s weeks. That could be serious problem.
ELIZABETH LEIDEL: Right now, I`m terrified. I`m terrified to the point
where, OK, what`s going to happen?
LEATHEY CHANDLER: It`s a mess, congress needed to act together, seriously,
like he`s on playground. Fighting, fighting for nothing. This is
ridiculous.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: No, no, no, no, no. Don`t be frightened. You just have to learn
that other F word, fairness. You have to understand that this is what
fairness is to this crowd right here. Fairness is put me on the curve with
no paycheck indefinitely. Getting for the long hope (ph) folks, this
people are ideologically driven, they have ice (ph) in their veins, they`re
not going to back down, liberals must stay strong and liberals must make
sure that the president knows. We don`t want him to negotiate at all.
Big meeting coming up at 5:30, if they breakout and say something, we`ll
bring it to you. Get your cellphones out, want to know what you think.
Tonight`s question. Is it nice for John Boehner to ignore American wage
earners for political game? Text A for YES. Text B for NO to 67622. You
can always go to our blog ed.msnbc.com. Leave a comment. Follow us on
Tweeter. Like us on Facebook. All that good stuff. We bring the results
later on in the show. For more, let me bring in Congresswomen Debbie
Wasserman Schultz of Florida and also Senator Barbara Boxer of California.
Great to have both of you with us tonight.
REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, (D) FLORIDA: Thanks. Hello to you both.
SCHULTZ: Senator, you first. Do you expect anything productive to come
out of the president`s meeting with leadership the way both sides have dug
in on this?
BOXER: I can always hope for the best. I think it`s the Republicans
decide that what they`ve done is wrong, that they`ve actually laid of
800,000 working people that that is going to have a terrible impact not
only those people but on the community that they`re turning away kids who
were dying of cancer and they can`t into clinical trials if they understand
what`s happening in small business that rely on tourism from the parks, we
have the Yosemite, if they realize what they have done, and if John Boehner
starts to feel emotion, remember he always used to cry in feel emotion .
SCHULTZ: Oh yeah.
BOXER: . that was good, I like that, I like when a men feels emotion.
Where`s the emotion for all of this? It`s as if all they care about is
stopping millions of people from getting health care, they will not accept
this election if they have a change of heart Ed, this is the great news.
All they have to do is pick up and pass the bill that the United States
Senate passed. It`s sitting right over there. I know Congresswoman
Wasserman Schultz wants to see this happen. We open up this government and
then we sit and talk.
SCHULTZ: Yes. And, Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz, why doesn`t John
Boehner do this? I can`t get an answer from anybody. Why does did he just
bring it to the floor? Where`s the lost for them because they`re playing
with sequester numbers, they can always comeback and fight another day,
they have chosen to hurt Americans to get that to make point. That`s the
key here. Why won`t he bring it to the floor for vote?
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: They absolutely have chosen deliberately to hurt
Americans. And, the reason that he won`t bring it to the floor for a vote
is because he has made an affirmative decision to let his Tea Party hard-
liners, the extremes in the Tea Party run the show. I mean, he`s
essentially decided, you know what? It doesn`t matter that I have the
title of speaker. That`s really kind of all he has left, and he wants
desperately to hold on to that authority, but have given it over to this
hardcore group of Tea Party extremist.
Now, Senator Boxer is absolutely right, all that have to happen. Speaker
Boehner even now knows because about 20 republican members have publicly
said that they would vote for a clean continuing funding resolution, if
it`s come on the floor. All John Boehner has to do is grow some courage
and put that bill on the floor and allow the whole house to vote on it. We
can send it to the senate, the senate can send it to the president and we
can reopen the government and stop hurting .
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: . women and children who need nutritions, stops --
making sure the little kids can go back for their head start programs.
Make sure that cancer patients can participate in clinical trials at the
NIH. This is just offensive and immoral.
SCHULTZ: Senator, how long do you think this is going to last? Or is the
date of the death ceiling and this continuing resolution going to merge and
this is going to go on for number of weeks.
BOXER: I`m very worried because, unless Speaker Boehner relents and brings
before the house the clean funding resolution, then this thing could go on
and on. And I urge the American people whether you`re democratic,
republican, independent, whatever stripe you are, wherever you live, this
is not the way to run the country of the greatest nation on earth. We
cannot go from crisis to crisis.
SCHULTZ: He says the American people are on his side?
BOXER: Well, that is just made up, that is made up.
WASSERMAN SHULTZ: Yes, absolutely.
BOXER: I want to tell you something. Do you know Ed, yesterday we had 5
million hits on coveredcalifornia.com. We have 5 million hits.
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
BOXER: We have millions of people that want to sign up for health care.
This is why they`re shutting down the government in order to stop our
people, their people, their constituents from having hope. You`ve been all
over the nation at these health cares, people are struggling and suffering.
SCHULTZ: I tell you .
BOXER: I`m going to fix (ph) all that and that`s what they can`t take.
SCHULTZ: I don`t know how you can go to one of those clinics and not be
emotionally touched by what some Americans go through. It is absolutely
mind-boggling the actions of the republicans right now. Debbie, what about
this fairness angle that the republicans are playing? What`s your response
to that?
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: You know, my response to that and democrats response,
and the health incentive as well as President Obama is that what is fair is
to do what we have always done throughout American history. When you have
legislation that has the majority of the house representatives and the
majority of the senate, you put it on the floor, you let us vote on it and
then we send it to the president. That`s fairness. What isn`t fairness is
denying and holding the economy hostage, a 150 million people in this
country .
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: . like me who have a preexisting condition. As a
breast cancer survivor, you know, what the republican are doing is trying
to deny, but women like me, the opportunity to make sure that we can have
the piece of mind that an insurance company can never drop us or deny as
coverage. And they`re willing to damage the economy, deny children
nutrition, keep kids home from head start programs .
SCHULTZ: Sure.
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: . hurt cancer patient. It`s just -- it`s stunning.
SCHULTZ: And I want to .
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: . and irresponsible.
SCHULTZ: I want to hear from both of you on this. How determined are the
democrats to hold the line? There`s no more negotiations. I mean, I think
that`s what liberals in this country want to hear right now, that this is
it. This is the firewall. Senator?
BOXER: Well, I can report to you that we are going to continue saying the
following thing. We pass the healthcare law three and a half years ago.
Republicans, you better just understand that you don`t get to pick and
choose the laws you want to make sure go forward. It is the democratic
process, accept this. Accept this president. Let`s get this government
running. Let`s pay our debts, that`s our job and move on. And that`s what
we going to say.
SCHULTZ: Congresswoman, tell me about the result.
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: The result, we have nerves of steel. We are not going
to let the Republicans hold millions of Americans healthcare hostage. We
are not going to allow them to try to reverse the outcome of an election.
And you know what as we -- like we have for more than 200 years we
experience some kinks with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act,
let`s put down together and work those out. That`s what we need to do.
SCHULTZ: Those are good kinks. Those are good glitches. Those are good
things. You know, you open up a restaurant and some people get turned
away. You open up again tomorrow, you know, that goes on for six months
and amazes me at a mainstream media has just focus on the negative. What
if only a hundred thousand people would go into the website yesterday, be
(ph) saying nobody wanted that, it`s just amazing. Congresswoman Debbie
Wasserman Schultz and also Senator Barbara Boxer, great to have both of you
with us tonight.
BOXER: Thank you.
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Thanks Ed.
SCHULTZ: Keep up the fight. Thank you. Remember to answer nice (ph)
question there at the bottom of the screen, share you thoughts with us on
Tweeter @edshow and on Facebook. We always want to know what you think.
Next up, Fox News spins a tail of ObamaCare and the wicked glitch, plus we
continue to follow the breaking news on the White House in just a short
while the president is meeting with congressional leaders on the showdown
and the shutdown. Call up whatever you want. It ain`t a slim down. It`s
hurting folks, we`re coming right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to the Ed Show. All right, let`s just (inaudible)
here. This is actually a sporting event. This is actually a sport show.
You are looking live outside of the White House where the President and
Congressional leaders are expected to meet shortly. Both teams are on
offense. Who`s going to have the best defense? We`re watching all the
shutdown talk just outside of the White House. If these guys come out and
say something, we`ll obviously bring it to you.
What`s going to happen in this meeting? Well, now as a staunch liberal,
there better not be any deal cutting going on that`s going to bleed into
Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid. Let`s start there. I`m all about
the debt ceiling, but if this conversation could roll or (ph) let`s go big.
I remember President Obama back on a few (ph) summers ago said, "You want
to go big? I`ll go big." This is not the time. And I believe right now
what the President has to do is force Boehner to do what he doesn`t want to
do.
I remember Boehner coming out and say, "(Inaudible) I got 99 percent of
what I wanted." Remember those conversations? No. This is not about who
wins and loses on the political front. This is about a moral stand for the
American people who simply do not deserve this kind of treatment for people
to be denied, for opportunities to be put off to the wayside, for
insecurity to be entering into middle class families. This is the 11th
hour for the President. In fact, you could make the case that the
Democratic leadership has the heart and soul of the progressive movement
right in the palm of their hand.
And if Boehner is allowed to go into that room and come away with some kind
of a big deal that does, well, let`s see Shane CPI. Bull. This is about
the government shutdown. This is about standing strong. This is about not
backing down. This is about showing a spine and all this talk about
fairness and the American people, I`ll tell you exactly where the American
people are. They think this is wrong. And, if you`ve got a Congressional
approval rating sitting at 10 percent, you -- well, I don`t know if you`re
in the toilet but you`ve certainly located it.
You can just listen to them manufacture glitches. Now, at the top of this
segment, I talked about sports. It`s like a sporting event. You`re
looking live outside the White House. I think it was Bill Parcells, a
famous coach in the NFL who said this about the media, "When you win, you
don`t want them. When you lose, you don`t need them." And that is exactly
where the Democrat`s heart right now when it comes to the media because
there are no glitches. There are no glitches.
If you opened up a restaurant and you couldn`t feed anybody because there
were too many people that got in early and you just couldn`t handle the
line. Do you think the manager of the restaurant is going to go back and
chew out the staff because the response was overwhelming? I think they`ve
probably call that a goodnight at the office. But of course, Fox News and
the Republicans, they call that a glitch.
Joining me now is John Fugelsang, liberal commentator and comedian. We
need some comedy right now. We need some comedy right now is what we need,
John. What is your take as you view this meeting right now? How -- Is
this pivotal or is this -- they`re just going over to have some coffee
here?
JOHN FUGELSANG, LIBERAL COMMENTATOR: You know how terrifying is it to wake
in America where John Boehner maybe a moderates (ph) now. I don`t know
about you, but all this talks are .
SCHULTZ: Spineless moderates. What a .
FUGELSANG: Exactly. And all we hear from the Right Wing, all they`ve got
right now Ed is the glitches, right? I mean Sean Hannity is saying that
old ladies aren`t going to have ambulances coming because it`ll be too long
heading the refresh (inaudible) on. That`s like saying, "Oh my God,
YouTube went down and my TV repairman won`t get here in time."
These guys had a really good opportunity. They had a really good chance to
go ahead and smear ObamaCare on the first day because of a few website
glitches. But in keep in mind, these are the guys who call sending troops
into Iraq without body armor a glitch.
SCHULTZ: How do we know that the administration wasn`t -- they`re saying,
"Hey there`s going to be some glitches. That`s a good thing." We want
people nailing that website. We want people just jamming the phones. We
want people on that website.
FUGELSANG: No, no Ed. The fact that it`s so popular proves just how
unpopular it is to the American people. And, the great irony here is, this
was their golden day when they can say, look at these problems at the
website, but because they shutdown the government now they can even do what
their gang (ph) they couldn`t smear.
SCHULTZ: So they`re now down to counting hits on the website? That`s
their best argument at this point.
FUGELSANG: What are they going to do? The party of Lincoln they`re not
even the party of quell (ph) anymore, Ed. They lost in the congress on
ObamaCare. They lost with the conservative Supreme Court. They lost with
the American voters in the national election. They`re loosing the PR
battle in their own government shutdown. And so, now they are reduced, the
once mighty party to mocking software.
SCHULTZ: OK. Where do you see this? I mean, I think they`re going to be
digging in for a few weeks. I mean, I think the debt ceiling that date
August or October 17th, and then of course when the first interest payment
has to be made on the 24th. I mean, I think the Republicans will take it
all the way to be 11th hour with their stubbornness. Maybe public opinion
will play into this a little bit, but they`ve never paid attention to polls
in the past so we couldn`t even get background checks at 90 percent, 72
percent don`t like the shutdown.
So, I mean, just ideologically the way they dug their hills and I just
don`t see them moving. There`s no easy way out Boehner can get no win out
of this. He scored tremendously whether he brings it up for a vote or he
doesn`t.
FUGELSANG: Well, he`s got, you know, his own party as (inaudible). He`s
like fellow, a fellow with (ph) orange skin. I mean, they`re already hated
him over there. But you`re exactly right. They`re really in the bad
place. This is the party, where some members like to call struggling
Americans lazy. And now, they`re going to have to pray that struggling
(ph) Americans are lazy on Election Day.
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
FUGELSANG: Because these glitches will be forgotten just like Republicans
forget Reagan raising the debt ceiling 18 times, but you can`t gerrymander
your way to a good spot in the history books. There were 10 percent.
Anthony Weiner twerking on bath salts is at 15 percent Ed (inaudible).
SCHULTZ: John Fugelsang, good to have you with us tonight. Thank you so
much. Still to come, the real reason behind Ted Cruz talkathon.
SEN. TED CRUZ, (R) TEXAS: I do so like green eggs and ham. Thank you.
Thank you (inaudible).
SCHULTZ: But next I`m taking your questions, ask Ed live. Stay with us.
We`ll be right back.
COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to the Ed Show. Favorite segment here, Ask Ed Live.
We love your questions. I love hearing from you on Twitter as well. Our
first question tonight comes from J.D Mackey and he wants to know -- let`s
see here. Why doesn`t President Obama declare martial law since the
Republicans are trying to start a revolution?
J.D that`s kind of a dangerous question, it can be misinterpreted. So I`m
going to be very careful and very precise here. This word right here means
an awful lot. Are we talking about a revolution as in armed people? Are
we talking a revolution as in people in the street? Cooler heads must
prevail and as broadcasters, I believe that we have a responsibility to
make sure that we all keep our wits about us.
No, I don`t think that there`s going to be that kind of revolution. Do I
think the Republicans are trying to start a revolution? Yes, political
revolution. There`s no question about that. This is very revolutionary
activity politically that`s taking place. Martial Law? No.
Our next question is from a man who goes by the Real Wulfdawg. He wants to
know do Republicans actually think blaming, I call on President Obama, for
the shutdown is going to fly with anyone other than low information voters?
Well, I think their formula is suppress the vote and motivate as many low
information voters as you possibly can. That`s seems to be their ticket to
try to win elections.
Stick around, the Rapid Response Panel is next.
COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to the Ed Show. Thanks for watching tonight. Right
now, President Obama is meeting with congressional leadership at the White
House. He`s expected to urge the house to pass the clean CR and rehab of
the government on day two of ObamaCare`s roll out is very clear Americans
are still somewhat confuse searching for information which is normal.
There`s no embarrassment in that.
According to the latest Kaiser Family Foundation, NBC News poll, 51 percent
of the public and two-thirds of the uninsured continue to say that they
don`t have enough information about the law and how is going to affect
their family. Well, they got six months to figure it out.
This should come really as no surprise, because millions of dollars have
been spent by Republicans and special interest groups to deliberately
mislead the public. Late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel highlighted the
confusion when he sent a team to the streets of Hollywood to ask people,
"Do you support ObamaCare or the Affordable Care Act?"
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY KIMMEL, JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE HOST: Which plan do you support, ObamaCare
or the Affordable Care Act?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Affordable Care Act.
KIMMEL: And what it is about ObamaCare that you do not like?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just think that there`s a lot holes in it and it
needs to be revamped.
KIMMEL: So the Affordable Health Care Act is still a better option than
ObamaCare?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
KIMMEL: So, ObamaCare is un-American?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it`s kind of un-American to force people. What
(inaudible) .
KIMMEL: And the Affordable Care Act is American?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it`s more American, because it allows people to
make their own choices and what they want, and who they want to work with.
KIMMEL: So the Affordable Care Act is more affordable than ObamaCare?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The name says it all.
KIMMEL: Right.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Yes, just the name says it all. My friends, there is proof the
Republicans` misinformation campaign has definitely worked. We decided to
do a poll of our own. The Ed team went to Bryant Park here in New York
City to see, what people in the East Coast actually know and understand.
We ask. Do you like ObamaCare or the Affordable Care Act?
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On what I`ve heard (ph) about (inaudible) ObamaCare
that gives everybody access to insurance, what this whole thing (ph) is
about. I don`t know if that Affordable Care gives everybody the same
chance that ObamaCare does.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are the same thing. Affordable Care is the way
to be known (ph) and we absolutely should have, everyone should have an
access to health insurance in this country. I hope that the republicans
can see the way and, you know, (inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m for the ObamaCare. I just feel that the
ObamaCare (inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Affordable Act. I think the Affordable Act is
better (inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is the difference?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are one and the same.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The same thing. I do know they`re the same thing. I
was not tricked, Ed.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: The information would not travel across the country very fast. I
don`t know what it is. Joining me now is our Rapid Response Panel, Bob
Shrum, Democratic Strategist, also Woodhouse, Americans United for Change,
and the President of the Senate for American Progress, Tom Perriello is
with us tonight. Great to have all of you with us here.
Bob, you first. I mean, this misinformation campaign is at millions of
dollars thrown out at it, has it worked? Your response.
BOB SHRUM, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, to some extend yes of course it`s
worked. My first reaction in watching those clips is imagine how
(inaudible) the Affordable Care Act would be it was called Boehner Care.
It would be down somewhere around 15 percent. But putting aside those --
the people in the street and some of it`s quite of amusing, two underlying
realities.
First, you have a lot of people in this country, the sort of
representatives of the old America who don`t like Barack Obama and would
oppose anything he had anything to do with. And they`ve sent a bunch of
wacko birds from gerrymandered districts to congress who created the mess
where in.
Secondly, the Affordable Care Act, ObamaCare is going to last for a long
time. I think it`s going to big success, 80 percent of people don`t want
to shutdown to get rid of it. About 60 percent, don`t wanted to fund it,
they`re weary of it. They`ve heard the propaganda, they`re not sure how
it`s going to work, but they want to see if it`s going to work, and that`s
why we saw this deluge of calls from people who need health coverage to all
of these exchanges. I think generation from now, ObamaCare and it will
still be called that would be something most politicians won`t dare oppose
and everybody will know what it is.
SCHULTZ: Brad, the launch on a scale from 1 to 10, where would you put it
as far as success is concerned?
BRAD WOODHOUSE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I put it at least to seven or
eight, I mean this, you know, these glitches or actually I think, you know,
look, you like to have no glitches, but the reason for them (ph) is a
welcome thing. I mean, people were trying to get a lot of information, you
know, they had 4.7 million unique hits at healthcare.gov and you have phone
lines jammed (ph). I mean, remember what republicans said Ed? Said,
you`re going to have to force this down the throats of the American people
were million of Americans, they (ph) volunteer and they`re going online,
making phone calls, and this is where the misinformation is going to get
corrected when they get access to affordable health care, they`re not going
to pay attention at any of this other crap anymore.
SCHULTZ: Tom, Fox News quickly moved away from covering glitch watch back
to the shutdown. Why don`t republicans realize their case for shutting
down the government just have -- just really holds no weight, whatsoever?
FORMER REP. TOM PERRIELLO, D-VA.: Well, I think they`re aware for that, I
think they can read the polls, this is why Speaker Boehner didn`t want to
go in this direction even if he wasn`t willing to stand up to his caucus to
prevent it, and they know the same thing about ObamaCare, even in the worst
days of ObamaCare, the individual elements of it have always been popular
when people actually understand how the bill works, it makes tremendous
sense for people and now it`s a law, and people are seeing that, and that`s
why this is the dangerous gambit, but even more than that, shutting down
the government a really risk the fragile economic recovery that we have .
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
PERRIELLO: . and if there`s one thing we know from all elections over the
last 50 years, it`s a down -- economy isn`t good for incumbents, and those
are incumbent republicans that are going to be running for this house next
year.
SCHULTZ: What about the economy, gentlemen? I mean, about (ph) 166,000
jobs were added in the month of September. They have been trying to
(inaudible) this economy all along. Is this part of the equation too, Mr.
Woodhouse? What do you think?
WOODHOUSE: Well, I think it is, I mean, look, they have a long history Ed
going to the 2010 elections going up the 2012 elections, and now going into
this where they`re not trying to do anything they can to help move the
economy forward, they`re afraid the President will get credit for it.
They`re thinking these gerrymandered districts that Bob mentioned, that
they can survive, they can survive the government shutdown, they can
survive thanking (ph) the economy. And look, it`s just not what America
wants, America wants them to get their jobs done.
SCHULTZ: Yes.
WOODHOUSE: I think that`s why you see these polls really, really moving
against them.
SCHULTZ: Bob Shrum, with this meeting at the White House, how important is
it? What are you`re expectations?
SHRUM: My expectations are very low, I don`t think where at the point yet,
where we`re going to get any kind of breakthrough. And frankly the
breakthrough is mostly going to have to be John Boehner and the republicans
in the house surrendering. And I think Brad is right, it may take a very
long time to get that done because we call them the republican leadership.
They are leaders without a following.
The people that they supposedly represent are in fact in charge, and
there`re about 70 or 80 of them, and there`s telling Boehner basically that
if he does what he should do put a clean continuing resolution or budget
resolution out in the floor, raise the debt limit in a clean way, that
they`re going to throw him out as speaker.
SCHULTZ: Isn`t the President, Tom in a position of strength here, I mean,
he`s got the law, it`s open, people like it, the polls are with them, he`s
won elections, I mean, how can the president not being in the position of
strength right here?
PERRIELLO: Well, it`s just always hard to negotiate with crazy and it`s a
very difficult process. And, I think people have to remember, the CR is a
budget document and the reason there`s not anymore negotiating to be done
is because the democrats have accepted 100 percent of the republican`s
number on the budget which is the 988 number, the post sequester number
even though everyone agrees the sequester is a terrible idea for the
economy and for policy. So the reason that there is no more give from the
democratic side is they have literally given a 100 percent to the
republican side on the budget on what is supposed to be a budget document.
SCHULTZ: So quickly, all three of you, Bob you first, does this go to (ph)
October 17th at least?
SHRUM: I think there`s a very good chance it goes (ph) to October 17th and
these idiots may actually crash the full fate and credit of the United
States and do a government created layman brothers.
SCHULTZ: Brad, what do you think?
WOODHOUSE: October 17th.
SCHULTZ: What do you think Tom?
PERRIELLO: It`s looking that way.
SCHULTZ: I`m going to say October 24, until they got a right to check but
I think this is going to be a lot of hurt. It`s going to do a reparable
damage to the economy. I hate to say that but I believe that that is what
they want. Bob Shrum, Brad Woodhouse, Tom Perriello great to have you with
us tonight.
Coming up, Republicans don`t deserve to be paid during the shutdown, but do
they deserve large pensions when they retire? Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And in Pretenders tonight it`s Hell`s Kitchen with Ann Romney. I
say this very respectfully, she`s a very classy lady. Mitt Romney`s wife
visited our friends over on the Curvy Couch to sell her new cookbook,
instead she served up some whoppers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANN ROMNEY: It`s frustrating for me that a lot of Americans never got to
see Mitt for the real candidate that he was, you know, there`s -- that
there`s so much vilifying that goes on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure.
A. ROMNEY: .in a campaign, you know, that`s going to come but for me at
the end of the day if people had honestly known he was the most capable
candidate that he would have made a difference. He would have stopped
ObamaCare.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would we be right now in a shutdown?
A. ROMNEY: We would not be in a shutdown.
SCHULTZ: Who Mrs. Romney shouldn`t be writing cookbooks, she should write
fiction. Americans go to know Mitt Romney pretty well I`d say after all
he`s been running for president for seven years. Americans did get to see
the real Romney. We even have the tape to prove it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY: Corporations are people my friend. I`m sure about these
cookies. They don`t look like you made them. I like being able to fire
people who provide services to me. I`m not concerned about the very poor;
we have a safety net there. Whole binders full of women. There are 47
percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All,
right there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon
government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that government
has a responsibility to care for them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Now, it seems that Mrs. Romney can sure ditch it out, but if she
believes we`re eating this story, she can keep on pretending.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to the Ed Show, this is the story for the folks who
take a shower after work. Consume his my friends his name is Spencer
Bachus, the longest serving member of Alabama`s house delegation, the
United States House of Representatives, he`s going to retire when his term
ends next year.
Now the Alabama Republican is best known for aggressively opposing the
Obama administration`s Wall Street reform efforts. He was also an
outspoken opponent of ObamaCare.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. SPENCER BACHUS, (R) ALABAMA: Washington, yet again, is building a new
bureaucracy to tell people what to do. The Federal Government has no
business making private medical decisions that ought to be between you and
the doctor.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Now, what`s interesting here is that Congressman Bachus is a
great example. He thinks it`s OK to take away benefits from tens of
millions of Americans but when he retires, he`s going to be getting about
$77,000 a year from his pension. He`s also going to have healthcare
benefits for the rest of his life. That estimated figure is based on his
$174,000 year salary and its 22 years as a congressional member.
Listen to what Bachus said on Alabama local news cast recently.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BACHUS: Maybe some people want dependency to the government, but really
that`s our problem in this country, our work ethic has been undermined. I
think can we actually make more money staying at home.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Talk about the dependency. This is a guy who doesn`t have to
worry about ever anybody coming in and taking his retirement or taking his
healthcare benefits. This guy ought to look right in mirror because you
see Bachus will join about 500 former members of congress who collectively
draw $30 million in annual pension payments from tax payers across America
and the congressional pensions are two to three times more generous than
the ones for workers in the private sector with similar salaries.
What is it? It`s the fox guarding the hen house and after he does 22 years
in the Congress, he will walk with a solid retirement in tremendous
security unlike those folks in Detroit who work for 30 years on the police
force and now are at the mercy of some financial manager who wasn`t elected
but what just appointed by a right wing governor? Tell me where the
fairness is in America.
Joining me now Larry Cohen, President of the Communication Workers of
America. Mr. Cohen, good to have you with us and related to this shutdown,
you know, what does this say to America that they are getting paid when
they`re technically not working in making any progress whatsoever. And
what is it say to America when you have such a terrible disparity of a guy
who spends 20 years there, you have workers and wage earners who spend 30
years and have their retirement, their benefits always under the gun as a
bargaining chip?
LARRY COHEN, PRESIDENT OF THE COMMUNICATION WORKERS OF AMERICA: Yes, well,
first of all, 80 percent of American workers today have no pensions at all
compared to his 77,000. Secondly, tax payers have put more than 200,000 in
addition to that into his savings plan where he could also put money in.
That`s another 200,000. The global standard is that when we retire at a
normal retirement age, 65, he`ll be a little older. We should be able to
have half of our income at the point.
Most Americans will have 20 percent of their income almost all of it from
social security, he`ll be at 60 percent and his income as you said was
$175,000 a year to begin with or five times what the average American
working person makes.
So this is bad from every way you look at it as my great grandmother use to
say, "I`ll watch your feet not your mouth". So he says one thing that then
his own actions are exactly the opposite. That`s what we`re dealing with.
SCHULTZ: And then -- then he goes home and talks about dependency. Your
thoughts.
COHEN: He talks about dependency while he cleans up. He does exactly what
the U.S Chamber of Commerce wants. He has a 95 percent rating from them.
He opposed doing anything at all for working families who are facing
foreclosure. He talks one way, acts another when it comes to his family
and unfortunately Ed, he`s one of many in that caucus who do this everyday,
the same ones who shut the government down.
SCHULTZ: Mr. Cohen, good to have you with us tonight. We`ll see you back
here talk some trade agreements on Friday night which is very important to
middle class workers in America.
And that is 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.
END
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The Ed Show for Wednesday, October 2nd, 2013
Read the transcript to the Wednesday show