THE ED SHOW
January 13, 2014
Guests: Louis Greenwald, Jan Schakowsky, Brad Woodhouse, Michael Eric Dyson, Larry Cohen
ED SCHULTZ, MSNBC HOST: Good evening Americans and welcome to the Ed Show
live from Washington D.C. Let`s get to work.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN WISNIEWSKI, (D) NEW JERSEY GENERAL ASSEMBLYMAN: Using the George
Washington Bridge, a public resource to exact the political vendetta, is a
crime.
REINCE PRIEBUS, CHAIRMAN OF THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Not one
single link to Chris Christie has been found.
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R) NEW JERSEY: I was blindsided.
ELIJAH CUMMINGS, (D) MARYLAND: It`s hard for me to believe that he was
blindsided by anything.
CHRISTIE: I was blindsided in that circle of trust.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re starting our own circle of trust. And guess
what? You`re not in it.
WISNIEWSKI: Having people use their official position to have a political
gain as a crime.
CHRISTIE: All I know is, I don`t know.
WISNIEWSKI: And so if those tieback into the governor in any way it
clearly becomes an impeachable offense.
RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: It turns out that there`s some
evidence that he knew about it. He`s taken the complete risk and his
political career is over.
PRIEBUS: Look, everyone is fallible. The real question is what do you do
when mistakes happen?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He took the bull by the horns.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don`t mess with the bullet, young man. You`ll get the
horns.
CHRISTIE: Guys, we don`t work that way.
PRIEBUS: We`ve got a real smart person in Chris Christie.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Good to have you with us tonight, folks. Thanks for watching.
After years of pretty good public opinion, the tables are starting to turn
on New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
A new investigation reveals he may have misused Hurricane Sandy relief
funds.
We`re going to be bringing the up to date on all of those details in just a
moment. But first, the Bridgegate scandal is still heating up with new
developments.
It looks like Chris Christie`s vengeful style of politics is coming back to
haunt him.
There`s no doubt Christie`s aides were responsible for the Fort Lee traffic
jam. The only questions remaining, was Christie responsible and did he
know what his aides were up to?
New Jersey Democrats think Christie knew what was going on. They`re not
buying his press conference last week.
Here`s what State Assemblyman John Wisniewski had to say. He`s the
Democrat leading the state level Bridgegate investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WISNIEWSKI: This was in the midst of his reelection campaign.
Any governor running for reelection is going to want to know about problems
that come up. But these people got an e-mail from the executive director
of the Port Authority saying that laws were broken. His chief council
knew, his deputy chief of staff knew, his incoming chief of staff knew.
It`s a strange credibility that they didn`t look at those documents and
say, "We ought to let him know about it."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: In the arena of fairness that has to be pointed out there is
currently no direct evidence linking the governor to the lane closures.
But Wisniewski went on to say, "It`s unbelievable the governor didn`t
know."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WISNIEWSKI: Bridget Kelly who sent the e-mail, his deputy chief of staff
on August 13 to close the lanes down. She spent the rest of the day with
the governor at the fire scene at the Seaside Boardwalk.
And so, again, you know, this senior aide who was with him that day, who
sent the order never once communicated with him? It`s unbelievable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Wisniewski also made clear that a crime had been committed by the
governor`s office.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WISNIEWSKI: When you use the George Washington Bridge for what the e-mail
show to be a political payback, that amounts to using public property for a
private purpose or for a political purpose and that`s not legal and so that
constitutes a crime.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: With crimes comes punishment.
Wisniewski said, "If Christie was involved, impeachment is on the table."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WISNIEWSKI: If it becomes known that the governor was involved and he knew
about it that raises serious questions that the assembly ought to look at.
The assembly has the ability to do articles of impeachment. We`re way
ahead of that though.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Well, none of this conversation was going on on Friday. It`s
taken the Democrats and political opponents a little time to get to this
place.
Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings also weighed in on Bridgegate on
Sunday.
Christie is currently facing two investigations.
On Sunday, the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee said he
could be facing a third.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CUMMINGS: When I look at Christie`s style and I don`t know him. I can`t -
- it`s hard for me to believe that he was blindsided by anything because he
doesn`t come off that way.
Again, I think we need to wait and see that maybe a point where we have to
look into it, but nobody is above the law. And so we`ll look into it if it
comes to us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: The pressure is piling on the governor of New Jersey.
There is something else we need to point out tonight and I think this is a
big part of the story.
A few weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal reported not a whole lot of people
picked up on it that Christie phoned the New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
According to the report, Christie asked Governor Cuomo to ask his guy
Patrick Foye to back off his investigation of Bridgegate.
Now, there is a reason Christie did this by personal phone call and off the
record as I see it. I think the governor knew that he was in trouble and
that where troubled water`s ahead. I think Governor Christie called Cuomo
to put out a fire before it got out of hand.
Now, does it make sense to watch the governor last Thursday give his press
conference and do such what people are calling such a remarkable
presentation that he didn`t know anything about it and he was blindsided by
it?
He couldn`t have been blindsided by it because he had placed a very serious
phone call to the Governor of New York to ask his representative on the
Port Authority, "Hey, you know, can you get your guy to back off?"
Meanwhile, Christie is facing yet another investigation over possible
misuse of Hurricane Sandy relief funds.
Federal auditors are telling Congressional members that they are
investigating whether Christie improperly used $25 million in disaster
relief to fund a tourism campaign.
Governor Christie and his family are featured in the ads. It just so
happens the ad started airing as Christie was gearing up for his 2013
reelection bid. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Jersey Shore is open.
CHRISTIE: The word is spreading because we`re stronger than the storm.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You bet we are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: It sure looks like a campaign commercial to me.
Here`s another kicker. In August, the Asbury Park Press reported, "New
Jersey paid $4.7 million to produce the commercials. This was $2 million
over what the next highest bidder have sought."
Now, I`d like to see Christie explain those numbers to the people of New
Jersey who haven`t received their relief money as of yet from Storm Sandy.
New Jersey Congressman Frank Pallone prompted the Sandy funds
investigation. He thinks the funds were misused saying, "This was money
that could have been directly been used for Sandy recovery. And as you
know, many of my constituents still haven`t gotten the money that is owed
to them to rebuild their homes or raise their homes or to help."
Now, Christie has gone from Republican hero to Republican zero here. And I
say zero because the tough guy is catching up with the guy.
The governor is now facing one state level investigation and two federal
investigations. And I also find it very interesting that there are people
like Rudy Giuliani, and Karl Rove, and Reince Priebus. Not people who I
think register very high on the truth meter.
These are the people that are coming out defending Chris Christie? Where
are the other elected New Jersey Republicans? Where are the politicians
who have got some skin in the game? Why aren`t New Jersey Republicans
stepping out and saying, "That was a fantastic press conference, it was 100
percent true, we support this guy 100 percent. He didn`t know anything and
we believe him."
I don`t hear any of that from elected officials in New Jersey.
Get your cell phones out. I want to know what you think tonight`s
question, "Do you believe Chris Christie is telling the truth?" Text A for
Yes, text B for No to 67622. You can always go to our blog at
ed.msnbc.com. We`ll you the results later on in the show.
For more, let me bring in New Jersey Assemblyman Louis Greenwald. Mr.
Greenwald who serves as the Democratic Majority Leader. Mr. Greenwald,
good to have you with us tonight. I appreciate your time.
I want you to pick up on the point that I just made. And maybe I`m wrong,
maybe they`re out there supporting Governor Christie in a very vocal
manner, and I just didn`t happen to catch it. I don`t think that`s the
case.
Where`s the Republican support? With politicians who have got skin in the
game that have to face the public. Why aren`t they standing with the
governor vocally?
LOUIS GREENWALD, (D) NEW JERSEY STATE ASSEMBLYMAN: Ed, that`s a great
question. They`ve been very silent on this issue up until this point.
I will tell you that when we had the committee hearing last week, they did
vote to hold the witnesses in contempt took the fifth amendment from the
DRPA. And we`ll -- it`ll be very telling come Thursday in New Jersey, our
legislature reorganizes that of the elections from November an entire new
legislature that just won election will be sworn in tomorrow.
On Thursday, we are having a special session to form this special committee
to continue the investigation and to continue the subpoena power under our
chairman, Chairman Wisniewski. It`ll be very interesting to see whether
Republicans are on that vote.
SCHULTZ: Do you think Governor Christie is telling the truth?
GREENWALD: You know, Ed, I`ll tell you I`ve worked for the governor for
the last four years and in his time, prior to that in the US attorney`s
office, I have to take him at his word.
But I will tell you, as I learned from the governor when I watched him as a
US attorney, we will follow this evidence wherever it goes. The governor
himself, after interviewing his senior staff thought that he himself is
going to hold his own internal investigation. As an executive, I think
that`s the right decision to make.
But he clearly has questions. We have questions. And the truth of the
matter is, the one thing that is indisputable, there is no one who seems to
believe that Bridget Kelly ordered the lane closures herself, that she
would have that authority or make that decision on her own.
SCHULTZ: What`s your response to the story that Governor Christie called
Governor Cuomo to ask to ask him in a personal phone call with no paper
trail in the culture of this whole Bridgegate? There`s a bunch of e-mails
flying back in, where there`s over 2,000 documents here that are related to
this. Yet there`s no paper trail to a communication to the governor but
there`s a personal phone call where as Governor Christie was very -- doing
I think a pretty adorable sell job in his press conference that he didn`t
have anything to do with it.
He`s just, you know, blindsided by all of this. Yet it was on his radar
screen enough to call someone from the Democratic side of the ledger and
unequal to him to ask him for help to back off and again, he`s got to back
off in an investigation. Don`t you think that that`s a rather important
piece of information?
GREENWALD: Well, Ed, it raises a red flag. What`s so distressing about
this in itself is that I`m hearing about this as I`m listening to your show
and to lead in to this interview.
But again, the governor made a statement last week that the first he had
heard of this was at 8:50 before his press conference. What I have asked
for and I think what we are asking for is members of this committee and
following through with the legislative investigation is that those e-mails
that you just referenced be turned over without the redactions.
And the governor has preached transparency. We should see those documents
at their cleanest form.
The one thing we know, Ed, is that this process is going to be a very much
methodical and systematic approach. I don`t think the answer at this point
as much as we would all like to go the last chapter and see how the story
ends.
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
GREENWALD: I think we really need to see what was the root of this? The
one thing we know certainly, there was an abuse of power, how deep did it
go, who was involved, and who knew will only come across as this
investigation takes its proper form and it`s going to take a tremendous
amount of patience on everyone`s part.
SCHULTZ: We`ll the governor said in his press conference last week that he
was given a full briefing by his staff. Now, I would take that to be
plural, more than one person in the room if it is staff. And I`d be
interested to know as far as that full briefing is concerned in
relationship to the phone call to Governor Cuomo try to cool the jets and
cool the heels on everybody working on that side of the river when it comes
to the Port authority.
On the other issue of potential misuse of disaster relief funds, do you
think Governor Christie is out of bounce being involved in these
commercials, these funds for the, you know, the stronger -- they were
supposed to be used for the storm yet they were used for a tourism
campaign. What`s your response to that?
GREENWALD: Ed, you know, I know how close you are physically to New
Jersey. And you know very well as hopefully your viewers do that the
Jersey Shore is a treasure for us and it`s a backbone of our tourism
economy. It`s a .
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
GREENWALD: . $40 billion industry for the state of New Jersey.
So these commercials were critically important. The question is whether or
not the governor needs to participate in them to show that New Jersey was
open for business or not.
Clearly in the past, Republican members have criticized Democrats being in
commercials and saying that it wasn`t appropriate, that it was a misuse of
public dollars. Again, that was a different legislature in a different
time.
Reality is, you know, people are going to look at this. I think again,
what`s interesting here is that there was a federal inquiry into whether or
not this was appropriate long before any of us knew about Bridgegate.
That inquiry is now turned into an investigation as to whether or not those
dollars were spent wisely. What is troubling to us as elected leaders is
that we have families and businesses that even after going through the
first season of tourism and vacationing, still are not back in their homes,
businesses that are still not up. And, you know, what`s more important
than a commercial talking about how strong New Jersey is the strength of
that industry, and the strength of the rebuilding of that tourism trade .
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
GREENWALD: . to make sure that as we come in a yet another budget cycle,
we`re fiscally and financially healthy.
SCHULTZ: And there were some questions about who exactly won the bid and
how the more expensive bid was taken. Were you aware of that?
GREENWALD: You know, Ed, we had heard rumors that there was a bidder that
was less than the previous bidder. But again, this is a federal
investigation that we are not ...
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
GREENWALD: . involved in right now started long before this.
But in any bid like this, in any state bid, we`ve reformed so much of New
Jersey`s contract in bidding malls (ph).
The reality is that there -- this should be more than just a request for a
proposal of contracting fees and going to the lowest bidder. It could also
be about who is the most qualified to do the work. But it is a reasonable
and legitimate question to ask how a bid could be selected that was almost
twice as much. And it should be more than just that one bid was going to
include the governor and another bid was not.
SCHULTZ: All right. Louis Greenwald who is the Democratic Majority Leader
-- assembly leader, I appreciate your time tonight on the Ed Show, sir.
Thanks so much for joining us.
Remember to answer tonight`s question there at the bottom of the screen.
Share your thoughts with us on Twitter @EdShow and on Facebook. We always
want to know what you have to think.
Coming up, West Virginia left out of the dry. We`ll give you an update on
the water use ban that`s taken place in that nine county state. And also,
Conservative`s stall tactics in the extension of unemployment benefits, 1.3
million people are still counting on this but no action yet.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Time now for the Trenders. The Ed Sow`s social media nation has
decided and we are reporting.
Here are today`s top Trenders voted on by you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: The number three Trender, going for the gold.
TINA FEY, ACTRESS: We are hosting the Golden Globes for our second time
because this is Hollywood and it`s something kind of work. So just keep
doing it until everybody hates it.
SCHULTZ: Amy Poehler and Tina Fey shine at the Golden Globes.
FEY: "Gravity" is nominated for best film. It`s the story of how George
Clooney would rather float away into space and die than spend one more
minute with a woman his own age.
AMY POEHLER, ACTRESS: A lot of nominated shows tonight are on, actually on
Netflix this year. Enjoy it while it last, Netflix, because you`re not
going to be feeling so smug in a couple of years when Snapchat is up here
accepting best drama.
FEY: Thank you everyone. This is a beautiful night as we hope it would
be. And I got to make out with Bono.
SCHULTZ: The number two Trender, tapped out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is a crisis after a big chemical leak .
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s an industrial chemical.
UNIDENTIFEID MALE: No access to clean tap water.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some families are struggling to feed and bathe their
young kids.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m using bottled water for everything.
SCHULTZ: West Virginians continue to suffer from water woes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We see life at the end of the tunnel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Test results have come back positive. The team has
recommended that they do not use .
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: West Virginia American water will begin giving the
green light in zones.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We can hold up. We`re mountaineers all the way.
SCHULTZ: And today`s top Trender, on the line.
Three million Americans who stopped receiving their unemployment benefits
two weeks ago, the clock is ticking. The cost of living in this country,
it isn`t cheap.
$1,200 doesn`t go very far. Without these essentials, job hunting is
almost impossible.
Congress stalls on renewing unemployment insurance. John Boehner is a
major obstacle right now in the unemployment extension after 55 percent of
Americans say that they want an unemployment extension.
If Congress doesn`t act, the White House is saying that their estimates
show that 4.9 million Americans could be losing their benefits by the end
of 2014.
The Republicans are on defense. They can`t fake empathy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: And Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky of Chicago joins us tonight here
on the Ed Show.
Congresswoman, thanks so much.
REP. JAN SCHAKOWSKY, (D) ILLINOIS: I`m so happy to be right with you, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Well, thank you very much.
I`m here to talk about this issue with other members of Congress and also
the TPP so that`s what brings me to Washington to get the skinny on exactly
what is going on.
This does not look good. I mean, I think, looking at the possibility of
unemployment extension from 1.3 million Americans, I`d have to say, it
doesn`t look good right. Do you see it differently?
SCHAKOWSKY: First of all, it`s now more than 1.3 million. Every week,
72,000 more people join those ranks. I think it`s closer to 1.5 million
now and growing.
I don`t get it. I don`t think that it looks great but I think that we have
to be tough. You know, we`re supposed to go on recess back in the district
next week. Can you imagine just leaving those people hanging again? Well,
Congress people leave Washington again?
SCHULTZ: Well, as it looks right now, that looks pretty when challenge
it`s going to happen, I mean that the Republicans are not going to move on
this unless they get something.
And so, you`ll be left with nothing. The budget deal has been done. The
next big thing, it`s going to be the debt-ceiling. In their world, they
don`t even have it on their agenda for January to do anything about
extending unemployment benefits.
So are the Democrats collectively ready to go somewhere to get some
offsets?
SCHAKOWSKY: Well, all week, first of all, we`re going to be saying we can
not leave without this, without getting this done. I mean there`s going to
be a really big push.
SCHULTZ: But are you willing to find the offsets?
SCHAKOWSKY: Well, you know what John Boehner wants. He keeps moving the
goal post. It`s not just offsets where how we`re going to pay for this
which by the way, 14 of the 17 times that unemployment insurance benefits
have been extended .
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
SCHAKOWSKY: .there`s been no pay for whatsoever. But he wants the
keystone pipeline now as the jobs program to be added on. So every time
there is some sort of an agreement, John Boehner wants more.
SCHULTZ: So are you saying that the keystone pipeline, the XL pipeline is
going to be part of the unemployment extension benefit?
SCHAKOWSKY: That`s what I`ve heard
SCHULTZ: That`s what the latest that they`re talking about now?
SCHAKOWSKY: That this -- this is a jobs program .
SCHULTZ: And that`s nonstarter for you or .
SCHAKOWSKY: . that he would want, Ed, and yes it`s a nonstarter for me.
Namely, because this is just the coolest, meanest, and stupidest thing
because you know that when unemployment benefits aren`t extended, that
causes more unemployment, as much as 250,000 jobs can be lost, because
people don`t have the money to go out and spend.
SCHULTZ: Well, if those numbers are right and I`ve heard that and a number
of economists have said that. If that`s the case, then how do we know the
Republicans aren`t trying to ditch the economy coming in before the
midterms?
We`ve had 46 months in private sector job growth. Maybe that`s just too
good for them. Are they .
SCHAKOWSKY: I think the cynicism, if that were really an agenda, I think
this ideological feeling that the poor and middle class people can be
demonized if they`re not working.
I`ve never seen that before.
SCHULTZ: So w -- on Friday on this program, we put out the rent, you know,
the electrical bill, the heating bill, all the essentials to get a job.
What should the Republicans say, what are these people suppose to do now?
What are these Americans, these workers who were out of job, what are they
supposed to do?
SCHAKOWSKY: I think they think that if they really wanted a job, despite
the fact that there are three people looking for every job that they would
get off their lazy bumps and go out and find one.
I don`t know. I mean, do they not see those people lining up at food
pantries, lining up at unemployment offices, I guess, they just don`t see
those people in their own district.
SCHULTZ: Paul Ryan says the government can`t do it. The government can
only go so far. He says that this has to be solved in communities, one
person at a time. What`s your response to that?
SCHAKOWSKY: I mean that`s ridiculous. The charitable private sector looks
to the federal government to help as well. There`s no possible way or does
he think the churches are going to do, they`re doing as much as they can
right now.
SCHULTZ: So from the Senate vote last week to where we are right now,
progress has stalled because there`s a lot of horse trading going on. It
may never get to the House. And if that is the case and these numbers keep
piling up, where does that leave us a month from now?
SCHAKOWSKY: Well, you just showed the poll numbers. Most Americans see
how important it is for us to extend unemployment benefits. I think there
is risk to the Republicans to let that many people be without work in this
economy making the entire economy worst. It`s not just bad for those
people.
I think there will be public pressure building up but I hope it`s soon.
And I mean we`re going to say, "We`re just not going to go home until we
get this ...
SCHULTZ: So the question is .
SCHAKOWSKY: . extended.
SCHULTZ: . will public pressure turn the Republicans?
In the past it hasn`t.
So the Democrats are going to have to do some kind of a deal here on
offsets or this isn`t going to happen. I mean it`s very clear to me that
the Republicans have drawn the line that they`re not -- they won`t move on
this. So did the Democrats have to make decision right now on what to do?
SCHAKOWSKY: Well, it all depends on what the offsets are. There are
plenty of ways. We could close a little loophole.
SCHULTZ: They won`t do that.
SCHAKOWSKY: I know they won`t .
SCHULTZ: Yes.
SCHAKOWSKY: . do that. But I mean there are offsets and there`s offsets
but I think that we have to make the case that this is hurting the economy
as well as hurting now a growing number more than 1.3 million individuals.
SCHULTZ: Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, thanks for coming in.
SCHAKOWSKY: Thank you, Ed.
SCHULTZ: I appreciate tonight. Thanks so much.
Coming up, the Christie cheerleaders were out in full force on the Sunday
talk shows.
Still ahead, a Conservative controversial trade deal is facing a major
hurdle with lawmakers in the House. Congressional leaders are finally
speaking up about the TPP. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to the Ed Show. We love hearing from our viewers.
Tonight in Ask Ed Live, our first question comes from Benny. He wants to
know why is the GOP using Benghazi in the Chris Christie bridge scandal?
Well, it`s all about media exposure. There are Republicans out there that
just believe that if they stay on Benghazi that something`s going to
surface that the United States leadership really, really did something
wrong and it`s all a big scandal and there`s no question that it`s
President Obama`s fault, then, by the way, Hillary Clinton. You know how
it is.
Look. They believe that too much attention is being focused on Bridgegate.
I don`t think so. But this is their cheap way of trying to turn the
conversation. How many more Congressional hearings do we have to have on
fast and furious, the IRS, or Benghazi? Never enough until the Republicans
get a scalp.
Our next question is from Jesse George. Where`s Darrell Issa on
Bridgegate? Nowhere to be found. In fact, he might have been the one out
there directing traffic. Who knows -- to make a joke out of it?
Look, Darrell Issa is agenda driven to take down this president.
Bridgegate doesn`t fall in that category. But it`s interesting how people
like Issa and other members of Congress, they`re not coming out supporting
Chris Christie. And does it warrant a federal investigation? Real close.
Real close. Issa, what`s your phone number?
Stick around. Rapid Response Panel is next. Stay with us.
MORGAN BRENNAN, CNBC ANCHOR: I`m Morgan Brennan with your CNBC Market
Wrap. The Dow flights 179 points as investors fret about the upcoming
earning season. The S and P falls 23. And the NASDAQ shed 61 points.
Speaking of earnings cheaters, shares of Lululemon lost more than 16
percent today. The seller of yoga tire cut its fourth quarter forecast due
to weak sales. Meanwhile, after the closing bell, Google said it will buy
Nest Labs for more than $3 billion in cash spending shares higher in after
hours trading.
That`s it from CNBC, first in business world wide.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to the Ed Show. After a busy year of manufacturing
fake scandals and orchestrating a political witch hunts, Republicans were
forced to confront their own scandal over the weekend and as soon as you
see, how they handle it. A number of big name conservatives appear to the
Sunday morning talk shows in an effort to downplay New Jersey Governor
Chris Christie`s Bridgegate. Their strategy, very simpler -- simple.
Change of subject, when in doubt, just keep bringing up and banging the
drum on Benghazi.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUDY GIULIANI (R) FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: That`s always kind of
simplest to get to something that just happened, you know, how could it
happen, how could you not have known, you know, how did President Obama not
know about the IRS targeting right wing groups, you know, massive numbers
of right wing groups. And the reality is, things go wrong in our
administration. And frankly, you know, he was in campaign mode at that
time. During campaign mode, you miss a lot of things. You`re not paying
as much attention. We see that with Benghazi.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it`s a -- it is a very big difference in how
this administrations handle lot of things that affect whether it`s IRS,
whether it`s Benghazi, whether it`s the -- you can keep your health
insurance if you want it, but, nobody`s been fired over that.
KARL ROVE: You`ll notice we haven`t been hearing a lot from the Clinton
camp about this. Well, since with the contrast with President Bill Clinton
and with Secretary Clinton is handling the Benghazi. So I think it`s going
to be hard for Democrats to turn this into initiative questions whether the
facts are going to turn this into an issue.
REINCE PRIEBUS,CHAIR, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: He stood there for a
111 minutes and then open dialog with the press. Now, only if Barack Obama
and Hillary Clinton would give us a 111 seconds of that, would be find out
some things we want to find out about Obamacare, Benghazi, the IRS.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Joining me now is our Rapid Response Panel Brad Woodhouse,
Americans United for Change. He`s the president of that organization. And
Michael Eric Dyson, Georgetown University Professor and MSNBC Political
Analyst.
If I was in the middle of a crisis, and I was a Republican, I don`t know if
Karl Rove and Rudy Giuliani and Reince Priebus would be the best guys out
there. Wasn`t Christie and hasn`t Christie been somewhat of modeled as,
hey, this is real a big potential candidate for 2016. Let`s throw the
kitchen sink out. I`m right away to make sure that we`re behind this guy
and this is what they come up with. Brad, your thoughts on that.
BRAD WOODHOUSE, PRES. AMERICANS FOR CHANGE: Well, look, this is the
establishment. The establishment put their faith in Mitt Romney. He
squandered it. They don`t believe that people like Rubio, (inaudible) Ted
Cruz who is crazy. They don`t believe they`re going to be able to win the
next presidential elections. So they -- they`re shopping (ph) their chips
in. And I think they`ve shopped (ph) them in right off the George
Washington bridge into the Hudson River because this is really going to
have an impact on Christie getting into presidential race off the ground.
But it`s not surprising Christie establishment is coming to his aid (ph).
SCHULTZ: These three gentlemen that I just mentioned, they`re not exactly
known as truth seekers.
MICHAEL ERIC DYSON, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: Not at all.
SCHULTZ: OK.
DYSON: Look at the false equivalence that Priebus drew in his Sunday
morning appearance between Obama and Christie. And then when directly
asked by David Gregory, our colleague and to meet the press, look, you said
a culture was -- that Obama falls (ph) at a culture that made the IRS
tolerable or permissible, why not here. Oh, he`s got all kind of, you
know, this that in the third.
So, the reality is, they don`t want to confront the fact that first of all,
running New Jersey is different from running the United States of America.
There are a lot more departments and a lot more people. And then being
aware of the fact that you`re a bully, Obama is not known as a bully, you
are known as a bully. Get it done right now. I don`t care. I punish my
enemies. You`re known as the current (ph) person with bipartisan support.
If that`s the case, why didn`t go after a democratic mayor?
SCHULTZ: If they`re so confident that Christie has cleared the beach that
he had no involvement, why bring up Benghazi, why bring up anything else?
Why not just go on his word, this is what he said -- to this point, there
is no direct paper trail to the governor, but of course, he`s crafty
enough. We just don`t know.
WOODHOUSE: Classic political tactic. They want to muddy the water.
They`re not sure that he didn`t know. They`re not sure that another -- she
was not going to drop. So they want to say, well, the other side does it
which is insane. I mean, this woman that we know that directed this bridge
closure was right across the hall from Chris Christie, spent the day with
him that day touring the state of New Jersey. There`s no correlation
between this and the foe scandals that Republicans have been pushing for
the past years.
SCHULTZ: So, maybe the Republicans don`t have to defend Christie. Let him
get out there on his own and take care of his own problems and will let
people that have nothing to lose such as Karl Rove and Rudy Giuliani and
Reince Priebus suppose to do with anyway.
WOODHOUSE: Right.
SCHULTZ: You got a bunch of no (inaudible). The people out there, they
have nothing to lose by this.
DYSON: They are riding in an interesting fashion. The Christie bandwagon
into 2016, because how else do they prove their relevance? Well, we are
defenders. We are early defenders.
And as my good colleague has said here, this is the establishment. After
all, they don`t want baloney (ph) Tea Party element of the government or
their party to come out. So now, they`ve got to shore (ph) up the process
here and make certain that Mr. Christie -- Governor Christie is defended,
they must give him credit. He did come out immediately. He did fire the
person. He did hold a press conference.
So, why not let that stand on its own, either he told the truth, and
therefore, the facts will back him up or not, but to bring in Benghazi and
to bring in other things to sally the reputation of the president or to
dirty the waters for potential presidential run for Hillary Clinton is very
apparently.
SCHULTZ: Brad, you`ve been down this road before a fund raising. Chris
Christie is supposed to go to Florida within the next week to help out Rick
Scott. How does he do that? Has he lost his effectiveness?
WOODHOUSE: Well.
SCHULTZ: Have he discussed stands up in front of the American people in
press conference saying, "I got a lot of things to do in New Jersey."
WOODHOUSE: And he`s running to Florida to raise money.
SCHULTZ: Yeah, that`s right.
WOODHOUSE: . for another embattled governor who`s policies down there are
not patterned (ph) at all and that I think, it stands a good chance of
losing reelection.
SCHULTZ: But why don`t take yourself out of that arena and focus on
getting the (inaudible) right.
WOODHOUSE: The way he conducted in press conference which he deserves
credit for. I mean, he took every question. And the reason that he`s
continuing to do his service to the Republican governors, is his eyes on
2016.
It`s on 2016. That`s why at Florida, there`s no accident that he`s going
to Florida. I mean, there can be an argue -- maybe he should -- and he
appear with Rick Scott and he`s so unpopular. But he`s going to Florida.
It`s a key state. It`s a key early state in the nominating process and
there`s no action that he`s going there. He`s got his asset on 2016.
DYSON: And you know what, his like in the godfather at the funeral for --
the godfather, and Michael is there and he says, "I always thought it was
going to be tested (ph). No, no, no, it`s a -- comments (inaudible) smart.
It`s a smart move.
So, in one sense, it`s a smart move, with all due respect to those who find
my comparison offensive that the reality is that this is a smart move by
Christie, keep yourself going, keep like a running back on the three-hour,
and then keep your knees moving.
WOODHOUSE: Right.
DYSON: Keep your legs moving. And he`s got to keep in motion Ed. I
answer the questions there. Let me go somewhere else now. Hoping and
praying A, that another crisis will come up, but B, that I will be involved
in so many different things that that will lessen the attention
(inaudible).
WOODHOUSE: And remember this, he doesn`t care so much about what people in
New Jersey think about him, right? And what he cares about is showing up
support around the country, showing up support from whoever in the
Republicans theory can, the establishment, the Tea Party, fellow governors,
because his ambition is not in New Jersey any longer.
SCHULTZ: Do you think.
WOODHOUSE: He found the national thing.
SCHULTZ: . you think this investigation of Sandy funds is going to go
anywhere?
WOODHOUSE: Well, you know, it remains to be seen. It`s a serious, serious
charge. And look, you know, it`s a little ham handed to throw yourself in
ads funded by the government a few weeks before your real.
SCHULTZ: Of course there`s upside down (ph).
WOODHOUSE: You know.
DYSON: I will.
SCHULTZ: It`s huge outside (ph) there.
WOODHOUSE: You know, it`s the type.
SCHULTZ: He`s got federal funds that are paying for your campaign.
WOODHOUSE: Yeah, right.
SCHULTZ: . by putting mag on TV.
WOODHOUSE: But he didn`t need it. As we were discussing earlier, this is
someone who is cruising to reelection. It`s the exact thing that brings
his judgment into question.
You know, it`s one of the things that -- well, if I put myself in those ads
and help me get reelected, but you know what guys, I`m going to get
reelected anyway and it might come back to bite me.
DYSON: And he didn`t have to beat up among the governor -- I mean, the
mayor of Fort Lee. He didn`t have to do all of that because he were
already ahead of time which indicates something about his political
personality. I`m not suggesting he`s Nixonian. I`m suggesting that he`s
Nixonian.
SCHULTZ: Brad Woodhouse and Michael Eric Dyson.
DYSON: That`s good.
SCHULTZ: . great to have both of you with us tonight.
WOODHOUSE: Thanks.
SCHULTZ: Thank you so much.
Coming up, Senator Max Baucus amplifies concerns of the TPP with his fast
track legislation. Now, lawmakers are speaking up against it. Stay with
us. We`ll be right back on that issue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And in Pretenders tonight the W duplicate. Marco Rubio, the
senator from Florida kicked off 2014 by undermining the poor. Now, Rubio
is spinning out an attack on President Obama`s foreign policy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R) FLORIDA: The same time that he announced the surge,
he also announced an exits, date and strategy, thereby emboldening the
Taliban to believe they could wait us out. And the result is now evident
across the globe. Our allies see us as unreliable and our enemies feel
emboldened. And I think that this does confirms our worst fears, that this
is an administration that lacks a strategic foreign policy, and in fact, is
largely driven by politics and tactics.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: I tell you what, justice didn`t trash off the old talking points
there. Rubio thinks the road of the White House is built on intimidation.
Let me remind you where we`ve heard that line before.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, FRMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: If we
fail in Iraq, it`s going to embolden Al Qaeda types, embolden this enemy.
A failure in Iraq would embolden Almost Qaeda, embolden the extremists,
embolden other tyrants.
It would only embolden terrorists. It would only embolden the extremists.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Don`t you think Marco Rubio does a mean George Bush? Doing good
impressions and imitations might get the senator a gig on Saturday Night
Live, but not one at the White House.
If Rubio thinks he`s being presidential, he can keep on pretending.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to the Ed Show. This is a story for the folks who
take a shower after work. And if I can start over just a moment to tell
you that there comes a time where you have to say, "OK, this is what I
believe in and this is what I stand for."
Lawmakers are finally paying attention and taking action against the Trans-
Pacific Partnership or TPP as its known. Democratic Senator Max Baucus
who`s not running for reelection, President Obama`s new nominee for
investor to China has really anger some of his colleagues by introducing
fast track trade legislation for the deal on Thursday of last week.
Now, fast track needs that the deal with 12 other nations including China
and Vietnam would speed through Capitol Hill with no debate, no contention,
no amendments. The mass of trade agreement is being pushed by of course
big corporations and negotiated behind close doors which nobody likes in
congress.
So, that`s the unifying point there. Democrats of the House and Senate are
becoming more vocal about the secrecies surrounding the deal. House
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was recently quoted saying, "We want
transparency. We want to see what`s going on there, we have a problem with
that."
Good, that`s a great quote, because that`s where the Democrats need to be.
Many Democrats are worried the actual terms of the deal do not reflect
their priorities like the economy.
Chris Van Hollen, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee is saying
recently expressing his concerns that, "This is a big problem now. This is
inadequate engagement on the substance of what will be in an agreement or
out of an agreement." In other words, as a Democracy, everybody has got to
have their say, that`s what he`s saying.
Senator Max Baucus introduced bad legislation with hardly any endorsements
from his fellow lawmakers who by the way might have to run for reelection.
Max Baucus says nothing to lose by leaving the Senate and heading off to
china with a trade deal in hand.
Nobody running for reelection once we get connected with this whatsoever.
This is quicksand politically and they know it with the folks back home.
The TPP which underscores -- this is just quite out a bad deal for American
workers and I can`t underscore that enough.
No one is coming out for this saying, "We have to do this for X, Y and Z.
We have to do this for A, B and C. It`s good for jobs. It`s good for
families. It`s good for security, good for retirement." None of that`s
being done. No one has explained what the upside of this is and I will not
get off the story. So now we`ve got leadership in the house talking about
it. And now, we`ve got some on the Senate who were somewhat concerned.
Larry Cohen, Communications Worker President joins us tonight. Mr. Cohen,
good to have you with us. What has changed here? I understand we got some
people in the Senate who are now talking about this.
LARRY COHEN, PRES, COMMUNICATIONS WORKERS OF AMERICA: Yeah, we have most
of the Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee saying to Senator Baucus,
"We`re not part of this party." They`re saying, "We want to start over."
They sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Froman on Friday saying,
"We need a new start. We need to have transparency. We want to open -- we
want an open discussion of what`s really at stake here for the American
people." And they were led by Sherrod Brown and four others.
SCHULTZ: OK. What Nancy Pelosi said, House Democratic Leader, what is
that signal? This .
COHEN: Toxic, toxic for -- as you just said toxic. You`re running for
office, the American people hate these deals, 20 years of NAFTA, not just
the job (inaudible) but competing -- your wages competing. In this case,
with wages in Vietnam, that average $0.75 an hour, a minimum wage of $0.28
an hour. People across this country doesn`t matter their party. They say
no. They are angry. Where is their voice in this process?
SCHULTZ: Why is Max Baucus doing this? Why is he? And why are other
lawmakers who are going to have to go through the reelection process right
with him on this?
COHEN: Well, sadly, you have people in both parties including the
Democrats, who have bought into this export framework. And it`s true for
certain exporters. Some of them are agricultural, some of them are --
could be high tech or entertainment exporters. You can see an increase in
exporting and exports from these deals. But the increase in importing and
the effect on depressing wages.
And now, it`s the tradable service sector too including like call center
jobs and then the gutting (ph) of the environmental standards. We`re just
exporting pollution and the destruction of the climate. So, that`s what it
stakes here.
SCHULTZ: So, how do you stop fast track? And that`s -- I mean, stopping
the trade deal maybe a bridge too far, but getting amendments and getting
discussion, getting debate .
COHEN: Right.
SCHULTZ: . it will really bring forth I think public pressure. But, how
do you stop the fast track?
COHEN: The biggest coalition we`ve built today on trade, it`s growing
everyday. Labor is not going to be siloed. We`re with the Greens, we`re
with this Sierra Club, we`re with Greenpeace, we`re with the food safety
folks, we`re with consumer groups, we`re with people worried about what`s
going to happen to labeling on cigarette packaging. Biggest coalition
ever. That`s how we stop it. That`s what we`re building everyday.
SCHULTZ: OK. Strange coalition here as far as there are Republicans on
board but their issue is sovereignty, isn`t it?
COHEN: It`s sovereignty. Some of them -- I must give them credit or on
the same issues we are. People like Jones in North Carolina. For decades
he -- even his father, talking about what happened to textile industry in
North Carolina. Some of them are on jobs. Some of them are on
sovereignty. It`s a strange coalition.
SCHULTZ: So, who`s defending NAFTA? Who can stand up and tell us that
NAFTA was good for American jobs. And you say that this undoubtedly
parallels NAFTA.
COHEN: Yeah. Well, people do because they just focus on the exports or
they talk about some global economy. And then, we don`t even talk about
what happened to Mexico. I mean we don`t link. Look at what undocumented
immigration was before NAFTA, a trickle and a tore (ph) afterwards because
we destroyed the agricultural sector in Mexico. So, this has not worked
for everyday people. It has worked for multinational corporations. And
sadly, as we know, there are major voice in our economy.
SCHULTZ: There were some folks from the White House that went to Capitol
Hill late last week. What is that signal?
COHEN: It signals to me that they`re worried. And it signals to me that
there`s folks in the White House who realized this deal is not going to go.
And hopefully, we`ll start over. And the President himself who campaigned
on this issue in 2008, I think deep down knows that there`s a real problem
here.
SCHULTZ: OK. Larry Cohen, President of Communication Workers of America,
thanks for joining us today.
COHEN: My pleasure, thank you.
SCHULTZ: And of course, we`ll be reporting on this again as I visit with
more lawmakers here on Capitol Hill in Washington.
That`s the Ed Show, I`m Ed Schultz. Politics Nation with Reverend Al
Sharpton starts right now. Good evening Rev.
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The Ed Show for Monday, January 13th, 2014
Read the transcript to the Monday show