Show: THE ED SHOW
Date: December 16, 2014
Guest: Harold Cook, Brad Woodhouse, Montel Williams, John Garamendi, Reese
Halter, Paul Douglas
ED SCHULTZ, MSNBC HOST: Good evening Americans and welcome to the Ed Show
Live from New York.
Another Bush.
Let`s get to work.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRM. GOV. JEB BUSH, (R) FLORIDA: We`re seeing more and more that people
often model their lives on their parents.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There`s other people out there that are very
qualified and we`ve had enough Bushes.
J. BUSH: I can tell you from a personal experience, if your parents worked
in politics, well, you know the risk.
SEN. TED CRUZ, (R) TEXAS: These are dangerous, extreme, radical times.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The day has been awesome, girl.
J. BUSH: I think I could serve well as President.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do not like this Uncle Sam.
GOV. RICK PERRY, (R) TEXAS: ... gays can serve openly in the military but
our kids can`t openly celebrate Christmas...
FRM. PRES. GEORGE W. BUSH, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I hope Jeb runs. And
I think he would be a great President.
CRUZ: Obamacare is more like Jason or Freddy.
PERRY: Running for the Presidency is not an I.Q. test.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Good to have you with us tonight folks. Thanks for watching.
We start tonight with major news on the political front concerning 2016,
which may turn the stomach of a lot liberals across this country. Yet
another Bush is officially setting his sights on the White House.
Earlier today Jeb Bush, the former Governor of Florida changed the news
cycle with this Facebook post. He said, "I have decided to actively
explore the possibility of running for President of the United States. In
January, I plan to establish a leadership PAC that will help me facilitate
conversations with citizens across America to discuss the most critical
challenges facing our exceptional nation."
Well, some Republicans think Jeb Bush could be their savior. Here is what
former Secretary of State James Baker said last month.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES BAKER, FRM. WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: I hope he does. He would
make an extraordinarily fine President. He`s a very, very capable young
man.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Jeb Bush`s older brother George W. Bush made it clear that he
wants Jeb to run. Last week the former President had this to say about his
brother`s possible run.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: You`ve often referred to
Bill Clinton. You talked about his relationship with your father and how
it developed and your mother as well. And he`s your brother from another
mother. What does that make Hillary Clinton to the Bush family?
BUSH: My sister-in-law.
CROWLEY: Interesting. And do you think your brother could against your
sister-in-law?
BUSH: Yes, and I think he`d beat her.
CROWLEY: Do you?
BUSH: I do.
CROWLEY: Yeah.
BUSH: I do.
CROWLEY: She`s formidable.
BUSH: Very much so. No question. So is he though.
CROWLEY: Yeah. So you`ll take that bet?
BUSH: Absolutely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Well, here`s a statistic for you. Republicans haven`t won a
Presidential election without a Bush on the tickets since 1972.
This news likely has other Republican Presidential hopefuls taking stock.
Mainly down in the Lone Star State of Texas, Canadian Senator Ted Cruz of
Texas is considering a presidential run. This guy has already come up with
what is a very unique campaign strategy.
The National Review reports that Cruz does see a path of victory from
groups including, "Jews, Hispanics, and Millennials that have tended to
favor Democrats and in the words of one Cruz strategist, not getting killed
with independents."
With the strategy like this, we can sure count on the Republican primary
season being a lot of fun. Better than the last one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PERRY: It`s three agencies of government when I get there that are gone,
commerce, education and the -- what`s the third one there? Let`s see,
commerce, education, and...
FRM. GOV. MITT ROMNEY, (R) MASSACHUSETTS: EPA?
PERRY: EPA, there you go.
HARWOOD: Is EPA the one you`re talking about or?
PERRY: No sir. No sir. We were talking about agencies of government.
The EPA needs to be rebuilt. No doubt about that.
HARWOOD: But you can`t name the third one?
PERRY: The third agency of government I would do away with -- the
Education, the...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Commerce.
PERRY: Commerce and let`s say -- I can`t the third one. I can`t. Sorry.
Oops.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: I think that sound byte would give anybody a little bit of
confidence if they ever want to run for President.
That`s right. Rick Perry wants to walk out in the State of Texas
Governor`s mansion, right into the White House. He thinks he can do it.
A recent interview with NBC News, Perry said he`s not the same candidate
who ran in 2012. In fact, he says he actually thinks he can win saying,
"Running for the presidency is not an I.Q. test. It`s a test of an
individual`s resolve. It`s a test of an individual philosophy.
It`s a test of an individual`s life experiences. And I think Americans are
really ready for a leader that will give them a great hope about the
future.
Jeb Bush, Rick Perry and Ted Cruz. What a collection. They are all trying
hard for the Texas conservative vote. And by the looks of the things so
far, there`s no doubt at 2016 Republican primary season is going to be
very, very, entertaining to say the least. I can`t wait.
Get your cellphones out. I want to know what you think. Tonight`s
question, "Are you ready for another Bush in the White House?" Text A for
yes, text B for no to 67622, you can live a comment at our blog at
ed.msnbc.com. We`ll bring you the results later on in this show.
For more, let me bring in Ring of Fire Radio Host and Americas Attorney,
Mike Papantonio, Harold Cook, Texas Democratic Strategist with us tonight
and Brad Woodhouse, President of American Bridge 21st century.
Brad, I want to start with you tonight because I was really impressed with
the playbook or should I say the manual that was put out by American Bridge
on all the candidates on the Republican side or should I say hopefuls on
the Republican side for 2016. And you wrote this in there and found this
caveat about the Jeb Bush.
You say, "In 2007, Bush joined the private equity advisory board at Lehman
brothers. The company sold more than $800 million worth of mortgage-backed
securities to the Florida State fund. The securities defaulted in just
four months.
It was later revealed that the sales to the states fund took place just
before Lehman revealed Bush`s role in the company. Bush denied having any
role in this specific sale, although Lehman won six contracts and just shy
of $10 million in fees from Florida state agencies while Bush was the
governor."
I think that`s more than interesting. Is this the kind of stuff could just
-- he have a Romney problem here. Your thoughts?
BRAD WOODHOUSE, AMERICAN BRIDGE 21ST CENTURY: Well look, I think he does.
I mean, we`ve seen an article recently that suggest not only do we know
about this involvement in Lehman brothers and we know that he tried to get
a Mexican billionaire to bail out Lehman brothers. But we know he`s been
engaged in some of the very type of tax havens and tax schemes overseas
that Mitt Romney was involved.
And not only does he have a Mitt Romney problem that may present itself in
the primary or, you know, if he made it in the general election, but he and
Romney are tussling behind the scenes over who has, you know, the bigger
problem with their private equity investments.
And I actually think, you know, kind of Jeb Bush`s interest into the race
having those problems makes the likelihood that Mitt Romney might get in
even a little more enticing. I don`t think Mitt Romney wants to give away
the mantle on these issues or others to Jeb Bush.
SCHULTZ: Mike, your thoughts. If there was one candidate out there that
are named -- is being tossed around so far that is connected to Wall
Street, there ain`t anybody better than Bush, is there?
MIKE PAPANTONIO, RING OF FIRE RADIO: Well he is -- look he was there when
Lehman burned down. I mean, it`s not just Wall Street. He has what I call
a phoenix (ph) problem, the project for new American century hasn`t been
talk about. But this is a guy who wrote the mission statement for all
these characters that we`ve been seeing Cheney, (inaudible) Bush that are
defending torture.
He wrote the mission statement for PNAC. PNAC is what got us involved in
Iraq. It`s why we`re in Afghanistan like we are. It`s a problem for him.
It`s not just the a Wall Street problem, it goes well, well, beyond that.
And when this discussion starts about PNAC, we`ll going to learn an awful
lot that this guy in the truest sense is war hog (ph).
SCHULTZ: Harold, where a Texas conservative, they got a multiple choice
right now. They got Perry, they got Cruz, they got Bush. How is this
going to play out?
HAROLD COOK, TX DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, and I would Rand Paul to
that. He`s got Texas. He`s got a Texas background and many, many Texas
connections.
Look, I actually think that Jeb Bush doing what he did today is actually
kind of genius. It`s not about voters I think it`s about donors. I think
he`s frozen all the donors in place, you know, on two fronts. Front number
one, the donors that would ordinarily support or at least think about
supporting some of the more establishment crew in this bunch which I guess
you would include Romney and Chris Christie. I mean, they get confuse by
that.
But then more important and more specific to Texas, some of the biggest
most prolific and most conservative donors in the Republican Party
specially in presidential elections are Texans and they have traditionally
supported Bushes. They supported Rick Perry early on when he run for
President.
And I think him just saying OK, look guys I am kind of sort of in. I think
it freezes everybody in place and that is a big peril...
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
COOK: ... to some of these other guys.
SCHULTZ: Well, what about Cruz`s strategy to get -- as his strategist has
said, "Jews, Hispanics and Millennials to be his ticket to win Texas in the
nomination." What do you make of that?
COOK: You know, every time a Republican comes up a strategy that doesn`t
include independent voters, Republican losses. It`s one reason why
Republicans who aren`t name Bush hardly ever get to the White House.
Look the math doesn`t add up, you can take all of these Tea Party
supporters of which there are legion (ph). And add to them the Jewish
voters and all, his biggest problem is believing for one second that a wide
swath of the Hispanic voters are going to vote for him and support him just
because his last name is Cruz. That`s never worked in Texas.
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
When Hispanics runs statewide in Texas, they don`t get their fair share of
Hispanic votes. The Hispanics are voting for the people they believe
support their values and that`s just not most Republicans.
And, you know, I think what Hispanics by in large will say to Ted Cruz to
the world is look, you can go after our voters as much as you want but
you`re not going to get it until you explain to me how you`re going to
represent my family.
SCHULTZ: He hadn`t been able to do that in anyway way shape or form.
Now, Brad Woodhouse what about the former President? Is he a hindrance or
is he going to be guide as really going to help his brother?
Look, you can`t argue with the fact the Bushes know raise money and that is
the name of the game. And so, you can have a few friends and a whole lot
of money that way it works out now. But would W help or hurt his brother?
WOODHOUSE: I don`t think there`s any doubt that a former President -- just
about any President even the one that was kind of run out in the rail like
President Bush was can be helpful to someone.
Now, in this case, it`s not just him, it`s his father, it`s his family,
it`s George P. Bush who just won a statewide, you know, office in Texas. I
mean, I do think that -- associate with previous comments, I mean, I do
think that in terms of donors I think Jeb Bush`s strategy here is strong.
I think, you know, there`s going to -- who else is going to be the next...
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
WOODHOUSE: ... "established" person into the race that can compete with
those donors. I don`t there`s anyone, maybe other than Perry that could
compete with those Texas donors and so...
SCHULTZ: Well...
WOODHOUSE: ... you know, I think in that regard, the name and the
President certainly helps.
SCHULTZ: Mike, where does this put Karl Rove? Put him back, front,
center, in the front row right back after...
PAPANTONIO: No, this is great for, you know, the Bush`s name -- not my
words but they named in the Third Blossom. That`s where that all came
from.
And now, the third Blossom is back. He`s with the Bush family. It`s life
as usual for Karl Rove. But just to mention some -- Harold mentioned a
great point about tying up the money. It`s not just about tying up the
money for Republican candidates, tying up the money for Hillary Clinton.
Hillary Clinton`s work (ph) in the Wall Street mildly hard right now. And
the last thing Bush wants is to see all that money jumping behind Hillary
before he says, hey look guys I`m here too.
So I`m seeing that part of it as being a very important part of his
strategy...
SCHULTZ: Do you think there`s a lot of crossover there between these two?
PAPANTONIO: Tremendous amount.
SCHULTZ: Oh Wall Street.
PAPANTONIO: Tremendous amount. Right now, they realize there`s almost not
a difference between the parties where it comes to the ideology involving
Wall Street.
SCHULTZ: Does the Bush name force Hillary to be more like Wall Street?
PAPANTONIO: I think she has to. I think right now Bush is like a magnet
for money that might be the only source of money she has when this is all
over with. So...
SCHULTZ: Do you think Jeb Bush could beat Hillary Clinton?
PAPANTONIO: Yes. I do believe that.
SCHULTZ: You do.
PAPANTONIO: I think what you have is you have...
WOODHOUSE: I do not Ed.
PAPANTONIO: ... you have the two dynasties. You have the Bush dynasty,
the Hillary -- the Clinton dynasty.
Look, Bush has coverage right now. He moves into the Arena. He`s not
worried about this idea of the criticism being the Clinton dynasty.
I think that -- first of all, I`ve seen him campaign in Florida. I know
how effective he is. He is a very...
SCHULTZ: Does he win Florida?
PAPANTONIO: He wins Florida.
SCHULTZ: If it`s Clinton, and Bush -- Bush Florida wins Florida. Brad you
don`t agree with that?
WOODHOUSE: Well, I mean -- will first of all, I don`t agree that Hillary
Clinton -- I mean, that shouldn`t be a surprise to you.
Let me just say this about the money though. I agree that I think he`s
done this. He`ll probably lockup some of the donor class at least for a
while. But look, we know this -- this elections, money don`t buy your love
and right now Jeb Bush`s biggest challenge is that the right-wing, the Tea
Party, the people that are so critical in a state like Iowa, there are so
critical state like South Carolina don`t trust him on some key issues.
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
WOODHOUSE: ... like common core, like, you know, like immigration. I
think he`s got a bigger problem. He doesn`t even need to worry about, you
know, Hillary Clinton right now. What he needs to worry about is his right
flank where I think he`s going to be easily attacked by some of his primary
opponents. Much the way, you know, Perry feel into this, Mitt Romney
attacked Perry and attacked...
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
WOODHOUSE: Gingrich who shown any compassion to immigrants.
SCHULTZ: I mean, Harold Cook, doesn`t Hillary Clinton rile up the right-
wing to the point where they would accept Jeb Bush? Think (ph) what the
White House that bad -- I mean, would there be an overstatement to say that
the right-wing could not warmup to Jeb Bush? Your thoughts?
COOK: No, I don`t think their view is that long and this early stage that
are so crucial, Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina. Look, I mean, the
real question isn`t whether Jeb can beat Hillary Clinton. The real
question is whether he can get out of his own primary and I don`t think he
can.
I don`t think it`s going to be very long at all before the right-wing of
his party starts reminding everybody about what Bushes are all about...
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
COOK:... and if the primary voters of yesteryear were like the ones today,
there wouldn`t never been either person named Bush President of the United
States and I doubt Ronald Reagan would have picked him for his running
mate. I think he`s going to have a lot of trouble getting out of the
primary.
SCHULTZ: All right. Gentlemen...
WOODHOUSE: I agree.
SCHULTZ: ... great to do this story without showing polls tonight.
Mike Papantonio, Harold Cook and Brad Woodhouse, great to have you with us.
Thanks so much.
WOODHOUSE: Thank you Ed.
COOK: Thank you.
SCHULTZ: Remember to answer tonight`s question there are the bottom of the
screen. Share your thoughts with us on Twitter@edshow and on Facebook. We
want to know what you think about this one.
All right, coming up, Coburn`s last stand, the outgoing Senator from
Oklahoma makes his mark by failing veterans. We`re talking to Montel
Williams next.
Plus, Russia`s economic conservatives won`t be singing the prices of
Vladimir Putin anymore. Congressman John Garamendi weighs in.
Stay with us. We`ll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TOM CONBURN, (R) OKLAHOMA: My heart break for the people who commits
suicide. You know what it is? They find no relief anywhere else except
death. There`s no answer for them, we don`t give it to them. We have
failed them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Good to have you back with us folks, thanks for watching tonight.
This one is hard to comprehend. Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn fails veterans
Monday night in a big way. One of the outgoing Senators final acts was
blocking a bill to prevent suicide among our nation`s veterans.
The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates 22 veterans take their lives
everyday in this country. The Clay Hunt SAV Act passed with unanimous
support over in the House but with single-handedly blocked by Senator
Coburn or Oklahoma.
It would have required the V.A. and Department of Defense to evaluate their
health care and suicide prevention programs on a yearly basis. What`s
wrong with that? It also provided for more community outreach and better
online access to mental health services. Republicans also loved to wrap
themselves in the flag and tell us how they never turn their backs on
veterans. Well, it happened on Monday and it`s unfortunate.
Here to talk about it tonight is Montel Williams. Who is a veteran, he is
Veteran Advocate and Emmy Award winning television host who has served in
both for the United States Marines and the United States Navy. It`s great
to meet you. I`ve admired your work for years. Your advocacy on this is
outstanding. What do you make of this? This is hard to comprehend.
MONTEL WILLIAMS, VETERANS ADVOCATE: I`m completely baffled and I can`t
believe that someone would allow their ego to get in the way of what is our
nation`s responsibility.
SCHULTZ: Do you think that`s what it is?
WILLIAMS: I really do I`m so sorry he`s leaving so wants this to be his
legacy that he was Mr. No the Dr. No. Senator well you know what? By
saying no, what you`ve just done is honestly disgraced the service of every
service member who served in Afghanistan and Iraqi war and have been
putting their lives on lines to get him an opportunity to stand there and
make a statement.
He says and one side of his mouth, we support the soldiers that
hypocritically -- or hypocritically, he turns around and then votes against
and doesn`t allow to go a vote.
Last night, I was at the primer for American Sniper one for movie clinician
was there. There were so many veterans in that room. And you could see I
was talking to Paul Rieckhoff who was one of the guys who really -- pushing
to get this bill passed. And right before the movie started he said,
you`re not going to believe this, but that is on the floor shutting this
down. And you could see the sighing in the room before the movie started.
And how dare he do this.
SCHULTZ: Now, someone might say well, the Republicans when they get
control they`ll bring it back, they have the majority. Coburn won`t be
there.
WILLIAMS: A 100 days from now is probably the best shot. 22 lives a day,
2,200 more soldiers have to die. Thanks for the Christmas present, you
know, thanks.
SCHULTZ: You are really emotionally wrapped up into this Montel.
WILLIAMS: I see soldiers, I talk to them daily, guys who left body parts
behind for us. This is the Christmas present our Congress -- I`m sorry our
Congress voting unanimously, they voted, they passed the bill. This is the
Christmas present our government gives to our veterans this year, tells
them, you know what? We`ll wait another 100 days to stop the slaughter. I
don`t Ed.
SCHULTZ: Why do you think our veterans...
WILLIAMS: I`m sorry.
SCHULTZ: ... from Iraq and Afghanistan are coming to an end of life issue
like this? What is it about this war or is it something that just hasn`t
had a light shown on it in the past.
WILLIAMS: Ed, what we don`t remember as a nation is less than one percent
of this nations population even sent a person off to serve. So less than
0.01 percent, 2 percent are actually wearing a uniform. And we sent them
back and back and back and back.
We wonder why they have a post traumatic stress syndrome. We wonder why
their families are in disarray. We wonder why their lines at the V.A. to
get them services because everyone needs services.
And again, we say things out of one side of our mouths constantly. The
last -- two speeches ago, the President said we`re working on suicide.
Right, really? Where do we go from 23 to 22? OK, good.
SCHULTZ: And you`re convinced that this bill and the resources that would
have been addressed to this issue -- allocated to this issue would have
brought that number down.
WILLIAMS: $22 million it`s cheap to give it a try. I`m not convinced that
it would have change things tomorrow. But what it does do, you said those
ancillary things opening up our services. It allow psychiatrist to apply
to be psychiatrist for the V.A. and then being reimburse for their college
tuition, you know, reimburse they can get their college tuition pay for
then over five years pay it back.
So what we have is, we will start building a country (ph) of psychiatrist
who understand the issues facing our soldier daily (ph) OK.
SCHULTZ: You wore the uniform.
WILLIAMS: Yes sir.
SCHULTZ: Do you think that this hurts recruiting? Do you think that this
just really leaves a bad taste in the mouth of veterans out there about
what they fought for and about what they served for. See -- I think
there`s long-term damage here.
WILLIAMS: You see, I think the problem is our numbers is up we had an
economy that requires people to look for jobs. And so somebody`s jobs are
really some of the best jobs we have so, you know, if you look across the
board, across all the services they have meet their quotas. So, not like
guys are running away.
But I will tell you what`s going to hurt. It`s hurting the morale of those
who are there now, and right this minute those are the guys who are going
to have to be called back quickly in the emergency situation in Iraq or
Afghanistan when something heats up and we put another 3,000 troops on the
ground. They`re called back immediately and those guys right now their
hearts are breaking. Because it really feel like we got to a Senate that
doesn`t care.
SCHULTZ: Senator Blumenthal Democrats says...
WILLIAMS: Yes.
SCHULTZ: ... you know, they`ll reintroduce the bill if it fails in the
Senate and of course it`s not even going to get a vote. So, where does it
go from here? Do you have any hope that they -- that advocacy work and
grounds will support and grassroots support could reverse this?
WILLIAMS: I`m hoping, follow me @montel_williams. I`m doing this
#PassClayHunt. What we`re going to do right now is we`re going to try to
see what kind of pressure we can put on people like Senator Coburn. If you
call this number folks 202-224-5754 that`s Senator Coburn`s office number,
you tell how disgusted you are and let me tell you what`s been going over
there Ed.
He`s office hanging up on veterans. Yesterday the day before when veterans
are calling and asking question, they hang-up on them, so I want to make
sure that his phone doesn`t get any other calls for the next couple of days
and just tell him to back out of the way, the Senate has done this before.
At the last minute its last minute hurrah, go back throw the last long
past.
They need to pass this before they go away for Christmas. If you leave
Washington D.C. without passing this bill and giving our guys some hope.
How dare you and understand I`m coming, Paul Rieckhoff is coming, every
veteran in this country is coming hard. Elections are coming close folks.
You may have won the last one. You`re going to deal with us on the next
one period.
SCHULTZ: 202-224-5754.
WILLIAMS: Blow his phone up.
SCHULTZ: Montel.
WILLIAMS: Thank you.
SCHULTZ: Great to have you with us.
WILLIAMS: Thank you sir.
SCHULTZ: Would God bless for the work you`re doing for the veterans.
WILLIAMS: Thank you.
SCHULTZ: I appreciate so much.
You`re watching the Ed Show. We`ll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: And we`re back. We are following the Breaking News out of the
State of Pennsylvania. A suspected killer wanted for the murder of six
people has been found dead. The suspect is former Marine Bradley Stone.
His body was found in a wooded area near Pennsburg, Pennsylvania.
Officials addressed the media just a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF TOM NOLAN, UPPER MERION, PA POLICE: Sometime around 1:00 Brand Stone
was located just off in a wooded area just about a half mile from his
resident.
RISA VETRI FERMAN, MONTGOMERY CITY, PN DISTRICT ATTONEY: We have not
received official confirmation from the corner as to the cause and manner
of death. But based upon of what we found at the scene we believe that he
died of self-inflicted cutting wounds.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHUTZ: SWAT teams had been searching for the 35-year-old since he went on
a shooting spree on Monday. He`s accused of killing six people including
his ex-wife and members of her family. Veteran`s health record say stone
has suffered from PTSD. He served in Iraq in 2008.
There`s a lot more coming up on the Ed Show. Stay with us.
JULIA BOORSTIN, CNBC MARKET WRAP: I`m Julia Boorstin with your CNBC Market
Wrap.
Stock end with a decline, the Dow raises triple digit gain to end with
triple digit loss about 111 points. The S&P 500 is off 16, the NASDAQ
sheds more than 57 points.
There`s still hope for last minute shoppers. Amazon.com is extending it`s
free shipping deadline for Christmas Eve delivery to December 19th.
And housing starts fell more than expect last month at the same time permit
engage of future activity split (ph) more than 5 percent, the biggest drop
since January.
That`s it from CNBC, first in business worldwide.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: Welcome back to the Ed Show. Well, there`s trouble in Putin`s
paradise with the Ruble in a free fall and gas prices plunging. It looks
like some Republicans might want to rethink these comments from earlier
this year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRM. MAYOR RUDY GIULIANI, (R) NEW YORK CITY: Putin decides what he wants
to do and he does it and half a day, right? He makes a decision and
execute it, quickly than everybody reacts. That was called a leader.
President Obama going to think about it, he`s got to over it again. He`s
got to talk to more people about it.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA: The world is never in a better
place when you have a weak indecisive American President and Russia is a
symptom of that weakness.
FRM. REP. NEWT GINGRICH, (R) GEORGIA: President Obama`s weak foreign
policy is the real problem.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s tragedies that were led by -- were not even led,
that we had such a weakling for a president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Well, it just turns out good old President Obama was right and
assuming sanctions were the best course of action to take against Putin`s
invasion of Ukraine. In fact Russia`s currency has plunged 18 percent
against the dollar. In the last two days alone the Ruble could end up as
the worst performance currency in the year, even worse than Ukraine`s
sanction work folks. That`s the bottom.
The suction imposed by the United States and Europe cut off Russia`s banks
and oil companies from the credit markets. The President had talked about
that. This prevented financial institution from lending to Russia for a
month or more than at a time. The impact to the suctions scared our
foreign investors, however those weren`t the only criticism Republicans
add.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRM. REP. SARAH PALIN, (R) ALASKA: People are looking at Putin as one who
wrestler bears and drills for oil. They look at our President as one who
wears mom jeans and equivocates and bloviates.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: And adds 10 million people to the employment rolls in America and
also has 58 months of private sector job growth. But I`ll tell that Putin
is a dude, didn`t he? Putin can drill for oil only once but a global
oversupply has sent oil prices plunging. You`re feeling at the pump for
good, right? Last year one-third of Russia`s exports came from crude oil.
According to Deutsche Bank, Russia needs about $100 per barrel to balance
its budget.
Today Brent Crude ended below $60 a barrel. This is also a huge blow to
Putin`s economy as you here. The Ruble and oil prices pretty much go hand
and hand. But of course Obama, he did all the wrong things because he
didn`t have enough testosterone for the Republicans.
Joining me tonight is Congressman John Garamendi of California. Congress
is there -- good to have with us tonight.
REP. JOHN GARAMENDI, (D) CALIFORNIA: Sure.
SCHULTZ: I appreciate it. Is there a really better example of how wrong
the Republicans have been on the international economic front? They were
all wrong and it was all geared toward taking down our President.
GARAMENDI: Well, that`s certainly true Ed and we could probably find a
half a dozen examples of that inconsistency and frankly bad logic. Clearly
Putin is in trouble in his country perhaps not personally not yet. He`s
banging the war drums, he`s betting that and being frankly rallying the
support of the Russians behind it.
But, there`s going to be a lot of economic problems in that country.
Clearly their heading into a serious recession, clearly they`re going to
have to blow through all of their financial reserves as that price of oil
continues to drop.
All of it means that -- one of two things. Putin yeah, he may take
immediate action, he maybe willing to just run off and do something. But
what he might do could be extraordinarily dangerous. And so, we want to be
very careful, we want to be very thoughtful here, keep those sanctions in
place, keep the pressure on and certainly we don`t want to send troops into
the Ukraine.
SCHULTZ: What kind of dangerous move you think he could make or would
make?
GARAMENDI: Well, it`s hard to say. There`s some talk about Kazakhstan,
there`s also what he obviously is doing already in the Ukraine he could
ramp that up. There is a possibility of putting pressure on Baltic States,
all of those things. But I think one of the things that happens, when that
kind of a leader is in trouble. Back home it`s to focus the attention of
his constituents, the Russian people on an outside enemy so that they`re
not looking at the leader of the country as being an enemy rather somebody
outside.
And that -- that`s where I think there could be a substantial risk of heat
up of tensions in some part of the Russian empire or around the Russian
empire.
SCHULTZ: Congressman Garamendi, do you think that this would be a good
time for the United States to reach out to Putin and give it one more
college try?
GARAMENDI: No.
SCHULTZ: And just flat say to the guy this isn`t working for you dude.
It`s going to go south from here even further. What can we do? What about
that?
GARAMENDI: Well, I certainly wouldn`t recommend that, certainly not as a
national policy. I know that there are ongoing discussions on a variety of
issues with Russia not directly related to the Ukraine or the Crimea. But
there`s a lot of issues that we do deal with the Russians on. Perhaps
there maybe some opportunities that lie in that area but I certainly
wouldn`t want to see the President now take such a step as you just
suggested.
SCHULTZ: Okay, Congressman, turning now to Pakistan. A horrific Taliban
attack on a military run school in Pakistan left a 142 dead including 132
children. Here`s Secretary of State John Kerry.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: This act of terror angers and shakes
all people of conscience and we condemn it in the strongest terms possible.
The perpetrators must be brought to justice. And we pledge our full
support to the people of Pakistan in this difficult hour. And we will help
them in any way that we possibly can.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Your reaction Congressman. Does this change anything for the
United States and its relations?
GARAMENDI: Well, we`ve always depended upon Pakistan for a variety of
things. It`s not always been a good smooth relationship, there are
conflicts. Clearly the Pakistani Army is taking on Taliban in the tribal
areas through the Northern part of the country and that really needs to be
done. It`s not clear from what I have heard exactly which group this is.
It maybe a retaliation for what the Pakistani army is doing trying to
settle some of the problems in that tribal area. It remains to be seen.
But clearly we need to continue to support Pakistan, work with them,
encourage them to open up their economy to take on a series of economic
reforms and to be -- and to back away from conflict with India.
And, there`s no way that issues in Afghanistan are going to be resolved
without working with Pakistan. They`ve been integral in the good and the
bad things that have gone down there for more than -- well, perhaps
centuries but certainly in the last 30 years.
SCHULTZ: Congressman John Garamendi, good to have you with tonight.
GARAMENDI: Sure.
SCHULTZ: Thanks so much. I appreciate your time. Coming up, we`re
turning the heat up on climate action. We could be facing the hottest year
on record. Keep it here. We`ll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHULTZ: It`s time now for the two minute drill. Sunday night, Dallas
Cowboys meet their division arrival Philadelphia, the Eagles beat them 38-
27 in Philly. But Monday`s headlines, well really not focused on Tony Romo
and the winners. It like the Eagles and the Giants and the Jets fans, they
were outraged to see this.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie rooting for the Cowboys alongside owner
Jerry Jones in his luxury box, we got kind of curious. Ensure researchers
also noticed what looks like RNC Chair Reince Priebus sitting behind
Christie and Jones, owner of the Cowboys.
We reached out to the RNC and they told us that they thought that Reince
Priebus was at dinner in Washington D.C. on Sunday night. Oh what the
heck. For the record, Reince Priebus is a life long Packers fan, maybe not
anymore.
The outrage on Twitter over Christie was anything but new to New Jersey
Governor. He took quite a bit a heat from angry football fans to his home
state and in Pennsylvania because after all because Giants and Jets they
played New Jersey and the Eagles said he was just across the river from the
garden state. In fact, things got so bad. Christie had to address his
behavior on Monday.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R) NEW JERSEY: I love passionate sports fans. I
really do, and I`m a passionate sports fan. And so I can`t say that I was
the least bit surprised by the reaction of some Eagles fans, and I don`t,
you know, I don`t react necessarily that way. But I`m an enthusiastic
Dallas Cowboys fan. I`ve never made a secret of it from the, you know,
time I entered public life, and, you know, I was there rooting for my
favorite team in the NFL last night, and, you know, some people reacted
badly to it but that`s OK. I understand.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Better watch out Governor, toy department will get you get in
trouble if you`re playing with the toys.
Coming up, hot or not? This year could be the hottest on record. Will
pollution set us over the top? We`re talking about that with Reese Halter
next. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNINDENTIFIED MALE: I`m not a scientist nor I`m a physicist.
REP. JOHN BOEHNER, (R-OH) SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I`m not qualified to
debate the science over climate change.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m not a scientist.
GOV. RICK SCOTT, (R) FLORIDA: I`m not a scientist.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, (R-KY) MINORITY LEADER: What I have said repeatedly
is I`m not a scientist.
STEPHEN COLBERT, POLITICAL SATIRIST: Yes, everyone who denies manmade
climate change has the same stirring message. We don`t know what the --
we`re talking about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: I`m not a scientist either but, you know, I think that something
is really goofy going on with our climate. That`s the alibi that
Republicans have, is that I`m not a scientist. So, there must not be a
problem then right?
Welcome back to the Ed Show. This is the story for the folks who take a
shower after work.
Republicans can try to spin it and deny it whatever they want. Global
warming is a scientific fact. Republican leader Mitch McConnell even said
earlier today, approving to Keystone XL Pipeline will be the Senate`s first
order of business in January. They`re relentless on this.
Scientists say that building the pipeline will negatively impact global
warming. NOAA says 2014 is on track to be the warmest year ever. August,
September and October hit record setting temperatures. Temperatures
dropped a bit in November to the 7th warmest since 1880. Oceans remained
at record setting levels.
2014 will be the hottest year on record as long as December closest among
the top 15 warmest. Manmade pollution has a very strong impact on the
ocean`s temperature and global warming. A new study said more than 269,000
tons of plastic is littered throughout the world`s oceans. That works out
to be about 700 pieces of plastic per person on earth. Unless we make a
change soon scientists agree we`re not going to be able to reverse this
problem.
So, you don`t have to be a scientist but there`s plenty of scientists out
there that are saying what I just read.
Joining me tonight Dr. Reese Halter Conversation Biologist with MUSE School
and Author of, "Shepherding the Sea: The Race to Save Our Oceans", also
with us tonight Paul Douglas, Senior Meteorologist at Media Logic Group in
Minneapolis.
Paul, you first, what do you make of these records or is this just an
anomaly and it`s really nothing to worry about? Your thoughts.
PAUL DOUGLAS, SR. METEOROLOGIST, MEDIA LOGIC GROUP: Well Ed, first a true
confession. I am a recovering Republican. I am a moderate Republican so
please pray for me, light a candle. I`ve been in the bunker the last
couple of years. And it wasn`t Al Gore`s documentary. It wasn`t even the
peer reviewed science. It was the wacky changes, these extremes that we
have been witnessing really escalating ever since the late 90`s.
14 of the 15 warmest years on record worldwide have been since the turn of
the century. So when I hear news of a pause it`s bunk. Its simply isn`t
what the data shows.
SCHULTZ: And what do you think the main reason is Paul, of these factors
contributing these record temps?
DOUGLAS: Well, I mean the fact that we`re not at 400 parts per million.
We haven`t been that high in terms of concentration of greenhouse gases in
at least 800,000 years possibly as many as 3 million years. And, 93
percent of that energy, Ed, is going into the oceans.
You know the atmosphere comprises about 3 percent of the earth`s system.
93 percent is going into the deep oceans, it maybe turbo charging typhoons.
We just had five -- category five typhoons in the Pacific. It maybe
accelerating sea level rise.
We are conducting an experiment on the atmosphere. And I would tell my
science loving Republican friends, it`s good to be skeptical in a day and
age of scammers and hackers and demagogues and special interest, you should
be skeptical about everything.
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
DOUGLAS: But when 98 to 99 percent of PhD scientists say essentially the
same thing, you should pay attention.
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
DOUGLAS: Listen to them.
SCHULTZ: Dr. Halter what the does the rising ocean temperatures do to
marine life? What`s the chain reaction here?
HALTER: Well basically, good evening. And what we`re seeing is, the
elevated CO2 is causing the plants, the phytoplankton to try and fix it
into the ocean. And a byproduct sadly is the ocean`s are acidifying faster
than they have in the last 300 million years.
What does that mean? Well if you`re a lobster or you`re a coral reef or
you`re a mussel you`re doomed. You melt. And we`re seeing this and this
is -- it`s so frightening. It`s so infuriating and this is our life-
support system, Ed.
SCHULTZ: What does this study show about the amount of plastic in the
ocean? What effect does that having Dr. Halter?
HALTER: It`s just shocking. Everyday 3.5 million pieces of plastic are
going in the ocean. But the kicker is this plastic is breaking down in
small pieces of confetti-like material that the fish are eating at all
levels.
Let me tell -- let me put it to you this way, everything in the ocean is
plastic today. And if that isn`t bad enough the plastics are the most
perfect sponges for DTP, PCB`s, biphenyls, flame retardants, thiolates and
the least -- methylmercury and a little bit of poison.
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
HALTER: Biomagnifies up the food chain a 100,000 times. So when you have
your fish you`re having a lot of poison, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Well that`s not good news because I love to eat fish and I love
to catch them too. You know this scary stuff. Paul, would we have
anticipated this some five years ago?
DOUGLAS: The trends had been clear, Ed, for the better part of three
decades now. And I`m offered coincidence and serendipity. And I tell
people it`s easy to, you know, read an article on the web, easy to watch a
cable news program and take some talking points. It`s much more difficult
to really spend the time, take the time and dig into the data. There`s
plenty of information online if you really take the time. And I tell
people who are skeptical as well as outright denialist keep an open mind.
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
DOUGLAS: Because climate change hits home when it hits home. And it`s
going to be hitting home with greater frequency and ferocity in the years
to come. You`ve just seen the tip of the iceberg.
SCHULTZ: Dr. Halter, what reverses this, quickly?
HALTER: All hands on deck. Number one, Sea Shepherd Conversation Society
has just launched the Martin Sheen Research Vessel on plastics. We all
need to lend a helping hand. I had my students at MUSE School on the beach
three times we removed 65 pounds of plastic in Malibu on Santa Monica Bay.
We have no time to fail. When the G20 meets like they did in Brisbane,
Australia.
SCHULTZ: Yeah.
HALTER: And they don`t address plastic, disaster.
SCHULTZ: Dr. Reese Halter, Meteorologist Paul Douglas, gentlemen great to
have you with us tonight on this topic. It is so terribly important.
That is 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 Tuesday, December 16th, 2014
Read the transcript to the Tuesday show