>> tomorrow, a look at the executive tax rate. then a discussion about the recent shutdown of websites in protection of the stock online privacy act. later, the federal government funding. that is >> joining us on newsmakers is james clyburn. he is in colombia, south carolina on this sunday morning. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> congressman, let me begin

with the obvious, your reaction to the results in the republican primary yesterday. what does this say about your home state? >> yesterday's result came about as a result of two conversions -- converted situations. you had mitt romney, who was leading by 20 points one week ago. he was not able to come clean with the american people as to exactly who and what he is. his answers to questions seem to be filibusters. he would never talk about that 50% tax rate in a way that people -- 15% tax rate in a way that people could identify with it.

all standing committees here where jobs were lost. people did not feel him. on the other hand, newt gingrich, from the neighboring state of georgia, knowing something about the old days that would be cast in the south carolina republican primary, better than 6% evangelical, appeals to them by going after the media, as he did in charleston. he went after the media at myrtle beach. he put juan williams in his place. these words and phrases, calling obama a food stamp president, are thane's that are reminiscent of the southern strategy of richard nixon and the welfare

queen created by ronald reagan. he played into that well. and did a masterful job of connecting with the republican voter. >> from politics to this week's state of the union with jim clyburn. >> let me follow up a -you- with you on -- with you on what you said about newt gingrich and the poor. the audience as one debate was cheering when he talked about people looking for jobs and not food stamps. you say you found this issue denigrating to deport. it seems to resonate with the voters of south carolina. with an unemployment rate of 10%, would you agree that speaker gingrich's record -- message has resonated with the voters, clearly because he has won the primary there.

>> it has resonated. not because it was true. the record is clear. 49% of the people on welfare are white. we know that. but people think otherwise. we know they are never existed a welfare queen. the admission was made long after ronald reagan. he said they created that out whole cloth and it work. we had the welfare queen created by ronald reagan. newt gingrich decided he would create a food stamp king. that is what he did. and its resinated. the fact of the matter is, nobody wants to be on food stamps. everybody wants a job. when people come back from iraq, afghanistan and there are no jobs to be had and they have children to feed, they are going

to look to feed those children. many of them turn to food stamps, not because they want to, but because they have to. the fact remains that president obama would never have had to expand the food stamp program if george w. bush would have expanded the work force. instead, he cut back on jobs to the tune of 2.1 million jobs in the three months running up to president obama's inauguration. it is up to the president to either leave those. -- people on the street without food or to expand the food stamp program to feed their families. that is what our christian faith teaches us to do. take care of those who are less fortunate. >> thank you so much for joining us this morning. staying on the topic of race and

presidential politics, it seems that four years ago, those two top picks came together in the democratic president joe primary. president clinton made comments that many interpreted as downplaying president obama's place in the race saying his narrative was a fairytale. why do you think these comments seemed to come up around the time of the south carolina primary? do you think president clinton has done enough to repair the ties that he may have broken them years ago? >> i do not think president clinton ever broke any ties. the fact remains, we all know the south carolina primary is the first in the south. they leave here today and in 10 days, there will be a primary in

florida. very soon, there will be mississippi, alabama, and georgia. these kinds of discussions come in simply because south carolina is first up in this part of the country. it is a different electorate here than in the rest of the country. you see words and phrases being used to connect with voters that i do not think play well in other parts of the country. i love that south carolina is first. on both sides of the aisle, democrats and republicans, we get a chance for the candidates to demonstrate their viability to the base. this time, the democrats know who our nominee is going to be. four years ago, we did not.

it gave the african american committee to let its voice be heard. it was hard emphatically. >> speaker gingrich has talked about himself as a candidate who can contrast best with president obama. this week, we will be focusing on president obama because he will be delivering his state of the union address to congress. what does he need to say to congress right now? a lot of politics are involved with what he has to say. what do you think president obama needs to say to lawmakers, to the country in his state of the union address on tuesday? >> he has to lay out a vision to the future -- for the future that will be a contrast with the republicans. he has to lay that addition out and let the american people know

that he believes that what has started to happen, 22 million jobs created in the private sector -- i am sorry, 22 months of private sector job creation over the last few months. the unemployment rate is less than it was one month before. we are moving in the direction we need to move into. we are going to build upon that. i think the president will be showing us the way all were and lay out for us his vision on how we should gulf will work. he will do so without shredding the safety net. -- i think the president will show us the way forward and lay out his vision on how we should go forward. he will do it without shredding

the safety net. if you look at the vision of republicans in adopting the right and budget, those things will be put at risk. this president will not do that. he is going to methodically move this country to where it should be and do so in such a way that it will not put people at peril. >> to follow up on the state of the union coming up on tuesday, last year, you sat next to jeb hensarling, the conference chairman. many other lawmakers tried to turn this into a date night where they were emphasizing the message of bipartisan cooperation. as we saw over the past year, this did not end up in any kind of substantive agreement between lawmakers. do you have any plans this year to sit next to anyone from across the aisle? is there any more substance to

this besides it is nice to see members sitting next to each other in the house chamber? >> i am not making any plans to do so. i would not be opposed to doing that. jeb and i are friendly toward each other. we sat in the same room with each other for several weeks as members of the super committee. i interact a lot with the republican from the sport republican district of south carolina, ken scott from the first congressional district. we are friendly toward each other. all of that is good. there is no substitute for substance. i will always go for substance over style. i try hard to look for ways to have substantive interactions with the other side.

i have done that was congressman whitfield, a republican who is conservative. we have laid out a decision on how we can create jobs as well as conserve energy. i cannot get my republican friends to go along with that program. >> let me follow up on that point, congressman clyde warned. why is it so hard? republicans blamed the -- let me follow-up on that point, congressman clyburn. why can both parties work together on some of the major issues, most notably bringing down the debt and deficit? why can it be done? >> because we live in what i like to call a sound bite environment.

people play to the thirties second-- the 30 second sound bite. some of your people who called in to your program this morning got sound bites. newt gingrich went after the media. that is all they are talking about here this morning. i think that is what we have got to face. as decision makers. a lot of times, when i go to the airport, people come up to me and they say little things that have no real relationship to reality. but it is what they think. they have picked it up from a 10 or 15 second sound bite that gets looped over and over again. that is why it is so difficult. it is very difficult to pass

laws. it is difficult to have a meaningful, substantive discussion because people make up their minds based upon lines they have read or sound bites they have heard. >> also, you might also agree the reason congress cannot agree on anything is because the two sides are so far behind on how to -- disagree so much on how to move forward. democrats believe republicans would like to do the paul ryan plan. there was a $1 trillion plan to put in place over the past year. you were a member of that super committee. you were not able to come to an agreement. at the time, he said everything needs to be on the table, not just tax increases, but entitlement cuts to reduce

spending on medicare, medicaid, and social security. do you think there needs to be some form of entitlement reform moving forward? congress will have to come up with these cuts in the coming year or they will take place automatically, as you know. >> sure, everything should be on the table. i have said that time and time again. when we did the affordable care act, the president laid it out. we reformed medicare to the tune of $500 billion. we did that. we expanded -- extended the life of medicare by 16 years. that was a that. that was misrepresented to the american people. it got looped into 10 or 15

second sound bites. and the democrats lost the points.n by 15 po everything we did, we laid out visions that got misrepresented depending on which news channel would like to get what headline as to what happens to us. let me give you an example. all of us know that the overseas contingency will have somewhere around $700 billion that can be recouped and used, not to expand, but can cut taxes. and relief fund some of the opportunity programs, extend the tax cuts that we should do for middle income people by extending the payroll tax cut. we can do that within 60 days.

we can use the overseas contingency account. the money is there to do that. my republican friends can say that is funny money. if it is, why did they put it into the rhine and plant. they put it into the rhine budget -- into the rhine and planned. they put it into the rhine and plan. 70% of the american people agree with us on that. that is why we cannot get together. household incomes seem to be expanding. a 65% income increase in household income. we want everybody to move

together in an equitable way. i use the word edible and not equal. i use have a couple -- - the word equitable and not equal. >> there will be a special election coming up on january 31. it could end up falling into republican hands. how much of a must win is this seat for democrats? >> i do believe we will hold that seat. the young lady that is our candidate out there has a tremendous record. i think she is broadly in the center on political issues. we have the republican opponent who has been revealed to have some pretty radical things in his record. i think we are going to be ok.

you always want to win every election. you want to say everyone is the most important. in oregon, i do believe democrats are placed -- poised to do well in november. i expect the house to come back into democratic hands and for the senate to remain so. >> quick follow-up on that. if the democrats do take control of the house again in the coming election, do you predict that minority leader pelosi will be able to get reelected as speaker of the house? and to follow up on that question, what are your ambitions? would you like to be the majority leader or would you like to resume your old position as majority -- minority whip?

but first the question on nancy pelosi. do you think she will become speaker again? >> she has put herself in the position she is currently in. she is articulating a vision for the country that the president is laying out in a way that is helpful to the president. i do believe she will be speaker next january. by the same token, i do not know what the future holds for me. i am please to be in the leadership of the party. i tried to do what i can to make sure this party continues to focus on the family. and to do what is necessary to have kitchen table issues stay in the forefront. whatever the future holds, i hope to be prepared to receive it. >> president obama has been

ramping up for his reelection race. he is trying to appeal to middle-class voters who will be a key constituency this fall. national democrats announced the national convention this week and noted the president will be delivering his convention speech at the bank of america stadium. it is the president stepping on his message a little bit by holding the speech in a view named for one of the companies that he has been railing against on the campaign trail along with other democrats? >> i do not think so. if you have to have a place that can hold all the people we expect to be there, i do not think he is walking away from his message for the party. i think he will open up on sunday at the motor speedway in charlotte.

it is my understanding. it will not be an integral part of the convention. it is a big kick off for our events on labor day. for all of this, once again, these are symbolic things that bear little relationship to what is substantive. what the president says what he is in that stadium and what he lays out for the american people about our activities, that is what is going to be important, not where we are. remember, i always like to say, you do not just talk it, you have to walk it. i think that is what will take place in charlotte, a vision for the future that most i met -- most americans can identify with. >> in announcing the convention

in charlotte, the democratic national committee said they will use it as a mobilizing tool for democrats in the south. can be present when banks south carolina in november? >> yes, he can. the question is, will he? i do not know if he will or not. i think he can. a lot of that depends on people in south carolina do we what we can to organize our voters and to get people to understand that the president is president and not king. he has been present for only three years. we know from independent studies that what is happening in this country today was a 30 year journey -- over 30 years, the general accounting office did a study say we got where we are

because of policies put in place 30 years ago that converged in time to put us in this shape. president obama is not a beautician. the-is not a magician. cannot -- is not a magician. we cannot expect him to do in three years what was done in three decades. for him to win in south carolina, it will be an uphill battle. if anybody were to coalesce around a good, interest edition for the country, yes, we can. >> on a question from susan of the washington examiner. --if the democrats were to- you have managed to stay in the majority or just two congresses. why weren't you able to stay in

the majority for more than four years? was a bad policy or bad luck? >> i do not think any of our policies were bad. policies are as good as the environment in which you laid them out. they are also as good as the message you laid out to further those policies. i believe that we, in 2010, failed to message effectively. in 2010, our biggest anti-vote came from seniors. they were told we had done something to medicare that we had not done. we have gone through the numbers and we have checked the congressional districts. the difference in our winning and losing was the senior vote in those instances. the reason we lost was because

we failed to explain to senior citizens what we had done to medicare when we put the affordable care act in place. again, the affordable care act, to me, is something that most americans think should be done. you have all these other guys railing against the program say they will appeal it and they want to go back to the insurance companies several years in delaware -- several years ago to two children -- to children not being able to stay on their parent's policies once they go to college. these kinds of things are necessary to stabilize families and to prepare people for the future. those are the things we should never go back to.

people need to keep them in mind as we go -- as they go to the polls this november. >> congressman clyburn is the assistant leader in the house of representatives. thank you for being on the program. let me take up on one of the points the congressmen made about signed -- about sound bites and the reason we have such a partisan environment in washington. is that the problem or part of the problem? >> congressman clyburn suggested the overseas contingency account could be used to pay for the payroll tax extension. republicans in the house have said that that is not something they considered a serious area of budget cutting. they have to agree on about $170

billion. sound bites are part of the deal, certainly when it comes to the presidential stage. it helps people make up their minds. there is still a lot of substance of gridlock on capitol hill. that is just as much a problem. >> we have been focusing on the results in south carolina. the president is at the white house working on his state of the union address. what can we expect? >> he will talk about the need to bring back manufacturing jobs. he will defend his record. he will talk about the fact that the jobless rate is decreasing, which it has been. that is working in his favor. he will talk about the need for congress to work with him. he needs to position himself as a president who wants to move the country forward. he needs cooperation from republicans. that sets him up for the coming

year, which will be nothing but gridlock in congress. they will only get things passed that both sides need politically. that includes payroll tax cuts and medicare benefits. that means nothing is going to happen. it works in obama's interest to say, i have a vision. republicans, i need you to work with me. we know republicans will not work with him on any big plans. the president was to get something done purses what he can call a do nothing congress. -- versus what he can call a do nothing congress. there will be basically nothing happening. >> i asked congressmen clyburn can present obama win south carolina? he rephrase the question. >> if you want to win a state, >> if you want to win a state, you need to get