the video on the right was posted today. same stretch of roadway, two weeks apart, if you can believe that. i love engineers and construction crews. best new thing in the world today. now it is time for the ed show, live tonight from columbus, ohio. i urge you to stick with ed tonight. he's doing amazing work right now. good night. good evening, americans, and welcome to "the ed show," tonight from columbus, ohio. these americans behind me tonight, ten years ago, they were made out to be heroes. because they were. and they are today. nothing's changed. these firefighters, this profession ten years ago, every politician in america was saying, hey, they are the model of america. and now that we have just celebrated the anniversary and observed the anniversary of 9/11, ten years after the fact, these firefighters, they're

trade bait in state budget negotiations here in ohio. i'm standing with the nurses, i'll stand with the teachers, and tonight i stand with the firefighters. america, who are you with? this is "the ed show," let's get to work. [ cheers and applause ] >> '08! '08! >> ohio! >> '08! >> ohio! >> they love america.

they love america. great to have you with us tonight, folks. this is the scene in columbus, ohio, tonight. and just about a mile from here is where the governor resides. i'll tell you what, i've got a chair for the governor right here. we're waiting. i'd really like to talk to the governor on "the ed show," because i'll ask him questions he won't get on fox about these workers, you know what i mean? because, you see, john kasich and his ohio business buddies, they're trying to convince the residents of this stay that teachers, police officers, firefighter, hey, they're living high on the hog. today, the toledo blade newspaper reported, we were there last night, they reported on a study that was commissioned by ohio business leaders, which says that public employees

receive more generous compensation than the private sector employees do in this state. who was the study done by? well, the american enterprise institute, a right-wing think tank out of washington, d.c. the report -- this isn't worth the paper it's printed on. it shows public sector workers earned 43.3% more than private sector employees. the study uses, i think, garbage montana to equate job security to a 10% bump in pay. kasich wants to turn public opinion against the people who educate our can kids in the state, keep our streets safe, and protect the public. kasich wants to hammer these workers and line the pockets of his business buddies. the governor wants state employees to take a cut, but he gave massive pay raises to his own chief of staff, chief of staff beth hanson got almost a 40% raise over ted strickland's chief of staff. hanson has taken a leave of absence to join a group

committed to keeping senate bill 5, the law of the land here in this state. now, last night "the ed show" was in toledo. we stayed at a place called the park inn in toledo. looks like a normal hotel/motel in downtown. it's a $42 million complex. it was built 24 years ago. today, the "toledo blade" newspaper reported that the park inn was sold to the chinese investors for $3 million. this in addition to other acquisitions that the chinese have made in the city of toledo. i ask you to be a fair-minded american tonight. is this really what you want? >> no! >> no! >> do you want foreign countries to come in and own our soil? and to own our bricks and mor r er and to own our jobs and to own our economy.

i don't care if you're a hard right-wing conservative. i don't care if you're a republican and don't agree with me every night on our show and on my radio show. explain to me, righties, how can you think this is a good thing, that china is buying up what we have in this country? tell me what the future is for our workers. ever been to china? i haven't. i've heard all the stories, i've read all the accounts about how they treat their workers. well, i'm going to have to go to china. i'm going to have to go to china and find out if it's really the truth. because last night when i was in toledo, ohio, i saw the truth. because, you see, i've read about the empty buildings, i've read about and heard all the stories about the manufacturing jobs being lost. but when you drive by those buildings that are empty, it did something to me. and when i picked up that paper this morning before i left toledo to come here to columbus and i read that the chinese have bought the complex that i just slept in last night, hell, i guess i'm a trivia question now.

i was the last guy to sleep in the park inn before they sold it to the chinese. i mean, please, for a moment, forget politics! how can we as americans believe this is the right way to go? i think about some of the great americans on the other side of the aisle, who served in world war ii. i think about bob dole, the former senator from kansas, who spent 30 years in the senate and ran for president. mr. dole, give your party some counseling right now. give these folks some words of wisdom. the sacrifices that your generation made for america is now being sold off to the chinese. and you know what? here's what's going to happen. other foreign countries are going to see what's happening in america, and you know what heir going to do? since we don't have anybody that wants to play with the cash and

invest in american workers and factories, you know what they're going to do? the other countries, they'll say, hey, we want to get a piece of that action. there's this political angst going on in america right now. we're even fighting over firefighters. we're saying that they make too much. they're saying that they're living high on the hog. get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's question, should republicans stop using firefighters as political pawns? text "a" for yes, text "b" for no to 622639, or go to ed.msnbc.com. i said at the beginning of this broadcast, i'm with the firefighters. i'm asking you, america, who are you with? [ cheers and applause ]

joining me now is jack reel, the president of the columbus professional firefighters local 67. also with me tonight, u.s. senator sherrod brown of ohio. and also, congressman tim ryan of ohio, both have been in ohio all their lives. they know what this buckeye state's all about. >> you bet. >> chief reel, i've got to ask you, you were -- where were you ten years ago this week? >> ten years ago this week, i was in new york city, working night shift right now on the pile at the world trade center, searching for my colleagues, firefighters from the fdny and the, at the time, we thought tens of thousands of victims from the september 11th attacks. >> and ten years after the fact, here you are, fighting to save what? >> i'm fighting to save my colleagues again. they just happen to be aboveground and they're the ones that work with me every day.

>> can you believe you're in this position? >> yeah! >> no, i can't believe i'm in this position. as i told the senator, it's, at the same time, embarrassing and disgusting. >> they're getting kicked, aren't you? >> oh, we're getting kicked. i was driving down the street the other day and had a person roll down my window and tell me firefighters are worthless. and it's because of this rhetoric that's being spewed out that we're overpaid, we are lazy, we're thugs. it's just ridiculous. >> senator brown, what is senate bill 5, if it stays in place, what will it mean to this state, the fabric of this state? >> well, it's the beginning of the end of the middle class. what unions have meant, whether they're public employ or private sector unions, they've meant a strong middle class in our state. we're the third leading manufacturing state in america. only new york and california make more things that we do. they're much bigger states. our people know how to make things in ohio. and it's been the union movement, it's been firefighters

and police and teachers and autoworkers and steel workers and chemical workers who have created the middle class and created prosperity. and my wife, her dad carried a union card in ashtabula at the power plant for 37 years. that's how she got to go to ken state and that's how she got to become a writer and work for a newspaper. and that's what a union card does. that's what the middle class is about. and you know, i look at -- we've got a lot of problems in this state. we've got a lot of job loss. and i thought, as i know tim ryan did, the beginning of this year, that the governor and the legislature would go to work, how do we create jobs? instead, they went after workers, they went after bargaining rights, they went after voter rights, they went after women's rights and divided this state when it didn't need to be divided. >> congressman ryan, how can in your opinion can a governor justify attacking middle class workers wanting more of their pension, wanting more of their

health care, wanting to cut their taxes, yet giving their staff a 40% raise. >> i think when you compare him to governor strickland, governor strickland asked everybody to sacrifice. his own staff, everyone across the state had to sacrifice. public employees had to sacrifice. and everybody was in it together. now it's, there's an elite group that doesn't have to sacrifice at all. not only is it the, you know, his staff members, members of the legislative staff are getting raises and the legislature up to 33% raise for the republican staffers there, but also, they cut the estate tax in the state. so how can you cut the estate tax for the top 1% and come all these firemen here who are making 40,000 $50,000 a year who are trying to feed their families, send them to school, create a better future for them, yet at the same time you're going out of your way to cut taxes for the top wealthiest people in the state. it's ridiculous. >> there is no doubt that if the president gets this american

jobs bill passed that it will benefit ohio. in fact, ohio will get the sixth highest amount of money than any other state and it will have a tremendous effect on teachers, on firefighters. whatt what are the chances of getting any republican help in the house? >> i don't think it will be much. i think they'll go for some of the payroll tax cuts and maybe some of the others, which i think need to be included in a broader package. but if we don't have infrastructure spending, if we don't pump money into the economy -- the building trades, there's a 20% unemployment in the trades. put these people to work. we have a $2 trillion to $3 trillion -- we have a $2 trillion to $3 trillion infrastructure deficit. we've got work that needs to get done. we've got people that want to go to work. and they're ohioans. we drive around the roads, i think everybody can agree, we could use a little bit of money to get these roads paved around here, and that's what it would do. >> senator brown, what do you say to those people who say it's just more spending? >> well, i say we've got to

invest. i'm concerned about the budget deficit in this country, but i'm concerned about infrastructure deficit. i'm concerned about community colleges, what we're doing sending kids to school. i'm concerned about the sewer systems and the water systems and the highways and the bridges and the ports. and we spent in the 19 -- after the war, in the '40s, '50s, '60s, '70s, we built up the greatest infrastructure in the history of the world. now the government said, let's give tax cuts to rich people instead of modernizing our infrastructure in the investment of the future. and all the people here, the firefighters here, you know, they want to send their kids to school. they want their kids to have a good life. they want their kids to have the opportunity to join a union and be in the middle class, but if we don't invest in schools and health care and education and infrastructure, they're not going to have those opportunities that our generation up here have. >> there's no question about that. and finally, mr. reel, tell

america, what do your firefighters make? >> a firefighter here in the city of columbus, which it's a very busy job. i mean, you seldom go through a 24-hour shift without getting 20 runs a day, they make about $54,000 a year for a firefighter in the city of columbus. >> and the governor wants to have you contribute more of your health care, wants to reduce your pension, take away your voice in the workplace of collective bargaining. >> it's -- you know, we can talk about -- when this came about as collective bargaining reform, we were willing to sit down and talk with the administration on how we could come up with something that would make both sides happy and be fair to the worker and to the employer. what we've come up is something that takes away the rights for us to protect ourself so we can protect the public. i don't have the right to bargain about staffing,en i don't have the right to bargain about safety, i don't have the right to bargain about training and education for my

firefighters. those are crucial to make sure we can protect the public. more importantly, it removes the ability for a third of the firefighters and police officers in the state of ohio to even negotiate a contract. they're taken out of the collective bargaining process altogether. myself included. >> keep up the fight. >> right after governor kasich -- right after governor kasich put this bill out, and it was pretty clear, in spite of the protests of so many people, so many regular citizens, not just public employees, but people of faith, other people, i did a roundtable at a church right near the statehouse. and a teacher was on that roundtable, and she said, you know, when i negotiate, i'm not just negotiating for wages and benefits. i'm negotiating for smaller class sizes for my students. and a police officer said, i'm not just negotiating for my retirement, i'm negotiating for safety vests for bulletproof vests for my police officers. i mean, these workers, they're negotiating for better schools,

better education, better health care, better working conditions, not just their benefits. >> no doubt. >> and they're entitled to that, but they work for the community. >> jack reall, senator sherrod brown, and tim ryan, thanks for joining us tonight here on "the ed show." remember to answer tonight's question there at the bottom of the screen. we want to know what you think. coming up, a week after the president unveiled his plan to get americans back to work, john boehner finally responds. and then later, we'll hear from columbus mayor, michael coleman and the president of the ohio federation of teachers about how senate bill 5 has affected their budgets. also joining me here in columbus tonight, two people who have been fighting senate bill 5 from the start, state senator nina turner and also chris redfern of the ohio democratic party. and these firefighters behind me will follow up when i say it. ♪ ♪♪

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republicans said that they would offer their jobs plan today. instead, we got more of the same. i'll tell you how the president responded next. and later, i'll be joined by the mayor of columbus, michael coleman and other democratic leaders in ohio who have been on the front lines of this fight against senate bill 5. this is "the ed show," live from columbus. stay with us. we're right back. ♪ i like dat

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welcome back to "the ed show." thanks for watching tonight in columbus, ohio. republicans waited a whole week to offer an official response to president obama's jobs bill. in fact, house speaker john boehner didn't even offer a new plan of his own today. it promised -- he only promised to oppose portions of the president's plan. >> the president's proposals are a poor substitute for the pro-growth policies that are needed to remove barriers to job creation in america. >> we heard more of the same from the speaker. overall -- overhaul absolutely the tax code. no tax increases on the wealthy. cut regulations. we've heard all of this garbage before. will the president's response today was hinted at during his jobs speech last week. >> there are private construction companies all across america, just waiting to get to work.

there's a bridge that needs repaired between ohio and kentucky, that's on one of the busiest trucking routes in north america. >> that bridge is called the brent spence bridge and it connects cincinnati, ohio, with the state of kentucky. cincinnati, as you may remember, is john boehner's district. and can kentucky, well, that's home of senate minority leader mitch mcconnell. today, the white house announced the president will visit the crumbling bridge next thursday, where he will continue to push congress to pass his jobs bill. let's bring back congressman tim ryan of ohio, joining us here on "the ed show" again tonight. congressman, good to have you with us. how important is it, in your opinion, for the president to stay on the stump and keep the pressure on with this bill, even though it appears he's not going to get much support from the republicans? >> no doubt about it. we've got to remember, we are currently living under the

george bush tax plan, that has created -- that hasn't created jobs. we've been disinvesting in the country. so i think it's important for the president to continue to frame this debate, to say we need investments back into the united states of america. we've got to rebuild. >> so, the president next week is going to go to this bridge. okay, not just a few miles from here. he's going to illustrate how republicans are not willing to invest. is this going to be effective? how do you think this is going to be received? >> evening it's going to pin them as really extreme. i mean, you think about teddy roosevelt with the panama canal, you think about eisenhower with the inner state highway. you think about richard nixon with community development block grants. republicans have historically invested into the united states of america, primarily with infrastructure. so for him to come out with a balanced plan, that has tax cuts

for middle class people, incentives were business and investment, and for them to say we're only going to be for one side of the tax ledger, it pictures them as really extreme. >> now, in the other chamber of the senate, senator hagen today didn't really embrace this jobs bill, and neither did joe man x manchin from west virginia. are all democrats going to support the president on this in the house? if some fall by the wayside and don't give the president this card and this support when you know where the republicans are going to be, this is going to make it a heavy lift. but the president said, this economy, these people can't wait another 14 months. how important is it for the democrats to stick together on this and support the president? >> i think it's critical for us to be united on this. like you said, they're probably not going to bring this specific bill up, but we need to be united about a comprehensive plan for how we're going to rebuild the united states of america. and this is a part of that that

needs to get done. >> now, a development today, the super committee is coming up, all right? the president, the white house said today that the president is going to take social security off the table when the super committee gets together for deficit reduction. your thoughts? i mean, we keep -- look, we keep hearing the word "reform." this is the new word that i hate, reform. because reform means cuts, got it? so, i mine, how important is it that he take it off the table? >> i think it's critical. because these folks here who are already getting their pensions cut and the police and fire and everyone we've already talked about, now in addition too that, oh, by the way, when you go get your social security, it's not going to be what you thought it was going to be when you planned on retiring. so social security has got to be off the table and the medicare privatization needs to be off the table too. >> needs to be gone. amen to that. >> because these folks will have to pay another $6,000 out-of-pocket. >> congressman tim ryan of ohio, thanks for joining us tonight,

congressman. he is from youngstown. collective bargaining saves money, but don't take my word for it. the mayor of columbus, ohio, michael coleman is here, and he with will explain. and later, you'll hear from some of the great men and women who are out here with me tonight. we'll be right back, live from columbus, ohio, on "the ed show" on msnbc. [ kristy ] my mom is well...weird. she won't eat eggs without hot sauce. she has kind of funny looking toes.

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welcome back to "the ed show."

what an awesome crowd here tonight. great to have you with us, live from columbus, ohio. issue number two. it's what's on the ballot here in the buckeye state this november 8th. it's a referendum on senate bill 5, which attacks the collective bargaining rights of public workers. governor kasich says if voters reject issue 2, he worries about how ceos will view the state when it comes to business. governor kasich, you know what, dude, we still got a half an hour left. let's take a shot at this chair right here. we still have a half an hour left for governor kasich to come over here. i've got a reserve seat for you to step right here on "the ed show" and explain to me why you want to attack middle class workers, why you want to let the top 2% of the state go scot-free. why is it always for the corporations? joining me now is the mayor of columbus, ohio, michael coleman. and also joining me tonight is sue taylor, the president of the

ohio federation of teachers. great to have both of you with us tonight. mayor, let's start with you. last night i was in toledo and i was visiting with the mayor, mike bell over there, and this is what he told me. he supports keeping senate bill 5 the way it is. here's what he had to say. >> i'm not against collective bargaining. what i am, though, is pro-reform. and if we don't have the appropriate reforms in place, then our city won't survive. >> he claims it's a money issue. i mean, i've got to ask you, mayor, how are you closing the budget gap here in columbus, ohio, in the middle of the country when toledo's having a hard time doing it? >> let me just tell you this, ed, i've been the mayor of columbus for 12 years, over a decade. and first of all, i agree in collective bargaining rights. and what i get tired of, i get

tired of certain people putting their feet on the neck of public employees. now, in columbus, with collective bargaining works. and here's how it works. in the case in columbus, through the collective bargaining process, we actually saved $144 million through the process. now, i'm management, i represent management, and i'm on the other side of the table and in the collective bargaining process, there's hard bargaining, but it's fair. and as an opportunity for employees and management to get down and talk about the issues that we have to deal with. >> what doesn't the mayor of toledo understand about this issue that you do? >> well, in columbus -- and i know mayor bell, he's a good

man. i know him. and i've known him for a long time, but let me just say this. he's just wrong on this. >> he says it's about the money. >> if it's about the money, in columbus, we saved $144 million through the collective bargaining process. and on top of that, the best and the finest firefighters in all of america here in columbus split up, split up in a time of crises and sacrifice a raise that they were entitled to received. and i'm appreciative of that. >> sue taylor, 10,000 ohio teachers could end up losing their jobs. how devastating is that going to be to public education in this state? >> well, first and foremost, it will hurt the education of students. neither students or parents want overcrowded classrooms. students aren't going to learn when teachers are standing in unemployment lines. and that's just wrong.

>> what do teachers stand to lose if senate bill 5 stays the way and issue 2 doesn't go the way workers want it to go? >> well, thank for asking that question. first of all, we all need to vote no on issue 2. and the reason why we need to vote no on issue 2 is because students and their families will lose. neither students nor parents want overcrowded classes. neither students nor parents want disorderly classrooms. neither students nor parents want unsafe conditions with asbestos and air quality problems. lots -- we'll lose lots. >> why is the governor doing this, in your opinion? why has he been -- now, of course, he's talking about he wants to negotiate, but i was watching the fuse back in january and february when negotiations were out the window and he told one talk show host in this area, i'm done talking. but now he's got different tune

to it all. what doesn't he get about it? >> what he doesn't get that teachers and their unions are not the problem. we are part of the solution. >> mr. coleman? >> you know, i believe in collective bargaining, not selective bargaining. and that's what this is. and furthermore, i think that a great deal of this is focused on just busting unions. >> i believe that too. >> that's what it's all about. >> columbus mayor michael coleman with us tonight and also sue taylor of the ohio federation of teachers, thank you so much for joining us and speaking up tonight on msnbc. next, we'll have two leaders of the fight against governor kasich's anti-worker agenda, state senator nina turner and also ohio democratic party chair chris redfern will join me right after this.

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welcome back to columbus, ohio. we're with the firefighters, we're with the middle classers of america. they're only attack by the state legislature. it's now issue 2 on the ballot. i've had a number of people here in columbus tell me, say, you know, ed, if we can't repeal this, if we can't turn this around, what message does this send to other radical governors and voters all across america? some call this the benchmark issue for saving the middle class in this country and sticking up for workers. and i will tell you that senator nina turner has done just that. how is this going to go? thanks for being with us tonight. >> thank you, ed, and thank you for being such a champion. in ohio, we're going to show the rest of this country what we are made of. >> how are the republicans

responding to this pushback? >> they're pretenders, is what they are. and if they had any courage or any guts, they would have made sure that our firefighters and our other public sector workers were at the bargaining table. but you know what they gave them? they made them stay outside the statehouse in the cold. that is exactly what they did to them. >> what do you make of governor kasich, now he wants to talk. now he wants to negotiate, when back in january and february, he said the talking was over. >> the time to talk was then. you know, in the last general assembly, our workers gave back $250 million worth of concessions to balance the budget. you know, when i was growing up, being a firefighter and a teacher and a police officer was noble. they were our heroes. and now they are telling our public sector workers to go to hell. and we don't appreciate that in the state of ohio. we are not going to stand for this in the state of ohio. we won't go back in the state of ohio. >> chris redfern, the democratic party, is this gelling the party in the state, this issue?

because president obama is going to need ohio in 2012. >> absolutely. but this is not about democrats. frankly, it's not about republicans. it's about the men and women behind us. it's about the middle class in this state. and if an independent or a republican with a conscious wants to join us in repealing senate bill 5, voting no on issue 2, let's have at it. >> how much outside influence -- we saw a lot of outside influence in wisconsin. how much will you see in the next 60 days? >> our efforts are supported by the people behind us. their efforts are supported by people like the koch efforts and those folks who don't live in ohio, don't support the middle class in ohio. 1.4 million ohione nesans signe petition, said john kasich is wrong, we put this on the ballot, we're going to win in november. >> senator, what about the governor -- the governor has said that he's concerned about what kind of image this would send to ceos who are thinking about bringing business to ohio. >> that's laughable.

i wish he and some of my republican colleagues showed that same concern when they were cutting billions of dollars from local government funds, billions of dollars from k-12 education, making us less safe. this is about the people, the citizens, the middle class, and i want to say to our fellow ohioans that in our greatest times of need, our firefighters are there. in our greatest times of need, our police officers are there. in our greatest times of need, our teachers are in the classroom teaching our students. they need us now! this is their time of need, right now. vote no >> thank you, senator. state senator, nina turner and chris redfern. when we come back on "the ed show" on msnbc, let's talk to the heroes, the firefighters. stay with us. we'll be right back. have i got a surprise for you! [ barks ] yeah, it's new beneful healthy fiesta. gotta love the protein for muscles-- whoo-hoo!

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let me tell you, folks. let me tell you what this fight is all about and how intense this fight is in this country. tonight, when i open this broadcast here in columbus, ohio, i talked about 9/11, i talked about these heroes. you know what was tweeted out tonight by the ohio state republican communications director? he says christopher maloney, it took ed schultz four seconds to disparage memory of 9/11 firefighters. and it took your governor less than a half a second to be a chicken and not come face me, face to face to talk to the people. this is how this -- this is the intensity that is sweeping across this country when it

comes to middle class workers. it is a political fight, it is an ideological fight, and it's all for the top 2%, protecting the corporate boys and the wealthiest americans in this country, and asking these firefighters, you make too much money. kasich thinks you make too much. he wants to take away your pension, he wants to reduce your health care. he says your wages and your voice is not good for ohio. i don't believe that and i don't think america believes that. we're right back with more on "the ed show" from columbus, ohio. [ oswald ] there's a lot of discussion going on about the development of natural gas, whether it can be done safely and responsibly. at exxonmobil we know the answer is yes. when we design any well, the groundwater's protected by multiple layers of steel and cement. most wells are over a mile and a half deep so there's a tremendous amount of protective rock

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welcome back to "the ed show" in columbus, ohio. let's have the firefighters respond to that tweet by the communications director of the republican party. mark sanders, you're president

of the ohio federation for firefighters. your response to that tweet. this is an attitude being thrown out by the republicans. >> i'll tell you, ed, these are our guys. we remember, we never forget. we know who's with us, and we know who's against us. so i'm not even going to entertain that comment. chief reall, president reall was there. he knows. >> you know, here's what i did sunday, september 11th, 2011. i went around this state, attending memorial services for veterans and for firefighters and recognizing those firefighters on 9/11. you know what the republican party and our opponents did? they showed commercials all day, how bad firefighters are. that shows who disparages the memory of my colleagues and friends. >> what do you think, sir, about this whole fight? >> i think that the republicans have been the party of no. they are out to take our pensions, take everything away from us, and all they want to do is hand it to wall street.

>> that's what they want to do. >> you know, ten years ago, we were the heroes, like chief reall said. today, they look down on us like we're the ones draining the middle class of all the money. you know, i don't see us getting big pay raises, i don't see us getting big bonuses. you know, but the staff up at the capitol building, i just read somewhere they got 33% raises. >> what do you think, sir? >> every day, we do this job, and we think about those who were lost ten years ago. and we're not disparaging them. we're -- we live in their memory every day, doing this job. >> how do you feel about being trade bait at the negotiating table? your health care's too good. >> well, i think it's unfortunate that he would use firefighters and public servants as a divisive tool to hurt the people that needs raised up and needs jobs to make their come up, so they can join us, as opposed to bringing and killing everybody else. >> what do you think, sir? >> the public in ohio is very

perceptive, and i have confidence that they see what the issue is. the general up here and the ladies up here with me, they're public servants. these people are all self-servants. and the public's very well aware of that. and when it comes time, it won't be us saving the public like we do every day. i have confidence that the public will step up and save collective bargaining and save us. >> you know, if the workers are victorious on issue 2 and you get the "no" vote, that doesn't mean you're going to be getting a big raise. that doesn't mean that, all of a sudden, i tell you what, you're going to get that brand-new car, right? you're just trying to hang on to what you've got. >> that's true. my brothers and sisters didn't sit back in these sweaty board rooms in the '80s to fight for our rights just for us to lay down and let them take them all

away. we're going to fight for them. we're going to get this "no" vote out there in november and we're going to fight for our brothers and sisters from this day forward. >> that's right! >> i just want to say, we don't get social security. we don't pay into social security. >> we pay into our pension. >> and they want to cut your pension, right? >> that's correct. >> they want you to put more into it percentage wise, and most of you retire at about $35,000 a year, right? >> correct. >> and without social security. >> without it. >> can i just have a moment of comedy in all of this. they want to cut your health care. most of these firefighters are weight lifters! hell, they're the most healthy guys on the face of the earth! i mean, this is about the best investment you can get when it comes to health care! kasich, you've got a lot to learn, dude, about the working folk of america. stay with us. we're right back on "the ed show." . e kincaids live here.

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dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate. welcome back to "the ed show" live in columbus, ohio. tonight in our survey, i asked, should republicans stop using firefighters as political pawns? 94% of you said yes, 6% of you said no. coming up, i just want to remind the governor, we still have just a few minutes left in the program. we've got a special chair for you, governor. it's right here. governor john kasich, i think they want to talk to you, governor. i think they want to hear what you have to say. come on, governor. come on, governor. come on down here. we've got a seat for you, governor, it's right here. i'll ask you a few tougher questions than what sean hannity would ask, but i'm going to be direct with you, but i'll be very fair and professional. stay with us. we're right back on "the ed show." eat eat called atrial fibrillation, or afib,

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ask your doctor if pradaxa can reduce your risk of a stroke. for more information or help paying for pradaxa, visit pradaxa.com. wait a second... with olay challenge that. new regenerist wrinkle revolution... relaxes the look of wrinkles instantly, and the look of deep wrinkles in 14 days. ready, set, smooth... regenerist. from olay. 08! >> ohio. >> these are americans who only want a chance and a sense of fairness when it comes to their kitchen table issues. they ain't asking for nothing extra. they're just here tonight, telling the rest of the country the middle class is under attack, and they just want to keep what they've got. they just want to keep what

they've earned over the years. i met a firefighter tonight. he lost his eyesight. they want to take his pension. you tell me, i asked you at the beginning of the program, is this what you want, america? is this what your mom and dad wanted you to do for this country? turn against your next-door neighbor because they have health care? or they have a pension? even when you just heard a firefighter say that they don't get social security because they're into the pension fund here. that really pays a pittance compared to what the top 2%ers are going to get. i wish i could -- i said in a promo i need two shows. no, i need about three shows a day. i'll tell you what, and my downfall as a broadcaster is i get emotional and i get hung up, because this is the middle of the country. there are republicans who want to sell the brick and mortar to a foreign country. and they want to take away what these workers have. i ask you tonight, whose side

are you on? 08! >> ohio! >> 08! >> ohio! >> they're going to take it from you if you don't win this vote. >> no, it's about our safety and our people and our unity. >> what's it say about future generations? what's the message? >> that we don't matter. this is an unsafe bill, it attacks safety of our citizens, our communities. it's unfair to the middle class. it affects everybody. you don't have to be a public employee. you don't even have to be in a union. it affects you. >> it affects everybody in this economy working class. you are a teacher, i understand? >> yes, i am. >> what's it going to mean if you don't repeal senate bill 5? >> what it means is they ask us to be competitive in a global society. we can't even get our students out of our classroom. we have textbooks that are outdated, we have technology

that is five, ten years behind. how can we do this if we're being suppressed? if they're telling us that we're no good. how do we tell our kids that they have to be better. we have to be competitive if they're not helping us. instead of helping us -- they should be helping us, but they're not. >> i want to say one thing about teachers, and the great thing about public education and the foundation in this country is that when the doors open, everybody's welcome. >> yeah! >> and this teacher, this teacher, she's not at the grocery store picking the best berries. because when the doors open in public education, the gifted, the challenged, the rich, the poor -- she can't choose who comes in the door. and she is tasked with the job of giving an equal opportunity to every single child. >> that's right! >> they want to change that. they want to change that. we're going to fight them every step of the way. oh