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tv   The Ed Show  MSNBC  September 19, 2011 10:00pm-11:00pm PDT

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for decades. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. we're already hearing the usual defenders of these loopholes saying this is class warfare. i reject the idea that asking the hedge fund manager to pay the tame same taxes as the plumber or teacher is class warfare. >> will his party join him? tonight, congresswoman jan shaun cow ski of illinois, james hoff a jr., and pat rina vandenhoofel. andrew breitbart is caught on tape. we outnumber them. >> eric bowler from media matters is here and in wisconsin, a secret fbi probe is rocking scott walker's administration. john nichols of "the nation" magazine will have the latest and mike. entonoi on and heidi harris battle over what is class warfare.
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>> great to have you with us tonight, folks. drunken sailors and president bush finally, is turowed take them on and make them pick up the tab. the president drew this line in the sand this morning. i loved it! >> i will not support -- i will not support any plan that puts all of the burden for closing our deficit on ordinary american, and i will veto any bill that changes benefits for those who rely on medicare, but does not raise serious revenues by asking the wealthiest americans and corporations to pay their fair share. we are not going to have a one-sided deal that hurts the folks who are most vulnerable. >> you know, this is what should have been said during the lame duck session of the congress,
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but i'll take it now. the president let republicans have what they wanted for the last nine months. you know the bush tax cuts that didn't work. it hasn't create good jobs to their satisfaction. someone needs to pick up the bar tab. fair enough? the president has thrown down the gauntlet, the wealthy have to pay more in this country. >> we can't afford the special lower rates for the wealthy. rates, by the way, that were meant to be temporary back when these first -- these tax cuts, back in 2001, 2003 they were talked about, they were talked as as temporary measures. we can't afford them when we're rining the big deficits. >> a crucial pivot by the president to get more money into the treasury. president obama wants the top point .03% to start paying their fair share. you got that? "the new york times" reported that only 450,000 americans make $1 million or more in this country. can't they do a little bit more
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in republicans are furious. president obama wants shared sacrifice for millionaires and billionaires. republican wonder boy congressman paul ryan of wisconsin jumped on the president's plan on sunday. >> class warfare, chris, may make for really good politics, but it makes for rotten economics. we don't need a system that seeks to divide people. we don't need a system that seeks to prey on people's fear, envy and anxiety. we need a system that creates job and innovation and removes the barriers for entrepreneurs to rehire people. >> same old garbage. the president took direct aim at the class warfare talking point today. >> we're hearing the usual defenders of this loophole saying this is class warfare. i reject the idea that asking a hedge fund manage tore pay the same tax rate as a plumber or teacher is class warfare. i think it's just the right thing to do. i believe the american middle class who have been pressured relentlessly for decades,
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believe it's time that they were fought for as hard as lobbyists and some lawmakers have fought to protect special treatment for billionaires and big corporations. >> it is also predictable. paul ryan and his buddies in the house have used the class warfare talking point for years. are you tired of it? this chart shows who exactly the republicans have staged class warfare against. the middle class and the poor. look at this, over the last 30 years, the top 1% had a 40% jump in wealth, and the top 5% has had an 80% jump. folks, the numbers are what they are. i mean, this is all during the same period. you know, the poor has seen a decrease in wealth. tell me about fairness. republicans, you know what they are? they are absolutely numb to these numbers. john boehner doesn't give a dam about 400,000 manufacturing jobs which have been left and gone out of ohio for those years. he doesn't care about the toledo
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buildings and all of that property that's being sold off to the chinese piece by piece. this should be the concern. the man hammered the president for asking millionaires to serve up a little bit more today. take a look. >> well, i don't believe that class warfare is leadership. and, you know, we can get into this tax the rich, tax the rich, but that is not -- that's not the basis for america. it's not going get our economy going again and it's not going to put people back to work. >> the president went after boehner by name in his speech by name today. president obama said the tiananman, my way or the highway attitude isn't smart. >> so the speaker says we can't have it my way or the highway and basically says my way. or the highway. >> that's not smart. it's not right.
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if we're going meet our responsibilities we have to do it together. >> the president is spot on here. we need to do this together, right? and it's not just republicans who have to get their act together and get onboard. i want you to pay attention to this segment of this, folks, because this is where the rubber meets the road. 16 senate democrats an incumbent independent senator bern sanders is up for re-election in 2012. don't you wonder where claire mccaskill where she needs to be with the president on this one? i think she does. how about ben nelson or bob casey out of pennsylvania? bill nelson out of florida. no senate democrat can hand the republicans a victory on ending the bush tax cuts for the rich and ending the wars. president obama today threw a brick through the window and woke a sleeping giant. his own base, that's who he's waking up today. this is so black and white, it is all about the math.
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>> either we ask the wealthiest americans to pay their fair share in texas or we'll have to ask seniors to pay more for medicare. we can't afford to do both. either we gut education and medical research or we've got to reform the tax codes so that the most profitable corporations have to give up tax loopholes that other companies don't get. we can't afford to do both. this is not class warfare. it's math. >> the numbers clearly show president obama's plan. it's not a liberal idea. not at all. it's what america wants, no question about it. just look at the numbers. over two dozen polls taken this year, 64% of americans want tax increases to be part of any deficit reduction package. democrats need to hammer those numbers home. every democrat needs to go home and give their local tv and radio market just a very simple 20-second sound bite.
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here comes the little koefrping from big eddie here. here's how it ought to sound in your local market. >> i support the president because 98% of the american people will not be obligated to pay more. it's long overdue that we pay for the wars in iraq and afghanistan and not give the break to the top 2%. the wealthiest americans need to pay more. that's where america is. that's where i am. >> it's called, crystal clear radio, "the ed schultz radio show." just go home and say that with conviction in your local market and you'll have people saying, yeah. i agree with you on that. you know, this garbage about you can't raise taxes on the jobs -- it's old stuff. it's down the wash. it's down the drain. liberals have to address the finances of america with straight talk the way the president did today and the 16 democrats and one independent who i'm definitely not worried about, bernie sanders, after re-election will have to step up
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and say we're with you, mr. president. when does the president of the united states get total backing from the senate democrats without parcelling out, but if, but if, what if, what if -- no. this is crystal clear. it's time to have the rubber meet the road and travel hard over the republicans. it's time to tell the top 2% 450,000 millionaires in this country, that's who the republican party is protecting and the corporations. the president said he wants to re-do the tax code. that's what the republicans have been crying about for years. so let's get it on. no, we'll probably have more obstruction. get your cell phones out, and i want to know what you think. tonight's question, will republicans vote for any bill that asked for shared sacrifice from the rich? text a for yes, text b for no to 622639 and you can always go to ed.msnbc.com and we'll bring you the results later in the program.
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joining me tonight is january jan jankowski because she's had on the table for over a year a bill that asks the wealthiest americans to just do a little bit more to straighten out our fiscal house. congresswoman, great to have you with us tonight. >> thank you, ed. >> you bet. i feel like today the president made a turn. is this a turning point? your thoughts. >> no question. the president took the reins today to try to set right when the bush administration did, the three things that really caused the debt and the deficit and that is the tax cuts that he gave to the rich, unpaid for, the two wars that were unpaid for and of course, the great recession that wall street created under his watch. and all three are addressed here, taxing the rich now and paying their fair share and ending the wars and that's $1
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trillion that we'll bring home and the third thing -- the third thing was to create jobs and that is going to stimulate the economy. >> sure. >> all three parts of the deficit are being addressed. >> all of these tax cuts that have been given out to the, quote, job creators has been far short of what they thought it was going to be, but the key now, is it not, coming up in the election year, for the democrats to be on the same page, to collectively say and maybe even go so far as assigning a pledge that it's over for the rich. you've had it for ten years. do you think the democratic party will follow the president on this? >> well, it certainly should. you know, the nerve of them to talk about class warfare when all of the growth and the economy, all of the wealth in the economy has gone to the richest americans and has not been some sort of natural disaster or affect god.
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this has been their policies that have driven the money upward and you've been talking about the destruction of the middle class for a long time, that's the kind of class warfare, the rich won so far. so democrats now who have always been the party to stick up for ordinary americans need now to stand behind our president who has the plan to set us on the right track and bring back this kind of balance when all people do well. if we don't have a robust middle class in this country, ed, you know darn well that our country can't compete in this world. >> you got no disposable income by the middle class. i don't know how your economy is going to be digging out of the ditch, but i will tell you what, this is the president that i supported, and this is the president that i've been waiting for, and you can't fault him for having olive branches coming out of the white house left and right. >> he's done everything he possibly can, so the final question quickly for you tonight, congressman, do you
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think this is a winner for the president? >> do you think this is the beginning of him running against the congress and being victorious? >> yes, i do, and you talked about those polls one after another that says the american people believe that they should be -- that we should be taxing the ones who have benefited most, not the middle class and not our senior citizens and not the poor. i think this is a winner for the president and for the democrats, the 16 democrats you talked about. >> congresswoman jan schakowsky from illinois, thanks so much. now let's bring in the representative of the teamsters, mr. hoffa. good to have you with us tonight. >> thank you. >> you bet. what is the response to the class warfare stuff that the republicans are throwing out there. what would be your off-the-cuff response to that? >> it's more of the same. the minute they start talking about taking the proper tax that rich people should be paying is class warfare, but they've the
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first ones who say the poor people and the workers every day, they should pay more for social security and medicare. so they want to basically balance the budget on the back of working people and the ones that should be doing it according to the polls and according to the president that basically the rich, the multimillionaires and billionaires, so i think it's a great idea and i think i am so proud of the president to finally be standing up. he had to draw a line in the sand. i think he learned a bitter lesson when he had that battle over increasing the debt ceiling because he realized he can't deal with these people. you can't be reasonable with people who do not want to be reasonable and basically he had a bitter lesson and i think this is the reaction. he's saying i have to take these people on, i've got to do the right thing. and you know what? his base is now saying that as far as the teamsters and working people are saying, finally he's speaking out like he should. he's talking about basically making the billionaires and
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millionaires pay their fair share. the equality of sacrifice is what we're talking about. they're paying 15% while someone else with a w-2 is paying 30%. that's not right and we have to start talking about that. he's got the public behind him. he's got to run with his ball and make sure this is the issue that he takes to the congress next year. >> mr. hoffa, when he talks about the corporate tax rate and tax reform, does that concern labor leaders at all about what this could mean for blue-collar workers in this country and wage earners in this country? what about that? >> not at all. we know the biggest corporations don't pay taxes at all or so little tax, like general electric, pfizer, caterpillar. they don't pay taxes and they say the taxes are too high. how can they be too high if they're not paying taxes? to me it's elementary that we have to have a big change in the way we collect taxes in this country.
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we cannot let anybody escape. we can't let people come in like general electric and make billions of dollars and they got a rebate back. can you believe that? they got a $320 million rebate after they didn't pay any taxes and we realize that's not right. basically the idea of someone paying 15%, these billionaires and millionaires paying 15% while working people are paying 30%, that is wrong and that's going to be the issue and finally, the president is speaking out and i applaud him for what he's doing. >> mr. hoffa, good to have you with us tonight. thanks for your time. i appreciate it. >> remember the question is at the bottom of the screen. we want to know what you think. >> it looks like president obama is finally prepared to take this to the republicans. and later, andrew breitbart is attacking public workers. stay tuned. we have shocking videotape to show you. you're watching "the ed show" on msnbc. ..we
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welcome back to "the ed show." just how are millionaires reacting to the possibility of their taxes going up. bill o'reilly was on full alert when it comes to freakouts, whining about how the president wants to raise his taxes. >> if you tax achievement, some of the achievers will pack it in. let's take me. my corporations depend on me to do what i do so they can make a nice salary. if barack obama begins taxings me more than 50% which is very possible, i don't know how much longer i'm going do this. i like my job, but there comes a point when taxation becomes oppressive. >> you know, bill, i just don't know how you're going to make it on that $10 million a year salary. i don't know how you're going to do it, because then you'll be down to 5 million. how the hell are you going to make it, dude? he's mischaracterizing the fact of healthy americans to pay their fair share.
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if the obama tax plan will get bill o'reilly to pack it in, yet another reason to support the obama tax plan, you think? >> you can go to our website and sign the petition to raise taxes on the guy who's looking out for you, bill o'reilly. it's the best thing for america in so many, many ways. coming up, mike. antonio and heidi harris go head to head on this one. stay with us. you're watching "the ed show" on msnbc. ♪ i like dat, all right [ male announcer ] mio. a revolutionary water enhancer. add a little...or a lot. for a drink that's just the way you like it. make it yours. make it mio. is best absorbed in small continuous amounts. only one calcium supplement does that in one daily dose. citracal slow release... continuously releases calcium plus d for the efficient absorption my body needs. citracal.
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for the efficient absorption my body needs. it feels like help is never far away. it feels like you're protected against life's little mishaps. it feels like you'll make it home. that's what it feels like to be a member. >> welcome back to "the ed show," speaking of bill o'reilly having a hard time making it,
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how is warren buffett going to make it? he's not the only one saying rich americans aren't taxed enough. >> be patriotic, go out there and get rich. get so obnoxiously rich that when that tax bill comes, your first thought will be to choke and how a big a check you'll just have to write. your second thought will be what a great problem to have and your third should be a recognition that in paying your taxes you are helping to support millions of americans that are not as fortunate as you. how come nobody on fox thinks that way? folks, it's about fairness and it's something president obama is trying to bring back into the system. >> to solve this problem, everybody, including the wealthiest americans and biggest corporations have to pay their
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fair share. middle class families shouldn't pay higher taxes than millionaires and billionaires. that's pretty straightforward. it's hard to argue against that. >> but, of course, republicans do argue against it. let's bring in the editor and publisher and part owner of the nation magazine, katrina vandenhoover. i think the president turned the corner tonight, but seriously, this is a winning issue. when you have 98% of the american people that are not going to be affected by any kind of a tax increase, is president obama finally ready to make it and take it to the republicans? >> it seems that way. he is drawing the right fights and sticking the right fights and setting up the debate for 2012. listen, he can run against the party of millionaires and billionaires. he has the vast support, the majority of americans are on his side and i think what we're seeing is the president looking ahead to 2012 and understanding that he needs people, people
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power, at his back because progressives and citizens of conscience and enlightened economic patriots, patriotic millionaires have said we need to redirect the course of this country. we need progressive taxation and we need to protect the very programs that have made this a great country, and i think he's got a name for his program. fair share. it's fair share time, ed, in america, and let's fight for that. >> you know, this president has had a habit of shying away from political fights. has he turned the corner? is this going to be a different 13 months for this administration and this president from here on out? what do you think? >> it better be because this election coming up, the president has too often ceded territory to conservatives, ed. i think the reactionary extremists in this country should have shamed those true conservatives who have always stood for something a little better than this tea party and these extremists.
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so i think the president now understands he needs to fight, but it's bigger than that and we're at a crossroads in this country and it's a crossroads for the democratic party. if he wants to stand for core convicts that has made it the party of working people. supporting the most vulnerable, justice, fairness in terms of the economic programs in this country, this is the moment. do you know, ed, that in tahrir square when we saw people protesting this past year that inequality in america is greater than inequality in egypt? we can do better. this is a very rich country and fair share is what it should be about and, ed, when we talk about shared sacrifice it's kind of an afront because when you think about it most people have been shafted in these last 20, 30 years. it's time to reset the course of our politics and if the president steps up, i think real reform in this country has come about with an enlightened president in coalition with
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energized people, with movements and that's what i think we have to look at now looking ahead. >> the dynamic here will be very interesting. can the president energize people that supported him in 2008? because i think it's fair to say that it will be awfully tough for the job market to get better between now and the next election because the republicans will obstruct everything. road kill just about everything we put out there, and so the president will have to continually make this case that, look, 98% of the american people are going to get hit and we have to have a shared sacrifice. >> he's got to show who's -- he's got to show the contrast and he has to show that this is a grand old obstructionist party. he's got to come forward and be clear and stay on message and talk -- talk clearly about the foundations of a new economy and sell what he's done and what he plans to, do but there's a feisty populism of the best kind that we're hearing from him, and that's important at this stage in this country's history
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sometimes. >> i hope he turned the corner today. >> you have to stay behind him, ed. >> i am behind the president. >> but we have to keep pushing him. you do. >> that hasn't been my problem. no problem, i know. we don't have that problem, but a lot of people need to push him. >> katrina, thank you so much. coming up, millionaire john fleming whines about only making $400,000 from his ups businesses. and wisconsin governor scott walker claims he doesn't know anything about the fbi raid on the home of one of his former top aides. we'll find out what's really going down with the nation's magazine reporter john nichols. stay with us. [ oswald ] there's a lot of discussion going on about the development of natural gas,
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>> and in "psycho talk" tonight, john phlegming of louisiana, he joins the rest his party in beating the class warfare drum. the multimillionaire business owner says he can't afford a tax increase. no way. earlier today on this network fleming addressed a report saying he made $6.3 million last year from subway and ups franchises that he owns. >> that's before you pay 500 employees, you pay rent and you pay equipment and food. the actual net income of that was only a mere fraction of that amount. the amount that i have to
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reinvest in my business and feed my family is more like 600,000 of that $6.3 million and so by the time i feed my family i have, you know, maybe 400,000 left over to invest in new locations, upgrade my locations, buy more equipment. >> what? folks, i want to know what this guy's eating if he spends $200,000 feeding his family. let's see, quick math here. that's 16 grand a month. that's 4 grand a week. chris christie doesn't even spend that much on food. what is he eating? >> if fleming cut back on his food budget he could find a single mom that's feeding a couple of kids while working on minimum wage. if it's so bad to only have $400,000 left over, maybe it's time fleming started thinking about turning his subway stores and his ups stores who can do it
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in a better fashion and he'll be able to keep his high-rolling eating habits, couldn't he? as of 2009, this congressman, his net work was somewhere between $2. and $16.8 million, putting him, my friends, among the highest 10% of members in the house of representatives when it comes to wealth. congressman, there's no doubt americans hate taxes, but what they really hate is a wealthy whiner. so for congress fleming to whine about only having 400 grand to play with is unbelievably known as elitist psycho talk. coming up later in the show, mike papantonio and heidi harris will have to say on the president's plan and he weighs in on that. that's next. you're watching "the ed show" on msnbc. stay with us.
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>> welcome back to "the ed show" and thanks for watching tonight. this is the comment here and this is one of the most outrageous things i think i've ever heard. we outnumber them and we have the guns. that's a direct quote. that was right wing commentator andrew breitbart is what he told a massachusetts tea party group of people about their advantage over progressives. breitbart suggested that literal armed combat is the best way to go. >> and so there are times where i'm not thinking as clearly as i should and in those unclear moments i always think to myself, fire the first shot, bring it on because i know who is on our saturday and they know that. they can only win a rhetoricalal and propaganda war. we outnumber them in this
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country and we have the guns. i'm not kidding. they talk a mean game, but they will not cross that line because they know what they're dealing with, and i have people who come up to me in the military, and major named people in the military who grab me and say thank you for what you're doing. we've got your back. >> joining me now is eric boehlert senior fellow at media matters with us here on "the ed show." eric, good to have you with us. the key sound bite was clarification that says i'm not kidding. is this for real? what do you make of this? >> the stipulation is these clips that were put online. we haven't seen one long clip, but i'm told nothing has been edited out and there's been no pushback from breitbart saying this was inaccurate. this is right-wing paranoid fantasy at its worst and it's encitement, somehow that nurses
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and teachers and firefighters are going to take to the streets with guns, i mean, it's very dangerous and it's very much out of the glenn beck playbook. i hope he has room in his bunker of doom for andrew breitbart because he's playing the same dangerous game and the three and four-star generals that are dispatching troops at breitbart's home when the civil war starts? give me a break. >> breitbart also zeroed in on another target. i want to play another clip for you. here it is. >> they are bullies on the playground and they're starting to realize what if we were to fight back? what if we were to slap back? these unions -- and the these public sector union thugs. i'm just waiting. bring it on. i am sick of it. i am sick of the trumka guy. i'm sick of the sweeney guy and i'm sick of them going to people's homes, execs tifrs'
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homes and so -- there's just a part of me that wants them to walk over that line. >> can we now label andrew breitbart a true revolutionary with a platform? a guy that's on fox news whenever fox wants to go after somebody? this is a guy that called me out for the rick perry black cloud comment which, of course, we corrected the following night because there was an editing error and we admitted to that on this program, i mean, but, this guy has a platform, eric. >> yeah. >> he's on fox a lot and this guy, is he now a revolutionary? >> we can label him wildly irresponsible. these are the people that show up with loaded guns and show up with swastika and nazi posters and they denigrate the president at every possible way and they use incredibly violent language
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and now they're telling us that the liberals are the ones that pose a threat to this country? he's on fox news and also in the mainstream media and it's time for the mainstream press to just see him for what he is as being incredibly irresponsible. this notion that union workers in america are posing a physical threat to this country, it's crazy and it's off the reservation and he ought to apologize, but he never will. >> eric boehlert, media matters, thanks to have you with us. >> to watch breitbart's comments in full, go to our website at ed.msnbc.com. and a playbook that involves former top aides to wisconsin scott walker. john nichols, he always has the story when it comes to the fate. that's next. my doctor told me calcium
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rollins revealing the republican presidential hopeful doesn't have enough cash to get past the first caucus and it's no wonder donors aren't so eager to open up their walls. the minnesota congresswoman seemed caught off guard when "tonight show" host jay leno asked her to explain why the bachmann family clinic reportedly offers so-called repair tiff therapy. >> that whole pray the gay away thing, i don't get that. >> well, see, i think -- when i heard that i really thought it was like a kind of a mid-life crisis, a pray the gray away, that's what i thought it was. >> you know what i'm saying. when i was a kid, they used to try to teach me to be right-handed and left-handed is a sign of devil. >> the whole thing is the clinic, whatever issue anyone has we don't discriminate. if they come into our clinic and someone has an issue our theer pifts deal with whatever the issues are.
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>> and leno also asked bachmann about afghanistan, the debt ceiling and to explain why she chose to tell a story that linked hpv to meantsal retardation. >> i wasn't speaking as a doctor or a scientist. i was just relating what this woman said. >> she was surprised that leno asked her about current events. we had had a pre-show interview and that warrant at all what i was told we were going to be talking about, and i was very surprised. >> oh, michele, you've got to be ready for those tough curveballs if you'll run for the presidency. >> coming up, john nichols on an fbi investigation of governor scott walker's former aide. that's next. stay with us. s. today i own 165 wendy's restaurants. and i get my financing from ge capital. but i also get stuff that goes way beyond banking. we not only lend people money, we help them save it. [ junior ] ge engineers found ways to cut my energy use. [ cheryl ] more efficient lighting helps junior stay open later...
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>> and in our playbook tonight, fbi investigation reportedly involving former top aides to wisconsin governor scott walker is heating up. the sentinel reports it was part of a secret john doe
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investigation looking into whether county employees were doing political work for walk or the taxpayer's dime when he was milwaukee county executive. >> he said he didn't know anything about the fbi raid beyond what was reported in the media, but his campaign just happens to have hired representation, a former u.s. attorney who has experience dealing with fbi investigations. how strange! john nichols, washington correspondent and "the nation" magazine. you have the story live from madison. what's going on here in you say you've known governor walker for 20 years, is it in his personality not to know what the heck is going on? >> it is absolutely not in his personality. in fact, it's funny, right before we came on tonight, some of the crew here in madison in the studio were saying, you know, can you believe that? walker's saying he doesn't know about this?
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that doesn't sound like walker. everyone in the state knows our governor to be a political junkie. pect of the political operation and the governing eration. it's the one thing you can't criticize him on. he's very engaged and what's significant here, ed, is that the woman whose house was raided, cynthia archer was his top political point person when he served as milwaukee county executive and when he moved to the governorship he put her in as a top political appointee in the key agency dealing with his budget and his budget repair bill. she was the point person on security for the capital. her name is all over e-mails talking about how to lockdown the capital and talking about what to do with the protests. so the notion that he is not engaged with what's happening to her isn't aware of what's going on with her in this investigation, it just seems
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beyond the pail. >> how are democrats in the state responding to this? leched officials, democrats, if cynthia archer did work on the taxpayer's time for his political engine and she was very involved in writing the anti-union bill, the union-busting bill, why aren't they talking about impeachment? why aren't the democrats going full force after this? >> i think people are just kind of karching up with what all's happened. this was a secret investigation. it's in just the last fee days blown out into something very public. people have become aware that it isn't just cynthia archer who still works for the state, by the way, they found her another $100,000 a year job, but also two other former aides to governor walker have had their computers seized and it looks like this investigation is going to continue to grow. you are hearing democrats start to say that this has got to be looked into and the key thing they're focusing on and i think
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it's an important one is the fact that this governor expanded the number of political appointments that he can make to put his cronies into jobs all overstate government when he came in as part of that budget repair bill and this woman cynthia archer was put into one of the political jobs and there's a move to get rid of the political appointments to move back to civil service, but i think you're right, ed, ultimately this will move to a much more intense conversation, focused on a core question, what did the governor know and when did he know it? >> and the fbi, of course, doesn't have time to waste any of their time. where there's smoke there's fire. great to have you on, buddy. thanks so much. the republicans say the president is waging class warfare. heidi harris and mike papantonio might have something to say on "the ed show." stay with us. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro.
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>> ed show survey tonight. i asked will republicans vote for any bill that asks for shared sacrifice from the rich? 2% of you said yes. 98% of you said no. isn't it interesting how it went down to that number. 98% of the people wouldn't be affected. up next, mike papantonio and what heidi harris has to say and bill o'reilly saying he might pack it in if the taxes go up. ♪ [ male announcer ] you like who you are... the man you've become.
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welcome back to "the ed show," republicans whine about class warfare every time they're asked for share sacrifice. 98% of the american people will not -- will not see a tax increase in this deal and the rich have had the best 30 years in american history. the battle lines are drawn, and my bet is on president obama this time around. and of course, bill o'reilly is very upset that his taxes might go up so he says he might pack it in if his taxes go up. we're asking all of you to go to our website, ed.msnbc.com and have him raise taxes so he'll pack it in. along with heidi harris, two great radio talkers always with an opinion. how is asking the top .03% for a modest tax increase, how is that class war pair. >> it's class warfare because people who are more fortunate, why should they pay more money,
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a higher percentage of their money? we should all pay exactly the same percentage whatever that is. a lot of people don't pay income taxes because they get the earned income tax credit. how is that fair to me? and i don't want you, ed schulz, to pay a larger percentage of your income. it's not fair. >> mike. an tanio, what's class warfare? >> this has been a class massacre and the millionaires and billionaires have won. it's over. all of this is an attempt to have americans and the middle class and the poor from digging themselves out of the rubble left by the republicans. this isn't tax warfare. it's a massacre. president obama understands that this idea of republican-shared sacrifice is just a continuation of the story. the republican idea of shared sacrifice is this, ed. it's where less .1 of 1% control 46 trillion of american's
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wealth. it's where the bottom 50% of americans control a pitiful 2.5% of american wealth. that's heidi's america. it's an america right now where we have an american worker making every $1 for every $500. >> that's heidi's america. >> two questions and nobody can answer on your show -- >> the class massacre. >> no, no, no. two questions that mike papantonio can't answer. number one, how much money is fair? fair share? give me a number and a percentage? nobody can answer that and where does that money go to make everything all better? no one i've ever talked to can answer those questions and until you do, yr you putting your hands on the millionaires' money? it doesn't make sense to me. >> for ten years republicans have been predators on the american middle class and the poor have been their prey.
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>> i asked you the number. fair share. give me a number. >> when it comes to shared sacrifice we all know as americans that all it is is a talking point for republicans to make us believe they've done something for us in this trickledown myth that you talk -- >> what's a fair share? how much should ed schultz pay? give me a number. >> here's the answer. here's the answer. a fair share is when we can pay for social security, we can pay for medicare and we can pay for medicaid. >> we can take care of the elderly in this country rather than put them away from old dinosaurs and that's your america, heidi. >> you know that, there was money in the fund and they've raided the social security so-called trust fund. we can pay for that. they haven't stolen it. >> let me ask this -- heidi, i would love to answer your question if i can quickly. it's a judgement call. you could look at the graphs that we've shown on the program
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as to where the income has gone over the last 30 years and what the disposable income has been for the middle class in this country. it is a judgement call. it's hard for anybody to say this is the number. >> right. >> the wealthy have an opportunity to turn this treasury around if they would be so unselfish for a few years and after we get our house in order, maybe they could get a tax cut. finally, mike papantonio, i want to ask you, is this a winning issue for the president? has he turned the corner? >> it is down and the game is on. this is not a dress rehearsal right now. this is what he needs to talk about all of the way up to election. it's a winning issue, we now know in america who is on the side of the working people. >> oh, please. >> game's over, baby. game's over. >> you wrote a book about a cocktail waitress and maybe you can tell us what a good tip is. we'll have that next time you're on. you have to give at least $1 if you want to see her again. good to have you with us again. mike papantonio, and heidi harris. good sports all of the time. that's "the ed show."