presidency promises a grotesquery to make the hardened of us avert our glance in embarrassment and sadness for our republic. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "the ed show" with ed schultz starts right now. good evening, americans. welcome to "the ed show" tonight from new york. herman cain's campaign is on life support and more and more republicans hate mitt romney. and a serial cheater and freddie mac historian is on the rise. the republican field, can we come to the conclusion this it is a complete circus? i love it. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> 9-9-9. doing fine. >> herman cain is reassessing his campaign. newt gingrich is licking his chops. mitt romney is having his worst week yet. sam stein of the "huffington post" and professor michael eric dyson will assess the damage the pizza man did to the republican party. republicans refuse to budge on increasing your taxes.

while they protect the super rich in this country. tonight, all the major developments on the payroll tax fight with ohio senator sherrod brown. and he put his life on the line for america in iraq and was struck down during the occupy oakland protest. >> [ bleep ]. >> tonight, scott olson joins me exclusively for his first live television interview since leaving the hospital. good to have you with us tonight, folks. the strange candidacy of herman cain is on borrowed time. cain told senior staff today he is reassessing his campaign. this is the wake of an atlanta woman alleging a 13-year affair with cain. cain has denied the allegations of ginger white who has been smeared by conservative websites. today, her attorney said she has no reason to lie. >> these are embarrassing facts. a woman isn't going to come out

and say something this embarrassing if it's not true. it's embarrassing to her. that's what people don't think about. it's not something she's particularly proud of. as she said herself, it was inappropriate. and so i don't think she would come out and say this if it wasn't the truth. >> the allegations are serious enough to make cain tell his senior staff he's deciding over the next several days whether he will stay in the race. his campaign canceled an upcoming private dinner in new york set up by gossip columnist cindy adams with guests like barbara walters and matt lauer. in public today, cain put on a happy face. >> mr. cain, do you have any, any idea of whether or not you'll be continuing on with your campaign? >> 9-9-9. 9-9-9. doing fine. >> just another day in 9-9-9. if this is the end of herman cain's candidacy, it will mark the end of a very strange couple of months for the republican

party. it was only the end of september when cain began to establish serious momentum after the florida straw poll. >> tonight's winner, with 986 votes, 37.1%, herman cain. >> ah, the good old days. pretty soon cain took the lead in the national polls and was tied with mitt romney for the lead in iowa. "politico" published a report at the end of october with two women accusing cain of sexual harassment. the report actually boosted cain's standing or at least his bank account. during his conference call with staff today, cain said "our supporters and even some folks that we didn't have as supporters, they stood with us and they showed it not only in terms of their verbal support, they showed it in terms of their dollars." so what happens now? fund-raising reports from november 10th show the cain campaign raised $9 million since october 1st.

25% of those funds came in the ten days after the harassment allegations were brought to life. more than $2 million in cash. don't forget, taxpayers, by the way, are also kicking in money into the cain campaign. his secret service detail is paid for by you and me. none of this hurt cain's candidacy. his supporters wouldn't hear of it. >> in recent days, we have learned that four different women have accused you of inappropriate behavior. here we're focusing on character and on judgment. you've been a ceo. >> yes. >> well, the right wing attack machine, they really had no problem discrediting the allegations against herman cain and defending him from questions about his past. >> isn't it possible that herman cain is just an innocent, honest guy trying to answer these questions as best he can with the limited knowledge that he's got? >> if you have information about herman cain, this has gone on for two weeks. it's hurting his candidacy and

if you have facts and information, don't you think it's fair to bring it out right now? >> that's why our blacks are so much better than their blacks. >> it's funny how the talking heads are not defending herman cain today. i think rush took the day off. somebody else was doing his show. the game is over. the republican party finally realized the shameful truth that herman cain is a con man, he's a huckster. he tricked an entire political party into propping him up as a tea party friendly anti-obama candidate, would say anything, make fun of everything else but his 9-9-9 plan. he fooled the regular folks into giving him their hard-earned dollars. and he made a mockery of our democratic process. when does he get out? well, i think the calculation right now is just how much more can he milk the media for exposure? he may be mopping up his reputation as best he possibly can at this point, not even thinking about the nomination. because, you know, there's the rubber chicken circuit. you got to get out and give speeches and make a ton of money. that's coming down the road, right? get your cell phones out.

i want to know what you think. tonight' question, did herman cain ever have a chance at the gop nomination? text "a" for yes, text "b" for no to 622639. you can always go to our blog at ed.msnbc.com and bring you the result the later on in the show. joining us, michael eric dyson, msnbc political analyst and professor at georgetown university and author of the book "can you hear me now." and sam stein, political reporter for "the huffington post." gentlemen, good to have you with us tonight. sam, let's start with you. reassessing the campaign. in political talk, that means we're not going to be around here much longer but let's see what we can make of it. is this just putting up the flag pole and seeing which way it blows with the public? what do you make of it? >> it certainly seems like that. we have to keep in mind the context of this. this was a presidential campaign that was supposed to be a book tour, a national book tour to establish cain's national celebrity, in fact. and so now that it's gone

terribly awry and now that personal questions have been raised, there's really no point, necessarily, in herman cain staying in the race. the whole point was for him to establish better credentials. when you start reassessing these things and when more and more people come forward, yeah, i think you don't say you're reassessing unless you're considering leaving. >> he fooled a lot of people. he's not out of the race yet. maybe a political miracle can take place, i doubt it. even the guy who put together his 9-9-9 plan said it wasn't that good. how did he manage to trick so many people? >> there was a desperation among the republicans to find a figure who could counter the obama factor, so to speak. when you saw the ann coulter quote there, "our blacks are better than their blacks." herman cain was the better black to obama's worse black. but the reality is he fulfilled the stereotypes of what authentic blackness was about. after all, he said, look, i'm the black guy who has the slave

experience, i'm not from hawaii, i'm going to be the better assertion of blackness in the republican party, i'm going to win more votes than anybody among black people since eisenhower, so they rode this dark horse, so to speak, into the future thinking that herman cain could deliver and what he's ended up delivering, of course, is a bunch of mess and chaos that has really upended his campaign, perhaps. >> go ahead, sam. >> there's also, i mean, let's not dismiss the fact there was a story to herman cain that really appealed to conservatives. he was a self-made businessman, he was espoused in very conservative policies. he established himself in college as this up and comer and had taken over businesses and done fairly decent with them and all those things appealed to the conservative because but it was also so very shallow. once you started digging a little bit below the surface, as reporters do, as soon as his character issues arose, it was always a very soft 30 or so percent of support he had and it

was bound to go as soon as there was problems. >> i think the quest for that story, itself, is a shallow approach to a broader political landscape. so to speak. so, yeah, i think sam is absolutely right that they wanted that story, that narrative thrust. that trajectory was going to be circumvented by a couple things, first of all, that herman cain wasn't that deep and secondly, he dismissed the necessity to have the experience the president needed like uzbekistan or whatever that is, and to dismiss the need for foreign policy information, i'll leave it up to my generals. pretty quickly it became apparent herman cain wasn't ready for primetime. >> gentlemen, no pun intended here, but there's no godfather of the republican party that would step up and say, dude, you got to step out, you're hurting the brand. i mean, it's just drip, drip, drip. what about that, sam? >> well, i think you're starting to see that happen more and more. we had a piece up today about republicans beginning to say, listen, the tar that's coming here is on the party at large, not just on the cain candidacy. but i think you're right, ed. i mean, where are the people who are going to say, enough's

enough? i have my suspicions that the first story about the accusations was probably planted by one of those party elders because they wanted -- or they understood cain's candidacy was very soft. >> does that matter? i mean, you have a line of women that are coming out with accusations. this is the answer that cain gave yesterday about possible future allegations. >> you go through life and you believe that you have some people that are friends and when someone that appears to be a friend turns around and concocts this story, you got the question the hundreds of thousands of people i have met in my life, 100,000 people could possibly come out. do i know of any that might come out? not off the top of my head. >> michael, it's entertainment at this point. is he a serial liar? what do you think? >> i don't know, ed. it might be the leaning tower of pizza. >> ah, no. >> look, it's all baloney. whatever food group you want to appeal to her, i think it's

pretty apparent that herman cain is in a fix here and, of course, newt gingrich is in no better position, no superior, morally, position, to reprimand him, but at the same time, i think what's interesting here is newt's philosophy is get all your stuff out, put it on the table, let it be transparent. you have to celebrate that. i think in herman cain's case, as with many republicans and many conservatives, there is the ha veneer of a moral perfectionism but it's undercut by all of our humanity because none of us can measure up to that. >> not to pass personal judgment, but the man wants to be president of the united states, he has to be honest and truthful with the taxpayers. what newt gingrich has gone through and the way he's handled it and the way herman cain has done it is two totally different train wrecks here. >> let me expand on that for a second. you could theoretically say, listen, this relationship, the latest one was a consensual one and it's a private matter and i don't want to talk about it. ed, you're right, if you want to be president you have to be upfront and honest.

at this juncture it's an open question if he has those characterist characteristics. >> as the characters said when bill clinton was in, that character counts. it seems to me whether it's private or not, he is cheating and doing something deceitful on someone who he's supposedly more committed to than anybody. >> the economy can be made, for instance -- you could say this has really no bearing necessarily on how he could handle the job as president. you're right, in a republican primary context, that's not going to fly because it is the party's composed of religious conservatives who wouldn't want that. >> why do we measure character in regard to these private matters? public morality is just as critical and the problem with the republicans is they have quarantined concern about morality to the shape of a bad or one's own personal life as opposed to the public disposition or public nature of the judgments you made. you decide to do things and commit war and bomb people and a whole bunch of things, those are

character issues as well. >> it is huge. i think it's huge. everybody has to render judgment on whether they think it's a big deal or not. the republicans need to do it right now. the party that has always said they're all about family values. got to ask you this, gentlemen, before we go. he steps out, who benefits. sam? >> clearly i think gingrich is the one who benefits. obviously there's been a good chunk, maybe 70% of the party who isn't willing to commit to mitt romney. as soon as the non-romney candidates did l down a lit bit, the one last standing is going to win. that's gingrich. keep in mind there's a chance jon huntsman can make a run at this thing but his votes are going to come primarily from people who would consider mitt romney as a candidate. >> he's dry toast but he's a smart guy. michael, who gains when cain tips over in this race? >> it's a seussian nightmare for herman cain. the guy who stole christmas is here. there's no question that newt gingrich benefitses from this.

because he's been straightforward about his own peccadillos and downfalls, he accrues a kind of moral authority in inverse proportion because he's not trying to diss anybody but at the same time his own funkiness is out there. >> he's saying i've been there, done that, i know not to comment on. michael eric diszen, sam stein, good to have you on. answer tonight's question at the bottom of the screen and share your thoughts on twitter with #edshow. we'll be featuring your tweets throughout the show tonight. got a lot of response on that last night. coming up, newt gingrich could be the new republican front-runner, so republicans, well, they're going to have to forgive him for things like global warming. that ad he did with speaker nancy pelosi. who's going to forget that? not me. later, republicans are hedging on a tax cut that would put $1,500 in the pockets of middle class americans because the richest 2% of this country is really what the republicans

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coming up, as newt gingrich takes the lead in the polls, he's back tracking on a host of issues. radio host steve dice of iowa and democratic strategist krystal ball on newt's search and if mitt romney can regain the top spot. in "psycho talk," john kasich, my friend from ohio, avoids his bad press by not reading the newspaper. americanairlines files for bankruptcy protection to reorganize, but it's the workers who will bear most of the burden. i'll have a commentary. later an "ed show" exclusive. scott olson, the iraq war veteran injured at occupy oakland last month is out of the hospital and he's speaking out live on television on this show for the first time. and we want to hear from you. tweet us with #edshow. we'll feature your comments throughout the show there at the bottom of the screen. s too long. how do we get people to chew another piece?

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welcome back to "the ed show." thanks for watching tonight. let's talk about newt. newt, welcome to the front-runner status. six national polls have you ahead of mitt romney. the latest poll in both iowa and south carolina have you, newt, in the lead. so your back peddling is now in high gear. this was gingrich in a 2008 ad with then-speaker nancy pelosi on global warming. >> we don't always see eye to eye, do we, newt? >> no, but we do agree, our country must take action to address climate change. >> did he say agree?

that's a problem. here's gingrich telling o'reilly, it was a mistake. >> well, i've said it's one of the dumbest things i've done in recent years. i actively oppose cap and trade. i testified against it the same day al gore testified for it, but the commercial was just a mistake. >> you want me to give you the real script? you do not sit next to nancy pelosi and try to get the republican nomination at any time. gingrich has supported a health insurance individual mandate. as far back as 1993 when he was speaker. and in 2005 in a forum on health care with senator hillary clinton, he said this -- >> and so i'm actually in favor of finding a way to say, whatever the appropriate income level is, you ought to have either health insurance or you ought to post a bond. >> but here's gingrich explaining to the new hampshire "union leader" why he now thinks

an individual mandate is unconstitutional. >> a congress which can compel you to do something like that could compel you to do anything. what's the limit to congress' power to dictate your life. >> can this guy get the nomination after sitting next to nancy pelosi and working with hillary clinton? wait, it gets better. in the same 2005 health care forum, the newtster supported a transfer of wealth. >> the right has to decide that some aspects of the working poor has to involve transfer of finances. to ask people in the lowest paying jobs to bear the full burden of their health insurance is irrational. it's not going to happen. >> you mean that graph i've been putting up for weeks on end, newt's down there with the folks on the blue line? i doubt it. i guess you'd have to say ooops, that ain't going to fly in today's republican party. so here's newt calling on

president obama to repudiate the so-called class warfare. >> i repudiate, and i call on the president to repudiate, the concept of the 99% and the 1%. it's un-american. it's divisive. it is historically false. >> so how in the heck is this all going to play out in iowa? let's bring in radio talk show host steve daice and democratic strategist krystal ball. steve, i want to know, start with you, you had a focus group there in iowa with evangelical questions. tell us about it. what happened? >> well, it means herman cain if our evangelical focus group is indicative of where evangelicals in iowa are in mass, herman cain and rick perry are toast. i think they would prefer to see more assertiveness from rick santorum and michele bachmann who they view as closer of their own. they're intrigued by gingrich's brilliance but also leery of whether or not they can trust

him and he still has that case to make. >> krystal ball, can they be enamored with all the flip-flopping newt has been doing and cozying up to nancy pelosi and hillary clinton on issues? how's that going to work? >> well, i have to say, i mean, i do think newt gingrich's flip-flopping has been a bit more convincing than mitt romney. it's a low bar. and i think he's handled this actually quite well by putting it all out there on his website saying, here it is, here are the attacks you're going to hear, here's my response. he got out in front of it. let's be honest. newt gingrich is someone of a known quantity, so there's plenty for iowa voters not to like about him. they just have to decide, are they that desperate to have a mitt romney alternative that they're willing to overlook newt gingrich's past with sitting on a couch with nancy pelosi? >> steve, this is going to come down to evangelical christians deciding in iowa if newt gingrich is good enough for them. and i know that the percentage of evangelical christians that go to these caucuses is is very

high. so how is this going to play out? is gingrich, is he in the lead in iowa, in your opinion, from what you hear? >> i think gingrich is in the lead in iowa from a mind share perspective. his organization still trails behind where michele bachmann, rick santorum, or even ron paul who has the best organization in the state. he pales in comparison organizationally to them. as my counterpart here said, he's such a known figure. he doesn't need the organization rick santorum needs. i mean, he can generate either buzz or negativity organically by being newt gingrich. he needs a better organization but he doesn't need the monumental ground game that some of the other candidates need. >> you know, krystal, if the evangelical christians are so protrudent in the caucus process, it's different when it's a caucus, why wouldn't michele bachmann or rick santorum have a good showing in iowa after as much time as they've spent there and how they

are aligned with them ideologically and as far as faith is concerned? what about that? >> it's really interesting this year because the candidates who have spent sort of the least time on the ground, doing the least groundwork and traditional organizing, the ones who have been sort of selling their books have done the best. this primary's been so interesting because the debates have really mattered and have really set the tone. so i think voters in iowa -- >> i can answer that. >> go ahead, because i was going to say, voters in iowa are looking for a basic level of electability that i think they're not seeing in michele bachmann and rick santorum. >> what about that, steve? >> i can answer what krystal just said. this is the familiarity breeds contempt primary. what is happening, the less voters see of candidates, the more they like. the reason why is because republican primary voters, especially conservatives are looking for is a champion. they do not want somebody who dodges "the ed schultz show." they want somebody who comes on

here, fights, plays offense and convince people the values in the political party -- >> that would be rick santorum because he's the only one who's been on here. early on herman cain was here. rick santorum got on here and talked about manufacturing and creating jobs. look, you have to face it. the republican candidates go to fox news. they go to safe haven. they don't want any confrontation whatsoever. >> it's hurting them. >> why is it hurting them? >> it's hurting them, ed, because a lot of republican primary voters, and this is not a knock on fox news, but in general, a lot of republican primary voters are afraid their way of life is at stake. they want someone who will fight for their value system. seeing all these campaigns up close, you know, i would not want to root for people to be unemployed in a bad economy like this. i will tell you this, i take every single one of the consultants for every single one of the republican candidates and i'd fire them tomorrow. they've done a huge disservice to a lot of these candidates.

they've taught them it's all about playing defense. they're all playing the prevent offense. the one thing our focus group told us last night they are tired of, they're tired of hearing like pundits like you talk about how no conservative has laid a glove on mitt romney. they want someone to lay a glove on mitt romney. they feel like if you won't stand up for mitt romney when it's in your best interests then you won't stand up for the ed schultz of the world when it's in our interest. >> the reason no one has laid a glove on mitt is because mitt's support is basically stable at 20% and they're fighting to be that anti-mitt alternative. if this truly turns into a choice between "a" being mitt romney and "b" being another candidate, mitt romney cannot win in that scenario. >> i agree with that. >> to the point of steve is saying, most voters aren't looking at where are they on this issue and that issue? they're basing it on a gut instinctive level. do i trust this person? do i think they understand what i'm going through and are they going to fight for me? i think they're seeing the

fighter in newt gingrich. >> a wise old conservative told me today on my radio show, richard viguerie, that one of three people is going to be the next president of the united states. it's either going to be barack obama, it's either going to be newt goiingrich or the former governor of massachusetts who can't get above the 20% level. steve, krystal, great to have you with us tonight. appreciate the conversation. comings up, we found someone who can learn something from sarah palin. it's the highly unpopular governor of ohio. john kasich, he's in the zone next. later, americanairlines files for bankruptcy. what does that mean for the workforce? nothing good. stay tuned. i've got commentary on that.

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and in "psycho talk" tonight, ohio governor john kasich. shows just how little he cares about his own state. >> should know i don't read newspapers in the state of ohio. very rarely do i read a newspaper because just like i think that presidents have done in the past, rodie in reading n does not give you an uplifting experience. from time to time, people will send me articles and things i need to know about. i have found my life is better if i don't get aggravated by what i read in the newspaper. >> john kasich should stop worrying about making his own life better and start worrying about making a life better for other folks in ohio. here are a few headlines from

ohio papers the governor could have benefited from reading. "cleveland rally assails kasich in senate bill 5. "i like that one. "governor kasich is trying to cut too much from local government too quickly." that's a dandy. "poll shows that ohioans see senate bill 5 as egregious overreach." that's my favorite. if kasich glanced at some of the articles, maybe he realized how completely out of touch he was. the one paper i wish he would have picked up is this one from the morning after senate bill 5 was defeated by over 20 points. unions get revenge. does it get better than that? if kasich wants to avoid more headlines like that, he should learn a liessen from the sarah palin school of journalism. >> what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read? >> i've read most of them, again, with a great appreciation for the press, for the media. >> what ones specifically? i'm curious. >> all of them. any of them that have been in front of me over all these years. >> oh, yeah. sarah reads all of the

newspapers. we can tell by her interviews. maybe john kasich can actually learn from something from the half term former governor of alaska. because saying that you don't read the newspaper because it's not uplifting is selfish "psycho talk." republicans say they'll support an extension of the payroll tax cut, but they aren't saying how they'll pay for it. senator sherrod brown of ohio is next. he reads the paper. and one month ago, a peaceful occupy oakland protest turned violent when police used tear gas, rubber bullets and other projectiles to evict the crowd. the iraq vet who suffered a fractured skull joins me for his first live television interview since his injury. ♪

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skblnchs welcome back to "the ed show." this holiday season families in america will spend on average $700 a piece per family. what would you do with an extra $1,500? well, if the republicans had

their way, the answer to that question would be nothing. because you and your family wouldn't get that money in the first place. i'm talking about the payroll tax cut. this week senate democrats proposed an extension that would give middle classers a break. think about that. the average working family would have about $1,500 a year more to spend. oh, gas going up, all that kind of stuff. you know, clothes more expensive. 1,500 bucks is a lot of money. that, of course, would offset the cost of millionaires would pay a small surcharge. and that's what the republicans, well, they don't like that. they want to protect the mega wealthy, a very small, yet very special percentage of the population. 2%, to be exact. under the democratic plan, supported by president obama, about 345,000 taxpayers will see a tax increase. that's it. it's a sliver. these are the guys who have had all the breaks over the last ten

years. these are the guys who aren't paying their fair share. we should restore the old rate. that's my feeling. and if the payroll tax cut expires, 100 million households would see a tax increase. today the republicans finally woke up and said they'd go along with a tax cut for the middle class, but they're still protecting the .2%. >> i think at the end of the day, there's a lot of sentiment in our conference, clearly a majority of sentiment for continuing the payroll tax relief we enacted a year ago in these tough times. we believe with this kind of deficit, we ought to pay for it. >> joining me now is senator sherrod brown of ohio. senator, good to have you with us tonight. >> thanks, ed. >> republicans, you have to get them credit. they do a hell of a job of protecting the wealthy. they're coming forward saying, we'll do something. to you think you'll get revenues on the table from these guys?

>> we've seen this movie. this 2%, 2% or 3% depending on what we do, payroll tax cut, is a cost of living adjustment. wages have been so flat so long in this country for the middle class and $1,400 or $1,500 a year is real money that matters for families, getting to go out to eat once in a while, maybe paying for their kids' books, helping with the cost of living increases they've had. >> soccer shoes, man. i mean, you know, soccer shoes. hockey skates. all that kind of stuff. >> and families, i just don't get this. the republicans, you know, two weeks ago was they were not willing to invest in infrastructure because they had to protect the tax -- cut taxes for the rich. next week it's going to be school construction. if they don't do it, we're working on that issue. all the kinds of -- before a few weeks ago it was putting money, helping local, state governments hire more teachers and police officers, but the republicans

had to, as always, protect tax breaks for people making over $1 million. this isn't even millionaires. this is people making $1 million and up and they'd only pay this surcharge on the first dollar they made over $1 million. yet republicans always come back to how do we protect the richest people in this country? the public's getting sick of it. they're sick of it in ohio with issue 2. they're sick of it in occupy wall street. they're sick of it when they think that 90% of the people in this country have had very little income increase in the last few years, if any. all to protect the rich. it's not class warfare. the class warfare is how people on top in wall street and on top have committed class warfare against the middle class and their friends in the senate are still protecting them day after day after day. >> so senator, what do you think they would put on the table to offset this? they'd go after the big three somehow, wouldn't they? >> yes. you asked me to think like mitch mcconnell. i don't know.

i think whatever they can do to distract the public. they might -- they will cut something that middle class america cares about. maybe they go after head start, maybe they go after who knows what. fact is we ought to pay for this tsh it's good we're paying for it. that's the right thing to do. we don't want to add to the deficit for this. we have to do it in a way that doesn't hurt people, the broad middle class in this country. and the wealthiest, as you point out on this show almost every night, have done pretty darn well the last few years. >> they've done great. some democrats are against the extension, the payroll tax holiday. what do you make of that? why are they? >> there's concern because it really is the first time that it's taken, because we're cutting the payroll tax, that money has gone into social security before. we have supplanted it with general fund dollars. some think that's not great public policy. it may not be, but right now our focus has got to be on job growth. john mccain's economic adviser in '08 said this will create at least 700,000 jobs, extending

these tax cuts for the middle class and unemployment compensation will create -- some say it will take us through a recession if we don't do it. that's just -- that's outrageous we would even consider pulling the economy back. you know, mitch mcconnell said a year or so ago that his number one goal is to defeat barack obama. if he can do something kind of quietly, surreptitiously and pull us back into recession, maybe he'll get his way. >> senator, got to ask you about the white house. where do you think they'll come down on this? how much of an advocate will the president be for this? >> the president will be an advocate. the president more than anything wants to see economic growth. i think his focus has been pretty good now. he's been a little more aggressive. a little more positive on what do we do for the middle class? how do we pay for it by taxing those that have done very, very well. remember when president clinton raised taxes on the wealthy in the 1990s we had 21 million private sector jobs created. when bush cut taxes on the rich, the trickle down didn't work. we had no real significant job

growth other than keeping up with demographics a little bit. >> senator, good to have you with us. senator of ohio, sherrod brown, here on "the ed show." americanairlines files for chapter 11. what will it mean for workers? that's next. ♪ i think i'm falling ♪ ♪ i think i'm falling ♪ i think i'm falling ♪ i think i'm falling [ male announcer ] this is your moment. ♪ for you ♪ [ male announcer ] this is zales, the diamond store. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 let's talk about the typical financial consultation ttd# 1-800-345-2550 when companies try to sell you something off their menu ttd# 1-800-345-2550 instead of trying to understand what you really need. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 ttd# 1-800-345-2550 at charles schwab, we provide ttd# 1-800-345-2550 a full range of financial products, ttd# 1-800-345-2550 even if they're not ours.

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well, it's more rough and tumble in the airline industry. the workers are about to get screwed, again. this time americanairlines has filed chapter 11.

a new york court claiming labor costs and fuel costs are causing the problem. ceo tom horton said, "it became increasingly clear that the cost gap between us and our competitors was untenable." we've heard this story before. eight years ago, union employees took a 33% pay cut. united went after health care, sick leave and vacation. to this day, none of that was ever restored. in 2002, united and us airways went down this road. now it's americanairlines' turn to screw workers. that's exactly what it is. the airline has $24 billion in assets. $29 billion in liabilities. and over $4 billion in cash. but it's the workers' fault. it's easy to file chapter 11, nail the workers and blame the market. this is another reason the 99%ers are in the street in this country. follow the story. i want you to follow this story and watch management take multimillion dollar bonuses. i guarantee you it's going to happen. it does every time. after united filed in 2002, the

workers, oh, they were excited. they got a new contract. and months later, the airline said, well, they couldn't fund the pension and they threw it off on the pension benefit guarantee corporation. sound familiar? some employees saw that retirement go from $1,800 a month to $200 a month. and the boys in the front office went home fat and happy. and keep in mind, the airline is blaming fuel costs? well, your tax dollars are subsidizing the oil industry and they paid zero tax. and some got a refund from the irs. go figure. a violent clash in oakland, california, was a game changer for occupy movements. iraq war veteran scott olsen was there and suffered a fractured skull. today, scott is on his way to a full recovery and he joins me for an exclusive interview, next. stay with us.

tonight on "the ed show" survey i asked, did herman cain ever have a chance at the gop nomination? 6% of you thought he did. 94% of you said no. coming up, occupy oakland protester and iraq war veteran scott olsen joins me for the first live interview. how he's recovering and his thoughts on how the movement has progressed. that's next. take the fixodent 12 hour hold challenge. fixodent denture adhesive challenges you to a 12 hour hold test. ♪ thanks to its time released formula, you apply fixodent once, and it holds all day. ♪ take the fixodent 12 hour hold challenge. guaranteed, or your money back. ♪ and for guaranteed freshness try fixodent cleanser, plus scope ingredients.

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help him. help him. help him. >> [ bleep ]. >> what happened? what happened? >> he got hit. >> he got shot. >> what's your name? what's your name? what's your name? >> [ bleep ]. >> that violent clash between police and occupy oakland protesters on october 25th took the movement to a whole new level. police resorted to using tear gas, rubber bullets and other projectiles in an attempt to evict the protesters. 24-year-old scott olsen, an iraq war veteran, who did two tours in iraq, was critically injured when he was hit in the head by a police projectile reportedly a

tear gas canister. he ended up in the hospital with a fractured skull and without the ability to speak. one month later, scott is on his way to a full recovery, but there is still no official answer about what hit him that night and who launched it. an investigation of the oakland police department is ongoing. america, let me introduce you to a tough wisconsin kid, scott olsen, iraq war veteran and member of the iraq veterans against the war, joins me tonight. scott, thanks for your time. americans want to know how you're doing. how's your recovery going? >> well, ed, i'm doing better every day. every day i feel better and it's not always been a pleasant process, it's been quite frustrating, but i'm doing better. >> scott, how hard was this for you in recovery, knowing that you couldn't talk, that you had to slowly bring that back?

that had to be really scary. talk about that. >> yeah. it was really weird. my brain was mostly working okay, but i couldn't get these words out of my mouth. and i had a head full of words that i wanted to say, but i couldn't make them come out. it was very frustrating. >> what do you remember about the night you were hit? >> i remember almost everything. i wasn't there that long. i was standing next to my friend in the navy, dress blues. we were standing there for the right that we had to exist there. to be there. >> what do you know about the investigation into who fired the

projectile that hit you? all i really know is that there is an investigation under way. i haven't been updated on the status of it. so we'll see about that in the future. >> were you shocked that it got to this level and what kid you think of that environment when it was happening? >> i don't know. i mean, when i woke up in the hospital, it was kind of weird to be, you know, national news story like i became. it was a bit overwhelming, but, you know, i'm happy to step into these shoes and guide this movement and be somebody to look up for some people.

>> to you regret going out there? >> not at all. >> will you do it again? >> yeah. >> and why are you out there? >> i'm there protecting the rights that we have. when i took the enlistment oath, when i joined the marines, i swore to uphold and defend the constitution from enemies foreign and domestic. and i'm continuing to do that. >> where do you think the movement is now, scott? >> it's tough to say. it's been changing a lot, but i don't think it's going anywhere any time soon. i think it's the only place i think it's going is up. gaining interest. >> what do you think about the

mayor of oakland, her decision to crack down on the protesters? >> i don't think it right for her to do that. we have in oscar grant plaza and to voice our grievances any time of day. >> i have to ask you, people have called you un-american. what's your response to that? >> i've been called a disgrace before this even happened, just for my views on the war and other things like that. and it upsets me, but it doesn't surprise me to hear. >> scott olsen, thank you for coming on the program tonight. god bl