and that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "the ed show" with ed schultz starts right now. good evening, americans, and welcome to "the ed show." tonight, from new york republicans are running like rats from a sinking ship. tonight, donald trump's debate is on life support. perry's out. bachmann takes a pass. and by tomorrow newt may be the last man standing. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> i think you're going to have others coming in and coming in strongly. and we'll see what happens. but people are afraid that i'm going to run as an independent candidate. >> even rick perry thinks trump is a chump. so does rnc. >> i have concern of a moderator who's talking of running as an independent. >> and newt sends the goon squad to do a number on newt. tonight msnbc's martin bashir and ring of fire radio host mike papantonio on the republican field in chaos.

the newtster is still pushing the idea that poor kids have no work ethic. >> these are the very poorest neighborhoods where kids are in public housing surrounded by people who have no experience of working. >> michael eric dyson on newt gingrich and the race card. it's the end of democracy in michigan. and the rights of african-americans are getting hit the hardest. we're going live to detroit. senate republicans do the bidding of the 1% and block a new consumer watchdog. senator bernie sanders is here. and president obama pulls out the trump card on anyone who questions his record on foreign policy. >> ask osama bin laden whether i engage in appeasement. >> good to have you with us tonight, folks, thanks for watching. even rick perry and michele bachmann think donald trump is a chump. this morning perry became the latest republican to reject the trump-moderated debate planned for december 27th. he told a group of supporters in south carolina he's just too

busy. >> i've had this trump -- i mean, i've had my bus tour, and i really -- i talked to donald the day before yesterday. i told him, i said i really want to do it -- >> if you want me, pick me up in your helicopter, take me to the debate. >> that's a good idea. >> bring me back to my bus. >> i'm not sure donald will do that for me. >> later today a spokesman for michele bachmann announced that she won't be attending. "we have confirmed that we are not participating in the newsmax/trump debate." so much for being the kingmaker. all seven leading republican presidential contenders were invited to the donald debate. only two are going to show up. newt gingrich and rick santorum. and who knows? santorum may pull out. trump started to distance himself from the event this afternoon. >> don't forget, this is really a newsmax debate. it's not a trump debate. we do have newt, and we do have santorum, who in all fairness showed a certain degree of courage. >> so the question is will all

of these candidates go right back into the debate if newsmax gets a new moderator? five days ago the chairman of the republican party, reince priebus, said the candidates were free to go to the trump debate if they wanted to. >> i think that these are programs that each of these candidates have to decide for themselves whether they're going to compete in. there's strategy involved, competing and not competing. those are things those candidates -- >> and just a day later karl rove flipped out. >> what the heck are the republican candidates doing showing up at a debate with a guy who says i may run for president next year as an independent? i mean, i think the republican national chairman ought to step in and say we strongly discourage every candidate from appearing in a debate moderated by somebody who's going to run for president. >> so when karl rove tells the republican national committee chairman what to do, the chairman listens. fox news put reince priebus on the spot today. >> karl, you ask, we deliver. republican national chairman reince priebus.

welcome back. >> happy to be here. >> what do you say to karl rove? >> first of all, candidates can do whatever they want to do. now, i respect newsmax, and i respect mr. trump. we've done events together with mr. trump. so there's no issue there. but i would have a concern, and i do have a concern of a moderator who is talking about running as an independent still being moderator of a debate. >> that bothers you? >> right. i would have an issue with that. and i would understand why candidates would say, hey, look, i don't know if i want to avail myself to a forum where the moderator might be, although albeit very slight -- and again, we appreciate what mr. trump has done. but if you're still talking about potentially running as an independent candidate, then i think that's a problem. i mean, i think that would be malpractice for me as an rnc chairman not to believe that that is an issue. >> all right. let's cut to the chase. republicans know the donald

debate is clownsville. they also know the republican front-runner is a dangerous general election candidate. but his momentum is not stalling. in the latest national polls newt gingrich is leading mitt romney by nine points. in iowa he has a 13-point lead. less than a month before the iowa caucuses. in south cara mitt romney never thought he was going to be in this position. he is the preferred candidate by all the same republicans who think donald trump is a joke. and he's getting his clock cleaned. today romney dusted off republicans of yesteryear to attack newt gingrich. former vermont governor john sununu said gingrich is more concerned with himself than conservative principles. former missouri senator jim talent said gingrich is not a reliable or trustworthy leader. not good. yesterday romney sent republican new jersey governor chris christie, the savior, to iowa. christie talked about what makes romney different from a

candidate like newt gingrich. >> politicians can be taught to fake a lot of things. you can't fake that. this is someone who i've come to know has an extraordinary heart. he loves his wife. he loves his children. first and foremost when you look at these candidates say is this the kind of person who's always going to make me proud in the oval office? i'm never going to have to worry will embarrass america. that i'll never have to worry will do something that just will make me ashamed. he just won't. >> i just didn't know chris christie could be so sappy. chris christie was the guy republicans wanted to run against mitt romney in the election. he of course has been the media darling. he's one of the untouchables. now he's a romney endorser. but may i ask tonight? where's the bounce? christie's a lot of talk without a lot of results. he reminds me of another guy. donald trump. trump has turned the republican party on its head so he can do

what? sell a book. he's still considering a run for the presidency? really? look, folks, he isn't going to run. because donald trump doesn't have the guts. someday i'm going to leave this job, and i promise you that i will be the only table host in this industry who will not interview donald trump. i don't know what the media fascination is with this guy. i'm from the midwest. okay, he's a new york media figure. i guess it ends there. who cares? what is he, huge ratings, does everybody have to have donald trump on to get an audience? i don't think so. i think the guy's a complete all-american zero. he has no influence on the political process in this country. he's a big mouth who gets in front of cameras. and there's no question his -- i guess his show on nbc is really good. it ends there. nobody out in the middle of the country is going to make a decision on who they're going to vote for or endorse because of what donald trump says on any cable show coming out of new york city.

get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's question, do you think donald trump's days as a debate moderator are numbered? text a for yes. text b for me to 622639. you can always go to our blog at ed.msnbc.com. and i'll bring you the results later in the show. i have to tell you, i don't know donald trump, i've never needed to know him. joining me now is martin bashir, host of the martin bashir show on msnbc, 3:00 eastern time here on the network, and also mike papantonio, host of the "ring of fire" radio show. gentlemen, good to have you with us tonight. what is, martin, the media fascination with this guy? >> i think you've made one mistake. when newt gingrich came to town, he described donald trump as a showman. but in fact, donald trump is a spokesman. because what he does is when he opens his mouth and the excrementitious matter flows, he casts aspersions on the president's birth. he derides and slurs the president's academic achievements. and all the time he says what these candidates can't say but

do believe. and so what you have is a man vicariously polluting the trough on their behalf every single time. he's not a showman. he's their spokesman. and that's why he's of value to them. >> mike papantonio, does this -- is this the end of the road for donald trump in this election cycle? does he have to run now to be even somewhat relevant? >> well, he'll always make himself relevant, even whether he's not. look, this is -- he is a showman. and what's happened here, the republicans are always looking for a leader, ed. that's one of their flaws. they're always trying to find a leader. and they're always willing to follow a leader. so he has a television show. he looks like a leader. and all of a sudden you have these republicans that are falling crazy over donald trump. and what's happened here, ed, is it's left -- this chaos has left this big opportunity in the republican party. and newt gingrich is smart enough to understand he's going to walk into that opportunity.

even with the debate. if he's the only one to show up, he'll use that as an opportunity. so now what all this chaos and all this donald trump story and all the craziness, this carnival atmosphere we've seen with republicans, what we now have is a republican front-runner who the general public does not like at all. he's an old politician with more skeletons in his closet than a damn haunted house. he's a candidate that the republicans have got to have because now they're going to have to go hold their nose and vote for this guy. mitt romney, it's going to be very tough for him to make a comeback. this chaos has all been created in part by donald trump. >> now, trump going to be the moderator even for two people now. and it may be one after tomorrow. who knows? but for michele bachmann and rick perry to step out of this debate when they desperately need the camera time, martin, what about that? >> i think that it was one of the most astute decisions that rick perry's made. imagine, he wouldn't have been on a stage with eight people. he would have been on a stage

with two. that means an awful lot of air time. and what we know about rick perry is that when you talk to him about foreign policy in a debate he doesn't know who the haqqani network is, an insurgent group that fights the u.s. forces in afghanistan. he talks about pakistan and he ends up in taiwan. you ask him in a debate about what his plans are for domestic policy and he can't remember the government departments that he wants to demolish. this was the brightest thing that rick perry has done, by withdrawing. >> yeah. well, now we go to mitt romney, and of course he's taking shots at newt gingrich today. here's rick perry when he was asked about gingrich's wives. >> i didn't make an oath just to my wife. i made an oath to god when i married my wife. so yeah, i think it's an important issue. but the american people will figure out these issues and work their way through them. >> will they figure it out, martin? >> well, perry's smiling because he's got nothing to worry about, as we know. but poor old newt, he has the

problem of being a serial adulterer. he's changed his religious faith. and that brilliant romney ad which pointed to romney's own 43 years of monogamy, 25 years at bain capital, contrasts brilliantly, brilliantly with newt. >> mike, can mitt romney make a comeback? i mean, he has got to be in triage right now. he never thought he was going to be in this position. he just put a $3 million buy across iowa. but can he make the comeback? >> well, ed, his message is really no different than it was the last time that he lost in the primaries. at that point, if you remember, he spent about a million dollars per delegate just to make it through the primaries. i don't see it happening. i mean, i don't see anything -- i don't see any energy behind newt. this issue, he'll not win in the south. south carolina is the best message that you're going to get about mitt romney's ability in the south. that mormon card is still there.

he's not going to pull through. there's no new message here, ed. it's still the dull, tired character that we didn't vote for last time. >> and mitt is way behind in iowa with evangelical christians, and even newt gingrich is at over 30% in that category. what about him, martin? >> here's an example of how desperate mitt romney's become. he accused the president of appeasement. the word "appeasement," as you know, and particularly in europe, where i hail from, reflects the fact that 38 million people lost their lives in the second world war. more than 6 million jews lost their lives, mercilessly and brutally murdered. why? because neville chamberlain was believed to have appeased -- arranged an appeasement with hitler. now, the reason that the president, when he spoke at that press conference today, was so aggressive in his response, and you'll remember, at the press conference he said ask osama bin laden if he thinks i'm an appeaser. the reason he did that was because that was a disgraceful use of a term that is loaded

with the most appalling history. but mitt romney is so desperate that that's where he's going now. he's going to be using terms and slurs like that against the president to attract attention because in this fight it's the lowest common denominator that wins. >> martin bashir, mike papantonio, great to have you gentlemen with us tonight. thanks so much. remember to answer tonight's question at the bottom of the screen and share your thoughts on twitter why'd @edshow. newt gingrich is still pounding away at his idea to put poor kids to work by throwing out child labor laws. i'm not going to let him get away with it. i'll talk to michael eric dyson about that. republicans in the senate showed their true colors today, sticking up for the 1% and blocking confirmation of the head of the consumer financial protection agency. senator bernie sanders will be here with reaction on that. the dysfunctional gop and the obstructionists. we're right back.

michael eric dyson joining me in a moment. and also president obama responds to his detractors who have accused him of appeasement, telling them to ask osama bin laden. it's great tape. four michigan cities, this is a serious story, have had emergency managers take control of their local governments. lawmakers and residents of detroit are working hard to prevent their city from becoming the next one. let us know what you think on twitter using the #edshow. we're featuring your tweets throughout the show. stay with us. we're right back.

the whole controversy going a week ago because i suggested children could work. and this became this horrifying

-- liberals went on tv and went, oh, my god, mitt believes in child slavery. >> really? welcome back to "the ed show." that was republican presidential candidate newt gingrich in south carolina today, wordsmithing another one of his positions. gingrich keeps thumping away at this big idea to throw out child labor laws and put poor kids to work. he recently made an exception, though. "kids shouldn't work in coal mines. kids shouldn't work in heavy industry." thanks for that one, newt. i'm sure the kids across america appreciate that. you see, newt just can't help himself. he's kind of like a high-speed blender without a top on. you know what i mean? it just goes everywhere. so he keeps coming out with comments like this one. >> really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works. they have no habit of i do this and you give me cash. unless it's illegal. what if they became assistant

janitors and their job was to mop the floor and clean the bathroom? >> i mean, i'll say flat out right here, there is a really undertone of racism here. and gingrich has a pattern of going into this kind of territory. he's been eager to call president obama the food stamp president. >> the largest number of americans on food stamps in history. i've said now for six months, this is the most effective food stamp president in american history. >> gingrich said, what if obama is our -- outside of our comprehension, that only if you understand kenyan, anti-colonial behavior you can begin to piece together his actions. gingrich has also said, "maybe we should also have a voting standard that says to vote as a native born american you should have to learn american history." as a student of american history himself, gingrich should know that it sounds a lot like racist jim crow voting laws, doesn't it? let's turn to michael eric dyson, msnbc political analyst, who hosted this program last

night. thanks so much for doing that. he is a professor at georgetown university and author of the book "can you hear me now?" i'll tell you, there's a lot to hear when it comes to newt gingrich. i think that this rises to the level of racism, and i think he needs to be called on it. to broadbrush kids in a socioeconomic position that they do not have a work ethic i think speaks volumes of what this man thinks of humanity. what do you think? >> it's scurrilous, ed. thanks for the opportunity again last night. it's scurrilous for him to make those kind of charges. first of all, he's flat out wrong. to suggest that poor kids in the inner city have no models around them of hard work, of course they do. even when he made the slight that of course they don't get -- you know, i do this thing over here and then i get cash, unless it's illegal. well, first of all, those hustlers are working extremely hard. they may be unemployed, but they're working, to be sure. but there are many more people in low-wage, low-skill jobs who are out there working. their parents are working two and three jobs. it's not that they're working.

they're working more than one job. has newt gingrich not heard of the category called the working poor? that very title was on the "new york times" best-seller list less than seven years ago. and the point is that there are people, ed, who go to work every day and work 30, 40, 50, 60 hours a week and still can't make it above the poverty line. they're not lacking work. they're lacking opportunity to get high-wage work. >> when you take a young kid and you force them to work. okay? or even if you give them the opportunity to work and they take it at too young of age, it can really damage them. and it also puts them in a position when they're seen by their peers, and it works on their self-esteem and can put them in a very demeaning position. >> absolutely. >> gingrich continues on. today gingrich offered more specifics on his janitor idea. >> so i suggested if you took the cost of the new york city janitors, the most expensive janitors in new york are paid more than the highest-paid teachers. the entry-level janitor is paid twice as much as an entry-level

teacher. it's all because of the union. so i said let's keep two janitors who are adults who are professional. they do all the heavy stuff and the dangerous stuff. then let's take all the other jobs and divide them up into part-time kids. and you could probably in the average school hire 30 children. >> so we have gone from child labor laws being cut out to now let's attack the union. what do you make of this? >> it's just a mishmash of just mendacity because on the one hand he's talking about giving these kids all these jobs. well, at schools, at universities they have work-study. to try to put them -- look how low he's aiming. he doesn't want them to be retrained so that they can enter the workplace and make a decent wage. remember comprehensive employment training act, 1973, where you had targeted low income people to be able to work for 12 to 24 months to get a job and then to transition into permanent jobs that were unsubsidized? what about that? what about neighborhood youth corps? he's talking nothing about the programs that could help young people facilitate a transition into a work world where they

will be compensated for their work. and the point you made is extremely important. that if you put these kids to work too early, that's why we had the child labor laws enacted. that's why when kids were being exploited and in one sense doing -- horrible things were done to them, the reality is that we intervened upon that by making these child labor laws here. now newt gingrich wants to throw that out the door and he wants to have a free labor pool. darn near indentured servitude for young children who are poor to serve the masses and those who are rich. >> and you know, these aren't isolated comments. gingrich has talked about making people take a test to vote. >> oh, yeah. >> he said he will be the paycheck president, not the food stamp president. what do you make of that? >> well, as you've brilliantly pointed out, it's dog whistle racism. it's a racially obnoxious suggestion that african-american people or latino people are not willing to work and not willing to work hard. all of the stuff he's been saying cumulatively ends up resulting in a kind of horrible

underestimation of african-american and latino people and an overvaluing of the situation for white americans in this economy. we all know this economy is bad for everybody. so why is he pretending he doesn't know that the economic downturn has blasted african-american and latino people especially hard? >> i'll tell you what, if this guy becomes president, the republicans will walk right with him on this issue. you know they will. because all they are is about busting up the unions, and they're all about the money. notice in that sound bite we just played of newt gingrich he talked about the money. >> right. >> what about the investment in the children? you're going to make kids do work around a school instead of teaching them writing, reading, arithmetic and all the advanced studies that they can learn before they go to junior high school or go to high school and get prepared for college? >> absolutely. >> i mean, don't we want kids to go to school in this country, to prepare themselves to go to college and to get a degree and to get some academic accomplishments so they can compete in this global economy?

instead, oh, you know, they come from a bad family that might be split up or whatever, and the way he characterizes it, and they come from a socioeconomic background. well, let's just make them a janitor. >> exactly, ed. >> i cannot believe -- >> it's stunning. >> -- that the republican party isn't calling him out on this. >> well, i'm glad you are. because what he wants to do is find a contingent of workers that are basically, you know, unpaid labor to service the higher, the middle, and especially the upper middle and the elite classes in this society. it's a fundamentally flawed conception of class. and you're talking about class warfare? that's class warfare. >> well, it is class warfare. >> in a capsule. >> it is. and you know what? we all know, michael, there's never been any rich kids that were lazy. they've all got a great work ethic. of course it's -- >> and they never become president of the united states of america. >> great you have to with us, my friend. thank you 37 michael eric dyson, professor georgetown with us here tonight on "the ed show." coming up, president obama knocks down republican criticism of his national security record with one sentence.

i loved it. and in "psychotalk," florida congressman alan west, he's back at it. he thinks president obama should stop talking about equality?

welcome back to "the ed show." president obama is definitely ready to rumble on foreign policy. at a republican jewish coalition event in washington the gop presidential candidates tried to paint the president as weak on national security.

>> internationally president obama has adopted an appeasement strategy. >> appeasement. >> appeasement. >> consistently engaged in appeasement. >> nothing but appeasement. >> appeasement. >> appeasement. >> appeasement. >> appeasing. >> appeasing. >> appeased. >> president obama must immediately end his doctrine of appeasement. >> they got the bullet points down, don't they? well, president obama responded this morning, and he hit a home run. >> ask osama bin laden and the 22 out of 30 top al qaeda leaders who've been taken off the field whether i engage in appeasement. or whoever's left out there. ask them about that. >> ask osama bin laden is all the president needs to say. it should be his answer anytime a republican tries to criticize him on foreign policy. in fact, i think he could make it work as a response to any kind of criticism. >> the president went about this all wrong.

he went around the world and apologized for america. >> ask osama bin laden -- >> all the radical islamist leaders are saying is that just wait america out, america is weak -- >> ask osama bin laden -- >> the president has been a failure when it comes to foreign policy. >> ask osama bin laden. >> it is as though we have decided we want to lose in the war on terror under president obama. >> and the 22 out of 30 top al qaeda leaders who've been taken off the field. >> the obama administration's dangerous policies of incoherence and accommodation. >> ask osama bin laden. >> this guy goes around the world bowing to everyone. >> ask osama bin laden. >> one of the things the president has done when he -- especially when he goes abroad and apologizes for america, it's extremely unpopular. >> ask osama bin laden. >> hundreds of billions in tax hikes and new spending bound together with the chintzy clip. look at that thing. >> ask osama bin laden. and the 22 out of 30 top al qaeda leaders who've been taken off the field.

ask them about that. >> i like the fact that the white house is keeping score. and we should too as americans. i think that there should be a great bumper sticker out there. don't you? "ask osama bin laden." republicans don't have a leg to stand on when it comes to criticizing the president of the united states on foreign policy. and i can't wait to see mitt or newt try this garbage when they share the stage with the president during the 2012 debates, whoever gets to. to quote a former president, bring it on. president obama also took on senate republicans for blocking his choice for the consumer financial protection agency. senator bernie sanders has reaction to the vote. and the gop obstruction strategy is next. and later, this is a huge story that america needs to pay attention to. there are four cities in the state of michigan that have been taken over by city managers because of new legislation in the state of michigan. detroit will be next. if the lawmakers can help it,

they'll try to stop it. stay with us. we'll be right back.

i just want to send a message to the senate. we are not giving up on this. we are going to keep on going at it. we are not going to allow politics as usual on capitol hill to stand in the way of american consumers being protected by unscrupulous financial operators. >> that was president obama calling out gop obstructionism earlier today. of course, the senate republicans let 99% of americans know exactly where they stand. with wall street. republicans blocked the confirmation of richard cordray, a former ohio attorney general picked by president obama to lead the new consumer financial protection agency. the final vote, 53-45. and all no votes coming from the extremist right-wing republicans. in fact, the only extremist right-wing republican to vote for cordray was senator scott brown of massachusetts. brown is currently trailing in the polls to democrat elizabeth

warren, the very person who created the agency. the gop has consistently spoken out against mr. cordray's nomination, and it's no secret republicans hate the fact that the agency even exists. this is a head scratcher considering the agency's main purpose is to protect consumers from financial abuses. but republicans would rather protect wall street and to hell with the middle class. and the gop obstructionism is reaching new heights. as steve bennett of the "washington monthly" points out, cloture was invoked 63 times in 2009 and 2010, "which isn't just the most ever, it's more than the sum total of instances from 1919 through 1982." you be the judge. need any further proof? take a look at this chart. there's a lot going on here, folks. but here's what you need to know. take a look at the blue line.

once democrats took control of congress and barack obama became president of the united states, obstructionism went through the roof. you can see it right there. vermont senator bernie sanders with us tonight here on "the ed show." senator, good to have you with us. the charts don't lie, do they? >> no, they surely don't. the day after obama got elected i think the republicans made a decision, they will do everything that they could to stop his agenda. if the issue means rebuilding our infrastructure and creating jobs they will obstruct. if the issue means taking on wall street and protecting consumers, they will obstruct. if the issue is transforming our energy system, dealing with global warming, they will obstruct because what's important to them is not rebuilding the middle class or protecting the united states of america, it's defeating barack obama, and it's a pretty sad state of affairs. >> is mr. cordray a good guy? is he qualified? he's a former attorney general of ohio. we never heard any complaints about him before. all of a sudden he's a no go.

what's happening here? >> what's happening here. as you mentioned, elizabeth warren would have been my preferred leader of that agency. but she is running and i think running well for the u.s. senate. we hope she wins. everything that i've heard about cordray is that he is strong. he is a consumer advocate. and that for them, ed, is precisely the problem. if it comes to whether or not banks can charge you 25% or 30% interest on your credit card or if you can have somebody in your corner fighting against usury, well, i guess the republicans are pretty clear which side they are on. whether you're going to have a fair deal when you have a mortgage and not get ripped off as so many millions of american people have. >> yeah. >> or you protect the banks. they have made it clear which side they're on. >> is he just the man in the bullseye right now? they would say no to anybody. >> absolutely. >> they don't want this agency whatsoever. >> absolutely. this is -- look, they opposed the agency, if you can believe it, after wall street as a result of deregulation caused

this terrible recession. you know what they believe, ed? they believe we need more deregulation of wall street opposed to any of the stronger provisions in dodd-frank. so it is not mr. cordray. it is anybody with any strength at all who will try to protect consumers in this new agency. >> shift in gears, what did you think of president obama's speech at the place where teddy roosevelt gave his speech? kansas? >> i thought it was good. and i hope very much that the president will continue to speak out as a progressive. i hope he remembers who elected him. and i hope he also understands that it's not just words but it is deeds. we need this president to be strong, to be a leader, to make sure that the middle class and the working class understands that he is on their side. and that means standing up to wall street, taking on the republicans, not retreating. i think that's the right thing to do. and i think it's good politics as well.

>> and of course the democrats plan to extend the payroll tax cut. failed again today. you had another vote. so will the senate, going to be working over the holidays to pass this? what do you think's going to happen? >> well, harry reid was very, very clear. and i think this is an indication of the democrats gaining some focus. and what reid said to a group of us, if we have to be here until christmas we will be here at christmas. i'm not a great fan of the payroll tax holiday. i am a strong supporter of tax relief for the middle class, making sure it is done in a progressive and fair way. and i think the democrats are prepared to fight for that. >> every democratic lawmaker they've spoken with in recent days is saying that extending the bush tax cuts is off the table, it's a non-starter. that's the term i'm hearing, a non-starter. could this be the time when the democrats actually draw a line in the sand, they won't go any further no matter what's on the table, as far as the republicans' demands are concerned? >> well, the answer is i certainly hope that's the case. the american people, ed, have

been extremely clear on this. the rich are getting richer. the middle class is collapsing. and the american people are saying, you know what? the wealthiest people in this country have got to participate in deficit reduction, they've got to pay more taxes. and also, we've got to keep the focus on jobs. and furthermore, in my view, we've got to draw a line in the sand, defend social security, defend medicare, defend medicaid. >> what about those folks on unemployment right now that's going to end here? there's going to be a bunch of people, well over a million, coming up on february 1st. and the president seems very adamant about getting these two things done before anybody takes off for the holidays. >> absolutely right. he's absolutely right. >> what if it doesn't happen? >> well, if it doesn't happen, we're going to be having christmas breakfast i think in the capitol and we're going to be here through january. you can't allow tens of thousands of families in this country to lose their only means of support. it is bad and immoral to do that

to those families. it is bad for the economy. we've got to put money into people, working people's hands so they can survive and they spend that money helping create jobs. >> vermont senator bernie sanders. great to have you on the program tonight, sir. thank you. >> thank you. >> congressman alan west doesn't think liberty and equality go together. the tea party needs a refresher course on the american revolution, don't you think? he's going in the zone. stay with us.

he thinks talk of fairness and equality is divisive. also coming up on the program, city managers in michigan are taking over financially strapped cities. but they are only focusing on cities with minority populations, and the faith community is pushing back. don't forget to tweet us using the #edshow. we're right back. stay with us.

and in "psychotalk" tonight, tea party and florida congressman alan west, he's done

it again. west wasn't a big fan of president obama's speech on the economy this week. and he came up with a very bizarre way to trash it. >> i'm very concerned about this very divisive rhetoric that the president is using when he continues to talk about equality and fairness and this thing that i think that is really contrary to the principles that i mentioned as far as life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. >> so allen west thinks equality is contrary to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? the famous phrase from the declaration of independence. in fact, let's take a look at it. "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." my friends, that quote is incomplete. you see, we left out "all men are created equal" in the same sentence, allen. a proud tea partier such as yourself, you should know that. equality and liberty together

were fundamental to the founding of this country. so for allen west to say equality is not an american principle is divisive "psychotalk." is a state law in michigan unfairly targeting minority communities? there are critics out and about who say absolutely. reverend david bullock of the faith community joins me next. stay with us.

survey tonight on "the ed show," i asked, do you think donald trump's days as a debate moderator are numbered? 96% of you said yes. 4% of you said no. coming up, financially strapped cities in michigan are having their elected officials replaced with state-appointed managers. reverend david bullock of the detroit baptist church explains what that could mean for his community and other communities in the state. stay with us. my feet and exactly where i needed more support.

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and finally tonight, my stomach turns when i read about this law in michigan. this isn't what it was intended to be. four cities and one school district are currently under financial i guess you could say martial law of the state of michigan. it all happened to have a very high minority population, in all of these communities. public act 4 takes control away from elected officials and puts

it in the hands of a state-appointed financial emergency manager. emergency managers can scrap anything they want. union contracts. any contracts. sell assets and just fire workers just to make the budget work. the state decides when to put a cash-strapped municipality in the hands of an emergency manager. and currently, there are four cities in michigan that are under review, including the state's largest, detroit. if detroit ends up under emergency manager rule, almost half of the state's african-american population would live under the control of the state-appointed manager and not, and i say not a democratically elected leader. detroit lawmakers are fighting it. one councilman equates an emergency manager to a master, as someone to control the plantation. meanwhile, congressman jon conyers is asking attorney general eric holder to investigate the measure. conyers says an emergency manager for detroit would be

perpetrating the discrimination on even a more egregious scale. republican governor rick snyder is encouraging the city to take a consent agreement. >> a consent agreement is where basically they design a plan that we have confidence in that they should have the opportunity to execute, and i'm happy to be very supportive of helping them execute it but give them the chance for success. >> so how heavy-handed is it? joining me tonight is reverend david bullock. he's the pastor of the greater st. matthew baptist church of highland park, michigan, and president of the rainbow push in detroit. reverend, good to have you with us tonight. i met you sunday night in detroit, where i spoke at a church there. and this is all the people we're talking about. they told me that they refer to this as the dictator law. how oppressive is this, and how are the people responding? >> that's right, ed. thank you for having me on the

show tonight. it was so good to see you in detroit. the greatest threat to democracy in america is found in michigan. and they are michigan's emergency dictators. i mean managers. while we were worried about wisconsin and worried about laws that would prohibit people from voting in georgia, in michigan we have voted, and governor snyder has made our vote null and void. if detroit gets an emergency manager, you have benton harbor, pontiac, flint, e-course, and then detroit, by roughly 40% of the african-americans who live in the state of michigan will be under emergency management. this is not what democracy looks like. this is not what america looks like. public act 4 is bad for democracy. >> this is a government takeover. what do you think? >> it is. it's a state takeover of school districts. it's a state takeover of cities. i mean, remember now, we voted in detroit for a mayor. we voted in detroit for city council.

in benton harbor they voted for a mayor. they voted for city commissioners. and so then the state can come in and appoint one man or one woman to unilaterally make decisions about collective bargaining agreements, make decisions about selling city assets. the people have no voice? their vote does not count in the city of pontiac? >> pastor, i just find this so hard to believe, that a governor has the power now to appoint somebody who has nothing to do with the city to come in for $180,000 a year, i might add, and start making all the decisions with the citizens having no say whatsoever. do i have that correct? >> you have that right. ed, you find it hard to believe, we thought that the enemy of democracy was in egypt. it turns out that the enemy of democracy is in michigan. michigan is the new mississippi, where you have a governor who puts emergency dictators over cities and school districts and unilaterally makes our voices and our vote null and void.

this is happening in michigan. we're so happy to be on the show tonight because we need to highlight the attack against democracy, the attack against the people of benton harbor, of flint, of pontiac, of ecorse, and soon to be detroit. something has got to stop. we've got to stand up and fight back against public act 4. >> pastor bullock, do you think this has also a connection to voter suppression? >> of course it does. of course it's a connection to voter suppression. when the state takes over a city, the state can also kick the mayor out of his office, kick the city council out of their office, but also take over the clerk's office. so for instance, in pontiac, michigan, the state actually is running the clerk's office. you and i both know that the clerk's office administers local elections. and so under this law you actually can have the state take over a city, commandeer the clerk's office, and begin to administer local elections. so while in georgia and in other states the challenge is fighting

against laws that would prohibit voting, in michigan the challenge is fighting against a law that doesn't even make voting count, that makes voting null and void. >> and what is the faith community doing about this? >> well, the faith community is fighting back. we have a referendum campaign against public act 4. we've collected 155,000 signatures. we need 50,000 more in the next month and a half. i would ask people to go to facebook, to rainbow bush detroit page. on facebook the rainbow push detroit page and like that page. there's information on that page about how they can get involved. let me also say, ed, the governor says that emergency managers come in because we have to have shared sacrifice and they come in to cut. yeah, they come in and cut. they come in and cut firefighters. they come in and cut police officers. you know, surgeons cut. they cut to cure you. ax murderers cut. they cut to kill you. emergency managers are not surgeons. they are ax murderers. they're coming in and they're cutting democracy.