tv Politics Nation MSNBC May 29, 2012 3:00pm-4:00pm PDT
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birtherism. by aligning himself with this element, romney is showing a willingness to do anything to get elected. what should make us think he would be any harder to bed politically once he's in office? and that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "politics nation" with al sharpton starts right now. welcome to "politics nation," i'm al sharpton. tonight's lead, willard romney's gamble. he is attending an event in las vegas hosted by donald trump. you can see the trump plane right behind his. hours behind romney appearing with trump, he reignited the controversy. >> if you look at the birth certificate, you take a look, you analyze the birth certificate. there are many people that don't
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agree with that birth certificate, they don't think it's authentic. >> they don't think it's authentic. trump started his day off with the same extremism. >> a lot of people are questioning his birth certificate. they are questioning the authenticity of his birth certificate. i have been known as being a very smart guy for a long time. i don't consider myself birther or not birther but there are some major questions here. >> hey, it's not me. i don't consider myself a birther. i'm just asking the questions. these comes come days after trump akiess the president of being born in kenya and raised in indonesia. but this, of course, is nothing new. >> all i want to do is see this guy's birth certificate. >> he may not have been born in this country. >> his grandmother said he was born in kenya. she was there and witnessed the birth. why doesn't he show his birth certificate. >> this isn't about trump. this is about romney whole be
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standing arm in arm with trump in las vegas tonight. romney's campaign says he believes the president was born in the united states. so willard, will you be denouncing this kind of talk tonight? >> i don't agree with all of the people who support me. my guess is, they don't agree with everything i believe in. but i need to get 50.1% or more and i'm appreciative to have the help after lot of good people. >> what kind of leadership is this? the obama campaign responded today saying this demonstrates his complete lack of moral leadership. and they released this ad. >> i have heard about him. he's an -- >> no, ma'am. he is a descent family man citizen that i just happen to have disagreements with. >> why doesn't he show his birth certificate? he doesn't have a birth
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certificate. >> now we've seen this lack of leadership over and over again. willard's all in on trump. and it is a losing bet. what happens in vegas definitely won't stay in vegas this time. joining me now is joan wag much editor in large from salon.com and msnbc political analyst. and dana milbank political columnist for the washington post. thank you both for being here tonight. >> thank you. >> hello wrb reverend. >> joan, how much will this fund-raiser damage romney in the long run? >> oh, i think it'll damage him hugely, reverend al. one headline after another shows nun editorial boards and reporters are taking issue with this. i just watched david frum on cnn. just completely trash him. he used words on twitter that i can't repeat on television. but go look at what he said.
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you know, republicans are upsbet this. certainly democrats are upset about it. and i don't think it will play well with independent, reverend al. that clip of, i've got to get to 50.1%. wow, what a profile of encourage. that's not the definition of leadership. he is totally craven. he's shown it time and again. and i really think this is going to back fire. >> dana, i mean, i can't, for the life of me, figure out what he is doing here. because to say he's got to get to 51% or 50.1%, is like, i'll do whatever i need to do to get there, is the inference. this is coming out of his mouth. and we are not talking about you agreeing with everything a supporter says. we are talking about a supporter doing something about the specific campaign you're in. it is not like they disagree on some social policy. this is a campaign issue that is being highlighted by this supporter. and you are standing with him.
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so directly deals with your opponent and the tone of this race, dana. what is he doing here? >> i don't know, reverend. i would kbo out on a limb and say thromney has the birther vo. if they hate obama that much, they are not on the fence at this point. it made sense for romney to wrap his arms around trump, to get some of those conservative credentials. it almost looks like trump is trying to sabotage him. he is having a birther day right here on the very day that he is supposed to be having this fund-raiser with romney. he is telling everybody who will listen that he's back. sea reborn birther and he is in fact renouncing the fact that he accepted obama's birth certificate. it is sort of clownish that this is occurring right now. this is what you get. trump is an entertainer first and foremost and if romney is going to share the stage then he will be outclassed by this
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entertainer. >> you know, as much as i would want it continue talking about trump, i think that's what he wants. but let me stay right on focus here. because the president i want to focus on is will -- the person i want to focus on is willard mitt romney. romney seems to denounce or take exception to people that say outrageous things or at least things that should have been challenged throughout. let me show you where willard has shied way from speaking out against republicanes who made controversial statements numerous times. when rush limbaugh called georgetown law student sarah fluke a slut, willard responded, that's not the language i would have used. when ted nugent said, quote, if barack obama becomes president in in november again, i will either be dead or in jail this time next year. willard's spokesperson says
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romney believes everyone needs to be civil. willard avoided answering a question and said, quote, i will respect the different branchs of government if i'm fortunate enough to be president. and when he was pushed to elaborate later that day, willard said, i answered the question, i don't correct all of the questions that get asked of me. i mean, here's a guy, forget trump, he refuses to come out strongly and condemn anything that happens right specifically in the middle of his campaign. a campaign issue. >> right. well, you know, one thing that i think i'm not sure dana is right about, is this notion that he has the votes of every obama hater. i mean, that's intuitive to us. but at the same time that extremist base no matter how much he panders reverend al, it doesn't seem to completely warm up to him. so he has this policy of leave
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no obama hater behind. he feels like he can't afford to alien ate certainly not rush limbaugh or even some crazy person who suggests that president be tried for treason. so he does have this hifrt history of going along with and vetting and encuriouraging the vicious attacks on the president without having the necessity of standing up and saying, okay i've had enough. like the john mccain moment we remember back from october 2008. that might have been the last time that a republican leader really stood up and refuted this kind of hateful no one sense against the president. they just go along with it because they feel like they need those people. >> dana george, will seemed angry at the reemergence of the donald. let me show what you mr. will had to say. >> this cost of this appearing with this ignoramous.
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if your net worth is high enough, your iq can be very low and you can still intrude into american politics. >> bloverating ignoramous, david. >> that's probably not the worst thing that donald trump has ever been called. the donald embraces this. sea clown, he loves it. this is not donald trump's problem. he is laughing about this. he floated this whole candidacy and birther nonsense to get himself renewed in his own reality show. this is not about donald. he is doing exactly what he want to be doing. the question is why mitt romney want to wrap his arms around this and he is opening himself up to all kind of other problems. people are now asking, where is the same birthers are saying, where is mitt romney's birth certificate? he never released his.
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maybe his middle name isn't mitt. maybe it's milton. there is all kind of craziness around the birther movement. when you pal around with these guys, so to speak, you don't know where it is going to end up. >> joan, tom davis, former virginia congressman, said there is only one reason willard wants donald trump and that's to raise money. i don't know if he is trying to explain him or denounce him but president obama last year at white house correspondents dinner seemed to use it to his advantage, mr. trump and his birther crusade. watch this. >> no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than the ronald. that's because can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter. like, did we fake the moon landing. we just recently in an episode of celebrity apprentice --
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you mr. trump recognize that real problem was lack of leadership. and so ultimately you didn't blame little john or meat loaf. you fired gary busey. and these are the kind of decisions that would keep me up at night. >> i mean, all of us laughed that night, but the president seemed to mock trump. but this, as dana said, joan, brings trum 7 back to at least looking like he has some kind of clout in the republican party and the question is, why would willard do this? >> apparently he does have clout. and willard does this because he really can't count on every vote. he really doesn't know how to get to 50.1% reverend al. and you know, i do want to pick up on something dana said that i've been thinking about a lot. it really looks to me like trump is having, a, a lot of fun,
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that's obvious. but there is also this weird, i think, humiliation ritual going on with mitt romney because he's got to know that this is making life harder for willard. he's got know that he is costing him something. maybe not as much as he is raising him. but who knows, maybe more. and he won't shut up. most good supporters eventually, somebody says they are doing harm, they shut up. el not shut up about this. he doubled down on cnn, he insulted wolf blitzer. it is never a good idea to insult mainstream media figures on behalf of your candidate. it is a disaster. and he is enjoying every minute of it. >> can i say this, dana. i don't know about anybody trying to find his birth certificate. i don't encourage that. i will affirm here tonight, he was governor of massachusetts and they were 47th in job creation and there is only 50 states. and he was the author of romney care. i will defend that with willard
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all the way. joan walsh and dana milbank. thanks for your time tonight. ahead, the same people who attacked willard's history and private equity are slamming d democrats for bringing it up p mp. the eyes of the progressive world are on wisconsin. we're live in madison, with some big news it knit. and president obama honors some american icons. the medal of freedom was given out today. but there's one that some republicans may not be happy about. you're watching "politicsnation" on msnbc. emily's just starting out... and on a budget. like a ramen noodle- every-night budget. she thought allstate car insurance was out of her reach. until she heard about the value plan. see how much you could save with allstate. are you in good hands?
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rethink possible. welcome back to "politics nation" nation. i have a question for you. do facts matter? i'm not trying to be funny here. i'm dead serious. right now, one of the two men running for president apparently doesn't believe in facts. especially those pesky little facts about the stimulus. >> things are getting a little better and n a lot of places in this country. but it's not thanks to his policyes. it's in spite of his policies. that stimulus he put in place, it didn't help private sector
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jobs. it helped preserve government jobs. we have 145,000 more government workers under this president. let's send them home and put you back it to work. >> the stimulus didn't help the private sector? what about the what about the 3 million jobs that stimulus saved? willard's fact checker must have glanced over those. here's the truth. romney has decided to abandon facts when talking about the stimulus and how it's helped the economy. and along the way he also conveniently forgot now much he used to love the stimulus. like when he was pushing his own stimulus plan in 2008. >> a plan i would like to see enacted within the next 30 days, provide stimulus to our economy as well as ignite long-term growth for the american economy. >> or when he slammed john
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mccain for not backing a stimulus in 2008. >> he said that he would reduce government spending. that is not stim u lative. both need to stimulate the economy, not slam on the brakes. >> how about this doozy from 2002 when romney bragged how much stimulus he could get from washington. >> i'm a big believer in getting money where the money is. and the money is in washington. i want it to go after every grant, every project, every department in washington to assure we are taking advantage of economic development opportunity. >> facts matter, willard. the sooner you learn that, the better. joining me now ed rendell, now an ngc news political analyst and maria pike.
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thank you both for being here. governor and erin, thank you for being here. >> thank. >> you does he really think he can can get way without running a fact free campaign. >> sure. look, the stimulus, whether we like it or not, got off it a bad start in terms of the spend and a lot of american people have an unfavorable view of the stimulus. that's supported by the facts. you're right. in addition to the great facts you gave, rev, the congressional budget office said without the stimulus unemployment would have been a point to two point worse than it was during the dark days back in 2009. so the stimulus clearly worked to prevent worse reception and to get us back on the road to recovery. the bailout tremendous success. but stimulus gives them an opportunity, because it got off to a bad name, the polls show
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the american people didn't like the stimulus or didn't think it helped, so even though the fact are on our side, the spin was bad on stimulus so they will try and drive that point home. i think it is important for us to fight back and tell the american people what the true fact were, just like on the auto bailout. >> now, erin, so it is really political and play together spin. because if you look at facts,go stimulus. he proposed more than $7 minlon in economic stimulus as governor. he also loved federal money when he was running the salt lake city olympics, just compare it to other modern u.s. olympics. u.s. spending on the olympics. 1984, los angeles olympics cost 75 million. 1996 atlanta olympics cost 609 million. 2002, willard's time, salt lake
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city olympics, 1.3 billion. suddenly he is not speaking something that believed in the past but he has practiced. so is he playing to those poll numbers that the governor is talking about in hopes that facts never break through to the american people, where they understand where the gains were from the stimulus and auto bailout? >> oh, sure. but let's go to the facts for a second. mitt romney has done this on several occasions. it is a pattern for him on the campaign trail. when i was covering him in ohio, in early march, he said a couple of times that president obama had never signed any trade agreements, which is actually not true. the president has signed three trade agreements. but as a tactical matter, i agree with the governor. but look, back in 2009, 2010, republicans members of can congress were photographed throughout their districts and ribbon cutting ceremonies for projects that the stimulus funded. so it is of course hypocritical in certain ways to criticize
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this stimulus when in fact, your own district and the electorate is getting some use out of it. >> now, governor, not only did we site what he did as governor with stimulus money, and the olympics, bain, bain capital, his whole example of doing entrepreneurship and doing it in the private sector by himself, while the fact is that he didn't mind federal money when working at bain either. bain worked with steel mill gs technologies, federal government insurance agency. pay $44 million no bailout the company's pension plan wheel bain made millions of dollars on the deal. so in every aspect of his leadership, he has dealt with government money. >> absolutely, rev. and look at clip you played by the 2008 candidate romney. right after the recession hit. what did he propose in stimulus.
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what did he say reducing spending would do? that it wouldn't be stimulus. so the 2008 romney candidate was telling you the truth. to stimulate the economy you need some government money to get it rolling ain. which is exactly what president obama did. so i think you're right about bain. but the most telling thing is, this fellow running for president in some of 2008 wanted stimulus. and reducing spending would not be stim u lative. >> why is stimulus important in why is government money from a federal level important? >> because it serves to leverage the invest many of private capital. reverend, when i became governor of pennsylvania, we were in a tail spin in 2003. and i proposed that 2004 state
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stimulus money, so for our 2 billion we got about 8.5 times the level of private sector involvement, private sector. so that's what it means, it stimulates growth. it works. no question about it. the main reason when i left office, pennsylvania had an unemployment rate two point below the national average. >> thanks for joining me this evening. >> thank you. >> still ahead, just watch republicans squirm as they try to explain why it was okay for them to attack bain capital but not okay for the democrats. plus, the final days of a fight that began more than a year ago. the recall of wisconsin's union busting governor scott walker. how progressives are mobilizing for the recall. now just one week away. ♪
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>> i think you manage to companies and he bought and sold and sometimes people lost their jobs. that's the nature of that business. >> i brought taxes down by 17%. under him taxes went up 11% per capita. >> he left people unemployed and walked off with millions of dollars. >> ouch. but that's all water under the bridge. now these guys are doing their best to pretend willard's their guy. here is senator mccain trying to explain his past criticisms of bain capital. >> this is the free enterprise system. the only place in the world that i can recall where companies never failed was the old soviet union. yes, free enterprise system can be cruel. >> the free enterprise system can can be cruel. watch out senator. your right wing buddy might accuse you of attacking capitalism. here is giuliani, rudy giuliani, talking about his older tax on
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romney's time as governor. >> they had a growth of jobs in about 40,000. we add growth of jobs of about 45u 500,000. so i was comparing what i thought was my far superior record to his descent record. >> his comments were okay because his numbers were far superior. but i think my favorite line comes from newt gingrich. >> you called this exploitation at one point. >> sure. on the bain issue -- >> sure. newt went straight at him on the bain issue. on the bain attacks. but apparently, they're bad now that the democrats are doing the same thing. do these guys think they wouldn't call them out for their flip-flops on willard? nice try. but we gotcha. d of it! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day helps defend against digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria.
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world are on wisconsin. we're just one week away from the election to recall wisconsin governor scott walker. progressives are fighting hard to harness energy they had last february when thousands marched in madison, taking over the state capitol. vowing it fight back against the union best in governor. a debate over the weekend, governor walker was asked what he might change if he can go back if time. >> my problem was i can fixed it, then i talked about it. most politicians spend their time talking about it but never fixing it. in the future we will talk about it and fix it. the process itself is very important. >> but it is not just the process, it is also the policy. is walker's anti-union policies that set this recall in motion. not his process. with a week to go, walker has a huge financial advantage in this
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race. he outspent his challenger nearly three to one in tv ads and has 25-1 financial advantage over mayor tom barrett. ity's been tightening up in the last weeks with barrett trending higher and with just one week to go, they have the money. but for the democrats, it's down to the ground game. it is getting back to the same energy they that got wisconsinites this far. joining me now is marty beale, executive direccor of wisconsin american federation of state county and municipal employees. council 24. and adam green co-founder of the progressive change campaign committee. first of all, thanks to both of you for joining me tonight. >> good to be here. >> thanks, refr rand al, for having us on. >> marty, you're in the thick of it. what turn out do you expect and how can you win? >> we expect a huge turn out.
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as you mentioned, walker may have dollars. we've got people on the streets. and last weekend we got 35 thousand volunteers doing doors and phones. money can't buy that kind of activity. the energy that we saw 16 months ago here in wisconsin we see again here. we're on track to do a million five doors by election day and in six days, wisconsin citizens will take the government back, reverend al. >> now, adam, the progressive change campaign committee announced today donating another $100,000 to go towards democratic ground work and field operations to unseat walker. how did you raise it and how do you -- how important do you think it is for the ground game? what are you are you looking to see as you keep putting money? ? >> first of all, marty is absolutely right. in this battle of corporate power versus people power, corp rates can't rupelicate the boots
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on the ground. that why thousands of people went to our website, in the last nine days, and shipped in over $100,000 to ensure that wisconsin democrats have the resources that they need to get out and to vote. it really all comes down to this. >> this is a neck and neck race, comes down to what people do on election day. can we reach people at their door, remind them it is election day and pull them to the polls if we need to. >> so you raised it on-line. >> thousands and thousands of people, less than $20 contribution. these are people across the nation who understand, this is not just a local fight, this is a national fight. and it is a question of will we fight back. >> they had seen that progressive community had gone kind of quiet and lost a little energy. is that true or is the perception wrong? >> i don't think that's true. that is a story line that republicanes have been pushing. marty and his crew have great stuff on the ground.
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there is some talk about how committed the national democratic party has been. they are saying they are being supportive but i don't think progressives force one instance let up their focus on this fight. >> you're on the thick of the fight, tell me, has the jury been there? has the support you need been there? >> the energy here in wisconsin is incredible and the energy and support from a lot of our parent groups in washington and across the country have been incredible. but i want to say one thing. there's politico's inside the beltway, who are making predictions. those politicals didn't start this. this recall here. wisconsin people started this here. so they can interpret polls. they can come up with their pipe dreams about what may or may not happen here in wisconsin. but will happen here in wisconsin is those volunteers, workers, middle class folks, who will throw walker out of office next tuesday. >> now, walker, adam, is feeling
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that money is a huge advantage. he pulled 13.2 million since january and of that, 8.3 million came from outside of wisconsin. that two thirds of his money. he's had to raise outside of wisconsin. so the, on the ground gain, is the only thing to counter this kind of money that marty is talking about. >> that's true. not only is this money from outside of wisconsin but by and large from big corporations. from billionaire oil men like the koch brothers. these are grand parent chipping in $3, $5 at a time to support this effort. and as you said, boot on the ground. and i would point out one other things. some people are saying this is an election, doesn't matter to national narrative. but what happens in wisconsin on june 5 and other primaries, if
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these progressive causes win, that will be a big boom to this president as he tries to get re-ele re-elected. if we lose, you know republicans will have all hand on deck. we all have to do our part. >> marty mentioned the koch brothers and koch brothers fupd america for prosperity has a bus campaign this week. that's their ground game. and there is positive reform with a better wisconsin bus tour to travel around the state from may 30th to june 2nd. there are positive reforms, what a coincidence. >> yeah, well i don't know how positive they are, reverend al. they have done this bus tour before and played it a crowd of about two dozen folks. we have done bus tours and sometimes hundreds of thousands of people come out. i have to say that there is a lot of money on the republican side of this. but the interesting part of all
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this is that walker's numbers, in spite of the money, in spite of the ads have plateaued and in fact, a poll that was just done last week is popularity dropped by two point. so he can have money. we've got people. we've got the truth on our side. we are out there everyday, every minute, every breath to make sure that wisconsin takes its government back. >> and one sentence, adam, what do progressive need to do in this one week left? >> we need to consider this all hands on deck moment. everybody needs to make phone calls. still chipping in to the cause and if you're in wisconsin please, please get out and vote. >> what do we need people to do, marty? >> we need people to contact relatives, friend, kids, outlaws, in-laws, church members, community groups and tell them that the 5th, next tuesday, it is absolutely critical to go to the polls. if they can't make that commitment, they can early vote
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and absentee until june 1st. there are thousands of people who lined up yesterday, 90 minutes to get into vote absentee. so folks have some concern about not voting on the 57b8g. they can vote early, but we need to have them vote. >> thank for your time tonight and good luck. >> thanks, reverend al. >> coming up, mitt romney calls education a quote civil rights issue. but his ideas fail it address the problem. we'll talk about it with randy wine garden, head of the american federation of teachers. >> plus, while some on the right might have a problem with president obama's ceremony today honoring american heroes. that's ahead. here on politician nation. [ male announcer ] when these come together, and these come together, one thing you can depend on is that these will come together. delicious and wholesome. some combinations were just meant to be. tomato soup from campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do.
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[ clang ] my house is where plants came to die. ♪ but, it turns out all i was missing was miracle-gro potting mix. it's got what a plant needs. even plant food that feeds them for up to 6 months. you get bigger, more beautiful plants. guaranteed. who's got two green thumbs thanks to miracle-gro? uh, this gal. boom! everyone grows with miracle-gro. if there's one issue in america today that should be beyond politicsing with it's education. but mitt romney has been using the issue to try to score political points. most recently claiming that america's school kids were get quote a third world education under president obama. >> here we are in the most
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prosperous nation on earth but millions of our kids are getting a third world education. and mer kamerica's minority chi suffer the most. this is the civil rights issue of our era. >> so how would romney address this secivil rights issue? he cut 277 million from the k-12 education budget. he cut $130 million from higher education. and he vetoed $10 million to expand kindergarten. just last week romney raised eyebrows by suggesting kids need two parents to succeed in school. if you think about the kids of tomorrow trying to help move people to understand, getting married and having families whether there is a mom and dad together has a big impact. >> but not all kids live with two parents, willard. as a matter of fact, one in four
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children are being raised in single parent homes. are all these kids destined to fail? is there any answer from romney for those children? joining me now is randy winegarden, from the american federation of teachers. who met today with arnie duncan. thank you for being here tonight. let me start with this. mitt romney has a record on education. how do you address it? >> well, all he did in his speech was say these tired old plays from the old republican play book where, if you actually looked at the evidence, none of these things works. >> facts again. >> yes. essentially what he did, is he suggested the kind of education policy that operates in chile, instead of the operation policy that operates in countries that outcompete us. go to a place that is actually
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working. so if he spent a minute of time in a school to see what is working, he would never have suggested what he suggested. so what i was really shocked about, was, you know, investment policy in terms of schools. a policy that pretends that poverty doesn't exist and what is worse is this notion that if you're for kids have you to be against teachers or if you're for teachers you have to be against kids. that doesn't work in schooling in america. what works is building capacity of teachers so that they are the best they can be. investing in them and also creating collaborative environments like we see in new haven which are, you know, which should be, you know, what we should do throughout the nation. so i was really disappointed that someone who supposedly as smart as mitt romney would come up with a play book from 20, 30 years ago that never worked then and doesn't work now. >> now, he has been taking really shark attacks at teachers
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and even the teachers union. let me show you what he said today in colorado to an 8-year-old girl. >> have you a good school here? >> yeah, i'll bet you do. i want to make sure that we have a president that cares more about kids than he cares about the teachers' union. >> what is that supposed to mean? >> again, this must be right out of republican play book from 30 years ago. the country, let me say this as loudly as can i to mr. romney. the countries that outcompetis are the ones most unionized. the states in this nation that do the worst are the least unionized. teachers really need a voice, mitt. you should be working together with teachers and with the teacher's union like we are doing in new haven where we are turning things around. every school, and every school district in this nation, that has worked for kids, works with its teachers, doesn't deem moni
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them. we have to share responsibility, not demonize and divide. >> i there is an article on school choice which romney supports. it says programs are operating in eight states this school year alone the program redirikted nearly $$350 million that would have gone into scholarships for 129,000 students. >> right. look at the evidence. every time we do a divestment strategy from schools, kids lose. let's take something like early childhood. mitt romney cut early childhood in massachusetts. what is early childhood education mean? every dollar we spend on early childhood we save $7 later on. and yet we are cutting early childhood. so instead of investment strategy, he is doing a disinvestment strategy to pla
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l particularly to poor kids. there were teachers at the charter school in philadelphia. who said o to him, we have to actually differentiate instruction to kids. that means we need smaller classes. >> he said larger classroom sizes. set first one i've ever heard come with that one. >> look, just someone who is out of touch. he clearly has not been in a public school classroom, in a very long time. if he is actually going to think that the way in which we bring this country together is that you divide teachers from kids, the way we create opportunity is that you scapegoat and demonize, that is someone who obviously doesn't know anything about how youed cancate children or at least how you educate poor children in this country. >> randy wine garten, president of the american federation of teachers. thanks for your time tonight, randi. president obama honoring the
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rep srecipients today. there is probably one the republicans probably won't be celebrating. stay with us. [ male announcer ] hey, isn't that the girl who tore out your sill-beating heart? ah, being a vegan is really working out for her. [ bowling pins ] ok, how's this gonna play? mi amore. [ chicken clucking ] [ male announcer ] ah common g., try manly, girls dig that! [ screams ] [ male announcer ] no, no, no, think smooth, but animal.
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it was a day to honor icons at the white house today. president obama celebrated the latest medal of freedom recipients. more than a dozen cultural and political icons. receiving the nation's highest civilian honor. like former secretary ever state madeleine albright. deloris, co-founder ever national former's association. deloris and i protested earlier this year to protest voter id laws. tony morrison. rock legend bob dylan was there. and a legendary leader to
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protect and enforce civil rights during the 1960s. then, the president honored juliette gordon low, founder of the girl scouts who died in 1927 at age 66. >> juliette gordon low was not exactly typical. she recognized early on that in order to keep up with the changing times, women would have to be prepare pepd almost a century later girls have gained confidence and skills through the organization she founded. >> fitting tribute. teaching character and ethics. i hope the republicans weren't watching. some aren't fans of the girl scouts. like indiana state representative bob morris. he thinks planned parenthood works with girl scouts to quote sexualize young girls. he also says girl scouts promote homosexual lifestyles. then there's is alaska state
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representative wes keller. he blocked a resolution honoring the scouts. because he heard they were linked to planned parenthood. so i was wondering, where dot republicans get these outrageous ideas anyway? >> turns out girl scouts is more than just cookies. >> a liberal agenda, in the national girl scout organization. >> a liberal agenda. i guess it was a liberal agenda to build courage, confidence and character to try to make the world a better place. not to mention great cookies. but seriously, though, this isn't a group we should be tearing down. it is one we should be building up. one we should be honoring. we should honor those that invest in the youth in this country. to try and build character in young women. but to the memory of the founder and to all of those that lead the girl scouts, one of the things i've
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