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tv   The Ed Show  MSNBC  April 4, 2014 2:00pm-3:01pm PDT

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>> that is all for you. i will see you back in new york city monday at 4:00 p.m. eastern. you can catch me tonight when i appear on hbo's "real time with bill maher" live at 10:00 p.m. eastern. "the ed show" is up next. good evening, americans. welcome to "the ed show" live from new york. let's get to work. >> we have to tell the american people what we're for. >> then you're thinking like a new republican. >> we've got to stop being the stupid party. >> oops. >> that's actually not right. >> immigrants are more fertile. >> this is a conservative idea. >> that's still not right. >> gentlemen, we can rebuild him. we have the technology. >> you're thinking like a new republican. >> and you understand me. >> show the american people we've got to better plan -- >> better, stronger, faster. >> you're thinking like a new republican, a new republican.
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>> good to have you with us ton, folks. thanks for watching. tonight i want to sell you a new car. welcome to big eddie's car lot. you know, we got the best inventory in the county. you're going to want to come see my salesman. ask yourself the question, do you go buy a brand-new car? would you expect these guys to be on the lot? could you trust them? jeb bush and bobby jindal. meet my best used car salesmen on the lot. every saturday we give out free hot dogs, too. say, what is the definition of "new"? if someone tells you, i got a new car, does that mean that nobody else has ever owned it? does that mean that nobody else has ever driven it? it doesn't have any miles on it at all? in fact, this model's never even been tried before? new. hmm. what do you think about the newrepublican.org web site that's out there, huh? now i'm selling you a real bad
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used car. every so often, republicans, they do acknowledge that they're in a little bit of trouble, that their party's actually a complete and total mess. and they talk about rebranding. they talk about reaching out to minorities. they talk about appealing to younger voters. and the bottom line is it never works, it never has, and i don't think it ever will. they're called the grand ole party for a reason. these guys are now out talking about the new republican party. clean slate. brand-new. no mileage on this baby at all. jeb bush and bobby jindal are trying to rebrand the republican party by outlining a positive gop agenda for the future, of course. because the past hasn't worked out very well. bush and jindal show up in this commercial laying out the new plan for the republican party. >> if you believe that every parent ought to be able to choose their child's school, and that the economy should be driven from the bottom up, not the top down from washington, then you're thinking like a new
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republican. >> newrepublican.org. join us. >> if you don't think the republican party should be the party of big government, big business or big anything, you're thinking like a new republican. >> i know what you're thinking really. i went over to big eddy's used car lot and got nothing but a damn lemon because that's all that is. you see, the commercial will begin airing on sunday. all the sunday talk heads, they might even be talking about this brand-new vehicle that's going to be out there. don't be fooled. the ad is a complete and total joke. first off, i'm interested in the phraseology and the point that jeb bush makes in this commercial. first all, choosing your own school. folks, this isn't reality for most kids in america. socioeconomic issues have a lot to do with where kids go to school in this country. kid in the inner city of chicago? you think they're ever going to be able to get to choose where they go to school? i doubt it.
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next, bush and jindal talk about the economy being driven from the bottom up. really? give me a break. you see this chart right here, folks? this is a real problem for the republican party if they're selling new cars. this chart right here is a product, is an absolute product of republican policies. now, when you look at this, all of the republican policies have helped these folks. and the republican policies have done nothing for the wage earners. they've attacked labor, they've attacked voices in the workplace, they have attacked your pension, they have attacked your wages, they have outsourced, and that's the result of it right there. a flat line society. now, this is not a -- there is not a single republican policy that acknowledges -- that acknowledges anywhere that income inequality is very real in america. this is not -- there is not really one republican policy
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that remotely starts to address the issue of income inequality. republicans need this chart to stay in power. these guys at the top, here are the folks that fund the republican party, the vultures up top. they can't get enough of it. they want to own the supreme court. the last decision wasn't very good, was it? now, the republican party will always be the party of the rich and always be the party of big business. it's their dna. so when i hear jindal and bush come out and say that there's something going to be new about the republican party, i can't wait. because based on the results over the last 30, 40 years, there has to be an admission of guilt. and if you're going to make a course correction you have to say, you know what we have been doing isn't good enough. we're not winning elections. this guy obama came along and now we've got this health care thing we got to deal with. so where is the admission of
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guilt in income equality and what is going to be the course correction? here are some issues i think bush and jindal could shed some light on to the american people and give us an idea of what this new republican party is all about. here's what many republicans -- here's where they stand on medicare. >> that proposes a lot of different changes. two shows to go through it. means testing our entitlement programs. optional personal retirement accounts, social security, converting medicare into a defined contribution sort of voucher system with extra assistance for lower income, means testing higher income. >> paul ryan's 2015 budget turns medicare into a voucher system. i wonder if the new republican party would stop this in from happening. that is the $64 question. next up minimum wage. here's where the republican party stands on a livable wage for workers. >> as a former small business owner and someone who's worked on this issue for a long time, you just have to shake your
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head. what i've long said is that raising the minimum wage destroys jobs. and that was confirmed last week by the congressional budget office. >> so mr. bush, tell me, are you for or against raising the minimum wage? simple. you either want to help workers who are in poverty or you don't. where's the new republican party on that? some republicans want to abolish the minimum wage all together. i wonder if bush and jindal, if their bottom up economic plan provides a livable wage for workers. probably not. then there's health care. it's pretty obvious what republicans want to do with obamacare. >> let's repeal this failure before it literally kills women, kills children, kills senior citizens. let's not do that. let's love people as people of faith i'm a born-again believer in jesus christ. and i believe that it is part of
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my duty as a believer in christ and what he has done for me that we should do for the least of those who are in our midst. that's my personal belief and my personal conviction. >> is the new republican party going to get down on bended knee with jesus and talk about taking away health care from 7.1 million americans? because that's what the republican wants to do. they want to take away health care from 7.1 million americans. now, i doubt the new republican party will try to protect obamacare unless maybe you've got another plan on the table. because we haven't seen it. then there's unemployment insurance. republicans have no plan for the long-term unemployed in this country. >> when you allow people to be on unemployment insurance for 99 weeks, you're causing them to become part of this perpetual unemployed group in our economy. and it really -- while it seems
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good it actually does a disservice to the people you're trying to help. black unemployment in america is double white unemployment and it hasn't budged under this president. >> wow, that's a hot one. maybe the new republican party will address minorities in this country when it comes to employment. because we know the old one hasn't. maybe bush and jindal could convince john boehner to help out the unemployed. now, we have bad trade deals like the ttp on the table. everyone knows republicans want these deals to be fast tracked. >> we can start by expanding markets for american companies to export their products and their services. that would be good for american jobs. and republicans and the president agree on this. listen. trade promotion authority is ready to go. so why isn't it done? it isn't done because the president hasn't lifted a finger to get democrats in congress to support it. >> so the new republican party should acknowledge trade deals
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because they outsource jobs. trade deals hurt the middle class. you ever hear republicans talk about the middle class? they never did before 2012. but maybe this new group will. ho how about -- this is a tough one. how about gun control? holy smokes. what's the new party going to do with that? in 2012 it was only 90% of americans who supported background checks after sandy hook, but we couldn't get that. so here's where the gop stands on gun control. >> hearing heroic stories of the principal lunging, trying to protect -- chris, i wish to god she had had an m 4 in her office locked up so when she heard gun fire she pulls it out and she didn't have to lunge heroically with nothing in her hands but she takes him out, takes his head off before he can kill those precious kids. >> jeb bush signed the stand your ground legislation in florida. i wonder how the new republican party will deal with gun control. finally if republicans really
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want to rebrand themselves, they're going to have to deal with this. >> our top political priority over the next two years should be to deny president obama a second term. >> wow. maybe bush and jindal can just figure out a way to bring the majority of republicans to the table to negotiate on some things and stop flat-out hating the president of the united states. this is quite the list for the new republican party. i'd say the chances of them addressing them are probably slim and none. and i should also point out to the new republican effort that more people signed up for obamacare than are members of the national rifle association. get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's question, would you vote for the new republican party? that commercial is a dandy, isn't it? text a for yes, text b for no
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to -- we'll bring the results later on in the show. let me bring in pulitzer prize winning journalist david k. johnson and america's attorney mike papantino. mike, you first. who's going to fall for this, this rebranding? it's been tried before but now we've got a new face in jeb bush. >> the very fact that bobby jindal is included in that new ad tells you there's absolutely nothing new or improved. this is a man who has a crazy sheet as long as sarah palin's. if you look at his record in louisiana, he has the highest poverty rate in america, the third highest school failure rate in america, homelessness under bobby jindal increased by 111%. endless attacks on organized labor to the point to where the writers in louisiana say that he has destroyed the middle class. now look, there's no difference here between bush and jindal.
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the only difference is, jindal says that he performed exorcisms when he was growing up, and bush has not admitted to that. bush just looks better, ed. bush just comes off looking like he has more real insight, like he's a real contender. but if you look at his record, it's pretty scary. the media has done a terrible job following bush around to these town hall meetings where he meets with millionaires in their country club all-white groups and he talks about the idea that minorities are destroying this country by way of welfare. >> he does that? >> oh, yes. the problem is he's been doing it quietly since he left the governor's office. he's had these country club meetings. he talks about how horrible welfare is and how minorities are really the responsible part of that. his message, ed -- and again, i'm fascinated that the media doesn't cover it. but his message is, we have to constrain and actually kill this
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government beast that gives away our money to poor people, especially minorities. he wanted to dismantel the florida education state department. he wanted to refuse to accept federal money for education. and you know what, ed, this is where it really gets crazy. he actually got to the point, he said, i want to take away the children of parents who are too lazy in his opinion to work and find a job. this guy is no different than jindal. i can tell you. >> no different. nothing new about this. it's a used car all over again and bald tires on it. david k. johnson, from an economic perspective, are there any republican policies out there that would address income inequality when they're total in denial of the concept? >> they're all addressing them and they're making it worse. my column in al jazeera this week is about how stock market gains for the vast majority, 90%, have shrunk by half. for the 1% of the 1%, 2.6 times what they used to to be.
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all these policies are designed to take from the many and reinforce the wealth of the few. and when bobby jindal says we're not for big anything? really? i thought republicans were standing up for big oil. i haven't seen them try to break up the big banks. they're certainly enjoying the big donors. they'll enjoy a lot more now with this supreme court ruling. >> so we show this vulture chart all the time. and i drive this home with viewers because this is a snapshot of republican policies. this is concentrating the wealth, leaving the wage earners and the middle class. but the vast majority of americans behind, correct? >> yes. in fact, the most recent data on tax returns, the bottom 90% of americans' income has now fall ton just below where it was in 1966 when i was in high school. and at the very top, it's up -- i don't even remember how much it's up. it's through the roof of this high-rise building that we're
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in. >> over 300%, i believe. >> i'm going back to '66. >> okay. >> but the thing about that, 90% of americans' average income now has fallen back to right where we were in 1966. lyndon johnson was president then. >> so in this commercial when jeb bush talks about building an economy from the bottom up, mike, what's he talking about? this is fraudulent. >> his idea of building economy from really the bottom up is simply we're going to give the -- it's no different, ed, it is we give the billionaires and the millionaires money, we hope the money falls down to the bottom and then we can build up from there. listen, this guy, jeb bush is a staunch member of the republican tea party caucus that represents everything that the gop autopsy a couple of years ago said was wrong with the republican party. >> okay. >> he actually if you look at him closely, he is the body they were talking about in that autopsy report. >> can he win florida? that's the alarm for democrats.
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he was the governor there. can he win florida whether it's hillary or joe biden or whoever the democrats put up? >> he can win florida. they ignored everything about that was ugly about bush the first election. they ignored his involvement with the s and l crisis in miami. they ignored all that the same way they ignored everything about rick scott. it's okay, criminal conduct is just fine. ugly conduct is just fine to be elected in the state. so yes, the answer is, he can be elected. >> and david k., the recent ruling by the supreme court only makes that chart emboldened, doesn't it? >> the founders would be absolutely astonished at this sort of a ruling, this idea that dollars equal free speech. and the claim, the position that chief justice roberts took that -- he kept the one rule, $2600 per candidate? that's nonsense. you give money to this candidate and they trade money back and forth and they move it around. it's open season now. >> so the reason why i bring that subject up is because i'm
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curious if the new republican party is going to reject the supreme court ruling or are they falling right in there saying that this is freedom of speech? david k. johnson, mike papantonio, great to have you with us tonight. i've got a new car for you, folks. remember to answer tonight's question at the bottom of your screen. share your thoughts on facebook and twitter. we want to know what you think. coming up, right wing radios's obama care meltdown. first ultraconservative congressman mike growthman makes a run for the united states congress. i can't wait. trenders is next. don't worry! the united states postal service will get it there on time with priority mail flat rate shipping. ♪ whoo-hoo! ♪
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no two people have the same financial goals. pnc works with you to understand yours and help plan for your retirement. visit a branch or call now for your personal retirement review. if you don't think "feed the then you don't know "aarp". our drive to end hunger has donated 29 million meals, and counting. find more real possibilities at aarp.org/possibilities. mayo? corn dogs? you are so outta here! aah! [ female announcer ] the complete balanced nutrition of great-tasting ensure. 24 vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, and 9 grams of protein. [ bottle ] ensure®. nutrition in charge™. what's hot what's not. time for trenders. social media join the ed team.
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facebook.com/edshow, twitter.com/edshow. we're on the radio. sirius xm. channel 27 you can get my radio podcast at we got ed.com. social media nation has decided we're reporting here are today's top trenders voted on by you. >> i'm retired. >> the number three trender, signing off. >> i have spent half my time behind this desk. in 34 years, 5,914 shows. more importantly, that means i spent half my life in makeup. >> you're a funny guy. >> david letterman says next year is his last as a late night host. >> how long does a guy want to do a tv show? >> it's past my bedtime. >> 2015 for the love of god. paul and i will be wrapping things up and taking a hike. >> quick. >> the number two trender, hard of hearing. >> i'm not here to get a specific answer from you but to
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better understand what is happening? >> i have no idea what's going on. >> i just got a note saying i'm at the wrong hearing. >> where am i? >> senator coats says the russians caused his meeting mixup. >> this is the first time this has ever happened to me. >> you're always welcome in our committee. >> y'all come back now, hear? >> i'll go try to find out where i'm supposed to be. >> which way did they go? >> today's top trender. badger battle. >> glen growthman wants to take fellow republican tom petry's seat. >> let's get ready to rumble. >> the wisconsin state senator wants to bring his anti-woman record to washington. >> i know a lot of gals who are having kids out of wedlock. >> i was the author of the 24-hour waiting period for abortions. >> you talk to an average girl, average gal. >> the vast majority of women who are having children, they are not accidents. i think people are trained to say that this is a surprise to me because there's still enough of a stigma that they're
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supposed to say that. >> the man who led the repeal of the equal pay act could argue that money is more important for men. >> a lot of women like to stay at home and have their husbands be the primary bread winner. but the leadership class of this country would send a clear message to all these nice cute middle class girls. >> we got a dandy on the horizon, don't we? joining me tonight, ruth coniff, editor in chief of the progressive magazine. talking about glen grothman possibly in the united states congress. ruth, good to have you with us tonight. glen grothman on women's rights. what does that sound like to you? >> get ready, ed. get ready, america. we've been watching glen here in wisconsin for awhile. and if you thought scott walker was extreme, wait until you get a load of glen grothman. glen is -- he's a true believer. i have to give him that. he will talk to anybody, and he will say things that his republican colleagues will not say. because they alienate people.
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and he's the guy who's really obsessed with other people's families and with women's reproductive choices in a way that is pretty far out there. not to mention the fact that he recently sponsored a bill to repeal the weekend because he thinks that workers don't do anything on their day off. people ought to be able to work seven days in a row, he says. so yeah, i think people are going to be surprised when they meet glenn. >> he has sponsored a bill to repeal the weekend. >> that's right, ed. yeah. glenn feels that people need to work seven-days in a row. >> what was his logic behind that? what did he say about that? >> well, one of the things he said was that he doesn't see people performing public service on their day off, so he doesn't think they're using their time well. he couched it in terms of the freedom of workers who are prevented unnecessarily from working seven consecutive days. but really, of course this is what most of the republican agenda is about, which is making sure that workers make as little as possible and work as much as possible and the people who own companies are able to take as much of the profits and give as
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little as they can to the workers. but the way that he comes right out there with this stuff is pretty surprising. no mlk day for glenn and no more of that famous holiday, saturday, if he gets his way. >> okay. so he would really even though he's from wisconsin, not minnesota, he would be the perfect replacement in the party for michele bachmann. that's basically what i'm hearing. >> oh, yeah. >> okay. >> he's willing to say really outrageous things. and he's worried about things other people aren't worried about. like whether there's sort of a mass slaughter of little girls going on because of legal abortion. he has this peculiar theory about planned parenthood as being an extremely nefarious organization that promotes the genocide of little girls. it's strange stuff. he does really believe it. reporters enjoy talking to him because he'll say things like the names of the corporate sponsors, the lob lobbyists behind legislation that they're sponsoring. he's a loose cannon. >> loose cannon but he's really perfect for the right wing. this guy's going to get a flood
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of money from americans for prosperity. or am i wrong on that? >> well, he's a tea party-type republican. he is running against a moderate republican who's been there for 13 terms. so it's a reach. but i think it's possible that he'll get a lot of support and win. and i guess it depends on whether the national party wants to appeal to a really extreme part of the base or whether they want to appear more moderate. because glenn's not going to help them with that. >> do you think he has a serious chance to win in wisconsin? >> i think he might. >> okay. >> i think he may be going to washington, ed. >> wow. >> i hate to say it because i'm from the progressive tradition in wisconsin. it's an old and fine tradition. and the more i travel around the country the more i have to try to explain that to people who see scott walker and paul ryan and now, god forbid, glenn grothman on the national stage. >> are there women that are going to vote for this guy in wisconsin? i mean, he has such an archaic
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view of women's rights. we're back to the kitchen and barefoot and pregnant, aren't we? >> yeah. he says really outrageous stuff about women. i mean, he wants to make it officially child abuse to be a single mother. this is from a guy who's not married and doesn't have kids. the obsession with people's families and the defense of the family by preventing people from getting access to reproductive health care and saying condescending things about women is not going to help him. but there's a very strong, organized, anti-abortion movement in wisconsin that will back him. because that's really was water he's carrying. that's not a small political force. that's the reason that scott walker and paul ryan have gotten as far as they got. they got their start as being really in the tank for the very extreme pro-lifers. >> ruth coniff, thanks so much from the progressive magazine in wisconsin. coming up, right wing talkers throw a hissy fit over obamacare enrollment numbers. the rapid response found a way
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in on the radio talk meltdowns. pittsburgh's largest labor demonstration in 20 years. why the city's biggest employer is in the midst of a labor shutdown. but next i'm taking your questions. ask ed live on a friday coming up next here on "the ed show" on msnbc.
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welcomes back to "the ed show." our first question comes from joseph. he wants to know how does social media impact the ed show? well, in a number of different ways. i like reading twitter because i think we get story ideas off it. we follow up on some of the things that are on there. no doubt about it. it's just a constant running headline of america. and also we try to tweet out exactly what we're going to put on the show to pique the interest to get people to watch. so there's a number of different ways that we communicate with you wonderful viewers out there. obviously twitter is a big part
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of it and facebook and the social media. it's a big part of what we're doing, no question about it. our next question is from mary. she wants to know what was your favorite story to report on over the last five years on tv? it's been a lot of them. wisconsin, ohio, the recall votes there in wisconsin, the reversing of the going after the collective bargaining law in ohio, obamacare being there when that was signed and the fight up to getting health care passed in america. been a lot of stuff. but certainly i have really enjoyed going out on the road and talking to the great americans who are kind enough to watch this show. and i appreciate it very much. going to be another great five years coming up guaranteed if the lord wants me to be here. that's if my ticker hangs in there. you know how it is. stick around. rapid response panel is next. a volatile day for stocks.
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the dow hits an interintraday record before sliegd 159 points. s&p 500 drofd 23, the nasdaq drops 110. the economy added 192,000 jobs in march, a touch of light. the unemployment rate held steady at 6.7%. job creation figures for january and february were revised higher. and one quick note, shares of rubhub soared 30% in their first day of trading that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. but the energy bp produces up here creates something else as well: jobs all over america. thousands of people here in alaska are working to safely produce more energy. but that's just the start. to produce more from existing wells, we need advanced technology. that means hi-tech jobs in california and colorado. the oil moves through one of the world's largest pipelines. maintaining it means manufacturing jobs in the midwest.
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welcome back to "the ed show" the best news of the week came from president obama at the white house. on tuesday afternoon. >> 7.1 million americans have now signed up for private
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insurance plans through these marketplaces. 7.1. >> and the mission's not accomplished yet. but you did hear it from the president. 7.1 million. the second best news of the week is from right wing radio hosts totally freaking out about the number. >> why should anybody believe it? why can't the government prove it? the real question is, when have they not lied about obama care? >> this is complete bogus. this is a complete bogus fairy tale. this is completely made up. this is nonsensical. >> just because team obama cooked the books on the promise that you could keep your doctor, keep your plan and you're going to pay less, you wouldn't expect them to lie on this, would you? of course you would. >> wasting no time. let's go to our rapid response panel. so who's telling the truth? joining me tonight, john fugelsang, he is liberal commentator and comedian. also with us tonight, heidi harris, host of the radio talk show "the heidi harris show."
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heidi, good to have you back with us. >> congratulations on five years of being wrong. >> oh, really. okay. >> i'm teasing you. >> i'll let you correct me tonight. what's all the fuss about the numbers, heidi? where's the proof that they're wrong at 7.1 million? >> well, i think it's interesting that just a few months ago they couldn't give us any numbers at all about anything. now all of a sudden they're absolutely sure 7.1 million people have signed up. i don't know what they're basing that number on. people who went online, people who actually signed up, people who have actually paid. let me give you an example. i can't speak for the entire country. in nevada we had 600,000 people who were uninsured. they are quoting 186,000 people accessed care. that's what they're saying in some news reports. only 25,000 have actually paid for coverage. that's why all of us on the right are suspicious about the numbers the white house is so certain are actual. >> okay now, this happened on tuesday. now this is more than 48 hours. you got some slow reporters on
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your side, heidi. because i find it interesting, after the first month of signup you folks on the right were jumping all over only 106,000 people signed up. you did accept that number on november 3rd, one month after the signup, correct? >> we weren't sure about it because we could never get actual numbers out of anything. how many times did kathleen s sebelius say she couldn't give us numbers? >> the president was out there saying we were going to fix this. it's easy to verify through the insurance companies who are getting paid and sebelius is on record saying that 90% of the people have paid. so john fugelsang, who's telling the truth here? i'm having more fun with this than i can stand. >> well, i do want to thank you for airing those clips, ed. that was like pouring for moral people. the interesting thing about this, this is a republican-designed health care plan by the heritage foundation
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implemented by a republican massachusetts governor, upheld by a republican supreme court. and these guys need it to fail before it can start helping save republican lives. if the gop had been behind health care reform, if they'd cared enough, if they valued saving lives here as much as blowing up people over there we might not see this happen. we might see a real public option, more reform instead of this messy moderate improvement than obamacare is. i often wish the gop had been this concerned about fact checking back in the wmd days. >> we do know how many people are hitting the web site. everybody can find out how many people are hitting the web site. >> millions of americans are now insured. tune into "hannity" to find out why this is bad. >> so is this their last throes of trying to defeat obama care? >> of course not. no disrespect to ms. harris, but what has the gop done for working americans since reagan gave us the tax credit.
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their narrative is obamacare is a failure. running on obamacare as a fail you, all they have to do is get their 23% bubble out to vote, the democrats have to corral the other 77%. this could be enough. and i'm sorry in advance for all the lives that are saved. >> heidi, your response. >> you know, i think obamacare is a bad thing to run on. because republicans, listen. i want everybody to have health care in this country. >> the house and senate and white house for six years nothing happened. they made no movement on this. >> a lot of the problem would be with the tort reform. a lot of tort reform is not going to pass because you've got too many people who are lawyers on capitol hill. that's the problem. that's one of the major factors when it comes to health care expenses. there's no way an insurance company -- >> tort reform? double-digit increases that people are getting in premiums every year during the push administration and it's tort reform? >> but that's one of the things that would have helped keep costs down when you keep talking about how much it costs. >> it wouldn't have kept costs
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down for a working family living paycheck to paycheck. don't we deserve the same quality health care as israel, as the u.k.? >> don't get me started on the u.k. >> no one goes bankrupt over an ability to pay costs in the u.k. >> they die if they can't get care depending on where they live. >> i'm hearing that on a.m. radio. >> because it's true. >> why has no country ever tried to give up a socialized health care system for the kind of system we have now? talk about getting a government in between you and your doctor, you have no problem with a bureaucrat between you and your doctor. what kind of society is it where a doctor can get rich off other people's sickness? >> when you give people something they don't want to give it up. of course countries don't want to give up socialized medicine. >> this goes back to nafta. >> heidi, what is the number one complaint you hear from your listeners about the affordable care act? >> two of them. one of them is having their hours cut because of obamacare restrictions because their
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companies can't afford to give them insurance. another one is when they finally are able to access it it costs far more than they thought it was going to cost or they can't get the doctors they thought they could get. >> do you have any responsibilities to 49 months of private sector job growth when obamacare was supposed to be a job killer? >> you know what? all i can tell you i hang out with the real people, not the people on capitol hill. everybody i know is nowhere near where they were even three years ago financially. that's just my world. >> well, we do know that nevada has an unusually high unemployment rate because of the tourism industry. >> yeah, thanks, harry reid. >> which is the backbone of las vegas. >> oh, yeah. harry reid, baby. he's been great for us. >> isn't that the truth? >> tourism, sure. but people spend money on slot machines before they'll get dental work. that's always going to be a factor. >> okay. good discussion. john fugelsang and heidi harris. good to have you with us tonight. we're still looking for the verification of those phony numbers though, heidi. you work on that and we'll have you back. still ahead, in "an ed show" fifth anniversary special we'll
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take a look at the best text poll questions over the past five years. stay with us. it is a friday. ok, here's the way the system works. let's say you pay your guy around 2 percent to manage your money. that's not much, you think except it's 2 percent every year. does that make a difference? search "cost of financial advisors" ouch! over time it really adds up. then go to e*trade and find out how much our advice costs. spoiler alert. it's low. really? yes, really. e*trade offers investment advice and guidance from dedicated professional financial consultants. it's guidance on your terms not ours that's how our system works. e*trade. less for us, more for you. if you have a business idea, we have a personalized legal solution that's right for you. with easy step-by-step guidance, we're here to help you turn your dream into a reality.
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here at "the ed show" we're celebrating five years of mighty good text questions, don't you think? here's the best of the best. >> get your phones out. here we go. >> i want to know what you think. tonight's text survey question is, do you think john boehner cares more about playing golf or helping americans? would you let senator ron johnson teach your kids about science? do you think newt gingrich actually believes the things he says? tonight's question -- very penetrating, i might add -- is chris christie totally impressed with himself or just partially? do you think christine o'donnell is just like you?
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is senator rand paul a hypocrite or a libertarian? tonight's text survey is you want sarah palin to run for president in 2012? i'm i'm texting a for yes, and you can text "b" for no if you want. and i sure would like to vote on that one a few more times. stick around. lots more coming up on "the ed show." we're right back.
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welcome back to "the ed show." this is the story for the folks
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who take a shower after work. pittsburgh, the steel city. no stranger to clashes over workers rights. great tradition there. the biggest employer in the city of pittsburgh is in the midst of a labor showdown. now, the service employees international union is trying to unionize service workers from the university of pittsburgh medical center. the sciu is calling for higher wages for blue collar workers in the season. upmc officials say the company's service employees like cafeteria workers and janitor not enough to live in the city of pittsburgh. meanwhile, they're raking in big bucks. the chief executive officer there made over $6 million in compensation last year. upmc is making its anti-union message very clear. workers say anti-union messages are being displayed on hospital computer screen savers. steve greenhouse is the labor and workplace correspondent for
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"the new york times." he has been on the story. he joins us tonight. mr. greenhouse, good to have you with us. >> nice to be here, ed. >> the sciu and workers recently had a protest which the mayor called the largest labor demonstration in pittsburgh in 20 years, going back to the issues with the steel industry. did this get a lot of attention? will it have an impact on the medical center? >> ed, i think it got a lot of attention in pittsburgh. it did not get a lot of attention nationwide. what the they're doing in pittsburgh is kind of novel. it's kind of innovative. they're trying to mount a huge amount of pressure on this huge hospital system with 62,000 employees and 22 hospitals to try to pressure them to raise their wage floor to $15 an hour from $11 an hour. nationwide they're trying to make this whole idea of a $15 an hour minimum acceptable. it's doing that by pushing the fast food campaign.
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workers at johns hopkins in baltimore pushing for a $15 floor. and now for the 62,000 workers at the university of pittsburgh medical center. it says that the workers really need $15 an hour. it points to studies showing that a living wage for one parent and one child is like $17 an hour. and it says $12.81 an hour doesn't cut it. >> so we're talking about 62,000 workers here? >> yes. some of them are doctors and nurses and they're making well above $15 an hour. >> sure. >> but the sciu says it's trying to unionize 24,000. the hospital says says no, no, it's really only around 6,000. my sense is the sciu is really trying to organize at least 10,000 cafeteria workers, nurses aides, janitors, you know, secretaries, and in many ways, i think the sciu's effort is really only now gathering steam. they're facing very intense resistance from the hospital. i think a lot of workers are
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very scared to stick their necks out and voice support for the union. the board has brought some charges against the hospital system for illegally firing some workers, managers at upmc say that the sciu really isn't getting much traction, that they've been pushing to unionize for two years and they don't have much to show for it. the sciu has done a very good job, though, in getting a lot of attention, in getting under upmc's skin and putting this whole issue of a $15 wage on the agenda. >> sure. >> many religious leaders are embracing it. and when i interviewed the mayor of pittsburgh the other day, he seemed very sympathetic to the idea of raising wages. >> this has been going on for a couple of years. it's at the pinnacle of interest right now. the bottom line here people are being fired. that's your reporting. there intimidation in the workplace? what are you hearing? >> so the nrb has filed several
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dozen charges against upmc. in october it filed a series of charges charging upmc with illegally firing four workers and intimidating, interrogating others, including supposedly retaliating against some workers for speaking to the labor board itself. upmc says the sciu kind of pushes people to misbehave so that they'll be punished, and then the sciu can supposedly run to the lrb can say look, these people are being punished for not performing badly at work but for their pro union activities. >> is there going to be a vote? has there be a vote? and just how ruthless are these methods on the workers? >> i think what is happening is the sciu is trying very hard to pressure upmc to agree to stop fighting the unionization effort, to kind of step back. i think if and when the sciu
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succeeds in getting upmc to do that, then the sciu thinks it can get a lot more workers to sign authorization cards and the next step would be to hold the unionization vote. i think that's at least a few months away and maybe even longer. >> the employee free choice act would play really big here if that were ever enacted. this as i see it is a classic example of that. do you agree? >> i think it certainly would be easier to unionize with cards than with an election. >> okay. steve greenhouse, "new york times." thanks for joining us tonight. appreciate it so much. here on "the ed show," we're celebrating a milestone. here at msnbc, our fifth anniversary. >> for five years, "ed show" has been the voice for the middle class. >> at the front lines, workers fighting for their rights and their livelihood. equal right, civil rights, health care, income inequality, women's rights. >> every kid gets a chance. >> we all need to come together. >> thank you for speaking up for workers all across america. >> thank you for being such a champion. >> it's great to be with you. i'm a fan.
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>> congratulations to ed on his five-year anniversary. >> this is only a start. >> "the ed show." week nights at 5:00 on msnbc. >> and i just want to say it's an honor to be here. we got a great team. we're going to keep on going. that's "the ed show" tonight. i'm ed schultz. "politicsnation" with reverend al sharpton starts right now. good evening, rev. good evening, ed. and happy anniversary. five years. you mean so much to so many. thank you for being ed. >> thanks, brother. i appreciate that. >> and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, destroying the gop's myth of obamacare, the job killer. it was their favorite talking point, and they trotted it out every chance they got. >> in my opinion, obamacare is the biggest job killer we have in america today. >> becomes such a job killer in our economy. >> obamacare is the biggest job killer in this country. >> the number one job killer in the united states, do you know what it is? obamacare.