tv The Ed Show MSNBC August 27, 2014 2:00pm-3:01pm PDT
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work. >> what are the odds you run for president? >> bernie sandsers for president campaign. >> senator bernie sanders of vermont. >> we have a middle class which is collapsing. >> billionaires are on the war path. it is ol garky. they want more, more, more. >> i think the american people are catching on. >> we are fighting for the souls america. >> 400 individuals in this country than the bottom 150 million americans. >> you're welcome. >> people do not appreciate how far right the republican party has gone. >> do you support a change -- >> you're not answering the question. >> do you support -- >> entitlements you have to tax. >> i asked you a question and you didn't give me an answer. >> calm down. >> do you support -- >> i want your positions on the record.
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>> you hear me cringing and running under the table? good to have you with us tonight. thanks for watching. i want to ask you to use your imagination tonight as a viewer as someone that consumes the news and someone that plays with the political game and see what's unhappening and unfolds and use your imagination if you can. when was the last time somebody asked you to use your imagination to think about dreaming or where it's all going to go? my wife and i have been together now for -- we're in our 17th year and married more than 16 years. as tom hanks would say, we're an american family. we have six kids, 11 grand kids and there's more on the way. they are not 20-somethings anymore, they are 30-somethings and have jobs and have kids and they have dreams and i ask them at the lake when we talk late at night, do you know where you're going to be when you're 40?
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do you have an idea of what this whole thing about life is going to be when you're 50 and how this is going to work out? what are your goals? what's your imagination? use your imagination and dream about how this is all going to work out and what you want to do and drive like hell to get there. that's life. that's america. that's what we do. we dream about things and then we go out and try to make it happen. so tonight, i want to start in relating that personal story and just a little flavor of the shultz family, i want to start with a picture of this man, this gentleman. this is a man who is determined. this is a man who we all know, if you watch this show, senator bernie sanders. he's my favorite senator because when i ask him questions, i get answers. now, if you're a real liberal and if you care about the progressive movement in this country and where we're going for the next generation, i could
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easily make the case this is your guy. now, we know what bernie sanders -- he knows where working families are. bernie sandsers is for workers, no doubt about that. he's all about protecting unions and collective bargaining and wants to raise minimum wage and talks about it as much or more than anybody. he's for fixing income inequality. i'll bet this man has been interest vus viewed on media on income inequality than anybody because he believes it's a real issue. he wants to fix the tax code and talks about tax fairness and make corporations pay their fair share. he'll tell you one in four corporations in this country pays zero tax.
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he'll tell you back in 1952, 30% of the treasury got money from corporations and now it's less than 10%. bernie is a believer in regulating big banks and doing something. there would have been prosecutions if this guy had been president. he supports universal health care and took and advocated for the public option, didn't get it but supporter of obamacare and recognizes generationally it's a good first step. he's a universal health care guy. he's a firm believer in climate change, last thing from being a denier. bernie sa bernie sanders wans to invest in clean energy and most importantly i believe he connects with average americans. he's not a typical politician. he doesn't weigh his answers and cuts right to the chase and tells you where he's at on the
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issues. bernie cares about people, not his own political self-interest. you could say he's a rare breed in this age of citizens united and protecting political backsides. in this day and age it's hard to find bernie sanders. there's only one bernie sanders, not a whole lot more. there's a few but not very many. bernie sanders is thinking, he's thinking about running for the presidential nomination. is he going to run as an independent or run as a democrat? he caucuses with the democrats. well, senator sandsers, if you haven't been paying attention has been hitting the trail and on the trail. today he was in charlotte, north carolina accepting the american legion's patriot award. tonight senator sanders is going to be traveling to raleigh, north carolina where he's going to be holding a town hall. interesting, a story in the hill
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the other day says not much politicians are holding town hall meetings anymore. bernie does. he's a retail politicser and goes right to the votes and tomorrow he'll speak in columbia, south carolina. on friday he's going to be speaking in a town hall meeting in jackson, mississippi. the senator from vermont will speak at the aflcio breakfast in manchester new hampshire over labor day weekend. on september 27th, he plans to speak at the democrats annual dinner in new hampshire. that's a busy schedule, isn't it? senator sanders is also going to be in iowa. he'll be there in september and he's going to be hosting a series of town hall meetings. 13th and 14th, hillary clinton and former vice president clinton will be in iowa at the same time that weekend attending
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tom harkin'famous fry. if sanders runs for president, he's going to be a real challenger, obvious front-runner hillary clinton. who can argue with her resume, her success? people love hillary. polling throw the roof. no liberal wants to see hillary clinton unchallenged and absent. debate is a good thing and competition is a good thing, competition is what makes us americans great. we get better because of it. clinton has remained quiet on a number of issues, i realize it's early, a bernie sanders run would force, no doubt former secretary of state, former first lady and former senator hillary clinton to step out and start talking. things that liberals are concerned about and what they care about. this is something else i want to point out. look at the calendar and
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history. we are 803 days away from the 2016 presidential election. it's a long time. look at a gallop poll between june 1st and june 4th of 2006. this poll was taken 884 days before the 2008 election, roughly the same amount of time i'm talking about right now in relationship to the 2016 election. this was an open ended poll. people were asked simply, who they wanted to become president. this poll was mostly about name recognition. and this guy, barack obama, didn't farewell. 25% of democrats, barack obama came in at just 1%. and it's important to remember, the 2016 election is over two years away. this proves history shows us
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anything is possible. so someone has gotten bernie sanders and gotten him to imagine what it would be like if he were to run for president. could he win? would he gain the support? it seems to me he's on a fact finding mission. he's going to north carolina. he's there tonight. he's going to south carolina, he's going to mississippi. going to new hampshire, going to iowa and all of these primary states where you have to take the pulse of the people to figure out if you have a chance to do this stuff. if you believe and if you're solid on the issues, history tells us anything can happen. i like that arena. i like knowing anything can happen and it's going to be wide open and there's not going to be anybody absent when we're talking about climate change. there's not going to be anybody absent when we're talking about jobs and the economy. right now that's where the country is. nobody is going to be absent when we're talking about sit
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zens united and should that be overturned because that's where the country is right now, folks. they are on citizens united are we going to save our democracy. they are on jobs and full employment. that's what we want. that's what the 30-somethings back on lake are talking about. that's where the country is. and if bernie sanders jumps in and i'm not here to break a story tonight he's going to announce anything, i just know one thing, the things that people care about are going to be discussed by any democrat who runs and wants to be president. so i can't tell you if bernie will get the nomination but i can sure as hell tell you the vetting process, as far as the liberals and progressive movement is concerned, the vetting process is going to go through the guy on the road quite a bit right now and i like it. question, should there be a competition in the democratic
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primary? text a for yes and b for no. you can go to our blog and we'll bring you the results later on in the show. for me i bring in the man we're discussing tonight, bernie sandsers of vermont. good to have you with us. i appreciate your time. >> thank you very much for all of those kind words. >> it's the truth. when i ask you a question about climate change, get a straight answer. when i ask a question about income inequality, you give me a straight answer. there it is, you have an answer. now, senator, what do you want to accomplish with these upcoming trips we have mapped out and schedule has been made available to us? what do you want to accomplish here? >> well, ed, number one, i want confirmation of what i believe is true. and that is the issues that i care about, the issues that you care about and you have been talking about, the collapse of the middle class, the fact that
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we have so many people today living in poverty, income inequality. so that we have today the worst -- of any country on ernl. we're the only country in the industrialized world that doesn't guarantee health care to all of the people. highest rate of childhood poverty. all over this country, in so-called red states and so-called blue states, people are profoundly disgusted about what's happening and they want real change. i'm going to go to mississippi and south carolina. these are not generally considered to be quote/unquote progressive states. people want to hear voices saying enough is enough. the billionaire class can't have it all. the middle class has got to get some of it. we need to change our trade policies so that corporate america invests in this country not in china.
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that is wrong that burger king, the large corporations are fleeing america because they don't want to pay their fair share. crumbling infrastructure and decree ail millions of jobs, yes, the scientists are right. climate change is real. and that we have to transform our energy system away from fossil fuel. i believe that these are not radical ideas. >> no. >> in fact, every one of these ideas, the vast majority of the people agree. >> it's populist is what it is. that's where the american people are what you just described on these issues. and if we go through a vetting process for whatever candidate is going to be representing the democrats, we're hurting ourselves. and so i think the discussion that you have with the american
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people in these town halls right now is vitally important to the country. because if the other side had it their way, they wontd be talking about any of these things you're bringing up where american families are because of citizens united and the bank rolling that can be done from a local level all the way from school boards all the way to the white house. and so -- >> ed -- >> having the discussion is vitally important. now -- >> here's the point. here's the point on citizens united. i believe passionately if we do not overturn citizens united, this country is well on the way to becoming an oligarch form of society where the billionaire class controls our life. that's not just my view or your view, that is what people across the political spectrum believe. nobody that i know, regardless of their political views, thinks that american democracy has anything to do with billionaires like the koch brothers being able to spends hundreds and millions of dollars to elect
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candidates that represent the rich and powerful. >> give us a snapshot of you. how do you stay unvarnished and stay unspoiled? is it because being from a small state, being from where there's not a lot of people that you can really reach out probably better than someone that's in a big populated state, not to say that other senators aren't real to the people but there is a quality about you where you're unspoiled and not afraid to attack the issues, there's not a political calculation always being made by buernie sanders o what's right and wrong. i find that refreshing and i hope the candidate, whoever that may be, will be just that way. >> let me tell you a brief story, he was elected mayor of the city of burlington and a lesson i learned there i've never forgotten. that is when you stand up and
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fight ordinary people respond. in my second run for office, we have a two-year term there, voter turnout in burlington, vermont almost doubled because people said you know, what bernie is standing with us, we're going to stands with him. i think all over this country when we're looking at an election coming up, where 60% of the american people have given up and not going to vote, what we need to do is remind of american people, use the word dream. this country can be so much more than we are right now if we work together. if we're prepared to stand up to the big money interests. when that happens and that quki of discussion takes place, people will come out of the woodwork and that is what has got to happen. if we have to bring about change, that is exactly what must happen. >> this schedule is about you collecting information and ascertaining whether you would have an opportunity, whether you would have a legitimate shot to get the nomination and of course
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i've got to ask you about would you run as a democrat or as an independent but this is about you collecting momentum and see if there's a pulse out there, correct? >> this is about seeing where the ordinary people are prepared to stand up and fight and create a political revolution in the sense of what we have not seen for a very, very long time. >> okay. >> democrat, independent, have you thought about that? >> well, that's exactly what i'm thinking about and what i'm talking to people about. >> senator, good to have you with us tonight. i appreciate your time. we'll follow you on trail and see how it all unfolds, thanks for speaking here tonight. coming up, with republican stars, mired in controversy. how about this one? mitt romney mauls another run for the white house. million peo. [ mom ] with life insurance, we're not just insuring our lives... espn takes heat after reporting
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what's hot, what's not, time for trenders. this is where you can get with us, facebook.com/edshow and ed.msnbc.com. my podcast is available on a number of websites, wegoted.com and ring of fire radio.com and podcast 24/7, it's free, get after it. ed show social media nation has decided we're reporting and here are the top trenders voted on by you. >> shut it down, the number three trender, shutdown see squall. >> mcconnell is threatening to use a majority let the president veto and risk a shutdown. >> republicans plan for a second round of government shutdowns. >> the president needs to be
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challenge and best way to do that is through the funding process. >> wait. there's more. >> marco rubio says the president's threat unilateral action could lead to a government shutdown. >> the number two trenders, crimes of fashion. >> the republican governor of rick perry turned himself into authorities. >> fingerprinted and had his mugshot taken. >> say, cheese. >> he looked to profit off his mug. >> his rick pac put out a t-shirt with his mugshot on the front. >> where did you get those clothes at the toilet store. >> that is unusual in terms of fund raising. >> and today's top trender, washed out. >> michael sam has become a national story as the first openly gay player in the nfl. how is he cifitting in? >> he is simply just one of the guys. >> didn't see you in there. >> another rams defensive player told me that sam is respecting
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our space and that from his perspective he seems to think that michael sam is waiting to kind of take to a shower as to not make the teammates feel uncomfortable. >> espn tries to clean up after the controversial michael sam story. >> locally this is not that social story. >> michael sam so far through the preseason game five tackles, fire quarterback hits and three sacks. >> i'm in the shower. >> for the most part this has been a football story. >> joining us tonight, terrence moore and journalism instructor at miami university. i was absolutely appalled when this story was presented the way it was, an unnamed source. it made it sound like michael sam goes into the locker room and goes into the shower looking for something other than to get
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clean. it's -- when are unnamed sources going to be taken out of the media? this is very damaging to his character and unfair and discrimination. i'll ask you, your impression of this story and what the hell was espn thinking? >> you sound like the vince lombardi clip, what's going on here? in the ed show you pointed out, this semester i'm teaching an upper level sports journalist course at miami of ohio. if this story would come across my desk, automatic f. two big things wrong with this. first of all, when you are talking about a small size of two or three guys, done in this particular story out of 75 and that's how many players are left on roster, that's not big enough. you cannot taken something this explosive and use unnamed sources. number two, it's false. one of the dirty little secrets
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is there have always been gay athletes in professional sports and a good friend of mine prominent player for the last 30 years, just talked to him about the gay players on that particular team and asked, did you have trouble with that guy being in the shower with you? he kind of laughed and said no. they helped us win then paused and they also gave us towels, is that a big deal? >> should espn reveal the source? should the reporter have to reveal the source? >> well, in this particular case, the way it's gone, no, if you go this far along. then it's a done deal. and the best thing espn can do and i should qualify this by saying i do work for espn, true confession here, that they've done a pretty good job, i think of coming out and saying, we blew this and made a mistake. let's move on. the second thing about journalism, if you do blow it admit it and make sure it
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doesn't happen again. >> chris long tweeted in response to the story, dear espn, everyone but you is over it. it sounds like that is the case. moving forward, does this story help michael sam down the road now that really an ethical and journalistic line has been drawn as how to cover this athlete? i don't know if i'm wording that correctly or not, but i'll tell you what, it would seem to me other reporters will tread lightly when they start talking about michael sam. >> let me tell you something, i would be shocked if he does not make the team. the cutdown date is this coming saturday, 75 man roster, all nfl teams, down to 53 by saturday. as you mentioned before in the earlier piece, this preseason he's played pretty well, five tackles and five sacks and even
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johnny m john johnny manziel, the coach tipped his end, defensive ends don't normally make the team with special teams. >> given the preseason stats of five tackles and three sacks two of them on johnny manziel, i would say his name is on the chart. if he doesn't make it on the rams, someone else would give him a look. with these kind of numbers and way he's played. he has a more than formidable chance to make this football team. >> put this in current context. he was the co-se krext player of the year, led the sec in tackles per loss. one other thing, this is exactly what i'm talking about, tony dun gee was saying he as a coach
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wonders about dealing with outside distractions you have no control over. i will give jeff fisher credit, the rams coach, he said from the beginning he's willing to deal with the distractions, not because of his teammates and him, that's another thing that tells me he's going to make the team. >> i like this interview because you've told your students that miami of ohio, that you can get an f, you better pay attention to what's going on. you can get an f. >> one thing i taught him in the first day of class yesterday was reporting, reporting reporting. i don't like off the top of your head type stuff. give me reporting and this was not very well reported. >> terrence moore, good to have you with us, appreciate your time tonight. still ahead, romney rooters are rejoicing, he's saying there's a chance. mitt's possible 2016 run. plus, from fox news with love, the network's putin pandering
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and a free 30-tablet trial. we're back. ask ed live, appreciate the questions. our question first comes in from debbie. she wants to know, do you think the president is doing a good job dealing with isis? yes, i do. i don't buy into the fear mongering i'm hearing from the right wing. we are bombing the tar out of them and getting after it and picking targets, it's aggressive action against isis. and the iraqis know we're there but they have to step up and be the main player in all of this. early on, yeah, i think the president is doing a good job handling it. our next question is from ray, he wants to know, what are your thoughts about 9-year-olds with automatic weapons? what a sad story this is. poor parental judgment and now a
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9-year-old has to deal with the circumstances what happened in the gun range. it's a stunner is what it is. and so my thoughts about a 9-year-old with an automatic weapon, not in my house. rapid response panel is next. i'm hampton pearson. the dow adding 15 points and s&p is up a fraction closing above 2,000 for a second day and nasdaq falling by a point. tiffany gained ground, stronger than expected earnings and raised the full year guidance. apple closed slightly higher, according to a report they are looking to release a version of the ipad tablet next year. that's it for cnbc, first in
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we are back. thanks for watching tonight. mitt romney has insisted he has no plans to run again in 2016. then on tuesday, romney admitted, well circumstances can change. >> this is something we give a lot of thought on when early on i decided we're not going to be running this time. again, we said, look, i have had the chance of running and didn't win. someone else has a better chance than i do. and that's what we believe and that's why i'm not running. and you know, circumstances can change but i'm just not going to let my head go there. >> you better believe circumstances can change, absolutely, look at the field of governors. who were once considered the future of the republican party,
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let's start with new jersey governor chris christie knocked out of the marquis front-runner position with the bridge-gate scandal, the bridge lane closures investigation is ongoing. and scott walker from wisconsin, he had that whole inquiry into whether he had and top aides illegal coordinated with conservative interest groups during the 2012 recall election. then of course there's former governor from virginia, bob mcdonnell, battling a 14 count corruption indictment. speaking of indictments, not long ago, august 15th, good old rick perry from texas became the first texas governor to be indicted since 1917. so yes, circumstances do change. quite the lineup, isn't it? exactly what kind of circumstances would convince mitt romney to get back in the ring? >> i've always also said that i thought if you thought you were the only guy who could win, you would do it. >> well, you know, let's say all of the guys that were running came together and said we've decided we can't do it, you must
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do it. that's the one in a million we're thinking about. >> joining me now, brad woodhouse, and ring of fire radio host and america's attorney mike papantonio, you're smiling at the story. i am too. one of these bring it on moments, couldn't get enough of it. what's your response, brad? is there truth in the possibility that circumstances can change and could mitt romney resurrect the effort? what do you think? >> ed, let me be the first on your show to offer my endorsement of mitt romney's candidacy of president. i don't know if he'll run. i do think that the circumstances you laid out are exactly the circumstances that he's referring to. mitt romney is a calculating guy. it wasn't an accident that he said circumstances may change and actually, i think circumstances have changed. they have a field that is in trouble. that is weak, that is under
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indictment or under investigation or offended some segment of the tea party. those are the circumstances that might make a mitt romney run possible and i say bring it on. no one better than mitt romney can exhibit what the differences are between republican policies on the economy and democrat policies on the economy. >> he sure doesn't pass up any opportunities to criticize the president. >> that's absolutely right. we have to point out, since the 2012 election, we have gained in private sector job growth every single month. so this idea that the president doesn't know anything about the economy, certainly that doesn't match up with what mitt romney was telling the country. how did he transform himself with the 47% comment? >> there's no way to change circumstances. this is a guy who squandered $433 million to lose the last time he ran. my take is what we see is pride talking with the mittster. he's a little bit of a tragic
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character. his father was a well loved and respected political figure with many dimensions, the mitt created a legacy for himself that leaves him with the image of a predatory capital corporate hit man who left a trail of suffering and pillage all along the way. if the ghost of christmas were to visit the mitt, he would remind mitt of the tens and thousands of americans who were laid off from their jobs because of mitt's brutal vulture capitalism and be reminded that as a wildly rich wall streeter, he was worried more about mansions and jets while the average american was worried how to feed his family or send their children to college or pay 30% taxes while mitt was paying 11%. even as bad as the gop clown car starts looking with criminal trials and criminal indictments, probability of more criminal indictments, mitt is a two-time campaign loser who is beyond meaningful rehabilitation. there are no circumstances that i see that this guy is going to
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be in a race. >> that's why brad woodhouse just endorsed him, based on what you just said. the folks having legal issues and political issues who we mentioned in the runup to this piece. can they be rehabilitated in time to fix the reputations to make a successful run for the presidency? >> i think it's possible but you know, for example, in new jersey, chris christie, who knows, maybe there won't be a smoking gun and he won't be indicted. but i don't believe these investigations have gone on all this long without some legal action being taken against people around him. scott walker is in a very tight race. he may lose his race for governor in wisconsin. guess what? ain't no way he's going to run for president after that. i will say this, ed, i hate to disagree with one your guests, i do not believe that it's out of the realm of possibility that
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mitt romney will run again. he has the ego for it. he'll believe he's the only one that can win because of the problems the other folks are facing. >> would the tea party extremists go along with it? >> well, i don't think the tea party extremists have ever been in love with him. there's a bigger problem though. if anything the average family in america right now is feeling the effects of our 1% class division, even worse than they did the first time mitt ran. you have a public even more suspect of corporate vultures who now control 40% of america's wealth in the eyes of many, the 99%, it's hard to tell the difference between bernie madoff and bank of america and mitt romney. that's always going to be in his way whether he runs or not. i would agree, love to see him run but i don't believe it's going to happen. >> we still have the 47% tape, we can pull that thing out. he'll have to come up with a new line to fix folks out there who need help out there in the economy. great to have you with us. appreciate your time.
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in pretenders tonight, putin envy, kimberly gillfoil, he wishes putin was her president. >> can i just make a special request in the magic lamp, can we get netanyahu and putin in for 48 hours, head the united states, i want somebody in here to get it done right so americans don't have to worry and wake up in the morning fearful of a group that's murderous and horrific that isis. >> she says if putin were in the white house, isis would be gone over the weekend. george bush thought he could stamp out terrorism easily too and how did that work out?
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>> he makes a decision and executes it quickly. then everybody reacts, that's what you call a leader. president obama -- got to think about it and go over it again. >> i think putin is playing chess and we're playing tick tak toe. >> looking at putin as one who wrestles bears and drills for oil and at our president as one who wears mom jeans. >> let me remind all conservatives on alert who are rekindling their love affair with vladimir putin of the facts. he oversees a nasty human rights record and violated a weapons treaty and lost international trust. his reckless behavior led to sanctions hindering russia's economy, if kimberly gilfoil thinks making him our lead certificate patriotic, she can keep on pretending. creates something else as well: jobs all over america.
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welcome back to the ed show. this is the story for the folks who take a shower after work. millions of americans are heading into labor day weekend without labor rights. conservative lawmakers are staging an assault on workers rights which labor unions fought for decades to achieve. income eequality is getting worse and economic opportunity is getting further out of the reach for many working americans. now the labor force participation rate hit a 36-year low earlier this year and stood at only 62.9% in july.
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the size of our work force is a crucial factor for the economy to grow. the latest stats show productivity is growing but wages are not. collective bargaining coverage has fallen to the lowest level if eight years. only 6% of private sector workers in the united states have collective bargaining rights. public sector workers bring the percentage of u.s. workers with bargaining rights up to 11%. now this is down from 35% from 50 years ago. we're a changing country. no doubt. no other country has experienced a decline like that. and it's time for change. let's make this labor day less about the end of summer and more about restoring rights for american workers which clearly are under attack. more and more states are throwing out right to work legislation and state legislative sessions. i believe the number is 26. so how do you reverse all this? win elections? might be more than that. larry cohen, president of the
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communication workers of american joins us tonight. mr. cohen, good to have you with us. let me ask you, what does reverse this very long troubling trend that is out there? i mean, i know there's a political party that's doing everything to dismantle worker rights but getting them to understand it is in their favor is also part of the favor, is it not? >> absolutely. i think what we would say is we need to make those issues part after broader democracy movement. rights at work with getting big money out of politics, with voter registration and voter suppression issues. with continuing to work to get senate to function. so that when we do have a landslide election like 2008, we can actually move in and make the changes that people voted for. and those, wh we call democracy blocks, big money in politics, the way the senate operates, voter suppression, 20 million immigrants not able to vote, what these things add up to is
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victories for koch brothers that prevents workers rights from ever being on the national agenda. as working people, whether we have a union or not, we need to use labor day to remember its origins and what our lives are about. >> give us a quick history from your perspective on how important labor day is. how and why it started. there's a lot of young americans out there that labor day, oh, that's a day off. we don't have to work that day. what is it. >> yeah. well it actually started in new jersey. where i'm from. and it was about the rights of workers on the job. about collective bargaining rights. about how people could together at work on the one hand have a vital enterprise, their employer, but on the erj haothe hand, but when we lift conditions of employees we lift all boats. that's what a good economy looks like. that's what the economy looks like today in germany where with 80%, it'll be soon 80% collective bargaining cover rj that can lift all votes.
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and they don't have to use public sector stimulus. workers do it themselves. and even in countries like brazil and uruguay, and that is about the rights of workers, not just a picnic before kids go back to school. >> the budget office released its forecast. it said that united states economy is going to be growing by just 1.5% in 2014. undermine bade poor performance during the first quarter of this year. what needs to be done? >> well, everybody calls that a consumption problem, but people have to work, most of us, to consume. and the roots of that problem are that we don't have collective bargaining givingeco. we can talk about a higher minimum wage. that coveres a few percent of the population. wait we get one of the key ways to get to everybody is to have -- restore collective bargaining rights across the private sector.
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and also to promote trade policies that don't ship our jobs out of the country because of foreign policy advantages but recognize the trade must present -- must help enable a vital economy here at home. that's the kind of labor day that i'm dreaming about and that's the kind of labor day that we're ready to work for day in and day out. >> what do you see in these mid terms? what kind of lift is it going to be to get aggressives out to vote? i hear all the time, oh, it's going to be low-voter turnout. history is not on our side. issues have never been more critical for working families. in your opinion, what does it take to get the motivating factor involved here it turn the tide on these numbers. >> well, i think it is just that and we're up for -- we're up against the most money ever in this kind of election cycle. but it is about getting people to focus on the key economic issues that unite us rather than social issues that divide us. and that is the challenge. that's what we will be doing.
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in the cwa and other progressive groups, whether they are grown, or student or civil rights. let's focus on what government is supposed to do. this election is critical. it is not just about looking past it to who is the next president going to be. it is about turning out people to make sure we hold on to senate majority and majority leader to stand up for working people. whether on trade or workers rights but meantime building the broader movement so one day we get back it talking about fundamental rights on the job as well. >> and mr. cohen, quickly, do you envision some day a world labor effort? >> yeah, i mean, i think that's what we need to do to talk about what should the global economy be like. what is fair trade. what do workers rights mean around the world so we have a level playing field. >> yeah. a level playing field is what it is all about. we can do something about that. that tire story unfolding right now is another classic example of how we work against our own economy. larry cohen, great to have you with us tonight.
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appreciate your time. and have you a great labor day weekend coming up. don't worry, i'll be here next two nights. we're not out of here yet. that's "the ed show." "politicsnation" with reverend al sharpton starts right now. good evening, rev. >> goodening, ed. and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, if you like the governor shutdown of 2013, you will love the government shutdown of 2014, that's the message some republicans are pushing. the atlantic reports today that house gop leaders fear a conservative revolt when government funding comes up for a vote next month. that's right, shutting down the government once wasn't bad enough. some on the right want ted cruz to trot out his dr. seuss book all over again. >> i do not like green eggs and ham, i do not like them, sam i am.
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