having interviewed him on the record there and chatted with him off the record on the way home, there's no loyal partner to this president, no better representative to his fellow americans. he's as loyal a number two as any president could have. for my money, as good an american as they come along these days. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. catch us again tomorrow night at 5:00 and 7:00 eastern. right now it's time for "the ed show" with ed schultz. good evening, americans. welcome to "the ed show" tonight from new york. these stories are hitting my hot buttons tonight. democrats who voted for health care reform, believe it or not, are getting death threats. elected republicans are practically silent on the issue. i have a lot of to about this coming up in just a moment. republicans are hoping the courts will kill health care reform in this country. i'll go head to head with an attorney general suing the federal government. that's coming up. plus, shocking numbers=vs

that activity ought to been

unacceptable in our democracy. >> congresswoman louise slaughter of new york and bart stupak of michigan, oh, i guess the tea partyers are happy about this. those two representatives have received death threats. right-wing media and members of the congress on the right bear i think major responsibility for this. for the past year they have spent so much time whipping up their base about socialism, death panels, and a government takeover. harris poll shows 24% of republicans think president obama is the antichrist. what are we dealing with here? these threats are the culmination of the misinformation campaign that the republicans have engaged in. now, they've been lying from the start about health care reform and they whipped everybody up about it and they just aren't attacking the democrats. oh, no, anybody who's associated with it. they're on a crusade to smear, professionally smear the congressional budget office. after the cbo numbers show health care, this bill will

actually save money. it will save $138 million over the first 10 years and it will cut the deficit by $1.2 trillion over the second ten years. folks, numbers don't lie. the republicans do. the cbo is not some left-wing think tank. it's a non-partisan government agency that provides economic data for both democrats and republicans in the congress and they've been doing it for years. and the republicans can't argue with the facts. so what do they do? they decide to attack the messenger. calling it a joke, it's no good, these numbers are phony. these, i thought, were professional people at the cbo. joining me now is north dakota senator kent conrad. he is the chairman of the senate budget committee. and, of course, is very involved in the process of selecting the director of the congressional budget office. kent, great to have you with us tonight. i appreciate your time. >> good to be with you. >> i wanted to give somebody in the congress an opportunity to speak to how professional the cbo is and just how they

operate. are these 250 people that work in the cbo, are they political hacks? who are they? what are they? >> these are professionals. they're hired on a nonpartisan basis. they're very much respected by members of congress on both sides of the aisle. look, i disagree with them from time to time, but i respect their independence and their need to be independent. if we're going to have an objective scorekeeper -- let me just say this. it's fascinating that some republicans now are accusing the cbo of having a political bias when earlier this year the director of cbo, director elmandorf testified before my committee some of the earlier versions of health care reform, did not reduce the deficit, did not bend the cost curve in the right way. they didn't complain then because he was finding what they wanted to have found. now that the legislation has

been changed so that it does reduce the deficit and the cbo has found precisely that, they claim bias. so they are clearly talking out of both sides of their mouth. they were praising him when they -- when he agreed with them earlier in the area on different drafts of the bill. they criticize him now when the legislation has been changed to, in fact, reduce the deficit in both the short term and the long term. as you said, over the next decade to reduce the deficit by over a trillion dollars. not a million. not a billion. a trillion dollars. >> senator, you believe the numbers? >> look, i think all of us know that making these forecasts is an imperfect business. do i believe the objectivity and the professionalism of the people at cbo? i absolutely do. look, i'm the chairman -- >> i think the point here -- you are the chairman of the budget committee, no doubt. and you've spent your whole

career in washington on finance and budget. so -- but the righties are out there presenting the case that, hey, the cbo is cooking the books so we can pass health care in this country. >> let me just say this to you. you remember, i advanced a proposal called the cooperative proposal for non-profit insurance. >> i do. >> i am the chairman of the budget committee, and cbo criticized my proposal. so i think that says a lot about their independence. i didn't agree with them, but they criticized the proposal by the chairman of the committee that oversees them. i think that tells you something about their professionalism. and while i may have disagreed with them on that i absolutely respect their integrity. >> how are we doing in the senate, senator? how is this reconciliation coming along? do you expect it to go pretty smooth from here on out? >> i do. i think there will probably be a hiccup along the way, but i think we're in very strong shape to finish this legislation in

the next 24 hours or so. >> okay. senator, good to have you with us. >> you bet. >> thanks for all your hard work on health care reform. you the numbers guy. i think you're the most credible guy in washington when it comes to knowing the numbers an i think somebody needs to stand up for, cbo. i appreciate your time. >> glad to do it. >> senator conrad from north dakota. chairman of budget committee. i want to get back to the topic of hate and threats the democrats are facing right now. get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think about this. tonight's text survey is, do you think the republicans should do more to condemn the threats of violence against democrats? text "a" for yes, "b" for no to 622639. we'll bring you the results later in the show. joining me now, katrina vanden heuvel, editor of "the nation." when you have fuel lines being cut to people's homes, put a match to that and see where it ends up. when you have the "n" word being thrown out, bricks thrown through windows, i mean, this is

the kindling of something greater. what should the congressional leaders do and say to the country? >> this is accountability time. we have for the last year or more seen a party marching lock step in resistance to president obama's reforms, talking about crippling or killing his reforms. i think we have seen a party of incoherent rage fused with right-wing subculture, alien to logic and fact if not to compassion. this is a moment where responsible conservatives in the tradition, because there's a history here, ed, think of the good congresswoman from maine, margaret smith, who in 1950 in a declaration of conscience spoke to her country and party and said enough about the smears during the mccarthy period. enough. we're seeing the fanning and fueling of an ugliness and viciousness that is not alien to this country, but it is at a perilous moment. i remember being on this station with michele bachmann before the

election of president obama and i said, i fear for the republic. because she spoke of rooting out those who are un-american. what does that suggest to a nation which has much better work to do than talk about who is un-american? so we need, i think, ed, for those good citizens of all parties to stand strong and not let this intimidation do anything but stiffen our spine and resolve to fight for reform in this nation because we are better than this. >> i can't remember the last time ten members of the congress asked for security. and i -- this does take us back to the '60s. some of the antics. now we have the new information age and all the different ways to communicate. this can boil into something pretty dangerous pretty past. what do you think the responsibility of the media is? >> representatives clyburn and lewis, veterans, heroes of the civil rights struggle, spoke in interesting ways. it is different now. because the power of the states protection is on their side.

it is different than when hoses were aimed at african-americans fighting for their civil rights. i think the responsibility of the media is to expose those who would per va and pedal fear and disinformation. hold accountable mr. boehner who says that we should channel this anger into positive change and not allow violence to mar the american republic. i think we have to hold them accountable and we need to expose, ed, this language to show, to say we don't talk like that in america about racial slurs at this time. the civilizing advances in one of them, though there's more to do on the health care front, one of the civilizing advances was just passed. i think when the status quo reactionary forces see change they fear it, and in fear there's violence. that we have to tamp down and the media can play a good role. >> katrina vanden heuvel of "the

nation." if you were offended when george w. bush told brownie he was doing a heck of a job after hurricane katrina, wait until you see what he did in haiti. you truly have to see this to believe it. plus utah's republican attorney general is suing the federal government in an attempt to undo health care reform. he has met his match. i'm going head to head with him in the "playbook." g. gordon liddy lands in the zone. he wants to eliminate a religion. you're watching "the ed show" on msnbc. w here, kitty! snuggle with momma!

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i just couldn't wait, folks. in "psycho talk" tonight, this is a dandy. former convicted felon righty talker g. gordon liddy let his colors fly high on his radio show today by threatening and entire religion. >> i'm not casual at all about islam. i want to go over there and take them out. >> he says he's not casual about islam. and he's dead serious about wanting to take them out. folks, this is exactly what i was talking about earlier tonight and last night. these righty wing nuts go out and spew hateful rhetoric and they rile up the crack pots of america to go to dangerous stuff like cut people's gas lines. a nonstop diet of hate from right wingers is why a recent poll found that almost a quarter

of republicans think that president obama could be the antichrist. in that same poll, 57% of republicans thought that the president was muslim. so for g. gordon liddy to say he's serious about taking out islam, that's dangerous "psycho talk." coming up, the tea party sure has done a lot to embarrass the republican party. some new numbers show just what kind of damage they could do in the midterms and it ain't pretty. it's a tasty, nutritious way to make this number go up... and help this one go down. you can label as "different." like janice.

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i listened to the other side who says that they listen to the people. you know, you heard the old saying, men are from mar, women are from venus? i think that party is from mars and we're from planet earth. i think they've been out in orbit. the planet earth that i'm on tells me to pass health insurance. >> i'm glad somebody timely asked what planet the republicans were on. because they sure aren't working for progress on this one. the president's already signed the health care reform bill into law. republicans are doing everything they possibly can to obstruct the final reconciliation process in the senate. they're offering bogus amendments on gay marriage. a.c.o.r.n. viagra. which have absolutely nothing to do with health care. despite that, democrats may be able to get a final vote by the end of the week. joining me now is maryland senator barbara mikulski, a

member of the senate health committee. senator, way to call them on it, but outside the capitol it has become a lot more serious. and the rhetoric is turning into acts of vandalism. i'd like you to tell the country, tonight, how you feel about all the stuff that's going on surrounding this. >> well, first of all, i'm so pleased that we have passed health insurance reform. the president has signed it on to law, and that we are really bringing to an end the dilly dallying and dithering of the other party. i find all of the violent words and abusive tactics outside of this capitol to be absolutely un-american. you know, in the united states of america you're supposed to be able to resolve your differences, have votes straight up or down, and then move on with it. the ugly epithets against

distinguished african-americans like congressman lewis, throwing bricks through the window of congresswoman slaughter. i just think words have consequences and so do deeds. if we really want to put america first then let's get back to a sensible way of acting and a sensible way of voting. >> senator, is there anything that leadership in either house could do to message to the country and to the media that this has gone too far and this is kindling for something that could be much greater? >> well, first i think that the way we're conducting ourselves, today, you can see that the democrats have done it with great dignity and great decorum. if you were at the white house yesterday and saw president obama signing that bill and that boy who spoke up for his mom who passed away because she didn't have health insurance, that has to be a message that this is serious business and we have to have serious behavior. the other is, i think it is up

to political leadership, but i also think it's up to community leadership and church leadership to say we have to begin to, in this country, begin to settle our differences with civility and common sense. even where we differ. you know, i think it's a great distraction from what really has been this great victory. today, through our amendments as we come to the end, we're ending these ugly punitive practices of the insurance companies. you know, ed, for women they treat being a woman as a pre-existing condition. we had to pay more. they didn't want to give us insurance, threw up all kinds of hurdles, like domestic violence was considered a pre-existing condition. and then even our own cbo and leadership almost said that getting our prevention was too expensive. i wouldn't let them take our mammograms away from us.

>> senator, great to have you with us. way to speak up and get after it. i appreciate your time tonight. barbara mikulski from maryland here on "the ed show." come up, today the right wing media had a hay day with my next guest. they took something he said, so unlike them, someone it, dissorted it and attacked it. john dingell will be here to tell drudge what we happen do with his report. plus, i'll tell you what i think of the new nfl overtime rule in my "playbook."

and welcome back to "the ed show." tonight, thanks for watching. the right wing attack machine up in arms today over something democratic congressman john dingell of michigan said on a conservative talk radio show. dingell was asked why the changes in the health care reform bill have to be implemented over time, gradually, over the next four years. here's what he said. >> the harsh fact of the matter is when you're going to pass

legislation that will cover 300 american people in different ways, it takes a long time to do the necessary administrative steps that have to be taken to put the legislation together, to control the people. >> oh, that set off a frenzy of comments on the right wing blogs about how democrats are fascist and want to enslave you. congressman dingell will set the record straight in a moment. first, i'd like to remind our audience, give you a little history the man the righties are attacking. john dingell is dean of the house. he's been a public servant for 55 years. he started as a house page at the age of 16. he took over his dad's seat in congress in 1955 and has been re-elected by the voters in his district in michigan more than two dozen times. his father voted to pass social security. he has cast votes to pass medicare, the civil rights act and now the historic health care

reform bill. i think after this kind of service to his country the man deserves the benefit of the doubt when maybe he says something that he really didn't mean. i'll let the congressman from michigan, the distinguished congressman from michigan, speak for himself on "the ed show." congressman dingell, good to have you with us tonight. >> thank you, ed, glad to be here. >> what did you mean when you said control the people? >> well, i goofed. what i said -- what i meant to say was control the agencies that are writing the legislation so that it will deal fairly with the people's concerns. frankly, i goofed. >> well, do you understand how the way the rhetoric has been going hot and heavy around the country, they're looking for any kind of opening? and this would fuel them and how they think. how do you respond to that? >> ed, you've been absolutely right. you've been doing a great job. you've been making it very, very clear that this is not the way these issues should be fought

out. we ought to have a fair, honest, frank, open, honorable debate. that way the public will be best served. >> have you ever been attacked like this in your 55-year career? >> i've had a few attacks and occasional death threat. it's never been quite this bad. >> how do you respond to it? >> well, i just tell the truth. i have 54 years of service to the people. i'm one of the authors of medicare. i'm one of the authors of this legislation. i've authored scores of pieces of legislation on civil rights and on conservation and protecting the environment. and i would never practice this kind of behavior toward the american people. so i don't have any trouble in saying that it's wrong. that i've done what is right. and i did goof and misspeak, myself, but then so does everybody. >> okay. i've only done that once before, but -- so you're not -- we want

to be very clear. you're not trying to, you know, control the people, make us a socialist country. control the people -- that's not john dingell. >> absolutely not. this legislation, my dear friend, ed, is calculated to do one thing. and that is to enhance the rights of the american people. especially those who have insurance for health or who don't have insurance for health. it's going to see to it that those people have something very precious. first of all, the rights they really need. fair treatment. no more pre-existing conditions can be used to ban their having insurance. no more -- will the insurance companies be able to cancel their insurance. no more will the insurance companies be able to deny people care or to see to it that they get these funny mickey mouse policies that nobody can understand. >> it's going to take four years to implement because it's just so big and so detailed and

coughs so much. you just can't do it all at once. or am i wrong? >> no, you're absolutely right. and as a matter of fact, my friend, ed, the situation is this. you have 300 million people. all of whom are going to be affected. you have businesses. you have all kinds of things of that kind. we have to get in place a subsidy for the small businessmen going for the first time to receive that kind of help. we have to see to it the rules and regulation s proper behavio by the insurance companies are put in place. we have to see arrangements for financing and other things that are necessary to make this work ares in place. >> congressman, great to have you with us tonight. keep fighting. >> thank you, my friend, ed, pleasure to be with you. >> john dingell with us. let's bring in roy sekoff, "huffington post." i've never seen the righties on patrol for material to knock

down what has been a victory for millions of americans, roy. >> it's clear the right decided to double down on the crazy. we saw from the very beginning their playbook on health care has been two things. it's been fear mongering and untruths. this attack on representative dingell is the perfect blend of both of those things. it's this crazy fear mongering that they want to take over your health, want to take over your government, it's the socialism and it's filled with untruths. that said, they're starting to scratch the surface, ed. they have not learned the lesson of their defeat. instead they're going all in. we see this right down the line from them canceling the senate committees, using arcane law to shut down the senate at 2:00 and the crazy really incendiary language we see sarah palin bringing out. you know, twittering her followers to reload and having her facebook site with a hit list with actually gun sites over the states of the people she's targeting. you know, for the 2010 election.

i mean, that's scary stuff, ed, especially, you know, in the atmosphere that we have now in washington with the vandalism and the incendiary language. >> roy, is there enough progressive media out there, i guess from your perspective and mine there's never enough, but do the democrats need to go on right wing radio? do they need to go on fox? i mean the way the country is divided right now you're not going to change anybody's mind on any of this stuff. would it be feasible for the democrats to consider staying away from partisan media? >> i hate the idea of just going into our little corners and preaching to our choirs. i know you like it on the show when you get somebody who doesn't agree with you. you can go back and forth, have the marketplace of ideas and let the best ideas win. you know, i wouldn't want to have this kind of thing where we go to our corners and don't come out fighting. i think it's a good exercise to really exchange ideas and be open to them. not this kind of crazy bomb-throwing, you know, with the imagery of nancy pelosi

standing in front of a fire and this gun imagery and all this kind of crazy stuff. >> roy, do you think the president should address all of the antics that are taking place? >> well, i don't think he has to go down into the weeds and take tea bagger by tea bagger and take those each things. i think we can have a larger discussion. i think what obama did, he learned the lesson of massachusetts and came out and said, i'm going to put away this obsession with bipartisanship and i'm going to, you know, pin my ears back and go for it. i think that's what he needs to keep doing. if he keeps doing that the republican party is going to be revealed for what they are which is a party of no ideas, no solutions at a time when we need them desperately. >> and mean and nasty. you're exactly right. >> ugly as can be. yeah. >> i want to get rapid fire response from our panel tonight on these stories. some democrats who voted for health care reform are getting death threats and having property vandalized. that's not protesting. it's political terrorism. a new poll shows the tea

partyers will help the republicans in tight races this fall. unless they run a candidate of their own. with us tonight, laura flonders, author of "blue grit" and host of grit tv. ernest istook, distinguished fellow at the heritage foundation. ernie, what's happening with the right wing in this country, the conservatives in this country, the over the top rhetoric, the acts of vandalism. how do you address that? >> first of all, i condemn any sort of vandalism or violent rhetoric. let's remember it happens on both sides. was it just last month, ed, you said they ought to rip out the heart of dick cheney? >> and getting the best health care in the country. wait a minute. no, no -- >> it's that kind of rhetoric. it comes from both sides. >> it's not rhetoric. the fact is that was said on a radio talk show and that doesn't excuse it, but the fact is i said, we want a successful

conclusion for the vice president because we want him to become the poster child. everybody in the country should have the same health care as dick cheney because most -- >> rip his heart out, ed? >> wait a minute. and stuff it back in him and make sure he survives and has the best health care. you know, this is what happens in america. making a joke and then -- >> my point is it happens on both sides. >> no, it doesn't happen on both sides because i haven't cut anybody's fuel line, ernest. you know that. >> ted kusinski, the uni bomber murdered people. he was an environmental extremist. it does happen on both sides. >> it's not happening on both sides at this level. you know it's not. >> i received death threats. i had a man go to prison for threatening to kill me and dismember me. >> all right. the tea partyers, it's just normal operation procedure, correct, ernie? is that what your answer is? you're the problem, ernest. ernest, you are the problem. you can't -- ernest, you can't point the finger at the culprit in any of this.

that's the problem. right there. >> those were the first words out of my mouth, to condemn that. >> oh, yeah, then of course saying it happens on both sides when it doesn't. it's not happening on both sides. democrats are not -- ernest -- tell me -- >> i didn't get threats from the right. i got threats -- >> tell me a democrat who's thrown a brick through a window who has also recently threatened families and also left messages about how you're going to die. tell me who those people are on the left right now. >> like i said, ed, a man went to prison for threatening to kill me because i would not vote to legalize marijuana. that wasn't coming from the right. that was coming from the left. >> i guess you're condoning it then. laura, your thoughts on what -- >> condemn it on both sides. >> it doesn't mean anything, ernest. you lose your credibility when you say it's both sides. we're not condemning it the way it is right now. you will not tell boehner to come out and absolutely condemn this. >> read politico.

boehner confirmed that. >> i don't have to read it. i have my own show. i have to apologize for my audience tonight. this was not the way this interview was supposed to go. this is the way the righties operate. laura, i'll give you an opportunity since ernest has taken up most of the time. your thoughts on what the congress should do to address the rhetoric going on in this country. >> i'm amazed at ernie from oklahoma isn't ashamed in himself for talking in the way he has. let's face it. we have a situation. it's institutional. there's no question there's an institutional imbalance in the way people respond to hate speech. let's just look at this week and talk about imbalance. on sunday, or rather saturday, i think it was, you had five or so people arrested for putting coffins up there against the white house fence on commemoration of the invasion of iraq. the next day you have the capitol police doing nothing while the tea partyers spat on congress people going into congress and called them the "n"

word. you have a situation that reminds me, ed, of that whole -- >> they said they were sorry, laura. >> yeah. let's look at history a little bit. >> ernest says it happens on both sides. >> we don't have doctors dead on the right. we don't have families under attack on the right. we don't have racial minorities under attack by organized left wing groups. they said first they came for the communist. now they're coming for legislators. it's time we all woke up and called this stuff out. you mentioned gordon liddy. in the '90s he was out there saying shoot for the head on his talk show. you know, hosts like that shouldn't continue to be on the air a decade later. we've got to get bigger than this stuff. >> ernest, i'll give you one more chance here. do you condone what sarah palin is doing putting cross-hair bull's-eyes on where they have to target to get democrats out of office? >> i think it's a bad choice of imagery. identify seen, you know, the term hit list is a common term.

it's not unique -- >> common term. hit list has no connotation to it at all? wow. i have to run. >> it's a bad choice of images she made. >> i appreciate both of you being on the program tonight. thanks so much. we'll have a little bit more later on. i want to say one thing about the former vice president. i'm glad that he had a successful conclusion, and i hope he doesn't have anymore heart attacks, and certainly anybody who has five heart attacks and survives is a pretty tough cookie. i hope every american in this country who has that kind of heart trouble will be able to keep their insurance. coming up, george w. bush sure knows how to take the word "human" out of a humanitarian. i'll show you that in a moment. that was caught on tape. that's next in the "playbook." ♪ breaking up is hard to do

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it's just the right thing to do. in my "playbook" tonight, less than ten minutes after president obama signed the health care bill yesterday, 14 states filed lawsuits against the government. 13 states attorney general banned together to file a single lawsuit in a florida federal court. those states include washington, idaho, utah, colorado, south dakota, nebraska, michigan, texas, louisiana, alabama, pennsylvania, south carolina, and florida. virginia's attorney general is filing a separate suit against the health care bill. their main objections to the bill are that the requirement that most americans purchase insurance and the expansion of medicaid. for more let me bring in attorney general mark shirtlif of utah, one of the states that has filed a suit against the health care bill. what's the issue here?

what do you really take issue with? is it the mandate? >> well, it is. it's that individual mandate that requires every american to for the first time in history of america to buy a product or face a penalty for it. i've been listening to your program. i'll be one elected official who absolutely condemns hate speech and vandalism and the rhetoric. what we're doing going to court is the antithesis of that. if we have a legal agreement the court should resolve it. >> i have no problem with that. you being the number one law enforcement official in the judiciary, in the justice system in utah, i commend you for saying that. we've lost sight of how we have, you know, rules, regulations and laws that guide things in this country. and my purpose for having you on here, tonight, is that is there really legal merit for states to challenge a federal law? i mean, doesn't federal law

supersede state law? what do you think? >> ed, it does. they can't just pass any law and say because we're the feds then we supersede any state law. they can only pass laws granted to them within the jurisdiction granted to them in the constitution. argument in this case there's no specific grant in the constitution to do that individual mandate. now, i know they will argue, the feds will argue vigorously the expansion of the commerce clause gives them this authority. we don't believe so. we believe, therefore, under the tenth amendment those rights are reserved to the states and insurance, in particular, like auto insurance. health care, medical insurance has been left to the states. traditionally speaking this is the first time the federal government is taking over. that will be the specific kind of constitutional challenge to it, whether they actually have this short. >> mr. shurtleff, do you think these states can win this against the federal government? >> ed, i'm a realist. any time you go to federal court and ask the federal court to limit federal power and

authority it's an uphill battle. i'm not going to file something for purposes of delay. i mean, it needs to be resolved. i think because of a couple of decisions in the last ten years, lopez, morrison, we're going to get the details of the cases. the courts have now started to say the commerce clause isn't unlimited. that you actually have to show specifically that it alis and the states haven't regulated it. with the current makeup of the supreme court, there's a reasonable likelihood possibly on a 5-4 when we get there we might be able to have them determine this went too far. there's much to be praising in this health care reform, but it's the process we're concerned about and need to follow the law in this country. >> attorney general mark shurtleff from utah. great to have you with us. a couple more pages if my "playbook." former president bill clinton and george w. bush took their trip to promote continuing relief efforts in the earthquake shattered country. president bush managed to

overshadow good work with a swipe of his hands. the former presidents were glad handing with a crowd of haitians when cameras caught bush wiping his hands off on clinton's shirt. straight from a handshake to a blatant hand wipe. when it comes to disaster zones, george is better off sticking to flyovers, isn't he? one more page in my "playbook." one month after my minnesota vikings were shafted, next season the team that wins the overtime coin toss won't be able to win the game with just a field goal. sudden death will still apply. if that team scores a touchdown. otherwise the opposing team will get a chance to score if the game is tied after the first o.t. play will continue under the old sudden death rules. coming up, you may not know

this yet, but we are at economic war with china. 2.4 million jobs were lost less than -- in less than one decade. my next guest tells us exactly who's really getting hit on this. that's coming up next on "the ed show." what can you tell me about shell nitrogen enriched gasoline? they clean up gunk left by lower quality gasoline. then they act as a protective barrier... that shields and protects engines... against performance-robbing gunk. thanks for the info! shell nitrogen enriched gasoline, helping you get the most out of every drop.

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finally today on "the ed show," there was a new report out telling us just how many jobs this country is losing to china. the economic policy institute found that between 2001 and 2008

the united states lost 2.4 million jobs as a result of a growing trade deficit with china. the losses are distributed across the country. every single congressional district has lost jobs. more than 1.6 million of them were in the manufacturing sector. high-tech jobs, like those in computer and electronic industries, also took a huge hit, making up a quarter of the total jobs lost. the hardest-hit states based on percent of jobs lost to china are new hampshire, north carolina, massachusetts, california, oregon, and minnesota. joining me now to talk about it is scott paul, executive director of the alliance for american manufacturing. mr. paul, good to have you back with us tonight. is this the first time that we've ever really taken a close look at where the jobs are being lost? >> absolutely it is. i think it's illuminating. the results even surprised me.

we were able to drill down with this economic policy institute data and find from california to maine just how many jobs were lost and by industry as well. and i think the challenge for washington is going to be jobs are the number-one issue. voters are angry. china's clearly eating our lunch. i think they're going to expect answers. so far all they've seen is more outsourcing to china. >> hardest hit areas as far as districts are concerned. there's eight in california, four in north carolina, three in texas, two in massachusetts and one each in georgia, oregon and alabama. losing more than 8,600 jobs. now, is this just by chance that these parts of the country are getting hit so hard? or is it just industry targeted? >> there's a common thread. it is the industry that's competing with china and, frankly, they're competing unfairly because of a currency advantage china has and other

subsidies, lax labor and environmental standards. these are districts that have a high concentration of either manufacturing or high-tech goods. they've been clobbered. i don't think it surprises people, ed, that we've lost jobs from the midwest and lost jobs from manufacturing. i think one of the illuminating things about this report is that we're losing these high-tech jobs, high-wage jobs and that the job losses are jots only in the midwest but in texas and california, places like that. >> quickly, senator schumer is talking about currency manipulation. do we have to do this? how paramount is it? >> we have to do two things. the obama administration needs to designate china as a currency manipulator. they'll have the opportunity to do that by april 15st. congress needs to pass a bill to sanction china if they don't re-evaluate the currency. that will boost u.s. jobs by hundreds of thousands if not millions. >> scott paul, great to have you with us tonight. thanks so much for the