the worker bees who believe in free markets are beginning to wonder if that level playing field out there just got a little too slanted. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "the ed show" with ed schultz starts right now. good evening, americans. welcome to "the ed show" tonight from new york. tensions are running high at some of the occupy events around the country, with arrests in atlanta, and tear gas being used in oakland. it's just like the good old days. people are protesting failed republican policies that have left the 99% behind. congressman paul ryan of wisconsin, though, thinks president obama is the one that's got the crowd all worked up. they are on the defensive. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. more than 100 protesters arrested in oakland last night. and the 99% movement isn't slowing down. in atlanta, georgia state senator vincent fort was

arrested during the raid on occupy atlanta. tonight, he's my guest exclusively. the mitt romney flip-flop on workers' rights in ohio is now a triple lindy. >> i'm sorry if i created confusion in that regard. i fully support governor kasich's -- i think it's called question two in ohio. >> i'll ask conservative icon richard vigory if romney can recover. today, warrior for the 1%. paul ryan opened up on the president for dividing the country. >> social unrest and class resentment makes america weaker, not stronger. >> congressman alan grayson is here to set mr. ryan straight. at 9% approval rating, congress is circling the drain. candidate joe the plumber says he can fix the pipes. he'll join me. good to have you with us tonight, folks. we have entered a new stage in the occupy wall street movement. this was the scene last night in

oakland, california. >> [ bleep ]. >> is this america? you better believe it is. we're witnessing 30 years of failed republican economic policies, all coming to a head. now, just two months after the movement began, patience is wearing thin. it was a violent night on the streets of oakland. police and protesters facing off for six hours over, over 1,000 protesters, over 100 arrested. authorities say the decision to move some of the protesters from a makeshift camp at a local park was based on public health and safety. but oakland police felt the need to eventually use tear gas. >> we were in a position where we had to deploy gas in order to stop the crowd, the people from

pelting us with bottles and rocks. >> flash grenades and rubber bullets were also reportedly used to control the crowd by other police agencies. two police officers were injured. the number of injured protesters is not yet known. >> [ bleep ] you. all you [ bleep ]. >> [ bleep ]. [ bleep ]. >> what happened? what happened? >> got [ bleep ] shot. >> what's your name? what's your name? what's your name? >> what's your name? >> [ bleep ].

>> his name is scott olson, he's a 24-year-old originally from wisconsin. he served two tours of duty in iraq. he's a veteran. and tonight he is in critical condition with a fractured skull in an oakland hospital. at this hour, oakland police are bracing for the possibility of more violence. the protesters are vowing to return. meanwhile, over 50 were arrested in protests in atlanta, georgia, including state senator vincent fort who will join us in just a moment. our affiliate wxia was on the scene. >> tensions between city leaders and occupy protesters have been rising for days. >> this is getting ready to come to a conclusion. >> occupy atlanta's voice is the voice of people who have no job. >> if you want to be arrested -- >> this is the spot we want to make a circle. >> now dozens waking up in jail, but vowing to continue their fight.

>> will you get arrested again. >> we'll see. the occupation will continue in one form or another. >> after a night of protests on both coasts, today republicans are accusing president obama of sewing the seeds of discontent. >> instead of appealing to the hope and optimism that were the hallmarks to his first campaign, he has launched his second campaign by preying on the emotions of fear, envy and resentme resentment. >> i have been to several of these protests. there is anger and resentment at the policies that have left over 25 million americans unemployed in this country. president obama has a real jobs plan on the table. trying to get something done, something that we have not seen from the republicans. the obstruction in washington at a time of national economic crisis has sent people into the streets. now what? these people aren't in the streets because they hate america. they are in the streets because they love this country. they want to realize the chance at the american dream. let's see. jobs are scarce. wages are stagnant.

50 million people in this country have no health insurance. student loan debt is now at $1 trillion. that beats the credit card number. then there's the foreclosure crisis that continues. republicans don't want to do anything about that, either. by the way, public education is under attack. did i tell you that small businesses just can't seem to get loans and credit's tight? and, of course, there's this thing called, i think it's called a supercommittee. they're out there now and they want to slash social security, medicare and medicaid. congress is at a 9% approval rating. and you want to know why people are in the streets in this country? there is your answer. but here's the next question. who is going to be the first republican to stand up and say, maybe we better work with this president? maybe the country has had too much obstruction. maybe all of these filibusters have just taken a ride on the people of the american people -- on the point of the american

people where they are in the streets for maybe our actions. maybe we got to do something. maybe government does have to get involved in some form. some way. some fashion. because the discontent isn't going to go away tonight. it's not going to go away tomorrow. and congress' approval rating isn't going to shoot through the roof any time soon. 9%. boehner, cantor, show some leadership. president obama has put olive branches outside the window of the white house time and time again. he's laid your proposals on the teenage and you've said no. show some movement. that will change these protests in this country, but now these protests are going into an entirely new phase. who the hell knows where they're going now. i want to know what you think. tonight's question, has the 99% movement reached a turning point? text "a" for yes, text "b" for no to 622639. we love your comments on our

blog at ed.msnbc.com. we'll bring you the results later on in the show. joining me as promised, georgia state senator vincent fort. senator, good to have you with us tonight. you were arrested, and i want to ask, did you do something to get arrested? >> yes, i did. i sat down with the 99%ers and peacefully protested and i was handcuffed and put in jail and got out just a few hours ago. >> how did you feel about that? >> i was not happy about it. i think it's unfortunate that major kasim reed did what he did. this was a very peaceful situation. it was, i think, the safest place in atlanta. and for the mayor to send in dozens of police, hundreds of

police, rather, horses, helicopters, was overkill. and in the hometown of dr. king and the civil rights movement, for the mayor to do that i think was the wrong thing to do. he should have joined us and not fought against us. i think he's done us a favor. i think he's energized this movement and i think it's going to pick up even more steam. the occupy atlanta movement is here to stay. >> well, i was going to ask you, and i think you answered some of that question. where does it go from here? is this going to subside in any way, shape or form? >> i don't think so. i don't think so. i think the occupy atlanta movement, although it's very nonviolent, is angrier than ever. and more committed than ever to bring a change to atlanta. atlanta, in particular, and georgia in general has suffered through the top five in the country in joblessness, in

foreclosures, homelessness is rampant. around the state capital, around city hall. the mayor may have done us a favor by doing what he did last night in arresting us. i think it's energized an already energized movement. >> senator fort, what do you -- what's your response when you hear congressman paul ryan suggesting that the president of the united states is the guy who was preying on fear and resentment? what do you say to that? >> i think that's nonsense. there is class warfare going on in this country. it's been going on for a long time. i think it's a war on working people. what happened in wisconsin, what's happening in ohio is just one instance of it. now you have a movement that's pushing a back against the republican and right wing's assault on wages and bargaining rights. so i agree with him to that

extent. there is a war, class warfare going on. but i don't think barack obama had anything to do with it. i think the republicans did a good enough job of fighting or committing war on working people. >> and you will go back and protest again, i hear? >> i will go back as often as necessary to make sure that the public and the community at large understands that corporate greed is what has put us in this mess. >> okay. >> corporate greed by the big banks have devastated many neighborhoods in my district and around atlanta. bank of america, wells fargo, have done their subprime lending in these neighborhoods. now they're foreclosing on the american dream for a lot of my constituents. for that reason, i'm going to be with the occupy atlanta movement as long as it takes to change some things in atlanta and in this country. >> georgia state senator vincent fort, you're a brave man.

i appreciate you coming on the program tonight. thanks so much. we'll reconnect with you again. you say this isn't going away. let's turn to laura, host of "free speech tv" and justin elliot, reporter for salon.com. oakland, california, had a lot of violence last night. the mayor of oakland just made a statement. i want to go to this videotape. here it is. >> it's a tough time for america. we're trying to find the right thing to do. i'm going to try to be working with the community groups. we're going to try to work with the demonstrators. they have very unusual organizations, very flat. they're generally anti-government. but this is something that we hope that we can make progress on. >> laura flanders, what do you make of that? >> first off, it is appalling the brutality that was used against these young people and the people of occupy wall street in oakland last night. appalling. >> are we into a new phase now? >> but it is not a few phase of the protest. that's one thing i'd correct you on, ed. it's a new phase of policing. tensions were not rising among

the protesters. i was there a week ago. organized, very structured situation where people were doing their own policing and dealing with some very basic needs that have been left abandoned by our public servants in this time of public austerity. the policing tactics that we used last night, again, we need to understand the crowd was as riled up as it was because of the tactics that had been used to shut down the encampment earlier that day. the protest was to protest the shutdown of the camp. again, let's think of the irony of public servants, supposedly the police, using the argument on public safety to shut down a public forum that's drawing attention to the very real threats to the public safety posed by the consolidation of wealth and power and very few hands in this country. >> justin, what do we know about that iraq war veteran that was injured last night and is in critical condition? >> well, yeah, i mean, i think the latest is he's still in the hospital. people are unclear about what sort of projectile he was hit by. the oakland police department is

claiming it's not one of their projectiles. i don't see unless a protester had a tear gas gun, i don't don't see how it was anything else. the witnesses on the scene say it was a police projectile, whether a tear gas canister or flash bang grenade or something else. the display last night woke up a lot of people to the militarization of the police department in this decade. >> where does it go from here? >> look, i think the protesters in oakland are planning on going out i believe about an hour from right now, but, and i think the police tactics are going to be protested. i think it would be a mistake for the protesters to make this about the police in the long term. i think the question is, how do you use the attention this police overreaction and apparent, you know, show of violence, how do you use that to get back to the core message that got everyone out there, which is economic injustice? >> laura, in the meantime, republicans are out there dep t depicting this crowd as an

archite anarchists, revolutionaries. >> justin is absolutely right. this shouldn't become a distraction. at the same time, it illustrates some of the issues the occupy movement is raising about what is the place of the public in a corporate-run state? yet, you know, you ask where it goes next. this is way beyond the park. and at the very same time as this was happening yesterday on the west coast, here in new york you had over 100 educators and advocates and teachers and students taking over a board of ed meeting to raise issues about austerity and education. today there were marches going to the heart of the health care private insurance system. coming from occupy wall street to their headquarters. and right now, you're absolutely right. all across the country are planned demonstrations, 9:00 p.m. eastern in solidarity with what happened in oakland. so this is way beyond the park in terms of physical issues. and it's way beyond the frustration that the president's talking about. it's about empowerment. if you haven't seen the

8-year-old who talked yesterday at the board of ed meeting, you have to watch it. the people's mike gave her an ability to speak the mayor mike has more or less shut down. it's an amazing thing that's happening way beyond the discussion of policing. >> it's not going away. it's not going away any time soon until there's change. we've seen this happen in this country, back in the '60s, the civil rights. there is a parallel. the passions were very high. dogs and hoses were turned on americans who were watches that just wanted to vote, that wanted equality. there's inequality in income in this country right now. people are frustrated for all the things i listed in the commentary tonight. the fact of the matter is, when elected officials say, i'm going to go back and get arrested, that crowd is only going to grow. lauren flanders, justin elliot, thanks for your time tonight. i appreciate it so much. remember to answer tonight's answer at the bottom of the screen and share your thoughts on twitter @edshow. i want to know what you think. mitt romney has seen the

light on ohio's issue number two. you won't believe what he said in virginia today. and later, congressman paul ryan spoke at the heritage foundation today and said president obama is dividing the country with rhetoric. the truth is, ryan's party has been doing that for years with policies. we're right back. [ sniffs ] i took dayquil but my nose is still runny. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesn't treat that. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ deep breath] awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is. that's the cold truth! [ male announcer ] yes, it is. [ woman announcing ]bsite there's an easier way. create your own small-business site... with intuit websites. choose a style, customize, publish and get found... from just $7.99 a month. get a 30-day free trial... at intuit.com.

well, here's a shocker. remember the congressional supercommittee? the one that was set up after the debt ceiling debate and charged with cutting the deficit? well, breaking news. they're deadlocked. big surprise, huh? committee democrats proposed a plan to cut nearly $3 trillion, around $400 billion of those dollars would come from reducing medicare benefits. it's roughly the same plan that both president obama and speaker boehner had on the table as part of their grand bargain back in july. so of course, republicans have rejected the proposal calling it outrageously absurd and a nonstarter. they won't go for it because the

proposal includes, you guessed it, tax increases on the wealthiest americans. once again, the democrats are willing to cut one of the big three, and once again, republicans say no because of new taxes. sound familiar? coming up, the people responsible for dividing the country are now accusing the president of the united states of engaging in class warfare. and major medical? major medical, boyyyy! [ beatboxing ] ♪ i help pay the doctor ♪ ain't that enough for you? ♪ there are things major medical doesn't do. aflac! pays cash so we don't have to fret. [ together ] ♪ something families should get ♪ ♪ like a safety net ♪ even helps pay deductibles, so cover your back, get... ♪ a-a-a-a-a-a-a-aflac! [ male announcer ] help protect your family at aflac.com. [ beatboxing ]

and we have breaking news. mitt romney has not changed his position on ohio's issue number two, for nine hours. we will update you when the events warrant.

today romney talked to reporters in virginia and stood strong for issue two and ohio governor john kasich. >> i'm sorry if i created any confusion in that regard. i fully support governor kasich's, i think it's called question two, in ohio. fully support that. actually on my website, i think back as early as april, i laid out i support question two and governor kasich's effort to restrict collective bargaining in ohio in the ways he's described. so i fully support that. i'm 110% behind governor kasich and in support of that question. thank you. >> now, let's put it in perspective. keep in mind that guy right there, he wants to be president of the united states. he just said the words "fully support" three times. less than 24 hours earlier, romney didn't sound as strong when he was actually in ohio. >> i'm not speaking about the particular ballot issues. those are up to the people of ohio, but i certainly support the effort of the governor to reign in the scale of

government. so i'm not terribly familiar with the two ballot initiative but certainly supportive of the republican party's effort. >> true conservatives have no idea where mitt romney stands on any issue. rick perry pounced on romney last night on fox news. >> you can't be for banning guns and then all of a sudden you're, you know, for the second amendment. you can't be for the issue of abortion then you're pro life -- >> so you think he's a weasel? >> you can't be on both sides of the issue. >> perry is exploiting romney's weakness with the base as much as possible. his best move. this sunday, the texas governor will have an entire hour on fox news sunday. interesting. his ratings aren't very high, but he gets a full hour? wonder who they're rooting for. core conservatives have never trusted mitt romney. my next guest has been called the godfather of the conservative movement in america. he pioneered the direct mail tactic and built the conservative movement that

elected reagan in 1980. as new viewer to 8:00, i love to bring in all sides. it's information based. they'll have their say. i'll have mine. let's bring in richard viguerie, chairman of conservativehq.com. mr. viguerie, good to have you with us tonight. i have you on here tonight, i know i'm going to get a lot of liberal heat for this. but i know where you stand and i know how important you are in the conservative movement in this country. where is mitt romney? does he have a chance to resurrect himself? i don't care what the poll numbers are because i know how conservatives feel about this guy. i want to hear, could you support mitt romney? is his campaign dead? >> it's early yet, ed. you ask where he is. he's at 25%. and he's been that way for five years. he hasn't really moved all through the mid 20s. the reason he hasn't moved, that's about the percent of republicans that are not considered conservatives. you know, about 75% of

republicans are strongly right of center and romney is left of center. i've got a test, ed, that i put these candidates to. viguerie's foolproof test to determine whether you're conservative or not. and romney fails it miserably. and it is, personnel is policy. tell me who you walk with, i'll tell you who you are. every time i saw ronald reagan in the 1970s, i saw six, seven, eight of my friends. dick alan, marty anderson. they were all around him. when he moved into the white house, conservatives move in with him. i challenge you to name one conservative, anybody out there, name one conservative right now around romney or who has been around romney the last 15 years. why should we think if he's elected president that conservatives would have any say in this administration? >> so how do conservatives hold the line at this point? how do you get your kind of candidate? can rick perry make a comeback? >> absolutely. i think, you know, there are

good candidates running but i think at the end of the day it could very well be a two-person race between rick perry and romney. and remember, ed, something is different about the republican primary process this year that hasn't been true for about 40 years. that is, we'll have proportionate representation of delegates until april 1st so that, you know, mccain had won the nomination by march because he was getting 30%, 35% of the vote. and the conservative vote was divided among the remaining candidates. because he was getting 30%, 35%, others were getting less, he got the nomination. that won't be the case this time. >> is perry your guy? is he the most conservative candidate out there right now? >> oh, no, michele bachmann is a fine conservative. rick perry. herman cain. there are good conservatives running out there. perry is a -- i think he's strong. i think at the end of the day because of his money, because of his ten years as governor of

texas, he's conservative on most all the important issues. i think that it will be a two-person race, although it could expand to a few others. >> now, the two people that we're talking about are not leading in the polls. it is herman cain. would you support herman cain? would the conservative movement support herman cain? >> absolutely. absolutely. we'd be thrilled with herman. i know herman. he's a wonderful, you know, conservative. absolutely. we'd be thrilled to have herman as our nominee. but i think a lot of the other candidates have risen in the polls because perry has had a rough, you know, five or six weeks. if he gets his act together and he begins to move out there with strong message for conservatives, i think a lot of that support that has drifted over to the other candidates will come back to perry. >> but for core conservatives, it is not mitt romney, which --

>> not now, not ever. >> not now, not ever. what if he's the nominee? >> then we'll have to see how he comes to concert. is he going to ensure us he's going to govern as a conservative? will he select a conservative as his vice president? will he assure us he's going to bring mostly conservatives into his administration? is he going to give us -- >> he flips around, too. the story we had a moment ago from ohio, the guy's all over the place. >> oh, absolutely. it's an interesting thing about the republican party. since richard nixon to now, the republican party with the exception of ronald reagan has nominated somebody at the left end of the party, whether it was nixon or ford or george bush 41, 43, bob dole, john mccain. they're, you know, not in sync with the base of the party, and that's a prescription for disaster. quite frankly. >> mr. viguerie, thanks for joining us tonight. i appreciate your take on it all. if you think mitt romney is acting slippery on issue two,

watch out fox news is spinning it. and later, the justice department says a texas redistricting plan would limit the voting power of hispanic residents in the state of texas. it's the same plan signed by governor rick perry. ♪ [ male announcer ] how could a luminous protein in jellyfish, impact life expectancy in the u.s., real estate in hong kong, and the optics industry in germany? at t. rowe price, we understand the conntions of a complex, global economy.

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and in "psycho talk," dick morris, disgraced campaign manager joined the kids on the

couch at fox news this morning to talk about ohio's issue number two. steve asked morris about the upcoming ohio vote. >> dick, what do you think of sb-5 as it's known in ohio? >> before we do that, i want to point out flying 22 hours from hong kong to new york is a nightmare, not a dream. >> nonetheless. >> i think that this is a terribly important issue. a week from this coming tuesday, two weeks from yesterday, there will be an issue on the ballot in the state of ohio to repeal what's called senate bill five which is one of the most important and positive pieces of legislation to emerge in any state this year. >> pretty disgusting to watch four highly paid fox news personalities just yuck it up over an expensive overseas flight and praise issue two in the same breath. dick morris has no idea what working class firefighters, police officers and teachers are facing with this vote. dick morris has never rushed into a burning building to save

lives. morris has never met the heroes of the ohio police force or the great teachers of the buckeye state. morris has a nice, cushy job putting on makeup and sticking his foot in his mouth on national tv. for dick morris to call issue two the most positive laws in america is sleazy "psycho talk." paul ryan is leading the attack against president obama's message on jobs. he says it's class warfare. he should be attacking his own party. joe the plumber says congress has been doing bad things to us for some 50 years and he's angry. i'm angry, too. let's see if we can get angry together. see if we can come up with a jobs plan. he'll join me on the set. the employee of the month isss...

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owning my own business has never been more rewarding. coming through! [ male announcer ] introducing spark the small business credit cards from capital one. get more by choosing unlimited double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. what's in your wallet? welcome back to "the ed show." republican congressman paul ryan is attacking president obama for engaging in what he calls the politics of division. >> instead of appealing to the

hope and optimism that were the hallmarks to his first campaign, he has launched his second campaign by preying on the emotions of fear, envy and resentment. this has the potential to be just as damaging as his misguided policies. sewing social unrest and class resentment makes america weaker, not stronger. >> ryan targeted president obama's jobs tour as a propaganda campaign, saying it misleads the american people to insight hatred toward the rich. >> he's going town to town. setting up strawmen and scapegoats and engaging in intellectually lazy arguments as he tries to build support for punitive tax hikes. >> false. absolutely false. the economic reality created by republicans and endorsed by paul ryan has divided this country and will continue to do so. if you don't believe me, look at

the findings of the congressional budget office. the independent research agency within the congress. you see five brackets there, folks, covering income growth for 99% of americans over the past three decades. then the one on the right, there's the income growth for the top 1%. you be the judge. fact, wealthy americans are paying less and getting more. the country is divided by a wealth gap of nearly 300%. paul ryan needs to stop blaming the president for pointing out the facts. that's exactly what he's doing on the road. and i want to say one thing about democrats tonight. where the hell are you? you got an opposing congressman there who has put forward a bill that wants to privatize medicare and medicaid, comes out and attacks the president falsely and i don't see any democrats in the congress step it up correcting the record or going to bat for president obama.

we're here. msnbc. "the ed show." every night. monday through friday. 8:00. give him some backup, will you? i mean, it's outrageous what that guy just said. he is inciting civil war. that's what he's doing. you take his comments and dissect him and see exactly what they mean. it's almost as if the republicans want violence to take place in our society. and the democrats just sit there and let president obama take it. where's the communication team of the democrats? why aren't you out on the talking heads on talk radio across america with editorial boards, on talking head shows on cable saying, you know what, this is wrong. where's the force? where's the passion? where's the fight for the democrats? does president obama have to do everything? let's turn to steven rattner, former auto adviser in the treasury department under

president obama and author of the book "overhaul: an insider's account of the obama administration's emergency rescue of the auto industry." i want to read that. and former congressman alan grayson, who is running for congress who speaks his mind and quite well, i might add. great to have both of you with us tonight. congressman, i want to ask you first, is president obama inciting hatred toward the rich in this country when he points out the income gap? >> no, i mean, for paul ryan or any republican to talk about this, to talk about the president inciting the politics of division, is much like o.j. saying he's going to devote his life to finding the real killer. they're the real killers. they're the ones who've devoted their lives to a politics division in this country. for my entire adult life, going all the way back to nixon's southern strategy, they've pitted white against black, north against south, straight against gays and now they're blaming the president for this? give me a break. >> steven, you'd like to show this graph. it shows taxes on the richest

americans of the past 20 years. why are republicans still saying the wealthy americans are overtaxed when clearly they are not? >> i have no idea. warren buffett has made this point that he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary. these are facts. that tadata on that chart you jt showed comes from the irs. the fact is a series of tax reductions, some of which occurred under clinton to be fair, many occurred under president bush, lowered the tax rate on the wealthiest americans from 29% down to 17%. that's just a fact. >> senate candidate elizabeth warren in massachusetts has said the opposite of what paul ryan is saying. here it is. >> there is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. nobody. you built a factory out there, good for you, but i want to be clear. you moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. >> ryan responded to that quote from warren today.

>> this is what i call a fatal conceit of progressivism. it's upsidedown. it's the presumption that money and wealth made and created in america is the government's unless they benevolently expend it back to people. >> congressman, why does paul ryan -- what does he not get about what elizabeth warren is saying? >> he doesn't get at all, he doesn't get any part of it. for the past 30 years, this country has seen since reagan and onward a tremendous growth in the wealth of the wealthy and the poverty of the poor. the rich have been getting richer. the poor have been getting poorer. that's just the way it's been for the past 30 years. the choices really at this point, are we going to do something about it or are we going to try to just ignore it and let the middle class sink into poverty and see it destroyed? that's really where we are at this point in this country. that's the choice. the choice essentially is between class warfare and

classer is rendclass er surrend surrender. >> the white house says they're not going to change the message. what do you make of that? >> the president is right to point these things out. i don't view it as class warfare. think the fact the top 1% in this country now have the same share of income it had back in 1928 at the height of the gilded age. i think the president is right to point that out and right to continue to carry his message across the country. >> steven rattner, alan grayson, great to have both of you with us tonight. thank you. a redistricting plan in texas would limit the voting power of hispanics and republicans planned it that way. texas democratic congressman henry clayar joins me next. is. you don't know the egos that i have to deal with. you're probably right. thank you! whoever you are. i'm pretty sure that was phil jackson. he's quite famous... million championships... triangle offense innovator... [ male announcer ] the audi a8. named best large luxury sedan. nice wheels zen master. thank you...todd.

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in the "playbook" tonight, the justice department said texas republicans are intentionally limiting the voting power of hispanics with a

new redistricting map. governor rick perry signed the redistricting map and he may want to pay closer attention to what he's approving. now that's he's running for president. justice department lawyers said there was "ample circumstantial evidence of an intent to limit the voting power of hispanics in violation of the voting rights act." the redistricting plan would affect nearly half a million hispanics in the state of texas. justice department lawyers and republican congressman lamar smith and others clearly considered race in their deliberations. according to e-mails, they knew the justice department would not preapprove the plan so they didn't submit it. a review in federal court is scheduled for next week. joining me now is congressman henry cuellar of texas. congressman, food to have you with us tonight. >> thank you so much. >> is this redistricting map as bad as it sounds? >> let's look at it this way.

in the last ten years texas had a new growth of 4.3 million individuals. when you put that in numbers of new congressional seats, that gave us four new congressional seats. so when you look at the total growth that we had, 70% of that growth in the last ten years were hispanics. when you put african-americans and other minorities, it adds up to 90%. so when 90% of the whole growth were minorities, but only the 10% get the congressional districts, we know there's something wrong. i think that what the republican colleagues did, they overreached and were hoping that the courts will find what we call a section two violation and create more hispanic minority seats in the state of texas. >> so governor perry has signed on to this. how big a problem is that? >> the state legislature passed this. governor signed this. instead of going through the department of justice like we've been doing for years and years, they decided to go around and go into the washington court. again, they didn't have a

problem when bush was the president there, but certainly now, because you have president obama, they decide to circumvent the department of justice which they have a right to do that, it just hasn't been done this way and they're trying to go with the washington panel up there in washington, d.c. >> with your office, congressman, what has been the response of the hispanic community in texas on this? >> you know, one of the things, people feel a little frustrated. for example, let's look at the dallas-ft. worth area. they have about 1.3 million hispanics but not yet a hispanic district. i mean, how can you not have in an area like the dallas-ft. worth area, a hispanic district, why not in south texas, why not the houston area? the only way they created a hispanic district is they went after a democrat, eliminated that democratic seat. then they went ahead and created another hispanic seat. that's the only we they gave us a hispanic seat going after

another democrat. >> congressman cuellar. appreciate your time tonight. thanks so much. this story will continue. joe the plumber is running for office and he's here on "the ed show" set talking about jobs. the guy's going to run for congress. i like that. he's getting in fight, too. stay with us. copd makes it hard to breathe,

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plus get up to $500 when you open an account. timely tonight samuel joe wurzelbacher known as joe the plumber is running for congressman. here's what he said today when he announce his candidacy. >> if we work together, we can help businesses come in here to create jobs, having competitive tax rates and having a simple regulatory simple. if i'm coming off as angry, it's because i am. i won't hide it. i'm pretty blunt about it. i just can't stand it when people do bad work. we've been voting the last 40 or 50 years bad people to do bad things to us. >> i'm angry, too, as most of america knows. how about what happened to wage earners over the last few decades? we angry about that? the income of the top 1% has grown by 275%, but wages have pretty much flatlined. the working folk of america.

redistribution of wealth is a reality in this country. it's going from the bottom to the top. joining me now, samuel joe wurzelbacher. joe, good to have you with us. >> thanks, mr. schultz. >> ed's fine. you just saw that graph. you saw that statistic. you're in congress. what would be your remedy for that? you're a plumber. you're down there at the blue line down there. you're the working folk of america. this is the income inequity. what's the solution? >> changing the tax code, which brings me to the point, is, why don't the democrats ever talk about changing the 67,500 pages and growing current tax structure we have in place? why don't they ever talk about changing that and leveling the playing field? warren buffett talks about, i pay less taxes than why secretary. his accountants make sure he pays less taxes than his secretary. >> you'd want to simplify the tax code? >> that's what it comes down to. keep it simple stupid. that's the secret to life. >> the tax cuts have gone to the wealthiest americans and hasn't led to job creation. >> they keep paying for it with

the lobbyists and special interests. it's not a secret, but, you know, when you sit there and say it's the republicans doing it and not the democrats, that's where you're doing a disservice to the american people because the democrats are getting their money from the very same people. they have the same fund-raisers, you know, they're both, you know, essentially it seems like they're in collusion. >> you're mad at the system. you don't like the way the whole thing is set up. >> god, no, man. get in there and get some honesty and integrity in there, brother. >> what do you say to working people of america who had stagnant wages over 30 years? >> get involved in your sieve irresponsibility is what it comes down to. people aren't going to give it to you. the top 1% keep taking. they're in the position to take. we have the system in place for a reason. we the american people can take it over, just got to get through all the bs that is the political system right now. >> you think there's been corporate greed in america? >> sure. >> okay. >> that's human nature. >> you're running as a republican. >> yes, i am. >> they protect corporations and they protect the wealthy. >> so do the democrats. you can't have it both ways. >> wait a minute. we have the jobs plan out there,

the republicans won't even raises ta raises taxes on .2% of americans out there. the 400,000 jobs that would have been created. >> there, it's -- >> how would you have voted on that if you were in congress in. >> the jobs bill? no, no. >> why would you vote no on that? >> it's not fixing the problem. like i said earlier, it's putting duct tape on an issue. let's really fix the problem. look at the tax trucktustructur. when i said earlier when i was making my announcement, competitive tax rate, simple regulatory system. the reason you put a simple regulatory system, you want to keep the businesses you started in that state or in the country. >> what's a fair tax for the people at the top 1% that have seen their income go up 300% over the last three decades? i mean, they're living wealthier than they ever have. are they taxed enough? >> are they taxed enough? comes back to changing the tax structure. that's what it comes back to. >> what would it be? it used to be at 39%. now it's at 35.5%, 36%.

>> you're not going to throw the 1955 statistic -- >> no, no, no, i'm not going to do that. in the clinton years it was 39%. the bush tax cuts came in in 2001 and 2003 which led to this. what is a fair tax rate in your opinion for the wealthiest americans? >> i think it needs to be across the board. i like the flat tax, fair tax. >> you're a flat taxer. >> i'm about getting it out of the way and getting business back to this country. the heavy regulation imposed by one of the parties, free trade agreement imposed by another party that hurts americans and hurts american jobs. we have to work on that. both parties are hurting this country, ed. >> the democrats have made mista mistakes. i think for the most part they're pretty much on point. i have to ask you this. how are you going to vote on issue two in ohio? >> issue two? >> yes? >> personally. you know, i haven't made a decision on that to be honest with you. >> are you for collective bargaining. >> i don't like collective