about the book next week i'm asking you to order one now and discover what i've discovered, how we once had a hero for a president, with much to teach our current one. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "the ed show" with ed schultz starts right now. good evening, americans. and welcome to "the ed show" tonight from new york. americans are out in the street and corporate america has never had it better. tonight, a classic story of corporate greed that i think america needs to see. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. whirlpool presents a powerful way to clean. >> tonight, the whirlpool disaster. 5,000 middle classers are out of a job because of corporate greed and a lack of effort by republicans in washington. i'll talk to vermont senator bernie sanders on the latest kick in the teeth for the american middle class. leave now or you are subject to arrest. >> the 99% movement is getting bigger. tonight there are more protests

and more arrests. we'll ask michael eric dyson where the movement is headed. you are from what part of indiana? >> it's southern indiana. it's the first -- >> is that? >> four obama campaign donors want a chance for dinner with barack. last night they ate with the president. tonight they'll tell me what he said. you won't want to miss it. great to have you with us tonight on this friday night. tomorrow i will be in newton, iowa. i will explain. because this is a story that nobody's talking about. a classic american company is about to fire thousands of americans and ship their jobs overseas. we hear it all the time. i want to bring it to you tonight. whirlpool is about to celebrate its 100 tth year in business in america. the company was founded in november of 1911 in the city of benton harbor, michigan. today, whirlpool is the biggest, did i say the biggest?

yes, i did. the biggest appliance maker in the world. today whirlpool announced plans to cut 5,000 jobs in north america and europe. the cuts include 1,200 salaried positions in the closing of the ft. smith, arkansas, plant. guess i have to go there, too. in may of 2010, whirlpool shut down a plant in evanston, indiana, and shipped 1,100 jobs to mexico. that, of course, happened after whirlpool took $19.3 million in federal stimulus money. did you catch that, taxpayers? you tea partyers out there? whirlpool's chairman, ceo jeff feddig said the company had to make the moves because of the recession. he said "our results were negatively impacted by recessionary demand levels in developed countries. a slowdown in emerging markets and high levels of inflation in material costs." that's corporate speak for we need bigger profits to boost our

stock price. keep in mind, whirlpool's third quarter net income more than doubled this year to $177 million but whirlpool revenue only went up 2%, short of the $4.74 billion they were projecting. you to hit the numbers, don't you? jeff fettig cut 1,200 middle class jobs in ft. smith, arkansas, to pad his numbers. and almost $15 million annual compensation. that's what he gets. this is a classic, classic corporate greed story at the expense of the american worker. the average salary at the plant shut down in evanston, indiana, was only $17 an hour. this is class warfare, don't you think? i'll call it that. the wealthy right now seem to be undefeated. earlier this year in march, fettig gave a speech at the

economic club. at the time the ceo said whirlpool was investing $1 billion in its u.s. footprint. 1,200 families in ft. smith, arkansas, feel that foot on their necks tonight. those middle class americans will have to look their kids in the eye and tell them that christmas won't be as bright this year. it's going to be a little different around the tree. here comes the spin. former arkansas governor mike huckabee tried to pin it on president obama today. >> there's going to be a total of about 1,100 families out of the ft. smith, arkansas, area, that are going to lose those jobs. those are good jobs. very good jobs for that area. very good jobs for arkansas. that plant had a big expansion a few years ago. all those jobs are going to disappear. those families aren't going to be looking for a website. they're going to be looking for a job. and i'm not against websites, but i think that the kind of economic realities that we're facing now demand a great deal more than an executive order and a website and hopefully at some

point the president may look at his own policies and recognize they're not working. >> president obama has tried to get money into the hands of teachers, firefighters and police officers. you know, when middle class americans have a stable job, they buy things like washers and refrigerators. millions of americans don't even have enough money or enough food to put in their fridge these days. huckabee is a complete fraud on the issue. let's check the record. come do an interview with me, mike, because arkansas lost 86,000 manufacturing jobs from 2000 to 2009. how's that website looking for you now, former governor of arkansas? mike huckabee was the governor for seven of those years. wonder if anybody over on fox will ask him that question. how was it going for you? for manufacturing in arkansas when you had the pen in your hand? see, this is how they play the game. tax cuts for millionaires, don't save those jobs. race to the bottom line republican economics have put america in a ditch. if the republicans take back the

senate and the white house next year, things will only get worse. president obama nailed it on wednesday night. >> one thing that we absolutely know for sure is that if we don't work even harder than we did in 2008, then we're going to have a government that tells the america people, you are on your own. if you get sick, you're on your own. if you can't afford college, you're on your own. if you don't like that some corporation is polluting your air, or the air that your child breathes, then you're on your own. >> you know, folks, this is real simple. this is a maytag refrigerator. they used to be made in newton, iowa. what happened? whirlpool bought maytag back in 2006. by 2007, whirlpool shut down the factory and shipped about 1,800 middle class union jobs, non-union plants, to non-union plants. whirlpool canceled all the

health care benefits for the maytag retirees. there will come a day when you can't buy a washer and a dryer that says made in america. those days are coming. you see, it's all about the stock price. and the guy that the top who's making $15 million. now, if you check the internet and see a salary, it's a little over $1 million, but he's got all those bennys in there so he doesn't have to pay taxes. a total package of koocompensat is about $15 million. i'm going to go to the plant they shut down. i'm going to go there tomorrow. at about noon i'm going to be walking down and downtown newton, iowa, and i'm going to go into a cafe, i'm not going to have any big msnbc cameras with me. just my wife and i will go down there and go in and talk to the folks and see what those 1,800 people are doing now. maybe i'll run into a few of them. and i'll take a couple of pictures and i'll report back to

you. i'll talk to them in a very -- not a very intrusive manner, if you know what i mean. folks in iowa are private people. midwesteners view the media differently. i thought if i snuck in there i can find out what they really think. because i believe this story right here is one of the reasons why all these wall street occupiers are occupying the streets damn near everywhere now. this is one of these stories where it all goes to the top. and the guy at the top is saying, well, you know, we've got emerging markets that are a little bit slow. you know what's slow tonight? the good emotion of the people in ft. smith, arkansas. the plant down there that they're going to shut down is 1.5 million square feet that will be empty when whirlpool says, let's get the hell out of here. you see, in indiana, they shipped those jobs to mexico. these jobs are going to go

across the ocean to europe. why? well, i guess they were paying the employees too much. i guess they wanted to make more money at the top. and what pisses me off is we have people like boehner and cantor and mcconnell who want to give guys who made the decision to get rid of this factory, wants to give him a tax cut because he thinks they're going to go out and create more jobs. you know what really bothers me? is that this company got $19 million in stimulus money. your tax dollars went to the guy who made a decision to get rid of these jobs. and we have a congress that sits there and blames it on one man, the president, and we sit idle. we don't do anything about it. now people are in the streets. i do think it's stories like this that put people in the streets. i don't think they're going away. and i think the numbers are going to grow and grow and grow. and keep growing. i was a young kid 10, 11, 12, 13

years old. when i grew up in norfolk, virginia, and the vietnam war was raging. and the protests, they started out real slow. and then they got bigger and then they got bigger and bigger and bigger. and that's what's going to happen right now in 2011 and 2012. it's decades later, but it's the same thing. people want change. and i don't know if we have the political system that is going to offer that change. so i don't know where this is going. do you know where this is going? can you tell me tonight that you know exactly where these protests are going? because these folks, they're not going away. in fact, they're going to grow in number. the teachers, the firefighters, the police officers, the nurses, the librarians, the engineers, the middle classers of america, okay, they're going to join those grungy kids. guess what, i remember seeing

grungy kids at old dominion university when the vietnam protests were taking place and those kids forced some change. we got the hell out of vietnam eventually. it gives me hope because i've seen it that maybe these people in the street because of stories like this, maybe they can force change. how are we going to turn this economy around? if we keep having maytag and whirlpool stories? 5,000 here, 4,000 here, 10,000 here, profits go on the top. how are we going to stop this recession? how are we going to turn this around? i'll be back with you on monday and i'll give you a report on what it's like in newton, iowa, now that that plant is all gone. i'll try to run into some of the retirees who had their health care benefits taken away from them after whirlpool came in and bought maytag. those maytag folks.

oh, by the way, that went to court, but the retirees lost that battle. that happened this year. get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's question, is corporate greed running this country? text "a" for yes, "b" for no to 622639. our blog is ed.msnbc.com. we'll bring you the results later in the show. joining me now, bernie sanders. i love having this man on this program because he tells it like it is. i think he knows the answer to all the questions i asked you tonight. in this commentary. but i'll have to ask him again, how can we turn this around, senator? how are we going to do it? >> first of all, i'm going to text you right away, ed, and tell you, yeah, corporate greed is running this country. corporate greed is destroying the middle class. and corporate greed is destroying the dreams and aspirations of millions of american people. i think what these wall street occupation effort is all about, and the reason that it is hitting a nerve, is that people

are catching on that there is something profoundly wrong when the top 1% today earns more income than the bottom 50% and when the wealthiest 400 people own more wealth than the bottom half of america, 150 million people. ed, in a recent 25-year period, 80% of all new income went to the top 1% which is why the 99ers are getting a little bit upset. now, you're asking me, how do we move this country forward economically? first of all, we have to understand there has to be a sense of urgency about the economic crisis that's out there. unemployment is not 9%. it's truly 16%. 25 million people unemployed or under-employed. i don't think it's terribly hard to come up with the ideas as to how you put our people back to

work. we have an infrastructure which is crumbling. that's our roads, our bridges, water systems, waste water plants. what about rebuilding those, that information, putting people back to work? we're on the verge of a revolution in energy which we desperately need if we're going to combat global warming. what about the radical idea of making sure that our homes and our factories and our buildings are weatherized, put people to work doing that. and how about building solar paneling and wind turbines right here in the united states -- >> i'm going to do this story next week because china is eating our lunch in both those categories while we sit idle with politicians bickering at one another in washington. some of you really want to do something, but we know who the obstructionists are. mike huckabee is blaming the democrats. let's take a look. >> if the president wants to pass it, he can pass it in the senate. why doesn't he? because he doesn't have enough democrat votes in the senate to

pass it. >> he failed it in its existing form. >> that's exactly right. i think that's total nonsense. he keeps blaming the republicans. but the republicans can't stop it in the senate. and the fact is if he's serious about it, lay it on the table, get marry reid to put it out there on the senate floor, let the republicans and democrats all be on record. let it go to the house. i think john boehner would let it go up for a vote. >> what's your response to that, senator? >> i'm not quite sure what huckabee is talking about. we need, because of the republican filibuster, we need 60 votes to pass a jobs bill. to the best of my memory, we haven't gotten one republican vote yet to put our teachers, our cops, our firemen back to work. we're going to come up with another plan to put money in infrastructure, i hope will get some republican support, but at this point, we haven't. so mr. huckabee should understand how the senate works. and that is you need 60 votes because of consistent republican

obstructionism. >> i want to point out, correct me if i'm wrong, it wasn't long ago that there was a bill coming out of the senate that would have given tax breaks to companies if they brought jobs back to america, just like the story i was talking about tonight, and the republicans were against that as well. were they not in. >> yes, the republicans have been against virtually every effort to create the millions of jobs we desperately need. >> senator bernie sanders, great to have you with us tonight. we could go on for hours. i appreciate it so much. thank you. remember to answer tonight's question at the bottom of the screen and share your thoughts on twitter @edshow. coming up, president obama is using his power to bypass congress to get the ball rolling on job creation. later, it's happening all over america. people are taking to the streets to make their voices heard. michael eric dyson is here to discuss the 99% movement. we're back. covergirls -- set your lashes free. new natureluxe mousse mascara! we took out a heavy synthetic

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republicans are working hard to sell their new attack strategy against president obama. congressman paul ryan is the point man blaming the president for dividing the country. >> instead of the hallmarks to his first campaign, he launched his second campaign by preying on the emotions of fear, envy and resentle. 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 thinks the attack works so well that he's trying to raise money off of it. check out what he wrote in a-ra. "america is at a tipping point. the safety net for the poor is coming apart at the seams and no one else seems to care." paul ryan is now the defender of the poor? keep in mind, this is the guy that wants abolish medicare and

replace it with a voucher system. the safety net is in danger and it's ryan who poses the biggest threat. coming up, the latest on scott olson, the new face of the 99% movement. next, the president isn't waiting for congress. he's making jobs programs happen on his own. ♪ [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8. you might think all these cost about the same... protect about the same... but what if you have an accident? allstate accident forgiveness starts the day you sign up. these guys might make you wait a couple of years. we can't wait a couple years. [ babbles ] no you cannot. thanks. don't mention it. [ dennis ] shop less. get more. make one call to an allstate agent. [ female announcer ] call allstate now and you'll also get a free lifetime membership in good hands roadside assistance.

and you'll also get a free lifetime membership fresher less processed foods introducing freshpet vital recipes so fresh the only preservative we use is the fridge freshpet fresh food for fido welcome back to "the ed show." today because republicans went do anything about jobs, president obama issued executive orders to boost private business growth. the orders shorten federal wait times on business projects and create new online resources for companies. it makes sense for the president to do this. americans are demanding some

action, any action on jobs. but the speaker of the house went on far right wing radio and implied the president may be violating the law by trying to help american businesses. >> this idea that you're just going to go around to the congress is just, it's almost laughable. and so we're keeping a very close eye on the administration to make sure that they are following the law and following the constitution. >> speaker boehner, instead of keeping on eye on the president, how about keeping an eye on the millions of people out of work in this country? why don't you go to newton, iowa, and ask them what the hell's going on? they need help and your party is standing in the way at every turn. if the president does something to help the country, it's bad for republicans. here's what their obstruction leads to. the state of michigan is facing thousands of layoffs in public school system. under president obama's plan michigan would have received $945 million to support nearly 12,000 education jobs. but as you know, by now,

republicans killed this portion of the bill last week. with millions out of work, republicans will add to the ranks of the unemployed because it helps them politically. this is why americans are in the streets. joining me now is the mayor of lansing, michigan on a number of different subjects. mayor, good to have you with us tonight. >> good to be here, ed. >> i appreciate your time. i want to talk about, first, the people that are in the street across this country. this seems to be a real issue with mayors now on how to handle it. do you have a philosophy, do you have a working plan if these protests continue to get bigger in your city? >> well, let me say, i welcome democratic participation, both big "d" and little "d" democratic participation. it's what we do. we're the town square. lansing is the capital of michigan. we're across the street from the state capitol. the protests aren't new to us. we're used to helping protest,

keeping order. we've reached out to the protesters and said, we want to work with you. they're occupying a park in the city of lansing. instead of spending no ining mo massive police shields and helmets, we put a couple po porta-potties down there. we're accommodating it. there's nobody in the park anyway. it's getting chilly. they set up tents which we usually don't allow overnight parking but we've given them a special permit. look, this is america. maybe in china, soviet russia, kind of still a soviet there, maybe you use batons and stuff. we're trying to accommodate public protest. it happens, of course, i agree with them, you know how i feel about wall street, but look, this is part of being in the town square. this is the state capital. this is city hall. they have a right to protest. we want them to be heard. >> everything is so connected. i mean, these folks across america are out in the street because they're seeing firefighters and teachers and people being laid off.

this is all part of the problem. it all connects. so is lansing at risk of teacher and first responders being let go? >> oh, no question. no question. i had to lay off 36 police officers and 11 firefighters and close three fire stations. i didn't want to do that. this is happening all across the state. there's no question. we're in dire stateraits. >> what would the jobs bill do for michigan? >> it would be a shot in the arm and certainly help us out. it would be a big help. any help at this time would be appreciated. instead we're getting nothing. we appreciate the president's efforts. people are hurting all over. i think that's why, ed, this movement is taking off and why this movement does have legs. there used to be a compact in this country. my dad came here from italy, the american dream. we knew, look, not everybody is going to get rich but if you worked hard and did the right thing and were responsible and took care of your family, you could have a decent life in this country. it was almost a guarantee if you worked darn hard, worked your butt off you would be rewarded.

wall street has taken that away. that's what people are upset about. main street and wall street are different. wall street doesn't give a damn about main street whether you're a business person or worker, they don't care. they outsourced the jobs. something's got to give. that's what people are saying. >> national polls are showing the president has support for his jobs policy. how do you think the republicans expect to win states like michigan if they oppose stuff he puts on the table? >> i don't kw how you beat something with nothing. the president has something. he saved the auto industry. without him, we wouldn't have that. in michigan we have gm, chrysler and ford going strong. gm and chrysler might not be around if not for the president's action. he's offering more action which we vitally need. our public services, our roads are crumbling, bridges, schools. the president offers help for that. the republicans offer nothing. >> some democrats suggested the

president should forget working with the jokers and ignore them and turn to the campaign completely. what do you think? >> it's a tough call. he has a job to do as president just like i have a job as mayor. i can't walk away from the city council if i disagree with them. he can't afford to simply walk away. he has to continue to work in them, engage them. he's the great communicator, the chief communicator and has to go out and use the bully pulpit. hopefully americans will put pressure on this do nothing congress to get them into action and get them to do something to stimulate the economy in a real way and create real jobs and stop jobs from going overseas. incentivize companies to starting here. >> we tried to do that. republicans are against it. the total congress isn't broken. you bring up a good point. but the democrats try to get the republicans to do that and they were against that, too. virg, good to see you fired up on a friday night. coming up, fox news host mash that mcallen says anyone

who doesn't believe her network is fair and balanced has been brainwashed. i'll show you some examples and let you decide if she's right. that's next. if you haven't seen enough of herman cain and newt gingrich in free debates on tv, you can pay to see one in texas. tickets start at $200. tle emotional hetlretl?tl aren't you getting a little industrial? okay, there's enough energy right here in america. yeah, over 100 years worth. okay, so you mean you just ignore the environment. actually, it's cleaner. and, it provides jobs. and it helps our economy.

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and in psycho talk tonight, martha maccallum defends her

network's fair and balanced slogan. she claimed fox daytime programming is unbiased. >> i think a lot of people are sort of brainwashed into believing that line of thinking. you know, that we're not fair and balanced and everybody else is. during the daytime, you know, we try to shoot as straight as we possibly can. everybody's a human being. there's going to be times when your feelings about something enter into a discussion. >> of course, the reality is fox news bias goes much deeper than feelings. the network's managing editor in washington ordered reporters to slant to the right on various issues. and it's no secret conservative bias goes all the way to the tom of the news corp. food chain. the only people who are brainwashed are the ones who still insist fox news is fair and balanced. despite the evidence suggesting otherwise. >> $447 billion in new money to stimulate the economy, on top of $800 billion in the original stimulus plan that didn't work. we should have little symbols, those pens, just say no to more

spending, right? >> government regulation. what many see as overregulation, too many rules, too little common sense. >> how much trouble is obama-care in now? >> obama-care. >> obama-care. >> it's called the independent payment advisory board. the ipab. it kind of sounds a little sc y scary, doesn't it? >> what specific steps will you take to hold iran accountable, when mitt romney charged last week, quote, if you done want america to be the strongest nation on earth, i am not your president. you have that president today. >> i didn't know that you were the spokesperson for mitt romney. >> all of those clips were from so-called straight news anchors and reporters. so for martha maccallum to say people are brainwashed to think fox news is unbiased is delusional psycho talk. four lucky raffle winners sat down with president obama

last night and they're here to tell us all about it on "the ed show" tonight. iraq injured -- injured iraq war veteran scott olson has become the face of the 99% movement and last night over a thousand turned out in support of him. where does the movement go next? michael eric dyson joins me. ♪

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when you spend $3,000 in the first 3 months. that's $625 toward your next trip when you redeem through ultimate rewards. so, why settle for gold when you can have so much more? chase sapphire preferred. a card of a different color. call the number on your screen or visit our website to apply. welcome back to "the ed show." i'm going to be in newton, iowa, tomorrow. my wife and i are going to have lunch in newton, iowa. tweet me @edshow. tell us where to go. from new york to los angeles, oakland to atlanta, it's happening all over america. people are taking to the street, makie ining their voices heard willing to get arrested for the charge. this is what happened when corporate america takes over the government. people rise up. in new york protesters are preparing for a cold weekend even after the fire department confiscated generators citing safety concerns.

50 protesters were arrested in san diego after police removed tents and canopies. tonight more questions are raised regarding the decision making behind tuesday's raid in oakland, california. oakland mayor gene quan first authorized the use of force on streets then told police to stand down. protesters are now reoccupying the plaza they were forcibly evicted from. quan says she wants to hear from them. the problems are this. they don't want to hear from her. quan attempted to address the group thursday but was booed off the stage. quan says she accepted responsibility for the incident but is dodging questions from the media. >> mayor quan, mayor quan, can we speak with you before you leave? can you roll your window -- can you low r your window? >> mayor quan did visit 24-year-old iraqi veteran scott olson in the hospital where he's

suffering from a fractured skull. olson was hit in the head with a tear gas canister during tuesday night's chaos. he's since regained consciousness and is communicating through written messages. doctors expect him to regain his speech. last night over a thousand people attended a vigil for the injured marine. hospital officials say olson is amazed at the public's reaction. >> he is surprised at the interest when we share with him that the world is watching. >> let's bring in michael eric dyson, msnbc political analyst, and professor of sociology at georgetown university and the author of the book "can you hear me now?" professor, good it have you with us tonight. thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you, ed. >> did scott olson in a sense change this movement? what do you think? >> i think he did. here's a man who has given his life to defending his country, to making sure democracy could be shared here at home and now he returns home, engages in an act of civil protest and civil

disobedience, a gesture of profound identification with the great values of democracy and he's hit in the head with a canister of tear gas. i mean, he becomes the symbol of what it means for americans to gird up their loins, galvanize and rally their protest and say, as you said, ed, when the government is overtaken by corporate interest, when it's undermined by business elites who don't have the best interest of america at heart, it's time for the people to rise up. i think mr. olson represents the best of that democratic value, that democratic vision. >> people are willing to get arrested for this movement. what does that mean? >> well, it means that people are tired, ed. they're tired of being shunted to the periphery. they're tired of being told that we'll take care of it the next time around. they're tired of seeing politicians play footsie with their destiny. talking about budget cuts, cutting entitlements, really going against the very basic values of supporting those who are vulnerable. and in this economic downturn, this profound recession that continues to extend, people around this country are tired of

having politicians not listen to them. they want to be heard. they want to amplify their voices. and even though they've taken away the means of that amplification, technically they have not removed the deep and profound commitment to having their voices heard. that's why they're out there. >> you know, the root of this is the folks that are out there, they want the government to change, they want the country to change. in that sense, i see a parallel between what's happening now and the civil rights movement and also the anti-war protests that took place during the vietnam war. i mean, what am i missing here? am i -- i mean, i think it's the same thing. >> you're on it, ed. i mean, the reality is, think about it, in resurrection city, where reverend jesse jackson occupied for some two months washington, d.c., with the poor people's campaign, when the vietnam war was at its height and people around this country and, indeed, around the globe, identified with the vulnerable and the victimized and suggested that america has to change, this

is an extension of that same willingness to march, to drum up support, to rally, to galvanize, to exercise our franchise and to tell the truth as americans. that's our right and that's what they're doing here. >> media matters compiled a list of names the right wing media has been calling the protesters. anti-american, communism, sex addict, morons, parasites. it's just to name a few. what do you make of that? >> when you don't have an argument, when you don't have a substantive, berate them. those of who us identified with the vulnerable, spoken in their behalf and raised the banner of american loyalty says real patriotism is not denying the legitimate problems with the country but willing to come forward and say let's do something about it. james baldwin said i love america above any other country, i therefore reserve the right to criticize her perpetually.

those of us willing to tell the truth about america are making it better, not right wing zealots and the lunatic fringe which is incapable of telling the truth about america and also identifying those areas that need to be dealt with, that need to be enhanced and need it be embraced as a way of saying, this is the truth of american democracy. those who are willing to pay the price for it are those who are willing to see it extended. >> great friend, michael eric dyson. great to have you with us tonight. i appreciate it. >> thank you, ed. if you want the best seat in the house to a debate between newt gingrich and herman cain, it's going to cost you a thousand bucks. i'll tell you about that next. i wonder if i should buy one. d♪ ♪ girl started blowing up their credit score ♪ ♪ she bought a pizza party for her whole dorm floor ♪ ♪ hundred pounds of makeup at the makeup store ♪ ♪ and a ticket down to spring break in mexico ♪ ♪ but her folks didn't know 'cause her folks didn't go ♪

♪ to free-credit-score-dot-com hard times for daddy and mom. ♪ offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™. the two trains and a bus rider. the "i'll sleep when it's done" academic. for 80 years, we've been inspired by you. and we've been honored to walk with you to help you get where you want to be. ♪ because your moment is now. let nothing stand in your way. learn more at keller.edu. coming up, herman cain and newt gingrich want a debate like lincoln/douglass. and charge up to a thousand bucks a ticket. and last night, dinner with the president was on the house. four campaign donors got a chance to chow down with barack obama. i'll ask them what they asked the president. that's going to be on "the ed

show," all four of them coming up. ♪ ♪ ♪ when your chain of supply ♪ goes from here to shanghai, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ chips from here, boards from there ♪ ♪ track it all through the air, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ clearing customs like that ♪ hurry up no time flat that's logistics. ♪ ♪ all new technology ups brings to me, ♪ ♪ that's logistics. ♪

playbook tonight, two republican candidates who have seen the best gains in the polls recently are herman cain and newt gingrich. gingrich and cain are scheduled to debate each other next month, lincoln/douglass style. people who want to see the conservative darlings go at it have to pay 200 bucks for the bleacher seats, $500 a ticket to get you the better seats and access to a after party. i'm sure that exciting. for a cool $1,000, you get front row seats and a picture with the candidates. all the money goes to the group texas tea party patriots. gingrich and cain are no strangers to using presidential campaigns as stepping stones for getting lots of cash. cain has used campaign funds to buy his autobiography from his own company. very convenient. gingrich's foundation raised millions while he raised his profile through political campaigns. high poll numbers may be nice,

but for candidates like cain and gingrich, the cash coming from the poll numbers is a whole lot nicer, don't you think? last night the president had dinner with four lucky campaign donors. they got to ask him whatever they wanted. now they're here on "the ed show" tonight and i'm going to ask them how it went. the postal service is critical to our economy--

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♪ my baby's gone away with dedicated claims specialists... and around-the-clock service, travelers can help make things better quicker. will your auto and home insurer... be there when you need them most? for an agent or quote, call 800-my-coverage... or visit travelers.com. okay. i think i got this newton, iowa, thing figured out. place is called the smokin' mississippi queen, a food truck on the east end of first avenue. i hear they have got great barbecues and i'll be there at noon tomorrow. and it's owned by a former maytag employee. tonight, in the survey, i asked you is corporate greed running this country? 96% say yes. 4% say no. coming up, if the president invited you to dinner, what would you ask him? our guests had that opportunity last night. there they are. we'll talk to them when we come back on "the ed show."

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and finally tonight, last night four lucky americans had dinner with the president of the united states. a retired school teacher, a small businessowner, u.s. postal worker and retired college professor. the big dinner was at liberty tavern in articleto tarlington, and lasted an hour. the obama campaign had taken entries for dinner with barack. for three months the raffle was open to all supporters. the obama campaign paid for one night in a hotel and the flights

from arizona, colorado, indiana and minnesota. and after dinner, president obama tweeted, this dinner is important because i'm only president, thanks to the work of millions of americans just like the four i just met. all four of these lucky raffle winners join us tonight here on "the ed show." let's bring in minnesota small businessowner, casey helbling, u.s. postal service letter carrier, kenneth knight. retired public schoolteacher, juanita martinez. and retired college professor, wendi smith. great to have all of you with us tonight. i've had lunch with the president once. and it's kind of goofy going in there. you're kind of, you're a little bit nervous, wondering how is this thing going to work out? i imagine that's what all of you felt last night. casey, let me ask you first. what did you want to ask the question in what kind of questions, what kind of conversation did you have with him? >> sure, yeah, we were very nervous. as soon as we sat down, he completely put everybody at ease and was really easy to talk to.

we actually had about an hour and 15 minutes for dinner, and at the end of dinner he offered us dessert. we turned him down surprisingly. i can't believe we did that. we had so much time to talk with him. i asked him about his day, what does a normal day look like? kind of the most surprising thing to me was when he talked about the end of the day at 6:30 when he gets to go upstairs and hang out with michelle and the kids. from 6:30 to 8:30 he gets to have dinner and unwind and do homework and get to have a little family time. that was really striking. >> it was pretty personal then, wasn't it? sounds like it. >> we had a lot of time, so we covered a lot of different issues, but yeah, we did get to get into the personal things, too. >> all right. ken, what was on your mind visiting with the president? >> first of all, i thanked him for his service to our country for the last three years and i asked -- i actually asked him, what negative effects not having a father in his life played, or

had on him as he grew up? and he -- i thought he was real honest. he first said that you don't know what you don't have, and as he grew up he find out that other kids had something that he didn't have. and then he kind of brought it all together and said that, you know, if -- the way he thought of it was that if his father wasn't there, he wouldn't have ever gone to a jazz concert, and he got him his first basketball. but he said his father also had some issues and he felt that that just made him think better about being a better father for his kids. >> juanita, you're a public schoolteacher. i'm anxious to know what kind of conversation you had with the president. juanita, what did you ask him? >> you know, it wasn't so much a question and answer period. it was more like having dinner with a nice next door neighbor you like or a cousin or someone. but i did talk to him about

education. i'm a retired teacher. but i still have lots of friends that are teachers. and a couple of my sons are in education. and just the need. the need for more funding. we just need to educate our youth. >> did you get a -- >> so he was concerned about that. >> yeah. juanita, did you get a sense -- he was pretty frustrated not being able to help out teachers right now? >> i think a little bit, but he's also so upbeat and i think he wants us to be encouraged and he wants us to go back to our states and encourage other people. i don't think he's the kind of person that dwells too much on being, or at least showing his disappointment. he just wants to keep going and making things better. >> wendi -- >> i got to tell you -- >> go ahead. >> i got to tell you that i just want to reiterate what casey said. we were nervous wrecks after they showed us the table where

we were going to sit. he walks in the back door and said, hello, everybody. h he walked over to us like he couldn't wait to meet us. and he shook our hands and called us by our first names and we sat down and just ate dinner and talked. >> wendi -- >> it was amazing. >> what kind of sense did you get from the dinner last night, wendi? >> oh, he was just a gracious really wonderful person. and the person that i worked for in the 2008 campaign that i volunteered for, he was everything. he was all that. >> how much politics was in the conversation in the night? >> we did a little bit. we sort of dissed some people, but he kept it on the up and up. he's such a good guy. we wanted to kind of get down, but he didn't. the thing that i asked him about was higher education and college loans. and he has this sort of approach

and i felt real confident that he's got a handle on it. in fact, there was nothing we asked him last night that he didn't have a handle on. he's quite an amazing fellow. >> juanita, was he the same guy you voted for? >> yes. he sure was. >> wendi, what do you think? same guy you voted for? >> absolutely. absolutely. >> casey, what, politically, did you have anything that you really wanted to ask him that maybe you didn't get to? >> not really. we got to spend some time talking about health care and the economy and his big point was that we have to take care of the housing market and what's going on there first. so that actually hit home. i completely agree with that. i was just like, that was awesome that he -- just have these frank conversations with him and tell you straight out, number one thing we have to take care of is this, number two is this. >> did he talk about the

re-election campaign at all? >> we briefly touched on it. it was sort of in passing and part of another conversation i think. >> ken, your expectations, having dinner with the president. were they met? >> oh, they were more than met. they -- he was -- as everybody said, he was really gracious. he was funny. he asked me about my mom when i first walked in, obviously, the people that he talked to had prepped him on our lives a little bit. that's the first thing he asked about is my mom and the fact that she lives in sedona, arizona, and she's had some health problems, but, you know, like everybody said, he was just a really -- it was really amazing, sit down with a regular guy. >> that's great. ken night, casey helblnig, roy neat ka martinez and wendi smith. thank you for being on "the ed show." finally, before we go, i want to show you a picture on my radio show's