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tv   Politics Nation  MSNBC  November 15, 2011 6:00pm-7:00pm EST

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for the entire season of the presidential selection of the two most memorable phrases being 9-9-9 and oops. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "politics nation"ith al sharpton starts right now. hey, republicans, the conversation's changing. can you hear it now? hundreds evicted and arrested at occupy wall street, the heart of the worldwide protests for fairness. tonight a ruling against the protesters, but the fight against corporate greed is already spreading, and republicans just don't get the message. >> i don't think i would describe class warfare as leadership. >> tonight, congresswoman jan cha causeky and melissa harris perry on the real class warfare. >> i stood up to the big banks
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and their army of washington lobbyists. >> here comes elizabeth warren. alan grayson on how a warrior and the fight for fairness has republican scott brown running scared, and a wisconsin showdown. democrats launch their battle to take down union-busting governor scott walker. we'll go there live. plus, another herman cain moment. >> would you favor collective bargaining for federal employees? >> they already have it, don't they? >> oh, brother. "politics nation" starts right now. welcome to "politics nation." i'm al sharpton. tonight's lead. in just 59 days something has changed in this country. before dawn this morning police
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officers in riot gear raided occupy wall street, evicting and arresting hundreds of protesters. a judge ruled late today that the protesters may not bring their tents and gear back into the park. it's a shrewd move by mayor bloomberg, but i disagree with it. protest is allowed but staying in the park is not? but no matter what happens in that park, this movement against corporate greed is not only not over, it's only just beginning. thanks to what occupy wall street has done, there's a new focus on injustice in our economy. like the fact that the top 1% has seen their earnings grow by 275% over the past 30 years, but the middle class, they have only saw 40% growth. and the poor, they have only seen an 18% increase.
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this is not america. i don't care if you're democrat or republican, we should not be a country where the top 1% controls 40% of the wealth. this conversation should not be written off as republicans have done. >> i don't think i would describe class warfare as leadership. >> when you pick one area of the economy and you say we're going to tax those people because most people are not those people, that's class warfare. >> since when do we in america accept this alien and discredited theory of social and class warfare? >> this is not about class warfare. it's about leveling the playing field. something republicans like mitch mcconnell still aren't willing to do. >> let's acknowledge the fact that we live in a two-party system and that if we're going to make progress we need to do it on a bipartisan basis. this is how divided government works, through real cooperation and a search for common ground
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and solutions. >> common ground? common ground? his idea of common ground is taking up ten house bills aimed at deregulating and five aimed at helping oil companies. that's not common ground. and this party's presidential candidates, they see the world the same way. >> corporations are people, my friend. we can raise taxes -- of course they are >> yeah go home and get a job! >> who on this stage would walk away from that deal? would you raise your hand if you feel so strongly about not raising taxes, you'd walk away on the 10-1 deal. >> for those gop candidates, these protests over inequality simply don't matter, and that's why president obama's message has been resonating so much. >> it's time for folks running
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around spending all their time talking about what's wrong with america to spend some time rolling up their sleeves to help us make it right. somebody is fighting for them. somebody is looking out for them. somebody is rooting for them. we are going to make the dream that all americans share real once again, and that starts right now. it starts with you. >> joining me now is congre congresswoman and democrat from illinois and msnbc contributor melissa harris perry, a professor at tulane and columnist for "the nation." congresswoman, i've said i disagree with what has gone on today. i've worked with some of these mayors around the country. i've stood with them. to some of my friends in the progressive community disagreeing with me, i stand against them now when i disagree with them. is there a new movement for
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fairness in this country that republicans just don't get, congresswoman? >> there's no question about it, and i believe that movement is unstoppable, regardless of what mayors may do, and you said it right. the conversation has changed, and the occupy wall street and occupy around the country has made a real difference. now they are talking about -- even on the house floor, 99% versus the 1%, and, of course, the republicans are relentlessly defending that 1%. it's the inequality, stupid, is really the message of the occupy movement, and i think most americans, i know most americans get it. 81% and sometimes more think that we should be taxing millionaires and billionaires. >> congresswoman, let me just put a point right there and let you finish to show that you're right that they have changed the conversation, and that's what protest is all about, changing the climate, changing the conversation. look at this full screen where
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there are signs the gop could cave on taxes, even diehards like tom coburn. now it says -- senator coburn has said this, from tax writeoffs for gambling losses, vacation homes and luxury yachts, to subsidies for their ranches and estates, the government is subsidizing the lifestyles of the rich and the famous, multi-millionaires are even receiving government checks for not working. this is senator tom coburn. now, this is certainly not you or me, but this is clearly because the climate is changing -- >> but, wait. let me add a note of caution here. i congratulate senator coburn who i was on the simpson-bowles commission for saying that, but i fear that the republicans now are trying to lure democrats into putting proposals on the table by saying that, yes, we will put taxes and we will, you know, go after the rich, to put that on the table, but at the end of the day grover norquist
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has already said they have agreed privately that they are not going to raise taxes, so i want democrats to be very careful not to say, okay, well then we'll do something about entitlements which i don't think should be on the table anyway, and then the republicans say, oh, never mind. we didn't really mean it about going after the wealthy in our country. >> so dr. professor perry, we shouldn't trust them. there may be some switch and bait here. >> well, sure. the fact that all of this is occurring in the context of the super committee and they are -- their deadline, their constantly moving deadline should worry us. look, what i really appreciate about how you frame this is that this is about some fundamental american principles, and i think this is where the gop is really getting it wrong when they talk about this class warfare notion. you know, when i teach my intro american politics classes, there are two things that consistently come up. one is that americans don't mind economic inequality when that economic inequality seems to be based on positions of merit, so
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it's not class warfare in the sense that, you know, the occupy movements or anyone else is claiming everyone should have exactly the same income or drive exactly the same car or any of those kinds of scary notions that we hear the gop trying to push back on. it's rather that the current inequality is so extreme and class mobility is -- is such a dream at this point, the idea that someone could work hard from poverty and move into the middle class or from the middle class and into wealth. that has disintegrated so fully that we know that this inequality is in the merit-based. this is about fundamentally entrenched interests protecting themselves, and then the second big thing is that in a democracy the key element of what makes a democracy not an autocracy, not a totalitarian system that winners don't take all. just because you win in a democracy, you still have to share with the so-called losers in the democracy. >> right. >> right? if you think you're always going to be a winner, then you should prefer a totalitarian system.
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democracy is for those who have fewer resources, less voice, less opportunity because in a democracy we are all meant to be sharing not only our resources but our power. that's how this system is meant to work. >> and so that you know, congresswoman, that's why i love having melissa harris-per beon, she's so smart but bringing it right down where common guys like you and me are, where are the jobs? how are we going to get these people to get up off of this no tax pledge and provide us with some economic balance where people can get jobs? >> again, i think that the conversation has gone way past this obsession that we had before, the country had before with deficit reduction. i always thought that was pretty fake anyway because people don't want to see their medicare or their social security cut. we've moved on to jobs now. that's the proper obsession right now with the american people because they get it. if there are jobs, then our
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economy grows, but you've seen it. the republicans have just said no. no, no and more no. they are betting against the economy. they want the economy to fail so that they can defeat barack obama, and that's the sorry state that the republicans are in right now, and so we just need to make it clear that we're going to continue to fight to put america back to work, and if they keep pushing against us, it's at their own peril. >> now let me go back to you, professor perry. let me ask you this, melissa. when you look at this poll where you see income inequality is a problem. 87% democrats say it is. 74% likely voters, 64% republicans say it's a problem. >> yeah. >> the politics of it, i understand the framework, and you're right, that we've got to understand the broad context of democracy versus totalitarianism, but the politics of it that we're dealing with on election day of
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2012 is how can the republicans run against the fact that even just about two-thirds of their own party is saying that there's inequality and is a serious issue to them. >> right, this is the sort of stunning juncture in their heads. you have on the one hand mitt romney saying corporations are people because they are made up of people who have jobs. well, i'm not sure if they have noticed, but in fact all of these government agencies that they are going to cut, you know, we had governor perry saying he was going to cut education, commerce and -- and something else, right? i mean the fact is that there are people who work in each of those, and in fact when we look at what's happened in terms of unemployment in the past couple of years since the republicans have come into control in the house and in so many state legislatures, what's happened is that private sector jobs have been offset by the loss of public sector jobs. >> that's right. >> because they have been cutting these so-called wasteful government spending. wasteful government spending, my friends, that's jobs. those are working people, and so, you know, the congresswoman is right.
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part of this is about entitlements and the creation of our safety net, but other critical part of it here is to recognize that when you start talking about, for example, eliminating the department of education, you are talking about eliminating thousands of jobs. >> oh, absolutely. >> and we have to say is that way. >> and it's reverse robinhood. i want to thank both of you, and that is why, let me say this, congresswoman, and professor perry, that is why protesters have made a big difference. they have changed the conversation. i said when i started this show, when you walk in 30 rockefeller center now, two hours on the nbc side, two hours, he gives you the climate and on the msnbc side i'm with al sharp theon. i'm with those that changed the climate. congresswoman and melissa harris-perry, thanks for coming on the show tonight. >> thank you, reverend sharpton. >> herman cain, latest implosion. should be great news for willard, right? not so fast. they are just not that into him. plus, it's on.
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the fight to recall wisconsin governor walker is under way. we'll go there live. and the alleged penn state molester speaks out as more suspected victims come forward. we'll talk to someone who worked very closely with the coach. you're watching "politics nation" on msnbc. [ male announcer ] at e-trade, investing means taking action with professional-grade research. and some of the most powerful, yet easy to use trading tools on the planet. it's investing with intelligence and cold hard conviction. e-trade. investing unleashed. it's like having portable navigation, a bluetooth connection, a stolen-vehicle locator, roadside assistance, and something that could help save your life -- automatic help in a crash. it's the technology of five devices
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radical republicans are learning fast if you do unpopular things you become unpopular. that's you, scott walker. the effort to kick you out of office is under way. we're live in madison next. just one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day
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as we've been reporting, there's a movement brewing in this country. it is a backlash against the right wing's extremist agenda, an agenda fuelled in wisconsin back in february when governor scott walker waged war on the middle class, signing his law to ban collective bargaining for public workers. wisconsinites vowed to fight back. they vowed to stand up for what's right, and they vowed to recall walker. governor walker, your day has come. just after midnight this morning wisconsinites officially launched their campaign to make good on that vow. a manufacturing worker filed the official petition in madison
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this morning. >> hi. i want to take on a petition to recall governor walker. >> just surreal. it feels like a dream, like i said before, something i've waited all year to do, never knowing that it was actually going to be me that got to do it and that's a real proud moment. >> rallies continued today all over the state to collect more than half a million signatures in 60 days and force an election next year. the goal, kick scott walker back into private life. joining me now, two men who are both key to the recall efforts, state senator john urpenbach, a democrat from madison, and mike tate, chairman of the wisconsin democrat democratic party. thank you both for joining me tonight. >> thanks, reverend. >> mike, you helped organize the recall effort. let's start with you. how confident are you? >> well, i am as confident as
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confident can be. we do have a big task in front of us. i don't want to overstate how much work it is to gather at least 550,000 signatures, more likely 600,000 to 650,000 signatures, but let me just say we've had over 10,000 individuals download the petitions off our website today. we had over 100 events in just the last 24 hours, since midnight, to gather signatures, and we've seen people signing from places like barebu and black river falls and really all corners around this state. >> now, let me ask you, mike. this is an awesome task. i've been organized all my life. still head national acushnetwork so when the rubber meets the road and you've got to deliver numbers, let me show people around the country that you have taken on yourselves in wisconsin. you need 540,000,208 signatures, valid signatures, by january 13th. 9,000 signatures a day. >> yeah. >> but with the outpouring of
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support and being able to assign them, break them down and organize them properly it can be done. >> it absolutely can be done, and the democratic party, working in conjunction with groups like united wisconsin, are going to get that done. we've got 30 field offices around the state, and i know as an organizer, reverend, would you appreciate the very good work that's being done to make sure that we are gathering the data we need, analyzing the signatures, making sure we're handing in valid signatures, and i believe that in 60 days we're going to hand in more than enough signatures to trigger the recall of governor walker and frankly it's very exciting. it's exciting times and it's historic. >> john, one of the reasons that people around the country take this effort seriously and believe the organizing ability is there is what you've already done. you have successfully recalled two state senators earlier this year. state senator randy hopper and state senator dan kapanke have
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already been successfully recalled so you are not just guys out there shooting in the wind. you've shown your ability to go up against people that just won last year. you were able to penetrate them, two in the state senate, and now we're going after the governor next year. >> right, and the simple point, reverend, this is not an artificial movement. this is as grass roots as grass roots can possibly be. thousands of volunteers throughout the state of wisconsin, as mike has pointed out, have hit the road with petitions, and it doesn't matter. up in barebu there was a line to sign this morning at 10:00 a.m., on out here to the capitol and the west side of madison, five or six places where people were holding up signs saying sign the recall petition here. these are all volunteers. there's no doubt in my mind, that yes, this is a tough task, a lot of signatures, but at the same time i do think -- i think we'll be successful. >> now let me -- people around the country that may not remember just a couple of months ago, mike, the reason why it is
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so important that walker be recalled is explain what his bill actually called for in wisconsin, what he immediately did. he was elected, and he immediately declared war on the middle class by pushing through what in the senate, in the state senate there? >> well, are you asking me, reverend? i'm sorry. >> yes. >> i'm talking to you, mike. he proposed act 10 which effectively eliminated collective bargaining rights for all of our public employees, our school teachers and our public service workers, and beyond that he slashed their pension and benefits, but even, you know, that's -- that's why this movement started. i'm sure senator erpenbach can go into more detail than me. that's how this movement started. we've seen over $1 billion cuts to public education. we've seen health care slashed. we just found out this last week we'll be kicking 30,000 children off their state-run health
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insurance at the end of this year. there have been just actual travesties that are going to be happening in our natural environment. there are a host of reasons why scott walker should be recalled from office, and i think the most important point here is, reverend, he didn't campaign on any of these things. >> he didn't get elected saying that, that's correct. that's the important point. >> that's the critical point. >> john, let me ask you real quickly. he's trying to give a different spin on this. the koch brothers group, americans for prosperity, they are running this ads of misinformation. let me show you quickly. >> they told us the sky would fall and wisconsin would end as we know it, but the sky is still there, and wisconsin is stronger than ever. we cut spending by asking government employees to contribute to their own pensions and benefits, like everyone else, and reining in abuses of collective bargaining positions, to put taxpayers back in control. >> this is funded by the
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billionaire koch brothers, john. misinformation? is it misinformation? >> well, yes, it's misinformation, first of all, but more importantly the koch brothers don't live in wisconsin, they do not live here, but what they want to do is want to come in and take over our schools and take over all the public sector jobs that are out there. yeah, it's misinformation. there was never abuses of collective bargaining like the ad said, but, again, what scott walker is going to do is hide he hind hundreds of millions of dollars of money coming in from outside the state of wisconsin to try to influence this. in the end we'll get the signatures and in the end i believe we'll beat governor walker in a recall election. >> well, the reason they invest from the outside, same reason why people support you from the outside, is if it -- if they get away with it in wisconsin, it has national ramifications, so we've got to do what we've got to do. >> absolutely. >> state senator john erpenbach and mike tate, thank you both for your time tonight. ahead, speaking of unpopular governors, in ohio john kasich
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allows dangerous and unhealthy drilling in public parks. we'll tell you why he's for it. and the latest republican video to go viral has everyone talking, but we're actually learning more about willard mitt romney because of it. we'll explain ahead. i've seen this before -- the old "impromptu in-law visit." look at mom whipping up some kraft homestyle mac & cheese. sure it's easy to make, but it looks like she's been busting her hump in the kitchen.
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we know ex-fox news host and ohio governor john kasich for his budget slashing and union busting, but he's also a crony of the oil and gas industry, and it turns out the feeling is mutual. this summer governor kasich signed a law to allow oil and gas drilling in ohio's public parks. companies can now use a process called fracing to extract natural gas under ohio parkland. environmental and consumer groups say fracing is a major health risk that contaminates ground water and air. check out what happens in the documentary "grassland." >> wow. jesus christ. >> and just last week a pro-publica investigation turned up scary information. water wells near fracing sites
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have turned up, quote, how levels of cancer-causing compounds and at least one chemical uses in fracing. in wyoming fracing is linked to cancer-causing chemicals in water supply. in ohio it's allowed. governor kasich has received more than $200,000 from the oil and gas industry in the last decade, more than any other ohio politician. in fact, kasich's gotten more money from big oil and gas than even house speaker john boehner, even if fracing's dangerous for ohio residents, it sure is good for governor kasich. did he think we wouldn't notice history dicklousily misplaced priorities? nice try, governor, but we got you. ♪ when the things that you need ♪ ♪ come at just the right speed, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ medicine that can't wait legal briefs there by eight, ♪
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sweeping america put the idea of fairness on the front page, but before the crowds began their nationwide protests against the 1% who control all the wealth in this country, there was just one woman leading that fight, elizabeth warren, the harvard law school professor had the guts to stand up to wall street's corporate greed and fight for the middle class. >> let's face it. something's badly broken in america right now. washington really is wired for the big corporations, for those with power. >> there needs to be at least one person in the room who asks the question how will this affect americans families? my life's work has been fighting for middle class families. it has been about standing up to powerful interests. >> she's taking that message to rally the base in her massachusetts senate race
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drawing massive crowds. the gop is scared so they are trying to smear her. >> elizabeth warren sides with extreme left protests. at occupy wall street protesters attack police, do drugs and trash public parks. they support radical redistribution of wealth and violence. >> but elizabeth warren isn't backing down. she's ready for a fight. democrats, are you taking notes, because this is how you win an election. joining me now someone who knows how to fight for the middle class, former congressman from florida, alan grayson, and jonathan capehart, columnist for the "washington post" and an msnbc contributor. congressman, let me start with you. are republicans feeling the heat from warren and the middle class movement? >> yes, and so are their backers and the people who control them, wall street, because elizabeth warren is the kind of person that wall street just doesn't know how to deal with. she doesn't have a price tag on her.
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she can't be bought. she spent her whole life doing good things for the middle class, and they can't buy her off so they just don't know what to do. >> when you see distorted ads like that and then you see the support that we're seeing with the crowds coming out to rallies, jonathan, it's no wonder that scott brown has become kind of in many ways overly aggressive with his ads or his supporters with their ads, and he's even said now he's going to vote interestingly enough for the nominee for consumer affairs in the senate, something that he was not going to do or no one thought he was going to do. is this him trying to have it both ways, trying to condemn her and move to the center at the same time because he senses the climate changing? >> the short answer is yes.
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senator brown has done this thing several times since getting to washington of -- of bucking the republican leadership on key issues, senator brown that is, is very mindful that he's holding a seat that was held by a democrat for decades, the late senator ted kennedy that he won in a special election and to win that seat outright for a full six-year term he's going to fight really hard to win that seat himself, so his tacking to the center, if you will, is something that he's been doing for a while. now going aggressively against elizabeth warren, i mean, he has to do that if he wants to keep that seat because elizabeth warren, unlike the person he ran against last time, the massachusetts attorney general, elizabeth warren is showing that she's -- she doesn't view this race as a cakewalk. she is fighting tooth-and-nail to take that seat from scott brown. >> now, congressman, when you look at the campaign funds,
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mr. senator brown has gotten money from wall street, goldman sachs, $60,500, barclays, $39,499, paulson & company, morgan stanley and others, and then when you look on the other side where elizabeth warren has received -- her campaign has raised $3.15 million, but most of them donations of $100 or less, many of them which is 96% of those that contributed and many of them from around the country, does this put the senator in the position he's in where he can't really fight those that are financing his campaign? >> well, i think that he, like most of the republicans, and frankly some of the democrats, has been completely compromised by the fact that they take money from special interests and then sell off the law in pieces and give these special interests bailouts and government contracts and tax breaks, and you compare that to elizabeth's
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contribution base and frankly my contribution base as well. we had 100,000 people come to our website, congressmanwithguts.com and make contributions that averaged $38. now you see the same phenomenon with elizabeth warren's campaign, and the good thing about that it's all clean money. she owes nothing to anybody but the voters and all the people contributing to her campaign and to my campaign understand that what they are getting for that is simply good government, not tax breaks, not bailouts, not special favors, not regulatory relief, but just good government, and it represents a whole new paradigm in american politics that can dramatically change american politics. i'm very happy to see her doing it. >> now jonathan. >> yeah. >> is this the way that democrats need to run an election, by fighting, by standing their ground, by not equivocating, but not looking to go to the center but by standing where they are for the american people? >> well, as the saying goes, all politics is local, and when it
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comes to the massachusetts senate seat, what's happening there and the two people involved, you know, the fighting is -- you know, the right way to go. on the presidential level, as we're seeing, as president obama has, you know, taken a more aggressive stance, both to congress and to the republican leadership in congress, the american people are responding because they have -- the president is doing what he -- what they have been asking him to do all along which is to fight. again, on the ground in particular races, taking that fight directly to republicans and to republican candidates, there well might work, and given the mood of the country, whether the person is someone who is in favor of occupy wall street or the person is in favor of, you know, what the tea party has been trying to do over the last three years, clearly the american people are angry. they want solutions, and they want to spend people to washington who they believe will fight for their interests once they get here and not put their
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own personal interests ahead of theirs. >> congressman grayson, usually when you see success, you see there is reaction from the other side. i said before and showed before how it seems that mr. brown's supporters have overreacted. let me show you one heckler that went after miss warren and how she handled it. >> i think i saw you on television taking credit for the occupy wall street movement. >> i'm very sorry to hear that you got out of work. i'm also very sorry that the recent jobs bill that would have brought 22,000 jobs to massachusetts did not pass in the senate. i'm so sorry. i've been protesting what's been going on on wall street for a very long time. >> well, if you're the intellectual creator of that so-called party, you're a socialist whore.
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>> this kind of language, this kind of outrage only shows in many ways that maybe somebody is being successful up there, congressman, wouldn't you think? >> well, sure. in fact, her whole campaign is a reaction to stupidity and selfishness on the part of the right wing because she wouldn't be running for senate right now if they had given her the job so richly she deserved which is head of the agency she went and the created. she had the concept for a consumer financial protection bureau and this it incorporated in the dodd/frank legislation that my committee passed last year. they wouldn't let her have that job because she would be too good for it and that's why she's running for the senate, because the republicans blocked her and her candidacy is going to cost them a senate seat. >> i can tell you this, that young man after using that insult walked out of a door that was closed, as a former
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protester, check your exit and i also know it's jonathan capehart mother's birthday and i'm glad he shaved for the occasion. thank you both for your time. >> thanks, rev. >> there's more to herman cain's awkward interview. you won't believe what he said about collective bargaining. plus, the alleged penn state molester speaks out and more suspected victims come forward. we'll talk to someone who worked very closely with the coach next. uh, i'm in a timeout because apparently
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you want to save money on car insurance? no problem. you want to save money on rv insurance? no problem. you want to save money on motorcycle insurance? no problem. you want to find a place to park all these things? fuggedaboud it. this is new york. hey little guy, wake up! aw, come off it mate! geico. saving people money on more than just car insurance. with thermacare heatwraps. thermacare works differently. it's the only wrap with patented heat cells
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>> would you favor collective bargaining for federal employees? >> they already have it, don't it? >> no, they don't. >> so with cain's complete lack of knowledge on the issue and the sexual harassment scandal hovering, it should be good news for willard, right? after all, bachmann's had her time in the spotlight and so did perry, so willard should be running away with it, right? wrong. newt gingrich is surging. a new poll out today has newt with a ten-point lead over romney, so the guy whose spent his life campaigning is losing to a guy who was written off months ago. we remember the headlines. gingrich staff resigns. gingrich campaign implodes. newt gingrich on a lovely cruise. he's out cruising over campaigning. gingrich owed six figures to tiffany's.
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we all made a mockery of that one. they are looking to anyone but willard, but who will that be? paging ron paul. paging rick santorum. your party needs you. and i'm rooting for you guys. i really am. [ man ] i got this citi thank you card and started earning loads of points. you got a weather balloon with points? yes, i did. [ man ] points i could use for just about anything. ♪ keep on going in this direction. take this bridge over here. there it is.
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welcome back to "politics nation." the man at the center of the penn state scandal is speaking out. former penn state assistant coach jerry sandusky, charged with 40 counts of sexual abuse, on minors, spoke with nbc's bob costas last night. >> a grand jury report contains specific detail. there are multiple accusers, multiple eyewitnesses to various aspects of the abuse. a reasonable person says where there's this much smoke there must be plenty of fire. what do you say? >> i say that i am innocent of those charges.
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>> innocent, completely innocent and falsely accused in every aspect? >> well, i could say that, you know, i have done some of those things. i have horsed around with kids. i have showered after workouts. i have hugged them and i have -- i have touched their leg, without intent of sexual contact, but -- so if you look at it that way, there are things that wouldn't, you know, would be accurate. >> what did happen in the shower the night that mike mcqueary happened upon you and the young boy? >> okay. we were showering, and horsing around, and he actually turned all the showers on and was actually sliding across the -- the floor, and we were -- as i
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recall possibly, like snapping a towel, horse play. >> what are you willing to concede that you've done that was wrong and you wish you had not done it? >> well, in retrospect, i, you know, i shouldn't have showered with those kids, you know. >> that's it? >> well, that -- yeah, that's what hits me the most. >> are you sexually attracted to underage boys? >> am i sexually attracted to underage boys? >> yes. >> sexually attracted. you know, i enjoy young people. i love to be around them, i -- but, no, i'm not sexually attracted to young boys. >> today we're learning close to ten additional suspected victims have come forward to authorit s
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authorities. this story is all anyone can talk about, but the ugly truth is it happens every day all across the country. let this be a teachable moment to help victims, especially underaged victims of sexual abuse. if you're a victim, you can come forward. no victim should ever suffer in silence. questions come out of the interview we saw with sandusky. the night of mcqueary i question. why were you in the shower with a 10-year-old in the first place out there at penn state? the kids don't play ball there. why were you all working out there? why only one kid? there's a lot of questions. maybe the courts will give us the answers. joining me now is patty caball. for ten years she's volunteered with sandusky's children's charity, the second mile. she left the organization the day the story broke. patty, thank you very much for joining me. tell me about sandusky. what was he like, and how did
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the children react to him? >> he was a very, very nice personable man. all of the kids would look up to him. they would be so excited that they would be standing beside jerry sandusky and have an opportunity to meet football players, nfl players and someone was actually taking an interest in these children so they -- >> so in many ways, what attracted them is that he could introduce them to some of their heroes. he could bring them into a life that they don't ordinarily have and there are holes in their life, and their environment. >> absolutely, absolutely. they were getting an opportunity of a lifetime. >> and it was because of that they looked up to him and in many ways went along with other
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things and the parents felt they were giving their child, and the reason i'm going through this is i grew up like that. my mother gave me mentors. sometimes people that come from different backgrounds are glad to have someone that will do for your children what you can't do. >> right, right. >> now you didn't know of any of his improve behavior, but you could attest to the admiration that the children had for him and the kind of affinity that he tried to develop with some of them? >> absolutely. it was -- it was crystal clear, you know. these -- these young people, you know, they were -- they were very, very happy and excited to be in that position of being with, you know, jerry sandusky. >> well, i can say that it is certainly something understandable for the children but more egregious if in fact he
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is guilty as charged by all of these people. let me show you one more thing that he said as we prepare to leave. >> there were hundreds, if not thousands, of young boys you came into contact, but there are allegations that at least eight of them were victimized. >> i would guess that there are many young people who would come forward, many more young people who would come forward and say that my methods and what i had done for them made a very positive impact on their life. and i didn't go around seeking out every young person for sexual needs that i've helped. there were many that i didn't -- that i hardly had any contact with who i have helped in many, many ways. >> patty coble, you and many that were involved there saw children that needed help. it wou

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