tv Politics Nation MSNBC September 24, 2013 6:00pm-7:00pm EDT
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we must go and follow what the president said today, because that's what it's all about. >> i think this law brings us back to where we need to be with a moral compass in this country that were our brother's keeper. and the president masterfully talked about responsibility in our society. we'll have a lot more on this tomorrow on "the ed show" right here on msnbc. dr. corey hebert and dr. ronnie whitfield, thank you for your time tonight. that's "the ed show." "politicsnation" starts right now. rev? >> thank you, ed. and thanks to you for tuning in. for the past hour, we've been watching this extraordinary conversation between president obama and former president clinton. we'll have the entire conversation on our facebook page after the show. and we're going to be talking about how this health care law is going to work and help millions of americans. but we begin tonight with
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another extraordinary unfolding story. at this moment senator ted cruz has taken over the senate floor. he's desperately trying to defund obama care. even if it means shutting the government down in seven days. for over three hours, he's been rambling on about his hatred for obama care. here's how it started. >> i intend to speak in opposition to obama care. i intend to speak in support of defunding obama care until i am no longer able to stand. >> he's telling americans the president and even leading republicans, i don't care what you think. in his desperate crusade. he's sounding like a guy losing control. he actually compared the effort to defund obama care to this.
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>> to the civil war. time of enormous pain, anguish, blood shed in the united states. there were a lot of voices then who said the union cannot be saved. can't be done. accept defeat. >> what? did he just compare his political hostage taking to fighting slavery in america? senator, it's been a rough couple of weeks, but wow. and the bizarre comparisons continued. >> you know, with john f. kennedy told this country we're going to send a man to the moon. a lot of people said it can't be done. it's impossible. cannot be done. and yet john f. kennedy had the vision to say americans can do things, whatever we set our mind to. >> putting a man on the moon is the same thing as defunding obama care. that's one small step for cruz,
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one giant leap off a cliff. but he still wasn't finished. he compared his doubters to appeasers of nazi germany. >> you go to the 1940s. nazi germany. look, we saw in britain neville chamberlain who told the people accept the nazis. yes, they'll dominate the continent of europe, but that's not our problem. let's appease them. why? because it can't be done. we can't possibly stand against them. >> ted cruz comparing those who support obama care to appeasers of nazi germany. it's sick. it's a charade. this reality show would be fun to watch if it weren't so dangerous. joining me now is dana milbank and goldie taylor. thank you both for being here. >> hi, reverend. >> thank you. >> i mean, dana, you've reported
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on ted cruz and followed his political rise. what is he doing right now? i mean, what's his end game? >> well, it's not really a matter of an end game. you have to understand this really isn't about obama care. it's not really about the budget. it's not really about anything but ted cruz right now. so he's out there, yes he's saying the things you're talking about. he's also informed us that he likes white castle hamburgers, his dad was good at making green eggs and ham. he went on and on about the family history. talking about the black ostrich cowboy boots he likes to wear but today he's wearing more comfort. his colleagues said please don't do this. you're hurting republicans, you're hurting us. you're not helping the case of obama care. he said you know what? i'm going to do it anyway because it's helping his most important cause and that is ted cruz. >> but dana, there's no point to this. i mean, there's no hope that he will stop this today. there's really no point he's
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after other than himself here. >> the whole point of filibuster is avoid a vote. the vote's already scheduled for tomorrow at noon or 1:00. all he's doing is having c-span train cameras on him. in terms of practical effect, it's not doing anything. it's allowing people to lampoon the republicans. which people like mitch mcconnell is saying stop it. >> and despite all that, goldie, ted cruz, one of his big things today is that he's listening to americans. listen to this. >> congress is not listening to the american people. we need to do a better job of listening to the people. that's together what we have to do. is make d.c. listen. >> but here's the reality, goldie. most americans don't want to shut down over obama care. 59% are against a shutdown and a
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default to stop obama care. just 19% support the idea. >> that's exactly right. but if you dig deeper into the numbers, you'll find that the vast majority of americans do agree that obama care's individual tenants. they agree if you want to keep children on your health care until they're 26 years old. they believe you should not bar people for pre-existing conditions. there are a lot of things inside of obama care people want to have. when you mention the word obama care, it has been demonized so much by the republican party that that does not test well. if you gave it another name, then perhaps people would know something better about this thing. but dana really hit the nail on the head. either ted cruz is either building his own funeral pyre or his paving his road to the gop nomination in 2016. we don't know which one it is just yet. but we know he's not talking to the republican house or senators today. he's not even talking to
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democrats. he is talking to new hampshire and iowa caucus goers. that is his audience today and the next several hours he will take this stage. >> i might add, he's not alone out there. he's on the floor with senator jeff sessions of alabama. but the right wing wall street journal, they even condemned cruz's efforts predicting something you alluded to. they protected he would hurt fellow republicans. quote, the supposedly intrepid general kruss can view the battle from the comfort of hq while the enlisted troops take any casualties. that's a pretty stinging charge from a conservative paper. >> and it is correct. yes, there have been others making cameo appearances out there. sessions is maybe the fifth one. maybe he'll get that number, a few more to support his cause.
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but far more are opposing what he's doing because he's hurting the brand, for example. he had the house go ahead and do the defund obama care option, then said he didn't have the votes for it. now what -- >> then attack them in the house after they did what he had requested they do. >> right. and he's not postponing the vote or changing the way the vote is going to be in the senate. but what he is able to do is drag this out a bit so when the senate sends it back to the house, poor john boehner is not going to have any time to avoid a shutdown. so he's making a shutdown far more likely. >> now, let me go back to you, goldie. i hear that dana said that there was some like sessions that may join him, but let me give you some that have condemned him along with the wall street journal. three former republican leaders slammed cruz and the party extremists. dick armey said they're trying to create chaos.
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dick armey. former house speaker dennis hastert said it's a lot for fractious. none of these people in major leadership positions in his party saying even anything remotely kind about this effort. >> you know, reverend, it's ironic. because it's these very same people. it was the gop establishment that created the pea party. they created what they believed was an astral turf, grassroots organization that grew up and became a movement on its own. people like dick armey created ted cruz. they gave him this platform. kruss has not painted himself into the corner. this is more like the tiger is out of the bag. for them to condemn what
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happened to ted cruz, they ought to take responsibility for that. >> well, talking about sarah palin, she is on cruz's side. have no fear, he's not totally left abandoned. she's one of the few people supporting him. listen to what she had to say today. >> what senator cruz is doing is he's waving this flag and saying, hey, what is the alternative here in fighting for our economic liberty in the united states of america. what his colleagues, many of them are doing, they're waving this flag and they're saying, oh, let's surrender until we win. that's their tactic? this is nonsense. more power to senator ted cruz, mike lee, others who are standing up for what they campaigned upon. >> now, don't miss this moment, dana. she is actually saying they waved the flag. they surrendered. she even brought the prop with her. this is a serious split between
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these far right wing extremists and the established republican party. that could have serious ramifications when we get past the theatrics of cruz. this is serious. >> well, it is. the question is have we finally reached a point where responsible republicans are going to stand up to sarah palin and to ted cruz? i'm not optimistic that we've yet reached that point. i'm confident cruz is not going to get a whole lot of support when this comes to the floor in the coming days. kruss is -- he's isolated on this position, but i think it's very rare that you're going to find a republican leadership to go against him the way they are right now. >> all right. thank you both for your time tonight. >> thank you. coming up, how did ted cruz become what gq magazine says is the most hated politician in the
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country? plus more on the extraordinary moment, president obama and former president bill clinton on stage together selling obama care. and an american crisis president obama is fighting to fix. our failed justice system. tonight, how police are making money on the war on drugs. our special series criminal injustice continues. also, friend or foe, i want to know. e-mail me. reply al is ahead. i didn't think it was anything. i had pain in my abdomen... it just wouldn't go away. i was spotting, but i had already gone through menopause. these symptoms may be nothing... but they could be early warning signs of a gynecologic cancer, such as cervical, ovarian, or uterine cancer. feeling bloated for no reason. that's what i remember.
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and how republicans won't stop attacking it. alexis says the gop is scared. because obama care works and they know it, but don't want to admit it. that's right. dorothy says i know it is good. my prescription cost went down by more than half. wow. good for you. and charlie says millions are already benefitting and millions more will be benefitting very soon. that's true. and coming up, you'll hear president obama and the secretary of explaining stuff talk about those benefits. but first, we want to hear what you think too. please head over to facebook and search "politicsnation" and like us to join the conversation that keeps going long after the show ends. of house republicans have voted against obamacare, just to prove their allegiance to their party's right wing. okay - they've said their piece.
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we're watching ted cruz's takeover of the senate floor. for over three hours he's been ranting about why obama care needs to be defunded. and as he continues ranting in his bubble of insanity, we see what's really happening back on planet reality. here in the real world, republican governors have a job to do. ten gop governors have now caved on the medicaid expansion. right wingers like rick scott, tom corbett, and john kasich. even this governor. remember jan brewer? that finger pointing governor from arizona, she's in.
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why? because they believe in it. they know it helps people. so what is this guy doing? where did he come from? and who will be left standing? joining me now is ej dionne. ej, you've covered politics for a long time. have you ever seen anything like what senator ted cruz is doing? >> we've had a lot of filibusters in the civil rights years, but i don't think we've seen a figure on the right who brought everybody else together against him including a lot of conservatives that are upset with the road he's taken them down. i'm glad you focused on those republican governors. i was out in ohio and wrote about john kasich, whom i disagree with on a lot of things, but he's been gutsy in fighting his own republican legislature to do the medicaid expansion. all of these other republican governors have done it. why? well, because they see "a," this
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is a lot of money for their states. period. "b," they know they have a lot of uninsured people in their states. "c," this is good for their local hospitals. so i think we've been talking about this a little wrong. the typical way of saying it is the party establishment versus the grassroots tea party. in a lot of ways, the tea party are -- the real republican party says we're trying to solve problems. >> that's interesting. i read your column and what you were talking about. strange bedfellows and ohio as an example. which is why i wanted you on to discuss it. because you're saying that the tea party, they're the real beltway guys, and they're the creation of the ideologues. and the rms governing on the ground are the real grassroots republicans. in writing about the gop
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governors you said usually follow party line in being critical of health law in principle. but they have responsibilities that radical ideologues don't have. they understand the difference between obama care as a right wing boogeyman and the affordable care act as a reality. that's a different way to view this, ej. >> thank you. i appreciate that. and i do think that when you have to worry about your citizens on a day-to-day basis. they're going to hold you accountable when you're looking at the deal this medicare buy-in, is actually for states. and in some cases, in kasich's case, he talks with a real compassion about poor people and say we'll be more judged by what we do for them than by what our budgets look like. i mean, what you see a practicality and compassion at that level of the party.
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whereas the rest of the party just sets up obama care as some big government expansion without talking about what it is actually trying to do. and that's why i've been thinking for awhile, republicans want to stop it before it's fully effective because they're most afraid that it will actually work. and then a lot of citizens will say wait a minute, there are some real benefits to us or to our communities from this. >> now, you know, it's interesting. because cruz has developed a big name out of this. and in a new profile in gq magazine, it describes the senator like this. quote, so far cruz has proposed no major legislation and has shown little interest in changing that. he seems content accomplishing nothing because in cruz's view of the federal government, nothing is the accomplishment. stopping bad things, cruz told me, is a significant public service.
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that is very, very interesting. >> it is why tea party folks send people to the u.s. senate in washington. but the tea party is a constituency within the republican party which is the party that got 47% of the vote in the last election. so it's not the whole country. a lot of americans don't fully trust government. a lot of americans think government needs reform, but they also believe the government can do useful things. and it's one of the great ironies that the tea party constituency is actually older than the country as a whole. and there are a couple of programs they really don't want the government to cut. one of them is medicare and the other is social security. and there's one tidbit in that article that i think is going to stick to cruz and he's going to try to get out of it. the notion he would only go to a study group in law school with
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people from harvard, yale, or princeton -- >> smacks the elitistelitists. i'm going to have to leave it there, but thank you for your time tonight and for bringing a different view. >> i appreciate it, reverend. thank you. >> and ted cruz, by the way, is still talking. ahead, presidents obama and clinton team up to tell america the truth about health care. an amazing scene this evening. and the ronald reagan drug war is big business for many police departments. our series criminal injustice is coming with us. stay with us. hungry for the best?
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they are both democrats. they have fabulous daughters. they each married far above themselves. join me in welcoming number 42 and number 44, bill clinton and president barack obama. >> that was hillary clinton earlier this evening introducing a rare sight. two american presidents on stage together far common fight. presidents obama and clinton kicked off a six month national campaign to urge americans to sign up for the health care law. starting next tuesday, people will be able to enroll in health care exchanges. the final crucial phase in a law that's already helping millions of americans. >> there have been over the last three years an array of consumer
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protections and savings for consumers that result directly from the law that we passed. and for those that want to repeal it. when you ask the benefits, they say that one's good and that's pretty good. and we'd keep that. and you go down the list. and there's not too much people object to. >> people object to the law until they find out what it does. and the president said the law actually makes insurance more affordable. >> so now what? what are you doing on october 1st? tell them about what this is about. >> in many states across the country if you're a 27-year-old young woman, don't have health insurance, you get on that exchange, you're going to be able to purchase high quality health insurance for less than the cost of your cell phone bill. >> insurance that's cheaper than
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your cell phone. there's no way this will be unpopular. and president obama says that's exactly why some on the right are against it. >> the opponents of health care reform know they're going to sign up. one of the major opponents asked why is it you'd potentially shut down the government at this point just to block obama care? he basically fessed up. he said, well, once consumers get hooked on having health insurance and subsidies, then they won't want to give it up. it's an odd logic. essentially they're saying people will like this thing too much and then it will be really hard to roll back. >> it is an odd logic, but from this republican party, we shouldn't be surprised. joining me now is jennifer grahn holmes and bill press. thank you both for being here. >> thanks, rev.
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>> reverend al, hi. >> governor, republicans are in a frenzy to stop this law. do you think that's because they're afraid people will like the law as the president just said there? >> i do think that, reverend al. i think once people have something, it's difficult to take it away. they're in such a frenzy as you pointed out, ted cruz is going to stand there until he stands no more. i hope he has good health care. and by the way, he is a guy that keeps talking on the floor about freedom and truly if you are somebody without health care, you are not free. you are not free from worry about disease or illness. i think we progressives should embrace the mantle of freedom and think about talking about this as being freed from the worry of bankruptcy, from the worry of having a child who cannot get health care. this is a good thing for the nation. >> the presidents obama and clinton were talking also about
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gop governors and health care. listen to this. >> more and more states with republican governors, republican legislators are doing it. >> what we've seen is when republican governors take a look at the deal they're getting, you're seeing some republican governors step up and saying, you know, i may not like obama care, but i'm going to go ahead and make sure that my people are benefitting from this plan. >> bill, on that point, a recent poll in georgia said people oppose the health care law, but they like what's actually in it. 71% supported letting adult children stay on their parents' plan. 66% supported covering pre-existing conditions. and 60% supported medicaid expansion. now, even in a red state like georgia, people like the details once they know about them. how does the administration get the facts across even as you
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begin to see republican governors some that i mentioned earlier in the show have come on board now? >> first of all, you've got the best possible team to sell this plan starting today. you know, it was 20 years ago yesterday that president clinton gave the first speech on health care to the united states congress. 20 years later, there is bill clinton with barack obama. bill clinton and hillary clinton planted the seeds, barack obama reaped the harvest. and now you take hillary clinton and bill clinton and barack obama on the road, reverend al, with that team against who? ted cruz? are you kidding me? they're going to sell this thing. plus they're going to be putting millions of dollars from hhs out there to tell people exactly what's available. as you pointed out and the poll points out, once people know what's available, that they can get basic health care coverage for lower premiums, lower than your cell phone bill, and a choice of doctors.
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people are going to sign up. and that's what republicans are worried about. >> you know, governor, in the '60s, opponents of medicare used very similar language as opponents of obama care are today. listen to this. >> behind it will come other federal programs that will invade every area of freedom as we know it in this country. we will awake to find we have socialism. >> we have to let the american people know we have not waved the white flag of surrender on socialized medicine. >> so, i mean, it's the same playbook. and look at how everyone in america embraces medicare today. >> that's exactly right, reverend al. when you think about the 30 million people who are uninsured, they're not worried about socialism. they're worried about getting cancer. they're not worried about waving the white flag or being not free
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because they feel like they are not free. so truly i think once as you've said people find out the details in these states, it will be great. but the problem is you've got a lot of governors whose insurance commissioners are preventing these navigators of explaining it properly to people. this is why it's so important to get 42, 44 and maybe even president 45 out on the road to be able to explain it. >> you know, bill, when you really look at these numbers, i want to bring you back to medicare in 1965 that governor granholm and i were discussing. did you know before medicare passed in 1965, just 46% of americans wanted a plan like it. but in 2012, 78% supported preserving medicare. will we see a similar bounce once these health care laws go
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into effect in your opinion? >> absolutely. you know that. i know that. and the republicans know that, reverend al. that's what we have to understand. look, they tried to beat this in the congress, they failed. they tried to beat it in the supreme court, they failed. they tried to beat it in november 2012, they failed. they know if we don't stop it now, obama care is here forever and it will be like social security and like medicare which were reviled in their time. once people got into the program and benefitted from the program, they're immensely popular today. so will obama care. it's here to stay. >> you know, governor, the president is scheduled to speak thursday. he's supposed to give very personal testimony to health care on thursday. and in the past, we don't know what he's going to exactly say thursday, but we do know that in the past, his mother's health
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care struggles have been something he would bring up. listen to this. >> i often think about what might have happened if a doctor had caught her cancer sooner. or if she'd been able to spend less time focusing on how she was going to pay her bills and more time on getting well. >> she's still with us! >> she is still with us. she's in a better place. >> i mean, you've been a governor. you certainly know political life. when you can bring issues down to your own personal connection to them, because we are talking about things like health care that ends up being very personal to the voters and to those that you are speaking to in your audiences. >> there's millions of stories like that across the country. when the president speaks from his own personal experience, he amplifies their voices as well. as he goes around and the
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cabinet members go around for the next two weeks, i'm certain he will bring forth the stories of real people to help underscore his own personal story. everybody knows somebody who is uninsured. everybody knows people who are uninsured and are going to have the opportunity in an affordable way to have coverage and have that worry lifted from them. it's so important to tell stories. >> bill, isn't it at the end of the day kind of offensive to people when you really say to them that you're willing to shut down the whole government to stop your child from being able to stay on your life insurance past 26 years old? or that we want to shut the government down to stop anyone with a pre-existing condition, which is a huge percentage of the country, from being able to be insured. when people start thinking about it personally, won't that really change where this discussion goes?
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>> i believe it will. and the governor's right. there are millions of stories out there. every single person has a member of their family, if they haven't themselves, been to the emergency room or had some illness that they never expected. and haven't been able to pay their bills or had to give up things in order to pay their bills. those stories multiply across the country, reverend al. that's what i think people do realize. you know what also offends me? here's ted cruz on the floor of the senate. there are more kids uninsured in his state than in any other state. there are more poor people. >> it's amazing. >> 1/3 of latinos in his state are uninsured. he ought to be the champion of obama care. >> 26% of the people he represents do not have health care. and yet he's standing there until he can't stand anymore so that they can't have health care. how outrageous. >> that's true of some many members of the tea party in the house of representatives too. the people in their district need health insurance the most. >> well, i can't stand that he's
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standing there. >> amen. >> thank you both for your time tonight. >> thanks so much. >> thanks. coming up, on national voter registration day, the right wingers are trying to suppress the vote. we'll tell you how many are fighting back. but first, the stunning investigation of our criminal justice system. police profiting from the war on drugs. our special series criminal injustice is next. aw this is tragic man, investors just like you could lose tens of thousands of dollars on their 401(k) to hidden fees. thankfully e-trade has low cost investments and no hidden fees. but, you know, if you're still bent on blowing this fat stack of cash, there's a couple of ways you could do it. ♪ ♪
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america's public enemy number one in the united states is drug abuse. in order to fight and defeat this enemy, it is necessary to wage a new all-out offensive. >> in the decades since president nixon made that statement, america has spent more than $1 trillion on the war against drugs. and we've arrested more than 37 million people for non-violent drug offenses. 37 million. that's a horrific toll. but what does this country have to show for it? high school students report the same rates of drug use as they did 40 years ago. and according to the most recent
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cdc report, drug overdose death rates have never been higher. so why have we poured money into a drug war that has obviously failed? and why to this day do police departments continue to pursue this failed war? one huge factor may be money. during the reagan administration, the government started handing out grants to police departments to fight drug crimes. creating incentives for police to arrest more suspects. in wisconsin, for example, just one drug arrest nets a given city or county about $153 in extra funding. but non-drug crimes like murder, rape, and burglary, they get no extra funding. no extra incentive for the police. but there's another financial motivation behind all this. the reagan administration also
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gave police the authority to keep the vast majority of cash and assets they seize when waging the so-called drug war. >> it turns out that whole departments have a monetary interest in increased drug arrests. >> most people don't realize that the financial incentives built into the system virtually guarantee that the overwhelming majority of drug arrests in the united states will be for non-violent, low-level drug offenses. >> a couple months ago we did a two-day operation. we arrested over 200 people, a majority of them for selling drugs. a lot of the money comes out of seizures from the drug profits. the bigger players are making off of this. so i guess that money's being put to good use. >> so where you get all that money? the money's ours now. that's my money now. >> joining me now is a leading voice calling for reform, former
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seattle police chief norm stamper. he's author of "breaking rank: a top cop's expose of the dark side of american policing." thank you for coming on the show tonight. >> thank you for having me. >> you were a 34-year veteran police officer who we want on to lead seattle's police department. you saw some of the incentives first hand. what is this system doing to our criminal justice system? >> in a word, it is corrupting the system. what we have seen with this drug war are insane numbers of americans being arrested for non-violent very low level drug offenses in the number -- in the tens of millions of numbers. and what do we have to show for it? drugs as you pointed out earlier, are more ready available at lower prices and
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higher levels of potency than when nixon first declared war against them. and make no mistake, he was really declaring war against his fellow americans. he was declaring war particularly against young people, poor people, and people of color. >> the federal prison growth over the last decade, let's look at that, mr. stamper. .4% has come from people who've committed homicides. yet 61% has been drug offenders. 61%. drug offenders, most of them non-violent. yet .4% for homicides. so not only are we putting families and others through a real human toll that follows some of them the rest of their life for only having a bag of marijuana in their pocket, but we're already building up these huge costs in terms of prisons,
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filling them up with people when a very small percentage of them are the people committing homicides and violent crime. >> well, the prison industrial complex, the law enforcement drug enforcement industry. the cartels themselves are very deeply invested in the status quo. they are very much invested in making sure protecting and expanding their drug markets that they will continue to reap the enormous untaxed obscene profits associated with elicit commerce. >> the war on drugs gives more than financial incentives to police. it actually funds whole communities. i want you to listen to this clip from the documentary "the house i live in." >> all sorts of people get a vested interesting with a financial interest in keeping the system going.
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>> there's a whole range of corporations. the taser gun manufacturers, private health care providers, phone companies, whole communities that now depend on prisons as their primary employer. how deeply invested in the drug war and system of mass incarceration. >> so you have all of these different parts of the communities that actually depend on high incarceration rates. that, of course, depends a lot on non-violent drug offenders going to jail. >> you hit the nail on the head. money talks in this country. it always has. i'm sure it always will. what do we need to do to buck the incentives? what do we need to do as the american people to help bring an end to this insanity? >> former seattle police chief norm stamper, thank you for your time this evening. >> thank you for yours.
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issue in last year's election and is still a challenge today. in north carolina, republican governor pat mckroiry says this about the state's new law. >> protecting the integrity of every vote cast is among the most important duties i have as governor. and it's why i signed these common sense, common place protections into law. >> common sense protections? north carolina's new voter law is the harshest in the nation. it includes a strict voter i.d. requirement. it eliminates same-day voter registration, cuts early voting by a week, increases the number of poll observers, and bans preregistration for 16 and 17-year-olds. there's nothing common sense about it unless your goal is to make it harder to vote. this kind of thing is happening all across the country, but it's time to send a message.
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go to national voter registration day.org. it'll give you step by step instructions on how you can register to vote and stop the far right from turning back the clock. ale announcer ] try campbell's homestyle soup brimming with farm grown veggies. huh, just like yours. huh. [ male announcer ] and roasted white meat chicken. just like yours. huh. soup this good could never come from a can. [ male announcer ] people will say, soup this good could never come from a can. i love this show. [ male announcer ] so good they'll think it's homemade. pbell's homestyle soup. m'm! m'm! good.
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[ voice of dennis ] ...safe driving bonus check? every six months without an accident, allstate sends a check. silence. are you in good hands? it's time for reply al. remember, friend or foe, i want to know. janet writes how can the far right say they don't want the government coming between us and our doctors when that's exactly what they recommend that the government does for women and their bodies? good point, janet. you must understand there's an old barry white song that says "practice what you preach." they mean they want to stop government intrusion when it is a right wing ideological position. but when it's where people make a choice for themselves, then
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the government mustn't intrude. does it sound inconsistent? maybe that's because it is. finally tonight, an update on last week's tragic shootings in chicago. prosecutors have charged four suspects with attempted murder and aggravated battery in the shootings that left 13 people hurt including two teenagers and a 3-year-old boy. the child deonte howard was the most seriously injured suffering a gun shot wound to the head. police say the suspects used an ak-47 assault rifle to spray bullets into that crowd. yet another example of the need for stronger gun safety laws. can you believe after all these shootings from chicago to the navy yard in d.c. to newtown, we still can't even get a background check passed. we must have new and strict gun laws and we must take seriously
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