clyburn. talk to you as always, congressman. >> thank you so much for having me. >> my pleasure. congressman clyburn, tell me about your interactions with senator kennedy who was i across the aisle in the senate. did you interact with him and if so, what did you interact with him about? >> we worked closely together on three different kinds of legislation. first of all, health care. he is very, very passionate about health care and as you know, carlos, one of our biggest problems with the delivery of health care today is the disparity issue, the fact that we have these big gaps in health care delivery system and how that impacts latinas and african-americans. so we worked very closely with senator kennedy on that. john lewis usually, the person on the outside of the aisle, along with donna christianson, trying to work that out for the ways and means committee and energy commerce committee. secondly, i worked very closely with him on civil rights and voting rights. you know, we just reauthorize

clyburn, the role that he played, i have always thought that the greatest accomplishment of the congress well, half century at least, was the '64 civil rights bill, ted kennedy had a role in that even as a young member? >> i think it was around two years after he got to the senate. sure, he was very much involved in that and then we had some real royal battles involving the voting rights act that came along the 65, one year later. but remember the big battle with the voting rights act had to do with renewals and every so often we had to go back and renew that act. and the last time we had the renewal, was when we had the real royal battle and ted kennedy was there on the mark and we were able to get that act renewed in a way that all of us can be pleased with. remember a lot of people don't realize that we put into the voting rights act, something called a results test under section 2, which led to my being elected to congress and so many other african-americans in the south, we never would have gotten the congress were it not to the amendment to the voting rights act, that put in the re

commissioner clyburn? >> thank you for your kind words. i join you in welcoming my new friend and colleague, commissioner baker. from the moment i walked into this building, i have been treated with warmth and kindness. i have been the beneficiary of a group effort on part of the staff to make my transition from the south carolina public service commission to the fcc as smoothly as possible. i might not have found my way into the building had he not come out to the curve and waved me back to the correct driveway. i want to take time to think everyone here at the commission for your efforts. thank you for the welcome banner in the front lobby to the gentleman who adjusted the thermostat yesterday. each of these things qualify as first class southern hospitality and are greatly appreciated. i am deeply honored that president obama has entrusted me with the responsibility of serving alongside my distinguished colleagues on this commission. together, we have a mission of critical camp -- critical importance to the american people as we regulat

known to the industry, meredith atwell baker from her service as the administrator of ntia and minion clyburn who we know from her state regulatory positioning. so this is a very eminent fcc, i think, from their comments and their testimony in the case of minion and meredith, really very focused on moving the telecommunications industry forward and on, and on pursuing policies that are really, i think will be impactful and helpful to our companies. >> host: if i could segway to the hill, senator rockefeller and congressman waxman, how do you think they're going to get along with mr. genachowski as things go forward? senator rockefeller has on numerous occasions thought that the fcc needs overall reform although a couple days ago he said maybe that might not be necessary, but he's certainly laser focused on the fcc. >> guest: and i think not only senator rockefeller has been focused on that, but i think a lot of people have focused on that. and i think, you know, reform of the fcc can come in multiple ways. it can come from congress, or it can come from the commission itself. both be michael c

i asked senator clyburn of oklahoma about it. this is what he said.roubled when we stop having confidence in our government, but we earned it. it's not about health care. health care is a sump tom. it's going to run 50% of everything we are spending we are borrowing from the next generation. >> i want to stop you there. i'm talking tone, violence. >> the tone is based on fare of loss of control of their own government. >> fear of loss of control over their own government. is that what's out there? >> no. this is not about hate. there's a set of folk in this country, not everybody, but a group in the country that will not accept a legitimate democratic presidency under any condition. they will not accept a legitimate democratic president. as a result, the pushback on obama is worse than the pushback on clinton. when you show up with guns, it's anger about government taking control of your life. it's hate. >> outside, there are fringe elements. there's no question in this debate. the question of the government in your life and what conservatives believe

congressman chy burn's daughter -- congressman clyburn's daughter, who is the minority whip and the democratic party, number three person in the house. his daughter is on there. i want to know what credit they take for lloyd. he comes from the american center for progress. he was a senior fellow there. that was a soros financed place. we are getting one extremist after the other. by the way, you should be happy. look at what happened. he raised the problem and now van jones is a capitalist. he went down the rabbit hole, right down the rabbit hole. glenn: here is the thing, though, pat. i think the same thing that was happening with van jones, he said change tactics. he knew, change tactics. >> yes, these people -- look, cass sunstein is a delightful person i hear personally. he is so far out there in the academic world, i know people in hollywood who think he is dangerous being in charge of regulations. glenn: here is what i want to ask you -- how do we get democrats, not the people in washington that can't see past the donkey or past the elephant. i mean americans concerned about our country,

. >> did clyburn ever settle that with -- >> not entirely.edy, there is something that clinton said in that conversation that set kennedy off. we have never been able to find out exactly what that was. there was a series of other things that happened. the jesse jackson thing came much later there. were other things happening in the clinton campaign. you remember bob johnson, the b.e.t. founder who talked about -- with hillary clinton on the stage talked about obama in the hood and then denied it had anything to do that he was trying to inject either drugs or race into it. kennedy was just upset by the idea that race was being injected into the campaign. he blamed the clintons for allowing it to happen. the clintons were furious that they were being accused of injecting race. bill clinton is the kind of candidate, and with some justification, his whole political career he would say would be aimed at bringing the races together. the idea -- >> i think that's a value thing and you have to give him credit. let's talk about the other party, the re

. >>> joining me now is congressman jim clyburn of south carolina, the house majority whip.im, good to have you with us on the program tonight. we've heard so much in recent days about the awesome accomplishments of ted kennedy as a legislator, 2,500 bills introduced, 550 have been enacted into law. but i think one that really sticks out the most was just how brave he was back in the '60s in fighting for civil rights legislation in 1964. that has to have a tremendous impact on you as well. what about that? >> absolutely, absolutely. as you know, just maybe two years after he came to the senate, we were in the throes of the 1964 civil rights act. a year later the 1965 voting rights act. three years later the fair housing law. then four years after that we did the 1972 amendments to the civil rights act to bring state and local governments under that act. since that time he has been working very hard, especially with those of us in the congressional black caucus trying to get rid of all of these health disparities that exist in the country. his passion became health care, affo

. >> house majority whip james clyburn said civil rights didn't happen overnight. maybe it's okay to do things in pieces. he said, quote, lbj made it very clear a half a loaf is better than no loaf at all. we should do what can be done immediately and use the time between now and 2013 to figure out how to do the rest. but if they do try to do it this way, if they get half the loaf, is it a hollow vic tower and what do -- victory and what does it mean for 2010? >> it doesn't address the core thing the president said any overhaul has to address, which is bringing down long-term health costs. he feels he has to inject competition in the insurance market, and they have to use some cost controls. so the way to do that would be to do the entire package. the question is whether he can get enough votes in the senate and it boils down to really coalition management as some of your previous guests said. can he keep enough liberals from peeling off from what they will likely see as a watered down compromise. >> adriel, thank you so much. >>> there's no doubt senator ted kenne

south carolina congressman james clyburn tells the huffington post, quote, i have seen this kind of hate before. i have seen snarling dogs going after people who were trying to peacefully assemble. i have seen the eyes of people who were being spat upon. this is all about activity trying to deny the establishment of a civil right." earlier this week, michigan democrat john dingell compared town hall protestors to members of the ku klux klan. several senators are urging colleagues to ban so-called cap and trade legislation this year and concentrate instead on renewable energy. hoe who are these anti-environment republicans? well, actually, four democrats are lined the movement. arkansas senator blanche lincoln tells bloomberg, quote "the problem of doing both of them, cap and trade and renewable energy together is that it becomes too big of a lift. i see the cap and trade being a real problem." also onboard, ben nelson of nebraska, and north dakota senators byron dorgan and kent conrad. monday we told us since sarah palin left office, michelle bachmann is now on a democratic hit list, and

. >> is the foursome with congressman clyburn, i guess, is he the only member of congress who will be playing golf with him this week, or will there be other people visiting him throughout the week? and what's the president's relationship with mr. wolf? >> he's friends with mr. wolf. and right now that's the only member of congress he's scheduled to play golf with. you know, he's on vacation, so everything is a little bit loose. you know, you wake up, you have some breakfast, you workout, and then you decide, what do i feel like doing today? he's doing that just like anybody else. >> is he here specifically to play golf today? >> i'm pretty sure he was already here. >> bill, governor david paterson in new york has given a couple interviews recently in which he said the criticism he's received as governor is racially based because we haven't reached a post-racial society. he suggests that governor deval patrick's problems are similarly based, and he said that president obama would be the next victim of this kind of bias in the media. does the white house agree with that assessment that

then, south carolina rep, james clyburn said, let his inspirational words use them as a guy for our best eye deals and provide decent quality health care as a fundamental right, no the a privilege. all these owe motions and statements right after the death was announced, is this going to get it past? gloria? >> i don't think necessarily. you are not going to have people change their points of view. i think the irony is that if ted kennedy had been in the senate and had been able to be involved on a day-to-day basis and had been advising the president, perhaps more compromises could have been made along the way that would have contributed to passing health care. i don't think this is going to change people's minds overnight. it may change the tone of the debate, hopefully, a little bit. in the end, people are going to vote the way they are going to vote. >> who is the next face of health care, candy? >> there is no face of health care at this particular point. certainly, senator dodd is in there. we have seen that senator baucus has been in there. ken conrad has been in there, none of the

the first meeting we had with a whip, congressman clyburn, he told us -- he promised us that we would never see the rubber hose. [laughter] >> and he stuck it and i have done this for eight months and i have seen no pressure to directly or indirectly for a bill and it's always been come, let us reason together. if you vote you'll know you have 165 people voting with you because the republicans always vote as a bloc. as a democrat, i think it's easy to understand why we take the approach that we do because the first time i went to a caucus meeting when we were choosing a leadership of four and we got sworn in and it was nice to be invited to be allowed to vote. i looked around and i saw america. i saw white people and i saw black people. and i saw men and i saw women and i saw english-speakers and spanish-speakers in our caucus. our diversity is our strength. and when you have a diverse group the way you create solidarity is through shared values. the kind of discussion we have when a vote comes up that seems like a tough vote for me because the way my district is or because i just hav

. >> is congressman clyburn the only member of congress playing golf with him this week, or will there week? and what is his relationship with mr. wolf? >> he is friends with mr. wolf. and right now, he is only scheduled with that one member of congress. right now, you have some breakfast, worked out, and what do i feel like doing today? he is doing that just like anybody else. >> was he specifically to play golf with him? but i am pretty sure he was already here. >> -- >> i am pretty sure he was already here. >> [unintelligible] he said the president obama would be the next victim of this kind of bias in the media. does the white house agree with that assessment, that criticism of african american politicians is often racially based? what's the president's view is that -- and i will be honest, we have not been following that race with the granular t where we might know the ins and outs of david paterson, but we are obviously in close touch with governors from time to time. in terms of the media with the president, he thinks there are a lot of people who agree with him and disagree wit