MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript

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MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript

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SCHULTZ: John Harwood, here on THE ED SHOW.

Joining me now is Congressman Gregory Meeks of New York.

Congressman Meeks, great to see you tonight.

Did the president recruit any Blue Dogs last night and today? What do you think?

REP. GREGORY MEEKS (D), NEW YORK: Well, I think he did. I know that today, that I‘ve been talking to a number of my colleagues who are Blue Dogs, and they were impressed with the speech last night.

They said that‘s what they were waiting to hear, the president to be plain and clear and concise, and show that he‘s going to stand behind the bill. And that‘s exactly what he did last night. So, I think that you see that those of us who are Democrats in the House coming together.

SCHULTZ: I mean, I‘m saying that the key thing was pre-existing condition and you can‘t cancel people‘s insurance if they get sick. Does that go far enough for you? Would you support the president without the traditional, as we‘ve talked about, public option?

MEEKS: Well, you know what? I think that what the president said last night was that he‘s with the public option, but if somebody can come up with something that accomplished that—because you‘ve got to give the insurance companies some competition. And he said there‘s more than one way to give the insurance companies competition. And if you can come up with that, that would continue to drive down the prices, and that‘s...

SCHULTZ: Would you go along with a trigger? I mean, I‘m not a trigger guy. I don‘t believe in a trigger. I think that‘s a shortcut.

Would you go along with a trigger option?

MEEKS: You know, I think that we‘re not going to have a trigger option in the bill that we pass out of the House. However, I do believe that we‘ve got to have a bill passed.

I think the president was correct when he said many presidents have tried to deal with health care, he intends to be the last. So, we‘ve got to make sure, because the president has—and the bill that came out of the House and the Senate is loaded with a lot of good things that the American public needs, and we‘ve got to make sure that those provisions are passed. And I believe the public option is absolutely necessary.

SCHULTZ: Congressman Meeks, great to have you with us tonight. I appreciate your time, Congressman. Thank you so much.

Coming up, Senator Tom Harkin is stepping into the role that Ted Kennedy played, chairman of the Senate HELP Committee. He‘s going to be joining me for a prime-time exclusive interview in just a moment. Where does he stand on all this?

And President Obama accepted Joe Wilson‘s apology for last night‘s outburst, but I wouldn‘t do it.

Former Republican congressman Tom Tancredo is taking Wilson‘s side on

this one? We‘ll go head to head at the bottom of the hour

Plus, the NFL season gets under way tonight. Stephen A. Smith is in the house.

We‘ll size up all of that in the “Playbook” later on, on THE ED SHOW.

Stay with us. You‘re watching MSNBC.

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