MSNBC "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" - Transcript
Interview
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OLBERMANN: As promised, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and congresswoman from the California eight congressional district, Nancy Pelosi.
It"s good to see you. Thanks for coming in.
PELOSI: My pleasure. Thank you.
OLBERMANN: I want to talk about the elections, obviously, but let me start with what we mentioned earlier tonight, this "New York Times" report on the Chamber of Commerce. The first, or half of the Chamber of Commerce donations in 2008 came from 45 donors, half of the total of the $149 million from 45 donors. It"s the nation"s largest lobbying group. It"s essentially representing a constituency in double digits and it is all over the election without identifying who gave it its money.
Did you know that the Chamber was so concentrated towards the super rich?
PELOSI: Well, it"s interesting because they have about 300,000 members and half of the money coming from 45 corporations. It"s a bigger issue. It"s about our democracy and they give new meaning to the term "buy American." They want to buy these elections.
So, elections are always about the future. You know that, Keith.
About what is our vision for taking America forward as the president says. We"re going forward. We"re not going backward. We"re fighting for the middle class.
This election is also about our democracy. If they win, which I fully intent to stop them from doing, but if they were to win, that would mean that we are a plutocracy, an oligarchy. Whatever these few wealthy, secret, unlimited sources of money are can control our entire agenda.
OLBERMANN: And because of this "Times" report, we get sort of the vague outlines of who we"re dealing with. Prudential Financial, $2 million when the chamber was launching its offense--the offense again--or offensive against regulating Wall Street. Dow Chemical was $1.7 million as the Chamber was working against tighter regulation of chemical facilities. Similar stories for Goldman Sachs, for Chevron Texaco, for Edward Jones Brokerage.
How do we fix our laws after that Supreme Court decision so that we"re no longer prey to companies that are blocking our attempts to improve this country?
PELOSI: Well, first, let me just say, as you read those names, it"s clear that there are those on Wall Street who want to block Wall Street reform--some of the greatest reforms in decades and for consumer protections, the biggest in our nation"s history.
There are those who want to stop our creating good, clean energy jobs. You see energy and chemical companies who want to stop that.
OLBERMANN: Right.
PELOSI: So, they have an agenda that is counter to the reforms that we have put forth. What we have to do is say to them, stand by your ad. You"re so proud of yourself, identify yourself.
OLBERMANN: Yes.
PELOSI: And that"s what the DISCLOSE Act in Congress would have done. We have passed it in the House. There are 59 votes in the Senate. We couldn"t get one Republican to say, disclosure is the right thing to do.
The court made a terrible decision. It was contrary to the fundamentals of our democracy. But at least people should be able to know where this money is coming from.
OLBERMANN: Obviously, the first step towards that is getting this message out. You"ve spoken extensively about it. The president has spoken extensively about it. We"ve reported about it, whenever there was something new and worthwhile to report.
Has the message gotten through is the message I"ve gotten through in time for the midterms?
PELOSI: Well, first let me say, the president mentioned this in the State of the Union address. So, this goes back a long way. That was very, I think, important for him to do. And he, again, has kept that beat going.
Because it is essential and fundamental to our democracy that we not have it be wholly owned subsidiary of these corporations.
OLBERMANN: Right.
PELOSI: And as part of the Chamber of Commerce. But as far as the message coming through, our members who are getting hit seven to one, just brutal in terms of these negative ads that are going out there. And I might add: some of them--one of the secret organizations is asking the Hispanic community not to vote.
OLBERMANN: Right.
PELOSI: To depress the vote. And the impact of some of these ads, they"re so on negative, is to depress the vote.
So, again, this is a--this is a real challenge to our democracy. And members are getting the word forward. But it"s important to make the link. It"s not just that Wall Street is contributing to whatever political beliefs they have. They are stopping Wall Street--they want to stop Wall Street reform.
The Republicans have been very clear. If they take office, they will not allow funding to go forth to implement new reforms. Same thing with energy companies, same thing with health insurance companies. The list goes on and on.
And so, you have to make the link. Not only are they weighing in. What did I see today that perhaps $7 million was contributed by the swift boaters?
OLBERMANN: To the two Rove"s PAC, yes.
PELOSI: To Rove"s PAC.
OLBERMANN: Yes.
PELOSI: Again, we have a distortion of our democratic system. So, this is not just about the election but our future. It"s an election about our future and our democracy.
OLBERMANN: All right. And in this election, will there be a political upset on November 2nd? And how would you define upset?
PELOSI: Well, let me say that--I have always though, remain calm. I"d rather be in our position than the Republicans" position. Our members are battle-ready. They believe in what they voted for. They"re proud of it. They"re fighting for it.
They"ve all come--the ones who are under challenge have come from very difficult districts. So, they know how to win those districts.
OLBERMANN: The former president spoke in Chicago today. He said his greatest failure as president was not passing as he called it, Social Security reform. The softball is headed your way. And you can pick which favorite member of the San Francisco Giants you"d like to pretend to be as you swing on it. Please give me your response to that.
PELOSI: Well, I thank the president for validating the point that we made during the campaign, because when we were saying that the president initiated the idea that he wanted to privatize Social Security, people said we were exaggerating, we were fearmongers and the rest and it wasn"t really so. But we stayed our course.
He gave us a gift then and he"s the gift that keeps on giving. He"s giving us a gift now because he"s proving the point. That"s what he intended to do.
I remember during the course of that campaign, I was speaking with him at one of our breakfasts--leadership breakfasts. I said, Mr. President, I understand you"re going to 60 cities in, I don"t know how many days to talk about your welfare reform. I want you to go to 120 days, because when you go there, we will be inoculating before you get there, educating after you leave and making the distinction that Social Security as a pillar of our security for our seniors and American people. And we will make that differentiation.
Now, he"s--and, you know, after it was over and we"ve won, I said, "Mr. President, the results are in." And he said, "Actually, I achieved my goal. I really wanted to call attention to the situation."
OLBERMANN: OK. Well, he also has provided something else during this campaign, that perhaps--there"s been a lot of criticism that the Democrats did not take--and, obviously, the House doesn"t operate in a vacuum. But the Democrats did not take enough advantage over this--what the polling suggests it was a winning position: Bush tax cuts for the rich and if you want to call them Democratic tax cuts for everybody else. And yet, the House adjourned without having a vote on this.
Why did you--why did you--to the degree you let that happen, why did you let that happen?
PELOSI: Well, we could have taken the vote and we would have known. But knowing the distortion that the Republicans would have applied to that, I said, they"re going to be political. We"re not giving it. We know what our position is.
And, by the way, it"s a tax cut for everyone. It"s just not an additional tax cut--
OLBERMANN: Right.
PELOSI: -- for the people at the top 2 percent in our country. Everybody gets the tax cut. Just--they don"t get more at the top 2 percent.
So, knowing how they would distort it, the president"s clear in his campaign. The president is clear in his message about that.
It would cost $700 billion to give an extra tax cut to the people at the top 2 percent -- $700 billion added to the deficit with no performance. You know, in other words, when that happened before, it did not produce jobs.
OLBERMANN: Obviously.
PELOSI: And speaking of jobs, I want to say--because I think everybody should know that in the first eight months of 2010, did you know, that more private sector jobs were created under the Obama administration, Democratic Congress, and the ingenuity and the entrepreneurial spirit of the American people--more private sector jobs were created in the first eight months of 2010 than in the eight years of the Bush administration.
OLBERMANN: Let me close with this last question: Do you expect to be speaker of the House in January 2011?
PELOSI: The Democrats intend to win. What"s important is that we have a Democratic majority to protect what we have done, something very big, health care for all Americans as a right, not a privilege; Wall Street reform, to give more leverage to working families in our country, affordability for college education.
They want to reverse this and our Democratic victory will prevent that.
It"s about the future, moving America forward, not going back to the failed policies of the past, which they said they would do, the same exact agenda. And now, it"s about saving our democracy from those who want to buy it.
OLBERMANN: Indeed. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi--always greatest thanks to your for doing that and safe travels in the next 12 days.
PELOSI: Thank you very much.
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