MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript

Interview

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Joining me tonight, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida,
chairwoman of the DNC.
Debbie, great to have you with us tonight.

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL), DNC CHAIRWOMAN: Thanks, Ed. Good to
see you again.

SCHULTZ: They just keep coming at you, don`t they? I mean, they just don`t
stop.
Do you have -- do you have a strategy or do you have to develop a strategy
to counterpunch this Republican plan from a national down to a local level?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Well, absolutely we`re going to have a strategy. And our
strategy is going to be inclusive of the grassroots opposition that we use
successfully to oppose voter suppression laws across the country. And we`re
going to use every tool at our disposal to do that.
But, you know, I`m heartened at least by the fact that someone like the
speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, Will Weatherford, who I
know and know to be really very often a reasonable person, I think he had
it exactly right when he said that this type of proposal to essentially rig
the outcome of an election by switching to congressional district-based
Electoral College votes is like saying, well, we won 3/4 of a football
game, but we didn`t win the last one. So from now on, we should only have
three quarters in a football game.
Basically what he said what the Republicans need to do is, you know, be
right on the issues and win over the hearts and minds.

SCHULTZ: Sure.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: But that`s not their M.O.

SCHULTZ: In the state of Michigan, this is a quote from a Michigan
Republican lawmaker who was proposing to change the state`s electoral
rules. He said, "It got no traction last year. There were people convinced
Romney was going to win, and this might take votes from him."
In other words, this is an admission of pure political motivations. They
only want to change it when it`s going to help Republicans. But they would
have done this last year had they had thought that Romney was in trouble.
But people up there thought he was going to win.
I mean, they`re dirty pool players. I mean, how --

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: In 2004 -- in 2004, the Republicans killed the very same
proposal in Colorado because it -- they thought it was going to hurt them,
because back then Colorado was more red. And this was when John Kerry was
on the ballot.
So, look, at the end of the day, messing with the way the Founding Fathers
structured the electoral college system could come back to bite you easily.
So, I mean, today in one particular state, I agree with Reince Priebus, you
know, in this sense that, you know, today we`ve got a lot of blue states
that we`re winning, and some of those states were red states previously,
and they may go back.

SCHULTZ: Yes.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: And demographics in politics shift.

SCHULTZ: Is there any --

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: We need to stick with the Founding Fathers` original
concept because that`s what is fair.

SCHULTZ: Is there any state where you`re worried this is going to catch on
and there`s going to be a shift?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: I think it`s a bit early to tell, but I can assure you
that we are certainly not going to let it go too far down the road without
fighting back.

SCHULTZ: All right. Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, thanks for your
time tonight on this.

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