MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript
Interview
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SCHULTZ: President Obama reminding Democrats that health care reform was the cause of the late senator"s life from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy. The president and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi got one vote closer to making a reform a reality today when Congressman Dennis Kucinich announced he would vote for the bill. Quite a move.
For more, let me bring in New Jersey Congressman Rob Andrews. Congressman, your thoughts on how big a move this actually is? Doesn"t this give liberals cover all the way across the board that it"s OK to support this health care bill and move forward, even though they"re not getting everything they want?
REP. ROB ANDREWS (D), NEW JERSEY: Yes, I think it"s great that Dennis supported the bill. Dennis is a good friend, and he speaks for a lot of people who feel disenfranchised and left out of the political process. I respect and agree with the judgement that he made. Yes, it does help us.
SCHULTZ: All right, how close is it, in your opinion? What are you hearing in the halls? What are your friends telling you in Congress? Do you sense that this is going to pass?
ANDREWS: Yes. Ed, you know the way these things work, that there"s a couple dozen people on these votes that play their cards close to their vest unit the end. But I think we have a pretty good idea what people are going to do, and I"m very confident that we"ll pass a bill that reins in these insurance abuses, helps senior citizens pay for their prescription drugs, and put us on a path where hard-working people can get affordable insurance. That"s why the industry is fighting it so hard.
SCHULTZ: You"re talking about keeping it close to the vest, playing your cards tight and everything else. Is Nancy Pelosi, in your opinion, going to have 216 commitments before the vote is taken?
ANDREWS: Yes.
SCHULTZ: So she"ll know the count before the vote"s taken? You"re confident of that?
ANDREWS: Yes, I am. I"m very much involved in that effort. And I"m sure that--look, there"s so much at stake here. I"m not talking about politics; I"m talking about people"s lives and the future of this country, that we"re not going to take a reckless gamble on that--those kinds of stakes. We"ll be ready.
SCHULTZ: Well, all of you are polling at 17 percent, so you might as well go ahead and do it, because nobody likes you anyway. That"s what"s going on out there.
Seriously, what is the downside for Democrats to go ahead and vote for this if the country thinks that all of you aren"t getting the job done anyway? Why not make the moral vote? Is that a pitch you can make to those sitting on the fence?
ANDREWS: Yeah, it really is. Most of the pitch is on the merits, but you make a really good point, that people respect your character if you make a judgment that you truly believe is right. You know, if Democrats can"t believe that reining in insurance abuses, helping seniors and helping uninsured people get coverage isn"t right, then what do we stand for? I think this is the time to make this stand, to fight this fight. We"re ready. And I believe we"ll be successful.
SCHULTZ: This is what it"s gotten like out there in Ohio, where the president was yesterday. These are the kinds of things that are taking place in the heartland, how heated this debate as gotten. Let"s watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At one pint, a man whose sign said he had Parkinson"s sat down in front of health care opponents.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you"re looking for a handout, you"re in the wrong end of town. Nothing for free over here. You have to work for everything you get.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good to know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here you go. I"ll pay for you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don"t want a handout.
(CROSS TALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Communist.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No more handouts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: You know, this is 2010. I don"t know what that compares to in contemporary time. Your thoughts on that, congressman?
ANDREWS: It compares to before Medicare was passed, when people said it was Russian Trotsky-ite health care. And now everybody loves Medicare. It compares to the 1930s, when Social Security was under consideration, and people said it was an extension of Stalin--it wouldn"t be Stalin at that point--but Lenin-esque power to the United States.
Look, when people can"t win the argument on reality, they go to delusion. They do mean and ugly things, like you just saw. The American people are better than that, and I believe that the goodness of the country will rise to the occasion, and so will the members of the House.
SCHULTZ: Congressman Andrews, good to have you with us tonight.
Thanks so much.
ANDREWS: My pleasure.
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