MSNBC "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" - Transcript

Interview

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OLBERMANN: You tell them, Asman. Meanwhile, Fox prime time viewers will be treated to some involuntary enlightenment this evening. Fox News finally agreed to run a Media Matters ad detailing the million dollar donation parent company News Corp gave to the Republican Governors Association. The donation received one mention on the self-declared news network. The ad had to be tweaked multiple times before Fox deemed it suitable, and is scheduled to air on the program opposite this news hour, most like sandwiched between the ad for Goldline and the other ad for Goldline.

Joining me now, as promised, the vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, representing the Florida 20th, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Congresswoman, thanks again for your time tonight.

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D), FLORIDA: Thank you, Keith.

OLBERMANN: The last point first. If I am a Fox viewer, my reaction to the Media Matters ad would be so, what is wrong with giving money to oppose Democratic candidates? Does the ad change anything?

SCHULTZ: I guess what it changes--I don"t know if the ad changes anything. But what seems to have changed is at least Fox now seems to be being transparent about being an arm of the Republican party. I mean, as someone who is an occasional guest on that network, I have often struggled to find the neutrality in the interviewers" questions. And at least now they"re letting it all hang out there.

OLBERMANN: They"re fair and balanced. They have conservatives and Republicans.

SCHULTZ: And Tea Party.

OLBERMANN: One of your House colleagues, Mr. Ryan, essentially was signing policy pledges put forward by a supposed news organization. Is this new or have Republicans actively been taking policy from Fox and Congressman Ryan just happened to do it in front of TV cameras?

SCHULTZ: All kidding aside, it"s actually really disturbing. Any news network, even one with a particular slant, should at least represent themselves as being neutral. And any politician, any candidate, anyone being interviewed on a network should feel like they have a fair shake, Republicans and Democrats.

And on Fox, when that host made it clear that they have an agenda, that they"re trying to get members of Congress to sign on to publicly on the air--they"re making contributions to Republican organizations, it"s just unbelievably outrageous that they continue to represent themselves as a neutral television network, news organization. And--but at the same time, they"re transparently advocating for support and success of Republican candidates for office.

OLBERMANN: Let me revert to the lead story tonight. You may have heard of Congressman Van Hollen before talking about whether or not to force the Republicans to vote against the middle class tax cuts, while trying to preserve their tax cuts for the rich. His answer to us was he expects there"s will be a vote in Congress. He is not sure if it will go to the House first or the Senate would take the lead on this.

I guess the question is--it"s a two-partner, which is A, why on Earth would Democrats not want to see that vote happen? And B, are you going to call the middle class tax cuts Obama tax cuts to differentiate them?

SCHULTZ: Well, we do want to see them happen. And we want to see them happen sooner rather than later. We want to make sure that of any of the Bush tax cuts that are made permanent, the ones that focus on the middle class and working families are the ones we want to make sure are reenacted. The ones that focus on the wealthiest two percent of Americans, that would add 700 billion dollars to the deficit, should be allowed to expire because they don"t do anything to turn the economy around.

Most wealthy Americans simply invest in the stock market, sit on their money. And working families put that money back out into the economy.

OLBERMANN: DNC Vice Chair Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, as always, thanks for your time.

SCHULTZ: Thank you, Keith.

OLBERMANN: Disorder in Delaware, as her ex-campaign manager campaigns against her, and accuses her of not paying her staff and living off her campaign contributions.

When Rachel joins you at the top of the hour, an exclusive flashback; before Ms. O"Donnell entered the domain of politics, she talked about being master of your domain. Unrelated among Rachel"s special guests tonight is me.

And in worsts, you"ve all heard the story. Now hear who is at fault?

The answer is everybody.

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