MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript
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REP. ALAN GRAYSON (D), FLORIDA (voice-over): I"m Congressman Alan Grayson and I approved this message.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Daniel Webster"s Washington backers are attacking Alan Grayson on women"s issues.
The facts on Webster record.
Fact: Webster sponsored a bill to create a form of marriage that would trap women in abusive relationships.
Fact: Webster is an advocate for a group that teaches that mothers should not work outside the home.
Fact: Webster would force victims of rape and incest to bear their attacker"s child.
Those are the facts. Don"t let Daniel Webster make the laws we will have to live with.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: So this is down in Florida, where Mr. Webster has voted on some of these and written laws and proposed them on his own. Just go right on up the coast to South Carolina, you"ve got Jim DeMint talking some more "Psycho Talk," which we just covered.
Congressman, some think that this ad is over the top. Your response to this?
GRAYSON: It"s the truth. And you know, the truth hurts.
There"s only one person in central Florida who I can think of who would insist and demand that a raped woman bear the attacker"s child, and his name is Dan Webster. There"s only one person in central Florida who actually introduced a bill that would forbid divorce except in the case of adultery. And if both parties committed adultery, they"d be stuck with each other forever. That person is Dan Webster.
It"s about time we held these people responsible for their wacko beliefs.
SCHULTZ: Does he really believe that women should not be working outside the home?
GRAYSON: Yes. He is an advocate for an organization--well, specifically mothers, that mothers should not be working outside the home, as if you lose your rights as a human being when you give birth.
He belongs to an organization and has advocated for an organization and taught at an organization called the Institute for Basic Life Principles. He spent $4,000 of taxpayer money to promote that organization by sending out 35 flyers to his constituents. And this is an organization that wants to create a second-class citizenship in the United States called being a woman.
SCHULTZ: Now, you took a lot of heat for your "Taliban Dan" ad. Is this a rebuttal to that, but just maybe a softer edge to it? What was your mission here?
GRAYSON: My mission is to make sure that we don"t exalt form over substance. Too many people were thinking too much about the word "Taliban" and not thinking about the fact that there are certain people in this country who want to create a theocracy in America, who want us to be ruled by their own principles, their own ideas about how the rest of us should live.
And that"s one of the real issues in my case in central Florida. My opponent quite bluntly tells people that if you are the victim of incest, you must bear the child. And he has tried to create laws that actually require that.
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SCHULTZ: What kind of--
GRAYSON: That is one of the key issues in the race this year.
SCHULTZ: Now, Mr. Grayson, a Republican held this district for some 25 --
20-plus years before you were elected as a Democrat. What kind of response are you getting to this?
GRAYSON: I think some people understand the importance of this issue. Other people, frankly, are turned off by any discussion of any social issues given the economic pressures that we all face. And I understand that.
SCHULTZ: Do you think the--
GRAYSON: But the fact is--
SCHULTZ: Do you think that this is the new Republican Party? Do you think that there is a real clear edge when it comes to oppressing women and discriminating against gays and lesbians?
GRAYSON: Yes, Ed, without any question. My opponent has said over and over again, he wants to take back America. So many of these Teabaggers have said over and over again they want to take back America, and it"s true. They want to take back America to the 18th century.
SCHULTZ: Gutsy political move, Congressman. You"re telling it like it is.
GRAYSON: Thank you, Ed.
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