MSNBC "Hardball with Chris Matthews" - Transcript

Interview

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REP. DONNA EDWARDS (D), MARYLAND: Well, I"ll tell you, I think we start out by saying that we had actually three really volatile elections in this country starting with 2006. And what we"re doing is we"re sticking with a leadership team--and I would count among them Jim Clyburn as part of that leadership team--that"s going to get us back to the majority. And we...

MATTHEWS: Who are you going to vote for, Steny or are you going to vote for Clyburn?

EDWARDS: You know what? I"m from Maryland. I share a county with Steny Hoyer. I"m, you know, part of the Congressional Black Caucus with...

MATTHEWS: Yes, but how are you going to vote?

EDWARDS: ... and I think that...

MATTHEWS: Who gets to be whip?

EDWARDS: I think leader the leader--that Nancy Pelosi is going to work out a dole with the three of them in the room that makes sure that we have a leadership table that really represents our caucus...

MATTHEWS: OK, if you were to vote right now between...

EDWARDS: ... and is strong enough to keep us going.

MATTHEWS: ... Steny and Jim Clyburn for majority whip, number two, who would you vote for?

EDWARDS: Chris, I"m not voting. I"m not voting on that. The leadership team...

MATTHEWS: What"s the name of this show, Congresswoman?

EDWARDS: The leadership team...

MATTHEWS: What"s the name of the show?

EDWARDS: It"s really HARDBALL.

MATTHEWS: OK, thank you.

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MATTHEWS: Congresswoman Edwards, what"s your view? Is the public right when 59 percent say compromise, or is the 18 percent right that say, Hold the--hold your position, stay liberal, stay progressive?

EDWARDS: You know what? The public is right in the sense that they want us to get something done, not for us but or them.

MATTHEWS: Are they right about compromise?

EDWARDS: I think we--we have to compromise. I actually think if you look at the health care bill, frankly, it was a compromise. It may not have been the one that everyone wanted, I mean, but there are some of us who would have written a different bill, had we had a chance to do it on our own.

MATTHEWS: So you"ll be better off in the country if you had a more liberal position, you think?

EDWARDS: I"m just saying...

MATTHEWS: No, would you in better shape right now if that was more of a progressive bill?

EDWARDS: Well, I think people would...

MATTHEWS: Politically.

EDWARDS: I think people would have understood it a little bit more, and I think that we can do, you know, a lot--but it"s transformational. What I"d like to see us do--and I think that there are points on which Republicans...

MATTHEWS: OK.

EDWARDS: ... and Democrats can agree. We"ve got to get down to that because that"s what the American people expect.

MATTHEWS: OK, I"m going to ask you first this time, then Garamendi, Congressman Garamendi, next. How do you send a message to the voters that you"ve ears and you have brains? Everybody knows Democrats have hearts. That"s the strength of party. You do care about regular people. It"s the Republicans who are tough on law and order and tough on defense. They"re the tough guys. You"re you are the party that cares about people. We know that part.

Do you have a brain? Do you have ears? Can you hear the public? They voted against your party. They knocked out 60-some members of your party. They"re friends of yours. You know them personally. You work with them every day. You get in the elevator with them every day. You take the escalator with them. You know these people. They"re gone! Did you hear the message? And what are you going to do to prove you heard the message?

EDWARDS: I heard the message that American people want jobs and they want us to focus on bringing them jobs. The American people are disappointed, and rightfully so, and frustrated that all across this country, unemployment is still...

MATTHEWS:

(CROSSTALK)

EDWARDS: ... at 9.6 percent.

MATTHEWS: And when"s it going to change?

EDWARDS: You know, and I think that...

MATTHEWS: Hasn"t changed in a long time.
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EDWARDS: We"ve been on a steady--look, we haven"t increased unemployment. I think that"s a good thing..

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EDWARDS: We"ve actually begun to create some jobs...

MATTHEWS: It"s come up since January.

EDWARDS: ... in the private sector, Chris. It has, but we"ve been able to increase some jobs in the private sector, which is really important. But Republicans and Democrats, because people lose their jobs, they"re not Republicans or Democrats.

MATTHEWS: OK.

EDWARDS: They"re just people without jobs.

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MATTHEWS: We got to compete--yes, I know. Thank you, Congressman Garamendi. By the way, if you don"t get this goal done by the spring of 2012, do you think Congress--do you think--I"m going to ask you. Will the president get reelected if you don"t get the jobs number down?

EDWARDS: We got to get the jobs number down.

MATTHEWS: OK. Thank you.

EDWARDS: We got to do it by creating jobs (INAUDIBLE)

MATTHEWS: OK. Thank you, guys. Thank you so much, Congressman. And have a nice...

GARAMENDI: Take care, Chris.

MATTHEWS: I think Thanksgiving"s coming, too. Thank you, Garamendi, Congressman Garamendi. You have such an arresting last name, I call you by your last name. Thank you, John Garamendi, and thank you, Donna Edwards.

Coming up: One thing we learned from last week"s mid-term, President Obama has a problem, as I said, in the big 10 states, right from Pennsylvania westward, all those big industrial states where people wear jobbers to football games, from Scranton to Oshkosh. Can he win them back? He ain"t going to do it without jobs. We"re going to talk about that and the presidential race coming up next year.

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