MSNBC - Transcript

Interview

MSNBC - Transcript

MS. O'DONNELL: House Majority Leader Congressman Steny Hoyer is an Obama supporter and joins us now. Congressman, good to see you. Thank you so much for joining us.

REP. HOYER: Thank you, Norah. Good to be with you.

MS. O'DONNELL: Let's start with some of the big news today. We just found out that home prices fell 5.9 percent from August 2007 to August 2008, just another sign of the declining markets out there and trouble out in the economy. But John McCain today is trying to pin Obama's tax plan against him. Let's take a listen to that.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE): (From videotape.) Senator Obama is more interested in controlling who gets your piece of the pie than he is in growing the pie.

MS. O'DONNELL: Congressman, do you think these new attacks by John McCain are going to hurt Barack Obama, especially with older voters in places like Florida, where John McCain is today, or even areas like Pennsylvania, which John McCain has doubled down on, wants to win that state?

REP. HOYER: No, Norah, I don't. I think Americans are too smart for that. Americans know that our economy has taken a nosedive under the economic program f the Bush administration, which John McCain now says he supports. He originally opposed it and said it was giving money to the richest in our country and not helping working families. He now supports that same policy, so he's flip-flopped on that.

But the American people know demonstrably that's not the case, and that's why they're supporting Barack Obama. That's why states are moving towards his column. That's why he's significantly ahead in this election, because Americans know that the economic program supported by Barack Obama will help them, and they know that the economic program that George Bush has foisted upon them, which John McCain now supports, will not.

MS. O'DONNELL: It was pretty stunning that we found out in our NBC News/Wall Street Journal -- as you well know, the Republican Party normally holds an advantage politically when it comes to taxes; and yet, according to NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, Barack Obama's got a 14-point lead on the issue of taxes. Why do you think that John McCain hasn't been able to seal the deal on that?

REP. HOYER: Because John McCain's policies don't seal the deal. He's proposed a policy which will give the wealthiest in America additional tax cut(s), give the wealthiest corporations in America additional tax cuts, but will give very, very little to anybody that is a working American. And Barack Obama's tax plan will give tax cuts to people making less than $250,000. Indeed, Americans know that they're going to get a better break from Barack Obama, and that's why they're rejecting John McCain's program and rhetoric.

MS. O'DONNELL: We did hear from Barack Obama today. He spoke on CBS's "The Early Show" about -- about leaving the campaign trail to visit his ailing grandmother. I want to play that for you and our viewers. Take a listen.

(Begin videotaped segment.)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE): My grandmother is the last one left. She has really been the rock of the family and the foundation of the family.

HARRY SMITH: You've said in the past that you regretted your own mother's illness, and her death came so quickly; you didn't have time to get back to see her.

SEN. OBAMA: You know, the diagnosis was such where we thought we had a little more time, and we didn't. And so I want to make sure that I don't -- I don't make the same mistake twice.

(End videotaped segment.)

MS. O'DONNELL: It was interesting, Congressman, that Senator Obama said, "I think most people understand that if you're not caring for your family, then you're probably not the kind of person who's going to be caring for other people."

I don't think anybody would begrudge or question Barack Obama's judgement about going to be with his grandma, who is ill. Are you concerned, however, that with 12 days left in this presidential election, that it could hurt?

REP. HOYER: You know, I think Barack Obama has it exactly right. And I think every American can empathize with that, that sometimes in our lives we thought something was more important than being with our family, particularly at a time of crisis and possible death. Barack Obama is doing exactly the right thing. The American public knows he's doing the right thing. They know that those are the kinds of values they want to see in the White House, that priorities are correct.

So, no, I don't think it'll have -- not only do I not think it'll have adverse effect, it's the right thing to do, whether it has a political positive or negative effect. It's the right thing to do, and frankly, I think the American public will agree with this decision.

MS. O'DONNELL. Congressman Steny Hoyer of Maryland, great to see you. Thank you so much for joining us.

REP. HOYER: Thank you, Norah, very much. Appreciate it.

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