MSNBC "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" Interview - Transcript
Interview
MSNBC "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" Interview - Transcript
MSNBC "COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN" INTERVIEW WITH HOUSE MAJORITY WHIP JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC) INTERVIEWER: KEITH OLBERMANN
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MR. OLBERMANN: Congressman James Clyburn of South Carolina, the Democratic whip, having inserted the clause into the stim now making it possible for all legislatures across the country to bypass the governors who try to reject or redirect stimulus money, not just in South Carolina.
Congressman Clyburn has been good enough to join us this evening.
Good evening to you, sir.
REP. CLYBURN: Good evening. Thank you so much for having me, Keith.
MR. OLBERMANN: What led you to anticipate these stimulus battles being waged, not just in South Carolina but also in Louisiana and Texas and Mississippi and who knows where else it might yet happen?
REP. CLYBURN: Well, first of all, I've had a long history with Governor Sanford. He's been governor now for six years in South Carolina. But he also served six years in the Congress. So I know a little bit about his philosophy of governance.
And I was a bit leery of the meeting that President, at that time President-elect, Obama had down in Philadelphia when all of the governors came in -- well, 46 governors were there, and the other four states were represented. And when I talked with the president-elect at the time, he told me that all the governors seemed to be okay with what he was doing except two, and one of them was Governor Sanford, and Governor Perry of Texas.
And so I started discussing it with my legislative leaders here. You just mentioned Senator Hugh Leatherman; Senator Bobby -- I mean, Congressman -- I say Speaker of the House Bobby Harrell. I spoke with him twice today. We're working on making sure that the House and the Senate hear -- though they are both controlled by Republicans, they are both interested in trying to do what's best for South Carolinians.
Keith, we've got a 10.4 percent unemployment rate; Allendale County, 24 percent; Marion County, that I represent, 22 percent unemployment. These are depression levels. And for us to be talking about debt reduction at a time when we've got an economic crisis is tantamount to talking about conserving water when the neighborhood is on fire. We have got to do what is necessary to get people back to work, get communities stabilized, get people's mortgages back restructured, so we can do what is necessary to educate our children and move these communities forward.
MR. OLBERMANN: Do you think you're going to get this overturned in South Carolina, that your colleagues in those houses are going to get this crazy notion from the governor stopped before it becomes law?
REP. CLYBURN: Absolutely. I've got great faith and confidence in the South Carolina General Assembly. There are times when we do things in a partisan way. But after the elections are over, most often than not here in South Carolina, we put all that aside and we try to work together.
I enjoy working with Speaker of the House Bobby Harrell and with Senator Hugh Leatherman and with Senator Glenn McConnell. We work very well together on behalf of our state. And I'm convinced that there will be an overwhelming vote in both of those houses to bring that money into the budget.
Let's do what's necessary to get little Tashioma Bethea (sp) the school that she wants and needs. Let's do what's necessary to put infrastructure in these communities up and down the I-95 corridor, put in the water, put in the sewage, get people back to work, get their communities stabilized, and let's begin to stand our neighborhoods back up.
MR. OLBERMANN: Governor Sanford -- and I know you've already commented on this, and I'd like to give you the opportunity to do this again -- also compared President Obama's plans to the ones being enacted in Zimbabwe by Robert Mugabe.
If that's not playing a race card in there, at least that's -- it sounds to me like -- all right, maybe I'll give him a pass on the idea that he's making some comparison to skin color here, but he is comparing the president of the United States to the leader -- essentially the dictator of a nation that's being held together with staples. I mean, to me it's an offensive remark on a couple of levels at least.
REP. CLYBURN: Well, you talk about a country with 11 million percent inflation rate. I ask you, what is the inflation rate here in the United States of America? Last time I checked, no inflation. So what's the comparison here? You're talking about a dictator that ought to be run out of office, if not out of the country. And to compare him with president Obama, who just got elected in a magnanimous way, who has worked reaching out to both sides of the aisle, trying to governor in a bipartisan way, trying to work with all the elements in our society to stand this economy back up, I have absolutely no idea what Governor Sanford could possibly be thinking about. That's beyond the pale.
MR. OLBERMANN: Last question. Are there recall provisions for the governor in the South Carolina Constitution, or can he be impeached? Should we be talking about that, considering that at this point?
REP. CLYBURN: Well, nobody's talking about that. And quite frankly, I do not think that we have recall provisions in South Carolina law. I suspect that the legislature can have some kind of show of no confidence or something with some kind of resolution, but I don't think there's any provision in South Carolina law for us to have any kind of a recall.
But I don't want to spend any energy on that. We've got less than two years with Governor Sanford. I want all of our energy to be focused on our constituents. We have got too many people in this state. Our state depends upon tourism as its number one industry. And you know what happens with tourism when people lose all disposable income. So we've got to be working together, focus on the people that we're here to represent. And I don't want to spend a whole lot of time on Governor Sanford and his shenanigans.
MR. OLBERMANN: United States Congressman Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, putting those shenanigans in good perspective for us tonight. Great thanks for your time, sir.
REP. CLYBURN: Thank you so much for having me.
MR. OLBERMANN: A pleasure.
END.
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