MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript

Interview

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REP. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D), MARYLAND: Ed, it"s great to be with you on
this historic day.

SCHULTZ: It certainly is.

And you were up in that room. And it had to be quite a feeling to see that unfold and to have this actually happen. But, of course, the Republicans are saying it"s Armageddon, and John McCain says there will be no cooperation. What"s the memo say on your desk to the people who are running for office on the Democratic ticket?

VAN HOLLEN: Well, two things are going to happen immediately. First of all, the American people are going to see right away that they were misled and that they were fed a bunch of fear-mongering scare tactics, because the president just signed the bill, and I don"t see any death panels popping up. Do you?

And the world is still here and it"s not Armageddon. So they have a huge credibility gap on the other side because their story is one that has been fed by the insurance industry, that has spent millions and millions and dollars to try and kill this bill. So they"ve got a big problem in terms of having not told the truth.

On the other side, as Senator Harkin was talking about earlier, the American people are going to begin to see the benefits of this bill. So, if the Republican mantra is going to be repeal this bill, you know, turn back the clock, allow the insurance companies to continue to discriminate against kids based on pre-existing conditions, let"s take away the money from seniors, make my day. Because it"s the same story that they"re telling in other areas. They want to turn back the clock to the Bush economic policies, and they like the status quo. They like business as usual.

SCHULTZ: Congressman, the activities around the Capitol the last few days, people getting arrested, bricks through a window, one of your colleagues being spit on, the N-word being tossed around, just the tone of the crowd, the hateful attitude that"s out there, I will take it so far as to say this is really fueled by Fox News, in my opinion. It"s fueled by the right-wing talkers of America.

Let me ask you, why do Democrats even go on Fox? I mean, they just stir these people up. I mean, why don"t the Democrats--and I"m asking you a serious question here--why send any of your candidates over to be interviewed by anybody on Fox when they wanted to kill this health care reform bill, it"s everything negative about President Obama? You"re not going--I mean, you know, in college football, Alabama--football in Alabama is the way of life. At Notre Dame it"s a religion. They don"t like each other. You"re not going to convince somebody from the Irish to go root for Alabama. Vice versa. So why do the Democrats even go on Fox News? It frustrates the hell out of progressives when you do.

VAN HOLLEN: Well, Ed, look, no one"s under any illusions that they"re going to change Fox News, that they"re going to change the orientation of the channel. But the fact of the matter is there are many people who watch Fox News who are fair-minded people, and the hope is that maybe you can break through and get a kernel of truth through the airwaves and communicate with people.

SCHULTZ: That"s a theory. That"s a theory, that you think fair-minded people watch them. I mean, look at the activity of--I mean, they stir this stuff up.
Beck feeds on this stuff. Limbaugh said on his program yesterday we"ve got to get rid of these bastards. That"s what he said, speaking of you and other Democrats.
I mean, you"ve got the majority. You have got enough media out there. You don"t need them.

VAN HOLLEN: Look, Ed, nobody is going on Rush Limbaugh"s show. No one is going on Glenn Beck"s show. But there are certain shows where there are people who haven"t totally made up their mind that watch Fox News. And there"s an effort to try and communicate with them. But let me just go to your point with respect to the words of incitement.

What we saw in the last couple days here was a very ugly face in terms of the expressions of violence, of the words that were thrown around. But what was even worse than the fact that it was happening outside the Capitol was that certain members of Congress who should have known better and should be leading by example exhibited similar behaviors inside the chamber. When we had a member--

SCHULTZ: Oh, but they apologized for that, Chris. I mean, the Republicans apologized for it. They didn"t mean to say that.

VAN HOLLEN: No. Right. Right. And that"s why within a couple hours, as you may have heard, that same member who said "Baby killer" started a Facebook page to raise money, to raise cash off his statement. And this is what we"re dealing with. We"re dealing with people who are pretending to apologize and turning around and using these words to include--to continue to incite people and to raise money. And so what we have to do is show the American people, decent-minded American people, that this has become in many ways the new face of the Republican Party. That"s what we"re dealing with.

SCHULTZ: It is the new face. It is their face. Congressman--

VAN HOLLEN: This is the new face of the Republican Party. That"s what you get when you incite people like this and encourage that kind of behavior.

SCHULTZ: Yes. Congressman, good to have you with us tonight. And thanks for saying that, because a lot of Americans believe that. Thanks so much.

VAN HOLLEN: Thank you.

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