MSNBC "Hardball with Chris Matthews" - Transcript
Interview
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MATTHEWS: Pete Williams--so much for that.
Let"s go now to Amy Klobuchar. She"s a member of the United States Senate, of course, and a member of the Judiciary Committee, and she"s represents the state of Minnesota.
It"s so great to have you on, and I have to start with this question. Do you believe that, given the politics right now, the president has a free hand? He"s named a woman who comes from an Hispanic background, a poor person"s background, and in many ways, that meets a lot of the standards Democrats like to meet in terms of representative people. But here"s a--
I think it"s a fairly rotten comment here by Glenn Beck about that kind of, if you want to call it ticket balancing or constituency mending--here he is talking about in a very nasty way. Let"s listen.
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GLENN BECK, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: I mean, if he"s smart, he will find a gay, handicapped, black woman who"s an immigrant. That"s what--because that way, he can just say when--I mean, she could be the devil. She could say, I hate America, I want to destroy America. And that way, they"ll only be able to say, Well, why do you hate gay, immigrant, black handicapped women?
(END AUDIO CLIP)
MATTHEWS: You know, Senator, isn"t it amazing how you can make a good living talking like a guy on the commuter train after three drinks?
(LAUGHTER)
MATTHEWS: No, seriously. That"s not exactly--that"s the kind of stuff I heard growing up. You know--you know, that kind of stuff is so uninspiring...
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Well, you know, Chris...
MATTHEWS: ... and yet I guess it has an audience. Your thoughts.
KLOBUCHAR: Well, it wasn"t just what you heard growing up. This is what Glenn Beck said during Sotomayor. I mean, he was saying the same kind of stuff, attacking her, attacking her qualifications, when she was number one in her class, when she had done so well throughout her career, you know, calling her emotional, all of these things, and it got out there. But in the end, you heard people like Lindsey Graham voting for her, saying, you know, maybe he wouldn"t have picked her, but she was clearly qualified and he was proud to vote for her. So in the end, she got confirmed.
I think the hearings, while they were difficult at times, they were fair, and that"s what we want to see again. And all this garbage and all of these kinds of comments--what really matters is that the president puts someone on there that"s qualified, someone who has, as he has said, a record of excellence, someone who is an independent thinker. That"s what"s going to matter.
MATTHEWS: You have to wonder, by the way, before we get off that commentary, what"s to be laughed at, to be mocked about a person who"s handicapped in any way, a person who"s black, a person who is an immigrant. What is chuckle--what"s the chuckle-able part of that, the laughable part that he finds so much fun? Except he"s playing to people that who problem don"t like any of these people. Just a guess.
KLOBUCHAR: Well, I think Rush Limbaugh learned what happened when he did that with Michael J. Fox. So you know...
MATTHEWS: Well...
KLOBUCHAR: ... people can laugh at people. They can do whatever they want on these shows, but in the end, the American people know you want someone that"s qualified, no matter what their background is. And I think that"s what the president said. He stands for that, and people know that he"ll pick someone that"s qualified.
MATTHEWS: Senator, the good news about that is it helped Claire McCaskill raise some money from out of state. That was one good...
KLOBUCHAR: Yes, I remember that, over a million dollars, I think.
MATTHEWS: OK. Let me ask you seriously about how you look at it. Do
you think the president has a free hand in terms of constituency, doesn"t
have to be a minority this time. He"s just done that. Doesn"t have to be
a woman. He just did that. I mean, looking at it in terms of the kind of
is it about leadership this time, regardless of background or gender?
Is that what he wants? Is that what you"d like to see, a leader on the Court to match Scalia"s candlepower, on the liberal side of things?
KLOBUCHAR: You know, I don"t--I don"t think he"s going to cross this box and X this box so the Court is--clearly, has diversity on that Court now. That"s important. But I think what he needs--I do like the idea of someone who is a powerhouse, someone who"s going to come in there with some oomph and be able to argue a case.
You look at what Stevens just did with Citizens United, with that strong defense that he wrote, where he basically said, You know what, guys in the majority? Corporations aren"t people, people are people. And so I think you want someone with that kind of oomph.
And as Pete pointed out just before I got on, mostly likely, the leadership in the Court will also emerge from that people that are already there. You can"t necessarily expect someone just to get on there and take charge.
MATTHEWS: Let me ask you about two hot cases that may be coming before the next Supreme Court coming in October. One is health care. Do you think there"s a plausible defeat coming its way for the individual mandate?
KLOBUCHAR: You know, I really don"t because when you look at past cases and you look at major decisions on Medicare and other decisions in the health care area that have been upheld, and I would predict that the health care bill will be upheld.
MATTHEWS: Do you think there"s any chance that Ted Olson and David Boies will go all the way to the Supreme Court and win on their challenge to Prop 8, the ban on same-sex marriage in California?
KLOBUCHAR: That is up to the Justices. I don"t have a crystal ball.
We"ll see what happens.
MATTHEWS: Do you have a feeling on it? Do you have a wish?
KLOBUCHAR: I really don"t. I think that--you know, I have always believed the best way to do this is have states make their own decisions, and you know, I think that--and part of that, we"ll just have to wait to see what the Court does on that. I really don"t know which way they"re going.
Our focus right now this summer, as you know, Chris, is going to be getting a Justice confirmed and getting a Justice done soon because--and you look at Stevens, you know, when he was up, it took only three weeks to get him done. Sandra Day O"Connor after her name went to--really officially went to the committee was something like a month. The average is 102 days. There"s no reason we shouldn"t be able to get this done by August, otherwise we"ll just have eight Justices to decide these important cases if you go after October. So I"d really like...
MATTHEWS: OK...
KLOBUCHAR: ... to get this moving ahead and have a fair hearing coming up and a civil one, which to a certain extent, happened with Sotomayor. Not all the time, but I hope we can have another civil Judiciary Committee and get this done.
MATTHEWS: Well, among my favorite senators, the two senators from California, the senator from Missouri I mentioned, Claire McCaskill--you"re one of them. I"d hate to...
KLOBUCHAR: Thank you.
MATTHEWS: ... see leave the United States Senate because I think you do represent people very well. But would you be interested in being a member of the Supreme Court?
KLOBUCHAR: No, Chris, I couldn"t wear black every day. Look at me.
(LAUGHTER)
KLOBUCHAR: No, I am--right now...
(CROSSTALK)
KLOBUCHAR: ... I am not going to abandon the people of Minnesota in the middle of...
MATTHEWS: OK...
KLOBUCHAR: ... these difficult economic times. I think it"s important that we have consistency in representation and get things done...
MATTHEWS: And that was a Shermanesque...
KLOBUCHAR: ... for the state.
MATTHEWS: ... statement from you, right? Shermanesque.
KLOBUCHAR: There you go...
MATTHEWS: Shermanesque...
KLOBUCHAR: Shermanesque. As I said the other day on Rachel"s show, I couldn"t because of my past speeches, you know, all the times--remember Sotomayor, the wise Latina woman? You can"t imagine how many times I referred to myself as a wise Slovenian woman, Chris. It"s over.
MATTHEWS: You"re the best. Thank you. Have a nice weekend.
KLOBUCHAR: Good-bye.
MATTHEWS: I"m glad you"re going to be...
KLOBUCHAR: Thank you for having me on.
MATTHEWS: ... one of the people deciding this thing, Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.
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