MSNBC "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" - Transcript

Interview

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SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: Good to be with you, Keith.

OLBERMANN: Republicans fought job creation every step of the way.

Now, they"re reaping the benefits. So, it"s mission accomplished, right?

SANDERS: Well, I tell you, it is incomprehensible to me that John Boehner would have the chutzpa to talk about jobs when in the Bush administration, after eight years, they ended up losing 600,000 private sector jobs. During the Bush years, we lost 5 million good-paying manufacturing jobs and they took us through the deregulation policies to the biggest financial collapse that we had since the Great Depression.

So, the idea of these guys talking about jobs is really incomprehensible.

OLBERMANN: Ezra Klein just reviewed how we got out of the depression fairly succinctly. I thought no reason to go through it again.

Does Mr. Boehner know about this? Is it something he was out that day in school?

SANDERS: No.

OLBERMANN: Is this ignorance? Or is it cynicism? Or what? How can he--how can he stand there and say you can"t spend your way out of recession or worse?

SANDERS: Keith, this is what they want to do. Right now, what they want to do is give $700 billion in tax breaks to the wealthiest 2 percent at a time when almost all income gains made in recent years have gone to the very, very rich. And the top 1 percent now earns more income than the bottom 50 percent. That"s apparently not enough for Mr. Boehner.

In my view and in the view of many people in Democratic Caucus, what we should be doing is using a lot of that $700 billion for infrastructure improvement, rebuilding our roads, our bridges, our rail systems, our water systems. And when you do that, over a period of time, you"re going to create millions of good paying jobs.

You do that by restructuring our energy system so we stop importing oil from Saudi Arabia and move to energy independence and sustainable energy. That"s how you create jobs and make America stronger.

OLBERMANN: Senator, to paraphrase Mr. Limbaugh, do you think the Republicans want the people of this country and this country to succeed at the moment?

SANDERS: I"ll tell you something. I"m on the floor of the Senate a whole lot. And it astounds me that on every single issue of significance, no matter what it is, they are filibustering, filibustering, filibustering.

Here they are--they tell us that they"re the great supporters of small business. We brought together a small business bill which will provide affordable loans to businesses which desperately need them so they can expand, so they can create decent-paying jobs, and we barely got any Republican support at all.

So, if you"re asking me, do I think that the Republicans are more interested in creating jobs, expanding the middle class, or are they really interested in defeating anything that President Obama brings forth? Are they more interested in protecting the interests of their wealthy and powerful supporters? I would have to say, the latter is true.

OLBERMANN: Well, of course, your small business bill addressed small-sized businesses with small profits, small numbers of employees, small business, mom and pop. Their idea and their definition of a small business is "The Chicago Tribune." As we know, it"s the number of owners, that is, again, can"t say that too often. That is what the definition on the Republican side is of a small business.

But let me ask you in sums, Senator, why are the Republicans--with this much of a shell game going on, why are the Republicans rewarded for this at the polls?

SANDERS: Well, I think at the end of the day the economy is hurting and people are frustrated and people want action. And in truth, the Democrats should have been more aggressive, should have been bolder.

For example, the issue of outsourcing--the Democrats should have stood up from day one and said, you know what, no more jobs going to China, we"re going to demand corporate America reinvest in the United States of America and create good jobs here.

We brought a bill to the floor last week. You know how many Republicans who got--who voted for the bill to protect us against outsourcing? You know how many? Zero.

OLBERMANN: Yes.

SANDERS: Not one.

So I think this is--this choice, this election really is a choice. And Boehner is right. It"s whether we go back to the failed policies of the Bush administration or that we demand that the Obama people become even more aggressive so we can pull us out of this Wall Street-caused recession.

OLBERMANN: Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, summing it up as usual

thank you kindly, Senator. Have a good weekend.

SANDERS: Thank you.

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