MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript

Interview

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REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC), MAJORITY WHIP: Well, Ed, thank you so much for having me back.

Let me say this--I have seen the polls that you just quoted. I"ve also seen polls that indicate that if registered voters were to show up in the ratio that they are in the population, then they"ll favor Democrats by two points.

So the question is, do we energize the voters to the point that they will show up at the polls tomorrow and keeping with their presence among registered voters? If that were to happen, we will maintain the majority in the House. Now, if only likely voters show up tomorrow, then I suspect that a wave will sweep over us. I just hope it will not be a tidal wave.

SCHULTZ: So, the bottom line here is that you say that the House is still within reach for the Democrats to maintain the majority.

Now, if that doesn"t happen, do you think that they"ll be as radical as some of the sound bites have been? Michele Bachmann talking about subpoenas, investigations. The Birthers have been out there from time to time swirling, saying that maybe impeachment is the route to go.

Do you think they"ll go down that road, Jim?

CLYBURN: Yes, I do. I would hope that cooler heads will prevail. It will be up to the leadership to keep that from happening, but if the leadership is so intimidated by these Birthers, by these Tea Party people, until they react the way they have been reacting in the past, then we will be at total gridlock, there"s no question about that.

I would hope that on both sides, cooler heads will prevail and we can have an orderly government going forward. That is true no matter which one of us were to retain or be in the majority, because it"ll be close. And it"s going to be so close, a couple of votes on either side could very well tilt the outcome of any issue. So it is going to be incumbent upon the leadership of both Democrats and Republicans to try to keep sanity involved in this process.

SCHULTZ: Well, how much sanity is in this comment? John Boehner, if he becomes the Speaker, this is what he said recently on a cable show.

"This is not a time for compromise. And I can tell you that we will not compromise on our principles. To the extent the president wants to work with us in terms of our goals, we"d welcome his involvement."

Isn"t that an ultimatum, that we"re going to iron--we"re going to govern with an iron fist and it"s going to be our way or the highway? Isn"t that how you take that, Congressman?

CLYBURN: Yes, that"s exactly how I take that. And there"s always time for compromise, always room for compromise.

I hope that"s just political rhetoric. The fact of the matter is, that sounds a little bit like Newt Gingrich to me, and we all know what happened with his leadership.

So I would say to anybody who is approaching, legislating, trying to run this country, there"s always going to be your way, there"s only your principles that are involved, we all have sets of principles. We all have a sets of experiences, and all of us are just as intelligent as the other when it comes to governing.

So we ought to be sitting down, listening to each other, working with each other, treating each other as we would like to be treated. And I think we can have a good, sane governmental process going forward. But this stuff that we will not compromise our principles, I"ve got principles, too.

SCHULTZ: We will see how it all plays out, to see if that resonates with progressive voters in this country, if they take a disliking to that heavy-handed comment by John Boehner.

Jim Clyburn, congressman from South Carolina.

Great to have you with us on THE ED SHOW. Good luck to you. I appreciate it.

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