MSNBC "Hardball with Chris Matthews" - Transcript

Interview

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REP. KEITH ELLISON (D), MINNESOTA: I"m not sure that"s true, Chris.

MATTHEWS: You think it can get worse?

ELLISON: I don"t--no, I think it could get worse and I think the people who won this time around won because they really dug in and worked hard and convinced the voters. Nobody was handed anything in this last election.

MATTHEWS: Well, there are no such things as safe seats, sir.

ELLISON: No, there are not. There"s no such thing as a safe seat.

MATTHEWS: Excuse me.

ELLISON: I disagree.

MATTHEWS: San Francisco, the Bay Area--

(CROSSTALK)

ELLISON: (INAUDIBLE) there are no safe seats. A lot of long-term Democrats have been there for a long time.

MATTHEWS: OK. Every time, Pete Stark get 70 percent in a reelection campaign, that"s a safe seat. OK? I end my story right there. You can"t be beaten in San Francisco as a Democrat.

ELLISON: Well, what about Oberstar?

MATTHEWS: I mentioned New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Chicago.

You can"t lose in the inner city if you"re a Democrat. You can"t lose.

ELLISON: Well, I would--I would venture to say anybody who thinks they"re in a safe seat is probably--

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS: We"re arguing over something--let"s face it, Congressman, I"m right, you"re wrong on this one. Let"s move on, OK?

ELLISON: No, I don"t agree.

MATTHEWS: But you have the right attitude which is--

ELLISON: And don"t forget about the primary--and don"t forget about the primary challenge either, Chris. Don"t forget--

MATTHEWS: Yes, it"s from the left.

ELLISON: You know, you got--well, look at--no, look at Detroit. You know, Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick got beat by Hansen Clarke. She got a challenge there. So, the fact is, no safe seats.

MATTHEWS: OK. We"re--no safe seats from the right. Let"s go in--

I"ll make it that way. Let"s go now.

The issue now is that what will be the responsibility of your Progressive Caucus to the president"s deal tonight? Can you speak it or do you have to check with the people?

ELLISON: Well, I got a--we got to huddle and check in. I will say this, I think that--I hate that the president was put in a position to have to make this kind of compromise. I mean, the fact is, is that we shouldn"t have to--we shouldn"t have to fight this way just to extend unemployment benefits for so many Americans who paid into unemployment insurance. No time when unemployment is this high have we had to fight over this kind of thing and now, 2 million people are looking at being without unemployment insurance and another 2 million by the end of February.

So, the fact he had to make this kind of compromise I feel very bad about and it just--I hope it motivates people to get out there--

MATTHEWS: OK.

ELLISON: -- and to campaign hard so that we can really have some economic policies that benefit the whole economic structure.

MATTHEWS: Just to make your progressive point, which I think I know how to make, I would have put that on the floor and forced the Republicans to vote against it on Christmas Eve, I would have said, go ahead, guys, we"ll make your day. You want to be scrooge, go ahead and vote up or down on unemployment insurance extension. Why didn"t you do that?

ELLISON: Well, you know what, I don"t make those calls.

MATTHEWS: Why don"t you do that?

ELLISON: I"m not--but the thing is, I think we did make that point. I got up on the House floor and said that. And I think the American people know who was on their side and who was not.

MATTHEWS: Well--

ELLISON: Look at the people who voted against unemployment insurance.

MATTHEWS: OK. I agree with you. Let"s dramatize these things. Let"s get smart. Let"s listen to the president tonight, what he said, because I think you"re right, he was boxed in. Here he is. He got boxed in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I"m not willing to see 2 million Americans who stand to lose their unemployment insurance at the end of this month be put in a situation where they might lose their home or their car or suffer some additional economic catastrophe. So, sympathetic as I am to those who prefer a fight over compromise, as much as the political wisdom may dictate fighting over solving problems, it would be the wrong thing to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEWS: Congressman, last response to that. What do you make of that? Bottom line it.

ELLISON: Well, bottom line is--I think the president is right. He"s in a very tough position. But--and the answer is, we"ve got to dig in and fight and get out there between now and every day until the next election comes by, to help make the case to the American people that the Republicans are not good at managing the economy, they don"t have the best interest of the working classes at heart, and we got to make sure that even the people in the well-to-do community understand that we"re not going to have the economic ladder that they climbed up if we keep on doing these kind of things.

MATTHEWS: Thanks so much for staying around, sir. Keith Ellison--

Congressman Keith Ellison of Minnesota.

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