MSNBC "Hardball with Chris Matthews" - Transcript
Interview
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MATTHEWS: Will today"s hearings prevent Islamic terrorism in this country, or will they feed into the right"s--well, the right wing"s game of stoking irrational fears about the Muslim faith? Democratic congresswoman Laura Richardson of California"s a member of Homeland Security Committee and was opposed to today"s hearings.
Congresswoman, it reminds me of the McCarthy hearings in March of--well, 1954, when McCarthy went one way and the country went another way. You go too far in this country, people begin to dislike you. What did you think happened today?
REP. LAURA RICHARDSON (D-CA), HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE: Well, you know, Chris, I think this was an all-time low for Congress. I think Peter King showed a disrespect for the House because he discriminated. He chose to choose one religious group over looking at the evaluations of all of them, and that"s wrong. That"s not what this Congress is about. And I think he misused the power and he got the punishment for it, which was he hit a total bust on this one.
MATTHEWS: What do you think--what do you think is the appropriate way of dealing with terrorism in this country? Is there an appropriate way to determine if someone has been radicalized to the point where they"re part of the terrorist threat? Is that something that should be done by the FBI quietly? Is that something that should be done by police officials and by people who warn people, warn police about a problem and left out of the political sphere? How would you do it, if you were in charge?
RICHARDSON: Well, you know, I think, first of all, it takes a total approach. You know, Peter King in his point about a community approach--yes, we have to make sure that parents are informed, teachers are informed, classmates are informed, other adults are informed, to know what to look for. But it"s also, as you said, the professionals, and that"s where Peter King failed today. He didn"t have a single professional there who could document and validate really the hate that he spoke.
The bottom line was this. I brought forward on February 9th--we had Mr. Lightheart (ph), who"s the director of the national counter terrorism. (SIC) And I asked the very question. Some say that it"s OK, how would you view, how many people are you looking at that are Muslim American? And his answer was, A minute amount.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
RICHARDSON: So Peter King was pushing his own particular agenda, and I think today it came really to fruition.
MATTHEWS: Wait"ll you catch--
RICHARDSON: Sheriff Baca was--Sheriff Baca was an excellent witness.
MATTHEWS: Wait"ll you catch this operation. Here"s Republican congressman Jeff Duncan of South Carolina talking up the weird threat that Sharia law is taking over America. These are real conspiracy theorists. They"re wacky, and they say Sharia is taking over some kind of--I don"t know even know what they"re talking about sometimes.
Let"s listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JEFF DUNCAN ®, SOUTH CAROLINA: I am regularly astonished and outraged--outraged--by this administration"s continued failure to single out who our enemy is.
An issue that is of particular concern to me and my constituents, and that is the threat of Sharia law to the United States Constitution.
Do you feel that the U.S. government has done an adequate job learning about Islam and how Islamic doctrines affect the behavior and community norms of Muslims residing in America? And how does Islamic doctrine and Sharia law shape the responsiveness of local U.S. Muslim communities to law enforcement efforts that target Islamic jihad?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEWS: Well, there"s a reading--a congressman reading nonsense. There"s no Sharia law in the United States. We have a democracy, we have a court system which is based on modern principles of justice.
Congresswoman, I want you to listen to this montage of Republicans stoking fear about Islam in this country. This is the whole radio belt and political belt of craziness that is trying to scare us. Let"s listen.
RICHARDSON: OK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: How we don"t have some kind of movement in this country on the left that understands that Sharia is a direct mortal virtually every value that the left has is really one of the most interesting historical questions.
We should have a federal law that says under no circumstance in any jurisdiction in the United States will Sharia be used by any court to--to apply to any judgment made about American law.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GLENN BECK, HOST, "GLENN BECK": I believe that I can make a case in the end that there are--there are three powers that you will see really emerge, one, a Muslim caliphate that controls the Mideast and parts of Europe.
RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: And I could really anger some people, if I said let"s compare the number of Muslims who have been Nobel Prize winners to the number of Jews who have been Nobel Prize winners. And I don"t think it is a contest.
SHARRON ANGLE ®, FORMER NEVADA SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: My thoughts are these. First of all, Dearborn, Michigan, and Frankford, Texas, are on American soil and under constitutional law, not Sharia law. And I don"t know how that happened in the United States.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEWS: Congresswoman, I don"t know whether to call them a band of nitwits or what. I don"t think any word captures that kind of fear-mongering. They are talking about Sharia taking over.
And these are people with very high IQs. Nobody doubts the intelligence of Newt Gingrich or Rush Limbaugh or any of these guys. I don"t know about Glenn Beck, but most of them are really smart people. And they are out selling this stuff, fear against Muslims taking over secretly, using the president, who is--who they claim sort of secretly is a Muslim, too.
RICHARDSON: You know, Chris, you hit right on the point. This is about fear and creating horror with the American people.
If you look at the facts, the Homeland Security Solution Institute said that 26 percent, yes, of potential plots have come to America, 26 percent, but what about the 23.3 percent of white supremacists?
This is about fear of one particular group. And I want to hit one point really clear. Peter King, he--he puttered out today. Why? He didn"t prove when he said two tests that he wanted to meet. One, why was it that it was a narrow gap of considering Muslim-Americans alone? And the only professional there to testify hit the point that it is not just Muslim-Americans.
Two, he said that they were not participating and working with law enforcement. And Sheriff Baca hit that one as well. So, I think what happened today was Peter King, all he could resort to is fear and showing two parents who had had a tremendous loss.
Come to my district. I can show you 100 parents who have lost and who their children have been radicalized by the local gang in our neighborhood.
MATTHEWS: OK.
Well, I will tell you what"s going to be on the front page of the every newspaper. It will be Keith Ellison with his very emotional demonstration--
RICHARDSON: That"s right.
MATTHEWS: -- of his Americanism and his patriotism today, and not Peter King.
Let"s--thank you so much, U.S. Congresswoman Laura Richardson of California.
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