MSNBC "Hardball with Chris Matthews" - Transcript
Interview
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What is wrong, by the way, with redistribution? I think that`s what we do every time we help anybody out.
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: Well, first, it shows how desperate they are to come up with the tape. They have probably had it in their back pocket. It didn`t just pop up.
But they`re trying to change the subject. It`s not working. We should ask them, is it redistributionist to support the EITC originated by President Ford and expanded by President Reagan? How about giving a veteran who`s wounded disability benefits? Is that redistribution?
How about Social Security? Is that redistributionist? I mean, they just have to come up with slogans because they can`t argue on the merits. And the problem is, when you can`t argue what you really believe on the merits, you slip up. And that`s what we saw Romney do the other day.
MATTHEWS: It reminded me of Jimmy Carter, who I worked for, going back after Reagan about something he said about Medicare back in the early `60s. And Reagan said, "There you go again."
Anyway, the Romney campaign did dig dug up a 14-year-old audio clip of then state Senator Barack Obama speaking publicly, nothing secret here -- it wasn`t like that Boca Raton thing -- at a conference on Chicago research and public policy about the role of government.
Let`s listen to 14 years ago.
SCHUMER: Right.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA (D), THEN-ILLINOIS STATE SENATOR: I think that what we`re going to have to do is somehow resuscitate the notion that government action can be effective at all.
There has been a systematic, I don`t think it`s too strong to call it a propaganda campaign against the possibility of government action and its efficacy. And I think some of it has been deserved. Chicago Housing Authority has not been a model of good policy-making, and neither, necessarily, have been the Chicago public schools.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
MATTHEWS: Well, there he is, the state senator, a liberal state senator, pointing out deficiencies of government when it doesn`t work. Good critique here.
SCHUMER: You bet.
MATTHEWS: And here`s the part that Romney -- they love in this.
They jumped on it, ignoring all the other, with that government reform and
the need for it, acknowledging the shortcomings of government and how agencies are run that way. Romney -- here in the case Obama uses the word
redistribution to advocate for fairness.
Let`s listen to the part Republicans love.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
OBAMA: My suggestion, I guess, would be that the trick -- and this is one of the few areas where I think there are technical issues that have to be dealt with as opposed to just political issues. I think the trick is figuring out how do we structure government systems that pool resources and, hence, facilitate some redistribution, because I actually believe in redistribution, at least at a certain level to make sure that everybody`s got a shot.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
MATTHEWS: The Romney campaign, of course, thinks they struck gold with that, Senator. We have a 14-year-old comment, and a press conference called this afternoon, RNC chair Reince Priebus called it, quote, "outrageous". Of course, he`s the Obama -- the Romney campaign`s mini me on these subjects.
Your thoughts, Senator?
SCHUMER: It`s not going to resonate with the American people. We should ask them, a Social Security redistributionist? How about graduated income tax? Some of the hard right people in New Yorkers are against graduated income tax. They want to go back to the 1800s where the wealthy paid the same rate as the poor.
It`s just not going to work. I`ll tell you what`s happening. Romney is bringing the entire Republican ticket down. One of the reasons that our Senate numbers have gone up in the last few weeks is distaste for Romney and this kind of attack politics without being able to say what he`s really for.
Today, you had Scott Brown, not even admitting that he would endorse Romney. Mitch McConnell at a press conference said -- and weekly press conference didn`t even take questions because he would have been asked
about the 47 percent.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
SCHUMER: Three Republican candidates denounced what Romney said. So, he`s taking the whole ticket down. And until -- their problem is -- everyone`s saying, be specific. If they were specific, they would have to show what they really believe. And what they really believe, being hard right, is so far away from the American people that they know they`d lose, so they`re trying to speak about things they don`t believe or coming up with these red herrings. But it just doesn`t work, because as Bill Clinton, who you showed before, said, what`s going to determine this election is who can do better for your future.
And Barack Obama is laying that out. They`re calling him names that don`t stick because they have no basis in fact.
MATTHEWS: There they go again. Anyway, thank you, Senator Chuck
Schumer of New York.
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