MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript: Government Shutdown

Interview

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SCHULTZ: I don`t think these people have a clue what they want. Joining me now is Congressman Keith Ellison of Minnesota. Congressman, good to have you with us tonight.

REP. KEITH ELLISON, (D) MINNESOTA: Good to be here.

SCHULTZ: I find it so ironic that these truckers are coming in to the Beltway in Washington, D.C. Now, are these the ones that want to see the bridges fixed across America and some infrastructure spending (ph)? Are these the truckers that light going over very nice roads with federal dollars? I mean, the very people that the Republicans have done nothing for are going to Washington to disrupt. I want your take on all of this.

ELLISON: My take on it is that, you know, there`s a lot of folks out there who don`t know who their friends are, they don`t know who`s hurting them, they don`t know who`s helping them. It just gets angry on some really superficial stuff for something they heard on the radio and they go to sometimes extreme measures. But, you know, what they`re trying to do didn`t work so that`s a good thing. But, you know, it`s part of the struggle, Ed, you know, part of the struggle is helping people to understand that you need to be on your own side, you need to help yourself out.

Now, they don`t like -- now, these folks like as you said federal highway spending. They like roads that are smooth that don`t wreck the axles of their trucks. They like being able to take care of their business based on American infrastructure and not having to worry about a bridge caving in and yet, it is the republicans who don`t want to invest in anything in the area of infrastructure. It`s our struggle to try to get American working people all on their own side, not on the democrat side, on
their own side.

SCHULTZ: Yes. The head of the protest says that she wants to remove the president from office. Is he really the person that they`re targeting here? I mean, is this really just an anti-Obama truck rally?

ELLISON: Well, you know, there might be some things about Obama that Obama can`t change that they don`t like. But at the end of the day, I think there`s a lot of anger, frustration among working people and some of them, not all, don`t know what to do with the frustration and they pointed in the wrong direction. You know, at the end of the day, we got to do a lot more education. We got a lot to do a lot more engagement.

And, you know, I`m thinking about reaching out to people who represent, you know, over road truckers to say, "Look guys, you know, you know the deal. Let`s talk about what we can really do to help your people out. Let`s start out with making sure we open up the government and that the highway folks and the folks who run the Department of Transportation are on the job to make sure that`s there`s health, safety, and other sort of things being looked after. I can tell you this. You know, we got a lot more organizing to do.

SCHULTZ: Well, there`s 3.5 million truckers in this country. And I think they wanted to get 3,000 there, OK? I find it very interesting that this was a flop. I guess this is something Glenn Beck said he was behind but it just didn`t seem to work out very good. It`s interesting because all these guys listen to is when they`re driving this right wing radio all across America, you think this would have been a big success but.

(CROSSTALK)

SCHULTZ: . truck. That`s right. The truckers, they wanted o cause the biggest traffic jam but they also are calling on Americans not to buy anything over the weekend, to stand in solidarity with them. I mean, if you look at the recent poll numbers, this is going to be a flop. They`re going to embarrass themselves.

ELLISON: Well, Ed, you know, that`s fine. Let them do that. I mean, the fact is that the republican message is being rejected by the American people. I mean democrats aren`t doing this to them. They`re doing this to themselves. And if these particular -- these tiny slice of right wing truckers who listen to Rush Limbaugh all day, if they, you know, want to go out there and embarrass themselves, they can do that.

Well, what I`d rather do is enter (ph) to a conversation with (inaudible), "Look, man. Let`s figure how to make sure your life is better. Let`s make sure we figure out how you can get some health care, how you can get a decent pay, how you can have safe working conditions, a good road to drive on, instead of this thing but you hate Obama so much." It`s just really crazy.

I mean, here`s the deal. You know, look, most of Americans have to deal with putting food on the table everyday. Trying to figure out how to hate Obama doesn`t do them any good. They need to come to the table. I`d be happy to talk to talk to them.

SCHULTZ: Congressman Keith Ellison, good to have you on brother.

Thank you. I appreciate your time tonight.

ELLISON: Anytime, Ed. You know it.

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