Guests: Tim Kaine, Rep. Peter DeFazio, Al Cross, Maria Shriver, Jimmy
McMillan
LAWRENCE O‘DONNELL, HOST: The last Democratic governor of Texas, Ann Richards, once said that in politics, your enemies can‘t hurt you but your friends will kill you.
With Democratic candidates trying to hold onto office, some of them don‘t know who their friends are anymore.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC)
NARRATOR: Millions being spent by right wing groups to buy an election.
ANDREA MITCHELL, MSNBC HOST: Let‘s talk about the massive ad push in the final days.
O‘DONNELL (voice-over): With seven days remaining, Democrats are fighting back against an unprecedented flood of anonymous cash into Republican campaigns.
MICHAEL STEELE, RNC CHAIRMAN: I think you‘re going to see a wave, an unprecedented wave.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By spending tens of millions of dollars to try to buy a Congress that will do their bidding again.
O‘DONNELL: The Democratic strategy: expose the Republican money machine.
NARRATOR: Wall Streets, big oil and insurance companies, jobs shipped overseas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These big interests are fighting hard to get back in power.
NARRATOR: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, they even take in secret foreign money. They are stealing our democracy.
WILLIAM J. CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Frankly, there are a few things about this election that have got me somewhere between disturbed and ticked off.
O‘DONNELL: Then, rally the base.
MICHELLE OBAMA, U.S. FIRST LADY: You think someone is sitting out, you‘ve got to shake them, tell them, they can‘t sit this one out.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A choice between falling backwards and moving forward. And I don‘t know about you, but I want to move forward.
O‘DONNELL: To keep Democrats in charge, party leaders will have to grin and bear attacks from their own candidates.
FRANK CAPRIO (D), RHODE ISLAND GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: What I said to the president is this process about endorsements isn‘t something that I‘m concerned about right now. And he can take the endorsement and shove it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it will really help if I can put some distance between us. It‘s not like we‘re friends or anything. We are not.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O‘DONNELL: Good evening from New York. I‘m Lawrence O‘Donnell.
A week before the elections, early results hint that possibly too much has been made of the Democrats enthusiasm gap and the Republican tidal wave will not be quite as devastating as previously predicted. But that hasn‘t stopped some Democrats from lashing out at leaders of their own party, including the president, in a last ditch attempt to save their campaigns.
In Rhode Island, the Democratic candidate for governor actually told President Obama to shove it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPRIO: What I said to the president is that this process about endorsements isn‘t something that I‘m concerned about right now. And He can take the endorsement and shove it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O‘DONNELL: Earlier tonight, I spoke to former Virginia governor, Tim Kaine, the head of the Democratic Party.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O‘DONNELL: Tim Kaine, thanks for joining us tonight.
TIM KAINE, DNC CHAIRMAN: You bet, Lawrence.
O‘DONNELL: Do you see any evidence in the early voting patterns that are favoring Democrats?
KAINE: We do, Lawrence. We‘re seeing some—you know, it kind of depends state to state. And different states have different practices.
But we‘re seeing some strong numbers in Ohio, and Iowa, some strong numbers in Nevada. We‘re seeing some general trends suggesting that the effort to turn out first time 2008 presidential voters at a higher level than would be their norm is working. That‘s something we work hard on.
So, obviously, there‘s still something to do. I voted early in Virginia today. And I‘m encouraging everybody that I can to get out and do it early. And we‘re seeing that momentum pick up a bit.
O‘DONNELL: I have my early voting ballot at home, but I can‘t tell you how I‘m going to vote. But I‘m in Henry Waxman‘s district, so I don‘t think you have to worry about that particular district. But—
KAINE: Yes, I wouldn‘t want—yes, I wouldn‘t want to you reveal any trade secrets there.
O‘DONNELL: There does seem to be more disarray in the Democratic Party than we are used to. Of course, you know, people are accustomed to all sorts of infighting in the Democratic Party, but it‘s starting to head toward chaos. You have a Democratic candidate for governor in Rhode Island who has said and said again today that President Obama could take his endorsement and shove it. This is because the president has not endorsed the Democrat in the race for governor in Rhode Island.
How can the president not endorse the Democrat for governor in Rhode Island?
KAINE: Well, Lawrence, as you know, there‘s an independent candidate in that race who is a personal friend of the president‘s. So, he just has said, look, there‘s things in my life other than politics. I‘m not going to do an endorsement.
The good news is the DNC has supported the Democratic gubernatorial candidate. We sent financial support to the coordinating campaign and the person who‘s helping us raise a lot of our dollars is the president of the United States. So, the DNC is fully behind Caprio in that race. We think the polling looks good.
But the president does have a personal friendship in this instance.
And there are things in his life other than just politics.
O‘DONNELL: But plenty of politicians have personal friendships—we‘re talking about Lincoln Chafee, a former Republic senator from Rhode Island, his father, John Chafee, was the Republican senator from Rhode Island for years.
KAINE: Yes.
O‘DONNELL: And John Chafee was very popular with Democrats. But Democratic—still, Democratic senators, his colleagues in the Senate, still endorsed opponents running against John Chafee on the Democratic ticket.
The idea that he‘s friendly with Lincoln Chafee, therefore the president doesn‘t have any obligation to endorse the Democratic candidate, that‘s—there‘s no model for that. There‘s no precedent for that. Is there in the presidency?
KAINE: Well, I think, actually—I mean, I‘m not thinking of a historical precedent off the bat. But, I think, oftentimes, presidents don‘t endorse everybody. They don‘t see them out on the trail for everybody.
And I‘m going to go back to the thing you said at the top. I don‘t see infighting—significant infighting in the Democratic Party. We‘re a big tent party.
You know, this comment that Mr. Caprio made earlier today, look, it‘s the last week benefactor election, emotions run high, you can understand that. But we‘re a big tent party.
I don‘t see a lot of fighting among Democrats. The infighting you see is on the other side. Are we pulling the same direction as we need to be? That‘s always a challenge with the party that Will Rogers joked about as, you know, that big ten party. We‘re the big tent and that sometimes creates challenges.
But we don‘t have significant infighting. Our candidates pull together after primaries and they are pulling together to, you know, help us get votes we need next Tuesday.
O‘DONNELL: Well, they are not pulling together as fast as you might want. You have West Virginia, the Democratic candidate for Senate, Joe Manchin, the sitting governor there. He‘s running an ad where he shoots—shoots—
KAINE: Yes.
O‘DONNELL: -- a copy of the cap-and-trade bill that President Obama supported, that the House of Representatives passed, and he says he doesn‘t know if he will endorse Barack Obama for re-election. That‘s—again, that‘s unprecedented in my experience in people running for Senate on the Democratic ticket.
KAINE: And, Lawrence, you know what, if a Democrat stands up and says anything negative about the president, then it‘s going to be on national news as Democrats are against the president. I‘ve been in 40-plus states as DNC chair. I campaign of people every day who are proud of the president, proud of the party, proud of the accomplishments.
The president has been doing one event after the next with candidates all over this country who want him to campaign with them. He‘s done rallies that have now produced about 150,000 people attending them.
So, are there examples of people, you know, holding the president at arm‘s length? Sure, there are. But the overwhelming majority of Democrats, I campaign with, again, are proud of the party, proud of the president, proud of the accomplishments.
O‘DONNELL: You know, I worked for a liberal Democrat from New York in the Senate. And when his colleagues were running in other states like Oklahoma and Georgia for election, he would say to them, look, I‘ll say something nice about you if that will help you or I‘ll say, I‘ll attack you if that will help you.
KAINE: Yes.
O‘DONNELL: Which one do you want me to do?
Is that what‘s really going on with President Obama and candidates like Joe Manchin? Are you guys really just saying to them, look, say whatever you have to say to get elected, we‘ll sort out our Democratic unity issues after the election.
KAINE: Well, we are going to sort them out after. We‘re not giving them directions. But, look, again, look at the primary season this year and compare the Democratic Party and Republican Party. There were some tough Democratic primaries in Colorado between Michael Bennet and Andrew Romanoff and some other states. But we didn‘t have a single instance where after the primary, the winner and loser weren‘t able to get back on board and work together.
On the other side, the Republican primaries led to split parties, losing candidates, not endorsing the winner, canceled unity rallies. This is a function of a big tent party where—because we are a big tent, we‘re going to have some differences of opinion. We don‘t have a hard time pulling together and, you know, getting the work done.
O‘DONNELL: Now, in Texas, there‘s a Democratic congressman, Chet Edwards, who‘s bragging about voting against health care bill, climate change bill. There are other Democrats running for reelection in the House stressing that they voted against the health care bill. One of them saying he will refuse to vote for Nancy Pelosi for speaker.
All of this talk provoked an op-ed piece in yesterday‘s “New York Times” by Ari Berman who makes the case Democrats would be in better shape and they would accomplish more if they just had a smaller, more ideologically cohesive caucus.
Do you agree with that?
KAINE: You know, I actually don‘t. I think that—we‘re a big tent party. You know, the Republicans tend to throw you over the side if you cast a wrong vote on the abortion bill or a wrong vote on taxes. We have always been the big tent party. And, look, it creates some frustrations but that big tent demographically, geographically, ideologically, is part of who we are.
I do think that a lot of Democrats could frankly get more mileage by just running as happy warriors rather than anxious warriors. And that‘s been my advice to all these candidates, but as you know, I‘m not writing the speeches for them and folks are taking their own sense about what‘s best for their district or the jurisdiction they are running in.
O‘DONNELL: Chairman of the big tent party, Tim Kaine. Thank you for joining us in the last week of the campaign. Thank you very much.
KAINE: You bet, Lawrence. Take care. You bet.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O‘DONNELL: Joining me now is Peter DeFazio, a 12-term Democratic congressman from Oregon.
Congressman DeFazio, you have said that if re-elected, you will not support Nancy Pelosi as speaker. Why?
REP. PETER DEFAZIO (D), OREGON: Well, I represent a rural southwestern district with a couple of college towns. I brought up a number of issues with the speaker.
I proposed a year and a half ago that we should do a COLA for seniors, and I proposed we do that by imposing the FICA tax on people earning over $1.3 million a year. Fair, it‘s flat. Someone earning $20,000 would pay the same as someone who earns $1.2 million or, you know, whatever. So, that was one issue.
Two: cap-and-trade. You know, cap-and-trade—for the life of me, why the speaker pushed cap-and-trade in that form. That was the Enron bill. That bill was written by Enron.
It mirrors what they‘ve done in Europe. It‘s failed. They are paying more for power and actually have greater emissions. So, we need something that just based in regulation. Same way we—you know, solved clean water, clean air, let‘s regulate, it‘s predictable.
Going to market, to Wall Street—Wall Street was thrilled with cap and trade bill in the House. And those are the last people I want dealing with something essential as fossil fuels in this economy.
And then, you know, we‘ve had other differences over, you know, the stimulus bill. I wanted more investment. I didn‘t want the big tax cuts.
And on health care—I didn‘t think we should have exceeded to the Senate. I wanted to have a bill that had public option, that had national exchanges that took away the antitrust immunity of the insurance industry. We did all those things in the House. I think we should have pulled back and not gone forward with the Senate version of the bill, instead done targeted reforms.
We had a big argument in the caucus in the end because I got a Medicare fix which we‘ve been fighting for for 30 years for Oregon and 16 other states. I went with it, but the bill is going to need fixing.
So, I just think that there‘s been a number of misjudgments and miscalls. And, quite frankly, the leadership of the House has been too willing to just go along with the president and not challenge the president. We‘re Democrats—we can challenge our own president. We don‘t have to do what he wants to do.
We need to do what‘s best for our constituents and our country, and I think we‘ve failed in a number of instances.
O‘DONNELL: Well, surely, you‘ve had tensions like that and disagreements like that with congressional party leaders in the past, certainly with Tom Foley, the speaker.
DEFAZIO: Sure.
O‘DONNELL: You‘ve been there over 20 years. To come out against an incumbent speaker during your reelection campaign and declare that you will not vote for that person to be speaker if you return to the majority is an unprecedented act for you and, as you know, for incumbent Democrats in general. It‘s just not something that happens.
What is it about Speaker Pelosi that broke your resolve to stick with party on this?
DEFAZIO: Well, I mean—I think she has been unfairly maligned, you know, because people are sexist against a woman speaker. But I‘ve had substantial issues where I just don‘t think that someone from that zip code, from San Francisco, understands the needs of the people I represent in Congress. And we need someone who understands those needs better.
I‘m part—I‘ve been a progressive, a founding member of the Progressive Caucus, the populist caucus. And, you know, urban liberal folks have a point of view.
But, at some point, you have to listen to the rest of us. And, you know, she‘s been very effective getting things done, but sometimes, I think, to the detriment of the party, and potentially, to the detriment of the country—particularly with the cap-and-trade bill.
So, you know, it‘s the way it is. I mean, I call them the way I see them. I got here that way. I‘m going to leave here that way.
O‘DONNELL: Who would you want as speaker instead of Nancy Pelosi?
DEFAZIO: I don‘t have a—well, first off, I‘m not sure we‘re going to be electing a speaker because of the mistakes that have been made, particularly mistakes also by the president in choosing an economics team that were warmed—you know, warmed over folks from Clinton era.
You know, I called for getting rid of Summers and Geithner nine months before the Republican leader. They‘re disaster for our party—too much attention to Wall Street and not enough attention to Main Street and to small businesses and to working people. So, you know, I‘ve got a number of differences. I have always expressed my differences honestly with my party.
You know, I‘m like Wayne Morse, many years ago, who came from Republican to independent to Democrat. But he said, look, I‘m going to listen to everybody, all points of view. In the end, I will make a judgment depending upon what I think is best for the country and the people I represent. That‘s where I‘m at now. I believe we need new leadership where in the majority or minority.
O‘DONNELL: Representative Peter DeFazio, Democrat from Oregon—thank you for your time tonight.
DEFAZIO: Thank you.
O‘DONNELL: In Kentucky, the face-off tonight between Jack Conway and Rand Paul did, in fact, happen despite Paul‘s threat to not show up. After last week‘s contentious debate, how rough was it tonight?
And later, in the final frantic week of campaigning, in California, First Lady Maria Shriver joins us to talk politics and her women‘s conference.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O‘DONNELL: Rand Paul and Jack Conway face off in their final debate tonight. We‘ll have the latest reaction from Kentucky and see if tonight produced a game-changer for either candidate.
And later, Maria Shriver‘s star-studded guest list at her women‘s conference. We‘ll talk politics with California‘s first lady—ahead on THE LAST WORD.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O‘DONNELL: Kentucky Tea Party Senate candidate Rand Paul vowed a week ago, after a nasty debate with his opponent, Kentucky‘s Democratic Attorney General Jack Conway that he would take the stage with Conway again. But Paul changed his mind and he and Conway sat down with a discussion style debate earlier tonight.
The two sparred on Conway‘s attacks on Rand Paul.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACK CONWAY (D), KENTUCKY SENATE CANDIDATE: Kentuckians know you don‘t—you don‘t attack a man‘s dog and you don‘t attack a man‘s horse. But I will say this—
RAND PAUL ®, KENTUCKY SENATE CANDIDATE: You can‘t attack a man‘s religion, right?
CONWAY: I questioned your actions, not your faith.
PAUL: Yes.
CONWAY: But let me say this, let me say this, that he said $2,000 deductible. When he first brought it up, he said I didn‘t say that until we produced video of him saying it seven separate times, and the same thing with the fair tax. He came out in favor of fair taxes, which is a 23 percent national sales tax. His campaign manager sent out an e-mail on it. Numerous occasions and now, he‘s having to run from his own words.
PAUL: But the thing is you have a simplistic world view, you oversimplify things. I mean, you do.
CONWAY: You talking down to me?
PAUL: Well, I mean, the thing is you don‘t really want to present the whole facts. You say we‘re going to heap on some new sales tax, you‘re for sales tax. You forget to mention we‘re talking about eliminating the income tax, OK? You leave that out of all your—
(CROSSTALK)
CONWAY: I know that 90 percent—
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: And they debated health care and the economy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONWAY: Now, he‘s trying to conjure up this argument that, hey, deductibles are going up, deductibles are going up, because he has to run from his words, because the seniors of Kentucky and the world in which I live, the ones I talk to out there on the trail, they can‘t afford a 23 percent national sales tax. They can‘t afford a $2,000 Medicare deductible when the current deductible is $155.
They just can‘t afford what Rand Paul is putting out there. He‘s wrong for Kentucky.
PAUL: But perhaps they can‘t afford President Obama‘s $1 trillion spending, President Obama‘s $2 trillion debt. The leader of your party, the guy you support in the primary, your kind of Democrat, you wanted President Obama, is a disaster for our country. He‘s bankrupting us. And you sit blindly over there and support his policies. It‘s a disaster.
(CROSSTALK)
PAUL: It‘s a disaster.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O‘DONNELL: And they have very different views of abortion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE CALLER: I would like to know both candidates‘ views and are they for or against. And if they are against it, what are we going to do to stop it.
PAUL: I‘m 100 percent pro-life. I believe that life begins at conception and would support a human life amendment to the Constitution.
CONWAY: I am a Christian. I think abortion ought to be as rare as we can make it. I would support parental notification. I would support restrictions. It ought to be as rare as we can make it, but safe and legal.
So, I think, at the end of the day, I probably come down on the libertarian view on this, the government ought not to be telling women what to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O‘DONNELL: Joining me now, veteran political writer for Louisville, Kentucky‘s “Courier-Journal” and director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky, Al Cross.
Al, were there any game-changers tonight, a clear winner in this debate?
AL CROSS, COURIER-JOURNAL, LOUISVILLE, KY: I don‘t think so, Lawrence. I think both candidates accomplished what they wanted to do.
Rand Paul got his big concepts across, that this is a referendum on Obama, that we got to do something about the debt and deficit. And he got in his reaction lines about career politicians. He had a good one about debunking the experts.
Conway, on the other hand, was able to talk a lot about some of Rand Paul‘s positions and changes of positions. He caught him in a couple of misstatements, one near the end of one of those clips you played. Paul said that Conway supported Obama in the primary, and Conway said, well, you‘re making that up.
So, they both got their hits in, but there was no clear winner.
O‘DONNELL: There are some details—
CROSS: I think we can say, though, that—
O‘DONNELL: Go ahead.
CROSS: I think you can say that Paul was able to keep on his theme of big concepts, which I think have put him in the lead and kept him in the lead. And Conway was able to make people think more about Paul and some of his ideas that sometimes don‘t quite fit onto the political landscape from his concepts.
O‘DONNELL: It does seem that some of the details can crash into Rand Paul‘s big concepts. For example, Medicare deductibles—if Conway can make it stick that Rand Paul would allow Medicare deductibles to go up astronomically above where they are now, wouldn‘t that be effective with seniors in Kentucky? And why hasn‘t it been? Why aren‘t those kinds of details getting traction with voters?
CROSS: Well, I think they probably are getting some traction because the Conway campaign keeps using that particular point. Paul‘s response, of course, is I‘m not talking about changing anything for people currently on Medicare. I‘m talking about changing it for younger people who will go onto it later.
O‘DONNELL: Now, let‘s take a look at Aqua Buddha ad, that Jack Conway ad that really changed the nature of the campaign and made the last debate so contentious. Let‘s look at that now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, POLITICAL AD)
CONWAY: I‘m Jack Conway, I approved this message.
NARRATOR: Why was Rand Paul a member of a secret society that called the Holy Bible “a hoax,” that was banned for mocking Christianity and Christ? Why did Rand Paul once tie a woman up, tell her to bow down before a false idol and say his god was Aqua Buddha?
Why does Rand Paul want to end all federal faith-based initiatives and even end the deduction for religious charities?
Why are there so many questions about Rand Paul?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O‘DONNELL: Al, you pointed out in your column that it was a horrible ad, it turned people off. But there wasn‘t anything in it that was actually untrue and Rand Paul hasn‘t actually debunked anything in it, even though he said it was untrue.
CROSS: He likes to issue broad denials. But it‘s apparent to everyone that he did undertake this crazy prank with a woman who said he was an acquaintance of his on the swim team, I think, at Baylor. And that he was a member of this NoZe Brotherhood that made fun of religion, Baptists in particular at this Baptist university.
But I think most voters are prepared to cut candidates some slack for what they did in college more than a quarter of a century ago.
O‘DONNELL: And the Rand Paul ad just calling Conway a yes man for Obama in the current climate in Kentucky is actually more effective than something that talks about what happened in college?
CROSS: I think so generally. And, of course, there‘s been a backlash to the Conway ad. While it has made some people who vote on faith and values stop and think about Paul, I think that Conway has been severely criticized for running the ad. And he‘s losing the public opinion debate on that question.
And Paul continues to run a second response ad criticizing Conway and using lots of national cable TV talking heads criticizing him.
O‘DONNELL: Al Cross with the “Louisville Courier-Journal” and the University of Kentucky—thanks for joining us tonight.
CROSS: You‘re welcome.
O‘DONNELL: What will happen if you sit out next week‘s election?
Republic corp—that‘s what will happen. That‘s next.
And a guest “Rewrite” tonight courtesy of Senator Al Franken. He respectfully rewrites the president‘s analogy of the GOP driving the economy into a ditch.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O‘DONNELL: Sometimes you have to take unusual steps to get out the vote. MoveOn.org, with the help of actors Olivia Wilde from “House.” and Romany Malco from “Weeds” has produced a warning from the future to show you what could happen if Republicans win this election because you didn‘t vote.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OLIVIA WILDE, “HOUSE”: You‘re about to make a huge mistake, one that changes our country forever. Polling records indicate that you didn‘t vote in the upcoming 2010 elections. Now we know that‘s when it all went wrong.
After you didn‘t vote, Republicans took back Congress and emerged, once and for all, with the big corporations that fund them to create RepublicCorp, all because you didn‘t vote. Unacceptable.
Since you didn‘t vote—and I know this is a bummer to hear since it‘s really nice out today because you can still see the sun in the year 2010 -- but they would alter you. They replaced Social Security with a daily motivational e-mail from John Boehner.
Lastly, they put that fat cat in charge of regulation. Like a literal fat cat. His name was Mr. Carothers. That cat was corrupt.
Yes, I can actually see you right now. You are totally cuter in person. Of course, this was all before we learned the two most terrifying word in the English language, President Palin.
Look, here she is signing declaration of war against China in 2017.
Here she is signing declaration of super war against Norway in 2020.
And here she is signing a declaration of ultra war against Iran, Botswana, whatever country Bjork is from, the Shire, Harris Casino in Atlantic City, and the Pacific Ocean.
You can take five minutes out of your day to vote. You have to go right by there on your way to get milk at the store anyway. There‘s not much time. The Blackwater clone bot boys are getting close. I forgot to tell you about the clone bots. That‘s a whole other headache. I‘m not going to get into it. But listen, you have the power to change all of this.
ROMANY MALCO, “WEEDS”: Olivia, we have to boost mobile the hell out of here right now.
WILDE: I know Alfonso Pitfinder (INAUDIBLE) but I‘m trying to—
MALCO: Oh, you‘ve got contact. If you don‘t vote, you know what I‘m going to do? I‘m going to invent a time machine, come back there and kick your dumb butt. It means everything.
WILDE: Remember to vote.
MALCO: Only you can save the future.
WILDE: Vote, vote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O‘DONNELL: With campaign spending breaking records in California, and accusations flying in TV ads, the first lady of California invites the candidates for governor to have a civil discussion. Maria Shriver joins us next.
Later, first came the debate, then the appearance on THE LAST WORD, then “Saturday Night Live.” Now the Rent is Too High Guy returns to THE LAST WORD to respond to what “Saturday Night Live” did to him.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O‘DONNELL: Who can sell 15,000 tickets in five minutes? Who can get the following people in the same room: Jill Biden, Laura Bush, Rosario Dawson, Norah Ephron, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Caroline Kennedy, Matt Lauer, Jane Lynch, Meghan McCain, Michelle Obama, Tony Robbins, Jessica Simpson, Brian Williams, Oprah Winfrey, not to mention Jerry Brown, Meg Whitman and the man whose job they both want, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger?
Who can do that? There is only one person on the planet who can do that, and she is in our spotlight tonight. Joining me now from Long Beach, California, the first lady of that state, Maria Shriver. Maria, thanks for joining us.
MARIA SHRIVER, FIRST LADY OF CALIFORNIA: Thank you for having me. I know it‘s a little noisy, but there are 10,000 women behind me. So forgive me.
O‘DONNELL: Maria, how did you get all those people and those 10,000 women behind you together? How did you get them to all go to Long Beach?
SHRIVER: Well, I asked them, first of all. I tell them I‘ll treat them with respect and dignity, and I‘ll let them tell their story kind of unfiltered. I think women, at the end of the day, we‘ve built a community of several million women online and they want to connect with each other. They want to buy books. They want to meet people that will inspire them. And they want to get the tools to actually live their life in a solution-oriented way.
O‘DONNELL: And the Women‘s Conference began while you were first lady of California. At first, you were reluctant to ask some of your friends to come and weren‘t sure how to go. It‘s know now exploded into this giant event down there in Long Beach. What happens over the three days of the conference?
SHRIVER: I think we started with free health care and medical care and financial help for women who are struggling, the working poor. We moved into the biggest Alzheimer‘s march here in California. We had programs that support the arts. Really over the next two days, we try to have women see themselves as architects of change in their state, their community, and their country.
We try to sell this a nonpartisan, bipartisan forum where you‘ll hear, frankly, from authors, news makers, journalists about how they have lived their lives, what they wished they would have known, what they have learned along the way to try to empower you. We also work with companies that are socially responsible. Women now control 80 percent of all consumer decisions in this country. So companies are really interested in what do women want, what do they want to buy, what kind of working environment do they want; and they find it here.
O‘DONNELL: You have what may turn out to be the biggest political event of the week scheduled for tomorrow. You have Matt Lauer moderating a discussion with the current governor of California and the two people who want his job. Now I think we know how you got the governor to show up. How did you get Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman to basically commit to what is another debate for them?
SHRIVER: Well, Meg Whitman has spoken here before. I invited her here before. I‘ve known Jerry Brown pretty much all my life. I covered him. He was also one of the first people—when my own father ran for president, he was the first political figure that supported him.
So the Browns and the Shrivers go way back. And really I asked them both. I said women are going to control this election, not only in California but all over the country. This is the biggest forum in the nation for women. It‘s going to be broadcast. You should be here and you should speak. I‘m going to have this conversation, and I hope you‘ll join me. But I‘m going to have it, so it would be good for you to come. They agreed.
O‘DONNELL: A lot of women candidates running around the country this year; let‘s listen to Meg Whitman‘s latest ad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MEG WHITMAN ®, CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA: Now I‘m running for governor to restore the California dream for everyone. I‘m not a career politician or a Hollywood star. I‘m from Silicon Valley, where I created thousands of jobs at eBay.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O‘DONNELL: Maria, she‘s not a Hollywood star. Were you surprised to see a Republican candidate take a shot at Ronald Reagan like that? I was very surprised to see that in there?
SHRIVER: Well, I think we have both been around politics long enough not to be surprised at just about anything. I think she‘s trying to sell herself. She‘s jumped into this race. California is a difficult state. It‘s complex. It has a complex political system. But it‘s a great opportunity to run I think the greatest state of the nation. As we all know, what happens in California really does say a lot to what happens around the world.
I think this is an exciting race. People are very interested in it. I think you‘ve never seen a sitting governor with two people who want their job. I think everybody is a little bit unsure about how that‘s going to go. But I‘ve worked a lot with Matt, so I told him it‘s all in his hands.
O‘DONNELL: Maria, there‘s another ad running in California that criticizes a woman senator, Barbara Boxer, for wanting to be called by her title senator during hearings instead of ma‘am. It seems to me that that‘s something that would resonate at the Women‘s Conference, that a woman who has worked as long and hard as she did—and all the other women senators, Republican and Democrat—to get where they are, to simply be asking to be called by their title seems fairly reasonable to me. Does that make sense at the Women‘s Conference, that a woman snow are would simply want to be called by her title?
SHRIVER: You know, Lawrence, the women that I talk to here that are politically minded, and they all are, say that‘s not even what they are interested in. They are interested in jobs that they can have that allow them to parent and take care of their parents, flexible work hours, jobs where they can combine all these things, elder care, child care, family leave. That‘s what they are interested about.
They are very frustrated, all the women, Democrat and Republican that I talked to, about the tone of the campaigns across the country, about the nature of the discussion, and how it doesn‘t resonate with what they are dealing with at their kitchen tables. I find that across both parties. The fastest growing party here in California has declined to stay. They think that the conversations they were having are not reflected in these races.
So many people come up to me and say, how do I find out about these candidate‘s positions on smart work policies. I can‘t even hear in the debate. Help us figure that out.
I think that a lot of times the media is focused on who said what and the Tea Party and the tone and the language. People that I talk to are really interested in specifics.
O‘DONNELL: Maria, what happens to the Women‘s Conference next year, when you‘re no longer first lady and you‘re back in private life?
SHRIVER: I have no idea. It depends who wins. I think, you know, I‘m going to hand them over something that works 24 hours, 365 days a year. There are a lot of programs that are the recipients of this great conference that help women out of poverty, domestic violence situations, micro-lending, incredible nonprofit. So this is now really five, six-day event. And it funds programs throughout the state of California and really the nation.
So I hope one of those two people, whether it‘s Jerry Brown or Meg Whitman, they will run with it. If they don‘t want it, I‘ll take it.
O‘DONNELL: Take it if you will. Maria Shriver, the first—
SHRIVER: I‘m going to be unemployed.
O‘DONNELL: Thank you very much for joining us tonight, Maria.
SHRIVER: Thank you. Thank you.
O‘DONNELL: When President Obama is on the campaign trail, he likes to say the Republicans drove the economy into a ditch. In tonight‘s Rewrite, Senator Al Franken goes him one better.
Later, the Rent is Too Damn High guy stole the show at New York governor‘s debate last week. Now he‘s been done by “Saturday Night Live.”
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O‘DONNELL: Time for the Rewrite, starring tonight‘s guest rewriter Minnesota‘s junior Democratic Senator Al Franken. Over the weekend at a Democratic rally at the University of Minnesota, Senator Franken rewrote President Obama‘s line about the Bush administration driving the economy into a ditch. According to “Politico,” the president first used that line back in April, saying “after driving our economy into the ditch, Republicans decided to stand on the side of the road and watch us while we pulled it out of the ditch. They asked, why haven‘t you pulled it out fast enough? I notice there‘s a little scratch there in the fender. Why didn‘t you do something about that?”
But on Saturday, on stage with the president, Senator Franken, in what he told me was an homage to the president‘s in the ditch idea, rewrote it to better reflect the reality of how close our economy came to a total collapse.
He said, “when the president took office, not only had the car gone into a ditch but the car had flipped over and was rolling down a steep embankment. We, the American people, were in the back seat and the Bush administration had removed all the seat belts. So we were all flying around the interior of this car as it was rolling and flipping and careening down this steep embankment, heading to a 2,000 foot cliff.
“And at the bottom of that cliff were jagged rocks, and alligators. Now at noon on January 20th, 2009, as the car was careening toward the cliff, George W. Bush jumped out of the car. President Bush jumped out of the car and President Obama somehow managed to dive in through a window, take the wheel, get control of the vehicle just inches before it went over the precipice.
“And he and Congress started inching this wrecked car back up the embankment. Now, you can‘t push a car up an embankment as fast as it careens down an embankment, but we got it going in the right direction and slowly we‘ve gotten ourselves up that embankment, past the ditch, up on the shoulder of the road.
“That is what happened. That‘s where we are today.”
Thank you, Senator Franken. There‘s nothing I like more than someone doing this work for me, especially the writing.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O‘DONNELL: Last week at the New York gubernatorial debate, we met candidate Jimmy McMillan of the Rent is Too Damn High Party. Since then, Jimmy has s become a media sensation. Clips of his appearance have garnered over 300,000 hits on Youtube. He‘s been the guest of several national radio and TV shows, beginning right here on THE LAST WORD last week.
But Jimmy‘s celebrity status peaked on Saturday during Weekend Update on “Saturday Night Live.”
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People got seven jobs. They‘re working 36 hours a day, 12 days a week, and they can‘t afford a roof. I will make sure that you have a roof over your head, money in your pocket, and breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Shh, you hear that? Somebody‘s stomach just growled. That was a children‘s stomach just growled because the Rent is Too Damn High.
You know how much a one-bedroom apartment costs in Manhattan? Seventy seven thousand dollars a month. You know what a roof costs? You can‘t afford it. You know what breakfast, lunch, and dinner costs? Put it this way, it would be cheaper to eat a roof.
You probably look at me and you‘re thinking to yourself, what, is he just another Washington insider? What is he, part of the establishment? Well, believe it or not, I have never been a governor anywhere. People ask, if elected, how would you lower our rent. Simple, the Rent is Too Damn High.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O‘DONNELL: Joining me once again, now in his 14th minute of fame, candidate for New York Governor Jimmy McMillan. Jimmy, you were laughing all the way through. You liked it?
JIMMY MCMILLAN (RENT IS TOO DAMN HIGH PARY), CANDIDATE FOR NEW YORK
GOVERNOR: I have never seen anyone imitate me. It is funny as H-E-L-L.
O‘DONNELL: A lot of politicians don‘t have a sense of humor when “Saturday Night Live” gets around to them. They think, come on, treat me as a serious candidate; don‘t make jokes about me. You seem to be OK with it.
MCMILLAN: Humor has left. This is what the Rent is Too Damn High Party is trying to bring back. This is a good example of we need change. Someone needs to set the pattern for change and a humor. Don‘t be afraid to laugh and tell jokes. Don‘t be afraid to let someone imitate you. This is America.
O‘DONNELL: So now you have a second plank in your platform. It‘s lower the rent and humor.
MCMILLAN: Lower taxes and humor, absolutely.
O‘DONNELL: Jimmy, we‘ve got problems in your campaign.
MCMILLAN: OK.
O‘DONNELL: “The New York Times” says—quotes you on this whole rent question about exactly how much are your paying for rent. They quote you saying, “my landlords don‘t want me to pay any money at all. I‘m basically living there rent-free.” Now I want to give you every one of these comments to answer.
MCMILLAN: Sure.
O‘DONNELL: “The New York Times” also quotes you saying, “don‘t look for anything I say about my living space to be true.”
MCMILLAN: True.
O‘DONNELL: Hold on that one. “New York Post” reports, “the rent has been frozen at a very reasonable 800 dollars since 2005,” which we‘ll get to it, but I think 800 dollars in New York is not a rent that‘s too damn high. Maybe you do. Finally the “Associated Press” quotes you saying, “I just made stuff up and told them. None of that is true. I‘m not a politician. This isn‘t about my personal life.”
So Jimmy, how much are you paying in rent, if anything?
MCMILLAN: I pay rent. But I‘m not about me. It‘s about the homeless people—
(CROSS TALK)
O‘DONNELL: If it‘s too damn high—
(CROSS TALK)
MCMILLAN: For people getting evicted, it‘s too damn high. They can‘t afford it. It‘s not about me.
O‘DONNELL: Your rent isn‘t‘ --
MCMILLAN: This is why America is in the bad shape it‘s in. Politicians are not coming for the people. They are talking about themselves.
O‘DONNELL: Can I just get your answer? Your rent is not too damn high.
MCMILLAN: My rent, I pay rent. But the homeless people can‘t afford to pay rent.
O‘DONNELL: You‘re not in this for you.
MCMILLAN: No, absolutely.
O‘DONNELL: But your rent is not too damn high. You‘re in it for the other people.
MCMILLAN: I pay rent. I‘m in it for the people, all the people that lost their homes to foreclosures, the children who are sleeping in homeless shelters. This is why I‘m here. I‘m not the plain old politician. Something is wrong with America and this is what‘s wrong: everyone wants to get on and talk about them, what they are here to do. Where is the fight for the people.
That‘s why the Rent is Too Damn High Party has come to find for the people. People can‘t afford breakfast, lunch and dinner working eight hours a day and 40 hours a week and some a third job. (INAUDIBLE)
This is the problem. I will not fall down that same old political trend that everybody else had. The Rent is Too Damn High Party is different. That‘s the way it‘s going to be.
We can create three to six million jobs with the three to six treating on the sofa, but you can‘t do it if everybody keeps talking about themselves. People need to work. Mothers and fathers having to work three jobs and they can‘t afford to feed their children.
This is why I won‘t talk about me. I‘m a Vietnam veteran and my brother veterans are coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan homeless. Those are my brothers. I will not talk about me.
O‘DONNELL: All right. I‘m going to go home and watch the rerun of the show to figure out what you just said. But we‘re going to get you back to find out how much rent you‘re actually paying.
(CROSS TALK)
O‘DONNELL: Jimmy, thank you very much for your triumphant return to THE LAST WORD. You can have THE LAST WORD online at our blog, TheLastWord.MSNBC.com, and you can follow my occasional Tweets @Lawrence. That‘s tonight‘s LAST WORD. “COUNTDOWN” is up next.
END
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