Transcripts For CNNW Crossfire 20140310

They also have big differences with their partys establishment. The debate starts now. Tonight on crossfire Hillary Clinton ignores an attack from the Progressive Left as her Grassroots Army gears up. Youre going to hear me roar Chris Christie at war with the republican right. We dont get to govern if we dont win. On the left, Mark Lamont Hill. On the right, s. E. Cupp. In the crossfire, two potential 2016 candidates. Senator Bernie Sanders, a vermont independent, and former senator Rick Santorum, a republican. Whats better politics, pragmatism or purity . Tonight on crossfire. Welcome to crossfire. Im Mark Lamont Hill on the left. Im s. E. Cup on the right. Two potential 2016 contenders. Today the white house wants to make sure you know that the number of uninsured americans is back to 2008 levels. Thats according to a new gallup poll. Not much to cheer about in my vantage point. Most of these enrollees arent actually enrolled. They havent paid yet. Theres still not enough young people to actually make obama care work. Republicans wont be afraid to hammer the president over his signature legislation. When obama care was debated in congress we screamed from the roof tops that it just wouldnt work. We now know that this law will discourage millions of people from working. If you think that obama cares hurting our economy, it is. Marc, the more republicans deep laser focused on obama cares failure, the worse it looks for democrats in 2016. That would make so much sense if it were december 2013, but right now thats untrue. The number of low income people benefited by this is going up their incomes are going to go up. At the expense of 80 of the rest of the country. No, a minuscule numbers of a drop in the income for them. Most people will do just fine. The other thing is that people are enrolling no they havent all paid yet but many have and the number keeps going up. If you keep beating this drum there are going to be a lot of democratic nominees who win. Well take that bet in november. In the crossfire tonight senator Bernie Sanders and former senator Rick Santorum. Marc, since youre our guest host, ill give you the first question. Lets pick up where we were just talking, obama care is working. I know you already disagree. People are signing up and it seemed much more successful than we thought before. If you continue on this path of beating up obama care not only is it counterfactual but seems to be going against what most americans want. First off, it is not counterfactual. People are signing up in greater numbers, youre right but theyre still way behind targets. Who are signing up are older people and the insurance pool is going to be so skewed as a result of that premiums are going to skyrocket when you have older sicker people in the insurance pool and the younger people are opting out, it wont work out. If it was working that well why is the president continuing to delay the mandate . If this was such a great idea, he should put this in place for everybody right now. Its not working. People arent happy with being forced out of the plans they like and being put in a plan they have to pay for. Hes champing at the bit. I voted for the care. It made some progress. Rick may know this was originally a republican plan, a similar plan was put into effect in massachusetts by mitt romney. But heres, the United States today, and this is something we should be profoundly embarrassed about, remains the only country in the industrialized world that does not guarantee health care to all of our people and yet we are spending per capita almost twice as much as the people of any other country and our Health Care Outcomes in many respects are worse. So we have got to make a decision. Should all people have health care, how do we do it in the most Cost Effective way . I believe in medicare for all single payer system. Youve been very consistent about that, bernie, i give you credit for that over the years. What youre talking about is guaranteed health insurance. A different thing between guaranteed health n than health care. Everybody shows is up, you come to a hospital and you need care you get health care. So dont say that people dont get health care. Thats disingenuous because republicans talk about efficiency. Theres nothing more economically inefficient than a bunch of sick people showing up at a an emergency room without having health care. The evidence has proven that when you do provide a lot of this health care, costs go up and it doesnt change the behavior. A lot of the folks who have insurance now, lower income folks still show up at the emergency room in fact in greater numbers than they did before. All of this positive what will happen when people have insurance hasnt proven to be the case. Rick is right, a lot of people do end up in insurance in emergency rooms, at ten times the cost as opposed to going to a Community Health center, for example. We are way behind the rest of the world in terms of primary health care. We are losing, according to a harvard study incredible 45,000 people each year die because by the time they get to a doctor, it is too late. And it is also absurd that when people delay going to the doctor, what happens . They end up in the hospital at huge expense to the entire system. Weve got make a decision. Health care for all. Do it in an affordable way. Join the rest of the world. Senators, let me tie a couple things together here. Because income inequality is the issue that democrats are running on this year and maybe even into 2016. Well see. Yeah. Yet labor unions, some of the most vocal obama supporters, are now complaining that obama care will cause income inequality. Heres what they said in a letter they just delivered over the weekend to capitol hill. Only in washington could asking the bottom of the middle class to finance the health care for the poorest families be seen as reducing inequality. How are democrats going to do damage control over this . Well, some of us wanted to address that issue. It is a legitimate issue that the unions have, but in terms of income and wealth inequality, top 1 today owns 38 of the wealth of america. You know what the bottom 60 owns . 2. 3 . We are moving toward an ol ig arcic form of society and weve got change that. Sure, does obama care make that worse . Obama care look, im not here to defend every aspect of obama care. I believe in a medicare for all singlepayer system. Right r which is the most efficient way to providing health care to all people. Do you think the Affordable Care act has done some good things . I do. Hard to argue for something where the bottom twofifths of the country has an income increase based on the brookings study. The top percent youre concerned about, this raises the levels for the poorest americans. The poorest twotenths at the expense of the 80 of the country. Its not at the 80 it is. The income gap has widened under the Obama Administration because we have a Federal Reserve thats pumping up wall street and stock prices and real estate prices. Thats why this gap is getting wider because you have a president whose economic policies are destroying small business, destroying the entrepreneurial spirit in this country and destroying the jobs that, frankly, im really concerned about, which is the 70 of people in this country who dont have College Degrees and theyre not finding Economic Opportunities because this president s policies are actually oriented toward the rich not working individuals, not energy, not manufacturing, not those blue collar jobs that the president says he wants, but his policies say stay away. Look, the reality is that we have lost, in the last 13 years, 60,000 factories in america. 60,000 factories. Millions of decent paying jobs. One of the reasons for that is the disastrous trade policy, which by the way, has been supported by the democratic leadership and republican leadership. Forcing American Workers to compete against people in china or vietnam who are making pennies an hour. We have also seen in many ways, inadequate increase in the minimum wage so that you got most of the new jobs that have been created in America Today are low wage parttime jobs you have to have a job for a minimum wage increase to actually be effective. Thats right. Unfortunately a lot of people are out of work. Thats right. And that minimum wage increase wont affect them. It does long term because people spend more which creates more demand for jobs. It results in less hiring. Look, the bottom line is for manufacturing, there was a study done by the National Association of manufacturers, if you set aside labor costs, dont include labor costs were still 20 more expensive to manufacture in this country than our top five competitors. Why . Our corporate taxes are the highest in the world. Why . Because our Regulatory Environment with policy and ridiculous and overly regulated labor policy makes it hard for manufacturers to be able to location here and pay workers a good salary. So we need to have something done to create an environment where we cut taxes, cut the Regulatory Burden and bring manufacturing back, those jobs will come back. First of all, we dont pay the highest corporate taxes. Nominally we do. But the effective tax rate is not the nominal tax rate. In point of fact i guess it all depends on the manufacturer, right . It does. But as i recall the effective tax rate is not 35 . Its about 12 . Furthermore, one out of four, one out of four major corporations, one out of four major corporations pays zero in federal taxes. Because theyre stashing that money in the Cayman Islands and elsewhere. You and i will agree on that. I think we do need to cut the corporate tax. I suggest we cut it in half and eliminate all the loopholes. I have a gift for you. Yes. An actual gift. The republicans spent the whole weekend aiming at the wrong target. Next up, i will tell Rick Santorum who democrats really need to be afraid of. Gunderman group is a go. 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President obama has proven me wrong. Last time i checked and i could be wrong jimmy carter and president obama wont be on the ballot in 2016. Thats true. Republicans are making a mistake here and they wont stop targeting each other. Ted cruz and rand paul spent today fighting. It was fun to watch. Then senator santorum, you were also one of the targets. Ill let you listen to something Chris Christie said and give you a chance to respond. So please, let us come out here not only resolved to stand for our principles but lets come out resolved to win elections again. You seem to be right in the middle of it. What i say to that, yeah, i want to win, but we want to win to do things that are beneficial for america. I want america to win. And when you abandon the things that you believe are in the best interests for america to win, then who cares if you win . I mean, what do you win . You win something thats short of what you think is the best. So i think if you look at the last few elections republican nominees for president , they were folks who went out and by and large americans knew they didnt believe what the party stood for. And they pretty much apologized for most of the thins the party stood for. We need someone to go out there and articulate a positive uplifting vision of what america can be for average americans, working americans. We still believe in work in the republican party. So were going to talk about working americans and what we can do to create a better picture for them in their lives. People in the center of the party will probably say they want the same thing. Would it be affair assessment, your assessment that Chris Christie is willing to compromise Republican Values to win the election . I think we see a lot of establish republicans who are willing to throw over things that we know are good. I spent time at cpac this week talking about the importance of marriage. Not the definition of marriage, but the institution of marriage and how important it is for the economy. How important it is for men and women to raise children and to have dads in the neighborhood so they can maybe ben carson was on the program on cpac. He was raised by a single family, single mom, but there were men in the neighborhood who helped him. You got neighborhoods in america where there are no dads. We have to do something to reclaim marriage as an institution so kids have a chance to get the nurturing they need to be successful. Do you think Chris Christie disagrees with you on that or he doesnt talk about it enough . I dont see a lot of republicans going out talking about marriage. The point is they run from these issues. He may say i agree with it, but theyll never talk about it. Senator sanders, i want to acknowledge that theres also a rift in the Democratic Party and it doesnt get quite as much attention as the media likes to give the rift on the right but there is a rift between progressive democrats and maybe moderate democrats. Heres what you had to say last week about Hillary Clinton. It is important for leadership now to explain to them why theyre hurting and how we can grow the middle class. I dont think that is the politics of senator clinton or the democratic establishment. Is Hillary Clinton not the right choice for the Democratic Party . Ive known Hillary Clinton for many years, shes a friend. I like Hillary Clinton. The issue and i think rick touched on this yeah. What we need to do is not attacking people, we need to be analyzing what the problems are in this country and coming up with real solutions. And i have to say the media very often doesnt help us in that. The issue here is the collapse of the middle class and the fact that we have more People Living in poverty than ever before. Right, the Goldman Sachs walmart candidate Hillary Clinton not just Hillary Clinton. Goldman sachs and wall street play an enormous role in terms of both political parties. Very little legislation will get through the congress that is not approved by corporate america. I understand that Hillary Clinton is your leading candidate for president. Is he really the face of the values that youre talking about . I believe im not here to talk hillary. What we need is a candidate who will stand up for the working close, take on the big money interests, tell wall street that they cannot continue to dominate the politics of this country. That is i think what the American People want. Also what the American People want is to say were not going to cut Social Security, were not going to cut medicare, medicaid, but well ask the wealthiest people in this country to start paying their fair share of taxes and finally begin to deal with the very serious crisis of Climate Change and you and Elizabeth Warren than it does Hillary Clinton, ive got to say. The voters can decide that. But i think we need that debate. This country is in trouble. Heres my worry, senator. I worry na the voters have already decided. Seems like Hillary Clinton is sucking up the air in this president ial election. I want you to see this ad and get your response to it. Check this out. Because i am a champion and youre going to hear me roar that is an ad from the ready for Hillary Super pac that just came out yesterday. Were already sick of that song, right . The song is driving me nuts, but the Hillary Movement is also driving me nuts. Weve coronated her it seems and theres no room for a progressive candidate. The voters have not talked. The media has determined that hillary is the candidate. They decided Chris Christie was the candidate. Lets talk to the voters. What do the voters want . I think the American People now are tired of establishment politics which is dominated by big money interests. They want the working class to begin to get a break rather than just large corporations. Senator santorum, let me bring this back over to our party. Take a look at the results of the cpac straw poll. Whatever you think of that or however indicative you think that is. Rand paul is there at the top with a pretty sizable lead. And i think in large part that the lead because he connects on issues like spying program for example. Are you worried about republicans like you will have a difficult time reaching those millennial voters . Im really not worried about that. I disagree with the solutions but agree with the fact that painting a positive picture and laying out what you are for as opposed to harping. That is one of the problems i have with cpac. It is fun to beat up on barack obama, i like to do it. It is increasingly easy to do but not a good Election Strategy in the end. We have to paint the positive picture in a way that someone says he is talking about me. That is the problem with republicans. We talk about job creators all the time. It is always job creators. It is not about the job holder. We have to have i know it is hard for us, but we have to be able to talk in terms where we talk about policy. And it is not just about helping this person up here so someone down here gets help indirectly, but how we tie the two policies together is important. I know you want the positive warm and fuzzy message. I keep hearing republicans going hard against each other. Mitch mcconnell said i think we are going to crush them everywhere. He was talking about tea party backed republicans. A tea party backed republican is running against him. These things come and go. How would you respond . I would respond that the tea eparty has been a very positive thing. We wouldnt have the must just in the house of representatives if it wasnt for tea party in 2010. We wouldnt have gotten back to our principles that i think are important in the constitution. Tea party has been a very positive thing to energize the republican base. We have seen the establishment that i referred to. They dont like to be shaken up. I agree they are very much belonging to corporate interests. Let me Say Something if i can. Real quick. The tea party, i think rick is right in saying they have energized a lot of people. Once the tea party understands what the other funders believe in terms of cutting Social Security and medicare, a lot of these tea parties will think twice about republican leadership. We want you at home to weigh in on todays fireback question. If Hillary Clinton runs will she get a significant primary challenge on the left. Well have the results after the break. We also have the outrages of the day. I am outraged that adults have turned a child into a jerk. Its a growing trend in business do more with less with less energy. Hp is helping ups do just that. Soon, the worlds most intelligent servers, designed by hp, will give ups over twice the performance, using forty percent less energy. Multiply that across over a thousand locations, and theyll provide the same benefit to the environment as over 60,000 trees. Thats a trend we can all get behind. So i get invited to quite a few family gatherings. Heck, i saved judith here a fortune with discounts like safe driver, multicar, paperless. You make a mighty fine missus, mlady. Im not saying marks thrifty. Lets just say, i saved him 519, and it certainly didnt go toward that ring. Am i right . 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That moment you enjoy it at home. Stouffers. Made with care for you or your family. Welcome back to crossfire time for outrages of the day. Here is what im outraged about. Take a look. I dont have to listen to anything you have to say. Disciplined. What kind of question is that . Is he my son . Guess what, i dont recall. That was Justin Bieber being deposed in the lawsuit accusing his body guard of beating up a photographer. How the lawyers in that room including his own didnt smack him is an impressive demonstration of selfcontrol. Yes Justin Bieber is a punk and probably a terrible person but Justin Bieber did not solely create bieber. The reason is the adults in his life never taught him or demanded better. Now at 20 justin is responsible for his own behavior but shame on every adult in his life who only saw dollar signs. I disagree. How could you . I dont need those crazy fans against me. I have a real outrage. I am outraged about the special guest at a florida gun show this past weekend. George zimmerman shook hands and autographed photos of himself. Even though a handful of people showed up it is sad that we live in a world where a child killer is raised to the world of celebrity. Today hundreds have assembled at the capitol to challenge stand your ground. George zimmerman and allies found another way to thumb their nose at Trayvon Martins family. The debate continues online. From the the left im marc hill. From the right im s. E. Cupp. Erin burnett starts right now. Next breaking news in the disappearance of flight 370. The fbi analyzing evidence from the two men carrying stolen passports. The passengers with tickets purchased by an iranian middle man . What is the biggest weapon president obama has against Vladimir Putin . And live to the deck of a coast guard ice breaker. Lets go outfront. Good evening. Im erin burnett. Tonight we begin with