Transcripts For CSPAN2 After Words With Ellen Malcolm 201604

That is shakespeares world planting itself in north america and thats a complicated history and its part of the history of the country and also do what was good and bad about colonialism. Was he aware of the new world . Yes he was when he wrote the tempest he pretty clearly read a pamphlet which was about a shipwreck in bermuda that he makes reference to stories about the new world that were coming back. She never visited it and he probably would have grave information about it but when he uses the phrase like brave new world, he is saying that there is a place we havent explored and its overturning our expectations about what human beings are like and what nature is like. Thats something that is firing his imagination. Spinnaker was a portion of the tour booktv took the Shakespeare Library. You can watch the full tour online at booktv. Org. Book tv on cspan2 will be live from the Shakespeare Library at noon on saturday, april 23. This is to commemorate the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeares death. After words is next on booktv. In an interview with representative Maxine Waters political activist Ellen Malcolm talks with the creation of emilys list at the is the rise of women in politics. Host well hello. Guest hello, congresswoman. Host its good to see you. Guest likewise. Host i read the book the rise of women in american politics can and it brought back so many memories. Guest qaeda is dead. Host im so proud of the book and you should be very proud. It should be required reading in every college and university. What were you thinking about when you decided to write this . Guest we have had such a phenomenal change for women in politics on the democratic side at least over the past 30 years. And people have been asking me to write this book for years and i thought ive got to get the record out there on what weve done and how its changed and of course in the process i was remembering all of these remarkable women into these wonderful races and wins. The world was a different place when you look at the congress now. Three quarters are Democratic Women which were very proud of and they are making a terrific difference just as you are and you see them in action all the time. Host absolutely. And i think back about when i first came into office and if i want to thank you because i received the support from emilys list and has a matteroffact we didnt spend as much in those days, the 60,000 was huge and im very appreciative as many women are they just want to ask you i think it was last year, and its in the book when you walked into the room where thousands of women had gathered under the have gathered under the leadership of emilys list and we had that night i think Barbara Boxer was there and Dianne Feinstein and of course hillary is playing guest. What did it feel like walking in that room . Guest it was phenomenal. It was the 30th anniversary of the gathering of the women and members. They had announced the day before that she was retiring and i gave her a copy of the profile we sent out and she became the first Democratic Women ever elected to the senate in her own right. That was the first victory in its so poignant at that moment to have her retiring and then of course there was a lot of excitement because hillary hadnt officially decided whether she was going to run for president and at one point i said to the crowd do you want her to win and everybody left to their feet. Host i was laughing to myself into thinking what could she be thinking. She created us and shes walking into this room with obese women that have received the support from emilys list into the powerhouse of the United States it doesnt get any bigger than that but also a i thought about how thought about how did she come to believe that somehow she had the power to determine if it were going to be more elected to office and back she had to do something about it and the group you put together to say no more women simply someone in their own right wouldve you what did you think of these . Guest i was frustrated and angry and the group of us that work for the womens caucus and the equal amendment shared the frustration of why arent there more women in office we hear all the time about the women that would go to the Party Establishment and say im ready to move up to congress what you help me i have a district in a track record in support into the what kind entity with kind of leaned back and say you cant when we arent going to give you any money. Of course when they couldnt get any money for the women were stuck and caught and cant end this vicious circle they couldnt raise any because nobody believed they could win. So this group of friends of mine very simply said if we told the people the new we could raise a lot of money for them but starting at work and figure out how to do that so we began with 25 people sending out letters and it was a far cry from the 30th anniversary celebration. Host is that when you decided to name its emilys list . I thought that was the name of your mother or something. Guest some people that i named after myself and i said no, im telling. We did that because we wanted to raise money and we thought if we gave women credibility by raising that really money than they could go on and raise the additional money they needed to win. So we were like little political venture capitalists were going to go out there and we were to kick starter for women and emily stands are early money is like yeast. We make the dough rise and weve been doing it ever since. Host can you repeat that one more time . All the people you supported will supposedly know what it means them think its the name of her list or something. Guest it is an acronym that stands for early money is like yeast and we make the dough rise. Host embarking on what you embarked on of course you had wonderful when you have a disappointment you described in the book and i think that it was. The first race in 1982 that galvanized us. We were so angry that she had one in the senate race because the democratic establishment never believe she could win a u. S. Senate seat. They withhold the money, she ran out of money in the last couple of weeks and lost by 25,000 votes so they missed the opportunity to pick up the seat for democrats. We were so disappointed by that we were motivated to change that and in 1986 when the first election came along, carry it ran along again with mikulski but didnt win this event was a tremendous disappointment. She went on to hit up the National Political caucus to do so much for the women in missouri but of course the victor was senator mikulski. Host my heart was breaking when you describe how much she described how much she had done up until election day. They showed all of that and if she had only had the money to put in she could have won that race and as it turned out she actually lost in the last day or two. Guest cheated and it is so negative in the campaign now that was happening back then, too. When the candidate doesnt have the money to defend themselves and go back and set the record straight and remind people that are positive reasons to support and than they just become sitting ducks and that is what happened so she was doing great and she was up in the polls and was actually pulling right into the lead. So it was a terrible thing in 1982 and we are sorry she didnt make it in 1986. Host you could describe the rise of the National Womens political caucus. Spec thats how he first knew about you when you were in the California Assembly and you are active in the caucus. You and the group of people were working to get equal division so that the women were equally represented in the Democratic Party commissions and functions. So, yes. There was a real activist ground and another person that ive learned about was ann richards. She wouldnt have become governor had they not gotten to support it wasnt remember that speech . Guest she had two classic lines that brought her to the financial stage. One was poor george referring to george bush running for president , senior george bush. Poor george, he cant help it he was born with a foot in his mouth. [laughter] and they never forgave her for that. Guest than the other one that is such a classic now is Ginger Rogers did everything only backwards and in high heels. [laughter] host she is wonderful not only i loved her because of course she was confident and capable and all that but she shared her life with all of us. Guest she had a real struggle with alcoholism and stopped drinking many years before she ran for office but she was very open about it. In the primary that she was in, her opponent attacked her for it and get all these innuendos about the drinking and doing drugs and things and emilys list members are the biggest funder of the primary race so we stayed with her through that and all the way through the election. Host i think now people appreciate the openness and honesty. She was a star for all of us. But of course you talk about a lot of the women in the movement at the time and of course my friend. These women that are active and i think about it today when we talk about issues like equal pay for equal work. Back then we were on top of those issues and some of the other women think it is kind of knew that this is just Getting Started but im sure you have memories of guest i do in one of the reasons we support only Democratic Candidates is because the wonderful congresswomen had a lot of things to help the good men and the congress to help promote the issues to support women and when Ronald Reagan came in in 1980 and the republicans took over the senate, they started undoing all the things that we were now trying to get so we said when we started in 1985 and kicked ourselves out there we said it matters who chairs the committees and sets the agenda and has the ability to control the legislation has voted on so we decided to support only Democratic Women. We were the First National organization to support Democratic Candidates. All the other organizations before that were bipartisan. So now you see this huge divide and its very simple to understand why we might support democrats but it was a brave move back in those days. Host not only were you supporting one of the National Level but he went on at the state level into this example of a woman who was the head of the Reapportionment Committee is a good example of how the women and the positions to their physicians to make the Public Policy can create change. Guest i was just in florida talking about the book and there is a wonderful woman there who in 1990 was in the Senate Leadership for the Democratic Party and she said if you help me elect some women we can take over to become the majority and then i will make sure that we draw a good Congressional District. So in 1992, the Congressional District Line Committee was chaired by Karen Thurman and had great districts for karen and carrie meeks from miami and we ended up electing Corrine Brown during the that time so we elected three new women from florida because of the work that we have begun as the first time to do a little help at the state level to ultimately get more women into congress. Host that is a real example of power and organizing to exercise power so in all of this, you know, all members take a picture. How many women do you count having been elected because of emilys list . Guest lets me put it in context because i love the difference. There have never been a woman elected governor of the state until an. There were 12 Democratic Women in the house out of 435 members of the house we were about 5 of the democrats in the house. Republicans were the same level and thered never been a democratic woman elected to the senate in her own right. What we have is a loving Democratic Women governors during that time. The 12 very lonely Democratic Women in the house. Weve added 110 and it was phenomenal. And of course weve helped 19 Democratic Women get elected to the senate so on the democratic side, there is a shift of women in the room and ensure you see it with the Democratic Caucus coming together and who is going to be the leader. Theres a lot of women making sure. Host and i tell you arent you proud of nancy pelosi . She has done a phenomenal job. In my estimation of course with the speakers i experience and even before that she emerges as perhaps the most powerful speaker that ever lived at the house had so she has done a great job. Guest shes a brilliant strategist just as can be and when she was elected the leader to the leader when the people were going to challenge her, she had had two political bases when was the california congressional delegation and then all the women we helped elect the house when she was sworn in there were 50 Democratic Women in the house on the floor that they are. So i was there and i was so proud and excited. Host she has been true to her efforts for women. She supported women, shes organized women, she still tries to pick out a so shes doing emilys list good to help encourage women to run a. How much have they raised . Guest i think it is more than 400 million. Which shows what happens with early money that is like yeast. Its amazing because when we started there were not political donors. They didnt write checks to politicians and Barbara Mikulski said i would do anything to get the money she said i had to bake sales, bowling, barbecues and they would get five or 10 but that was sort of get a. We have to show that it was okay to give to politicians they wanted to support and we would tell them a lot about what was going on in the campaign, but really doing with the money so they have a lot of confidence about where they were investing in over the years we turned it into this powerful financial resource about 90 of the money comes from women. Host absolutely and if you could describe in a little bit more detail how you recruit the women and put together the information and get it out how does that process work . Guest we invented political fundraisers back in the 80s and they still are a huge force legislative agendas. We have to get more help for the women to give them credibility. And our members are smart people. So, instead of just contributing why dont we raise money for them, so in the early days i would go out and do events and i would say we want you to be members of the list to pay 100 to be a member for two years and we would give you information running for office. There will be women but the chance of winning. Youre not going to waste your money and we will give you information instead of a profile that tells you all about what is happening in the race with the opponents into than what the candidate positions were all kinds of issues and then each member could decide. I like this candidate, i will make my check to her so then you could raise 100,000 as opposed to the 5,000 contributed. And it revolutionized politics. Host if she were absolutely did. And so, i was looking at some of the more recent women that have been the beneficiaries. We camped about everything but i was there and i went to help her out and of course emilys list ran the campaign. Basically blind date code one was an africanamerican woman in the state representing milwaukee. The urban core milwaukee. She was wonderful on food stamps and issued housing but she had no capacity to raise money. She didnt do specialinterest politics. So she was running in the open seat primary. The winner would go to congress and the political establishment said we have this guy whos going to be the front runner. He is tacitly supported by the governor by the strongest man in the congressional delegation. So how do you get this poor africanamerican woman to be a front runner but everybody is convinced of that will have the political support. And emilys list and the incredible Grassroots Network got together and it was a phenomenal opportunity to add a. She ended up beating him over 60 of the vote and the political world was in shock. Its a wonderful story. Host its a wonderful story to read and i want you to know as you were describing her and what she cares about she just had a conversation with me and said you know ive got to do something about welfare. I love serving the Financial Services committee but im thinking about going to the ways and means. I just feel this is my responsibility to do it and she is willing to even give up seniority to go and do that work and im proud of her because not many people want to do that work and she is just the woman that you were describing. Host christian who comes from arizona and who comes with a very wonderful background is a very smart woman comes from a state that is basically conservative and shes been able to come and, you know, make her mark so what kind of growth do you see from the first time you met us until watching some of the new women come in . Do you think that we have grown in sophistication . I could imagine seeing some of us when we first started thinking youre going to do the best we can. One of the things ive been delighted by what is that theres a whole group of you that have been in the congress now for quite a while and youve gotten a lot of seniority so you have the position of the Financial Services but we see that that both inhouse and in the senate and that is why barbara was the chair of the Appropriations Committee with the democrats in th