Ters hitting the streets to tell real people about our new 15 under 15 menu. Oh my goodness oh my gosh this looks amazing thats a good deal [ man ] wow it is so good [ male announcer ] our new maine stays 15 entrees under 15 seafood, chicken and more oo the tilapia with roasted vegetables im actually looking at the wood grilled chicken with portobello wine sauce. You so fascinated by the prices, you keep rambling on i know that pork chop was great no more fast food fridays so we gotta go were going to go to red lobster. Yep. [ male announcer ] try our 15 under 15 menu and sea food differently [ theme music ] announcer ladies and gentlemen, its the Stephanie Miller show im walking on sunshine woe ho im walking on sunshine woe ho its time to feel good hey all right now its time to feel good the Stephanie Miller show is brought to you in part by our friend bert levy author of the last open road. I am chris lavoie that is jacki schechner, and this is jim ward over here. Stephanie called in sick this morning, she called about an hour before the show and said ar ar ar. Good to see my plan is working. I had to plan to make out with her in new york. Alec baldwin couldnt make it to the sexy liberal tour in new york what he has strep throat. [ dramatic music ] because he was making out with Stephanie Miller show. No, because he is happily married. The only time that stephanie has been in the tabloids she has apparently broken up the marriage between box lightener, and melissa gilbert. Oh. Yeah, this was back in the 90s. Having an affair with which one . Back then it was bruce because she was totally in the closet. Okay. What has Hurricane Sandy been downgraded to a post cyclone kerfuffle. A post Tropical Cyclone thats a good band name. Sure. Thats not bad. They would be like an alternative rock band right . Yeah. A little heavy metal pcp. Ptc. A band name that will come out of brooklyn at anytime. I dont know. [ laughter ] im tired. Did we take you really off track there . Yes, exactly. Were taking your calls at 1800steph12. Were going to be checking in with John Fugelsang who is in manhattan. His power did not go out yesterday. But i guess everything south of time square everything lost power. You think about the weather and the actual impact of the storm, but i went through hurricane andrew in 1992 having grown up in miami, you go through a lot of these kinds of storms. When they are vicious like this theres really no way to prepare other than to hunker down and get your supplies in place. But you dont think about the downed trees and how long the power might be out. Right. Because the crews have to get to the sources, and thats difficult for them to do to restore power, and you think about the inconveniences of that. With andrew we were out of power for about three weeks, which is when it is really, really hot in miami people had to stay cool and in virginia where they have snow, you have to think about no heat. Thats right. Imagine that without any heat. A lot of buildings are heated with steam there, so right. That might be helpful, but you wont be able to use any sort of warming devices or space heaters, and in new york a lot of that is necessary. The Global Warming deniers is like, oh its a hoax now. Its totally absurd. But people need to keep in mind that just because the storm itself has passed doesnt mean the difficulties have passed. I hope because of the sophistication of new york and they are used to dealing with all sorts of unexpected emergencies that will hopefully will be up and running faster than expected. And they have a lot of resources to draw from. They have got their stuff together. Yeah and it looks like bloomberg is doing a great job. Yes, and Chris Christie, governor of new jersey doing a great job. He is saying the president is doing a great job getting him everything he needs. Thank god they are not playing politics. Right. He is not standing on ceremony, what a great, great opportunity to show really that they can Work Together in times of emergency unlike mitt romney. Well mitt romney doesnt have any opportunity right now to look president ial. He has nothing to do except for were just talking about he is calling these things Disaster Relief when they are clearly political events. Exactly. Obama i have spoken to all of the governors in all of these states we have prepositioned assets so that fema personnel are working closely with state and local governments. There has been extraordinarily close coordination between state, federal, and local governments. And everybody on the local level have backed that up. 1800steph12 is the number to call thats 1800steph12. Lets talk to don in florida about privatizing fema. Hey, don. Caller yeah, thanks for taking my call. I have a political strategy for ohio actually a democratic one. But romney is trying to do whatever he can to get any press coverage he can possibly get. These food thing, i heard he called these governors and all of this stuff. I know he has been running for president for the last 20 years it seems, he wouldnt even be in the picture but he is just trying to get his name out there, because obama and the storm will get all of the reaction. And it seems like him calling the governors would be just getting in the way. And what a coincidence he is doing this in all of the battleground states. Hell privatize anything for a buck. Yeah. One way to get rid of these gop people that are having a problem with the government you give them a government job with fair wages and good pay, and all of a sudden 90 of them wont have a problem with the government. Exactly. Lets go to jones in alabama. Caller how are you doing chris . Good. Caller this thing about privatizing fema that means they have a friend in the private sector that can go in and buy your home if theres no Disaster Relief if you cant afford to fix it. The top 1 can easily go into small towns where they have businesses and corporations and buy up the whole town around them. Yeah. The other comment i had was i love your show. I quit watching fox because of the venom that was spewing from their lips. Thank you, jones i appreciate that. Were probably more entertaining that mica, do you think . I have just seen her wear the same black sweater for the last three days. Oh geez. I have warn the same black tshirt for the last three days. Robo calls during the hurricane season. Hey, sarah. Caller good morning. I hope steph feels better. Us too. I hope she is her tomorrow because we have elvira and mark hamel from star wars. Thats great. I got to tell you, yesterday during the height of the weather, the storms we got a live phone call, and a robo call that mittens is going to be here in [ inaudible ] michigan. I heard fundraising emails but i didnt hear anything about robo calls. It sounds like he is still campaigning. Caller no not mittens. [ laughter ] yeah, thats a great point. We seem to be getting mixed messages from his campaign. I think he is missing that sensitivity gene. By suspending his campaign it means calling it Something Else. Did he go to costco and get the threepack shirt. Oh these are marvellous. The three packs that dont exist. Exactly. George in ohio. Hey george. Caller hey, how is it going over there at the Stephanie Miller show. Were doing there without stephanie. Caller i know. I know. We miss here. Caller yeah i do miss her too. Jacki is doing a nice job. Thank you. Caller youre welcome. My comment is reference to the [ inaudible ] just looking at the tv and saying i think ill hold my money and not give it to donation. Right. What were you saying there . I guess we missed your point. Caller okay. I was talking about the middleman that are watching the the millionaires. Caller yeah why arent they chipping in and sending money to the east coast and helping out. They should send it to the red cross. Yeah and president obama page directed people to the red cross to donate. So that was great on his part. Were going to be taking a break here. This is the Stephanie Miller show. Give us a call at 1800steph12. Thats 1800steph12. Were going to be talking to sexy liberal John Fugelsang live in manhattan next on the Stephanie Miller show. Announcer call stephanie now. Shes easy, 1800steph12. Just put a little bit of yourself in everything you do [ female announcer ] add your own ingredients to hamburger helper for a fresh take on a quick, delicious meal. Its one box with hundreds of possibilities. [ woman ] ring. Ring. Progresso. In what world do potatoes, bacon and cheese add up to 100 calories . Your world. [ whispers ] real bacon. Creamy cheese. 100 calories. [ chef ] maam [ male announcer ] progresso. You gotta taste this soup. n vo she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. Ok, so theres wiggle room in the ten commandments, thats what youre saying. vo shes joy behar. Current will let me say anything. Now you with announcer Stephanie Miller. You know me you know with announcer Stephanie Miller. You know me this is the Stephanie Miller show. I am not Stephanie Miller. I am chris lavoie. I am usually the producer of the show, but not today. Its not like you have to explain who you are. I know. But just in case people are tuning in wondering where stephanie is. She has strep throat. Dude. She called this morning, and she sounded like this. I had it in college when i didnt have health insurance. It does actually supposedly go away on its own, but antibiotics make it disappear very quickly. I think i had strep throat and scarlet fever at the same time when i was a kid. A spot of the consumption too. Ricketts. [ laughter ] any other obscure diseaseings extopic pregnancy too. Antibiotics knocked it right now. Thats right. We have John Fugelsang who is a manhattan resident but he never lost power last night. Thats just the power that John Fugelsang. It is. Ah, thank you. Its fun watching you on tv. Steph it is great to see you as a redhead. I was trying Something Else on. Notice she is sitting in stephanies seat. Indeed. I am glad that stephanie made it home okay from the big beacon show. We finally brought the big tour to new york city. How did it feel . It was amazing. I was there all day doing tech with the staff, and the beacon is such a historic theater. I have seen everybody from bob dylan to spinal tap there in that theater. Rob reiner was a riot. It was the first show we had both hal and aisha on at the same time. And lot of fun. I was able to shoot a lot of backstage stuff for current. Awesome. Did you get the sense that the crowd was really fired up in general, because when you were out here in l. A. There was a real sense of progressive camaraderie, and people were psyched about the election. Did you get that sense in new york too . Yeah i sure did. And in a way it is just kind of an extension of what stephanies radio show is all about. As much as it is about politics and comedy it is also about community, and letting progressives know that you are not crazy. The crazy bald dude with the feddish in the cubicle next to you, is not right. People just get a chance to hang out and laugh, and get [ inaudible ] with other people. Who is playing the piano . Yes, thats the ring tone on my cell phone. Oh okay. [ laughter ] im on a land line. I thought your baby has learned how to play the piano. So how are you doing in amongst the hurricane . Were great. The dangling crane is the big metaphor for saying this sing. And all of new york city is saying i got your dangling crane right here sandy. The loss of life is very, very tragic, but could have been much, much worse. Manhattan is a mess but the death toll is a lot lower than it could have been. You would like to think being on the island with all of the rich white people they would be safest here, but overall the city is going to rebuild from this, and the real question is does Chris Christie hate romney or does he really want to be president in 2016. Yes, Chris Christie was nothing but complementary of president obama this morning. Really amazing. While mitt romney is announcing the closing of more jeep plants today that arent. I would like to think if the president is smart hell be appearing with Chris Christie and bloomberg all day. Its great to see after we heard a lot about how the Obama Administration has reorganized fema and put a guy in charge of it who wasnt in charge of dancing horses. Last night there were National Guard troops all over the place, especially in jersey and they were deployed in both states and again, i think the real test of how this will be politicized begins now. It will be cleanup, rescue efforts, getting the folks who are stands especially seniors, and thats how state and local governments will be judged. I think really they are going to try to politicize this either way. If it goes well the democrats will celebrate, and if it goes poorly the republicans will try to smear it. Im so proud of new york and jersey, and i just its really amazing how people are just so tough in this part of the world, and manhattan is completely isolated from the rest of america, but what else is new . So well see what happens. John stay safe in manhattan, and thank for checking in. Well probably check in with you next hour. Ill be around. Thanks guys. All right. Thomas jefferson said that a successful democracy depended on an informed electorate. Our countrys future depends on you. To help you make informed decisions, watch current tvs politically direct lineup. Only on current tv. Take the time to learn about the issues. Dont just vote, vote smart. Announcer Stephanie Miller. Unbelievable. It is way too early for this guys. I havent even had my first cup of wine today. It is the Stephanie Miller show. Who he has his first cup of wine is rowland. Yes the sexy liberal tour manager. Yes, he is drinking warm cabernet . No its sovenion blanc. That and warm duck fat. Thats because what he chose because he didnt plan properly. Exactly. I think thats what fema provides. Yes he brought it encase he has to braise a lamb shank. Mom, i dont like duck fat. Shut up its all you have got. Yes. It is tuesday stephanie theres only one man that understands, that the author of video of america. Pierce Stephanie Charlie pierce Political Columnist for esquire. Com. Why is everybody always laughing with me charlie pierce. Duck fat now with extra franken berries. Charlie pierce thanks for joining us today. Forgive me if i dont sympathize with the warm duck fat on the east coast. You are in boston are you being affected by the hurricane . Not as badly as people in new york and new jersey we lost some power last night, and this huge tree well down but were in better shape certainly than a lot of places. Thats great to hear but i guess a cold front is coming in so it is getting cold there . Yeah, there is this arctic thing coming up. But i have given up on following that. Charlie you wrote about the storm judiciously yesterday, and you said that baby mitt romney might be able to figure out how to profit from the wreckage. The thing is he will hold himself above the fray despite the fact hes holding a rally today. Right. But there are so many elves in the hollow tree to do his work for him, that he doesnt have to get his hands dirty at this point. And Chris Christie is sort of immunizing the president at this point . Yes, he is doing a fantastic job. Yes, because we have to reassert that at every moment otherwise people will think that we should privatize this whole thing, like say, oh i dont know mitt romney did. But we had to catch up on the tv images on new york a couple of hours after it happened. And god bless those people at nyu Medical Center and stuff getting the patients out. Oh yes, heart breaking pictures of the evacuation of the hospital and the kids and the elderly people. If that crane falls on anybody at this point, its their fault. People who are Milling Around please dont show up with your your [ inaudible ] 2,000 and take pictures get the hell out of there. Yeah that thing is not looking good. It has not looking good for 12 hours, you have all of the pictures you need get the hell out of there. Charlie speaking of a dangling crane yeah. Paul ryan said he wants to offset fema help somewhere else in the budget. Of course. Anything they can do to get rid of the programs they dont like they will. Im not sure why this is a surprise to anybody. We had a test run with this with eric cantor a year ago. Yeah now that a hurricane has gone through the week before the election this is top of mind for people. It has got to be made top of the mind for people. Yeah. We are sitting in a nation that is now 50 50 to buy think single most important Political Campaign of my lifetime. If you are going to make paul ryans budget hostage issue, you have to get out there and do it. I feel the problem now is they have a couple of days to think about how to spin this. And i think they know they cant say they would destroy fema so there will be some sort of spin an etchasketch. Yes. Then if the president tries to come back hell get landed on as politicizing this. Right. But now they are trying to change his perspective from the primary. Oh of course. They are really good at that. And so far he has gotten so far, it is a week away and he got away with it. Yeah. Charlie in maryland early voting has been shut down yesterday and today, and other states what effect will this have on early voting and the election . Obviously theres nothing much anybody can say about i still believe nobody really knows how this thing is going to effect the outcome of the election. Except in virginia it is not really affecting any states that will materially affect the electoral vote. Yes. Unless something completely unthwart happens, the president is going to win, connecticut, and new jersey. But it is affecting the most liberal parts of new york state.