Transcripts For CURRENT The War Room 20130815 : vimarsana.co

CURRENT The War Room August 15, 2013

Ousted president morsi. The violence has put the president in a very tough position. While we want to sustain a relationship with egypt, our continued cooperation cannot continue as usual when civilians are being killed in the streets. Michael he has canceled a joint exercise because its probably not a good why the to conduct joint exercises with people who are killing its people in the streets. But the president did not mention the word coup or the 1. 5 billion in aid that the u. S. Gives to the egyptians every year, most of which goes to the military. Obama made clear he feels damned if you do, damned if you dont. He pointed out many egyptians blamed the u. S. For supporting morsi while he was in power. America, the president said, cannot control the outcome in egypt. We want a peaceful democratic prosperous egypt. Thats our interest. To achieve that, the egyptians will have to do the work. Michael after the events of the past few days that work has become much, much harder. Joining us one last time inside the war room is bill press, host of current tvs the full press show, and Jason Johnson, Senior Editor of 365. Com. Bill, back to you. Its always good to see you, bill, and i know that you had your last current show today. We might as well talk about it now. Where can people live stream your show Going Forward . Tomorrow morning bill press show. Com we were a radio show before current tv, we will be a radio show after current tv. The show must go on and starting september third we will be on free speech tv, and on talker. Tv so people can still watch us on tv. Just a different channel. And stream us online and listen on the radio including right there in san francisco, michael. Michael yes, exactly. And bp show. Com is the twitter for bill. Is there any good option on egypt . I think there is a necessary option. This really does put the president in a tough spot, between a rock and a hard place as they say, but the think the Administration Made a mistake by not calling this a coup from the beginning and then suspending aid from the beginning. To tell the military please dont do this again, which we did when they massacred 75 people. Now i heard this is going to climb to a thousand or more. You gave the count of 630. They paid no attention to our plea for none violence, or plea to stop it. Listen, they are killing people with our weapons and our bullets. This is a distres disgrace. I think we should cut off aid today. Michael i couldnt agree with you more. Its not the money that will start or end anything there. The money should be doing something symbolically. Thats important. There is a since in the end of the day that the u. S. Will fall in line with whoever comes out on top with egypt. Is that true . Yeah, probably. This administration doesnt seem to be about the business of nation building. And the way not only the Bush Administration but most previous administrations have. Whoever comes to power as long as the United States believes theyre going to be relatively stable, we would rather have the bully that is always going to be there on the Street Corner than the thug that changes every other weekend. Unfortunately, i think thats what we end up doing. Whether we take our money there or take our foreign aid out, were just seeing a gestation process of any country that goes through change. I dont think there is much we can actually do unless we put boots on the ground, and no one wants that. Michael that is the point, nobody does want that. It remains obviously to be seen, but its a great point about turning this over to somebody who will be there all the time no matter how unsavory that might be. I want to move to something that is close to our earths. August 28th is the 50th anniversary of the march on washington and this speech. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character. I have a dream for them. Michael bill, if dr. King were with us today as sometimes silly hypothetical, but i think its important, what would he tell progressives to focus on . What is the fierce urgency of now, as he said. I would defer to jason on this, but i would say two things from my perspective. I want to point out that the legendary iconic john lewis is going to speak at that 50th anniversary, and he spoke at the first one. I think hes the last of the speakers alive who spoke there. I find that so thrilling and so meaningful. I think john lewis and Martin Luther king jr. Would say two things, number one, lets remember that that march on washington was about jobs and economic justice. I think thats one thing that Martin Luther king jr. Would be telling us today. There are too many in this country who are out of work, who have not seen their real wages gone up in the 10, 15 years. 47 americans living i47 millio, and the Supreme Court is teaching this, and 50 years later were still fighting over the basic freedom of voting rights. I mean, that is uncalled for. Just unbelievable. Michael and you know he would be there on the ground in North Carolina. Jason, jim crow is no longer the law of the land, but Americans Still live deeply segregated lives, in our neighborhoods, or workplaces, our schools. Is there anything in our agenda that addresses this or do we need to focus more on it . There always needs to be more focus on it. If Martin Luther king jr. Were to come back alive today he would be disgusted with the amount of segregation that we still see. He would see the movie called the butler and say, my goodness has that much really changed . And he would look at income and he would say i cant believe you havent gotten anything done in the 50 years ive been dead. I think what the Progressive Movement needs to remember and in particular remember what this president is to continue to light fires under the feet of politicians to stay angry and passionate about these issues. Its not like you can fix income equality. Its not like you can gist fix racism. These are rain leaking through the roof. You have to constantly patch it up or well flood the home. There is a belief, unfortunately, that some of these problems get fixed, and we can move on rather than realizing theyre ongoing struggles. We had Christine Pelosi on yesterday, oh, we elected a black president , so all of our problems are over. Thats not the case. He has been tepid on issues of race . If so, why do you think that is . You know, i dont want to fire president obama. I will. He does receive criticism. I dont think he has been as outspoken as he could be. He certainly condemned the Supreme Court decision on voting rights, but i didnt see the passion, or as jason points out, he sticking to these issues and making imakingmaking it the hals presidency. Then people will say, youre just being a black president rather than a president for all americans. But i think we need more leadership from him, and thats what i would like to see. Michael jason, ill let you have a quick shot at that one. Of course he could work a lot harder. He could be a black person and standing up. Its his constituents. Its his job to push policy for the very people who fight to get him in office, whether its conservative christians, women, africanamericans, and president obama has been lacking in that area of his strongest constituency group. Michael it has been a treat to hear your input on politics. I want to ask you to give us parting wisdom. What are some of the biggest story that our viewers should follow Going Forward. Bill, ill give that to you. Oh, wow, you could have told me that ahead of time. Michael i was going to, but they said lets not. I think its we should be who we are and fight who we are and continue to fight the idea ideae believe in. Its economic justice, global warming, making sure that every american enjoys complete fullness of the rights of the constitution and the american dream. Conservatives never give up, they never bend over. They never stop fighting. I think we liberals kind of coast, and we cant do that. We have to maintain the strong fight. Be proud of who we are and fight like hell. Michael people should exactly listen to what bill press said. Jason, you owe me a dollars because you had time to think about your answer. Im going to say this, you said the biggest story heading forward. Demographics are destiny. Were going to look back on this time period, and were going to see the last screaming, fighting, pouting of a small shrill group of racist americans who want to stop america from becoming what its going to become. No matter what any of us want to think or believe, this country is becoming younger, browner and more progressive on racial issues, more progressive on economic issues, more progressive on sexuality and gender issues. While one side may want to stop what is happening, and politicians who claim they support them dillydally, its the future. And our policies should fit how this country is going to become rather than screaming, yelling and kicking what we might want it to be. Michael nonno one wondered y i wanted Jason Johnson on my last show. We had bill press from the bill press show and Jason Johnson from the 365, thank you for being on our last show. Well take more swings at our old punching bag. And they say never bring a knife to a gunfight, but theyre armed with the truth. Thats the threat to the gun lobby and their big money. And then congratulations, bob philner, youve won your very own award. Brett erlich will present it here in the studio. He didnt want to hand it to you in person. Its the final hour of the war room. And we will be right back. Did anyone tell the pilgrims they should selfdeport . No, they said make us a turkey and make it fast. laughter . She gets the comedians laughing. Thats the best thats hilarious. And the thinkers okay, so there is wiggle room in the Ten Commandments is what youre telling me. Shes joy behar. Ya, i consider you jewtalian. Okay, whatever you want. Who plays kafka . Who saw kafka . Who ever saw kafka . laughter . Asking the tough questions. Chris brown, i mean you wouldnt let one of your daughters go out with him. Absolutely not. You would rather deal with ahmadinejad then me . Absolutely singing i take lipitor, thats it. Are you improving your lips . laughter . When shes talking, you never know where the conversation is going to go. It looks like Anthony Wiener is throwing his hat in the ring. His what in the ring . His hat. Always outspoken, joy behar. And the best part is that current will let me say anything. What the hell were they thinking . Only on current tv. [ theme music ] michael what the future holds will depend on who you ask, and for one last time well ask Michael Tomasky from newsweek and the daily beast, he joins us from washington, d. C. And new anchor offal jazeera, david shutser, he comes to us from new york. Thank you for joining us, i mean it. You have both have been a big part of the show. The republicans are in a battle for the soul of their party. David, how do you see this playing out. Ill answer that in just a second. But first, congratulations to you, everybody at the war room, new particular, michael, have done an amazing job for w this show under the last six to eight months under sometimes difficult circumstances. I know this is not the last time the world will hear from team michael, and were all glad to be part of it, and always honored to be working with you. Michael thats very kind. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much. You got it, now regarding republicans, the future of the republicans, i think, michael, on something that you said many times before. It depends on whether the Republican Party is going to go the way of the tea party and go to that extreme right wing position in places like North Carolina and texas, or are there going to be adults in the party and say, we cant win this way by alienating hispanics, africanamerican voters, women voters. If the Republican Party is not willing to make that choice i think theyll just keep drift together right and theyll be in a world of hurt in the next several elections. Michael did they realize this . We realize it from without, and you and i, michael, talked about this a little bit. We dont want to let them in on the secret, but it seems they dont even know about it. I dont know, i think they do know about it. By the way, i second everything that David Shuster said. It has been great fun to do this show. Michael thank you. You know, they know it, but there isnt that much that they can do about it, maybe. There are a couple of things they can do about it. They can nominate someone in 2016 who does have more appeal across ideological lines. That means, i suppose, that only means chris christie. It might mean jeb bush. Those are the only two out of the bunch that is discussed that i could see have any chance of any crossover appeal. It strikes me that the Republican Base, and the extreme part of the Republican Base, by the way, not the whole Republican Base, but the extreme part of the Republican Base still call the shots in that party. They still call the shots of congressional republicans. As we saw in 2012, president ial candidates have to pander to that part of the extreme part of the base. I dont see how that will be different in 2016. Theyve lost two elections in a row. They would probably have to lose a third, i would bet, before they shake up things. Michael thats an interesting way of looking at it. That may be when the realization tart to kick in. Yesterday we talked with Christine Pelosi about the potential for the democrats to regain control of the house in 2014. Do you think this is possible . Do you think they can even hold onto the senate or come back to win those five out of six seats that they would need to turn the senate . I think with the senate its possible. I think its tough for the republicans to get to six. I think the house will be difficult for the democrats because of the way the redistricting is done. The number of competitive house races for democrats or republicans in the headtohead matchup are just shrinking, so the battles lines are futur fewd farther to be seen. There is a ground swell of leaning republican districts, i think theyll continue to lean that way. Its a tough stretch, but you never know. We may be ready for another sort of major election in a Midterm Election where maybe its an issue that we havent yet thought about in terms of the news cycle. Michael that is a big part. Were still so far ahead of election day. Michael, its the last show and were talking about bigger issues. A lot of people consider Immigration Reform as one of the make or break issues facing the republicans. How do you think this debate is going to play out nationally as we get into this electoral politics stuff . I think theyre going to pass something but something that is small, conservative, and very tailored to that pace that i was just talking about that will either not include a path to citizenship or will include a path of citizenship that is so full of rocks and other items along the Obstacle Course that its not even going to be seen as a genuine path to citizen chicagcitizenship. Thats probably what theyre going to do. In other words, no bill. It will be seen largely by most americans, it will be seen as their fault that there wasnt a bill, the fault of the house republicans. Immigration reform is not the kind of thing that you can come back and do next year. As you know it was tried in 2005. It failed. Now its 2013. Every eight years thats about right, thats about what it takes to do a big bill like that. So theyre going to lose any chance at occurring any favor among latino favors for many years, for a long time. Michael its something that they need to Pay Attention to. As the shifting demographics happen in their electorate, theyre going to be left rutterless on this issue, and it seems like such a nobrainer. I will end this show not understanding exactly how they approach that issue. I want to shift gears now. I want to talk about jack germo germond. A great journalist. I read his books. I saw him on television. I was interested that was interested in horses. You wrote about how political journalism has changed during germonds time, and i want to see how you see changing Going Forward. Its interesting that you sought your first fake i. D. Not to get into bars. Michael yeah, its all about the ponies. I found my way to the bar afterwards. I grew up in new york city. I could walk in a bar without a fake i. D. Any ways. Yeah, true. I think jack whom i had the privilege of meeting just one time but had a lovely conversation with, i think he represented a kind of big voice on politics that we dont have that much of today. In some ways, in many ways i think consumers of news and political junkies are better served today. There are so many sources of news, so many places to find out, so much more information than you could find out back in the 1960s and 70s. And i think the country and consumers of news are better for it. However, i do think that jack and his cohorts, they were a high priesthood, if you will, of punditry, early punditry. I think they were a better high priesthood than the high priesthood we have tray. Todays high priesthood, they make too much money, frankly, theyre part of the 1 , and the way they talk about issues reflects the fact that theyre part of the 1 . Jack germond and his buddies were not part of the 1 , and they reflected th the others better. Look, i think quality political journalism will stand out. It will still make a difference. It may come out in different forms, the internet, blogs, but the think the quality of journalism will make the coverage interesting. Its the free market capitalism that the best products will still get attention and good writers and journalists

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