Monster are up in arms after hearing her concert may be in jeopardy. It conflicts with the wizards playoff attempts on may 15th. Little monsters up in arms. Thats it for way too early. Morning joe starts right now. Shes not your typical candidate. Conservative joni ernst. A Lieutenant Army colonel who carries more than just lipstick in her purse. Joni ernest will take aim at wasteful spending. And shes going to unload. Oh and one more thing. Joni doesnt miss much. Give me a shot. Oh, my goodness. Good morning, everyone. Its tuesday, may 6th. Welcome to morning joe. With us on set we have morning joe contributor mark halperin. Hello. Anything going on in your life . Former treasury official steve rattner. And in washington associate editor of the Washington Post and political analyst eugene robinson. Tom just walked in as well. Hi. How are you doing today . Very dapper today. You as well. So big day today. We had jim gaffigan on yesterday. It was nice of him to come here. Part of a rollout. Yesterday he had his obsessed thing that he ripped off from you. Kind of twisted it up a bit. His entire face was made out of doughnuts. That was good. But of course that was all a big leadin today. Obsessed out in paperback. Yes, it is. It is out in paperback. And i still hear from a lot of people about it who have a very unhealthy relationship with food that can connect very well with
this book. And so well be talking about it more at a conference coming up in hartford. Oh, good. Thats great. Out in paperback today. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you. Very much. Im going to move onto news now. The president s minimum wage plan remains deeply unpopular among many Congressional Republicans. But yesterday one conservative leader said he is stunned by his partys take on the issue. Look. I voted for them when i was in congress. I authored one of the minimum wage alternatives. Is there any republican authoring this . I dont understand. Look, this is one i dont get. If the republicans want to go out and say were against the minimum wage, then make the argument to the American Public who believes we should have a minimum wage. Lets not make this argument that were for the blue collar guy but were against any minimum wage increase ever. It just makes no sense. Thank you. Wow. Yeah. I agree with Rick Santorum. How does that feel . It feels good. More hives . No. Rick was on the show last
week, said basically the same thing. We also had the former governor tim pawlenty here. Republicans probably want to figure out a way to strike a deal where they can get something in exchange for that that creates jobs. Like talking about keystone. Democrats need out of the corner on keystone. Republicans need out of the corner on minimum wage. And they can find a compromise. They dont want to be this year and two years from now strapped with 7. 25 around their neck. They just dont want to b the party of 7 an hour. I agree with you completely and they shouldnt be. Im all for negotiating and cutting a deal, i just dont understand why you would need one on this. Its fine. Take it. Because there are a lot of people who believe when the economys growing and im one of them. At. 01 or. 1 or whatever it is, its not moving fast. That you probably dont want to
jump up 3 an hour. That there are a lot of Small Business owners that will be hurt. There will be a lot of people and weve had this conversation before where youre actually going to be transferring when you make that big of a jump money from one group of four americans to another group of four americans. Because some people will, i believe and a lot of people believe, lose their jobs. It doesnt have to be a 3 jump now. You can move it up a little bit, index it to inflation. Make sure you dont go as long as weve gone without without a step up. Because then we have a conversation like this but we leave people if you debate this on and on, we leave people getting paid a paltry an unlivable amount of money. Thats also why i keep going back to keystone. Because thats about jobs. But democrats are back in the corner because a lot of their big contributors dont want keystone approved. They come up with every stupid excuse. Its an embarrassment. Even the Washington Post is talking about how dumb this
delay continued delay is. And its all for a bunch of rich donors and influential people. Why cant the democrats get out of the corner on keystone, republicans get out of the corner own minimum wage, come together and figure out a way to make this work. That is a jobs bill. And its all too logical for washington, as you know. That is exactly wla should really happen. We need a minimum wage increase. We havent had one since 2009. Economists will agree with you up to a point that there will be a loss of jobs, but on balance they think the people at that level of income would be better off with a minimum wage increase. On keystone, the fact is the oil is going to be produced anyway. Its a question of whether the oil goes by truck and maybe rail across canada and out to china and other places or whether we transport it across our country and get the Jobs Associated with it, get the use of the Oil Associated with it. The oil is going to be produced. People who are against keystone because they think theyre going to stop all of the oil are
wrong. Its irrational. It is extraordinarily irrational. The question, mark halperin, we get back to minimum wage because theres breaking news on keystone as well. But when we get back to the minimum wage, for me its so fascinating because blue collar republicans, a lot of them in pennsylvania who voted for Rick Santorum when he ran for senator the first time, they support the minimum wage increase. If you look at the polls, dig inside most polls, the Republican Party itself split down the middle on the minimum wage. But it doesnt break the way you would expect. A lot of Tea Party Members supported increase of minimum wage. The Republican Party is laughably without prominent marketable ideas on helping the middle class and the economy. Laughable. Theyre good at opposing the president. But Rick Santorum and tim pawlenty here the other day, they understand that the party must stand for working class americans. And thats one way to do it. And even if theres a political cost to them, obviously as you said, there are a lot of people in the Republican Party who would like to see an increase in the minimum wage. Steve rattner, when someone lives on the minimum wage if you can call it living is how close to the Poverty Level is that . It depends on the size of your family. But many of those people are under the Poverty Level. Were not talking about middle class here. Its just unbelievable. But also, though, a lot of working poor. A lot of people work at walmart file for food stamps. But its not like the overwhelming majority of people are on minimum wage are the primary wage earners for their home either. The average wage in america is about 50,000 a year. If youre a minimum wage worker youre making about 20,000 a year. Youre not in the middle class. Although if youre part of a
family and youre a supplemental wage earner, its a different thing. Okay. So now back to keystone. The senate is expected to take an Energy Efficiency bill today that could include an amendment for the approval of the Keystone Pipeline. But the white house has already signalled that president obama may veto the bill. Calling the potential keystone amendment and other amendments to block climate regulations unacceptable. But now lobbying groups have set their sights on lawmakers still on the fence over the keystone project. The American Petroleum institute has launched an ad campaign in five states urging senators there to approve the keystone deal. Among the senators being targeted, mark udall who is up for reelection this year. Washington. Its gridlock, division, bitter partisanship. But one jobs plan brings both sides together. Bill clinton and george bush say
build the keystone xl. Warren buffett too. So do 78 of americans and the wall street journal, usa today. It makes so much sense, even a divided Congress Approved it. Unions and businesses too. Tell senators udall and bennett, approve keystone xl. We were talking before saying republicans were laughable without ideas about working class, middle class americans. When it comes to the Energy Revolution and its already upon us, democrats are laughably out of touch with most americans. And i know that ad was put up by the American Petroleum institute, but they didnt put the words in bill clintons mouth or the editorial page of the Washington Post or the editorial page of the usa today. Of course the wall street journal is always going to support this. But they are so out of step on what is going to be the most Significant Economic Development in this country over the next 20 years. I wonder if the president
could go back whether he would have handled this differently. To be called out by the Washington PostEditorial Board that way it was harsh. And conversations with democrats, even ones lukewarm about the project suggest they see a credibility problem on this which is unnecessary. As steve said, really theres no argument against this on Environmental Impact given that all this is going to happen anyway. Its just a question of whether the United States is going to benefit from jobs. And the inability of the president to move on this not only in terms of credibility but in terms of being able to say were part of the Energy Revolution. This is part of the solution. Big mistake. But we know whats going on here, right . Youve got a huge block of single issue voters in the Democratic Party who have basically made this a litmus test. The poll shows its not even the voters. Its the donors. Its those dreaded brothers. It is the richest of the rich
that are concerned about this, the donor class. I want to get to gene. Gene, is the white house and are democrats so out of step here and completely disconnected . The one thing thats right thats been said there is theres a political calculation, but its not just rich people who oppose the Keystone Pipeline. Its environmentalists. Its young people. And thats, i think, the bigger political calculation here. Democrats are figuring you know, for example, organized labor generally supports the construction of the pipeline. Thats a big democratic constituency. Theyve got to get them out. But i think the calculation has been made that those people are going to come out and vote. That those people, theyre organized. Theyre going to theyre not going to vote for the republicans. Theyre going to come out and vote for the democrats. Young people on the other hand generally stay home in midterm elections. But gene, the polls are showing gene, the polls are
showing 78 of americans support this. With all due respect, you sound like somebody on the far right that had their head into background checks. Its bagging you to be rational and reasonable and not an ideologue by big money on the far left. It makes us sad. Listen to your editorial page. Be kwiequiet. Read our editorial page more often. It does not always treat president obama with kid gloves and opposes him on a number of things. Theyve been giving him hell about syria, been giving him hell about Foreign Policy in general. So its not like its always just kind of love pats from our Editorial Board. Youre right. They only think hes the second best president ever. Go ahead. But im look. You know, we always talk about politics here. And if if you can get young voters to vote in the fall, you
have a if youre a democrat, you have a much better chance of surviving than if you dont. Are young voters really going to vote . Young voters arent just want them to sign up for health care. Do you have any numbers on that . No, i dont have i dont think young voters hate jobs. They probably dont hate jobs. But if you talk about an Energy Revolution use the phrase revolution, im curious if you think that oil and coal is really the future of a revolution of energy. Exactly. Talking about wind, solar, and electric. Thats going to get their attention. Can i answer that question . Yes. Can i answer that . Yes, it is. Over the next 25, 30 years. People will look back 100 years from now and talk about how the United States of america were pushed with their backs against the wall and fighting one war in the middle east after another war in the middle east and they were seeing their Economic Standing in the world fall, theyre going to look back and see whats happened in north
dakota down to texas, west texas, and theyre going to say oh, my god. It was an Energy Revolution that i believe will actually build the bridge using bill clintons terminology, build the bridge to new energy innovation. Where coal and oil and even natural gas are things of the past. But should they parallel that now . Thats what we are. Were not going to run the largest economy in the world over the next 20, 25 years by chasing windmills, swinging at windmills and thinking that thats going to fuel this economy other the next 20, 25 years. And when you talk this way, you talked about young people. Steve rattner, ill talk to you. When you talk this way, the people you lose are the very working class americans that republicans havent connected with. Because this means lower energy costs. This means lower gas prices. This means lower costs for
manufacturing. This means bringing jobs back to america. And democrats just cant be overly ideological on this issue. If you go to a place like germany where theyve embraced wind, solar, imposed regulatory requirements to make this and use this stuff, people are miserable. They look at us with this envy and say gosh, we wish we could be america with all this shale gas and oil and all this. An oil glutton. Guess what. We live in a petroleumbased economy for the foreseeable future and having cheap gas and having access to our own oil is an unbelievable plus. But we do. We do. This is all going on and this is going to continue to go on. And in fact, the Obama Administration has been extremely supportive of the Energy Revolution happening in this country. The question is whether you take canadian oil and you bring it through our country or they ship
it out to china. I agree that they are going to be developed. I think probably after the election, i would not be surprised if the Keystone Pipeline would be approved. Im talking about the political case that i believe democrats are making for not doing it now. And as you see, its been put off, its been put off, its been put off. I think theres a political reason for that. Of course theres a political reason for that. Going back to what thomas said, steve, from what the president says, from what he said in the past, i actually agree with him and he actually agrees with me and im sure you agree with him and most americans agree with him. I support the all of the above approach. Of course. We need to push forward on alternative energy sources. But weve got an extraordinary opportunity right now for the foreseeable future to actually bring jobs back to america. But lets but two things on this. Lets acknowledge that the
decision not to approve keystone so far is purely political. Theres nothing about that pipeline that we have left to know about its Environmental Impact or about this or that. Okay. Okay. Ill agree. It was all political. Okay. But the second thing to know about the Keystone Pipeline is that every day as we sit here, the oil industry is finding other ways to get that oil out. They are building rail lines. Theyre using trucks. If this goes on long enough, theyre going to make the Keystone Pipeline a lot less relevant and a lot less profitable and a lot fewer jobs if we ultimately decide to build it. All right. Lets give thomas the final word here. Okay, fine. Thomas, what you say . Final word. There you go. You know what . Thanks a lot, joe. 17 minutes into the show, we have the republican primary in North Carolina today. Major developments in ukraine. So coming up on morning joe, shes running for reelection in one of the most closely watched races this year. Senator Mary Landrieu joins us
for an exclusive interview. Live in our 8 00 hour, senator john thune. Hes going to break a chair with his bare hands. Have a thing or two to say to him. Were also talking to one of the most renowned centerists author Christopher Buckley. And later the man behind one of the best shows on television. Creator and executive producer of hbos veep. Armando anuchi. And Julia Louis Dreyfus is brilliant. Up next, when are politicians most effective and powerful . Mark looeibovitz is here on tha. But first heres bill kairns. Effective and powerful does not come to mind, but go ahead. This guy is throwing fastballs now. What beautiful few days. It has been. Dont forget because the white house is releasing their Climate Assessment report during the 8 00 hour too. I know thats musthave reading for you. Thats true, actually. Hes right. Thats important. Thank you. Im writing i