Ed Schultz: Three GOP Governors Down in Polls – ‘It’s a Turning Point in American History’
MSNBC's Ed Schultz on Wednesday claimed that recent polls finding that three newly-elected Republican governors wouldn't win if elections were held today represented a turning point in American history. Not surprisingly, his far-left guests from the Nation magazine quite agreed with him (video follows with transcript and commentary): ED SCHULTZ, HOST: But, this is the story that has me fired up first tonight, folks: American voters are having, I think, buyers’ remorse with radical Republican governors in key parts of the country when you look at 2012. If the elections were held tonight, Republican Governors Scott Walker, John Kasich and Rick Snyder, they would all be out of a job. Last November, Walker in Wisconsin defeated Tom Barrett 52-46 percentage-wise. Walker would now lose to Barrett by seven points. In Ohio, John Kasich — well, he defeated incumbent Ted Strickland 49 to 47. And at this point, Strickland — well, I guess you could say he would just smoke Kasich by 15 points. And in Michigan, Rick Snyder, very radical, very anti-public education, walked to an 18-point victory over Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero last fall. In a hypothetical do-over — I like do-overs — Bernero would now beat Snyder, 49 to 47 percentage-wise. Now, in less than five months, has the light bulb gone on? Voters have quickly pivoted away from these radical Republican governors. This shift is taking place because Walker, Kasich and Snyder’s radical priority list is being played out right in front of our eyes and it’s getting attention. Scott Walker, he didn’t run on ending collective bargaining for public employees, but now that he’s shown his cards, he stands a real chance of being recalled. Now, 57 percent of Wisconsin voters oppose Walker’s radical policy. Only 39 percent support it. In Ohio, Kasich ran on job creation and low taxes — you know, the normal Republican thing. Now, he wants to sell state prisons, the state liquor licenses, and maybe even turn over the Ohio turnpike to the private industry. Well, but his attack on collective bargaining is really tanking him in the polls — 54 percent of Ohio voters are against Kasich’s attack on labor, and only 35 percent support it. Now, former Gateway CEO, Rick Snyder, sold Michigan voters on the fact that he was a job creator. Take a look at this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOV. RICK SNYDER (R), MICHIGAN: Fifty percent of the jobs lost in America in the last 10 years were lost in Michigan. How did that happen? Politicians gave us the worst business tax in the country. And regulations that made creating jobs almost impossible. I’ve created thousands of jobs. We’ll dump that tax. Thin the regulations. And jobs will come back. C.J. LEE: Rick is our one chance for jobs. (END VIDEO CLIP) SCHULTZ: One chance for jobs? How many jobs have they created? We’ll get to that story in future shows. Isn't that great? “How many jobs have they created?” They've been in office less than three months and this so-called journalist is asking how many jobs they've created. But that's just the beginning: SCHULTZ: Michigan has been killed by Republican policy that led to thousands of jobs being shipped overseas. Um, Ed – the previous governor was Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat that raised taxes and drove the state into the ground. But that's not important, because Snyder's been in office for almost three months: SCHULTZ: Ever heard of manufacturing in China? When Snyder was on the board at Gateway, they shut down plants in America and shipped those jobs to China. Snyder’s plan for labor? Well, you know what it’s going to do? It’s going to bring Chinese wages back home to the great state of Michigan. I bet they can’t wait for that. Almost 60 percent of voters in Michigan are against Snyder’s plan to strip public workers of collective bargaining rights. Now, get this number — if 300,000 people sign a petition in the state of Michigan, Snyder could be recalled as early as June. I tell you, it’s in the air, isn’t it? All of these governors got elected by talking about jobs and the economy. Obama wasn’t any good. They had all the answers. Well, now the pushback is very clear. And I think that this is a political turning point. I think that this is a moment that voters aren’t going to forget, because it’s a consolidated, concerted effort by these right-wing Republican governors to butcher — to butcher — labor in this country and in their states. Get your cell phones out. I want to know what you think about this. Tonight’s question: can Democrats capitalize on reaction to the radical GOP governors in the 2012 election? Text “A” for yes, text “B” for no to 622639 — or go to our new blog tonight at Ed.MSNBC.com. And I’ll bring you the results later on in the show. Joining me now is John Nichols, Washington correspondent for “The Nation.” Is this a political turning point in American history? I mean, you can’t tell me that all of a sudden there’s a group of Republican governors that are tanking in the polls, there’s demonstrations abound in all of these states. What do you think, John? Yep – some polls in three states concerning governors in office for less than three months are a turning point in American history. Not surprisingly, his guest from the Nation agreed: JOHN NICHOLS, THE NATION: Well, I think there’s no question, Ed. In fact, we’ve already reached a turning point. It’s just a question of how big a turning point it is. Yep – we've already reached a turning point. These polls on these three governors mean that the entire country has in less than five months shifted back to the left despite rising gas and food prices, exploding debt, a new war, plummeting home values, and continued unpopularity of ObamaCare. Republicans oughtn't even run candidates in the November 2012 elections – conservatism has ended in this nation because these three new governors have seen their poll numbers drop. But there was still more, because Schultz's next guest, Katrina Vanden Heuvel of the Nation – isn't it marvelous how he brought on two folks from the country's most left-leaning magazine rather than anyone that might actually challenge his cockamamie premise?!? – who after agreeing with him broadened the conservative bashing: ” We are witnessing a possibility of these House extremists taking us back to a time when we didn`t have child labor laws, or safety or clean water or clean air .” Yep – that's what Republicans are all about. They want to get rid of child labor laws as well as those involving clean water and clean air. And this is what passes for journalism on MSNBC.
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Ed Schultz: Three GOP Governors Down in Polls – ‘It’s a Turning Point in American History’
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on March 24, 2011. Filed under