MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Well, Senator McCain, my next guest wants to do just that. Wants to bring you up to Michigan for a face to face. Congressman Gary Peters joins me tonight from Michigan.

Congressman, good to have you with us. Now you have written a letter to the senator from Arizona, have you not?

REP. GARY PETERS (D), MICHIGAN: That‘s right, Ed. Because, as you said in you‘re opening, I‘m a guy that believes that Chrysler is going to survive. In fact, it‘s not only going to just survive, it‘s going to prosper. And I‘ve got tens of thousands of people back home that believe the same thing.

We‘d love to have him come to Michigan and see firsthand what the American auto industry is all about and where we‘re going in the future.

SCHULTZ: OK. So what is McCain‘s mission in your opinion? I mean he was at some NASCAR event, of all places, to say something like that. Isn‘t he talking down the American worker?

PETERS: Absolutely. There‘s no question. I mean it was very clear. Both General Motors and Chrysler, had there not been the assistance that they got from the federal government, those companies would have been liquidated and millions of jobs would have been lost.

Senator McCain seems to think that that‘s OK, that‘s just the way the economy should work. But in these tough economic times not to stand behind the American worker, I think, is absolutely outrageous.

He campaigned on "America First" was his slogan. To me there isn‘t anything more American first than standing up for American workers, American jobs and the American manufacturing sector. And that‘s really what the auto industry is all about.

SCHULTZ: Well, it‘s interesting that you bring up the campaign because he pulled o out of Michigan a month before the election. He might be a little cranky about that right now.

But it would just seem to me that there‘s word that General Motors is going to be paying back their loan earlier than anticipated. How is Chrysler doing? Give us some positive news tonight in your opinion.

PETERS: Well, Chrysler is doing well. They just put--laid out their five-year plan focusing on some very strong products that have right now. They‘re a leader in the minivan market and certainly they have a very iconic brand, the Jeep brand, one that I drive myself. That continues to do very well.

And they‘ve got some very exciting products in the pipeline. Their partnership with Fiat will also allow them to expand into smaller cars, in addition to building on their strong truck, minivan and jeep platform so.

SCHULTZ: So McCain is out of line in your opinion?

PETERS: He‘s absolutely out of line. He shouldn‘t be making those kinds of statements. And I‘m looking forward to meeting with him. I sent that letter. I‘m willing and waiting. In fact I‘m in a Senate office building right now. If he wants to come out here and meet with me, I‘m willing to talk.

SCHULTZ: Well, I‘d like to get him on THE ED SHOW to ask him who is he for? The foreign worker or the American worker?

Congressman, good to have you with us tonight.

PETERS: Great to be with you, Ed.

SCHULTZ: You bet. Congressman Peters from Michigan.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source