MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript
Interview
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Congressman Chris Van Hollen, Chairman of the DCCC praised the face
that the republicans couldn"t take the seat. Now the focus shifts in
November. Maryland Congressman joins us right now here on THE ED SHOW.
Congressman, this is one that a lot of people were watching thinking that
if the republicans couldn"t win this one, which one are they going to win?
REP. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-MD): Well that"s exactly right. This was
the one race in the country yesterday where you actually had a democratic
candidate against a republican candidate, and the republicans in this race
test drove their strategy for November, and they crashed.
They made the whole race about trying to make President Obama and
Nancy Pelosi the bogeyman. Mark Critz, the democratic candidate focused on
jobs. He focused on investing in the community, and he focused on making
sure that we get rid of tax incentives to send jobs overseas rather than
invest in jobs in America. So Mark Critz made a very clear choice.
SCHULTZ: Are we now defined as the people versus the corporations? I
mean last night in Pennsylvania the democratic establishment got it totally
wrong. Joe Sestak steps up, you know, he--it"s David and Goliath. He
didn"t have anybody on his side except the people. What do you make of
that?
VAN HOLLEN: Well that was certainly the issue in the special election
in Pennsylvania because essentially you had the republican candidate
following the same economic agenda and policies of the republicans in the
house.
It was a Washington republican economic agenda, which is essentially
the same agenda that got us in to the mess to begin with. And remember,
Ed, in the House, the republicans voted against all these bills. They
voted against Wall Street reform. They voted against health care reform.
They voted against fiscal responsibility. They voted against reducing the
role of banks and providing more--
SCHULTZ: I got all that. I don"t mean to interrupt you, but I"m
concerned that democratic leadership--how could the mayor of
Philadelphia, the governor of Pennsylvania, Senator Casey on this show last
night saying Specter was going to win.
The president, the vice president, I mean I"m a little concerned--
and I think progressives around the country I"ll take the liberty to say
that the question is democratic leadership listening to the people?
VAN HOLLEN: Look, Ed, I can speak to the House democratic leadership.
SCHULTZ: Yes.
VAN HOLLEN: We were involved in the House race. I will say with
respect to the Senate, you know, my understanding is when Senator Specter
moved over and helped deliver the deciding vote on the Economic Recovery
Plan, at that point you had a number of the, you know democratic leadership
in Pennsylvania rally around him.
I"m not defending it. That"s my understanding of it. Again, in the
House, we"ve been focused on the special election in Pennsylvania and for
that election, it was a clear early test of the republican strategy of
trying to make this all about Washington and the president and Speaker
Pelosi versus focusing on the issues and giving the voters a choice on
where they want to go and the kind of agenda that you"re talking about.
SCHULTZ: OK. Now do you feel a lot better, I mean there"s all this
talk about, you know Newt Gingrich out there, Boehner out there saying that
there"s an avalanche coming. You got to be feeling pretty good that you
might not lose anywhere near as many seats as the righties have projected.
VAN HOLLEN: Well, look, we know this is a challenging political
environment, but what happened last night certainly meant that the
republican hype about taking back the house and this being a 1994 wave all
over again, that hype ran into a brick wall of reality last night and the
brick wall won.
You know, Tom Davis, who"s the former chairman of the National
Republican Campaign Committee said if the republicans can"t win in that
kind of district, that McCain carried, then where is the wave?
SCHULTZ: That"s right.
VAN HOLLEN: That was his question, and we have the same question but
that doesn"t mean we you know, we still understand this is a tough
political environment. But if we follow through on an agenda for working
Americans, if we work on the jobs bill that"s before the house including
the provision that Mark Critz talked about in his campaign--
SCHULTZ: Yes. It"ll all work out.
VAN HOLLEN: -- which is to eliminate those tax subsidies for sending
jobs overseas. That"s the kind of agenda we need.
SCHULTZ: Congressman, good to have you with us tonight, and
congratulations.
VAN HOLLEN: Good to be with you.
SCHULTZ: Good to get the victory.
VAN HOLLEN: Thank you.
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