MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

REP. KEITH ELLISON (D), MINNESOTA: Ed, how are you doing?

SCHULTZ: It"s - it"s embarrassing - I"ve known you for a long time.

ELLISON: Sure.

SCHULTZ: It"s embarrassing for me to ask you this question, but your response to this garbage?

ELLISON: Well, my response is that these are - this guy is one of the puppet masters here. He"s the one pulling the strings of people who want to be in power. So people who are progressive, people who are independent, they need to be involved. They need to get active because if we don"t get active, if we don"t get fired up about great candidates like Tarryl Clark, then we"re going to be dealing with these folks who actually have gavels in their hands and actually have some say so about the direction of our country.

SCHULTZ: How do you feel about your faith being targeted?

ELLISON: You know, I"ve got a little used to it, Ed. I got tough skin and these people do not scare me under any circumstances.

SCHULTZ: Tax money to Hamas?

ELLISON: Ridiculous, absurd, crazy. But that"s what I"m going to expect from these folks. They don"t operate in the realm of reality. They operate in the realm of fear. And they"re trying to turn Americans on other Americans.

And we demand our unity and solidarity as Americans. It"s OK to argue over different issues. We want to have people with differences of opinion. But when you start saying that these people because of their color, because of their religion, because of their sex, because of their orientation, it can"t be part of our body politic, that is a foul, that"s out of line.

And I just - and I think the best thing we can do is stand together and make - and just make them angry because of how unified we are as Americans and how much we feel that our diversity is important and valued, and how much all of us matter and how much all of us count.

SCHULTZ: Are Minnesotans - when you run into them, are they offended by this kind of stuff?

ELLISON: Yes, they are offended. But I just tell people, don"t be offended. Get organized, you know?

SCHULTZ: Will there be a good turnout?

ELLISON: There will be an overwhelming turnout. We are going to turn the people out. We are knocking on doors. We are making calls. We had 27,000 calls from my office in South Minneapolis yesterday. We are getting the vote out.

SCHULTZ: Will President Obama have a very positive effect?

ELLISON: I think he will. Because I think that he has done a lot in the last two years. He"s not given credit for the positive work that he"s done.

Look, historic health care, 32 million Americans are going to have healthcare that they"ve never had before. We"re filling in the donut hole.

We"re getting rid of -

SCHULTZ: You haven"t run from that?

ELLISON: No, no. I"m proud of it. I think it"s great. I mean, I"m proud that we"ve passed the Credit Card Holder Bill of Rights.

Do you really want these folks jacking up your interest rates without even telling you? We are doing something about it. And so the Lilly Ledbetter Equal pay, I am proud to have voted for women to have equal pay in America. I"m proud of it. I"m proud of it.

SCHULTZ: You - you need to hold a clinic for some other Democrats around the country.

ELLISON: Well, let me tell you, man. You know, we all run every two years so there"s never a term that"s guaranteed.

SCHULTZ: Yes.

ELLISON: So do the best you can in the term you"ve got and then let the rest of it deal with itself.

SCHULTZ: Minnesota"s Keith Ellison here on THE ED SHOW.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source