MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript

Interview

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Joining us tonight is South Carolina Congressman Jim Clyburn on the Democratic leadership team. He traveled with president on Air Force One and was at the memorial service last night. Congressman, good to have you with us tonight. You have seen a lot in your career and in your lifetime. Do you think this is a moment to change the tone in Washington? Do you think anything will change?

REP. JIM CLYBURN (D), SOUTH CAROLINA: Well, thank you so much for having me, Ed. I have seen a lot. And I do believe that what the president said last night and the way that he said it gives us a tremendous opportunity to change the tone here in Washington.

I feel very strongly, from what I"ve heard, that the tone in the country could very well change as well. I know that everybody always talk about when it"s the right time. It"s kind of interesting, but we"re going to be celebrating this weekend, the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. And he admonished in his letter from the jail that time is neutral. Time is never right and it"s never wrong. Time is always what we make it. And he also told us that time is always right to do right. And so the president did the right thing last night and as King told us, the time is always right to do the right thing.

SCHULTZ: Congressman, that"s a very profound point and I know our audience appreciates it. That is a great starting point to try to get people to heal as a country. But next week there"s going to be a health care debate. They want to vote to repeal what is going to help millions of Americans. Will that debate be different, in your opinion?

CLYBURN: I hope so. I am a realist and I am a politician here and I know that politically, the Republicans need to have this vote. They promised their constituents when they were running that this is what they would do. They would vote to repeal it.

So let"s have the vote. That"s not the problem. The problem is what kind of debate, what will be the tone to the debate? Will we really have a civil debate? And if you disagree with me that health care ought to be a fundamental right, then let"s lay out our discussions. Let"s not have these misrepresentations. We know that the fastest growing industry today is in fact the health care industry.

They are creating more jobs in health care than any place else. You talked to the hospital administrators, as I have, and they are, in fact, hiring. And they do feel good about this bill. So I don"t blame them for having to vote. But I will blame them if they have this debate that will do nothing to add to the bottom--

SCHULTZ: They have sworn to repeal it so I"m sure they"re going to be passionate about it when they do it because they"ve got to explain why they"re doing it. Now you were very critical of Sarah Palin. And yesterday, she chose to release an eight-minute video trying to look presidential, in my opinion, and of course her tone was attack the media. Your thoughts on--now that we"ve been able to digest this for the last 24 hours, no matter what you think of her, she is a leader in the Republican Party and a leader for the Tea Partiers. What do you think that she did or did not do to help the country?

CLYBURN: Well, I don"t think that she did anything to add any clarity and civility to the debate. The term that she used--

SCHULTZ: Blood libel.

CLYBURN: Blood libel, is a term that I had heard before but I have since studied its meaning and its foundation. Its foundation is in a period of time when there was tremendous conflict between Christians and Jews in this country and something that we had long since put behind us. And to conjure up that, I just don"t think--

SCHULTZ: Congressman, do you think she needs to explain that? Because if that was just a bullet point, maybe people would understand her stupidity but if she really knew what it meant, it"s volatile, is it not?

CLYBURN: Well, it"s very volatile. I don"t know exactly who put that in her speech, whether or not she did that herself. But I do believe that al of us ought to be very, very careful about what we say.

SCHULTZ: Yes.

CLYBURN: As well as the way that we say it. And I"m responsible for the words that fall from my lips. I cannot blame that on researchers, on staff, on anything. It"s my responsibilities. And anytime that my staff were to suggest any word or phrase and I"m not familiar with it, they"re going to explain it to me why that"s there.

SCHULTZ: Congressman, great to have you with us tonight. You make a great point. I appreciate your time on this subject tonight. Thanks so much.

CLYBURN: Thank you so much for having me.

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