good evening, americans. welcome to the ed show. george w. bush made peace with moammar gadhafi. today the coalition led by barack obama helped kill the barack obama helped kill the libyan dictator. it's a major foreign policy victory for the united states and republicans just can't stand it. this is the ed show. let's get to work. >> working in libya with friends and allies, we've demonstrated what collective action can achieve in the 21st century. >> a brutal dictator is dead and republicans can't let president obama take credit. >> let's give credit where credit is due. the french and the british that led on this fight. >> tonight former assistant defense secretary lawrence korbe on the right wing reaction. and new jersey senator bob men endoze what gadhafi's death means for the families of the lockerbie victims. and arrested on sunday.

tonight he joins me exclusively. and a right wing operative tries to ambush vice president joe biden and it doesn't go so well for the guy. >> let's get it straight, guys. don't screw around with me. >> we'll play you the rest of the tape. good evening, folks. good you have to with us tonight. eight months after the early stages of a revolution by the libyan people, seven months after nato forces sent war sbleens libyan air space, and two months after the fall of tripoli, moammar gadhafi is dead. we would like to warn you in advance that the following footage may be disturbing to some viewers. it shows gadhafi captured by rebels, bloodied but still alive. the libyan prime minister says gadhafi was found in his home town of sirte. he was dragged out of a sewage pipe and was taken through the town in an open air vehicle for all to see. after a firefight, gadhafi was killed by a bullet to the head. one of his sons was also killed in the gun fire.

news of the dictator's death was greeted with celebrations across the country. he ruled for more than four decades. tonight, libya is still not under any centralized control. will president barack obama had been criticized for leading from behind at the onset of the nato mission to depose gadhafi. today, he addressed the libyan end game from the rose garden. >> today we can definitively say that the gadhafi regime has come to an end. but the united states together the international community is committed to the libyan people. you have won your revolution. and now we will be a partner as you forge a future that provides dignity, freedom, and opportunity. >> so in the history of our country, it has been times like this when we have always left politics at the water's edge. here's the meat of the story. even in the success of the operation, republicans can't allow president obama to receive any credit. for months, prominent

republicans went on television to explain why the president's libya strategy was doomed to fail. republican presidential candidate michele bachmann started it out trying scare the american people into thinking that president obama was just minutes away from putting boots on the ground in libya. >> we're looking at a full scale escalation, potentially united states troops on the ground. we were assured by our president that would not happen. and now a call for arms. so this is president obama's war even though he's not using that term. we're now engaged in a third middle eastern battle. >> bachmann's fellow presidential contender newt gingrich had a host of contradictions. he blamed president obama for botching the mission. if they're serious about protecting civilians, you can't do that from the air. gadhafi is going to use light infantry, he will use his secret police, he'll be in the cities, he will be inside buildings.

you're not going to stop that with air power. this is a fundamental mistake. >> fundamental mistake? well, republicans in the senate, they joined in as well. like senator lindsey graham, a rang member of the senate armed services committee. he went so far to stay president was giving comfort to our enemies. >> this strategy that president obama has come up with, i think is not going to defeat a determined enemy. the question is, is gadhafi determined? the strategy is confusing to the men people. only 21% believe president obama has a clear view of how the handle libya. it is demoralizing to our allies, particularly people on the ground that we're trying to help. and i think it is encouraging to our enemies. this strategy is going to lead to a stalemate. >> a stalemate. did i hear in that sound bite, senator lindsey quote a poll? let's continue.

and marco rubio also jumped on the pile during a floor speech back in june. >> first we ceded most of the operation to our nato allies. god bless them for trying but they do not have the military capability to finish the job. >> there's an expert there. now with gadhafi eliminated, you would think these republican wos eat their words and give the obama administration some credit that it deserves. >> let's give credit where credit is due. the french and british led on this fight. now who know a second. back in june he said the united states made a mistake by working with nato allies on this operation? now with the mission complete, the nato allies, they just get all the credit. we need a senior member of the senate armed services committee to set the record straight, don't we? >> i congratulate the british and the french for their leadership and their effort, and so it's been a significant success and we should celebrate

today. >> but the u.s. played a significant role in the nato operation. not just the british and the french, senator mccain. the first few weeks, first two weeks in particular, u.s. tomahawk cruise mlss and u.s. air refueling capabilities. the obama administration from your perspective deserves a lot of credit for this as well, don't they? >> i think they deserve credit. the fact is if we had declared a no 90 zone early on, we would have never had gadhafi would have fallen at the beginning. the second thing is if we had used our capabilities, the a-10 and the ac-130, this would have been over a long time ago. i think the administration deserves credit. i especially fresh leadership of the british and fench in this. >> and way to put words in his mouth, wolf. no leading question there at all. this is really how you think, isn't it? are you kidding me? john mccain, a man who ran for president on the strength of his

military service and his foreign policy credentials is minimizing the job done by our armed forces in executing this mission. he mentioned nothing about our operational success, nothing about our efficiency, and nothing about the care taken to keep american troops out of harm's way. in fact, the only thing mccain can manage to say about the united states' role in the mission is that the military just didn't do enough. later in the day, mccain softened his attacks on the president and called the mission a success for the obama administration. that was interview number 3. well, maybe someone told senator mccain how badly he was disrespecting the military to score political points. or maybe someone reminded him about his recent record and visit to libya. you see in august of 2009, it was john mccain along with lindsey graham and senator lieberman. they met with the guy who got killed today, moammar gadhafi. according to a diplomatic cable

released by wikileaks. the senators' pledge and support to the military dictator as well as public relations advice on the transfer of the lockerbie bomber. mccain wasn't shy about meeting with the man who slaughtered his own people and is expected of plotting the death of hundreds of americans. in fact, he told the world about it on twitter that very evening. late evening with colonel gadhafi at his ranch in libya, interesting meeting with an interesting man. so on a day when the world can see the vindication of president obama's foreign policy doctrine, republicans are still looking for ways to downlay and discredit the administration's success. let me play to your common sense tonight, if i may, you wonderful viewers out there. you mean to tell me two veteran senators, mccain and lindsey graham, and a guy who used to be speaker of the house who wants to be president, and a congresswoman who can't stay

away from television cameras, also running for president, and a brand new attack dog for the republicans, marco rubio, they just all happened to be on the same page. they all just happened to be military experts and say, you know, president obama is absolutely doing the wrong thing here. no, no, no. this isn't about military critique. this is all about getting president obama. into the minds of the american people that he is incompetent, doesn't have a plan, can't lead, and can't make those executive decisions. how many more terrorists does president obama have to take down? how many more dictators does he have to debows the help of nato before the republicans will give him any credit at all without any political congratulations involved? this is another reason why those protesters are out in the streets in this country. it is the divide. bay of pigs. did you hear any republicans

really working over president kennedy way back when or were we all on the same page then? and there's one more thing i want to point out tonight. the last crowd that used to be in charge of the fort, they used to take us into wars, cost us trillions of dollars and a bunch of lives. vice president joe biden reminded us of how this mission was done today. >> the people of libya have gotten rid of a dictator of 40 years who i personally knew. this is one tough not so nice guy. and guess what, they got a chance now. but what would happen? in this case, america spent $2 billion total and didn't lose a single life. >> which plan do you want to work with? get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's question, will republicans ever give president obama any credit for anything? text a for yes, text b for no. we invite you to go to our blog and we'll bring you the results

later on in the program. joining me now, the senior fellow, center for american progress and former assistant secretary of defense under ronald reagan. good to have you with us tonight. >> nice to be with you. >> you bet. is this a new blueprint for american foreign policy? and is this a new way of doing it all along? what do you think? >> i think the republicans cannot admit the democrats know how to conduct foreign policy. becauseshx traditionally, that's been their ace card that they play in the election. and the fact is this is the latest in president obama's triumphs. he got bin laden, he got al alaqwi, and with minimum zpunds no loss of lives considering they went into iraq on false pretenses, spent $2 to $3 trillion, had close to 5,000 americans killed, 50,000 wounded.

hundreds of thousands of iraqis killed. and this just galls them that obama has figured out the right way to approach these problems. >> so we've got a bunch of terrorists who have been killed. we've got osama bin laden gone, four senior al qaeda leaders are gone and now gadhafi. how can republicans question the president's national security credentials. and furthermore, youe got senators mccain, graham and lieberman had a friendly meeting with gadhafi two years ago. how can they criticize the president with any credibility at all in your opinion? >> well, they should have no credibility. what they're saying is, well, he could have done it better. and no matter what you, do i think if obama cured cancer they would say you should have got it done a couple of years ago. it just galls them when obama, you know, showed how you could work with the rest of the world. you could get it done and improve your image in the arab and muslim world which was really undermined by the the way

we went into iraq and how handedly we did it. they forget the arab league asked us to go. the u.n. approved it. our allies stepped up. this whole idea that these free rides, all these threats we talk about, are not just threats to the united states. they're threats to all of our friends and allies and they should pay their fair share. >> here's something else. florida senator marco rubio said today on the floor. >> i criticize the president, he did the right thing, he took too longitude it. there are thousands of shoulder fire prokts are missing. 30 some odd armed militias that are formed. you have a country that's been significantly eroded and has to be rebuilt. >> that was on the floor of fox news. how big is the concern over these loose weapons? >> well, obviously it's a concern. the fact of the matter is that if the united states had done all the bombing itself, it

wouldn't have changed anything. one of the great paradoxes is because it took comparatively longitude this, weapon able to work this transitional national council to get them to put measures in place to prevent thing like that and get themselves in a information establish another government. look what happened when we rushed into iraq with no plan about what to do. and basically, the place fell apart. so i think it worked out very, very well. you want it to go methodically and make sure. sure, we need to worry about that. we've already had people over there on the ground. not military people but other people trying to get ahold of these weapons. >> good to have you on tonight. thank you for your time. i appreciate it. before we continue a programming note, beginning this monday, the ed show will be airing on this network 8:00 p.m. eastern. 7:00 central. 6:00 mountain, faye:00 west coast time. i hope you'll all join us for our show.

the same ed show. just a different time slot. 8:00 eastern. we're looking forward to it. remember to answer tonight's question there at the bottom of the screen and share your thoughts on twitter. we want to know what you think. coming up, what gadhafi's death means to the families of the lockerbie family victims. and later, an ed show exclusive. he spent sunday night behind bars after protesting on the steps of the supreme court. i'll ask dr. cornell west about the 99% movement. herman cain, president obama. will he get his support?

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just a reminder, starting monday, "the ed show" starts at 8:00 p.m. eastern. same show, new time slot. we hope you join us monday night. coming up interesting death of moammar gadhafi.

welcome back to "the ed show." the death of moammar gadhafi is the end of a brutal chapter in history. it is the start of a new one that may provide closure for hundreds of americans. gadhafi has been long suspected of orchestrating the 1988 bombing of pan am flight 103 over lockerbie, scotland. in 2009 gadhafi helped arrange the release of the convicted bomber. with gadhafi dead, family members of victims and u.s. officials hope to finally get all the fwakts the tragic terrorist flight. burt ammerman, brother of tommy

armyman, spoke about gadhafi's death with tamron hall earlier on msnbc. >> it's justice. there's no question for me. it brings closure. it's hard to believe i've been doing this 23 years. to finally get the man that ordered the bombing of pan am 103 eliminated, that's true justice for my brother and all citizens in free countries. >> joining me now, robert menendez of new jersey. senator, as a member of the senate committee on foreign relations, senator, good to have you with us tonight. i know you've worked awful hard on this over the years trying to bring closure for all the families in the wake of this tragic bombing which has haunted the united states for years. what are you hearing today from victims? from victims' families? >> i think overwhelmingly, there is a sense of a measure of justice here. we have always thought that gadhafi was the one who ordered

the bombing of pan am 103 where 270 lives were lost, including 34 from my home state of new jersey. and the reality is that we always knew that al megrahi could not have acted alone. and it is obvious that he was so important to gadhafi that he used all of his leverage on an oil deal to get him back into libya. so this is a measure of justice. but i still want to close a very final chapter and make sure that the transitional national committee that is the interim government continues to give us access to all the others in the regime, to make sure that everybody come to justice. >> you authored the pan am accountability act which requires a new libyan government to cooperate in the lockerby investigation. what will be the next step there? >> certainly we have about, i think, anywhere between 30 and $36 billion of frozen assets of the libyans in the united states. while we have been supportive of giving some of that money for

humanitarian purposes, it seem to me as i have said to secretary of state hillary clinton that we need to make sure that the transitional national committee is cooperating with us both in access to alg megrahi who is in libya and to others in the gadhafi regime who may have been part of his government and who may have been part of this whole process of determining the execution of pan am 103. i think if we get that type of response, of course, then we can have those assets flow fully to libya. if we don't get that type of response, we should use it as a leverage point. >> i want to play more from burt ammerman. hear what he had to say about the death and what it means, the death of gadhafi. >> i've been saying for 20 years, if you want to eliminate state sponsored terrorism, you after the leaders like gadhafi and hussein. if they know we'll deal with that, this will stop. i applaud the obama

administration. he has develop a blueprint for the future. technology, intelligence, allies. >> senator, is he correct about a new blueprint for the future? >> well, look. the obama administration here led as the sponsor of the no-fly zone resolution in the senate that then led to the effort at the united nations and nato's engagement. you have to give credit to president obama for leading an international effort here that ultimately eight months later, brought the end of a 42-year dictatorship. and if you add that to the capture and killing of bin laden, the reality is that this is the one administration that is actually brought those terrorists to justice. >> what about the concern that is out there dealing with loose arms falling into the wrong hands. shoulder fired missiles, some chemical weapons. where do you stand on that? how much of a concern is it?

>> it is a concern, particularly with the shoulder fired missiles. the transitional national committee didn't do a particularly good job, and understandably, they were in the midst of a struggle to oust gadhafi but they didn't secure those sites. at least not all of them. so that is a concern for us and it's something we'll have to work with them to track down and to make sure that the rest of those sites are secure now. >> senator, have we become so political in this country that republicans can't give the obama administration any credit whatsoever? they seem to stop, we used to stop as a country at the water's edge when it came to international affairs like this. the remarks that are coming from your colleagues over on the other side of the aisle are almost gut wrenching. your thoughts on that. >> you know, it's a shame. this is a moment in which america is rejoice in the sense that a terrorist was brought to justice.

someone who killed americans. someone who promoted terrorism. the fact of the matter is i guess that when your mission in the congress of the soouts is to make barack obama a one-term president, you can't even creed credit to him when he has acted in a way that has helped the nation be more secure. bin laden, al allawi, now gadhafi. that's one impressive record for one president. >> good to have you with us tonight. >> good to be with you. coming up, an "ed show" exclusive. dr. cornell west gives his first interview since his arrest in front of the supreme court. i'll ask him about the future of the 99% movement and much more.

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snooxt breaking news out of washington, d.c. senate republicans have just blocked the bill that would have given states money to pay for 400,000 teachers and first responders. the bill would have taxed millionaires .5% on earnings over $1 million. the republicans refused to allow the bill to go forward. the vote moments ago was 50-50. ten short of the 60 votes needed to clear a republican procedural roadblock. more obstruction in washington, d.c. as millions of americans are out of work.

joining me now is ezra klein from the "washington post" and msnbc. good to have you with us tonight. the vote just took place. how will republicans defend this vote? how do you see this? >> well, they'll keep doing what their general line has been. that they now stay problem isn't deficit spending. obviously the president is attempting to pay for his bill. they stay president is that it is temporary. that we are doing temporary jobs measures and that has failed in the past and it is a very increasingly odd argument. we have a temperature appear jobs problem. nobody thinks this will be permanent. one thing you do when you have a temporary break is you give states money to not lay off people. you start having this public drag on the labor market. but that's been their argument. frankly, their old argument ended when the democrats decided to begin paying for their bill. >> bottom line here the republicans rounded up just enough democrats to kill this. it was 50/50.

the other thing is that where does this leave president obama and the democrats right now in trying to get jobs moving in this country? more obstruction. >> they can't pass their bills. even if all the democrats had voted for the bill, it would not have passioned because the republicans would have filibustered it to death. i think something that's wise, they have not only voted on the full bill. the $447 billion american jobs act. then they moved to begin breaking it up. the reason they're breaking it up, if they break it up, they deep conversation going for days or week or months. they keep the press. they keep folks like and i talking about the jobs bill. it doesn't just disappear or disability. it isn't just one speech a month or so ago or two months ago or whenever he introduced it. the republicans have to keep defending and it jobs remain in the news. so for the democrats' political strategy, this is working out fine. they're keeping control of the conversation. but so far as actually getting

real people real jobs, so long as the senate can't move any legislation forward, nothing is happening. >> this will hurt education across the country. those teachers are desperately needed. but politically, this is a winner for the democrats. polling is heavy for the democrats and this issue across the country. >> yes. if you talk to the wourks one thing they've seen recently, and it has not been true in the other strategies, they're seeing the numbers move. they're seeing the numbers on jobs move up. the effort to keep this in front of people, to keep this conversation alive has actually led to people looking at the:00 congress and saying those guys appear to be standing in the way of jobs and the democrats appear to be trying to create them. one other point i would make on that, it is interesting to watch some of the republicans' arguments try to shift around this. as you remember, one. big thing they've been saying, we have too much government, too much public spending. we've lost about 500,000 public sector jobs over the last couple years and tons of public sector

jobs this year. almost straightforward private sector job growth and lost public sector workers. nobody thinks the economy is doing well. this idea if we shrink the public sector, has not worked. it is all clear why the republicans don't want to go there. >> this is also another example of how the republicans are worshipping at the altar of no taxes. the tax would have been .5% on all americans who are making over $1 million a year. meaning they would not have been taxed on the first million. it would have started on the first dollar after $1 million. .5%. if you made $1.1 million a year gross, you would be paying $500. to help pay for this, and the republicans have said no. so 400,000 jobs down the drain tonight in america. msnbc's raze klein, thanks for your time. he was arrested for standing up for the working class and poor.

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welcome back. thousands gathered to honor dr. martin luther king jr. at the dedication for his memorial, a smaller group of men and women chose to celebrate dr. king in a different way. they rallied on the steps of the supreme court demanding economic justice for the poor and working class in this country. the 99% of one of those activists was dr. cornell west. here's some of what he had to say. >> out of deep love for working and poor people, that we're willing to put whatever it takes even if we get arrested today and say, we will not allow this day of martin luther king jr.'s memorial go without somebody going to jail.

because martin king would be here right with us. willing to throw down out of deep love. >> and a short time later, dr. west was arrested and he is joining me now as promised. dr. cornell west, professor, author of the brother west living and loving out loud. and the co-host of a new radio show, smiley and west. great to have you with us tonight. you're always welcome on this program. >> always a blessing, my brother. congratulations to you for your new time slot though, brother. >> well, thank you. i appreciate that. are you absolutely positive that dr. king would have been there? would this have been his moment? would this have been his movement? would he have been a leader of this? >> there's no doubt that king would be part of the occupy movement. he would appreciate the stone and matter that my alpha brothers put together. he did in fact embrace that kind of affirmation.

most importantly, he lived on the ground, tied to love, tied to justice, always part of a movement. trying to bring people of all colors, all cultures, all sexual orientations and all religions or agnostic and eighthistic brothers and sisters. that martin luther king knew that he had to connect public interest to the plight of the week and the vulnerable in this society and around the world. >> you went to jail. symbolism? is that what it was? >> symbolic in terms of a gesture. not in terms of the 24 1/2 hours inside the clink with the shackles on my a.s and the handcuffs. it was very real. with 18 others. and we mixed with the brothers and sisters of different colors, disproportionately black in the jail. >> why is this movement aloft? why is it happening? >> i think what's happening, you're getting moral outrage, righteous indignation,

especially among brothers and sisters of all colors who see a decay in the two-party system them see republican party, mediocre, mean-spirited. they see a democratic party not strong enough, oftentimes too spineless, oftentimes too milquetoast and they're looking for other venues to see is speaking on behalf of poor and working people. >> this is what congressman allen west of florida, a tea partier had to say about the 99% movement. >> martin luther king jr. would not have backed these protesters. first he had a focus, a message. he was a divinely inspired. i don't know what the inspiration is for these individuals. >> what is your response to that? >> no, no, brother west is wrong as he can be. that martin luther king jr., not only was fundamentally committed to movement, organizing, mobilizing, but he was committed to civil disobedience. it was very clear when he saw

the status quo, was characterized by paralysis, a certain kind of decay and ea certain kind of rot. he said that we must renew it. we renew it by what? bearing witness. take for example what you were talking about in regard to gadhafi. assassination, murder, execution, killing. is that the way to conduct foreign policy? why did abe lincoln say let us not execute jefferson davis. he had a wisdom there. is at this time case that u.s. allies, be they tyrants like chile or tirns like mubarak in egypt? should they be executed? should they be murdered? no. there should be another way will we're only as strong as our opponents. if we use the same criteria of the republican party for democratic foreign policy, then we're going to find ourselves in the same cycle of execution, cycle of assassination, and more and more cycle of collective punishment.

as you know, those drones do actually, when they drop those bombs know they're killing innocent members of families even though it may be tied to a terrorist in that home. they're killing the daughter, the wife, the sister. that's wrong. they're still innocent as human beings. but they're in a family with a terrorist. and so this issue of the cycle of violence that martin luther king jr. was concerned that is something that the occupy movement is wrestling with right now. in 1,000 cities and 82 countries and five continents. and i'm telling you, republicans would say if barack obama walked on water, they would say he can't swim. okay. that's a given. but at the same time, we've got to have a did you have criteria than the republican party. we can't just simply have the ricochet back and forth, the mimicking of two mean-spirited republicans, democrats who we hope would do better but we know tear tied in their own way.

the occupy movement says there must be another way of thinking about this. even though we know at the moment we're locked in. and of course we know about barack obama is better than any of the mediocre republican candidates but that's not saying a whole lot. my god, you would be a better candidate than any of those put together, brother. >> let's not get carried away. dr. west, stay with us now. i want to ask you about president obama's jobs bill that was just voted down in the senate. stay tuned. we're back with more. i've seen this before -- the old "impromptu in-law visit."

dad's a real cleaning machine. and look at mom whipping up some kraft homestyle mac & cheese. sure it's easy to make, but it looks like she's been busting her hump in the kitchen. [ doorbell rings ] ♪ let the fireworks begin. hi, it's so nice to see you. something smells good. [ male announcer ] kraft homestyle macaroni & cheese. cheesy noodles topped with golden-brown, breadcrumbs. you know you love it. breaking news on the obama jobs bill. the republicans have just blocked the bill that would have given states money to pay for 400,000 teachers and first responders across the country. we'll go back and ask dr. cornel west about all of that next. and where is president obama in this whole fight for justice? whoa. whoa. how do you top great vacations? whoa. getting twice the points on great vacations.

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welcome back to "the ed show." dr. cornel west, moments ago the

senate republicans blocked the jobs bill that would have put 400,000 people to work. teacher and first responders, firefighters, police officers. what can president obama do against this record amount of obstruction he's facing? >> yeah, it's very sad, my brother. he has to continually use that bully pulpit and say i'm fighting for jobs in a serious way. he has to use the executive orders to try to generate some mortgage relief that i think he can do to link fannie mae. i think he has to use arbitrary police power. >> isn't he doing that now? he's doing a bus tour. he's out there every today advocating for what has to be done for american workers. >> absolutely. but i think it has to go beyond the bills. he needs to link to it a much broughter vision. and the vision has to be one where it is perceived, not simply to be obsessed with winning a re-election but also, tied to in his heart, mind and soul.

he has the fundamental convictions and if he doesn't get it out, the rocks will cry out. it can't be perceived just as a politician. you have to be a statesman in these moments. you have to be a statesman who is making an intervention into the mud that is characterized by so much of the obstructionism. it can't be tit for tat, tit for tat. >> what do you want him to do? >> you have to have a spiritual content and a moral character. >> you think there's too much political congratulations on the part of the president? you think he's short on spirit and dedication? she's relied on light relief to ease the pain of reconstr he was too bank friendly, too tied to wall street early on. the health care bill, of course, a serious battle.

i don't think he fought as hard as he should but i give him credit for the relative victory that he had. rightly so. you have to show not just a passion but a certain sense of priority. the suffering is real out there, brother. you know that. i know that. he caught on late. he caught on late on this jobs issue. and now people are wondering, is this just a re-election tactic rather than something he feels in his bones. he may feel it but he has to allow other people to feel it, too. >> so you think what president obama is doing now is a re-election tactic? i think he is very sincere about trying to create jobs in this country. and specially mess that he was handed. what do you want him to do at this point? and will you support him in the next election? >> i would like him to say that i have a vision that has to do with the eradicating poverty. it has to do with not just a weak bill vis-a-vis wall street but a decentralizing of major

banks. if they're too big to fail, they're too big to exist. that means they have too much influence on wall street as well as in the white house. he needs to have a kingian vision. a martin luther king like vision. not just left or right. just real moral, ethical and wrestling with it. >> we have to leave it there. >> i see him still too tied to wall street even given the pop list rhetoric. i refuse to satisfy, be satisfied with dhoots are better than republicans. that's like someone who is just better than me singh in the shower. so what? >> dr. cornel west, we're up on time. always great you have to with us tonight. thank you. the righties say vice president joe biden is making outrageous comments.

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the news late this evening, breaking news out of washington on the obama jobs bill. senate republicans blocked the bill that would have given states money to pay 400,000 teachers and first responders across america. the bill would have taxed millionaires 1 half of 1% earning over $1 million a year. vice president biden had been making a common sense argument as he traveled on behalf of the bill. cutting the police force of any locality almost always leads to a rise in crime. he took issue with republicans who say the jobs bill is just a temporary measure. >> it's not temporary when that 911 call comes in and a woman is being raped and the cops show up to prevent the rape. it is not temporary to that woman. it is not temporary to the guy whose store is being held up and there is a gun pointed at his head if a cop shows up and he is not killed. that's not temporary. >> the vice president made similar comments in flint, michigan. the right wing has decided to

twist his words and a professional ambusher asked him about it. >> do you recall using a rape reference? >> let's get it straight. don't screw around with me. >> you didn't use a rape reference? >> listen to me. >> i'm listening. >> i said rape was up three times. they are the numbers. go look at the numbers. murder is up. rape is up and burglary is up. that's what in. >> and if the republicans don't pass this bill, then rape will continue to rise? >> murder will continue to rise, rape will continue to rise, you a crimes will continue to rise. >> and of course, limbaugh is on his case. >> you know, biden's real concern, joe biden and any democrat, real concern is that after the rapist gets caught, he can still vote democrat. >> let's bring in a detective with the long beach, new jersey police department as well as the legal to text plan administrator for the new jersey police benevolent association.

kevin lions. good to have you with us tonight. >> the news that this was not going to pass in the senate. what's your reaction? >> i think the government has for saken one of its fundamental responsibilities. to protect the public. the constitution provides that we're supposed to live in freedom and in the safe, a safe environment. that's not what they're doing right now. we're down in new jersey. we're down 4,000 police officers alone since 2009. >> will crime go up because of this? >> it is a fundamental principle. absolutely. crime goes up. less cops, more crime. >> so vice president biden is spot on on this? >> 33,000 members of the new jersey state pva stand squarely behind this. and public polling is supporting this jobs bill and this american that you are would put 400,000 workers back to work in the classroom and also, in law enforcement. how does that make you fee as a

public servant as yourself? >> anybody, certainly police officers in new jersey feel our government has turned their backs us on as well as the public. that they have a responsibility to take care of those who take care of others. that we're not the problem. their mismanagement of funds is what the problem is and they're blaming it on us. >> what do you say, another claim being made by opponents out there that you're pension and your health care costs are the reason they have to make all these cuts? >> preposterous. in new jersey we just accepted an 8% pay decrease. what i call a tax on public employees. to fund these things that have been squandered by the public officials. >> so what has to happen? it would seem to me the local municipalities would have to raise taxes if they want more police officers. is that where we are? >> that's their only option. the police officers of new jersey certainly have made thousands, millions of, thousands of police officers

have made millions of dollars in concessions over the past several months. >> isn't this going to overwork the force? wouldn't that be so stressful it might run people out of the profession? >> i think you see that to a degree but most police officers will do whatever they have to do to help people. >> how is the public reacting? >> what are you hearing on the street? >> i've heard both sides of the coin. i live in a fairly conservative area. and people, some people say i make too much but those were the same people laughing at my salary seven years ago. >> the vice president says crime will go up. you say it will. why can't the senate do what it's supposed to do if that's the case? >> because of politics. plain and simple. they're more concerned that taxes than we are in safety and once again, safety is an incredibly important responsibility of the government. >> officer kevin lyons, thanks for joining us. that's "the ed show." don't forget, starting monday, the the ed show starts at 8:00 p.m.