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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O4RBhC1xQY
Posted on YouTube: April 09, 2010
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Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbbsAL3pyQgBEHAR: Two stars of the GOP, Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann, joined forces yesterday in Minnesota before 11,000 adoring fans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R), MINNESOTA: The last 18 months we have seen nothing less than an economic coup transpired before our eyes.
SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER GOVERNOR OF ALASKA: What`s happening to politicians especially in Washington, they`re becoming addicted to OPM -- O-P-M -- other people`s money.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: She is so witty.
Here to help he translate this gibberish are Matt Taibbi, contributing national affairs editor for "Rolling Stone" and Jesse Ventura, former Minnesota governor and author of "American Conspiracies: lie, lies and more dirty lies that the government tells us."
Welcome guys.
JESSE VENTURA, FORMER GOVERNOR OF MINNESOTA: Thank you.
BEHAR: You know these two women are getting famous; pretty famous in the country. Is it helping the GOP?
MATT TAIBBI, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "ROLLING STONE": I think it`s helping Sarah Palin. I think if the election were to happen today she`d be the runaway favorite for the nomination.
But the problem is if you add her to Michele Bachmann that`s a ticket that cannot win a general election. So I think the Democrats have to be thrilled that they`re doing this kind of road show together.
BEHAR: Yes. A lot of things they`re doing at the RNC are happy -- making the Democrats happy. Michael Steele, that whole S&M thing -- they`re loving it.
VENTURA: Well, to me, I can`t figure out how they can hold Sarah Palin in such esteem when she quit her job.
BEHAR: Yes.
VENTURA: You know, how come she`s not being questioned on why did you quit? Just to cash in and make a bunch of money and become wealthy?
BEHAR: Well, they give her a pass, Jesse.
VENTURA: I know.
BEHAR: I mean let me tell you what -- some of these things that they`ve said.
Bachmann has said, "I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous." That was Michele Bachmann. Then she also said, "A pedophile, someone who considers themselves gay," first of all, the term -- the one`s a plural and one`s a singular. That annoys me right there.
But is she a liar or is she just stupid when she says something like that? That is so not true.
VENTURA: Right.
TAIBBI: Michele Bachmann makes Sarah Palin look like Marie Curie; I mean she`s a complete ding bat. The more she gets on television the better the Democrats are going to do. I think this has to -- it`s a windfall for the Democratic Party.
VENTURA: I would go the other way. The country has been so dumbed- down now that she may be very successful because it seems to me that the dumber you are and the stupider you are on things you say and positions you take seems to make you more popular right now.
BEHAR: Is that why the Republican Party is -- you know -- takes these people under their wing? They want them to be stupid or they have no choice?
VENTURA: No, I think it`s more a case of these two are puppets and they can be controlled easy. And that`s what they`re looking for. They`re not looking for true leadership; they`re looking for puppets.
BEHAR: You think so? That`s interesting.
TAIBBI: I think it`s just that these are two politicians who resonate with a certain hardcore demographic within the Republican Party but they have absolutely no appeal beyond that. And that`s going to be a limiting factor for the Republicans.
BEHAR: I know, 11,000 people of adoring fans. Ok, big deal. We`re 300 million people in this country.
VENTURA: Well, you can also bet that the 11,000 is a bit pumped high. What`s interesting is when we did the counter-convention to the Republicans with Ron Paul there, Ron Paul and I drew over 15,000.
BEHAR: Oh, so you were a bigger hit than they were.
VENTURA: Oh, yes, we do bigger than that.
BEHAR: And you know Michele Bachmann is from your state. Your state is so interesting.
VENTURA: She`s actually my Congresswoman. I live in here district.
BEHAR: Uh-huh. Really. I mean you have Al Franken, Jesse Ventura and Michele Bachmann. Who ever thought Minnesota was so wacky? You know what I mean? You never think of --
VENTURA: If you call us wacky, what it really truly is, we`re the Mecca of the third-party movement. We have four major parties in Minnesota, not two.
We have my party, the Independents` Party, the Green Party, the Democrats and the Republicans. We all have major party status.
BEHAR: But do you think there will ever really be a viable third party in this country?
VENTURA: No, because the two parties won`t allow it. They make up the rules and they make the rules in essence so that a third party cannot survive. There`s where you`ll see the Republicans and Democrats get in bed together because anytime --
BEHAR: Against the third party?
VENTURA: Against the third party. Any time you see any rise of the third party you will see the Republicans and Democrats then climb into bed.
BEHAR: Go ahead Matt.
TAIBBI: I think the situation is right for a third party, national third party movement.
BEHAR: You do?
TAIBBI: I think both parties have demonstrated in the last eight years that they`re both completely in bed with Wall Street and that they`re incapable of reforming themselves.
And I think there`s widespread frustration out there. You`re seeing it among the Tea party folks and among people on the other side of the spectrum. So I think, you know, if there was a legitimate attractive candidate for the third party that would get a lot of attention.
BEHAR: Yes. Are you running right now?
VENTURA: No. I was just clearing my throat.
BEHAR: I think you`re right. The Tea party is filled with people who are pissed of --
TAIBBI: Correct.
BEHAR: -- and they`re on the right and the left in the country.
TAIBBI: And they should be.
VENTURA: Here`s the key to it, Joy. If you`re going to be a legitimate third-party candidate you cannot be farther left than the Democrats or farther right than the Republicans. You must be a centrist like me.
I`m fiscally conservative, but I`m socially liberal. That eliminates you from the two parties but it`s still centrist. That`s how I won. I occupied the center.
They had to sell out to their wings to get their nomination. Then they immediately beeline back to the center but they couldn`t defeat me because I already had the center. And it`s the center who elects you; not the left or the right. It`s which way they sway?
BEHAR: Isn`t it the way the Republican Party used to be, when Eisenhower was around? You know --
VENTURA: Oh, very much. Elmer Anderson, the former Minnesota governor, he gave me the best quote on abortion that I`ve ever heard. You know what it was? "Abortion is religion`s failure to persuade so now they must legislate." And that came from a Republican, an old Republican.
BEHAR: That`s an old Republican.
VENTURA: An old Republican.
BEHAR: Maybe it will go back to that eventually.
VENTURA: I don`t think so.
BEHAR: All right. After the rally the two starlets appeared on Hannity`s show where Sarah Palin surprisingly came to the defense of RNC chairman Michael Steele who is under fire after it was reported the RNC dropped $2,000 at a bondage-themed nightclub.
Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PALIN: I support Michael Steele. I am glad that he is the leader of the party, administratively. I think it`s been good to have an independent outsider kind of create some change in the Republican Party.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: Would you conclude that she`s interested in bondage from that?
VENTURA: No, but what I find -- again, the initial, call it the double standard. Here are the Republicans who are supposed to stand for "family values". Yet behind the scenes they`re as decadent as anybody else walking around on the planet.
BEHAR: But they`re not -- they`re more annoyed with the fact that they spent all that money rather than it was a bondage club, right?
TAIBBI: That`s part of it. But you have to look at the irony of Sarah Palin sharing the stage with somebody who thought that "Aladdin" was pornography. And meanwhile she`s ok with Michael Steel who`s going off to S&M clubs. It doesn`t make a whole lot of sense.
BEHAR: Do you think she -- is she just a hypocrite or she doesn`t understand stuff. I never can figure it out.
TAIBBI: Both. That`s the beauty of Sarah Palin.
BEHAR: Yes. I mean "The Daily Beast` is reporting that the GOP spent $1,000 at Tiffany`s on office supplies. We`re thinking gold-plated nipple clamps. What did they buy? What did they buy?
TAIBBI: That`s actually only $900.
BEHAR: Oh, is it really? How much longer do you give Michael Steele?
VENTURA: I would say I`d give him through the election because I don`t think they want to show weakness and change at this point in time. I think that you`ll see him gone, especially if the results of the 2010 elections don`t come in the favor that they want.
BEHAR: And don`t you think that they`re worried that they can get into trouble by dismissing a black man?
TAIBBI: Absolutely. And he`s sort of sent off a warning flare about that just last week by saying that a black RNC chairman has a slimmer margin of error than maybe a white one would. And that`s kind of like a warning to say, you know, "If you fire me there`s going to be consequences among black Republicans."
BEHAR: Right. He said Obama is in the same margin.
TAIBBI: Exactly. Exactly.
BEHAR: He put him in the category with him.
TAIBBI: Right.
BEHAR: Why? They`re so inconsistent.
Ok. Stay right where you are. We`ll continue this after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: During the Palin/Bachmann/Hannity love fest last night the two Republican divas bashed President Obama for signing a nuclear arms treaty. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PALIN: Unbelievable. Unbelievable. No administration in America`s history would, I think, ever have considered such a step that we just found out President Obama is supporting today. You know, that`s kind of like getting out there on the playground a bunch of kids ready to fight and one of the kids saying, go ahead, punch me in the face and I`m not going to retaliate.
BACHMANN: We need to be adults about terrorism and adults about keeping the American people safe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: So are they right? Did Obama just sign away our safety?
TAIBBI: I don`t see how nuclear weapons are a deterrent against our real threat, terrorists. You can`t really use nuclear weapons against roving terrorists. These are outmoded weapons that are used to fight the old Cold War. And I think it`s sensible for us to have a cooperative agreement with the Russians.
BEHAR: Ok.
VENTURA: What I find most intriguing is what President Obama did here. It goes exactly with the pinnacle of the Republican who they want to put at Mt. Rushmore -- Ronald Reagan.
BEHAR: Right.
VENTURA: When you see what Ronald Reagan said about nuclear bombs when he made a speech in China, it paralleled Barack Obama completely to what he said. So how can they have it both ways? Reagan is their icon, and yet Reagan felt the same way about nuclear weapons as President Obama has.
BEHAR: Yes, that`s true.
VENTURA: Yes. How can they do that? How can Ronald Reagan, the greatest Republican of the century --
BEHAR: Oh my god, he`s canonized --
VENTURA: Yes. And yet he sits right where President Obama sat when you heard him talk about nuclear weapons. How quick they forget, huh?
BEHAR: That`s true.
But is it a false notion Democrats are weak on national security? I think it`s a false notion because after Bush invaded Iraq, we became much less safe around the world. More terrorists came out. And it really felt like we were less safe when he was there.
VENTURA: You know what bothers me, Joy, is here they`re talking about now building -- like I saw what`s his name -- the guy with the mustache that used to be in the U.N. --
TAIBBI: Bolton.
BEHAR: Bolton.
VENTURA: Bolton. Bolton`s talking about we need to build more nuclear weapons.
BEHAR: Yes, I know.
VENTURA: I`m going, excuse me, so we can`t have health care, you can`t go to the doctor but they`ll waste our money on building another bomb? How many times do you need the capability to blow up the earth? We already have that capability.
BEHAR: What is their point then? What are they trying to say? I`m wanting to --
VENTURA: That`s what they`re trying to say. They`re trying to scare the public into believing that we`re in some sort of mega-danger because Barack Obama signs a treaty with the Russians.
TAIBBI: And it`s going to work because this -- if there`s one thing every politician in Washington knows is that if you vote against any weapons system you`re going to be painted as soft on defense. And you`re going to have trouble losing and election. That`s why the defense budget always goes up regardless of what the situation is around the world.
BEHAR: But this seems a ridiculous argument in my opinion. I think people are not that stupid that they would think that if you reduce nuclear weapons in the world you will not be more -- you know safer. It`s outrageous.
TAIBBI: I cover the campaign -- both of the last two campaigns and I`ve seen this in action. People really believe that if you cut weapons systems it`s going to make this less safe. And I think it`s going to -- it will resonate with Republican voters.
BEHAR: Really?
VENTURA: Yes.
TAIBBI: Yes.
BEHAR: How do you rate Obama on foreign policy, in a word because we have to go.
VENTURA: I rate -- on foreign policy, other than increasing the wars I think he`s done exceptionally well on foreign policy. But I hate the fact that we`ve escalated the wars instead of pulled out.
BEHAR: He promised to go into Afghanistan and that`s what he did. Right?
TAIBBI: That`s true. That`s true.
BEHAR: You know, but Palin calls him professor-in-chief. Why does she hate smart people?
Thanks very much, guys.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1004/08/joy.01.html
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