the rachel maddow show, transcript 12/21/11 - solar street lighting system

Host Rachel Cherry: Good evening, happy Wednesday.
Thank you for being with us.
This is a royal battle in Washington.
The royal battle began to turn evil.
Names of peoplecalling.
We have now left part of the battle, in which it is not just anonymous sources who are pointing fingers at the rest of Washington.
It is also now appointed as an elected official to speak.
Party media are now getting involved in the most serious possible terms, just destroying people.
This is a royal battle in Washington. we haven't seen it in a long time.
The battle in Washington took place within the Republican Party.
Of course, the issue of payroll tax cuts is-whether to extend the payroll tax cuts for everyone who gets paid in the United States, or to get all these people's taxes up on New Year's Day.
In the past few weeks, congressional Republicans have gone from saying they don't intend to extend payroll taxes to saying they are cutting payroll taxes.
Once they had the chance not to agree to do so, until now, despite the fact that they were people who did not do it, actually did not want to do it from the beginning, but they were very angry that it was not done.
Does that make sense?
Of course, this is meaningless.
Republicans in Washington are now in an epic battle over whether they will raise everyone's taxes.
Senate Republicans oppose House Republicans.
Now, both Republicans in the House and Republicans in the Senate are turning to conservative media.
In an editorial today, titled "The Republican pay-tax fiasco," the very conservative "Wall Street Journal" editorial page crashed everyone alive, republicans in Washington are working on what has happened in the past few days.
Quote "Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell said a year ago that his main task in 112 Congress was to make sure President Obama would not be re-elected. elected.
Given how he and House Speaker John Boehner dealt with the payroll tax debate, we wonder if they will re-
It is serious to elect a president before the 2012 campaign begins. ” Oow.
This rapidly rightwing "Wall Street Journal" editorial page continues-not only focusing exclusively on payroll taxes, but also continuing to talk, quote, "frustration has accumulated over a year of political disappointment.
The Wall Street Journal said, "after a year in the Tea Party House, President Obama and Senate Democrats have to make any major policy concessions, except to extend Bush's tax rate by two years. Mr.
Obama is in a stronger new position.
Today's election position is higher than a year ago.
McConnell's number of majority leaders in 2013 is declining. ” Ow, ow, ow.
Blame all this on the tea party.
This is a very conservative paper.
Today, without finding a Republican to devour another Republican, it is impossible to meet a major news media because they created this fiasco for themselves in Washington. C.
This is CNN today.
Quote, "several Senate Republican sources say the House is increasingly disappointed with their opponents.
The House Republicans have portrayed themselves as a corner.
"They are their own," Senate Republican leaders said . ".
The staff member continued, "This is a losing/losing situation for us.
They 've given Democrats an information advantage, and more specifically, we put one of our key issues on their heads.
This is unforgivable.
Another senior Republican Senate worker told CNN, citing "House Republicans pulled the defeat out of the brink of victory . "
"There are more Republican interparty exchanges than anyone else, and it is now being trained by John Boehner, the Republican supreme leader and speaker of the House in Washington.
The Roll Call newspaper reported that the fiasco of this payroll tax cut "caused a major problem with John Boehner's ability to lead the conference for a long time.
Listen to this: "The first question about Hill egg wine --
Whether John Boehner was able to continue to the holiday-centric party-sorry, given his terrible miscalculation on the payroll tax bill, and then his desperate flip, he will be able to save his speech for more than a few months.
Flop, stand in front of the troops, and the troops are moving in the opposite direction to where he says they need to go. ” Wow.
Republican Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee proves that he is the Republican Party's embodiment of political and policy inconsistency in this regard.
Senator Corker called on House Republicans on CNBC this morning to pass the damn payroll tax cut bill.
Remember, Bob Corker is also a Republican. (
Start Video Editing)SEN. BOB CORKER (R)
Tennessee: Are Republicans now killed in public opinion?
There is no doubt about this.
Both Republicans and Democrats agree that this will happen, and the best thing that will happen now is probably to end it. (END VIDEO CLIP)
Bob Cork called on House Republicans to pass the bill. Pass the bill.
He said it would be OK to pass the bill he voted against four days ago. There it is.
Bob Cork, No. And Mr.
Not only did Corker vote against the extension of payroll tax relief, he also voted against it earlier in the settlement.
But now, Bob Cork believes that irresponsible House Republicans should really pass the bill he opposes.
Senator Corker is one of the growing number of Senate Republicans who are just openly attacking House Republicans because all of them are in trouble.
Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona yesterday accused House Republicans of "harming the Republican Party ".
Quoting Massachusetts Republican Senator Scott Brown, "I am annoyed that House Republicans would rather continue to play politics than find a solution . ".
Their actions will hurt American families and our fragile economy.
He is a Republican who talks about Republicans.
There are also Susan Collins, Dick Luger, Dean Heller, Olympia Snow, Chuck Grasley, Roger Wick.
All these names-
Republican senators either publicly attack what House Republicans do or at least publicly urge them to come together.
The uncoordinated and infighting of Republicans in Washington on this issue has now even begun to spread to the Republican presidential campaign.
After accusing congressional Republicans of not "speaking in one voice" on the issue, presidential candidate Mitt Romney couldn't say which side he was on in three separate media appearances.
What I'm trying to say is that the only candidate who has consistency on this issue is candidate Newt Gingrich, but he is also incoherent on this issue. First, Mr.
Gingrich decided to come forward and attack Senate Democrats on the issue. OK.
The vote was 89-
But at least you're targeting people outside the Republican circle.
Good so far.
But soon after, Newt Gingrich decided that the wrong party was actually a Republican in the house.
Now, he says House Republicans should have passed the damn thing he just opposed.
Republicans cannot explain this.
It would be one thing if it was a principle-based inter-party struggle.
Fight because one side wants to express their views.
But it is not even clear in this case.
The only clear message any Republican has now on this tax issue is: what are we doing?
We look like idiots.
This is the only clear message that Republicans are sending now.
This is what happens when a leader fails.
That is, this happens when the work of the Republican House speaker is very bad.
Today, it all revolves around John Boehner.
John Boehner on the first day of his term as speaker of the house, do you remember?
The first thing he did wrong was that he didn't notice that he forgot to swear in two of his own members that they were Republican Congressman Pete seens of Texas and Mike of Pennsylvania.
They did not attend the official swearing-in ceremony, which means they are not technically members of Congress.
They were not sworn in.
Pete Sessions and Mike Fitzpatrick are trying to make things better by raising their hands to signal their colleagues to take the oath of office.
But you know, it turns out that this is actually not in the Constitution.
So even though it's not true that members of Congress these people are starting to vote on something, the House has to go back and correct those votes to show that John Boehner is not making sure that all of his people are sworn in there.
It's a mess.
Even on pedestrian issues like this, and even on logistics, John Boehner's leadership in the house has been a mess since the beginning.
Everyone wants to blame the radical tea party in his caucus.
You can't blame the radical tea party for forgetting to swear to two men.
I believe John Boehner is a good man.
John Boehner is clearly bad at his job as speaker of the house.
This is a complete cycle for him.
John Boehner forgot to swear by one of the people, Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick, and finally became a member of Congress who was sworn in.
Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick is in the House today, and second-party House Democrat Stephanie Hoyer is trying to bring the Senate payroll tax cut bill to the house.
John Boehner's stupidity, also known as Mike Fitzpatrick, apparently has no plans to deal with Democrats trying to do so.
He didn't arrange for Republicans to oppose it, nor did he arrange some procedural action to make it look like it was working or something.
When the Washington side got involved in a big battle, he didn't do any legislative work that would help them win.
When the Democrats tried to bring this bill forward today, the way he handled it was the person who served as acting speaker of the House today, sir.
That's how Fitzpatrick left.
As soon as he got off the floor of the house, he walked away.
When the second House Democrat, Steny Hoyer, completely embarrassed House Republicans. (
Start Video Editing)REP.
Mike Fitzpatrick (R)
Pennsylvania: under section 3B of House Resolution 493rd, the House adjourned to 10: 00. m.
Last Friday, December 23, 2011. REP. STENY HOYER (D), MARYLAND: Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker.
We hope to have unanimous agreement that we have proposed a bill to extend the tax cut for 0. 16 billion Americans.
Sir, when you came down from the floorSpeaker.
You're leaving.
You're leaving.
Just as many Republicans walk away from middle-class taxpayers, the unemployed, and, quite frankly, from those who will seek medical assistance from their doctors, 48 million elderly citizensWe regret, Mr.
Speaker, you walked off the podium without addressing the issues that are essential to this country. (END VIDEO CLIP)
MADDOW: John Boehner had a bad job assumption about him, his job assumption was about to graduate, and John Boehner had a bad understanding of his work theory in Washington.
Now we are joined by Ezra Klein, a Washington Post columnist and policy analyst at MSNBC.
Nice to meet you, Ezra.
Thank you for coming.
Ezra Klein, Washington Post: Good evening.
MADDOW: why do we see this discord between Republicans on the mountain?
This seems to be logistics to some extent.
They don't know what they're doing.
Or what they should do next.
This also seems to be a policy inconsistency.
KLEIN: There's a bit of a collision on the runway here.
On the one hand, Republicans oppose what Barack Obama wants to do.
What President Obama wants to do.
On the other hand, Republicans hope to pass tax cuts.
In a case like the Wall Street Journal, you see this most clearly.
This is the Republican business unit.
The Republican business department doesn't like Barack Obama very much, but they really don't want their tax increases.
They really don't want to pay more to hire workers.
They don't want consumer demand to hit next year.
So, this is-it won't be good for Republicans until they find a way out.
The problem is that they think they have one for at least a few months.
John Boehner then closed the deal.
Mitch McConnell thinks he's negotiating on behalf of John Boehner and House Republicans, and it turns out he's not.
What Washington people don't like is the agreement they think they agree to give up.
MADDOW: can you see that someone other than Speaker Boehner is stepping up to get this done?
Part of what I'm talking about is policy.
At least everyone says they want to do so, but it also brings Republicans back together to some extent.
Is he the only one who can do it?
Because he doesn't seem to be good at anything he's trying to do.
Klein: Speaker Boehner basically admitted he couldn't do it.
A very interesting move in this debate over the past week is that the main position of House Republicans is the need for a so-called Meeting Committee.
One meeting Committee is that when negotiators are provided by the House and Senate, they have to be in a room at the back, away from the camera and deal with the bill together.
Now, the Committee on conferences has largely disappeared over the past decade.
They used to be there because you needed-the leadership needed very strong committee chairs to work with them.
This is the case with the conference committee.
They had a group of people in the room and all had power and they reached an agreement.
The meeting Committee began to disappear as leadership was enhanced.
Boehner needs a meeting committee now.
He tried to appoint House Republicans to a meeting Committee, although the Senate was reluctant to join him in a committee because he needed these other Republicans, eight other Republicans from different branches of the party are in charge of the deal.
Boehner can't do it himself.
So, he has to hand it over to a coalition of other Republicans, hoping they can go back to the different parts of his meeting and say to them, look, this is the best result we can get, we're in the room. you have to trust us.
It's an amazing show, and it's out of his reach, and there's no longer a leader in the House Republican conference who can call and reach an agreement with him.
MADDOW: Still, even when trying to delegate this responsibility, because he doesn't necessarily have the power, and as you said, he's kind of trying to push it to this meeting Committee, let the subject do hard work, not him, because he can't handle it well.
Even if he did, he messed up because the Republican Party's position was that they did want to extend payroll tax relief.
As far as I know, most of the people he appointed as members of the Committee on conferences opposed the extension of the payroll tax relief.
So even if he tries to save himself, he seems to be continuing to screw up his main message.
Klein: Well, I wouldn't say that to some extent.
What I'm trying to say is that he's trying to best reflect the possibility that Republicans are fundamentally inconsistent in this regard, and when you look like you're on the side of payroll tax cuts, how did you oppose payroll tax cuts?
So if you listen to John Boehner's statement on this, he keeps saying that we just want to get into the negotiations so that we can do what everyone wants us to do, that is to extend payroll tax relief.
Everyone does not want to do so.
Whenever I hear him say this, I think of the moment in "social networks," When Mark Zuckerberg said that if you invented Facebook, you would invent Facebook.
If they want to extend the payroll tax relief, they will extend the payroll tax relief.
But Republicans do not want to do so, however, when they try to negotiate on issues such as the Keystone oil pipeline or discretionary spending cuts, they have always said that this is their ultimate goal here.
So now, Boehner is trying to solve a cloudy problem for the American people.
Saying Republicans are on the side of getting the job done, but somehow reflect the backlash
The majority of tax cuts among its members.
I 've never hinted that it's easy for John Boehner to work, so he should be good at it because it's easy.
I think it is a hard job.
But, kid, if I were a House Republican, or if I were a Republican who was interested in Republican congressional power, I would be very eager to see John Boehner on the South row
I have to tell you.
Ezra Klein, MSNBC policy analyst and Washington Post columnist, thank you, Ezra.
I really appreciate it.
Klein: Thank you.
MADDOW: Okay.
If you see a cute dog snoozing by a raging fire in a warm Christmas setting, you will be filled with infinite anger, then please keep an eye on it.
There is a very well-known Republican governor who, like you, feels inexplicable anger at the dog. (
Business break)
MADDOW: the Pentagon's appropriation bill, the defense authorization bill, is always at least a bit controversial.
Hell, I 've got a book coming out soon about how much I hope the whole thing will be more controversial when it comes out every year.
But this year, there was indeed some consternation about a specific part of the defense bill.
This is part of the prisoner's concern.
The wording of the bill is that those arrested on suspicion of terrorism will be detained by the military and not by the police.
It states that for those arrested in such circumstances, there may be indefinite detention, life imprisonment, without trial.
Now, the Obama administration and the heads of the FBI, intelligence agencies and the military say they don't want to do so, but Congress has been putting pressure on them anyway.
Many support after Bill modification-and-
On the question of whether the language is bad enough that it should be rejected by the president-later today we received an update on the issue.
As the attorney general has now confirmed, President Obama will sign the defense bill into law, but he will also issue a signed statement on it.
Now, signing a statement is a means by which the president essentially opposes and says he will ignore part of the law he is signing and will implement.
Signature statements are often used and cause a lot of controversy in George w. Bush's comments
The Bush administration.
They used it hundreds of times.
A signed statement was used by the Obama administration less than 10 times against a law-less than 10 times in three years.
But it is clear that, according to today's attorney general, Obama will sign a statement on the defense bill.
We will let you know when we have more details. (
Business break)
MADDOW: When you think of great and wonderful Los Angeles, you don't think of public transportation, like trains.
But this is changing. Slowly. Maybe.
Los Angeles is expanding its passenger rail service.
A recent golden line now extends to East Los Angeles. A.
On the historic First Street Bridge
During the expansion, officials don't have to close the Gold Line, which is great because there are about millions of Angels riding the Gold Line every month.
The First Street Bridge was built in 1884 and was made of wood.
Five years later, it was re-manufactured with steel.
In 1929, just before the Great Depression, the bridge was rebuilt with concrete.
To get these new train tracks through it, the First Street Bridge was closed about four years ago.
When it was closed, they added two lanes to the rail line to strengthen the bridge to keep all the new extra weight.
Its five 200,000-
The pound leather rack must be taken out, reinforced, and put back in place.
New railings have been added, as have a new round of seismic renovation for earthquake safety.
Four years after $45 million, the First Street Bridge was built.
It's a good thing to go. It re-
Grand opening yesterday.
Some city officials celebrate in Los Angeles and basically everyone is celebratingA.
Seems happy with the new First Street Bridge final product.
As a native of Northern California, it's hard for me to say that, but in this case, yay L. A.
Meanwhile, this week in Northern California, San Francisco's professional football field looks like this.
Take a look at part of the 49-man match against the Steelers on Monday night.
No, it's not mood lighting.
There was a power outage.
Actually, two power outages.
The first unexpected turn-off was delayed by about 20 minutes.
Let 70,000 fans leave in almost complete darkness until an emergency light comes on.
Oh, what could be wrong?
The second power outage in the second quarter was delayed by another 15 minutes.
Now, of the people who took part in the game that night, the man has been turning off the lights.
He is in charge of PG & E, San Francisco Electric Power Company.
His name is Anthony Earley.
He watched the game in the owner's luxurious box, from which he could see the lovely and luxurious bird's eye view of the power outage.
It is now reported that the power outage was caused by a sudden break of an overhead distribution line powered to the stadium.
No one knows why it broke.
Everyone knows that you should stop digging when you are in the hole, a shabby but real metaphor.
But in fact, if your economy is in trouble, it's time to start digging.
At the very least, if you care not only about the physical state of the country's roads, bridges, wires and transportation systems, but also about the job market and the overall economy.
Last week in a city in Washington, D. C. C.
Press releases that usually receive little attention, our country's Ministry of Transport has announced a new round of funding for infrastructure projects across the country.
The funds will be used for a new round of very popular Tiger funding projects.
Investment in transportation promotes economic recovery. (
Start Video Editing)
John pockerySEC.
Transportation: we are moving forward with large projects that will push people, products and our economy forward that will be in the coming years for generations.
A large part of our success is the Tiger project.
We ask local government officials and experts to tell us which projects will make the biggest difference.
One of our greatest sources of satisfaction in the process is to hear their priorities directly from our mayors, county commissioners and community leaders.
We invest in these projects as partners.
Then we reward the results that have been proven. (END VIDEO CLIP)
Do you understand what he said?
Instead of having members of Congress decide through this tiger program, state and city, and local governments, local transport authorities and similar things apply to the federal Department of Transport for funding for specific projects that are ready to be implemented.
They have been doing it for three years.
This year is the third year.
Over the past three years, state, municipal and town governments have proposed $90 billion in projects, and they say they are ready from the bottom, this can be funded in this way-$90 billion from the ground is required to pour concrete, for asphalt that needs to be laid, bridges that need to be repaired, rails that need to be installed, and people who need to be hired to do all the work that needs to be done.
But there is no $90 billion to spend on the Tiger project.
Tiger plans to spend less than 1/30 days.
The Tiger project is only $2.
The cost of three years is 5 billion.
If Congress can expand that, there's a lot more to do.
But even with a little money, the Tiger project has to be spent this year.
It will build a new runway of 1/2 miles on the blue line in Chicago.
It will replace the Sellwood Bridge in mottema County, Oregon.
It will replace the kennesbeck Bridge in Maine.
It will fix the main streets of New York's beautiful Buffalo.
It will travel two more miles on the 83 Illinois highway.
It will improve Interstate 5 at Joint Base Lewis.
McChord is great in Washington state.
But this year, more than 800 such projects have been set up in cities and towns, which are ready to inject a very stimulating investment worth $14 billion into the economy.
But we have provided only a small portion of that amount.
TIGER grants this year amounted to less than $1 billion.
They want $19 billion.
The proportion of money available here is just-do you know everyone is worried that Europe will fall off the cliff?
European economies will collapse as they did when the Bush administration ended, but in Europe they have no way to save their country, so it's the domino effect, right?
This is the biggest concern in the global economy and the US economy.
We are worried about what will happen in Europe.
The situation in Europe is above all a concern about the Greek economy.
So is Italy, right?
In Italy, Berlusconi is out.
He was replaced by a man widely regarded as a technocrat, and his only job was to restore growth to the Italian economy.
He said that so that Italy could control its debts, and after he finished his economic work, he even said that he would not continue to serve.
He will not run for re-election. election.
He's just there to solve the economic problem and he's gone.
You want to know what this technocrat is doing and he is focused on getting Italy back on track for economic growth?
They are investing heavily in infrastructure.
Everyone, although everyone is talking about Italy's austerity, Europe's, they are taking terrible, painful economic drugs-Italy has just announced a 6.
To stimulate the Italian economy, 5 billion euros in infrastructure investment.
High speed rail.
To protect Venice from flooding, they even built retractable underwater barriers.
When you are in trouble, you will be out of trouble.
The government is not like a family or an individual.
Governments cannot wait until they have enough money to invest in a great economy and start building.
This is the most difficult time you have to get out of it.
It also has the added benefit of having the lights on all the time to better see the 49ers firing Ben rotherger over and over again. (
Business break)
Mado: There's good news and bad news today from Newt Gingrich.
Good news, Sir.
Gingrich was the first polling station in Virginia.
Just as we thought the Gingrich bubble was bursting, he led Mitt Romney and other Republicans today in Virginia's latest Quinnipiac poll.
In the face-to-face process, mano-a-
Mano, it's Newt Gingrich in Virginia.
So that's good news for Newt Gingrich, right?
The bad news is that Newt Gingrich is not on the ballot in Virginia. Mr.
Gingrich was there today for several events that suddenly appeared on his schedule.
Just a little, shake hands, a little-Hey, can you sign my nomination petition?
The deadline for voting in Virginia is tomorrow.
This puts Newt Gingrich in a desperate situation because he is leading there and he is not qualified to go there yet.
Politics Today reports that Mr Gingrich's campaign seems to be spending money to collect signatures.
If you collect a bunch of signatures and a special one, they seem to offer a $1 bonus for each signature and a special one, if you organize a group of people, also got a lot of signatures, so special rewards.
The Gingrich campaign is running a crazy campaign there today to try to get him to vote in Virginia.
Meanwhile, the Mitt Romney campaign is in some fresh trouble today.
They 've had some trouble with a foreign policy issue that I think everyone cares about, even if it's going to be a year when no one really cares about foreign policy.
That's what Mitt Romney thought the last time he ran for president. Watch. (
Start Video Editing)
Moderator: Governor Romney, is the war in Iraq a good idea, worth the blood and wealth we pay? MITT ROMNEY (R)
Presidential candidate: it is the right decision to enter Iraq.
I was supportive.
I support it now. (END VIDEO CLIP)
That's Mitt Romney in 2008.
Mitt Romney is here today. (
Start Video Editing)
Romney: If we knew when we entered Iraq that there were no weapons of mass destruction, if we got that information, obviously we wouldn't go in.
Don't you think we're going in?
Romney: of course not.
According to intelligence, the president has weapons of mass destruction.
If he knew this was not the caseN.
A resolution authorizing such action will not be proposed. (END VIDEO CLIP)MADDOW: OK.
First, the US governmentN.
The war in Iraq was not authorized.
Seriously, you don't even know?
That's-that's all. -oh, my God.
So that's the problem.
But more importantly, Mitt Romney said in 2008, "Now we know there are no weapons of mass destruction," he said. "The invasion of Iraq is the right decision.
Mitt Romney said today, "since we know there are no weapons of mass destruction, of course we will not invade Iraq.
Mitt Romney is attacking it.
We will have more information in a moment. (
Business break)
Last night, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney gave a new campaign speech in New Hampshire.
This is an event in itself.
The New York Times described the speech as elaborate.
Not only in its language, but in its atmosphere.
It was noted that the Romney campaign had special overhead lights, two teleprompters and four cameras on hand to shoot the scene.
The new Mitt Romney campaign speech looks and sounds like a template for his likely campaign speech.
The main theme, of course, is how awesome it would be if Mitt Romney were elected president in November instead of Barack Obama. So, here it is.
Here's the reaction to the new election.
President Obama, Mitt Romney trademark information. (
Start Video Editing)
Romney: four years ago, when Obama promised to bring Americans together, many Americans trusted him.
But now, we have learned that President Obama's idea of bringing us together is not to cheer us up, but to use the invisible power of government to bring us together. (END VIDEO CLIP)
The invisible boots of the government?
If you wear stealth boots, does that mean that you will look like walking barefoot even if you really don't walk barefoot?
I'm sure what Mitt Romney means is to make this invisible boot of the government sound like something terrible, but it sounds so weird, right?
I mean, it sounds a bit neat if there is one.
Maybe an invisible boot is like a stealth plane of Wonder Woman.
She sat in her seat, but why?
Perhaps invisible boots can be controlled by telepathy.
Mitt Romney is considered a terrible metaphor for the big government.
Invisible boots?
It needs a little work.
But if you can start the idea through the whole invisible, I think the concept that Mitt Romney is putting forward is a good debate.
I mean, there's no irony.
He is discussing a central issue, the role of government and how we can make things better, especially in times of economic hardship.
This is about governance.
This is about the governance decisions that are being made now.
Now, we do have a Democratic president, and the Obama administration is making regulatory changes, including two major reforms announced today.
The important thing is regulatory change.
This is something substantial.
This is not who is on who.
It's not just some symbolic way of scoring.
This is real governance, right?
The National Labor Relations Commission is the subject of one of these new rules.
As of today, they have passed a new rule, and they have been debating for a long time, which will change the rules that people have decided to join the Union.
Now, if there are enough people working somewhere who are interested in the Union there and they have enough signatures to hold elections to decide the Union, one of the ways businesses are trying to stop unions from forming is between workers saying they want elections and elections to actually happen, to keep unions there forever.
The new rules are designed to speed up this process.
Also today, the Environmental Protection Agency has just issued new regulations to limit the amount of mercury and other toxins released to the air.
Brigadier General for coal and oil
Power plants that use existing technologies to reduce emissions.
The agency estimates that the new regulations will prevent 11,000 premature deaths, 4,700 heart attacks and 130,000 children with asthma each year.
These new rules have been in place for 20 years.
Today, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced the news at the Children's National Medical Center.
I want to show you how this conference looks.
That's how the Obama administration has introduced the new rule and defended what they're doing here.
I think it is very important to understand what will happen next. (
Start Video Editing)
Lisa Jackson, director of the Environmental Protection Agency: this is a great victory for public health, especially for the health of our children.
Until this rule, there is no national standard to limit the amount of mercury, arsenic, chromium, nickel and acidic gases emitted from power plants across the country into the air we all breathe.
When we talk about reducing thousands of respiratory symptoms, we are talking about young people who can go out and be with friends without worrying about breathing difficulties.
When we talk about reducing mercury levels in our environment, we are talking about lower mercury levels in fish that Americans eat every day. (END VIDEO CLIP)
It's also in a Children's Medical Center.
So the Obama administration wants the country to understand the new rules.
They launched a product in public.
Mitt Romney called the new rule an invisible guide to the government.
This is a very ridiculous phrase, but it is really at a very important point.
In our economy, in our economic gap, the middle class is eager for us to still have, even though we no longer have too many middle classes.
As Americans, is this the change we are seeing now?
Changes in mercury content like air pollution rules?
Will we see such changes, such as it is not difficult to form a union where you work?
Will we see these changes and believe that these things are helpful or harmful to our country?
Not every American will answer the question in the same way.
But it's a good debate whether we have to talk about stealth boots to do that.
Bob Herbert, a former columnist for The New York Times, joined us, and he is currently a senior distinguished researcher at Demos and a contributor to goodyshop. net. Mr.
Herbert, thank you for joining us.
Bob Herbert: Hi, Rachel.
You know, I'm wearing invisible boots now even when we're talking.
I'm actually wearing a whole set of invisible fat suits. (LAUGHTER)
MADDOW: obviously-I mean, the way they set it up, obviously, they seem to be shooting it for TV commercials.
They hope this is the template for us to move forward.
I think the invisible boots are funny by accident.
But I'm a little excited about the whole message because I feel like at least in the end we can have a substantive debate on something about governance, not just elections, not just names --calling.
Herbert: Well, you know, he's talking about invisible boots and regulations, and things like that.
And, you know, it reminds me that for our country, the greatest period in the economy, and the period of creating a great middle class, is from the age of 40 to the middle. 1970s.
This is a period when the Union is very strong.
Taxes are much higher than they are now.
More stringent regulation. We had Glass-
For example, Steyr in the financial industry.
Things get better.
That's when it starts in the middle and starts to disintegrate.
In his 70 s, things have become a mess all the way to the 21 st century.
You see where we are now.
MADDOW: Are you happy from the perspective of someone who writes from the center?
From a left-wing perspective, are you happy about the turf that Republicans are fighting for, or at least the leading Republican candidate is fighting for the big debate in the election?
Oh, yes.
In any case, it's a tough environment for Obama or any Democrat.
From their point of view, Republicans just screw things up.
So people like Romney talk about this invisible boot, about the need to get rid of regulation, and so on.
It was only emphasized that he was basically serving 1% people-using occupy terms.
Then there are lunatics in your tea party at home, for example, they are at least blocking until now, extending tax cuts, and reducing payroll taxes.
Their goal is to beat Obama no matter who gets hurt.
This combination is terrible for Republicans.
MADDOW: Now, when I think about Mitt Romney's 2008 campaign, I think about his RNC speech at the conference.
Of course, this practice is practicing, baby, drill, and of course, it's a political genius for Sarah Palin's speech, even if it's a little weird now.
But Mitt Romney's speech when it comes to taking tough measures against regulation and taking tough measures against red tape.
He has always thought-and many Republicans have always thought it would be a good thing to bash regulation, because it sounds like it's going to let businesses relax and create more work.
Do you think this politics will change because of Wall Street's collapse?
Do you think the politics of this situation have changed?
Or, do you think they can count on the political interests of this?
Herbert: I don't think they can count on the political benefits of doing so.
I think they are deaf when you start thinking about American workers, whether they are middle class or not, whether they are poor or not.
No matter where they are, as long as they are not very rich people.
So if you start talking-I 've never traveled in this country once in my life to interview ordinary people, and never heard of the idea of someone coming up with regulations.
They don't care about regulations.
They don't care about taxes in terms of that.
People don't think their taxes are too high.
They are concerned about the economic situation.
The first thing they care about is work.
But they're also worried-it's a bit hard to quantify, and they're generally worried about what's going on in the country.
The tendency of patriotism still exists.
They don't want America to fail.
They hate the way we call the leaders of Washington.
They can't do anything and seem to make things pretty bad.
MADDOW: on the issue of the regulations of the National Labor Relations Commission, Republicans are furious at 2011 that the pursuit of union rights will be their real political winner, or at least their policy goal. HERBERT: Right.
MADDOW: We saw a huge 100,000 opposition on the streets of Wisconsin.
Not only did we see a rebound on Ohio's streets, but we also saw a bill for Ohio voters to implement a post-implementation recall there.
I was wondering if Republicans might be recalculating, or if they should, and I'm sure what they're planning is comprehensive.
The court objected to the new provision.
They are upset that NLRB may change the union rules.
Herbert: I don't know if they're recalculating.
But in your words, they should be.
I mean, I think what has happened, Republicans have made a lot of money for decades by putting one group against another.
One of the saddest things I saw a few years ago was that the average worker who did not join the union made some mean comments about the people who participated in the Union.
Oh, they make a lot of money, oh, they have these pensions, and I don't have anything like pensions.
But I think that's gone, and Republicans are now in danger of being perceived as attacking the working people and the middle class.
This is not where you want to go when you enter the presidential race.
Bob Herbert, thank you very much for joining us.
I'm glad you're here.
Thanks, Rachel.
Merry Christmas, Bob.
Nice to meet you. You, too.
MADDOW: Okay.
Next, when it comes to Christmas, why does President Obama hate Christmas so much?
Palin is now asking for some answers.
We will answer her. (
Business break)
MADDOW: Okay.
To put it straight, the best new thing in the world today is the best new thing in the world today, but also 4.
5 billion years old, still a young joy.
This is coming. (
Business break)
Okay, America.
How angry are you about this? I know, right? How dare they?
I mean Obama on the White House Christmas card? Bo, a dog?
A dog on the official White House Christmas card?
It's a holiday tragedy if you ask me.
But don't worry.
This is Fox News.
The story is full of Todd Starnes from Fox.
His brave report reveals what the evil dog says.
White House Christmas cards.
Quote "from our family to your family, may your holiday be filled with the light of the season.
"Did the place where I asked you mention Christmas, not to mention Christ?
I mean, how do we know this is a Christmas card?
There's more.
According to Fox's exclusive report, the holiday gifts on the cards are placed on a table under a magenta instead of under a Christmas tree.
Now, of course, some pagan traditions use the magenta as a symbol of Satan. Just saying.
Our friends at Fox know that in such a hot story they need experts to weigh.
Fortunately, they have former Alaska governor Palin on their payslips.
She told the Internet that she found the White House Christmas card a bit unusual.
"It's weird," she said, wondering why the president's Christmas card highlights his dog, not traditions like family, faith and freedom.
Governor Palin said, "most Americans appreciate the more traditional, quoted, basic American values displayed and displayed on Christmas cards and Christmas trees"-for example, our other Kenyan presidents Christmas cards.
Like they showed, right?
On their Christmas cards in the United States, such as the greeting card of President Bush in 2005.
Okay, maybe not that. Are those dogs? Yes.
It must be this in 2002.
You know, it's really hard for me to find this baby Jesus.
I bet, though, that we can find him on Ronald Reagan's card.
No, it's not 1983 unless he's a chandelier.
No, no.
Almost every White House Christmas card has a photo of the White House, or a White House room, or a dog-which is not the source of Fox anger when any other president does so.
But when the president did, it caused outrage from Governor Fox and Palin.
I want to know why?
Now is the very, very Christmas emphasis I have shown you about the Christmas cards of Christ by Fox itself.
No one said that little Jesus was baking NBC peacocks on open fire like two foxes, while the sheep were watching in surprise.
This is the holiday card for Fox Business Channel this year.
Maybe they're Kenyan, too.
This is the Fox News card.
If you can't see that picture, it's Fox who beat ABC, CBS and NBC in the mountain.
Then we.
That's how we, MSNBC and CNN, retreated after a big snow mountain. All right.
As someone who was teased on the Fox News Christmas card, I thought it was an interesting card.
This is a good Christmas card. Cartoony. I like that.
Perhaps we should call Governor Palin, though, and ask her to point out where the family, faith, and freedom on this card is-or we shouldn't.
At least we shouldn't do it, call it news, because it's all stupid to do it. (
Business break)
The best new thing in the world today, this is the sun, this is the Earth. Not to scale. All right.
On Earth, we rotate around the axis, right?
That's how we spin.
That's how we spin. All right?
One day, right?
We also go around the Sun, which takes a year.
Now, the whole system has a genius, a genius thing.
We're not going up and down.
We are actually leaning.
Did you see that "x? You see that?
Like I said, don't scale.
Imagine that we are.
Like I said, imagine it's North America. Not to scale.
Because of the tilt, a genius has happened, because we are not straight up on the equator, but straight down in the middle of the equator.
When we tilt towards the sun, our "X" marks the location of North beauty, and when we tilt towards the sun we get summer.
When we are away from the sun, we will enter the winter.
But we began to walk out of winter and turn to summer.
We began to enjoy the warmth of the sun.
We begin to come here again so that our tilt will give us more sunshine at some point in the year, and you will not think of it.
Let's put the solar system away for the time being. Excuse me.
If you look at the calendar, if you look at the date book, look outside if you only look at the weather, right?
At this time of year, the night of our souls is just beginning, right?
The depths of winter lie before us.
We have just entered the pain of darkness, cold, January, February and.
But praise Copernicus.
Technically, even if it feels like this, the worst will not happen.
As of today, starting tonight, half an hour after midnight Eastern time, every day is getting longer and longer.
The shortest day of the year is over. It was today. Yea!
That means better for WhatsApp.
This means that the next day is better than this.
So, with me, seasonal-influenced diseases are bothering the north beauty, recognizing that the best new thing in the world today is something with a real hippie name, but there is a real, the result of real happiness, the winter solstice, is just the best new thing in the world.
That's what it is for us tonight.
Now, it's time to "last word" with Lawrence O'Donnell.
Have a good evening.
This is a report card in a hurry.
This copy may not be in final form and may be updated.
Copyright 2011 CQ-Roll Call, Inc.
All materials herein are protected by US copyright law and may not be copied, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call.
You may not change or delete any trademark, copyright or other notice in a copy of the content.