MSNBC’s Al Sharpton was incensed by Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) newly-released budget plan on Wednesday’s PoliticsNation.
Referencing President Obama’s comment that “America is a
place for everybody,” Sharpton added his own condemnation of Ryan’s
budget as he hollered, “America is a place for everybody, not a place for dangerous ideas and a ruthless war on the poor!” [Listen to MP3 audio here [1].]
This sort of harsh language permeated the opening few minutes of
Sharpton’s show. In fact, right from the very top, the reverend made it
abundantly clear how he felt about the Ryan budget:
Tonight's lead – the president slams Congressman Ryan's ruthless budget. In a blistering speech today, President Obama blasted the GOP's new budget and its skewed vision of this country, one where the rich benefit at the expense of everyone else.
Sharpton
then played an extended clip -- it dragged on for 1 minute and 14
seconds -- from President Obama’s pep rally of a speech at the
University of Michigan on Wednesday. A few moments later, he spent
another 29 seconds playing Obama’s very passionate finale to that same
speech.
The clergyman-turned-cable TV host preached that it was “scary”
that Rep. Ryan is seeking to chair the House Ways and Means Committee,
which holds authority over tax policy and many features of the social
safety net. He signaled his agreement with The New York Times editorial
board as he worried, “[T]hat would put a man with a very dangerous idea in a position to do serious damage.”
After Sharpton introduced his first guests, he snuck in one last dig at Ryan’s budget, calling it “heartless.”
Below is a transcript of the April 2 segment:
AL
SHARPTON: Tonight's lead, the president slams Congressman Ryan's
ruthless budget. In a blistering speech today President Obama blasted
the GOP's new budget and its skewed vision of this country, one where
the rich benefit at the expense of everyone else.
[begin tape]
BARACK OBAMA: Here’s the truth. They’re not necessarily cold-hearted.
They just sincerely believe that if we give more tax breaks to a
fortunate few and we invest less in the middle class and we reduce or
eliminate the safety net for the poor and the sick and we cut food
stamps and we cut Medicaid and we let banks and polluters and credit
card companies and insurers do only what’s best for their bottom line
without the responsibility to the rest of us, then somehow the economy
will boom and jobs and prosperity will trickle down to everybody. And
when I say it that way I know it sounds like I'm exaggerating, except
I'm not. This is their theory. They’re pretty unabashed about it. Look,
it does create opportunity for a hand few of people who are already
doing really, really well. But we believe in opportunity for everybody,
more good jobs for everybody, more workers to fill those jobs, a
world-class education for everybody, hard work that pays off with wages
you can live on and savings you can retire on, and health care you can
count on. That’s what opportunity for all means.
[end tape]
SHARPTON: Opportunity for all. That's what the president was pushing
out today. Meeting with minimum wage workers, hearing their stories,
fighting to give them a raise, trying to give them a chance to climb
this country’s ladder of success. Meanwhile, Congressman Ryan’s trying
to pull that lighter out from underneath everyday Americans. Today on
Capitol Hill he defended his budget cuts to health care, to Medicare, to
food stamps, to Pell grants for low-income college students. Why?
Because we need to get serious.
[begin tape]
PAUL RYAN:
So if Washington is serious about helping working families, or serious
about getting families out of work back to work, then it needs to get
serious about our national debt. How do we do it? First, we stop
spending money we don't have.
[end tape]
SHARPTON: We can't spend money we don't have, right? Well, how about
the fact that Ryan's serious budget gives millionaires a tax break of at
least $200,000. That's serious, all right – seriously flawed. And
while this budget might never pass Congress, here’s what’s scary.
Congressman Ryan is looking to chair the Ways and Means committee, which
has power over the tax code and safety net. As the New York Times says,
that would put a man with a very dangerous idea in a position to do
serious damage. That's why this fight matters. That's why the president
isn't backing down.
[begin tape]
OBAMA: We’ve got to
build a middle class, we’ve got to get opportunity for everybody who
strives for it. We’ve got to make sure everybody, black, white, Latino,
Asian, Native American, gay, straight, with or without a disability,
folks in the inner city, folks outside the borders of the city,
everybody’s got a chance. America is a place for everybody. That's what
we’re fighting for. That's what I need you to get out there and talk
about. Thank you. God bless you. God bless America.
[end tape]
SHARPTON: America is a place for everybody, not a place for dangerous
ideas and a ruthless war on the poor. Joining me now is Congresswoman
Donna Edwards, Democrat of Maryland, and the Washington Post’s Jonathan
Capehart. Thank you both for coming on the show tonight.
REP. DONNA EDWARDS: Thank you.
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Thanks, Rev.
SHARPTON: Congresswoman Edwards, let me start with you. President Obama
called out Ryan's heartless budget. Are we going to see more of this
from Democrats in the coming months?
EDWARDS: Well, I think
absolutely. I mean, if anybody ever wondered what it is that Republicans
would do if they were fully in control, well this is it. The Ryan
budget slashes everything from education to medical research to
transportation and infrastructure funding to ending Medicare as we know
it. And that is true in this budget. And so in case we wondered what
Republicans would do if they had every branch of the government, this is
it and it’s bad for the American people.
-- Paul Bremmer is a News Analysis Division intern.