Q&A: Ed Schultz
We talked with the host of MSNBC’s The Ed Show about the big win in Ohio, fighting for the 99% and being unapologetically pro-worker.
Ed Schultz (Photo courtesy of The Ed Show)
We talked with the host of MSNBC’s The Ed Show about the big win in Ohio, fighting for the 99% and being unapologetically pro-worker.
You are an outspoken critic of politicians who attack the working middle class. You’ve broadcast live from Wisconsin and Ohio to highlight the fight for workers. What made you decide to take on the plight of the 99%?
The economy and its effect on working-class Americans. They’re under attack from right-wing extremists who want to take rights away from workers, who want to reduce their benefits and send jobs elsewhere. We all know public sector workers had nothing to do with the economic downturn.
Do you think the 2011 protests in Wisconsin and last year’s stunning defeat of Senate Bill 5 in Ohio will have an impact this year in the voting booth?
There is no doubt in my mind that it will have a significant impact. I believe there will be a record turnout in the elections this year. Those attacks on working-class Americans have woken people up to fight for their rights, and it has rejuvenated voters. They are motivated to go to the polls. This is going to be a crucial election for wage earners.
Ed Schultz speaks live on MSNBC with AFSCME Sec.-Treas. Lee Saunders, from Ohio on Election Night. (Photo by Joe Weidner)
How about the labor movement? Will the win in Ohio help galvanize union members?
Yes, definitely. Wage earners get it. They see Ohio and Wisconsin, and that dreadful financial emergency law in Michigan. They see cuts to education and other programs and services. They see what is happening to their standard of living. There is a real undercurrent of attacks on workers in this country. They understand the obstruction; they understand the radical agenda of Republican governors in Ohio, in Wisconsin, in Michigan, and in other states, and they’re fighting back and not taking it anymore.
You didn’t always consider yourself a progressive. How did your politics evolve to what they are currently?
In the mid-1990s this country started to change. I saw what was happening to wage earners, deregulation, the concentration of wealth in a small number of hands; it was a direct attack on working-class Americans. I didn’t like it.
How is your show helping highlight the issues of working-class Americans, particularly labor union members?
We’re undoubtedly staying focused on the plight of the workers, on outsourcing, privatization, the loss of collective bargaining rights, cuts to wages, on the attacks on workers, and working on solutions that will help the working-class in this country.
The Ed Show airs on MSNBC at 8 p.m. EST, Monday through Friday.
