On Monday night, Alan Grayson was Ed Schultz's first guest on the Ed Show, on MSNBC. The subject was Rick Santorum comparing President Obama to Adolf Hitler. (Santorum later claimed that he was referring to someone else.) Here is what they said:
ED SCHULTZ: I`m joined tonight by former Congressman Alan Grayson of Florida, who is running for the seat [again], after some redistricting. Congressman, good to have you with us tonight.
ALAN GRAYSON: Thank you.
SCHULTZ: You`ve heard this kind of rhetoric out there before. Do you believe Rick Santorum needs to be held accountable, and give us a name as to who he was talking about in Europe back in the `40s, and comparing it to President Obama?
GRAYSON: Of course, but Rick Santorum says things like that almost every day. In the very same speech, Ed, he said among other things that President Obama is the worst president we`ve had on security -- the very worst. The worst president on the economy. And he said that President Obama wants higher gas prices.
This is part of the vilification and demonizing of the President that you hear all the time on Glenn Beck, you hear all the time on Rush Limbaugh, you hear all the time on Sean Hannity`s show. He`s simply articulating that for that same audience, the Tea Party fanatics who are determining the Republican primary.
SCHULTZ: I mean, in that speech, wasn`t [Santorum] drawing a parallel as to what Europe and the world faced back in 1940, and what we as a country face and what the world is looking at right now and said, well, you know, he was a nice guy but kind of made a mistake. It was very clear to me he was talking about Adolf Hitler and making the comparison to the President of the United States. Is that a deliberate strategy in your opinion?
GRAYSON: It`s a deliberate strategy to vilify the President, to make it seem that he`s an illegitimate president. We`ve seen this since before he was elected. It won`t work, because 67 million Americans voted for him last time, and more than 67 million are going to vote for him this time. But what [Santorum is] doing is playing to that particular paranoid audience, and the paranoid style of American politics, trying to make them angry and fearful of Barack Obama to the point they will support [Santorum]. That`s what he`s doing and I think he is doing it consciously.
Alan Grayson does what few others have the courage to do – point out that Santorum and all the Republican candidates are demonizing President Obama in order to cater to the extremist Tea Party. And ain't that the truth? That's why Alan Grayson deserves your support.
SCHULTZ: And we`re talking about the man who now leads in the national poll by 10 points over his closest challenger, and that would be Mitt Romney. What do you make of that?
GRAYSON: Well, only a tiny fraction of the populace ever has anything to do with the Republican primaries. The turnout in Maine last week was less than one-half of one percent of the population -- 1.3 million people live in Maine, and 5,000 voted in their primary to choose the next President. We`re talking about the absolute fringe, the absolute radical fringe. And if these are the people who are going to generate the opponent to Barack Obama in the next election -- God help us all.
Alan Grayson tells it like it is -- Tea Party fanatics are virtually the only ones who are choosing President Obama's November opponent. Someone needs to stand up to the Tea Party, and you can always count on Alan Grayson to do that.
SCHULTZ: Why would Santorum`s spokesperson say [that President Obama supports] Islamic policies when talking about environmental policies?
GRAYSON: Again, it`s no different from what you hear all the time on Fox News and on hate radio. Rick Santorum, like millions of other Americans, has been immersed in hate radio and Fox News for years, for decades. And now, this is the result of it. He`s the Tea Party candidate. He`s the one that they really want, and this is what you see. There is a gaping chasm between the Tea Party and the rest of America. But they`re going to generate the next Republican candidate, whether we like it or not.
I think people would love to see an honest debate, between two honest people with different points of view. But you`re not going to see that, because the Tea Party is going to choose a candidate who spews nothing but hatred. That`s exactly what Rick Santorum is doing, has done, and will do.
SCHULTZ: Alan Grayson, great to have you us tonight. Thanks so much for joining us.
WE NEED ALAN GRAYSON IN CONGRESS. Someone who is bold. Someone who is fearless. Someone who tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Click here now, and support Alan Grayson's campaign.
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