Sunday, December 08, 2013

This Week with George Stephanopoulos – December 8, 2013


Guests:
Terry Moran
Jon Karl
Bill Keller
Stan Greenberg
Gay McDougall
Ambassador Jendayi Frazer
Jeff Zeleny
Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL)
Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH)

Stephanopoulos: wow Nelson Mandela died

Moran: we are witnessing a remarkable
national day of celebration in
many different languages

Stephanopoulos: what happens next?

Moran: Tuesday is the big day because
that is when the American President arrives

Stephanopoulos: excellent

Karl: Bobby Kennedy spoke out against racism
but then the US supported South Africa's
government for decades until the 1980s
and then everyone loved Mandela and
of course Mandela and Bill Clinton were BFFs

Clinton: I loved that dude!

Karl: Mandela thought George W. Bush was an idiot

Bush: he was a pretty good guy

Karl: Obama was personally inspired by Mandela

Keller: he was most like Clinton because
Mandela loved politics and stagecraft
and shaking hands and Obama is more cerebral

McDougall: Mandela was well aware
of his great place in his history

Stephanopoulos: he had a ruthless streak

Greenberg: yes he wanted to use
elections to send a message

Stephanopoulos: Mandela was a fierce
critic of the war in Iraq

Frazer: yes but he supported the invasion
of Afghanistan and later Bush was
graciously able to forgive him for
all the nasty things he said

Stephanopoulos: he said real leaders
cannot afford to hate

Keller: he did hate people but he was
able to put it aside and was the most
disciplined politician I have ever seen

Stephanopoulos: like Lincoln he was
flexible in the effort to achieve his goals

Keller: in his life he was communist
and a capitalist and a fighter and
advocate of non-violence

Greenberg: he was a teacher of the people

Gay McDougall: the prisoners on
Robben Island used to their time to
educate themselves so when they got
out they knew what they wanted to do

Frazer: he had the courage of his convictions
he fought AIDS and rebuked the US for
labeling Africans terrorists as late as 2008

[ break ]

Zeleny: we added 200,000 jobs
but people are still struggling

Stephanopoulos: Rob will you shut
down the government again?

Portman: the most important thing 
is to not raise taxes on rich people

Stephanopoulos: of course

Durbin: we have to got to preserve
the safety net for poor people

Portman: we must not raise spending!

Stephanopoulos: should companies like
McDonald's voluntarily pay employees more?

Durbin: yes – raising the minimum wage
used to be bipartisan – people who work
hard should be able to survive

Portman: Republicans love the minimum
wage but it costs jobs and the best
anti-poverty program is more jobs so
we should help poor people by
cutting the minimum wage

Stephanopoulos: right

Portman: I went to an unnamed fast
food burger place this week and they
had a drink dispenser so we can't
raise the minimum wage

Stephanopoulos: how about that Dick?

Durbin: I think it's ridiculous

Stephanopoulos: I see

Durbin: also low wage employees
need tax credits and health insurance

Stephanopoulos: thanks for coming guys


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