Appearing on Tuesday's The Ed Show, MSNBC political analyst Jonathan Alter urged both liberals - euphemistically calling them "progressives" - and non-liberals to support President Obama's economic plan and advised Obama to "fight, fight, fight," and argue that Republican opposition would mean they are "standing in the way of you getting a job."
After host Ed Schultz asked Alter about the GOP response to Obama's plan, the MSNBC analyst soon appealed to Americans to support the bill:
And that's why it's so important that people respond in support of this bill. Obama has thrown down the gauntlet. Now, it's up, not just to progressives but to anybody who doesn't want to see the New Deal repealed - as Katrina (Vanden Heuvel) so eloquently put it - it's up to all of them to now get behind this. And I think we could use a little Lyndon Johnson muscle, too.
He soon advised the President to appeal to voters in the states and districts of congressional Republicans:
John Boehner, your Republican Senator, your Republican Congressman, he's taking money out of your pocket by opposing this bill. And that's the connection that hasn't quite been made, that by standing in the way of this legislation, they're standing in the way of you getting a job.
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Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Tuesday, September 13, The Ed Show on MSNBC:
ED SCHULTZ: What's the up side for Republicans to say no to this jobs bill?
JONATHAN ALTER: Well, because they maintain the same sense of discipline that has served them very well - just no, no, no. It's been working for them, so why would they do anything different? The only reason, Ed, they would do anything different - and often the only reason anyone does anything different in politics is when the people force them to, when the people speak. And that's why it's so important that people respond in support of this bill.
Obama has thrown down the gauntlet. Now, it's up, not just to progressives but to anybody who doesn't want to see the New Deal repealed - as Katrina (Vanden Heuvel) so eloquently put it - it's up to all of them to now get behind this. And I think we could use a little Lyndon Johnson muscle, too. This is a situation where you have labor supports it obviously, the Chamber of Commerce, business, supports this infrastructure. The only folks who aren't supporting it are the politicians in the Republican Party
So when he goes into their districts and states, I think what he needs to say to folks there is, look, if you don't want it, you won't get it. And if the bill passes and, you know, there's not buy-in from your local politicians, it'll be very hard to bring these projects to Ohio, so, in other words, John Boehner, your Republican Senator, your Republican Congressman, he's taking money out of your pocket by opposing this bill. And that's the connection that hasn't quite been made, that by standing in the way of this legislation, they're standing in the way of you getting a job. And this is why it's so important, Ed, it's so important that Obama not do what you just suggested and say the Republicans will never support this, I'm giving up, you know, they're just going to stop me. He needs to keep fighting, fighting, fighting.
