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Boehner, McConnell Put Forth New Agenda; Who Will Republican Takeover of Congress Help in 2016; Jon Stewart Tries Serious Filmmaking; Taylor Swift Leaves Spotify, Music Industry Trembles
Aired November 06, 2014 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: You have Boehner, Mitch McConnell, the soon-to-be Senate majority leader, wasting no time putting forth their agenda. First thing this morning, "Wall Street Journal", opinion page, off the bat, Boehner and McConnell say appeal Obamacare. How? They're not explaining that thus far. They want to get Keystone Pipeline going and get businesses to hire more veterans and extend a full workweek to 40 hours and not 30, as it is for Obamacare. Toughest challenges, according to McConnell and Boehner, the, quote, unquote, "insanely complex tax code, rising health care costs and the savage global terrorist threat," is the words from John Boehner and Mitch McConnell.
Joining me from Washington is "National Journal's" Ron Fournier; and here with me in New York, Angela Rye, former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Welcome to both of you here.
Ron, let me begin with you. You wrote this piece. Basically, here we have shellacking, 2.0. The president saying, despite that yesterday, not going to change. You have, as we mentioned, Boehner and McConnell saying repeal Obamacare. Did no one get the message that Americans are sick of this?
RON FOURNIER, NATIONAL JOURNAL: No. No. And I'm not surprised. It was clear what the American people wanted.
BALDWIN: Why?
FOURNIER: It was a repudiation on the president. And a repudiation of politics as usual in this town. One of the biggest issues is gridlock. They want parties to work together and get something done. That was clear in the results no matter how you look at it. But these parties are, just because of a lot of factors --
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Such as?
FOURNIER: Starting with the fact that they are not very good leaders. One, they're not very good leaders. The president doesn't know how to cut a deal. Boehner doesn't have a caucus that will let him cut a deal. And McConnell can't run the Senate by himself. You have money in the system. You have redistricting that has the parties polarized. And all these people are worried about their own self-interests and not what American people really want. And both parties right now clearly are just telling the country, we heard you but we're not going to listen to you. We know you want something to get done but we're going to shove Obamacare at the president and the president will shove immigration at the Republicans and the rest of the country is saying more of the same.
BALDWIN: A lot of shouting it sounds like. I don't know how the American people will respond to that.
(LAUGHTER)
Angela, let me ask you this.
ANGELA RYE, FORMER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS: It's depressing.
BALDWIN: It is a little bit. We know President Obama campaigned in Detroit on Sunday with a Democrat who did end up winning, right? He won the open Senate seat. He crushed his Republican opponent by 13 points. There's one example for you. But how does the president lead his party in these final two years in office for him?
RYE: I think he's got to continue on the same agenda. The reality of Washington gridlock is that the president was trying to get something done with a house that did not want to cooperate. And even with the Senate, even though Democrats had control of the Senate, you had a conflicting and always fighting Republican Party. So now that they have control of the Senate, it doesn't mean that all of a sudden it's a Kumbaya session.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: How will the same agenda work if you have a red upper and lower chamber?
RYE: Sure. I think if the message was clear, and the leadership in both the House and Senate heard it, it's that it's time to work together. I think the unfortunate part of this "Wall Street Journal" piece you brought up is it sounds like it's more of the same. So hopefully, when the president tells them, as he's told them a hundred times, when you send me a bill to repeal Obamacare, I'm going veto it.
Here are things we can work together on. Yes, tax reform. Yes, a trade agreement or a couple trade agreements. Yes, we can strengthen and tighten up Obamacare. And we need to continue on the path toward fixing the economy. That's what the American people spoke loud and clearly on, not a repeal of Obamacare.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Ron, I heard you wanted to jump in. Let me hear your voice.
FOURNIER: Well, what's happening is both parties are doing what you described. It's not just Republicans. The president is saying, hey, send me a bill the way I want it and I might sign it. And Republicans are saying we're going to repeal the signature thing that has your name on it and if you don't like it, we'll shut down Congress. There's just no getting around the fact that neither one of these parties and leaders of both of these parties are just completely ignoring what most Americans want. They are catering to a very small slice of hardcore Republicans and hardcore Democrats who can't get outside themselves and see what the country really wants done and what the country really needs done. This is a great game. It's great TV. It's not helping the country one bit.
RYE: The challenge is I think the president saying earlier on that his policies were on the ballot ended up being absolutely true. And the fact of the matter is the five states that had minimum wage petitions on the ballot ended up being supported by the American people overwhelmingly, supported even in Illinois, the president's home state.
(CROSSTALK)
RYE: There was a referendum -- we're talking about policies, right?
BALDWIN: OK, hang on. Let's talk post-thump-age.
(LAUGHTER)
Depending on how it goes on both sides in the next two years, which party it hurts or helps in 2016. So 2016, we're all talking this morning -- and this is to both of you -- you have all of these Republican names out there who have been floated. You have the Chris Christie, Rand Paul, Jeb Bush, Rubio, Cruz, Romney. Who knows? When this comes to Democrats, you have power player, Hillary Clinton, potentially. Where's the Democrat bench? Where's the Democrat bench? Who else is out there?
RYE: Time will tell.
(CROSSTALK)
RYE: Go ahead, Ron.
FOURNIER: No, I'm sorry. You go ahead.
(LAUGHTER)
BALDWIN: Too polite here. Quick.
RYE: What I was getting ready to say is it depends. One thing we've seen over time is candidates come and go. I remember Marco Rubio was supposed to be the huge star of the Republican Party and immigration reform ended up burying him by the same party that McConnell says wants to consider immigration reform this time. I'm not sure who will come around. We know we have heard a lot from Elizabeth Warren. We saw a love fest with Elizabeth Warren and Hillary Clinton not long ago on the campaign trail. There may be others. Democrats have been clear it's time for a woman in 2016. We'll see.
BALDWIN: 20 seconds. FOURNIER: Two points, real quick. I really agree with what you're
saying there. Nobody saw Howard Dean coming in 2004 and he almost won the nomination. Nobody saw Barack Obama coming in 2007 and he won the nomination. We don't know.
I will say last night, Tuesday night made the bench even weaker. We have 24 states in the country that are completely controlled, in the governor's office and legislature, by Republicans. Only seven states in the country right now are completely controlled by the Democrats. That's the bench. Right now it's much weaker for Democrats.
BALDWIN: Ron Fournier, Angela Rye, thank you both very much.
Someone who talks politics a heck of a lot satirically, maybe not entirely, Jon Stewart. He takes pleasure in skewering reporters, including CNN. So why has he directed a film that features a reporter as a hero? Christiane Amanpour joins me next to talk about his new film, his big risk, and this amazing veterans event we all attended last night. We want to talk about that coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Jon Stewart getting serious. The comedian is making a debut as a film director. His movie adopts a story of a journalist locked in an Iranian prison. The journalist was sent there after he appeared in a 2009 skit set in a Tehran cafe. The Iranian-Canadian journalist met up with Jones who was pretending to be a spy as a joke. And days after that skit aired on "The Daily Show," the journalist was imprisoned and spent 107 days in solitary confinement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: So can you tell me why just a journalist met up with this American spy?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: He's not a spy.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: He's not a spy?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: It's a show.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: It's a show?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: It's a comedy show. It's stupid.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: It's real stupid, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: He's a comedian pretending to be a spy.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: So san you tell me why American pretended to be a spy chose to interview you?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Why would a real spy have a TV show?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
BALDWIN: Our chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, talked to Jon Stewart this past week about "Rosewater."
You're back with us today. Jon Stewart wrote the whole thing. Why this story line?
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I suspect that he really respects journalists and --
BALDWIN: Deep, deep, deep down.
AMANPOUR: No, not even deep down, very obviously. That's one of the reasons he took on this story. As he pointed out to me, it isn't just about that journalist. It's about many of our colleagues all over the world. What he said is that he hopes that this kind of story, which is really very profound, starts to break down maybe some stereotypes about various different nationalities.
I have a bit of the interview. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: You also focus very much on the absurdity of what happened.
MAZIAR BAHARI, JOURNALIST SPENT MONTHS IN IRANIAN PRISON: It comes from reality. You have 66 journalists imprisoned in Iran right now, why they have arrested almost 300 journalists since 2009, more than 1,000 since the beginning of the Revolution. And to come to your show saying that no one is in prison. I transcribed those ridiculous things in the book.
JON STEWART, HOST, THE DAILY SHOW: Not just Iran.
(CROSSTALK)
STEWART: And not just Iran. It's -- Turkey has these -- al Jazeera reporters are being held in Egypt. United States has prisoners in solitary. We put pressure on journalists. We see that now. This is a ubiquitous issue. We don't want it to be dismissed as one eccentricity of one regime.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: I think he genuinely believes, and I heard him say it to others, if you point out these absurdities of some of these regimes, in the end, you know, they will implode under the weight of their own dictatorship and weight of their own stupidity. That's something that many people believe in. This is a real journalist film. It's quite remarkable. It opens next week.
BALDWIN: Speaking of journalists, let's talk about this event we attended with Jon Stewart, who headlined this thing. This is the Bob Woodruff Foundation's Stand Up for Heroes. I had no idea that chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff has pipes. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SINGING)
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: So that was me squealing and giggling because who knew General Martin Dempsey could sing. But on a serious note it was an honor to be there. And we were talking earlier today -- and I would love to have you jump in -- because the most poignant part, yes, love Bruce Springsteen, and comedians that performed, but this young man who walked out on stage who was paralyzed. He's active duty Marine Special Operations Officer Derrick Rarara (ph). We have a picture of him. He's paralyzed. Because of this fascinating piece of technology, he walked out there.
AMANPOUR: This was a surprise performance, if you like, in a way that highlighted what this foundation does. Bob Woodruff who is one of our colleagues, ABC correspondent, anchor of the "World News," went to Iraq and he was very, very badly wounded by an IED attack. He has come up with this amazing foundation that now for the last eight years has put on these really unique fundraisers, which is all about comedy, and all these comedians give of their time, Bruce Springsteen gives of his time. It's all free. And it raises millions for the wounded and for their families and to help them with things like care dogs, with things like trying to purchase this kind of technology. You remember, you were there last night. There wasn't, I don't think, a dry eye in the House as Derrick stood up there with his wife and showed us all how a man paralyzed from the chest down, through the grace of technology, has been able to actually strap himself to a device that allows him to put one foot in front of the other, and some independence. And they all have so much dignity.
And again I spoke to Jon about this. Why have you chosen this as one of your charitable pursuits? I don't know whether we have that bit. He said, look, I started to visit them. I didn't agree with the Iraq War. When I saw these people, who, at the first calling to duty of their country, went with no questions asked, and then they come back and they can barely get attention, some of them living on the streets, some can't get medical or mental health care that they need, this is something that we, as a nation, owe to these people. And I'm so proud to be part of this foundation really.
BALDWIN: Gave me goose bumps. I hope to go to this event next week. Finally hearing Derrick say, you know, people feel so sorry for me sitting in this wheelchair, and I can be up here and look people in the eye changes everything.
AMANPOUR: Things like that, we can't imagine that.
BALDWIN: Thank you. Thank you so much to everyone who serves.
Christiane Amanpour, thank you. Good to see you this week.
Coming up next, one of the planet's most popular singers pulling her music from Spotify. Here why Taylor Swift is taking a huge risk and how this changes the future of how you listen to music.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SINGING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: In today's "Human Factor," Dr. Sanjay Gupta brings us a story of a young woman who defines herself by her talent and not her disorder.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's times like this when Julia Adams finds purpose. Before becoming an artist, Adams, who was diagnosed with autism when she was 2 years old, wondered how she fit in.
JULIA ADAMS, ARTIST: I saw people. They think that I am different.
GUPTA: That changed last year when Adams met with Sam Goldstein. He had an idea for a book and he needed an illustrator.
ADAMS: After I showed him a picture in my portfolio, he said, will you draw for me, for my illustration book? I said, yes, I can.
GUPTA: Adams went to work, pouring emotion into her art and her own feelings of alienation, a feeling misunderstood, were put into the images of Billy. He's an autistic boy who loves rocks.
ADAMS: He likes to find rocks as I like to draw. It's my different talent than him. My cousin, Devin, who has autism, and his classmates a written a lot of letters to me.
GUPTA: Adams' cousin, Devin, felt he needed to be better understood so his class read Julia's book.
ADAMS: "What we like most about the story is we learned it's OK to be different." It just touched my heart. I almost cried. I just felt like I brought hope to them and it made me feel happy inside.
GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Sanjay, thank you.
We have breaking news here at CNN. The Navy SEAL who says he's the one who shot and killed Osama bin Laden has reportedly come forward and revealed himself. He has quite the background. Stay with me. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SINGING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Sounds like Taylor Swift in real life is doing the shaking it off. The 24-year-old singer ditched Spotify this week, yanking all of her music from the streaming service. Her new release is setting sales records and the music industry is trembling.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(SINGING)
BALDWIN (voice-over): Taylor Swift is shaking off dire predictions about the future of the music business. In a year on track to have no platinum albums, her new one, "1989," sold more than a million copies in one week.
(SINGING)
BALDWIN: It's the biggest album debut since 2002. And it comes despite this breakup. Swift dumped Spotify.
(SINGING)
BALDWIN: This week, she pulled all of her music off the popular streaming service.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Albums don't go platinum anymore. It's amazing she pulled it off and to do it without Spotify makes it remarkable.
BALDWIN: In a "Wall Street Journal" op-ed this summer, Swift explained, "There are many people who predict the downfall of music sales and the irrelevancy of the album as an economic entity. I am not one of them."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Taylor Swift!
(CHEERING)
BALDWIN: But traditional music sales are falling. Album sales tumbled nearly 15 percent for the first half of this year. At the same time, on-demand streams are up 42 percent. The problem, streaming services don't pay musicians very much. On Spotify, it comes out to far less than a penny per stream. Spotify defends its model, insisting it pays nearly 70 percent of revenue back to the music community.
(SINGING)
BALDWIN: But shunning Spotify may not work if your name isn't Taylor Swift.
(SINGING) STELTER: This works for her and it works right now. I don't think it will work for many others and I don't think it will work in the future. People want to stream. People like me love their Spotify accounts and they even pay for them.
BALDWIN: And Swift can afford to take the chances. She's the second- richest woman in music, earning $64 million last year.
(SINGING)
BALDWIN: And the mega-success of "1989" will only make those numbers grow.
(SINGING)
