Glenn Beck Interview with Saxby Chambliss

On November 12, Glenn Bleck interviewed Saxby Chambliss, the senator from Georgia who is involved in the Dec. 2 runoff election.  Here are just a few highlights;

Glenn Beck: Most important man in America?

GLENN: Senator Saxby Chambliss. Senator, you have the greatest name given to any man alive.

SENATOR CHAMBLISS: Well, I think so, too, Glenn, but Glenn’s a pretty good name.

[....]

GLENN: Really? Listen, we wanted to get you on the phone because your race, you may be the stopgap of the 60 votes in the Senate or you may be the seat that causes that to happen for the Democrats. Do you have any comment on the place in history that you find yourself in today?

SENATOR CHAMBLISS: Well, Glenn, we’re thinking about it in terms obviously of just being focused on our race and focused on reelection. We came within 8,000 votes out of 4 million of making it happen on November 4 and now we’ve got to make sure that all of our voters come back out. Obviously we do understand that the number 60 is a very critical number on the Democratic side and we know because of that they are working hard and spending a ton of money down here, Glenn, against us.

[....]

GLENN: Okay. So I saw a disturbing poll from the American people yesterday that said they don’t have a problem with concentrated power in one party. They don’t seem to have a problem. Do the voters in Georgia understand how important your race is?

SENATOR CHAMBLISS: Well, we’re doing our best to educate them. Obviously that’s part of our campaign to make sure that we do maintain the ability to stop bad legislation or shape bad legislation and if you give the Democrats a blank check, which certainly 60 votes would do, then they are going to enact legislation that a majority of Georgians are not in favor of and that certainly is part of our campaign.

[....]

SENATOR CHAMBLISS: Well, there’s no question but one of the first things they are going to do is try to reinstate the moratorium on offshore drilling and the only way we can combat that is with legislation, and it’s imperative, obviously if we move toward energy independence, we’ve got to have that. The card check is going to be a major piece of early legislation and taking away the secret ballot, which is a fundamental right. Raising taxes, you know, as I’ve been around the state, Glenn, which we did obviously on a regular basis leading up to the general election, I heard small business person after small business person say, Saxby, I’m not going to expand my business, I’m going to sit tight if Obama gets elected because we can’t afford to grow our business in the face of knowing we’re going to have our taxes raised.

[....]

GLENN: I had Orrin Hatch on the day of the election and he believes that the Constitution, we are at a place, the Constitution is hanging by a thread. I had Joe Lieberman on just a few minutes after that and he agreed with that sentiment. Would you agree with that?

SENATOR CHAMBLISS: I think you are right. I mean, the framers of the Constitution intended for there to be a balance of power and that balance of power may blow in the winds if we’re not careful. And one thing I’m sure Orrin probably talked to you about that I also have a concern about is judicial appointments. If they have the 60 votes, you can imagine the judges that’s going to be going to the bench.

GLENN: We’re entering a place where the judges – and we’ve been flirting with this, but we’re entering a place where these activist judges are – I mean, no matter what the people say, they can vote and vote and vote and vote and it doesn’t matter because the judges will say, “Well, sorry, not going to do it.”

[....]

SENATOR CHAMBLISS: Well, what we found out is that it’s much tougher to govern in the majority and maintain all of those principles, Glenn, but you are right. The American people are demanding that we move back toward the basics that Ronald Reagan set out there for us, and as a party we’ve simply got to do that. You know, we’ve got this financial crisis with a plan in place that Lord knows whether it’s going to work or not. We all hope it does, but we need to give it a chance to work before we even think about coming back with, first of all, another stimulus. The first one didn’t work. And now it doesn’t make much sense to throw another $100 billion out there.

SENATOR CHAMBLISS: It won’t be $100 billion. You know that and I know it. It will be $300 billion.

SENATOR CHAMBLISS: You are probably right. And secondly, with respect to what’s being talked about with the automobile industry, there are so many fundamental deep seated problems in the automobile industry that there’s got to be a total restructuring of that industry to fix it. Throwing money at it today’s not going to work.

[....]

GLENN: When all is said and done, the Democrats may indeed have a 60-seat majority in the Senate. The only two times that that has happened, we got the New Deal and the Great Society. It’s only happened twice. Most Americans say that’s not a problem to have one – I don’t know what’s happened to America but they say that it’s not a problem to have one party control everything. This isn’t your grandfather’s Democratic party anymore. This is full-fledged leftists and Marxists that have control and have the Democratic party by the throat. What does that mean and who’s going to stand in the way? There is one race yet to be won. It is a runoff in Georgia between Senator Saxby Chambliss and his opponent in Georgia. The Democrats are funneling money from all over the country into this race. This is probably going to be the most expensive Senate race of all time because things could hinge, the actual course of America may hinge on this one seat. Senator Saxby Chambliss is with us.

[....]

GLENN: Well, let me ask you this, tough question on – the Big Three automakers, if they go down, that’s about three million jobs. How do you sell that to the American people?

SENATOR CHAMBLISS: I don’t think it’s going to be a matter of them going down. I think if worse came to worse, the free market operates, they could take some sort of course of action that would permit restructuring either voluntary or involuntary and that’s simply what’s got to happen. You look at the legacy costs that have been created with these companies versus the costs of their competitors out there.

GLENN: Do you believe that – I mean you look at Toyota. They are paying their workers $48 an hour. General Motors and Ford are paying almost $78 an hour and that’s because of the unions. Do you believe with this liberal congress and this President that, this coming President, there’s any way they don’t pay that debt to the unions and save those jobs, if you will, at that kind of a rate?

SENATOR CHAMBLISS: I think you are already hearing Obama say that’s a priority of his and if they have the filibuster-proof Senate, then I think we’re probably headed in that direction and that would truly be unfortunate.

.. Will you stand against a steeper climb on the progressive tax system? Will you stand against higher taxes?

SENATOR CHAMBLISS: Glenn, I’ve never voted for a tax increase and I never will. That’s not going to help this economy to raise taxes.

GLENN: Obama and the Democrats want to abolish Guantanamo and bring those cases into civil court. I have had attorneys tell me that if you bring 200 of these cases into federal court, it will shut our system down. Are you for dismantling Guantanamo and bringing these into federal court?

SENATOR CHAMBLISS: Glenn, I’ve been to Guantanamo three times myself. I’ve seen the type of prisoner that’s down there. Having practiced law for 26 years before I got into politics myself, whoever made that statement about shutting down the American system is absolutely right and I’m not in favor of that. I’m in favor of making sure that prisoners have certain rights but to give these guys who want to kill and harm us the rights that every other prisoner has and even greater rights now in some instances, if you look at the court decisions I think is just, it’s wrong and I would not be in support of moving those folks out of Guantanamo.

Must read full transcript here, especially if you are from Georgia.