MSNBC "The Rachel Maddow Show" - Transcript

Interview

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Joining us now for the interview tonight is our nation`s secretary of agriculture, also the former governor of Iowa, Tom Vilsack.

Mr. Secretary, thanks for being here.

TOM VILSACK, SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE: It`s great to be here.

MADDOW: I did not know I would be talking to you about things like expanding broadband access on the day that Steve Jobs died. But his death has me thinking about the democratization of technology and how important it is economically to us as a country that everybody has access to computing power and to Internet power.

VILSACK: You know, if you`re a farmer, you want to have access to that power so that you can make real time information available to you so you can make real time decisions about markets. A second here, second
there, minute here, minute there, can actually make a difference between a good year and a difficult year.

If you happen to be a small business owner, you can expand your opportunities not just in the local or regional market but you can now go global. If you got a niche product, you can actually sell it to the world.

If you happen to be a schoolteacher in a rural school that may not be able to afford all the bells and whistles with the Internet, you basically have access to those bells and whistles.

And if you`re in a small town hospital and have a patient that needs expert consultation, that patient can`t drive hundreds of miles for that consultation, broadband can bring that expert to the small town hospital.

MADDOW: What do you make of the real politicization of infrastructure investment? The idea that if the government supports things like this, things like your agency is doing in terms of try to get broadband out to
America`s far flung corners, that if the government does that, that will somehow encroach on economic growth, that will encroach on the private sector.

VILSACK: The opposite. It allows for expansion of opportunity. It allows small businesses to expand their market. Allows them to figure out where the best deal is, make sure we have generations of learners from all
parts of the country that are prepared for a very competitive future that they`re going to find themselves in.

Look, our competition is going all of this right now. They`re building the infrastructure, both the brick and mortar infrastructure and the technology infrastructure. If we really want to compete -- if we want
to maintain ourselves as the strongest nation on earth, we better make sure all of our citizens have access to this technology.

MADDOW: With the president now trying to sell the American people on the jobs act, he`s doing a much better job selling that idea, particularly infrastructure investment to the public than he is selling it to Congress and part of the problem is that Democrats in Congress are not all allied with him.

You`ve always been a centrist Democrat throughout your career. What do you make of -- what do you make of the fact that while Republicans have no problem unifying against the president, Democrats have a real problem in Congress unifying behind him -- even on something like this that the president has public support for?

VILSACK: The president is absolutely right about this. This is going to put people to work immediately. It`s going to build the foundation for economic growth far into the future.

You know, I think people are of course concerned about the costs. The president has identified ways of which that cost can be obtained without adding to the deficit. So, the people are right about this

And it`s always a good idea in politics, at least in my experience, to listen to the folks who vote. They want this jobs act. They want the country to get back on the right track.

The president has absolutely got the right prescription. The people know it. And frankly, I think the politicians do, too.

And it`s time for this country to unite. It`s time for this country to focus on getting folks back to work. It`s time for them to focus on the important opportunities that we can create in rural America if we have
access to good infrastructure.

You know, if you`re a farmer, you want roads improved. You want the rail system improved because that`s going to get your grain to profit sooner. It`s going to be easier and more profitable to you.

If you`re a small town teacher, not only do you want to save your jobs which the American Jobs Act will allow you to do, but you also want the opportunity for your children, your students, to have access to all the
information that Steve Jobs and visionaries like Steve Jobs created through the Internet.

MADDOW: Your home state of Iowa, obviously plays a pivotal role in the nominating process. And it`s always more interesting in Republican nominating years than in Democratic nominating years, because Iowa
Democrats don`t behave all that differently than Democrats in the rest of the country.

But Iowa Republicans really do and they sort of define, forgive me, a bit of a fringy part of the Republican Party. They -- the Ames poll supported Michele Bachmann, obviously, and they tend to prioritize social
conservative issues in Republican voting in Iowa.

Given that, and given the influence of Iowa right now, do you think it makes sense for Democrats to talk about values issues, heading into a national election year and the president`s re-election? Values issues
including social issues, or do you think that talking about the economy is a way to speak to the moderates and the independents of Iowa that may not feel like they`re represented by that Republican caucus?

VILSACK: Actually, I think you can do both at the same time. You can talk about putting people back to work and you honor the value of work. You can talk about making sure that veterans have an opportunity which the president wants with the American Jobs Act, getting them an opportunity to have a job when they come back. That values their service to country.

You can talk about values and you can talk about them in terms of what`s on the minds of most people today, which is making sure people get back to work, get this economy headed in the right direction and making sure that it works for everybody, not just a select few, but everybody. We got to rebuild the middle class in this country. It`s the middle class that sort of distinguished this country from all other countries and it`s time we pay some attention to these folks. And a lot of those folks are located in the small towns and rural areas that I care deeply about in my job.

MADDOW: Secretary of agriculture, former governor of Iowa, Tom Vilsack, you and I have managed to find each other to talk and had conversations a lot over the last few years. I`m really grateful for that. I`ve always really enjoy talking to you, sir.

VILSACK: Well, I consider -- I`m privilege to be on your show tonight.

MADDOW: Thanks. Nice to see you, Mr. Secretary. Thank you.

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