David Pakman: Cenk Uygur's with us, host of The Young Turks.
Cenk, you have so many announcements that I don't even know where to start.
There's Wolf PAC to talk about, you were at Occupy Wall Street, I don't know when you're
fitting all of this stuff in, and you're now on Current TV.
Let's go first to Wolf PAC.
Explain what it is, because I get emails about it, people saying I need to be talking more
about it, but the people emailing me don't really seem to know what it is.
Cenk Uygur: Oh, OK.
Well, I'm happy to talk about it with you guys.
So Wolf PAC is a political action committee, it's, in fact, a super PAC, set up to make
sure that we pass a constitutional amendment.
And that amendment is to end corporate personhood and to publicly finance elections so that
we can get money out of politics, because that is the number one issue in America.
In fact, there is no number two issue, because you're not going to win on any other issue,
whether it's the environment, health care, or anything like that, until you clean up
our electoral system and our democracy.
Right now, the only thing that decides issues is money, and so that's why we've formed this
super PAC to get the money out of politics, and the way that we're going to do that is
through a convention at the state levels, we're going to call for a constitutional convention
to get the amendment passed.
David: Yeah, I interviewed Jim Hightower, who's very involved with www.MovetoAmend.org
and that entire movement, and he's a lot more optimistic than I am that this can actually
happen.
I mean, what is... so people donate money to Wolf PAC, and then what exactly is the
money used for?
In other words, how does that money get you closer to that goal?
Uygur: Right, that's a great question, because look, we-- the money's very important, and
if you donate, it's absolutely essential, but it is... our main thing isn't the money,
it's volunteers.
So if you go to www.Wolf-PAC.com, we've already got over 3700 volunteers in all 50 states
across the country.
So what are we going to do with that, with those volunteers and the money that is used
to support those volunteers?
We're going to go state by state and demand a convention.
So if you get two-thirds of the states to call for a constitutional convention, you
will have one.
And then we have to be incredibly hard-working to make sure that we get our amendment through
that convention, and then you need three-quarters of the states to ratify.
We're not kidding around.
This is for actual change, not theoretical change, not hey, I signed something online
and I went home, if we need to occupy the State Houses, that's what we're going to do.
We're going to do everything in our power to make sure that this amendment actually
gets passed so that corporations can stop buying our government.
David: How many people do you need?
Like for example, in Massachusetts, how many people actually need to take action for there
to be a convention?
Uygur: Well, all we need is the state legislature to call for one, so however many people we
need to get that done.
It could be two people, it could be 200, it could be 2000, it could be, you know, anywhere
in that range, but what... sometimes in some of those states, my guess is that we will
have organizing geniuses that figure out, you know, the best way to apply pressure.
Now, wait, one of the ways that you apply pressure, let me give you examples, is, like
I said, occupying the State Houses or doing it the traditional manner, in which you call
and write letters and emails to your representatives.
Another way is that if you raise enough money, you come to a state legislator, and I know
in Massachusetts, for example, that the average legislator's reelection campaign runs about
$40,000.
We can come in and bring a hell of a lot more money than that and go hey, listen, you're
either voting this way or there's the door, good luck to you.
David: Talk a little bit about the Current TV deal.
What exactly is going on?
Are you... is it one of the hours of The Young Turks that will be on Current TV?
Are you doing an extra hour just for Current?
Uygur: No, it's an extra hour.
So we'll be doing the two hours of The Young Turks as we always do, and then at 7:00 Eastern,
6:00 Central, we'll be on Current TV as the lead-in to Keith Olbermann.
David: What's it like working for Al Gore?
He's not now taking credit for creating The Young Turks, is he?
Because you know that's what the Republicans will start saying, he created the internet,
he created The Young Turks.
Uygur: No, he's not at all doing that.
Look, I mean, this is no BS, man, it's an absolute pleasure to work for a guy who actually
cares about policy as opposed to not politics as in electoral politics, but corporate politics.
Most of your-- of my bosses have had to, you know, it's not their fault and they're not
necessarily bad guys or anything, but have had to worry about what do their bosses think,
what does the corporate parent think, what do the advertisors think, what do the politicians
who are your guests think?
Al Gore is worried that I've got all the policy right, right?
And so we had this enormously long conversation that was incredibly fruitful where we shared
opinions and we largely agreed on many things, there's some things we disagreed on, and it
was great.
I mean, it was... is a pleasure to work for someone who actually cares.
David: What do you disagree with Al Gore on?
Uygur: For example, he's not totally sold on the idea of a convention to get to that
amendment yet.
The first thing that Al Gore pushed, the very first bill when he was in the House, was for
publicly financing elections.
That's part of our amendment.
That's totally independent.
I had no idea of that when we were putting Wolf PAC together.
So we're incredibly like-minded on that.
As to how we get there, he would prefer to go through Congress, I would prefer to go
through a convention.
Gives you one example.
David: Last we spoke, you thought you were probably on bad terms with MSNBC, but it wasn't
that clear.
Now is it more clear that you're on bad terms with MSNBC now after everything that's happened?
Uygur: You know, the funny thing, David, is that I'm not.
I mean, what I mean by that is on a personal level, I have not had one unkind word with
a single person at MSNBC, either before or after.
And I'm on great terms with Dylan Ratigan and all my old friends at MSNBC, you know,
I've not had any bad exchanges with... in the least bit, and so I don't know where I
stand with them, honestly.
I'm only guessing that... but look, hey, we'll find out.
You know, before the launch of the Current show, maybe we'll try to do some appearances
on MSNBC, and we'll see if they'll have us.
David: Last thing, can you evaluate my appearance on The Young Turks in late September?
You know, I was there, there was a lot of different feedback.
I really have no idea, I thought I was kind of funny, you know, Ben Mankiewicz seemed
to take somewhat of a liking to me, but he's a hard guy to get a read on, you know?
Uygur: Yeah, he's a... he's a sphinx, he's hard to solve.
No, David, I got nothing but great words for you, man.
Everybody said you did a great job.
I'm not blowing smoke, there's no need to, OK, I'm telling you the reality.
So we were actually...
David: All right, OK, I believe you.
Uygur: Yeah, we were actually really pleased with how you did.
And actually, that leads us to the final project that The Young Turks are working on, which
is we're one of the hundred shows that got funded by YouTube in their new $100 million
project.
And so we're launching a new channel on YouTube through our network.
It's called Town Square.
It's going to concentrate on politics, and the first show onthat channel's called The
Point, and it's a panel show, and every once in a while, we'd love to have you on the panel.
David: Absolutely, yeah, anytime, that sounds great.
So Cenk Uygur, big news that I did OK on The Young Turks, and also, secondary to that,
it's Wolf PAC, Current TV, and the new show, The Point.
It's incredible what's going on over there, Cenk.
Really great to talk to you, and we'll keep talking about Wolf PAC, and we'll talk to
you soon.
Uygur: Thank you so much.
And again, I just want to remind everybody, it's www.Wolf-PAC.com, that's P-A-C, dot com.
It's the one way to retake our democracy, so any way that anybody can help, we'd appreciate
it.
David: All right, thanks, Cenk, we'll be watching.
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