OLBERMANN: I wanted to ask you about that. Is that -- because Oakland has rolled up, Albany was rolled up, Portland was rolled up, New York has been rolled up. MOORE: And all in the same way.
OLBERMANN: And poor Jean Quan, the mayor of Oakland -- who is like a weather vane in a windstorm out there -- admitting she was on a conference call with 18 mayors. This is a plan. Whose plan is it? And who do we assign responsibility to?
MOORE: Well, there was just a piece that came out from The Minneapolis Examiner a couple hours ago, where they quote a justice official in the Obama Justice Department who did not want to be identified, but he said that the federal government has been providing logistical and tactical advice and support. They said that it's up to the local law enforcement officers or agencies as to what, you know, what to do. But Homeland Security and the Justice Department have been coordinating the, sort of, advice and strategy and tactics of this so that -- because you have seen all of the tactics of the police have been the same in every city in terms of how they have done this in the last 48 hours. So, this is not some coincidence. This was planned. And I think that the question really has to be asked of the federal government, and of the Obama administration -- why?
OLBERMANN: Yeah.
MOORE: Why? Why are you participating in this, against a non-violent, mass movement of people who are upset at what Wall Street and the banks have done to their lives?
OLBERMANN: Conveniently, the president can't be asked that question, because he was en route to Australia. On the plane -- Air Force One -- the Associated Press quoted the press secretary. And this is their story -- they don't have direct quotes from the press secretary -- but he said, in essence, "The president hopes the right balance can be reached between protecting freedom of assembly and speech," -- Okay -- "with the need to uphold order and safeguard public health and safety." Because, obviously, the bubonic plague in all the Occupy protests was beginning to get to be a problem when we lost the entire state of Minnesota, or whatever he thinks happened. And, they added this in the story, "The administration's position is that each municipality has to make its own decisions about how to handle the issues." So, Mr. Obama is basically saying -- what? -- through his press secretary here? "You are on your own?"
MOORE: Yes. But he is also saying -- he wants it both ways.
OLBERMANN: Uh-huh.
MOORE: You know, his administration is obviously helping them to stymie this movement, because -- look, no politician, regardless of what party they are in, wants the people to suddenly be in charge.
OLBERMANN: Yeah.
MOORE: For the power to shift from those who are the elected officials to the people who elected them -- which is actually the way it's supposed to be -- that's a frightening thought.
OLBERMANN: Very much so.
MOORE: So, I can understand why they are inclined to do that. They are no different than any other politician, but because of all of, you know, my support of President Obama -- I expect more of him. And I don't expect his Justice Department and his Homeland Security Department to be helping to coordinate the destruction of this movement, because -- first of all, you can't destroy it. So stop, because the majority of Americans want taxes raised on the rich. The majority of Americans don't believe you didn't go far enough on health care. You know, you go down the whole list and the majority is very much behind the principles of the Occupy movement.
OLBERMANN: And the practicalities of it. There is a poll this afternoon -- New York State Public Opinion Poll -- 58 percent of New York State residents -- that's from Albany to Zuccotti Park, A to Z -- say that, no matter how they feel about what's being protested, the protesters have the right to continue to protest and they have the right to stay overnight in public parks. So, not just the, "Well, they're against Wall Street," or "They are communists," but just the idea they have the right to be there is overwhelmingly supported in the state in which this is now most recently happened.
MOORE: That is correct. And I believe that you would find that in most states across the country.
OLBERMANN: I think you are right.
MOORE: Because -- because people are just happy that somebody has started this. Somebody has gotten up and, again -- thank God that it's been young people that have said, "You have stolen our future and we want it back and we are not going to settle for anything less."
