unsubscribe to our stayly podcast and follow me on loudobbs on twitter.com. up next, campbell brown. tonight, hear the questions we want answered. can we have a rational conversation on health care education and the economy? >> we're just going to crazy town, every stay firing often press releases that have nothing to do with really. after a long summer of mild attacks and hitting the reset button, it's time to get at the facts. plus breaking news from afghanistan, four americans dead today in fierce fighting, a suicide bombing in kabul, charges of election fraud, are

we making any progress in afghanistan? >> we know the taliban is out there and there it's a troubling sign. >> anderson cooper and michael ware on the front lines tonight. and our newsmaker tonight, kathy griffin, is there anything she won't say? the queen of the d list on politics. >> the very most important question on this administration is her arms and how did she get them? >> her personal life. >> i've never been a keeper of secrets and i'm not going to start now. >> and the truth about being a cnn junky. >> i finally found love, you're going to have to address me as kathy griffin johnston. >> here's campbell brown. hey there, everybody, it's good to be back, those are our big questions tonight, but we're going to start as we always do with the matchup, our look at all the stories making impacts right now, the moments you may have missed. and back to work in washington,

d.c. today with the white house desperately trying to hit resets and get health care reform back on track, take a look. make or break moment for health care reform, congress is now back in washington, ready for a special address from the president. >> the president lost control of the health care debate over august, and this prime time speech may be his last, best chance to get it back. >> reporter: what everyone wants to know at this point is whether the public option, an option for government-run health care is out or in. >> reporter: aids made clear the president won't make a government insurance option which he supports an absolute deal breaker, which nancy pelosi wous outside of the white house today said it's still a must. >> any republican has decided to just say no to anything the president proposes. >> my friends, you can call it the government option, you can call it a co-op, you can call it a banana, but the fact is it is government intervention into the

free marketplace. >> still, the president tonight making a special appeal to republican moderates telling abc news their voices are getting drowned out too by the french. watch. >> part of the frustration i have is that on the republican side, there are wonderful people whose voices i think are tamped down, the traditional leaders, the bob doles of the world, those voices have been i think shouted down. >> a challenge from the president, but will he be able to quiet the loud voices in his own party? and how do we get past all the arranger and invective, we're going to tackle that later tonight. meantime the president today delivering what in a normal universe would be a pretty

unremarkable speech, a back to school message to america's children, but even that becomes fodder for partisan attacks. last week, the chairman of the florida republican party accused the president of trying to indoctrinate our kids. and it only got worse from there. hand wringing on the right, parents pulling their kids out of class, urging their principals not to play the president's address. today the president spoke, no socialists read this. here are the cliff notes. >> we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, the best schools in the world and none of it will make a difference, none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. i know that sometimes you get that sense from tv that you can be rich and successful without any hard work. the truth is, being successful is hard. if you get a bad grade, that doesn't mean you're stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.

if you get into trouble, it doesn't mean you're a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to act right. the circumstances of your life, what you look like, where you come from, how much money you, what you've got going on at home, none of that is an excuse for neglecting your home work or having a bad attitude in school. that's no excuse for talking back to your teacher or cutting class or dropping out of school. there's no excuse for not trying. >> so that was it, people, calm down, everybody. now that this speech is over, the big speech is over, the reviews are in and they are glowing. >> not the kind of speech that a lot of even critics of the president would find fault with. >> not a political speech that brainwashed children as critics alleged. >> there was nothing controversial or subversive. >> hardly controversial at all. >> it wasn't only noncontroversial, it was a conservative values speech. >> i commend the president for his speech today.

>> the speech was a perfectly sensible speech, perfectly fine, telling kids to stay in school and get a good education. >> even newt gingrich today praising the president's speech saying every american child should real it. the republicans in florida probably feeling a little bit foolish right about now. over to afghanistan today officials ruled that president hamid karzai got the majority of votes which would make him the winner, but he's not yet. the commission that had to certify the votes said not so fast and ordered a partial recount. meanwhile four american soldiers died today. after eight years fighting the taliban is tougher than ever on american troops. our sanjay group that is in the war zone tracking the wounded heroes. >> we have been here just a few minutes, we're already getting an idea of how busy this

hospital is. this is a very urgent case, a lot of bleeding, possible double leg amputation. >> the carrotid pulse is all right. >> the patients translating trying to figure out what happened to them. >> you can see the tournequts that are holding. >> a battlefield hospital in the middle of a war zone. >> cnn's dr. sanjay gupta, we should tell you august was the deadliest month for midwestern so -- american soldiers in afghanistan. elsewhere in the world, a truly odd couple makes their debut as a couple. and a za.

>> reporter: the venezuelan president hugo chavez has made an unlikely -- >> he may be viewed officially on the international political stage, but you can't buy this sort of celebrity endorsement. >> the main stream establishment sees him as a villain, as a dictator. this man is not a dictator, he was elected three times. >> hugo chaves and director oliver stone are suddenly bffs. >> chavez called stone, quote, a genius of cinema, the movie called "south of the border" is critical of u.s. policy in south america. i have a promise here, everybody is going to be okay. a crowd expecting a thrill at a

labor day festival in utah got it but it was not what they planned. >> reporter: a paraglider crashed into a crowd, trying to drop candy into a crowd yesterday. take a look at the video. >> oh, my god! are you okay? are you okay? you're okay. >> six people including three kids were hospitalized, worse injury, a broken leg. the pilot and his teenaged son on the paraglider were not hurt at all. which is pretty amazing. and spoeaking of amazing, america's father of the year breaks his silence today. john gosselin pours out his heart trashing the mother of his

eight children. check out the highlights. >> let's finish what we got to finish and move on with our lives and stop feeding into the frenzy. i was married at 22, i had twins at 23, i had sextuplets at 27. i was verbally abused, i was beaten down, she separated me from my family. i'm not going to go back that lifestyle. i'm can't sit on the sofa with that woman. i can't sit with a woman that i despise. i think she still wears the ring for public perception. i don't wear my ring because she took my ring. i have cried more now in the last eight months than in my whole entire life. i just want to let the world know that i'm a real person with a feelings, yeah, okay, i made mistakes. maybe it wasn't the best idea to go out to the clubs. but we all learn from mistakes, except mine are public. >> will these people ever go away? please.

well, that tragic story of mat try moanal mayhem -- their shows were all in reruns. so our punch line goes to a pair of newlyweds including a groom that got his nervous bride to laugh and laugh and laugh. >> i, andrew paul daniel ingstrom, do take millelissa re wong to make my lawfully and pancaky -- i've been scare of this all my life. just give her a second.

>> yes, she needed more than a second. that clip gone viral in a big way, nearly a million views on youtube. and that is the matchup. it has been a long, hot summer with the name calling, the wild accusations, the just plain nastiness in politics, so tonight we are hitting the reset button, everybody. we are going to try to answer the big question. is it possible to have a rational thoughtful conversation about the most important issues facing this country? we are going to try. when we come ball. l this energy here in the u.s. we have wind. we have solar, obviously. we have lots of oil. i think natural gas is part of the energy mix of the future. i think we have the can-do. we have the capability. we have the technology. the solutions are here. we just need to find them here.

i want to take a minute to talk about some of the insanity we have witnessed over the fast few days. the ridiculous charge that the president of the united states addressing american school children is somehow a dangerous thing. it turned into a huge day over labor day weekend. we heard huge warnings that the president was trying to indoctrinate our kids and sew the seeds of socialism. today the speech happened, most people agreed the speech happened, study hard kind of stuff. now can we all take a deep breathe and admit this whole episode was just nutty? in everyone's defense, it has been a whole summer of silly, so

let's take a moment now and get it out of our system. take a look. >> there's something about august going into september where everybody in washington gets all wee-weeed up. >> if you want to be let out of here, you're welcome to go. >> now wait a minute, wait a minute. >> you guys are stealing from us. >> why do you continue to support a policy. >> on what planet do you spend most of your time. >> one other thing for the media, how about in honor of the american soldier, you quit making things up. >> questions about the so-called death panels are being raised at health care town halls across the country. >> death panels. >> death panel. >> the death panel or a desire to kill granny. >> first of all, we just don't have enough government workers to send to talk to everybody to find out how they want to die. >> mr. president, i'm not sure

you want to go with dry wit on this one. >> recently professor henry north gay jr. was arrested at his home in cambridge. >> the cambridge police acted stupidly. >> this guy is i believe a racist. >> call it a white house beer summit, a multiolive branch in a bottle. >> the white house advisor of green jobs is out of his jobs. critics went after him when bits of his past caught up with him. >> how are the republicans able to push things through when they have less than 60 senators and somehow we can't? >> the answer to that is they're [ bleep ]. >> the tones of bipartisanship and that is the least of van jones's problems. he questioning whether the 9/11 attacks were a government conspiracy. jones resigned over labor day weekend. now that summer's over, we're hoping we can put this kind of drama behind us because

americans are tuning in again, they're going back to work, so should washington, time for republicans and democrats to put aside all the destructive distractions, the vicious politics of personal attacks and really dig in to what the american people want them to do. so joining me now to discuss the road forward, cnn political contributor mary madeleine, a former counselor to vice president dick cheney, cnn political analyst roland martin, and contributor to the daily beast with me as well. mary, let me start with you here. conservative attacks on the president have grown increasingly vicious, you saw some of the highlights there. now that the summer is over, are we finally going to get a break? >> well, we saw highlight of the what you and i know to be the case, that politics and showbiz for ugly people, that was a lot of showbiz, but it was angry and who moved numbers and why the white house feels compelled to take this strategic moment, a

very defensive moment is because the independents have fallen out of favor with him and conservative democrats and you can blame this on republicans, he's trying to blame it on republicans, but it's the democrats and independents who have abandoned him in droves. that's what the anger is coming from. and you know what, campbell? it preceded health care, it goes back to the stimulus package which was nothing that the president promised it would be and continues to be ineffective. he lost control because regular americans thought they were losing control. >> i think you caught to concede here that leaders within the republican party have been pushing some insane stuff. i mean look at the chairman of the florida republican party, who's the one out there warning that the president's trying to indoctrinate children with this back to school speech, saying this before they had even read the speech. once he had, he later said, oh, well, it's fine. how do we stop these sort of gee

ne knee jerk partisan reactions that don't get us anywhere in terms of thoughtful conversation. >> you would be concerned about this when your kids are this age were forced to watch an inconvenient truth, i completely disagreed with that. when i raised that objection, i was told that i was on the doubters side. parents are concerned about this. >> are you concerned about your children watching a speech of the president of the united states about going back to school, would that bother you. >> if the speech was what was it was originally suggested it was going to be, how can i help president obama? yes, i would be concerned. if it's stay in school, of course i'm not concerned but that's not where this speech started. and it always seems with this president and this administration, whatever you call them on, there was a reason to call them on. >> did you see a draft of the speech? or is this just, it's getting circulated on republican blogs? i just want to get to the bottom

of this, honestly. because it seemed crazy to me. >> i was so busy getting my kids back in school, what i thought i had read over the holidays was that the original assignment was going to be how -- to write an essay on how i can help president obama. but look, campbell, let's take a step back, because i hear what you're saying, i wish that the party apparatus was as effective as to be able to do what happened over the summer. there's only 20% of americans who want what obama was selling which was universal health care run by the government. they wanted that for 60 years, they're not going to get and it's not republicans who pushed back on that. >> hold on a second, because, roland, i know you're laughing but i got to challenge you too on this, because it wasn't just the right that was going looney tunes. van jones forced out after he

had signed this peat questioning whether the government may have let 9/11 happen. then you have the left coming out and aggressively defending him as he is resigning. can't we all concede here that this guy crossed a line and maybe he had to go? >> that wasn't going to happen. first of all addressing the right, we have people on both sides who are absolutely idiotic in terms of what we are seeing, the bottom line the people who are yelling the loudest are the ones who get the attention. when you're talk aboutconservat going to see rational conversation, because people don't want rational conversation. van jones had to resign because he was becoming more of a story than what the president's agenda was. the white house said he wasn't asked to resign, but the bottom line was he was going to step aside. when you serve at the pleasure of the president, the last thing you need to do is become a

distracti distraction. van jones isn't the biggest issue of the world right now, the reason why i was laughing, universal health care was the centerpiece of the president's health care campaign. last i checked he won. this wasn't george w. bush in 2000 where he lost the electoral votes. the fringe posts are going to always be yelling. >> is row land right that whoever yells the loudest gets the most attention. >> no, he shouldn't be right because that's not what the american people voted for in 2008. this was not a literal it logical mandate, it was -- that's one of the reasons why the independents started to abandon the president over the summer. because they didn't vote for these overspending, endless deficits. but the far right -- i believe the independent, the far right and the far left are equally insane, we have had a summer of wing nuts here, they have

dominated the debate. now is the time to push back, put them on defense and start defining the debate on the terms of the american people. >> let me ask you about tomorrow night. this is a huge moment for the president. this health care speech that he's going to deliver before n congress, the stakes couldn't be any higher. is there anything he can say to convince republicans to work with him on this going forward. >> sure, he could acknowledge that our -- that there's a -- republican principles that have never been on the table. like tort reform which doctors would like to see as well. like pooling across states so insurance companies can lower their costs if they had that economy of scale option. like consumer transparency so consumers could get more involved in this. what people wanted from the outset and still want is to lower their costs but maintain their quality and their choice. but these are not -- yes,

there's a lot of extreme rhetoric, but again, i will say again and there's every number, every poll validates this, it is the independents and conservative democrats that have moved away from this obama plan. >> camp bell -- >> go ahead, john. very quickly. >> what the president needs to do tomorrow night is dep polarie is debate. >> i'm going to give you 15 seconds. >> the president has to get this deal through, otherwise 2010, they're in jeopardy of losing so he needs to get his party under control before he even deals with the republicans. >> we will be talking about this a lot more tomorrow night and after that as well. mary madeleine, roland martin thank you. and tonight's big question, when we come back, why is afghanistan spinning back out of control anderson cooper, michael ware are on the front lines tonight.

they will be joining us, how did this become the deadliest summer for u.s. troops? we are looking for answers. >> reporter: the mission here is in crisis, president obama is holding a basket case of a war in his hands. and this is going to be a defining moment for the foreign policy initiatives in his administration. up to five shard wi-fi connections. two are downloading the final final revised final presentation. - one just got an email. - woman: what?! hmph. it's being revised again. the copilot is on mapquest. and tom is streaming meeting psych-up music - from meltedmetal.com. - ( heavy metal music playing ) that's happening now with the new mifi from sprint-- the mobile hotspot that fits in your pocket. sprint. the now network. deaf, hard-of-hearing, and people with speech disabilities access www.sprintrelay.com.

tonight's newsmaker kathy griffin, she's joining us to look at the funnier side of politics and here's cnn's mike galanos. >> we have new developments in the arrest of a serial killer in milwaukee. the break that blew the case

wide open is finding dna evidence on suspect walter ellis's toothbrush. that linked him to nine murders of women. a giant sink hole, look at that video, incredible shot. it swallowed a 22-foot fire truck. two of them had to scramble out of the windows before the muddy water flooded that cab. the firefighters were responding to a water main break, the same one they believe caused that sink hole. instead of a question, george clooney got a proposal for one guy who bro seeded to strip. >> i am gay, george, i think i am in love with you. george, please, choose me, george, please. please choose me, george may i kiss you, please, just one kiss. >> it's always embarrassing when you think one real swing for the

fences and it just falls flat. it's a good try, though. >> how about clooney sympathizing with the guy. they think the guy was able to sneak in somehow, promptly booted out, though. >> you got to give him a little credit for just putting it out there. >> swing for the fences. >> mike galanos, thanks for sharing that with us. tonight's next big question, are we making any head way in afghanistan? cnn's anderson cooper, michael ware joining us are the front lines. plus dr. sanjay gupta takes us inside a military operating room with a hometown doc. >> this place has been attacked, risking your life to save others. the deal was wthat's it. ever worn your clothes in the shower?

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afghanistan, and once again today, american blood was shed. >> four american service members kill in what it called an ongoing event in eastern afghanistan. those deaths make 13 so far this month alone. 196 so far this year. >> the third major attack by insurgents in the afghan capital this past month. >> today a u.n. backed commission cafound what it call voter fraud. >> they have already thrown out about 200,000 votes, tallies have been doctored and ballot boxes have been stuffed across the country. since the vote, there's been more than 2,000 claims of voter fraud. >> tonight anderson cooper is at a forward patrol base in the helmand province. i spoke with him just a short

time ago. michael, you're in kabul, not far away from where those four american troops were killed today. there's obviously been an increase in the number of soldiers on the ground. but overall, what is your take? is the strategy work ing. >> reporter: in a simple answer, no, it's not, the mission is in crisis. president obama is holding a basket case of a war in his hands. and this is going to be a defining moment that the foreign policy initiatives in his administration. does he decide to fight this war or not? i've been talking to the top commanders here on the ground. they simply don't have the troops to put military pressure on the taliban as is required. i have seen in the south, i have just come from there, i spent a week in southern afghanistan in the heart of the combat zone in the southern capital of kandahar, and i can tell you now that the taliban war machine is not under threat, it's barely

under pressure. and in helmand, the american military is taking a very small bite of a very large apple. >> and anderson giving me your take, you've been talking to soldiers there, have they been telling you essentially the same thing. >> reporter: i'm in helmand province right now, and if there are small signs of success and you don't hear that term very much here, they will say that in this area, where i am, there is some optimistic signs, they have been able to push the taliban out of these areas. but as michael points out, they don't have enough forces to move into the areas the taliban is now in. so there's some areas there are basically just no-go areas and that's where the taliban is regrouping. you also have large numbers of taliban, who are still living all around in this area, and kind of just watching to see how long the marines are actually going to stay here. the marine strategy is going to stay here. this whole strategy is under

review, but what's happening here, which is these small patrol bases, marines going out every day on patrol, on foot, not in humvees, interacting with locals, trying to build confidence in the government of hamid karzai, it's a very long-term strategy, it's a traditional counter insurgency but it requires time. and as u.s. official also point out to you, time is not on the side of the united states here. >> let me go back to you on the election, what are you hearing specifically. i know you're talking to a lot of u.s. commanders about the strategy as we await the final outcome. >> reporter: obviously the corruption allegations completely undermines the american mission here. they desperately needed these elections to go off successfully and in one sense they did. the election's actual polling took place, but we now see hundreds of substantive allegations of ball lot box

rigging. now most of those allegations seem to focus on the votes that went to -- you know, incumbent president hamid karzai, entire polling booths returned 100% of their votes, for the incumbent or other polli ining booths retd more ballots than people suspected should have actually come forward. and virtually all of them would have gone for president karzai, so that really does strip this incoming government, if it is to be karzai of any legitimacy and america really needed that. so this could be a serious blow to the political aspect of the mission going forward, campbell. >> and anderson, before i let you go, let me turn to you because you're going to be talking about this issue on your program tonight, i know. ieds have been such a danger and such a threat to american forces, talk to us specifically about what you're work on with

regard to that tonight. >> ieds are the number one killer in afghanistan now. we were on patrol with a guy on point, sweeping every step he took with a metal detector. they have dogs out searching for ieds. it's a slow process looking for these things, it's very difficult and it's ahn n uphill battle. >> michael ware and anderson cooper takes you into the war's emergency room. dr. sanjay gupta shows us who is saving the troops and the smallest victims of the war. >> you don't ever see yourself, after all those years of education sitting in the middle of a dessert trying to scrape dead tissue off a child. for your family. it's the fabric of a sound economy.

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vascular surgeon for the entire country of afghanistan. >> probably anti-personnel mine. >> brown is a long way from home, the same hometown as mine. which make this is all the more personal. >> this place has been attacked, and you're risking your life to say others. >> the deal was when they need you for whatever they need you, go, that's it. >> reporter: the go call came january 29, and there's been no rest for this battlefield surgeon. we're here in one of the trauma bays of the hospital. it's an usually quiet moment. but i wanted to give you some of the numbers which give you a reflection of what's happening in afghanistan. they used to see 80 patients a month. then it was 100 patients and in august, roughly 200 patients a month and they think by fall,

the numbers are increase even more. u.s. troops, coalition forces, locals, dr. brown treats them all. >> they needed four surgeons, they only had three, this is what happens when they have a hospital as busy as this one. >> one of your children was born while you were deployed? >> that's true. >> reporter: how do you deal with that? >> it is a sacrifice to my family. but it's a privilege, even when i'm back in atlanta and they ask what do i enjoy most about the service, the most fun i ever had is when i'm at war. >> when you had to say goodbye to your wife and your many kids, you have lots of kids, just like i do, tell me about that conversation. >> it was hardest for my son. and the oldest, 6 years olds. that's always hard, there's no silver lining in there. he gave me a good luck charm,

it's a little stuffed dog, it's in my uniform in the back and i always go with it. the promise was as long as i keep it on me, i would be safe. >> dr. sanjay gupta is going to have more from afghanistan tonight on "a.c. 360," that's at 10:00 p.m. eastern time. when we come back, tonight's newsmaker kathy griffin unplugged and completely unafraid of speaking her mind. >> i think people are stupid and crazy. >> and that's the basic -- >> and by the way they're going to resort to guns and religion. stay any 2, 3, or 4 nights

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tonight's newsmaker kathy griffin, a self proclaimed d-list celebrity who has made a career out of fearlessly mocking the famous and her own place in hollywood's hierarchy, it has earned her some a-list recognition, two emmy awards and a grammy nomination. her new memoir is called "official book club selection." i asked her what he thought about the uproar of president obama's speech to schoolchildren. >> i think it's ridiculous and hilarious that people are making a fuss over him making a speech at school. have you ever heard of twitter?

do you know what the kids are into in really, they're safe with the president saying stay in school. >> people were saying this was him spreading socialist ideology. why did it rise to this level? >> i think people are stupid and crazy. and by the way, they're going to resort to guns and religion. read a history book. >> you have been making headlines in the political world for other reasons. >> i finally found love. soon, i won't say when, but you're going to have to address me as kathy griffin johnston. i would have to say it was love at first photo-op. which is similar to first sight. and if you think about it, the wind blows many different ways and i'm pretty close to basically living in the white house. i mean things could still go my way. >> who is using who in this relationship? >> i would have to say that levy

johnston is using me for my incredibly hot body. >> and that's really all it comes down to. >> that is lime i check we have rights in this country and i have a right to love a hunting man in an igloo named levi. >> this is a huge issue throughout the book. generally, women in -- weather it's public life and we're talking about politics, whether it's entertainment, what a struggle it's been for you. >> are you talking about my book? >> that would be your book, it's upside down and flip it around. this is a theme for you. you have oftentimes felt that you have been treated unfairly because you're a woman. >> we are working in a man's world, that is it. i defy anyone to say that we're not. you and i are both in industries that are very, very sexist and you can say whatever you want, but the numbers are right there. so if you call a comedy club and you say give me your saturday night lineup. i guarantee you any saturday

night comedy club is going to have eight guys to one great female. >> do you see that changing? >> i thought it would. when i was a kid and joan rivers took over the tonight show, i thought this is the first of many women that will take over in late night, not only did it change, it actually changed the other way. >> so what have you tried to do? what advice would you give to younger women who are coming out, who are starting out. you know how hard you worked and you know how hard your struggleled. >> you have to work hard and jump higher no matter what. you got to get out there and do it and you better love it. >> nothing out of bounds when you talk to kathy griffin, not even her own plastic surgery. >> i want women to know when you get liposuction trying to be jennifer anniston, this is what it really looks like. ( chirp ) oh yeah-- his and hers. - ( crowd gasping ) - ( chirp ) van gogh? ( chirp ) even steven.

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we're bark with more confessions from kathy griffin. she makes no secret of her own struggle to stay thin and how it all went horribly wrong. >> you mentioned plastic surgery. >> yes. >> let's talk about that because you have been very open. >> i have a picture in the book that is so heinous you can't even believe it. it is a picture of my botched liposuction, when you get liposuction trying to be jennifer anniston, this is what happens. >> why did you fall for that? >> that's hollywood and that goes with the territory and if you're going to be in this business -- >> when i was a bank teller, i never felt that way. >> i would have to say it's because of being on television.

>> are you over it? >> no, i'm not over it. i'm hungry right now. do you have a sandwich on you? i'm hungry and bitter. >> if you're falling into the same sort of trap, it is a trip of getting liposuction, getting a nose job. >> i have had lots of dental work. >> at the urging of some agent or casting director. >> and some of it is just me telling myself they want to be better. i'm going to be happy if people read this book, which let me tell you is brutally honest. it has brutally honest moments that i'm cringing at even holding the book. in fact i'm going to let go of it right now. >> too honest? do you have any regrets? >> it's too honest, but i don't have any regrets. >> let me mention to people so they know, a couple of the moments you talk about your brother. >> yes. >> who you say in the book -- >> was a pedophile. >> was a pedophile.

>> and went to prison and was a crack addict and all kinds of problems, yeah. >> and then died in your mother's arms? >> yes, it was a very, very traumatic thing for my entire family and particularly for my mom and dad. i couldn't write the book without writing about him period. it's a memoir, it's a tell-all memoir. i think it's better that i told the story than if someone reporter found out. and also i think it's important for people to know that secrets do nothing but fester. i have never been a keeper of secrets and i'm not going to be start now. >> was it hard writing about it emotionally? >> it was hard living through it and writing about it, terrible. >> is there any sense of catharsis? >> yeah, i think so, i think that, you know, everyone has a relative that is on the fringe in some way and people think it's only in their family. so i think that's an important

thing. it's part of my act in saying that celebrities do crazy things just like noncelebrities. i write about things where i thought it was only happening in my family, it only happens to me. everything from my failed marriage to my brother, all of his issues to, all the funny stuff in between, it's -- it's the story of my life. i couldn't leave that stuff out. >> and now your mom is -- >> my mother's a giant television star. >> she's a huge star. >> yes, you know that they have done testing on my television show and my mother tests much higher than i do on my own show. >> is she going to get her own show, maybe? >> she is basically -- i can't even get her on the phone usually, i have to go through her agent. but yes, she is beloved by the world. and she could get her own spinoff very easily. >> in all seriousness, you're kind of taking care of your mother right now. >> my mother deserves to be taken care of. she's awesome. >> as a lot of people are at this stage in our generation. >> and my mom is 89 years young

and she's doing so well and she's in fantastic shape and yet, it's always on my mind, what's the best way to take care of her, it's all about independence it's all about being independent and stuff. i worry about her when i'm on the road and try to take care of her. >> and she gets the joke? i mean she's a big part of your -- >> my dad's passed away, and my mom's really funny, my whole family is all really witty and funny. >> just give me your take of people in the news right now. rush limbaugh. >> he is a drug addict and a tool and a blow hard. >> john goslin. >> he is hilariously ridiculous and i can't get enough of his ed hardy wear with the big pythons on his shirts. it's like live hard or die, that sort of thing.

>> what about arnold schwarzenegger. >> okay that guy's had more face work than i have, right? that's why he can't balance the budget, he's always healing. >> michelle obama. >> i think the very most important thing about this administration is her arms and how these she get them? if i see one more story about her arms, i might break one of them. >> do you admire her? >> i think she's very, very smart. i like smart people, that's my thing. >> oprah. >> i'm a little scared of her. >> you have a love-hate relationship. >> i think she does great things for the world, and that's what's important. you know, love to make fun of oprah and i really, truly watch her show every single day. there's a lot of people i make fun of but i also love. i love to make fun of celine dion and i also have every cd, they're not mutually exclusive.

>> the brutally honest kathy griffin, we'll be right back.