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tv   Countdown With Keith Olbermann  Current  January 30, 2012 8:00pm-9:00pm PST

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the war room first ever the first time! watch. >> which of these stories will you be talking about tomorrow? with romney pulling ahead in florida, gingrich gets desperate. >> he eliminateed serving kosher food for elderly jewish residents under medicaid. and romney responds with a big roast. where gus the g.o.p. go after florida? tea party the super pac ices identifies the worst of the worst, oh no, occupy oakland erupts again. over 400 are arrested as city hall is vandalized as the
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peaceful occupy movement been occupied? he said what? >> we're going to talk about our own little captain schettino which is president obama, who is abandoning the united states. >> as head of the rnc mr. priebus should know something about sinking ships. and what a pill. >> the obama administration is engaged in a war against religion. >> you mean by providing all women with access to birth control? all that and more now on "countdown." >> good evening, this is monday, january 30, 282 days now until the 2012 presidential election. i'm bill press sitting in for keith olbermann tonight. good to have you with us. mitt romney surging in the polls less than 12 hours before the voting starts in the florida
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republican primary. while newt gringrich insists he's in the race for the long term no matter what happens tomorrow. the fifth story romney rising and seeming more confident by the day. gingrich slipping but saying he'll be in it all the way to the g.o.p. convention which starts august 27th in tampa. but starting tonight with mitt. and you know a g.o.p. frontrunner must be feeling confident when he takes a few minutes to toss bags of snacks to reporters on his plane. it looks that way in the polls. romney leads gingrich by 14 points and 15 points in the nbc nbc. nb-maris poll. newt says he can still pull ahead in florida.
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the liberal financier and hate puppet who said that-- >> there is a difference except for the count that they've been with them. >> which soro said the crowd could include rick santorum or newt gringrich as vice president if romney were to win. and if newt some how performance a political miracle tomorrow he might have to thank not only soros but his latest celebrity endorsement mr. 999 himself herman cain telling a tampa crowd. >> i like newt gringrich for president of the united states. >> but in jacksonville republicans also seemed to like romney's explanation why they don't want gingrich for president.
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meanwhile newt told fans in pensacola that big money was an issue in this race. >> we will only win if the american people decide they're sick and tired of the establishment thinking that we're dumb enough to let them buy an election. >> who is buying an election? well according to talking points memo democratic source romney and his restore our future super pac have spent more than $15 million compared to about $4 million for gingrich and his winning our future super pac. is that all it takes to win an election? outspend your election 4-1? no justin sayfia says, no, no. it's a lot more complicated than that. it may be sometimes but probably not this time. either way obama senior adviser
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and campaign strategist david axelrod does not seem unhappy at all the way the g.o.p. primaries have turned out so far. >> you have to accumulate the delegates necessary to win. i believe this will go on for a while. >> but that doesn't make republicans john mccain happy at all. >> i think it could go on quite awhile, which would not be to our benefit. >> and now what we can expect from tomorrow's g.o.p. florida primary, craig crawford who blogs on politics at craig crawford.com and also author of "the politics of life." good to see you this evening. >> hey, buddy, i wish you were down here, you would have more fun watching these republicans gnawing each other's limbs off. >> you know, in miami the cuban americans are not so happy to see me, craig. i'm best staying out of there. >> okay.
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>> the last time you and i were together were saturday night a week ago. we were both with keith talking about the south carolina returns, where newt gringrich won by 15 points and now the eve of the florida primary it likes like he's going to lose by 15 point. what the hell happened? >> i flew down here the day after that south carolina primary thinking that newt would transfer all that energy here. it didn't take me long to find out what the romney camp was up to. they were rushing the quarterback. when i turned on the local tv newscast on monday night i counted eight ads by both of them combined, six of them were romney ads attacking gingrich. and only two by gingrich attacking romney. then on monday night that first debate gingrich just kind of phoned it in, and then we could tell that going on the attack. they're conducting psychological warfare, i would say. >> so you think mainly it is the
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money that gives one advantage in the super pacs? >> running the debates that and the debates. money means a lot. i've cloud covered campaign many years and often the money talks and walks in florida. there is a lot going on with the debate reaction. it's a big mystery what happened to newt in those debates. he almost didn't show up. >> right. newt said the reason why he was off his game was because he was amazed at the lies that mitt romney was telling and i just stood there and could not believe all of those lies. pretty weak excuse, no? >> they weren't new, and we saw it coming. it was telegraphed all over the place. the big problem for newt, it was just bad campaign management. he did three big events that day on thursday before that. he is so arrogant about these debates, his performance that he doesn't even prepare, i suppose. that was a big problem for him.
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he could always come back, bill. like i our old pal says, newt has more lives than rasputin, but rasputin would get more votes. >> it's never spoken better than james carl. romney looks more confident. in the debate he was a lot more forceful. newt in a way has made him a better candidate. >> certainly. he's gotten much stronger. the only thing lacking from the romney campaign is why should you vote for romney. they're getting very good to vote against someone else. i have not seen a single positive romney ad except on the web and he's not consolidating those conservative voters. that will be a problem for him going forward. >> how do you calculate why is it that this republican from karl rove all the way down, maybe with the possible exception of jeb bush
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are piling on newt gringrich? are they that afraid of him? or are they afraid he'll take everyone else down with him. >> yeah, i think they're fearful that gingrich, not knowing what he would say on any given day and how it could effect the congressional races, the senate races, and on down the ballot. but then you got sarah palin out there who has defended gingrich repeatedly on fox news. that has an impact. santorum is gone. ron paul is gone. gingrich should have every reason to consolidate the conservative vote. if he doesn't do it, i don't know what his argument is going toward. >> given that ron paul and rick santorum are trailing in florida, as expected they would what are they doing after tomorrow? they still hang around or fold it up? >> yeah, well, ron paul will not go away. he'll race. but now santorum, here is an
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interesting scenario. next tuesday we've got caucuses in other states, and they don't pick delegates in missouri in that primary on tuesday. it is a beauty contest, and gingrich did not get on the ballot. so you've got a big anti-abortion vote and missouri there is a chance santorum, if he did well, by some chance he even won that comake the argument to conservatives look, get gingrich out of the race. if he is out of the race i can beat romney. that's a fantasy campaign notion but who knows. >> keep hope alive. craig crawford, enjoy your home state and thanks for being with us tonight. >> i'm having more fun than a cat in a tub of to you in a tuna down here. >> i never heard that one before. where we go after we go to eliot spitzer. governor, good to see you.
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>> pleasure to be back. >> thank you. newt is putting out in the media that's okay if he loses florida. but then romney goes on to win five or six then we get to arkansas and tennessee, and newt comes roaring back, is that fantasy? >> that's his fantasy. the problem for him is that as you just alluded to, the republican establishment wants the party to coalesce around a nominee. for two reasons, one, at least romney will be stronger without this constant assault from newt gringrich, and let's not forget there are senate senatorial races and they are saying we do not want the internal bickering between now and august. we got to consolidate a base where it would determine who will control the united states senate.
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>> newt gringrich radiates out that is disastrous for the republican party. that's why us democrats are saying give him another $10 million. from the republican establishment, karl rove, rush limbaugh thee guys are saying enough is enough. this is an act of self indulgence enormous, and an act of complete self-centered mancal behavior by newt gringrich. >> you're going to be here tomorrow night with me and we'll enjoy the "countdown" from the florida primary when we look ahead, when you look at february there are six races. nevada, colorado minnesota maine, arizona and michigan. mitt romney won five out of six of those in 2008. so it looks like-- >> well, look, i presume so, and let's face it, newt gringrich appeal maybe past
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tense given all the back and forth, it was going to be south carolina. everybody understood that. and to come back and-to-one mistake. what is the rule in politics never play defense. mitt romney played defense throughout the entire week leading up to south carolina. he said, guys, i blew it. he has been playing offense since then. he'll continue to play offense. newt gringrich is on defense. i don't see where in this back and forth in a tactical level that newt gringrich emergeses. >> if playing offense romney wins sweet support in february. is it possible for newt to hunker down in february, and as he says, then come back in march? in a couple of those states? >> it depends on money. if the leadership of the republican party and remember, newt gringrich's campaign is not being fed by small grassroots donors. it is a very limited number of donors for $5 million. 17 million-dollar number, crazy
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numbers, but if roger ales picks up the phone and says what are you going to do when you reelect barack obama that spigot might get turned off. on the other hand, he may double his contributions and he may be motivated by who knows what. but if they turn off that spigot, then newt gringrich is gone. >> in the south there, is one problem for newt in the south did he not qualify for the virginia ballot. >> a that's exactly right. >> there is a big state. >> right. >> that he's just not--no chance of wanning any delegates. >> let me make another contrast. newt gringrich needs the media and the institutional support because he doesn't have grassroots. he can get a small crowd sometimes. ron paul can continue because he doesn't care whether the institutional party supports him in the years out and ron paul bizarrely to many of us has this real appeal to younger activist voters. ron paul can cobble together a ralph nadar-type campaign that
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will continue to be around the fridges pecking at romney. i don't think newt gringrich can. >> no, the oldest candidate with the youngest supporters. >> it was amazing to me. speaking to 20- and 30-year-old voters and teenagers as well. they find ron paul authenticity, linear appeal and logic and we may think is wrong but there is something intellectually appeal appealing to his rhetoric and simple approach. >> can you imagine a day when newt gringrich endorses mitt romney of everything you said? >> yes because in politics whatever the screaming and shouting, and we've seen newt gringrich in all sorts of crazy dynamics and scenarios at the end of the day come the republican convention, they will be unified. let me get back to the democratic side of the aisle, my
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home, ted kennedy and jimmy carter. that at finals was a very ugly campaign and that continued and many people said to kennedy he gave one of the greatest speeches in democrat politics, but many people said he endorsed but weakened jimmy carter to the point where he lost. >> they will come together. >> no question. >> and we'll be together, i look forward to it. >> thanks. >> pleasure being here. >> all right, the new type of super pac one that stands in contrast of those big-money operations, and also stands against the tea party. plus a violent weekend against some occupy protesters.
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account or rolling over an old 401(k) today, and we'll throw in up to $600. how's that for common sense? >> a new super pac dedicates to defeating the tea party leadership in 2012. we'll talk with credo super pac president becky bond. and then a weekend of violence for occupied. will it overshadow the movement's peaceful mention? and priebus has compared problempresident obama to a man who has committed manslaughter. plus the catholic's church new who really had a great war room when he ran the first clinton campaign. the documentary, if any of you are political junkies and you've seen the movie, the war room, well that's what we're calling this.
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it is a battle. it's a battle for the future of the country, it's not quite the same kind of combat when you think about war, but it is war, nonetheless. we want to make sure that we arm our viewers with the ammunition that you need to be able to be informed in battling yourselves across kitchen tables across america, on the internet, you name it. we want you to have the latest and greatest. we strongly believe that this war room has a purpose, and the purpose is to make sure that citizens have the information, but also have motivation to change the world. >> now what's up with the tea party?
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well, there are currently 60 members of congress who identify themselves as part of the tea party caucus. while their factions are losing support among the general public the newt organization is making sure to work hard that this trend continues. a new super pac plans to defeat tea party favorites this year while one tea party member is running to elect newt gringrich. it plans to spend $3 million in its effort to, quote, take down the tea party ten. according to the organizations fundraising website the tea party extremists in congress has spent the last year attacking women, science, and the very notion of equality under the law. they are racist, sexist, anti-science and hypocritical corrupt and down right crazy actions make them unserve unfit to
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serve in congress. unlike traditional super pac credo said it's operation is based on small donations and millions of volunteers. becky bond president of the super pac and our guest hearsaysheresays quote where karl rove and the koch brothers can use shady money from a few hidden donors to fund a barrage of tv attack ads this super pac will empower local voters and our list of 2.5 million activists to build a campaign that is aggressive. using innovative tactics technology and good old fashioned strategy we're going to kick tea parties out of congress. sarah palin says she's sort of supporting newt gringrich.
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while his many years in washington might lead one to believe he's part of the establishment, she is argues otherwise. >> you want to crucify him because he's tapped into that average every day american tea party grassroots that said enough is enough of the establishment that tries to run the show and tweak rules and laws and regulations for their own good and not for our nation's own good. so if for no other reason rage against the machine vote for newt. annoy a liberal vote newt. no one can annoy a liberal as much as sarah palin. as promised, becky bond out in san francisco. good to have you with us. >> good to be here in let me ask you the first question that comes to my mind. why does a phone company have a pac? >> that's a great question. maybe even a better question is why is a phone company involved
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in progressive politics since 1985. >> take them both. >> for over 25 years credo has been involved in progressive politics. we've been fighting newt since the 90s and pushing for progressive change. in our history we've never seen extremism like we've seen since the tea party wave in 2010 that was funded on just buckets of super pac money from the koch brothers and from people like karl rove. and we've seen a lot of history and we know this is bad. as good people of conscience we have decided we need to strike back and it's time to fight back and we need to take down some of these tea party republicans who are destroying our democracy. >> amen to that. you say you're going spend $3 million against these taken tea partyers but you only have $235,000 today on hand. so where is the rest of the money coming from?
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>> well, the thing that is different from our super pac is funded largely from small dollar donations on our 2.5 credo action list. we only started our pac in december, and we started asking people for contributing to this pac, and it's only today that we announced our candidates. we have 15,000 small dollar donors some giving $10 to $20 at one time and some giving $10 to $20 each money. >> you've identified six of them. shawn duffy from wisconsin. steve king from iowa. alan west from florida. that's a good start. joe walsh from illinois. grave gifford from new hampshire new hampshire, and minnesota. how did you choose these six? how did you select those six targetses?
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>> these are some of the worst tea party republicans in congress. they are also serving in congressional districts where they can be beaten. these are vulnerable seats and these are congressional districts where a grassroots campaign powered by volunteers can make a difference, whether they win or whether they lose. the right wing has money but we have people. if we can put these people to work in these districts we can throw these people out of office. >> why isn't michelle bachmann on the list? >> that's a great question. so we have-- >> my favorite target. >> we have four more targets that we will be announcing, and our members are going to be involved in voting on those targets. who knows michelle bachmann could be on the list. mostly on the list are tea party freshmen. those who won in 2010. some of them really squeaked by. they have shown themselves to be extreme. we think voters didn't know what they were buying when they voted them into office and we think we can get them out after only one
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term. >> now are you then going to be buying tv ads with this money? will there be any grassroots kind of activity? are you going to have local office and local states where people can get in and do the old fashion walk precincts or what is the plan? >> we're 100% anti-tea party and we'll run a good field campaign with grassroots volunteers. research tells us volunteers talking to voters is far more effective than watching a television ad. they can pump their millions in ads but we can spend less money by getting activists involved and walking and talking to people in their neighborhoods and making phone calls and protesting at the office of these tea party incumbents when they say things that are racist or sexist. this is how we're going win. >> good luck with your project. we'll be in touch with you. >> thank you and go to www. www.teaparty10.com and you can
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join us, too. >> if you want to know all about the koch brothers becky mentioned and the money they've been pouring in to bring down president obama. check out my new book "the obama hate machine" available tomorrow. the "obama hate machine," the lice and distortions and penal attacks on the president and who is behind them. check it out. as violence and vandalism erupt in oaklands has the soul of the occupy movement ben co-opted and president obama draws fire by making good job. we'll explain what that means when we come back.
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>> coming up from new york to washington to oakland. the occupy movement made it's presence once again known. but is this latest version of occupy itself being occupied? first the sanity break. it was on this day in 1882 that
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franklin delanore roosevelt was born in hyde park new york. he was become a new york state senator and go on to become what even newt gringrich has referred to as the greatest president of the 20th century. we know that newt is a great historian. just ask him. time marchs on. we begin as we always do with extremely strong children doing push ups on glass bottles. this seven-year-old guinness holder for some of his past feats of strength, he's attempting a new challenge. push ups while balanced on glass bottles. i know this seems dangerous but it's not because glass bottles never break. i'm sorry i'm now being told that glass parents can break and this is extremely bad parentally. this goes without saying, but
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kids please, don't try this at home. let your parents do it. we travel to the world of pup puppies next. one inch of water little alfie wants to get to the other side, but the sea is too much, and he finally gets the courage to cross the mighty waters. he says he now understand what those guys in the perfect storm must have gone through. and finally we check in with crown point, indiana where if you get called to jury duty you better show up and stay until you're told to leave. justin humphrey did the first part. he showed up. but when the jurors broke for lunch he broke for the day. the judge gave him an option, pay a fine or wear a sign. and i think you can see by now which one he chose. humphrey wore his sign in front of the courthouse this morning and he'll have to do the same
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thing next monday. a punishment worse than having to serve on the jury in the first place. time marchs on. occupy protesters in oakland turned violent breaking into and vandalizing city
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>> we bring you "countdown" live at each night. primary replays at 11:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. eastern. now as the occupy movement enters it's fifth month of existence, many are waiting for occupy to make a mistake. after more violence in oakland the occupy movement now appears to be at a crossroads while extreme factions have resorted to violence and vandalisms others have endured passive
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resistence. in dc park rangers announced it would enforce anti-camping rules as of noon. as of now the camps remain but many protesters fear they're waiting for them to go to sleep tonight to launch their eviction. on sunday police entered occupy can't handing out flyers. one protester responded by ripping up the flyers, and the police reacted by having three officers surround the protester and taser him to the ground. in new york a dozen people were arrested on sunday as nearly 300 protesters marched up fifth avenue. some occupiers through bottles to police which turned to the officers charging and arresting protesters. which some how appropriate given that the march was held to support 400 members of occupy
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oaklanders who were arrested on saturday. in oakland protesters were attempting to occupy the empty henny j kaiser convention center, but police drove them back using tear gas as protesters attempted to move to its second vacant location. the police this time surrounded the protesters. some were able to escape across a vacant lot seeking refuge in a nearby cnca. when the police surrounded the ymca more violent protesters broke in knocking over models, spray painting walls and even burning an american flag. joining me now with more what is going on in the bay area close to the scene is josh harkenson. good to have you with us tonight. >> nice to be here. >> what is happening particularly in oakland? are these anarchists who are taking over the movement or just
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occupy protesters who lost their patience after all these months? >> you know, there has always been an anarchist contingent in the movement. i've spent time in the occupy new york and i spent time at the occupy oakland. there is a difference between anarchist who embrace peaceful, non-violent demonstration methods and what we've seen some people do in oakland recently. and i think that's the rub. in oakland there is a lot more of a kind of dynamic with historical reasons for that, but i think that's what we're seeing right now. >> can you figure out why its oakland? if you look at new york, atlanta, washington, san francisco, the violence has been mainly if there has been any in oakland why oakland? >> well, you know, it goes back really to the 60s or even
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before that. oakland is the birthplace of the black panthers, and that movement sprung out of racial discrimination economic inequityies and however it also was part of this dynamic in which the police cracked down on militant active activist, and that fed even more militant activistism. it's a vicious cycle we're seeing. i spoke with members of occupy oakland who can say yes the black panthers is what we're log to here. although not all of them by any means condone vandalism i think they're willing to tolerate it more partly because that have culture that it goes back all the way to the 60s. >> the mayor of oakland, jean quan has asked occupy protesters to condemn the violence over the weekend dissociate themselves from it. have they done so? will they do so? >> well, i don't think that they
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will in oakland least not based on conversations i've had with people. it's a question of the broader occupy movement. and they're in a difficult position because i don't think people within the movement want to side with mayor quan, who many of them don't like. i think her approach to evicting the occupation in oakland was widely criticized. i think highly justifiably in some cases. i think what is going on, though, is you're seeing solidarity. there were these other demonstrations in a couple dozen cities around the country in solidarity with occupy oakland and i don't think people in the movement want to take sides with mayor quan against people who they few is their compatriots. >> for the most part, josh, the tents are gone. the actual encampments are gone. does this mean the movement is gone? or where does it--if it continues, in what form does it
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continue? >> well, you know, it has yet to be seen. i think in some ways it's being pushed forward by an organization that are outside of the quote/unquote occupy groups in the city and cities around the country. we're seeing afterwards to citizens united which is pushed to supporters of occupiers. we're going to see other things like that. we're going to see the elections. i think occupy is going to surface there in terms of what people talk about, issues of income inequalality, and the challenge will be to keep it real while also not going off the edge and into kind of vandalism and extreme tactics. >> we're 99% of the american
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dialogue. josh harkenson, thanks for being with us. >> thank you. >> the president of the rn
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>> priebus decides it's a good whereby to compare president obama to the the italian captain who abandoned ship,
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the newest voice in cable news is on the new news network. >>it is an independent progressive voice and i love
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that. >>jennifer granholm joins current tv. she's a political trail-blazer. >>people like somebody who's got a spine. >>determined to find solutions... >>we need government to ensure that people have freedom. >>driven to find the truth... >>what's really going on? >>fearless, independent and above all, politically direct. >> my commentary for tonight. he would never dare name the worst person in the world that's keith's signature and's really good for it but let me name the worst person of the day. reince priebus. the president of the rnc. i've been in politics.
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you expect strong criticism from time to time. that's the name of the game. but priebus said something truly horrible and way over the line. first he made a dumb comment in response to the statement whether or not this ugly republican primary would hurt the primary nominee. >> the history shows bob, that tough prime ministers and a little bit of drama is a good thing for the challenging party. hillary clinton and president obama, they won pretty easily. >> no, priebus is dead wrong with 2012 being like 2008. the difference, 2008 hillary clinton and barack obama were serious candidates and both would be good presidents of the united states. but then priebus attacked president obama in the most
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tasteless manner possible. >> i think it's good for america and in the end in a few months this is all going to be ancient history and we'll talk about our own lyle captain schettino which is president obama, who is abandoning the ship here in the united states and more interested in campaigning than doing his job as president. >> can you believe it? how dare priebus compare president obama to the captain of that italian cruise ship. it's a oweddous comparison by a couple of reasons. the captain abandoned his ship. president obama is trying to keep the ship of state afloat and sail us out of the treacherous waters that george w. bush, the previous captain of the ship, had left us. and did priebus forget? the captain of that ship is responsible for the deaths of 17 people with 15 still missing. come on, that's bad enough for rush limbaugh to call obama a socialist but for priebus to
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compare him to an idiot with bungling behavior, has priebus no shame? apparently not. here he is doubling down on fox news. >> it's ridiculous, megan an analogy was made of leadership. in a time of crisis this president is leaving the white house and campaigning non-stop all the time. i think it's pretty clear but if people, you know, out there especially on the democratic side want to try to make hay of it they're going to be able to do that. the reality is it's a fair analogy. >> friends, i think we just found out how low republicans are willinged to to deny obama a second term. before he embarrassing them even further, republicans ought to fire priebus. he's hands down the worst andndndndndndndndndndndndndndndndndndndndndndndndndndndnd
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>> am now bringing the birth control debate to sunday mass. the number one story in count down tonight parishioners heard letters from the pulpit scolding the obama administration for federal rule requiring that all faith-based schools, hospitals and charities pay for contraceptive services under their healthcare coverage next year. in a town hall newt gringrich echoed the outrage from religious leaders who said this rule is an assault on religious liberty. >> the obama administration is engaged in a war against religion.
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the obama care standard of what you have to buy as insurance is a direct violation of freedom of religion and an example of the increasingly dictatorialed a attitude of this administration. >> although the church for bids all from forms of birth control but abstinence the message to collects is quite clear. quote, to tell with your religious beliefs. to hell with your religious liberty. to hell about your freedom of conscience. joining us now eleanor smchmell. ellie, it's good to see you tonight. thank you for joining. >> good to see you. the pope is in his late 80s why are you picking on the collect church and the pope. >> we're not picking on the
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catholic church. they keep getting it all wrong. you can't discriminate against women who want access. this is in their public accommodations or public services. this is them as an employer, hospitals administration and colleges and universities. they're offering a service to which they're receiving money. there are students who go there or their employees are not all catholics. even the catholics who are catholics might not agree with the bishoped on birth control. as you said, most catholics practice birth control as protestants and everybody else. this would be taking away a benefit for women and right now the birth control is the number one expense for women of child bearing age. >> playing devil's advocate.
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don't these women have a choice of going somewhere else to get the pill or whatever? they don't have to go to that catholic hospital, and isn't this forcing the catholic hospital doing something which is against their, at least for the time, they are established policy of the church. >> no, no, they're not getting the bills from the hospital. what this is, the insurance coverage for the employee if it includes over fda approveed drugs, it the employee would go to the pharmacy where they normally buy it. same thing for the kids. it's their health insurance plan. you can't just say no, we're going to discriminate against this and make you pay for it. remember it is part of the prevent a care package so they won't have to pay. it actually doesn't cost the church anything or the administration let's put it this way the employer. it doesn't cost them anything
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because it's cheaper really, than the alternative. it's actually decreases costs for the program. >> is this contraception this ruling part of a bigger picture? i mean, you know, is this a new abortion debate, is what i'm asking contraception. santorum is not the only one talking about it. we had the initiative in mississippi. what's going on here? >> what's going on for some reason the bishops have decided to attack birth control. you know, they are lobbying against the family planning program. we're not talking abortion. that's off--we're talking about the provision of contraception. this has been a part of our program since about 1972 in support of our progress. suddenly the church is pushing this along like no birth control and trying to treat it like abortion. this is 2011.
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most heterosexuals use birth control at some time in their life. if the candidates actually said we want birth control outlawed, believe me this whole show would be over. the public is not there. >> just quickly about 20 seconds. president obama, is this a fight that he should have picked in this election year, 2012? >> well, he didn't pick the fight. he really didn't pick the fight. let's be real clear about this. 28 states already do this if their health--this is a health insurance provision. women want access. they don't want their health insurance--they don't want to be discriminateed in their health insurance. and he's just standing firm against terrible pressure. >> we got to go. thank you for your leadership. >> good seeing. >> you thanks for being with us tonight. that's "countdown" for tonig
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