tv Countdown With Keith Olbermann Current February 28, 2012 8:00pm-9:00pm PST
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invest in our country is critical. >>driven to find the truth. >>how did romney get his groove back? >>fearless, independent and above all, politically direct. as the republican candidates push in the arizona and michigan primaries, the big winner is already clear to fella named president obama. who spoke with all of the excitement you would expect to see in a victory speech. he addressed a raucous audience and we saw a return of the campaigner in chief. at the united auto worker's conference, the president took time to speak about the success of an auto industry who was once on the verge of bankruptcy.
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>> it's been funny to watch some of these folks completely try to rewrite history now that you are back on your feet. [ cheers and applause ] >> the same folks who said if we went forward with our plan to rescue detroit you can kiss the american automotive industry good-bye. now they are saying we are were right all along. >> 43% of michigan voters said they supported the rescue and only 51% were opposed, the republicans. >> manufacturing is coming back for the first time since the 1990s. companies are bringing jobs back from overseas. the economy is getting stronger. the recovery is speeding up. now it's time to keep our foot on the gas, not foot on the
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breaks, and i'm not going to settle with a country where just a few do really well and everybody else is struggling to get by! [ cheers and applause ] >> but others are not so positive. in a piece titled housing is the core of the recovery,: and joining me now is robert ryshe, the former labor secretary, now professor at uc berkeley and author of "aftershock." >> good evening, keith. >> to your piece on the housing market in just a moment. but first of all, the clips we
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heard from the president today. is there a reason to your knowledge that he doesn't speak with this type of energy anymore? >> the winds are at his back right now. the economy does seem to be moving in the right direction. it may not be moving as strongly as it ought to be and his opponents are all going after a smaller and smaller minority of extreme right wingers, and dents are swinging over to the president. the president's poll numbers look better and better and he is charged up and it is kind of a self fulfilling prophesy. >> and here you come with your note that the stock market is up, and yet the housing market is still this rotting core. >> i don't want to rain on anybody's parade. i want to be as optimistic as everybody can and should be. but there is one major chink in
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this armor, and that is housing. housing is the major net worth, the major assets of most mourns. most americans don't have much money if any money in the stock market. most americans really are reliant on the value of their homes. that's the biggest asset. and home values are down over 33, 34% on average, since the second quarter of 2006. that's a huge drop. it's going to take years to get those houses back. >> the original growth in the housing market though, is based in large part on what is fairly well understood if not in the economic particulars at least in a general sense by the public as a no pun intended house of cards, by loaning money to anybody who could show up with their breath on a mirror. is there a way to recover any kind of growth?
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and is there any way to regain the confidence that homeowners or potential homeowners would have had five, six seven years ago? >> it's not going to come back very soon. i hope that we are reaching bottom. we keep on hearing we're reaching bottom with regard to home values and certainly the decline seems to be slowing, but it's still occurring, keith. beyond the bubble or house of cars that was created in 2003, 2004, beyond that has been a change in the attitude of americans quite suddenly. housing was the best investment you could possibly make housing values for everybody's experience kept on going up. well, now you have a large cohort of margins who have been traumatized by the housing market. and they are going to hold back. >> so if there is -- if the
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question becomes not -- in which degree the arrow is pointing improvement or disimprovement in the economy, and housing is not really going to be restored in any sense, that it could be decisive in terms of the election, does that brood term 50% of the voters in michigan voted on the economy, is that boiling down to jobs and then the rest of it is gas prices? >> yeah would say -- again, this is not scientific. i would say jobs is the overwhelming issue. if we see a good jobs report for january, and if the jobs report continue to improve even if they don't improve dramatically most people are going to feel well the economy is doing fine. consumer confidence is quite bland right now. the housing market is going to continue to be a drag on the economy, gas prices -- look it's mostly speculation. as far as i can tell keith,
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those underlying fundamentals with regard to supply and demand are not pointing to much higher gas prices. the hedge fund managers are getting in there bidding up the price of gas, but that could fall as quickly as it did last may. >> we have all of the supply we can demand whatever the hell rewant. robert ryshe the author of "aftershock" great thank for your time
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did i appear in it but, quote, have you heard what olbermann said about me? time marches on. ♪ >> we rebin as we always do with the world's largest sandwich bacon, peanut butter. 13-by-4 foot was cut up and sold as part of the baconfest. in sports it's the final round of the pba u.s. open where pete weber is about to surpass his own father. he needed that strike. and he's more than a little excited. [ cheers and applause ] >> i did it! are you kidding me!
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that's right! who do you think you are! i am! >> who do you think you are? i am. formerly just a song title, now the greatest sports taunt ever. finally we end with dolphins. lots and lots of dolphins. 2,000 dolphins spotted by a whale watching boat. try to top that sea world. the dolphins were reportedly using their flipper, flipper, to move faster than lightning. time whims on. alabama and virginia try to pull back slightly on what is
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8:00 pm news hour on cable, unless you consider fox, news. a nominee from new york said if roe v wade were appealed nobody would notice senate majority leader reid said allowing any employer to deny health services to his employees because of moral objections will come up for vote on thursday. senate democrats are not going down without a fight here. patty murray describes the amendment as quote: and much like virginia where the contention transvaginal
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ultrasound bill was amended to be a transabdominal bill and another bill lasted a fortnight before its sponsor said he was water down the bill which: but the bill goes even further: it might be legal, but you can sue. let's bring in the political reporter for the "huffington post." thanks for your time. >> thanks for having me. >> i assume it would still be
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iffy in a republican controlled house. what is it purpose? >> i think it's purpose is to galvanize voters. republicans are fired about this. democrats are also fired up about this and it is getting people into politics who otherwise wouldn't necessarily be and i think republicans are courting the catholic vote right now, and a lot of people criticized obama's birth control mandate, and so this is a way of saying nobody has to cover health care for anyone. unfortunately that -- the problem that democrats have with it is it takes the decision away from the women. where is the employer conscience mattering more than the women's conscience? >> in politics 2012 everything is a dog whistle, but which is which here is the idea of obama curtailing religious freedom, is that the dog whistle, or is it
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the other way around? >> i think that women's health right now is -- the argument is being refrained as an argument about religious freedom. and they have had i don't know how many hearings at this point that are actually specifically about this birth control amendment, and congress congress coverage and the republicans say this is not about women's health this is about religious freedom. and millions of women would lose contraception coverage. >> the pushbacks are slight in alabama and virginia and in virginia it might be a bit of a shell game in terms of terminology, but is there any sense that the entire susan g. koman debacle was a tipping point here?
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where many suddenly woke up and said -- the only stage left would be to repeal women's right to vote. >> absolutely. a lot of these bills have been around for a long time. this ultrasound bill has been considered in lots of other states prior to virginia and considered in virginia in previous years, and even with the birth control mandate, that has been law in new hampshire for 12 years and nobody noticed. i think this susan g. koman defunding planned parenthood brought in a lot of people and now any fight against women's health they are going to fight back. >> what do we understand about what the politicians in alabama and virginia have heard to get them to pull back in this description of what the ultrasounds had to be? >> you know, the governor of virginia said he didn't realize that the ultrasound was going to
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be a transvaginal ultrasound and when he learned the procedure would be invasive he changed his support. i don't think that's a case because a senate who is also a doctor stood up and explained what it would be and they still passed the bill. it made them the laughing stock and i think the republicans started to see what it was and become a little embarrassed. >> laura bassett, political reporter for the "huffington post" thanks for your time tonight. >> thanks for having me. >> we discovered an error in our broadcast? a story about a new jersey judge recommending recommending -- as i made clear o'keefe was originally charged with a felony but pleaded
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5% of the vote reported so far in michigan his hair still isn't on fire and we do not know if we'll know ever how many democrats came out to vote against him. the polls closing, and we'll have more on them in michigan and arizona. first the worst, from comments on right wing with jennifer granholm. >>i am jenniffer granholm and you are in the war room. it's a beautiful thing. >>jennifer granholm on current tv. >>i'm a political junkie. this show is my fix. >>in politics, she was a gutsy leader. in cable news, she's a game changer. >>be afraid, be very afraid.
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now, the two term governor from michigan is reshaping the debate with a unique perspective and a forward-thinking approach. >>our goal is to bring you behind the scenes with access to stories that you've never seen before. >>she's a trailblazer determined to find solutions. >>one of the key components of a war room is doing a bit of opposition research. >>driven to find the thruth. >>i'm obsessed with the role of govenment. >>fearless, idependent and above all, politically direct. >>part of the mission here in our own war room is to help these candidates stay on track. make your voice heard. 1c the polls in the central time zone about to close in michigan. first because these people are bullies, and this is where we get to call them out.
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here is "countdown's" nominees for the worst person in the world. one of the cohosts on the political whore house that is fox news? he has now devealed his sources. >> this is what we choose respect that. >> i read on a conservative blog last night that this could be the intent of the obama administration. they just want the catholic institutions to close. >> i read the same thing, and the hundreds of people that write into these blogs, they say that is the point of what is going on. >> i read it on a conservative blog he says? and the other guy goes on to say the read the same thing. i always assumed they were slow witted witted propagandaist, but they
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may be the victims of profound psychological abuse. and now darrell issa his problem appears to be he doesn't pay at attention to the details. he was spoke about the prospects of a republican president. [ applause ] >> uh-huh. so now he is south african. i thought he was kenyan or hitler or something. where does this come from? think progress has sucked it out. the supreme court ruth bader ginsburg said the constitutions of some other countries like south africas might be better
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models for future democracies, because the news ones influence individual rights. it's funny he is not lashing out at the supreme court justice who recently testified that they are much better than ours. and then colby schwartz. he killed in committee a bill that would have strengthened oklahoma new anti--methamphetamine law. it turns out for his last campaign. he received $1,500 from drug maker eli billy, and several others. pfizer who makes pseudo fed took schwartzed out to dinner last august and just to top it off before going to the oklahoma
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legislation, schwartz was a sales rep in the pharmaceutical industry. to be fair they don't hook just republicans. oklahoma democrats also voted against it and also got donations from big pharma one oklahoma rep said he didn't know how he would be able to look social workers, or cops in the eye, he said: and that was doug cox a republican and he deserves applause for telling it like it is. but his colleague
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[ male announcer ] this is lawn ranger -- eden prairie, minnesota. in here, the landscaping business grows with snow. to keep big winter jobs on track at&t provided a mobile solution that lets everyone from field workers to accounting, initiate, bill and track work in real time. you can't live under a dome in minnesota that's why there's guys like me. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ ♪ let's recount what we know and what we don't know as the polls close in michigan and arizona. the gop primary race the bottle between romney and santorum described as a knife fight, rick santorum continues to fight a culture war taking issue not
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only with all forms of higher education, and then the separation between church and state. mitt romney has not been so quick to engage in that fight, refusing to even question santorum on those comments instead the former governor of massachusetts in between events that didn't even happen or happened before he was born he has worked to redirect the conversation to the economy which he considers his strength. >> i'm going to go to work to get our economy going again. that's what this is about. >> joining me now from "the ring of fire," sam seder. good to see you. >> good to see you. >> we were talking about what constitutes a win for romney but just on the basic of it
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what is a win and what is a non-win win for romney? >> it is really hard for him to win now even if he wins. you got to remember santorum is up in ohio in the polls. he is beating romney in georgia, a second to newt gingrich. he is up in tennessee. these are the biggest electoral states coming up and romney should be -- there should have been no contest in michigan, and there is obviously a contest. >> as we look at some of those exit polls, they give you a good feel of direction at least, it doesn't seem like this was really an extremist one way or another voting group. you have 40% evangelicals, 30% as independents and 10% as democrats. 1 in 7 said they wanted the true conservative and 1/3 considered
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electability as the prime their number. >> it is hard to say who is the true conservative in this. there was a time when people thought romney was the guy who was going to beat obama. nobody seems to believe that anymore. and santorum was never considered one of those hard core true conservatives. so that is the problem there is no constituency. neither one of those guys represents one of those constituencies. >> however when asked who was more electable, a little more than 50% said romney and about 25% said santorum. so on these core points about romney michigan isn't buying any of them. >> romney's original big sales pitch was i can beat obama, and
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there are less and less republicans who are starting to believe there, and he has got to walk this tight rope because on one hand ho has got to convince the conservative base of the republican party, on the other hand he has to maintain his integrity in the general election, which he has lost 10 12 points over independents over the last few weeks, so he had to stop that hemorrhages and protect his right flank, and he is walking a tight rope and not doing very well. >> obviously those of us on the left have been watching this and laughing our backsides off. ed rollins say it's a an f-ing mess. the governor of maine said let's pick a fresh face at the convention. but weren't we all saying exactly these things about the democratic race in 2008 four
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years ago to this day probably? >> i don't think so. i think the concern four years ago was there was going to be such acrimony between the people who supported obama and the people who supported clinton that they would never come together. that is usually an insurmountable problem. but romney has been hurt empirically with the independents, because he has had to move so far to the right, and i think you are seeing that reflected within the republican base. they are looking at him, and don't see him as the guy who could definitely beat obama. >> gingrich and the other fellow -- what is his name again? -- ron paul has 23% in the polling, and had between them 18%. sounds like they are irrelevant
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and trivia but with something this tight, they are vital. gingrich just got another $10 million from sheldon adelson, and ron paul might as well be wearing an 11 century visor over his head but at what point is their endorsement irrelevant. >> i think paul will make it all the way to the convention because he has a base of support. he is going to go in there with some very enthusiastic supporters, and i think he is looking for a good speaking spot. but gingrich has good numbers in georgia. he has a lot of books to sell. he has some problems right now with the election commission and he has basically been -- this has been sort of like his job, in a way, and it has been his way of selling books, and i think he'll stay in
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