javers. join us tomorrow night at 5:00 and 7:00 eastern for mor "hardball." count do"countdown with kei olbermann" starts ght now. breaking news this hour twin battles between cgress and cia. six democratic membe of congress claim that cia director patta testified in the last month that top agey officials have concealedsiificant actions from a members of congress and sled congress dating back to 2001. thus have they asked him by letter to correctis past claim made in the wake of speaker pelosi's charges at the agency never briefed her about torture of detainees. an breaking in the st few minutes, the a's dramatic instance that panetta said no such thing last month and will make no such correction. >>which of these stories will yo be talking about tomorrow?

she quits on alaa. and now the polls itn her. three in ten amerans saw their opinions of sarah palin change after her resignation. demoats ieng her le favorably a margin four to one. more tellingly, independents now viewing r less favorably by main of two to one. stil confus about the why? >> you kw why they're confused i guess they cannot take something todaat face value. >> b as her speeches backchecked, should anyone ke he at face value. she claims she was vindicated in all the ethics investigations, e was not. and if she thought she was done as late-nightomedy dder, she was not. >> the category nigh top ten messages on sarah palis answering machine. i asked georgew. bush, why didn't anye tell me resigng wa an option king crl is disposed, well, asn he gives a depition, not they too his throne away. ght hours of grillingby federal iestigators about the

political purge that claimed ne u.s. attorneys. sotomayor again. house senator sessions cares le about a fair hearing and more about using an unfair one to push his enda. this as the american bar association issu the judge i to rating. well qualifie as opposed say, clarencethomas, who was just qualified. and worsts. anher local hero, an arizozona ste senator andd an airfield rationale for uranium mining of biical prortions. >> the earth's bn here 6,000 years and i know i've beegoing on aon. it's been he 6,000 years, long before anyone had environmental laws and somehow it hasn't been done about. >> this shut up of which you speak,hen does that g into effect? all of that a more nown "countdown." . od evening from new york.

breaking news tight. r fifth story on the counn. cia director leon panetta has told lawmakers tha agency officials did indeed mislead congress and did so since 2001. what would be the start, roughly, of the bush administration. the cia confirming to msnbc and nbc news that director panetta told laakers that congress was not adequately informed about unspecified post-91 tivity, classified activity. this cia wi not say what the briefing w about. her offici say it wasot about waterboarding, nor abo interrogatn practices. two days afr panetta testimony, several democratic members othe house intelligence commimieeee hing thenen sent the d dirtotor in t wake of his owown testimony reading in part,t, quote, y you rereca, no doubt, t th on yy 15th, 200009,ouou stated t t followingin aeett to ciaa emoyoy-- let me be clea it isis notur policycyor pctice to mislead congress. that is against our lawsnd valulu.. in light o o your stimony, the letter contntueues, we ask that you publicly c crect your

atement ofof may 15,, 2009. in another statement tight, director panetetta is r refing amend what said in may, noror even nfirm what the ngngssmen and men saidee said in june. again, r reang in part, dececr papatttta ands by his may 15 statement. it is not the policy or practice of the cia too misleadd coness. is agency a tss director believe it is vitall t to keep ngngss fully and currentlyly informed. director panetta's actioions bk that up. eaearlr this year, housee spear pelosi, of course,hahang acsesed e cia of misldidi heinin briefings aboutt ee enency use of w wateoaoaing. someththinshshe id she never heard aboutt in a a kind off brieiefi, , seet or otherwise, an allegation rr wch she has be roundly tatack by repuicics. time nowow t turn our chiefef foreign affairs correspondent, andrea mitchelel w whoas been working ththis sry for msc and nbnbnews. thanks for your timemetonight, andrea. >> you bet. there's a lot -- >> do we know - >> youou nono keitith, there's lot of digrgrment over wha happened and w whoaiaid at to

whomom what wee dononow i iththat the anddeeon panenett are not t acknowledging in anyny fashion th he testified thatathehereas any misleadingng ococongss. they s s t thais not true. u.u.s. officials s y y th panet bebelies ststngngly that congre shshou be informeme t thathere were s some matters that werere adequately briefed, that werere inappropriately not briefed to congrere.. and that hehanged that when he took er. bubuhehe inot attributing tony motivation to what wasasonon in the e past he's not sayingththat it was an atattet t tomislsldd orconceal, simply thathehewere not informedndnd that he hhas made su t thain the future, they will be informed. >> so is there a-- >> yououanan s the distinctctio >> i i t the a dissconntt between n --ouou've got represenentaveves lt and haststin a and thompson. is a disconnect, or did they hear something t ttt they wante to put on the record? why wuld thereee such divergence o of atat ectly he sasa t to em?

>> ah, yoyou g get to the botto it. thfafa is that these six members arare ryry cse allieie f eaeake pelosi anddou know the background,hhat there has beeee this rununning f fud between th speaker and the h hea of ci not a t terbly healthy tutuion, we mit t add. the house isbout todedeba and vote tomorrow,w, barngngny unforeseenen cirmsmsnces on an intelligenen b bil that intntliligee bill has a a momoatic version ofof ttt teteigence bill has amendmdmtsts that wouldeeire beetter briefings, morere extensive briefings s d d wod give the members of coreress the s sakakr anththother leaders,, the ability to say w s suld be brfed on these sesecrs, not just the top four or the top eight t meerers the cocommtees. it w wou t takaway from the administratitionndnd t president the powewer toetetmine who gets brbried. today, t t w whi house issued a veve threat, sinin if thh vote onhhaterersi of the house intelligence bilill,hehe psident willllotot sn it. so you can e g gwing feud between n ususe democrats loyalo

pelosi, , dd is is not a documeme o of e intelligence committee of i its ldership or of all o its membebe. it i simplyixix democratsveve clely alnene w witthth speaker ainst leon panetttta. panetta is n not acknowledgingn that there was anyny lyg tatat wentnt o in the pass he's juust saying thatat nhihing like that t llll hpen in the futu.. >andrea, thespspearststat she had been misled by t the ci anand repubublica s sd that tha was disparaging our r cotrtry' agents and t that this was neve done. panetta's commement eam to ckck up that e of t t political elstrom here. what we'reeaeang with in bebetwn the characterizations s these six representatives in that l letr and whathehe cia have said onon . netta's bebelflf i spspse, is it knance and ading, or is this yes no? dodo eheher versioio confirm wh panetta aiaid? >> i think ththeye e direct conflictct.

although panetta s sayoror indicacas s thugh people that he s no wayofof knowininhat happened, he just knows that it's tte.e. th w we not informed of certain tngng the big distinction herehohough ishahafffficls sayay it's not over waterboarding.g. they are backing t fact that pesi and oererwere extensively briefefeonon waterboarding anand atat there , in fact, therere ar records to thateffect. th're saying thth t thiissue is sepeparat from waterboararng and separate f fro interrogations. can't tell you tonight whahatt i isis. 's cocoerert. i hahaven'yeye covered atat. >> so what hahappennene rtaining to thth? isishihi solely about thatat v anand e threat o oththe vetoto,r is there more here,rere trere hearings, momo o opetestimony, is ts s ing to car o on its own accocord, or doeses ts s goy retive to just this political l posturing in front o of vote? >> is s lot of posturing,utut itilillventually deteteinine influence, wheheth o or t more pepelele wl be briefed. will congress get atat the houe leadershships demanding rightt

nonow? which is m moreririefgs, not st four orr eit top leaders. and we should inint out that only certainin mbebers were briefed,d, trere we other doments such as the documument before the ir war, which was put up there, a nbeber the senate, an m meerer of the senae could have readit, for instance, ananononly a veryy f only s s members of the senate read that iraqaq i ielligence brbrfing. so c conesess s,acaccoing to mamany criticscs, fallendodown s side of the bargain, b it's very clear in the paststhe cia was not very forthcominin w wh eaeay it should have been more fohchcomg here. e e fference iss heeis,idid theyeylie, did they ssle? ththcicia, panettttarere not acacknowdgdgg that. saying it did n not happ.. >> anandr m mitell in our waington bureau, wo o s added so much totohis story in t the last halff hour. great work, greatat thanks. >hahankouou. >> for more onon thempmpcations ofof ththis let's turn to f for cia ofoffir r an former prosecutor, jajack icice, givins

sosomef his time oncnceagagn tonight. ththk k yofor doing so, jajak. cocoulthis be a missing g linkr maybe bebettr,r, i i it lininch tutuining pot,t, whihicherer cl is mosttapproprpria, , tords meme sort of manner of actual substantiative invesestigaonon into bush h adninisttion policy here and what the ngngre was and was not t tld byththe cia popost/1/11,hether it's about torture, wheththert't's about warrantless wiretapppping anything e els rlating to thth agencycy? >> ppottitial, what it's realal out now is abouout crededililit there's r reall t t ptsts to this, as weiien to andnda'a' report herere. the firstt pt t is not providin all of the i infmamati that the a a d. atat one rrt. but if thehe actually purposefulullyieied here. e next piececef thisis vestigation, i'm thinkining about this ass former prososecoror. i'm thinkingng i i it o briefer whoust screwedup,, or the white house who toldld t c cia o

ldld t brief toer t t s scr up. that's thee real esesti. c coness has an obligationonoo hearllll of this ntntelgence. if t ty'y'reot getting it, the should be upset. >>he stking difference twtwn characterization n of this, of what leon panettata sa said and whahat six popople lilieneninto him idid he sd,d, it certainly fits i intthe hihisty y ofhe cia verer nicece but does i at all h help us -- does t tha historytt a all helps understand orr at least figure out where e we sulul place o o betsnnho's telelli t tth, the cia orrthese six cconessman whwharare, as a area ntioned, lili with speaker pelosi, w who kind of wewentffff t end o of a pier there without thehe spoport fromleleonananta since may. > if we l lo at what's happed since e 201,1, itppppea that lilics has drivevenththe cia to do a lot of ththin.. they have e idid aot of thngng theieir c colusions have beenen questioneded in 1 1 or 20ififfet directions. and what they haveaid oveve and ereras driven members o of congress and even the crent

whwhe e hoe to question those ry same things. ifif we inin of itrorothat persrspeivive d the fact that they're not actutually provididg all of the information that thth's their diosal, i think it does driveoo questions into the ring. now, what t is ithth they know d d wh did they know itit those arare iuu that we're goinintoto he to figure out and we're going g h havto figure out very, veryy soon. >> it is not the plilicy or practice of thee c c to mislead congngress nenettsaid that on may 15h. his statemement w w ju 8 8tht says t theaame thingngtthexxt same ining. the sameme wording. they're not changinggthe worngng atat alall. obviously,y,orords and directio th those words sesend people in are vital in s sometngng lke is. the uances, everything. isishere anything in thereretht says,f it's not the policyy a a it's not -- it t ither the lilicynor the prtice, doeses that mean ittidn't happenen > no, itt doesnsn,, ds itit atat'she obvious nknk so c c say, so nonoally,

dot t lito youoububut we lieto yoththis time. is that our conclusion, is that what we stand by?? wow, thahamamake us feel s much better if we're aemembe of congngre, , or frfrank,, just a erage american citizen.n. >> jack, if it is t te e an andrea's's j ju said thatathis wh a apprs to be thecase, th t tse instatanc of mieading congress and/ororotot lly briefining them, depending w wheer you belelieve panetta's veversnsns and terminolologyr bebeeveve congress's terminonol this was not waterboardining,ot interrrratatio what is the ssibilities -- what m mor there ouou there th we don't know ouout? >> that i is tbiggest questioio. ev if is isn't about terrorism or watboboding, it's e credibility factor. about what i it hat the ininlllligce community, what the a a wa d doi on behehalff f he amicicanpeople. anand they'reotot wilillingo o provide accucura telligence, then wh i i goingon? this is realally t broader question if we can't believe whatat w going on outsisi o of e terrorismmrealm or outsideff the torture e realm,owow canee possibib b belve what was going

on inside the toure ealm? thathe question we need t t find out. nonow. >> right now i it stands s,s, w dndn'tie to yoyo but weweididn' te you the tthth either. jack rice, formerly of thecia, who's, asse said there, fororme prosecution rolele cining to ay here too. great thananksoror yr timeme,, jack. >> aayaya pleasure. ndnd ten ereris governor rah palin and the fa that heresignation has ipipid morere tn n ju reaction in the didia d by the comedians. she has now sunk l lika a ste in the popos.s. of course, thehe comomedyss not going away as n nrrly as f fast her populariri is,evidedelyly. for david letterman, tss will night three of his telethon.. one of tonigightaargs, we undedetatandthe witding boots te governor worore riringer glut of teterviews yesterday. being g on wnn i'm feeling lolow n be like a rollllercotete it doeoes atimim feel like my bodyy is telling m me to one thing... anan m my nd, my heart is tellili m me do something e else. mamagigingy highs and lows is s supeimimrtant.

withthy y coour meter i can n persalale my high/lo settitiss so it really does micromanage where mymy oooosugar needs to be. i'm nick jonas a a never slowing down is my simpleleinin. >gogoveor palin sliding down polls s -- , opinion polls. theun almostsufficient f the latest davav lettermrman molologujoke sequence a abo heher w wll reportedly be

preapologized for. finally, o oththe record t tesmy out atatrneysgate fromkakarl rorove and anotherstst is borninin worst pererso.. the stata legislature whoho anununcethe earthas survrviv its s wheehistory withthtt environmenentaprprection laws, so w whyoes it need temem now. its whole history, a all 6,000 years. kind of coideryself a robinhood of the directing worl buick enclave ee fint luxury crossover ever. i need somzen ime with this model thk u.

enator j john mcin having select governorpalin as hisis running mate inn what wee then suspected ananhave sce learned wawas a despeperate last-d-dch effortrt to appeal t to ndepenn voters a and cenist democrats

lastear. at did not work for the public nominee thenoes not pear to bebe workingor the former soon to be governor then. it seems that they feel exactlt thsame way n, on more so. seven in t of t those voters surveyed by gallup forusa today" sayin their opinionof the governor h not chang. independent voters not oy saying that they would beess likely to vote for her, 51% to 44%, b now 55% of them hoping that governor palin leaves the tional stage together. 77% ofemocra saying that they are not at all likely t vote for sarah palin in 2012, almostatching the number of republicans saying they would b likely to vote her for president. gop candidates not clamoring t have the soon to be former governor jointhem on the campaigntrai chri christy, running to seat governor corzine saying th they have no plans to bring govern pan.

what appears to beher main activity this wednesday, posting her twitter page. twitter rhymes withcritter. some highlights, quote, oday, trthis. act ccordance to your conscious. risk by pursuing larger vision in opposition to popular, powerful pressure. unn. whyttbute to unknown when you can cite from someone who appears to evenhe former republican senator or s father, the washington redskins footba coach of great fame. quote, a coupleof thoughts from e d on beautiful, right, ak mo. you have to saice to w. that's my philosophy in six words. george alle ampersand. from an inexplicable ampersand, let's turn to howard fineman and seor correspondent for "newsweek" gazine. >> don forget theampersand. >> i gss it's thewitter equivalent of also, a a complete sentence. the governor' quitting, did

this just sodify whatever it was individual voters of any of the polical stripes were already thinki and feeling >> well, ith, i studied that gallup poll very carelly. i don't think 's so much the fact that she quit as the fact that she was so muchn the news. i mean, only sar palin could break through the michael ckson story and i think when people g another chance to look at her,t was like quick-drying cement. the democrats solidified four to one against her. they view her as the un-person -- you know, an unqualified, unintelligent, uninteble, and for alaskans wi, she's st. sarah. that getser a long way with the base of the reblican party. >> youan never -- you know, you can never put t last nail in, as the old sick joke goes and you can never light the fire yourse if you're standing in the middle of e pyre. but was ts -- is thisot kind of a dtillatn right now of

the same problem that sh brought with her to that ticket last yearthat as much as she may have excit the people who were probay already going to vote for her side of it, the result inhe other direction s just as tensend thus, yo lose dependents and centrists and people w do just naturally shy away from polarization. >> well,hatth really happedhere is that john mccain undercut his o gument. it was about sarah palin, b in talking about the campaign, keith, it was rely more about john mccain. john mccain's calling card to indepeents and centrists was, i'm the guy with more experience and better judgment. and of course, after the sorof lost weekend in st. pa wh sarah palin, the next two months were the long hangover, the long polical hangover. and jn mcca's judgment w undermined by sarah palin's demonstrable lack of qualificions and preparedness to be a heartbeat away from the pridency. and in thatsense, she

destroyed the ticket s was cked to save. >> with the nuer thawas in that poll abou gop support for her, for presen in 2012, are we seeing, you know, in swimming and diving, scores are based on degree of diffiy. this particur ve gets you a factor of six and this dive ge you a factor of 12 o whatever the numbersare. did somebody tell the republans that each vote gets counted on a degree of difficulty basis, that if you really, really, rlly like your candate, it counts twice? >> well, the thg is,n talking to republican here in washington and around the country, keithpolitical nsultants, people like c shirley d diana bannister, who i have known for a long time, very experienced people here, ey say, ok, sarah palin just can't win the presen. i an, yes, shis popular within a certain group. and to purs yo analogabout diving difficulty, imean,he took -isaking a nice swan dive, an easy swan dive into the pool of republican

conservatives, but sheust can't make the sale byond it now, she's going to try, apparently she's going to go around the country, she'soing to write her bks and give speeches and see what she's go to give o there. but, z, theumbers that you see the gallup poll and everything that republica i talk to say, nobody thinks she caven onh wild stretch of the imagition, she can win e nomination, that she could win the presidency. that's what they think. that's not what i hink. >> so her caing was tweeting? that the final conclusion here? is that full-time job? >> ion't know. well, it's diffult to do in hip waders, evideny. >> if you e your hips, it is. if you use your ngers, they're still free, aren they? howard finean of "newsweek" and msc, i'll spare you the no comment. howard says no comment on that. >> ay. >> thank you, oward. >> thank you, ith. i'll take obvious, alst unbelievaboefbelievable interna political analogies for a thousand. ahmadinejad attacked a s flngsect.

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missed one on monday, the birthday of ned beay, who began in bbershop quartets and end upiving the second greatest soliloquy "network," you have meled with the primal forces of ture, and i won't have it. let's play "o ball." we begin outdoor in tran where yesterday mahmoud ahmadinejad gave his firstdress since at country's allegedly rigged electionast month. the present told iranians that the vote was quote clean and fringe and then a winged visitor flewlean and free into his shot. speaking foreign language ] swing and amiss. ahmadinejad kept readadin the large insesectr r sml bat keptptuuing him, peapap

attracted by thosose flowers on his hasn'ts. of course, in c traontrast, y remember the ououttee from the cent john haharw c cnb ininteiew when h he killeded al deadad inhe oval ofoffe.e. ththers s alys the chance thaha ahmadidined d wi simply claim it ver happened. aord of warnrnin t tthe sweat hogs from welcome baack cotter the cast of "taxi" even tv sit comeme star from ththe 0s0se a d designated drdriv. come andndnonockn her car door, she'll be waiaiti foryou, officer. yesterday we found out that t th man, e edd mecca, carmine of lalavee and shirley famee was charged with dui invegas. mi dewitt wa reaead on bail. eier way, starss of the '70s, ununle y yrrrreing offer haenento be john font rll

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the former democratic governor of alabama, don karl rove is one of those who can lie under oath and take a lie detector and pass it. our third story in the countdown, rove testied under oath ab the 2006 bush administration polical purge of ninu.s. attorneys, warning, yo truth mileage may varied. grilled for no less than eight hours by house judicia committee wyers about his role in those firings. after the deposition, rove's attorney issued this statement. the agreement settin the interviews contemplated that they would remain entirely confidential until a the terviews were complete out of respect for that term of the reement,r. rove is not commenting. respectful. it took him nearly two years to get him to comment to the investators. the rove was first subpoeed in 2007, b the bush white house exerted executive privilege for

rove. the firings beg to take shape in2005, with then white house council myers, alberto gonzalez, and kyle samson talking about replacing l 93 u.s. attorneys. whheyiged out that that might have been too obous, the trio alleged stled upon firingight of the prosecutors in2006. but it was rove that actually came up with t idea. first myerand sampson, finally gonzalezas resned. roveas not been touched, possibly, that is untinow. he's expected to appear before the committee for second time let's turn to the washington edit of "the nation" magazine, chris haye so which is this? is ts the sta of sometng bi or a postscript? >> i hope i's the former, but i ar it's the latter committeemen -- the chrman john conyers h shown an

admirable fidelity to truthnd accountability a ihinke's been pursuing th sort of quietly t zealously in a way that i hope bears some fruit. but the fact of theatter is, we're going to actually open up the books and open u the chatters in e last eight years of what happened in this cotry, particularly around secrecy, around the sorof masance, the department of stice, what happened to the national securitstate, intelligence, all that needs to be - there has to be broad politil constituency forthat. and th not what i see right now. particularly not in washington and certainlnot among democratic leadersh. >> and that goes to the point of what we began this ns hour with, with the beaking news about the cia report. d there's a back and forth he about what le panetta said in a private brfing about which no one will tll us wha it's about. anthe six membersf this committee y they were told that, yes,why, we at the cia, we misled you and panetta says, no, i didn't saymisled, i said, we just smply didn't brief you

sufficiently. and in exactly that nuance decide which side is be believed and i presume therere parallels, althoug we don't ve any ence oft yet, i would sume there are parallels to that in the rove casend what he going to testify and what people wi interpret him doing, whether isefarious or potentially innocent >> that's right. i think that's a rely good point. there's a certain amountf rt of political hardening arod pe's opinions of the matters and they're disped to feel one way or another. it's intereing, you know,ou raised panetta and rove fit into this as well, being disposed today. i' been doing research on the chch committee back in the 1970s. iteally becom evident that the was a real - some different seors of the elite, of the establishmt, of the ltway, politically, there w a push for some re dragging things outnto the sunlight and having an actual process of reckoning with h wre going toanage this tension between sort of secrecy and democracy. and as awhole, as a sort

major cnceptual enterprise, that's not being undertaken. anjohn conyers deserves all the credit the world, but he is kind of a lone warrior in is enterprise and unless there's a broar consensus politically, i don't ink we're going to get whole lot out of this. >> and ifou studie the histy of the cia, you can see that a least frank urch's efforts brought the country n years, maybe 15 years worth of lative honesty out of an organizati that had nevereen asked torovide any ofthat. back to rove here. cast our memories bac there, the realmotivaon, the down the road payofffor the reblicans, if the whoplan woulhave worked, if rove's plan would have worked was wha >> well, the most dip taupic vision would have been one tha the iependence he department of justice would ve been completely compromised, in which the mhanism of the administration of the prosecutorial function of the erican government would be brought holey with the purview of the predent of the united states d his staff and they would decide on a whi whoto

proper and when and thatould be utterly, utterlyn-american and coosive to our entire system of justice. at a more sorof banal lel, what really interesting about the individual cases and david iglesi, oneof the man fired, speaksout this, these were in some ways payoffs tolocal republican cnies. thisas parof the influence, rt of the pck to big wigs around the country that karl rove was maning from the white house. >> ad albe gonzalez i going to teach at texas tech university. this begs the reminder that texas tech is the pce where bob knight went to coach basketll after he shamed himself out of real jobs too. >> it's really too perfect, ist it? alberto gonzalez deserves toe cast out of polite society anthe same is true ofou and bybee and other pple that rticiped in thisnd i hope that happens. >> thasjohn, you'renot referring to me personally. i may deserve to be cast out.

>> there areome feelhat y. chris hayes of "the nation," always a plasure. i said it to john and i said it letterman.do not cross david e venge contues. tonit, about the waders. and whenachel joins you at the top of the hou frank rich on the gop'sdistractions, the on that linger and nger, including today' latest developments in the senator engn soa opera. >>and in "worsts," senator enlove cald the newest member of the senate a quote, clown and defends its by saying, kind of looks ke a clown whei was talkg to him. hey, senator enhoff, do u want us to join senars on whether or n they look like clowns?

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go! ! go! go! go! ! go (phone rings) hello? this is mark w wit oadview security. is everything g ok?? no. someone justst tried to break in. i'm sendining help right now. thank you. (annnnouncer brink's home s security now broadview w security cacall nowo install the stanrd system for just $9999 the proven t technologof a broadvdvw secuty system delive rapid response from highly trained professssiona, 24 h hrs a d. call now to get t e $99 installationon plus a second ypyp installefrfree. d, you could save up t to 20% on your hohomeowner'insurance. call now - a a get t system installer just $99. broadvw security for your h home or biness - the next generation of brink's home security. call now. the david lettermanarade of parody will continu tonight for a third straigh evening on thes' late sw,imited hints to the focus. those bts. if you look likeenor

james inhofe, should you make a joke about what al franken looks like. and how old is the eart and why that would even matter when you're talking aboining uranium omhe earth. next on countdn. midd of traffic d just starting and stopping having to go in the middle of a ballgame and thenenot being able to go o i got there. and going atat nig.. i thought i had a a gog g prlem. my doctor r idid iad a growing problem.m. it w wast t myladder. my prostate wawas owing. i had an enlarging prtate that was cauausingyy urinary symptomsms. my dococto prescribed avodart.. (announcer) over time, avodart actctlllly riris the prostate and imimpreses urinary sympmpto.. so i i c g gmore easily whwhen n neeto go and go lesess ofn. (announcer) avodart is for n on. men should not take or handle avodart due to risk of a specific birirth defect. do not donate blood untitil momont after stopopngng avort. tell your dodoctorf f u have liver dissese rely sexual side eects, swelling or tenderness o the b. only yououhealthare provideranan tl if symptoms are fromom an enlarged prostatate and t a more serio

condition ke prostate cancer. so h hregur exams. call your doctor todayay. avodar help take care y yougrowing problem and the n numb o o messagag on sarah papainin's answering machinine,eyey, it's mccain, wh ululhave thought youu wululd retire b borore did. the r revge ofavavid letterman continued and conontinug.g. that's exext. tonight's "worst perersons in te rld, lebn'n's putiti a the wewebse e freedom works, wich pt

up a post eviviereratg several groups of woers, peeople that works at aig o citigroup, or quote, the you wrk at a company that uses lobbyists to steer federaear marshat way, you are the antithesis of this nation's founding with the source of the smiley-fac fascism that creeps farther int our lives. wow. re's the punch line, freedomworks.com, painting lobbyists and people at aig and gm as the sourceas smiley-facedd scism. the runner-up, senor james inhofe of oklahom told the newspaper "theulsa rld," quote, i'll te yo what a lo of people are thnking, and that is withtha it look like things are going to be over and we're going to get the clown from nnesota. i don't kn the y, butor a living he is a clown. he was criticized for calling al franken a clown. hiatest defee, he said when

saw franken, they embced, and quote believe me, he knew, he kinof looked like a clown wh i was talking to him. we're going to judge it on looks,enator inhofe? let's see it well,there goes the joke. oh, sure you don't want raise at bar a little bit, kind of log like a clown left. but our winner, state senator sylvia allen of arizona. another localolitico up fro the rks to insnt national stardom tonight. we join senator allen athe retirement and world velopment committee hearinintosible euranium mini in arizona. >> i can't s enough howit's time that we get beyond a start t fosising on the techchly we have and movove forward i in the future e t thaour grgranhihiren can have t the sa lifefeste e have and this eaearts been here 6,000 y yea and d knknow'm going on and on and'll shut u up -- it's been

here 6,000 years, ng before yone had environmentall ls and somemew w itasn't been done ayayith. we n needdo getheheururium here arizona so thth state can g get the money f fr it a and thth revenue from and it n be nene safely andyoyou' never enennow the mine w washehere when they'y' d don i i amoror ts. >> i love this woman. enen t iamous bishop u u shall wesh t 177thth centntur irish c criric c callalateif literally correct, the blbl places thehe s sta of the earthn october 2rdrd, 1204, back. this is bebett than that. y youant to believehehe earth 6,000 eah, dpipitehe idencefcicilizations 8,00 years ago, go ahahd. don't makeourself look li ththe stupidest perernn on the planet during a aearing about digging up uranium.

the way we know the wowoh is llllns of yearsldld because of the speed we c can m msure the radioactive decay of uranium.. of uranium! cacaonon dating. don't tell s senoror allen abou thatat, ththgh. you u kn w whayou're going to get t ttn. caon datiti?? i totoldyoyo what would h haene l let those gaaystart toetet maied. now peoplele a a d dting carbon. state senator sylvia, theaart ss created 6,000 y yea ago, i know,, iveve been thther allen. today's worst person in the e world! gart you're up. hold on, i'm'm at capilone.com picking a a pto.. for my credit t ca. e's one from my prom. oh, what mememorie. how 'bout one from r golf outing? ( shouting ) iinonow,aybe one of my firstst-borso dad, mom says thehe bs gotta go. personalize your card uploading... your own photo atat capitalone.com. what's in ur wallet? ♪

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anyone can harp on one issue or one person day after day. hi. but to do so make it fresh each time and make it bull's-eye every night for days and weeks on end, that is geni. or as in ourumber one story, if you're sarah palin, that is hell.

well theon evacuonight, must hat shoes. brief preview of thi evens joke theme. first, the second of whats three consecutive nights. quippi after the nonsensical speech about his pars refrigerator gnet palin went out on her porch and waved good-bye torsia. letterman suggestin the almost-ex-governoray want a future as the next octomom. which paul schaefer cracked, ey're demonstrating ouide. and then the top tenlist, managing to mock orge. bush, john mccaiohn mccain and himsel. >> the category tonit,op ten messag on sarahalin's answering machine. i can't te you how we did it, but we got ahold of her answering machine and here are

the top ten ssages. friday, she annound she would be stepping down as governor of alaska and wou not seek re-election. he we have now t top ten messages left on her machine after that controversial announcement. number ten. hi, it'seorge w. bush. why didn't anyone tell me resigning was an optio number nine, it' john mccain, why did i call? number eight, mark snford here. evern to argentina? number seven. i'm callg from geico to e if you wa to renew your dogsled insurance. numb six, it's letterman, we still cool? mber five, mccai agai still no idea why i called number four, hi, it's the degree cleaner, having trouble getting caribou ood out of your pda jacket. number three. hi, it's sarah,whoops, dialed

mywn number. numb two, schwarzenegr re, you want a job, califora could use a new governor. and the nuer one messagen sarah palin'snswering macne. hey, is mcain, who would ha thought you would tire before i di >> we are surprised that the barragdoes continue tonight with most of the pal jokes about what she s wearing durihat originy of interviews yesterday, one about having naugh thoughts about her fishing wading boo. davi letterman rtedly immediaty ologizes in vance. chris christn finnegan joins us whenever things likehis happens. let's art with whatever he di at the recording of night's show lat this afternoon about thwaders. the seems tbe an implication to herhere. you give himmateri any mateal, even what you're wearing, he will be able trun with this. >> well, you have to understand, after last nth's kfule, david letterman basically has an ownership stake in sar palin comedy llc. used to belong toina fey, now that's very powerful.

that's like somebody nding you excalibur. johnny carson had dan quayle, now letterm has palin. i hear jimmy fallon put dibs on idaho representati, walt minick, which seems like a bit a reach. >> it's eative, at least. letterman pound john mccain r week upon week upon week after the senator blew him off in october of last yea and each nightt was new and it was fresh. it was not tlandish. he didn' stray far from the original base ne of the first joke about suspenng the campaign a not showing up. we have anyestimate how long this could go on, because there's no finish line to this the way there was with the election last year. >> no, i ink we can all put on some sweat pantsnd get comftable, because what's great about sarah palin is tt she's already done half the work for him. she's condition us to laugh at her. i mean saying t word sarah pan to a late-night talk show audience is like me saying the word cheese in front of my wife's chihuahua. the ears pickup, it's like, what, what, sar palin, oh,

this is going to be good. >> it remarkable to you as it feels to me, that se s remained silt about this? no facebook missives, no tweets. is thagoing to la or is she going to have to come back at r again? >> in her defense, she spent a few days tryin to pick out the peect fishingwaders that would look good on "nbc nightly ne." now that that completely organic and not atall saged set of intervws is over with, she can take her cti head on. she's st installed a large cross that she'soing to jump on at the slighst provocatio and ty have a stack of indignanpress releases that aread libs. okay, david letterman, offended, paul trunr eskimo. >> waders i don't mean to rrect you, but, by the way, tt cross went up, that was built by theame ople tt built ewasilla sports complex. that's been upor a while. ve got to get to the tweeting thing. she tweed ilosopcal musings.

acinccordance do your conscious, then an ampersand that was one of them from today. is this it? is thisheigher calling? is this why she has she gone full-time intoweetin has she figured outhow to ke a profit off of this? >> i asked if shestole that off a snapple cap. you can'tlame that on the twitter foat iounted and s had a solid 25 characters left to play with, unless she was doing u a favor andeavin room f when i had a hash tag that said,hings stupid pple say when they're trying to sound deep. >> it may have comeff the series of starcks cs and that was what s left off. read itn a starbucks cup dn liral, new york. comedianhristian finnegan. ank you. that ountdo sce the 2,260th day