> > ich of t the storiess wll you bebe talking about tomorrow? warrantless wiretapping a the desperere midnight rde to jhn ashcroftft'sosospil bed to get the then attorneyy general, stil hahazyftft they c out hisis gallbladadde t t personally approve secretet intelligigen gatherining americanssvven withthtt court orrsrs e new report o ohe inspector generals fromhehe pepentonon juice, president bush orderered berto gonzalez and andydyarar toto goashcroft's sick bed andnd geget s signature no tter what. > r,r, did uu sd yourththen chief ofof sffff a and white ho counsel to thebedsdsid o of joh asasrorofthile he was ill to g t him toto approve th ogogram an doou believe t tha kind of couct from white housese officialsisis appropriate? >> there's's a lot of speculati

out what happened andnd wt dndn'tappen. m not going t toalalk about it it's a very sensitive program. the inspectors genenell not only n naiddush inanother lili anotothecrcre, but al i orderingng oerer secret surveillance which hasas stl nt been made blblic and d th w wen his white house got its f fst p po 9 threat assessmementtt papaddhe language andnd insesert s own paragraph whwhicitit later q qu justification foror the o oth secretetsurveillance. ththe panettata admissioion. whateverer hfofoun outbobo a secret ciatel progogra he stopped, house intelllligcece subcommittee on ovoveigig andnd invevestatatio chair says instigations are mandatory because laws may have been brokenen ensign pulverized.d. theenenatial scandadall tns rcrcal. >> basasiclyly athe same time you said i'm i love withth y yo wiwifeou can't workoror me anyn more >> how members he christian oup the family forced senator ensign to write cindy hampton a

letter cutting off his affair and took him to fedex to send the leer to her overnight. and then howhe senator seaked away fm them to call her and tell her to ignore th letter and then he showed up the next day to resume the fr. there will be puppet eater on this. ndy, the mean men that made me ite a nasty letter to you, i don't mean it. you should disregard it. i'll always loveyou. >> who this? >> all that and more now on "countdown." >> d you send the 96,000 yet? good evening fromnew york. as often seems topen in t latefternoon of summe fridays, two lingeng mysteries of bush administtion misdee have bee definitively solved in our fifth story on the cotdown. one how intellence w manipulated in the aftermath the septber 11 attacks and, two, who it was who called john ashcroft as attorneyenal as he was recoverg from the intensive care un of a washingtond.c. hospital orchestrating the fail attempt

toet him to rehorize the government spy progm. this hint. if you answered vicpresident cheney, you did not aimigh enough ts time. a newnternal governmenteport revealinthat esident bush himself trie to subvert t authority of his ottorney general, directly orng the infamous expedion to the hospital bed of mr. ashcroft to strongarm e ailing attorney general and the deputy into renewing the surveillanc program that wod lapse in days. having waitedntil his attorney general had just come outf surgery todo this,having waited until historney general's wife had refused to put him on the phone when the president called. quoting fr page 24 of the report today, on mch 10, 2004, president bush instructed m then white house counsel alberto gonzalez and chief of staff andr card to go to the george washington universy hospital topeak to ashcroft. cardalledhe hospital and spoke with an agent in ashcroft's security detail. ashcroft'sife told the agt ashcroft would n aept the call. however at 6:45 p.m. card and

e president called the hospital and according to the agent's notes insisted on speakingith ashcroft. mr ashcroft ok the call and was informed gonzales and rd were comingo the hospitalo e ashcroft regardg matter invoing national security. you will recall two years ago that former deputy attorney neral finished the rest of the story in gripping sene testimony, reunng that ashcrofttill shot downthe president's entreaty in spite of ing in a weak and drugged up stat two daysat president bush was asked about his role in th bedside drama by our own kelly o'donnell. >> si did you send your then chief of staff and white house counsel to the bedside of john ashcroft while he was ill to get him to approvehat program? d do you believe that kind of conduct from white hou officials is appropriate? >> kelly,there'sot of speck lapgs a lags about what happenednd what didn't happen. i'm not going to talk about it. it's very sensive ogram. i will tl you the programs

ceary. as i said, the program was a neceary program that wa constantly reviewe and consntly briefed to the congress. it's an important part of protecting the united stes. >> georgbush's officially confirmed deion was t just by omission but also commission. the report prepared at the requesof congress also revealg in the days after the 9/11 attacks the president authorized secret surveillance activities beyond controversi waantless wiretapping, whi still haven't en made public. theyere referred to in is reports theesent's surveillance progr. equally unsettling the report also stating an unnamed white house ficial ierted a paragraph intohe first threat sessment prepared by the c afte the 9/11 attacks whichas then used to justify the extrrdinary intelligence time now to turn our own litical analt, richard wolffe. thanks for your time and good evening. >> good evening, keith. >> president bush directly ordering, orchestrating the infamous expedition to t hospal bed of attorn general

ashcroft long suspected, long reported, now official. for what might b the first ti the swer to that kind o mystery was confirmed tonot be vice president cheney. w significant is th official nare of this investigatn? >> well, i've always thought it was cvenienor people to lay all the blame at dick cheney's door. it was convenient for thebu administtion officials becse they could paint president bush as being a od cop to the bad cop ofick cheney, convenie for bush critics as well because they had smee easy to caricature andortray as being unmitigatingly evil and en you've got coenient for dick cheney because he can seem scarier than ality. in actual fact, what you he re is a real undermining n just of bush-cheney dynamic but the self-image of president bush of someone who played b the rules and had a commonense of decency no matter what was up to and really this ts to the heart of that. it undermine that self-image

because th wasn't just the sort of midnight rush because there w a deadline. this was a well hashed out debate where the chief law enforcement officef this nati sd the program was illegal. he was tryingo do an end run around the law and there are no two ways about it. it was indecent and as it happens illegal. >> at that news conference two days after the former deputy attorney general revealed the incident, the clip we hear when asked about it.ayed coy is not a lie by omission still a lie? >> we, i'mot sure that i is, actually. this is the typical kind o dodge tat the president wou have at the ti and it was obvious what he was dodging. if you listen that nswer, the answer is, well, it was necessary. in fact, anything is necessary if i y so becau these threats are so dangerouso really theseegal debates and quibbles you're ving are a bit like the geneva convention, some old fashioned, archaic, academic theory.

that is, itself, revealing insit into his ntality. ithink we have something worse than whether you' lyingor being fully truthl or half trutul andthat's whether the president abides byhe laws. >> one other word in there tha was lt out, quaint that fit into the description of the treaties and thedea of telling the truth to the american public this other thingthe report, the named white house official o added a paragraph int the fit threat assessment after e 9/11attacks. obviously he's delivered this thing by the a, adds something in and tn they take that addition, quote it as prt of the cia threat assessment, and use it to juify the extraordinar intelligence measures. th looks like -- is thishe fit time that pattern was used esseially creating the se-fulfilling prophesy and then quote it ck to the people who arasking why are youdoing this? >> wel we don't know what the paragraph really says. it is extraordary th you ha what we assume is a political offial adding to the

intelligce because presumably th think their analysis is better than the intligenc officials say and,again, y've got get back to the sort of psychogy of that period. people re afraid, absolutely. it was a terrifying period and peopleere rightly scared of and shocked hat had hapned in terms ofhe 9/11 attacks. buto then use that for political purposes, to then say we need to embelli what we think is aerious reat, i think, getsto theinsecurity ose officials had. because remember, it hned on their wah d i think the was a sort of self-defensive rear end coverin going on. >> speaking of which what does is president do aboutll of th given the particulars that are out? what does obama do about tryin to mainin this program while trying to supprs the legal challenges agnst it? >> wl, this will satisfied his die-hard supporters or at least the people who are the base of the democratic party but he has

already said that it's just fine to wire tap as long as there is minimalourt supervion and as long as it'not warrtless. he has said he wants the program to continue. i don't think he cares who zarted it. he sees the value as long a there ishis minimal supeision and for cil liberties people that really isn'enough. >> msnbc's richard wolffe as alys, great thanks. have a great weekend, richard. >> thayou. and u, keit >> forore on the significance ofhat we've learned let's turn to "the new york tis" vestigative reporter who in 06 was awarded the putzer prize for his seres of reports exposing the secret spng prram. thanks for your time tonight, sir. >> thanks for having me. >> the president cfirmed in an ofcial repor from these igs as the creator inhe ashcroft hospital ama, it sounds like the headli here. is it or is theresomething in here thatwas me illuminating to you? >> it's really an inteing reportecause it has a lot of detailils ouounot o onlhehe hohospalalcecene but a abo othe

asaspes of the srveillance program.m. to me, the headline o of t t entire report is somometngng ttttleifferent and that is buburi deep in the rort itt says that theinterviews with intelligence c comninity offics throughout the -- b by all t inspectors generalal -- theyouou that no oneouould point t t a a counterterrorism successes that cod be c csed byy t thi prram, that t the program -- no onone d identify any major attacac o or arrests that we csed specifically by this progrgram which contradicts w whareredent bush r reptetedlsaid for the last three years of f hi presidency t tha this was savin ouousas o ives. ihihik, to ,, that iss a fufundental issue tttill chchan the nature o of theeeba about ththe nnsa warrantless wiretapping prraram. >> changee it inhat sesens

is it ththe ggggeson here that bush was ckck filling too justiy invasion ofprivacy, o or was it that they y ju got it ll wrong? change it in whwhatway? >> what they aree sayiying wha the ig iss saying that trere isis no solid concncluveve proo that the aairirels -- warrantltlesiretapping program was responsibleoror any marr counterterrorism suesesse the enire justificatitionyyhe bubu a admistration forverting ththeisa laws and going wiwithhe warrantless wretapping program was that theysasaid it had been sasavi l liv and thrting atcks. that i is a fuamamtalssssue tht habeen at the hrtrt of ththis detetever since it became puic. >> it is bauau of your rerting that we ow about t the warrantless wireretainin progra to begin with. the new rororhere revealing that the presidede alslso authorized secret surveillance actititities beyond wiretapping andd wiwithtt details.

threport simply kaupgs ututiod collection activitieiesince 9/11 were unprecedenentedd and r retn and use othe informatatio shshldld b carefully monitored. it sounds scscar i it fact ssca?? >> welell, w we haveeported on at some of those progrgramarare. what they haha d don very carefully here iss they have talked about whahat the p prede confirmed. atathe president c conrmed was our initial stories aboutut wha n n known as e terrorist surveillanance prograra subsbseqntnto that we reported on datataining operationssndnd rently eric and i reportedonon how the fundndamtatal debatt e hospital ene was a aut datainining invololvi e-mails of americans. eyey he never officiaiall knowledged that but th is what thehese things rere. th just don't want to s s it because it ill hasn't beenn officially coirmed by the white house. >> one cururio i guessss sde light to this, mr. hchcft, mr. card among the big neses who d d

nosubject themselves toto interviews for ee reports, chchen's aide david addington also on the list, the former c director m tenet, hn u the prririet of the memo factor that justified inteterratatn, is it remarkabab j jus how much thee ininsptors general were able to lelearwithout any of these e opople >> yeah. meme, i foundhhatery tetereing that the foerer cia director m m tenet was able to justst tll the ,, no.. i'm not going t to tlk to you. i dndn know you couldactually tht. but if yworked, yououere at atat level of t t govverenent. i thinktt is aasasciting document, although they dott come to anyy gndnd conclusions.. they have a series of details ththat if y put togogetrr it becomes a very ininteststg mosasa.. i thought the wholole issueff hh ththeyeveveled threat asssments within the intelligence commumutyty t juifify e legal auauthization was interestinin that had nerereen known before, thatat tyy werecctuly

ving to get a threat asasssssme to prove that theree was still l a t thattoto t uned states in orordetoto get a l le justification, legal reauthorization. and then they hto getet e white e hoe e to inserertt lang in that. >>yeah, trere a lot of bk fillll, momo every direction. it's's extraordrdiny y d who better to gigi u a perspective on i it than jeses ririce of "t w w rk tis.s." thanks f f y your time and yoou insight,sir. t tnks. >> t thethther arehehe legal implicatioionsf f th nenefaousness that originanad up e bush chain. nothing has oririgitete this fa up domesticallyly anay. we no know who trd d brow beat the attrnrneyeneral and when.. if anybody everothers to prosecute these pepeop h how th playing fieleld jusust changed. asassesess, , ne by professor jothan turley. many surfacethat seem smooth anstng...

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asroft to authorize intel gathering that ashcroft thought was illegal. how many ls did mr. bushreak and at is there t be done out it now? and the john ensign sa. new features toght include coerceletter writing to the mrs., rath tower the mistss. a virtual kidnappg to fedex and the day terreakit off he was bck with the mistressreaking it -- never mind plus, puppet theer. it's friday.y. of the world'sos revered luxu s sed. this is a history of over 50,000 crash-tested d cars... thiis the world record forr longevity and endurancnce. and one of theost technologically vaed automobiles on the plet ththis itt 9th generaononclass. ths is mercedes-benz. and two enentrs for just $20..

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>> scscen as darkk as anyth out ofofhe nininn white hohous prpresenent sh calling the spital room of s ailinng, barelylyrtrticate attorney

geral john ashcroft a over thobobjeions of ashcroft's wife to pressure the attttory y general to r reahohori what is now known as the presididenss surveillananprogram. our fourth story o on "t"the countdown" the l leg imimplatatio with jonathaha turley joioini u u in a a momen. we also knowafafr mr. ashcroft refused to reththize the president anan his w whe e use cosesel albertogogonzes found a way around i it making it up as they went along. fr today's report quoting. on the morning of m mahh 11 2004, with the presidential authorizatatiosesetoxxpi presididt t bu signed a new authorizatioion r r th p.p. in departure f fmmhe past practice ofaavi the attororyy generaleeify ee authorization as t toform and gagaty, the march 11 authorization wass rtrtifd by white house counsel gzazas. let't' ll in george washshinono univerersi l lawrofessor and constitutionalalxxrt jonathan tutueyey. good evening. >> hi, keieith >> all rht. ththe esesent pressuressisis totorn general in h sicick bed to certify, to reauthorize t ts psp, andnd when the a aorney genenerarefuses, theresident

gets h white h hou c cnsel to dodo i inead. wa u uthrough the s sorof more obobouous gal mine field pooin heheren this sequence. >> w wel it's a a grotesque memetaororsn't it? as you hee t thi scene of esesential messengers tryiying to get amaman who isosos s surry to s sn away civill libertrtie amereranancitizens. if anything capapreres at happened i in ee bush adninisttion it's that scene. what it iss important l legly i at ithows toto anybody in that administration that t th legal basis forhhis program was never establblisd,d, tt they had to esesseially change the authorization n ococes toet the mbmbnce of legality so when people likike myneighbor, generl michael hayden an others claimed theyey h clear anand obvious lelegaauauority for all of this they kw that wasn't tr.. they knew thh tey had togo to extraordrdiny y asures and, in fact, , ryry hh ranking,veve

conserervaveve people in the juicice partment refused sign ontoto thisbebecae it was blblattltlununcotitituonal. >> i i t the anything to be d ababou this legallyy now? >elell,here isis. you u sesee, the prprblem, keit that the wasas ner been unear. the lalaisis perfectctly ccle. ththe e ar so manany cririme he that h hav been alleged and supported d byacacts in t t lt couple of yearss itit almost had to step aund themem.. what is not clear ishehe inteststin f ftitude of the democratic party t to a auauall investigate. ey like to disclose c creses beususe ey have obvious political benefits. what ty don't want to do is ososece those crimes. we now see whwhy. the ony isththat in the beltwayy asriminal evidenceouount they become less inclineded to prososecee becauause they know t they startt a investigationon it will lead tmm directlylyoo the desk of g geoee bu.. no demococt t was to indndic hi.

they know that they start vestigation, it'll be hard t avd an didictnt. >> thehe otherbombshell, tis named white housefffficl who paddeded t unundlylyinthreat sessment after 9/9/11 the one epared by the cia annd th quotedit backas an thorization for f fther inlligence gatathengng that skirted at b bt the lala is there more inn this than the mre mamanilalaon of that one paparaapap >> well, itit's a v vy serious thing. th is a verympmptant document. they'ressentially cookingng the boooks in myiew t tyy falslsifdd the telligence by having a political apointee outside o o the ciaa allegedly changehaha report andnd then rely upon tha very section of threport. now, that's's a a obobm. thnational securirict 1947, theyeyavave to fullynform ngress, even covert operations ve to be disclosed t sllll nunumb of members. wewe n know that trereere susurvllance prograra n nev

disclosed. wee already seen the l lst couple years falalse stememen haveveeeeen shown, werere given cocongssss misleadingatements. k kno that evidence, f for example the torture program,was destroyed at thecia with ee fullll kwlwled that they were trying to dothth to prevent the evidence from ever beining usd. isiss an incredibleitany of crimes ande'e're beginning to look like e ee country t th we despise, the countries thahat ve intelligencece services above law that arare uouchable. well, the cianonow has the virtual crimimina c ce checked offnn terms o obstruction n d in terms ofof tortrtee andunlawl surveillance andndalalse statements to congress.s. nobody istaking about prosecutioio >> and to even bngng this uppoo date, today's delopments have kind of buried this continuing sagaga aututhe p panta admission, whichch addresesseth lala p poi about the cicia misleading the sououeses, e gagazations that areupposed oversight. therogram he stopped, ee hoe e intel scommittee chair

says y youee got t to investiga e e ear probability of l law being broken hehee. if t prograraself, is not revealed would w we least if there is a ann investigation ge cocorerete assessment of f th degree to whicich t cia hasas ld to the house, too t senate, u, me,to your nghghr, mr. hahayd, anybody else we canan think of? >> welll, we shshou, because e t we ralal need,eieith is for our l lears to fally giveupup ththe ghost, stop preventing a criminal investigatitionanan had this o ove to prprosututs. wh t t congresswowoma described isis a crime,ndnd s is rrrrec itit iss a mandatory subject f investigation. lying, withholding infnfortitio fr congress,is a crime a a what they ar wihoholdg and concealing happens, alal, to have been imes. >> jonatatha tuley, george washington university, ways, our great thanks. ststwishes. have aoood weekeke. . >> thahanku, keith. > fo y yrs i chronicled all ththtimes an athlete pulled a groin anand added h o o we hop. finally anan iususation of why i

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>>why they should alway make you pafor the tatoo in advance. it was 30 years ago this mning that i wen on the air for the first time as a full-time professional broadcaste sort of, doing a 9:45 a.m. sportscast for the 1,0 radio stations

servedy united press international audio. rd knows if any of them actually ran it. i remember something abou sayinghe pitchers hadeen selected for the baseball all-st game. that's about it. i was only supposed to be watching my bo do the shift and then abo 8:30 he said, by the way, u're doing the 9:45. and everything after tt was just a haze. come to think ofit, right now everytng is still just a haze. let's play "odal" mexico and panama played an international soccer match yesterday for the gold cup and thankfully this panamanian player was wearing his protective cup. this isnother hello. th ithe foot of the mexico headoachunging afterhe pananian player's groin. i've heard of aroin pull b th is ridiculous. luckily if there was any contact it was glancing which did not make e panamanian geleman happier. he shoved e coach and w given a d card. the coacwas thrown out and the match ended after a proper set of balls were kicked past the

goalies. tolast night's late show wi david letterman a all of us o are bespectacled have been here. between the bruno tten list andnterview with harry potter paul shaffer scked himself in the face. slow it down. the dector quickly cut offhe shot. you can se paul giving himself e business as he wraps up the intro music. they didn't call him t wor's mostangerous man for nothing i'veon that1 times in my fe. we have largely avoidedhe john ensign story on the wscast. we c ignore it no longer. r today's developntthis st be embarrassing to say, mark sanford, to say nothing of thpuppets in john ensign puppet theater. it, too, came from willa, the revenge of levi johnston as he says there is more than meets the e in governor palin's regnation. number three, bes reminder to actual journalists arere still neneceary. la tririnene, a frenchch busine newspapaperaunching a an english

language verersion website consisting o oitits french stors trananatatednto english by computut.. today'scocomperized headlinenes "t chinese car i i bbh. assetstsf f th c contintnt righ inin management of th crisisis r to make travel the passenenge uprigig."." in coumer news, internet explorer mistrusts.s. best try, governrnor sahahalin nding out thisis thougughtfu tweet which h suesestserhihigh calling mimight a a career in e bass maststers urnament. so, ak kids, take t time t to your parents fifiining. you learn m morebbt a personon i anour of play thann a yearr of conrsrsion. plato. at's nice. that's n notplato. it's richard lingagardwho wrote it in a gentleman's's etiquette guide fwr 70. heasn't talklkg g abt fishing bubugambling. and dateline texas. numbmberonone, unidentified m mo go his skin art w was handed t bill for 200 bbks, prereseeded his credititcacard. itit wasenend andhehe there upoo

ran out of the t tat parlor. the e mott on hisis too? ononlyodod c judge me llll, ybe only godan judge you u buvivisa can prosecucu y u

>> incredibly t tspspking by governor m mkksanford may b b n matchltimately for the sandal senator nsnsig which has tonight eanand to inudude chririiaian oup,oerced ttte kind of semisenatorial kidndnapngng a john ensign ppet theater. ouour ird oror in the countdown e end of the affair with cindy hampton and the firiring of dou hampton n prededo be just the beginning of theheadache for nevada's juor senator to say nothing of r rning forever the familiar july y phsese he, summerern n th hamptonons. and d thnenew chief o staff ving new d deils on thehe sesetor's exacurriculars with his wife inneleleved interview. he says the senator'srelentlesss

pursuit t w wif c cin drove enengngn toii both hamptonsns first a quickrecap. senator ensign h a a afafair wiwi cindy who wkeke on one o his politicicalcacampgns or committees. doampton finds out and t the senator fires s th both. hehe aits to the affair anand regns from his positionon in the rerepuican leadership. engn's parents write thehe hampton falyly checks t toting $9$96,00iting apattern of generosityty bweweenhe ensign family and the hahampnsns mr hampton's gneneroty t tokok a re nonmonetararform. enentesisign god squad a group of menampton asked t tononfrt ensign, ranking m memr senatoto tom burn with timim co,aavid co, andnd m mar shhernn the latr three with the family, a a secretive grgrpp associaiate wi the c streeee christian fellowship. hampton sayshehese men encouraged ensigign pay f t mpmpns' home and theheir mo to coloradond hahatoto alleges the four men u urdd theto write the letter tociciy brreangng tngs ofwith two r relioio

protececrsrs dving ensign to fedex x toetet t letter to the ma immediately. ter the letette was indeed sentt ensign gave cindydy hampton a call, , ysys dsregard the lette cocomi u up out that stuffbobout using her for hererwn pleasure and his pleasurerendnd 2hours later r ensign i in las v veg with cindy. in the biblicacal sense. to top itll off whennit was ti to give cindy t old heave from her day job with ensign the senatorcocodn't do it himself. the family asked cindy to leave thoughgh enensi managegeddo low e ax on hampton himself. ee told me basically a at the sa time he said i'm in l lve wi your wifefe yo c c't work foror m anymore. >> since wedon't have any visual imagery of y of thehe aforementiononed tivity described by mr. hampton we return to the innovative newew style of journalismsm w pionened here, senator john e ensn,n, puppet theatat. you u veve t stop this affair, senator. you u ne t to pay f for cindy a

herramamy to move awawa >> you owe them moy. >if you had listened to m me none off this woululd h hve eve happened. . >> shut up, cobobur >> you nene write her a a letttterrereakg it f. >>'l'l do ithisafternoon. >> you'll do itt right w, young man. > ifact, we'r'reoioi to drive you to fedex an watch toakake sure yououenend it to her. >> if you'd'd listened totoee ne ofththisould have ever happenened >> shut up, cobubu!! >> does s absolutetely,, potitive have to be there tomorrrrow >>overnight. ten blocks f fro here and that'l be $2$22 >> if you hadad listenened me ne ofhihiwould have ever happenen.. >> shut up, cobobn!n! >> can wetoto at a a dairy queen or something? >> shut up, coburn! >> ccdydy, e mean menaa made me write aaast letter toyoyou and d ionon't mean it a you ouou disregard itand i'll alwaysys le e u. >> whoho iththis >> it's john.. hnhn ensign. senator johnensigig >> oh, rr did you u se t the6,000 yet?

[ door bell ] >> john. >> cinindy >> jojohn >> ccin. >> jojo. >> so, y yo want to gogo hikingn the old appalachian trail? political columnmnis fofor bloomberernenewsnd washington editor off thweek m maaret carlson. go evening, maaret. >> good d evinin >> thiss sffff wouldembarrass, nonoreferring to the puppets, the whole story now w wou embarrass markrksanford. how onarth does sesenarr enensi not resign? > ihink h he does resign now. l lood like he haaa a pa than -- ss thanks to a fellow republican governor r saoror bu ere are now too many things ing on. ththpapares giving emem the $96,00000, first of all, it mam him lookhildish like he's being looked after b byis parents. eyeye going to haveax problem because e yoan't ge awaymomoy as a agift when y yore

getting something ininreturn, which is the silencece. d the deetass of t family are just too m muc too susurve. >> t the evolution of t the sto too, i i igigi is kind of faal at this int, is itnot? has it nt become as disturbingng as the story itself?? it startedith a ltltle infidelity andnd apparentlyly q apology and thehe next thing w haveveaiaile interventions, another senator r vovolv, a tholic and christian g gro a and the m misess and husbabandiid anand isort of asasi-dnapping and theededex letterer a and then ththe inin n the date theeeext day ananywy. >> hey, t the muppetsts, the " e street" is going twawant royalties s omom y for your puppet tatat. l lood like it w w gng to gege away withthitit because it las vegagas. heame back. the reblican caucus welcomedd him. ere was no talk o anththcs committee, nocensure, no nonoining. but when youu have him being taken h hosgege and i dn'n't me to insulul real hststag he,, butt likett g gun point fedex,

you expect a tape withensign holding up t the newspaper so y know what date it is a a he's sendndti o oveight and he actually didid t. it's like a prepopostououthing to have happen. > yh. >> byyththe way,, there's's rerepuican governoror rhtht nowi ththinhe's upin 2011,f pupublans act no to m mov enensi out, they t t chance t o ve a rereblblic senator popoind, get a leg up on the next ececti. and ieard fro republicans late today thatthat's whatt they wantnt t do that now they're rereadtoto move himutut and hava chanan a at retaining that set.. >>ould this on though,, have ramifications outside of the originator h hee of ouour friend senator ensign because of senator cobururss involvementti this? he's ciiti privilege.e. he said he s soke to ensignnn his s ro a a ysysicn and

orordaeded deacon. aren't there imimpcations for this, too? where does your rolee a say a u.u. senator fitinintohis equation whenn y y have soo myy differert t hats? >> senator coburn is alsoso a obstetricianannn se anything happens. ere are tax liabilities. ere is senator burn who - -- you kn,, hendnd president obama haha a lot toayay to each othe. eyacactuly getalg.g. senatotor buburn is an interereg guy.y. however, thiss is like too interesting. he cannot be this interesting. he's got a t ofxpxpining to do. yoyou wonder, is isis what th o rr eh other?? is this what, you kn,hhis has me to where youou' forcing your guy to write t the letter? ian, ensignn h beenn infalilized if that's a wowordb coburn and the family and his rerent you can sese h himike iemememr

ththnununs making us write, i st sit t wnwnnd be quiet a hundred times after schohoolndnd he's being forced t to sit down ther and write infairly good peananip i might adddd in his own hanandwtiti this letter wi thesee p peoeeooooki over him andd lving nothingg chance. >> yeah. and there is t tnub of the gigi here tha when the snator finds his way intoththe sate, his colleagues a appudud because he made it thehe s sucssfully on hihiown. that's the utimate problem hehere margaret cararonon of bloomombe news and ""th wewee magazine a alwawa m many thanks.s. >> good ght, kth. whwh rachel j joss y at the top of theouou she wilill go inside " street sign's circle of rigigio associates wiwi a reporterhohonfiltrated the group. al t the reporter s sobody who infiltrateteththearah palin group, levijojoson says thehe wholeesignation story is cover.r. really?? thank you, presidedent of afghanistan. marital rape, less legal. marital forced starvationon mom lel.l. worst personons eaead "countdodo."." a great reason

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>> hosting a radio show too much wor hosting a tv show, too much work. hosting tv reality show bens to sound plausible. that's what one of h reasons is for the resignation sarah palin according to her -sonlaw. marital srvion in afghanistan? o better to run t texas school syste than a nut job who eves public schoolre uncotitutional? worspersons in the world next.

>last year she was gng to be vice president anand h was ining be her son-in-law. neither is either and d th are atat ch other's's thrtsts ainin. that's next butirst countdown's nunuerer t storory, the worst persrsonin the world the onon to t t microsoft chair. speaking to the n nrtrth rolina technology association confererencen n arlotte he saidd within ten yeaea t the will be compututerevevic that wille as flexible as aa seeeetofof paapea technologygyblble figure out wh y you meant to do. ok.. steve baumerer i't't alally th thd d rst person in thee world. i love the ieaea of p pap thin computers but couyou first ju get the d dn machine no frfree o or shut itlf off evyy couple dayy becacause sududdeyy becomes raid of a websee or whatever the excuse is this time? a computer whwho f figes out wh i meant to dodo? how about one at just does what asked it to ?? ththanyou. the r runrs up thefgfgh rliament and p presintnt karzai ha authorized a viviable law passedednn march that legalized rital rape. w the law has bnn amended. nonoit says a husbsband'rereonse to d denll of sexy his wfefe should nototee to be r raped but

instead d ararvi his wife. this will now b legal inn afafghistan. our r wwinr, governor rick perr ofof texas reportedly coemplating aoioiing the state board ofof ecacati chair totoepepla the f fdamentalist ousted by opoppones.s. a state representativeeamamed cynthia duar who t thin fufundentalists are way tooo liberal. msms. nbnbarrote last year thhat then senatoror omamaas plotting a terrorist attack this country. she now aiai president obama is aboututo dececlare mararti l and believes publlic e ecation s unconsnstituonon. she thininksubublischools shohod be abolished. shshe insisiss government shoulb guided by qquo, bblblal tmus tests. e got aawaw degree fom regenentt univiversi also known as boxop u. rr supporters calal their opponents the pagan left. ininther words she iss a walkin llboard for whyublic schoolols are essential and wh religion has no p plee in gornment and why we shouould never or w we sd negotiate with g govnonor perry. we should giveve h ahuhundd acres in a corner ofof texaxa a let him secede as he s reatened provovid he takak thth dunbar whackkobob wth hi governrnorrik, let's ma an

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call or click totoy. 's progressive. whetr the engagemement was real o or just a stuntnt t spar r having to run for vice presidt as the motherof an unwed mother, sararah pali continues s to discor what can happenhen somebody you useded as a op starts to talk. our number one story on the cotdown levi johnson'version his ex-fututure mother-ininaws regnation not lining upphat wewe with that of h ex-future mothern-law. whenen governo palin quit her jb she sa it was becauseseof frivivolous etcscharges. shshsaid iwas all the public moneney she h to spend to fight the charges.

she said it was b bause she and her familyereedia targets. but johnston determined to extetend his 15 mininutes lookit cash in onon a ll-all booknd moe told the associcied pre it was reaeally al about the moneney. i've heard off pele offering books and stuff likee tat and actually there is a realitity sw they wanted to doo but ihink the bibig deals the bo and that's millions ofof dolls right there and she couldn't do that as governor.. there was thiseactio from the palilin famy spokeseswoman. it is inresting to arn leleavei i working on a piece o fiction whilele hong his acting skills. al coming as palin unwillin to stst out othe m media attackede the mediaia by quoting ththe ms elder statesman walter cronke on twier. mostst newspapapermeny definiti have to be liberal. if they'reot by my definition th can hardly be good nepapermen. me replicans fafacing re-eleleion ne year dubbing her the mby campaigner. virgrgiaongressman frank wolf i generay don't mead peoe from oside my district todo a fundiser. lee e rry, tre are othe i uld have come in and campapaign

and most wouould be my colleagu in the house. joining usrom washington demoatic strategist, g good evenin good to haveve you back. >> good evening.g. >> there is a reason cliche's ar liche's. bebe nice tthe peoplelen the way up becausese yoll meet thehe againn onhe way down, a lesson arned by the governcourtesy of leohnston the last few weeks? >> i think s somemetimes u learn the ssons ththhardway. what's amazing is whenen you st back t ts has become prprobably one o of the mos ridiculous potical soap operas at least t of my lilife. he doesn't seem to evever want end. there'ss another twist,,t kind of giv us aindow intoo the strange lilives of tse people back inalaska. mean, you know, itt was funny to me to read that levi wass talking about how govoverno paln may do reality show. i'm startingg to thinkhe reall house wiveves of wasisilla is ci to bro any time soon. has goen prett ridiculous but again when you're talking out sarah palin iuess diculo has to be redefinene >> bravo of course is one of our

sister cable netwtworks heret the nbc cab family soll i can say is bee careful wat you say out loud on the air. you might be right. maybe by monday. this e of t theseare stories though whehe there tually is too much focus on the why that we're o oscurin the simple realitity thi happenene i mean, if you t throw out the true highe calling uff, you know, she did not quittobecome ambassssador to china or hew secretary. dodoes it ally matatterhy she quit? >>ell, you know u uually it probably wouldn'n't but i'll te you why i i think it does. hereres a candidatend i know this is g goingto give shive to me people out therere w i think is actually serusly contemplatining a ru for presididt in2012 so t reasons and the xcuses she gives as to why she dided to qui r job o a and a hal years in maer. th contradictionsns matteter. e doesn't seemmableo tete the truth. all of those factorsrs matter. it goes to what type of candndidate e is. and again, it alslso think kind rye fkts on thehe republican party. whwhen she has becocomekind of ptain of t the republican

titanic and you wonder what ototr icebg sshe'soing to steeinto. itoes mamatter. i thinkhether potottial candididates a telling you the truth and tellili th american peop the truth matters. >> somody wrote todayy online, paraphrasingngshe haa base that wiillnever leave her but ll never be big enoughgh t elect her to anything. yohehear these q quos from rerepuicics running n nt yeyea that t ty y dot want hereraroun. not in my backckyard. bu during t t presidential campaign she got bigger crowdss on her o o than mccain gotot o his ow atat ds it say that sh's's nearining clsification as caaiai poison? >> i thinktt really kif tells you what kind of candidate she is. one that has a very passionatat slice of the electorate but t o ifif y youre rununngng for offif you're bobob monald for example in virirgiaa i ca bet you ththeye e nogoing tohahave sara papan come there because s is effectctivy y th bububicic plag. she will destroy y uu intetes of alienating moderates, aliliatatn independents, and thatats the worst thingouou can dhen you

ha a very tough race as both those c caidates do. but it is i i thinkgain inindititivef how lot of republblicss really seeee sarah palin. t t sh may have small slicece that is passionate abouout h h t i think mosos rpublicans when u talalk t them and they've said it publicly, thth realize what a disaster she w wod be i she ran f for president and fooc the republican p par to knknowdge her as a credible cacandatate. >> and yet there's justhat large enough p perntage that e can also sink anynydydy who mig me up through th ranks ande a a recandidate. >> that'sright. >> mamang. alalwa a pleasurereoo cchasir. thanks very much f f your titime >> thanks, ith. >> 's's friday. ii sd thanks youou r ratr than thank you. that's "countntdo" " fo this t 2,262n2n d day since the previo president declarar m mison accomplishshedn n aq. good n nig. now to