not just weak,t's whack. >> thank you, kent. thank you for watchin tonight. "countdown witkeith olbermann ♪ ♪ starts right now. good night. which of these stories wil you be talking abo tomorrow? warress wiretapping and the desperatmidnight ride to john ashcroft's hospital d to get the then attorney general, sti hazy a they cut out his gallbladder, to personally approve secret intelligence gathering on americansven wiout court orders. the new reportn the inspector genera from the pentagon, stice, president bush ordered alberto gonzales and andy card to go to ashcroft's sick bed and get his gnaturno matter what. >> s, did you send your then chief of staff a white house counsel to the bedside ojo ashcroft while he waill toet him to approve tt program and do y believe that kind of conduct from whi house official appropriate?

kelly, there's a lot of speculation t what happened, wh didn't happen. i'm not going talk about it. it's a very sensitive program. >> the inspectors geral not only nailed bush in another lie, another crime, but also in ordering other secret surveillancehich has still not been mpublic. and that when his ite house got its first 9/11 threat assessment it padded t language and inserted his own paragraph which it later qted as justification for the other secret surillance. the panetta admission. whatever he found out aboua secretia int program he stoppe house intelligence subcommittee on oversight d investigatns chair says investigations are mandatory because laws may have be broken. ensign pulverize the senatorial scandal tns farcical. >> bically at the same time u said i'm in love with your wife you c't work for me any more. >>ow members of the christian group the family forced senar ensign to write ndy haton a

letter cutting o his affair and took him to fex to send the letter to her overnight. and then how theenatorneaked awayrom them to call her and ll her to ignore the letter and then he showed up e next day to resume the affair. there will be puppet theat on this. cindy, the mean men that me me write nasty letter to you, i don't mean it. u should disregard it. i'll always love you. >> who is this? >> allhat and more now on "countdown." >> did you sd the 96,000 yet? good ening from new york. asften seems to happen in the late afterno of summer fridays, two lingeringteries of bush administration misdeeds have been definively solved in our fifth story on the countdown. one w intelligence was manipulated in the aftermath o the september 11 aacks and, two, who it was o call john ashcroft as attorneyeneral as was recovering from the intensive care uniof a

waington, d.c. hospital orchestrating the failed attpt get h to reauthorize the government spy program th hint. if you answevice president cheney, you did not aim high ough this time. a new inrnal government report revealing that predent bush himself tried to subverthe authority of his own attney general, directly ordering the infamous expedition to the hospital bed of mr. ashcrofto strongarm the ailing attorne general and the deputy into renewing the surveilnce program at wou lapse in days. ha waited until his attorney general had just come ouof surgery to do this, having waited until his attorney neral's wife had refused to put him on thehone when the president called. quoting from pe 24 of the report today, on march 10, 2004, esident bush instructed him then white house cnsel alberto gonzales and chief ostaff andrew card to go to theeorge washington uversity hospital speak to ashcroft. card called the spital and spokth an agent in ashcroft's security tail. ashcroft's wife told t agent ashcroft would notccept the call. however 6:45 p.m. card and

the president ed the hospal and according to the agent'notes insisted on eaking with ashcroft. mrs. ashcroft took t call d wainformed gonzales and card were coming t hospital to see ashcroftegarding a matter inlving national security. you will recl two years ago thatormer deputy attorney general finished the rest ofhe story inripping senate testimony, recnting that ashcroft sll shot down the president's entrea ispite of being in a weak d drugged up state. two ys later president bush was asked about hirole in the bedside drama by ourwnelly donnell. >> sir, did you se your en chief of staff and wte house counsel to the bedside of ashcfthile he was ill to get him to approve that program? and do you believe that nd of conduct from whiteouse officials ppropriate? >> kelly,there's a lot of

spulation about what happened and what didn't happen. i'm not gointo talk about it. 's a very sensitive program. i will tell you the prram was necessar as i said, the pgr was a neceary program that was constantly reviewed and constantly briefed to e congss. it's an importanpart of protectinghe united states. >> george bu's officially confmed deception was not just by omission but also cmission. the report prepareat the request of congress also revealing in theays after the 9/ attacks the president authorized secret surveillance actities beyond controversial warrantls retapping, which still han't been made public. they were referred to in this report as the president's survllance program. eqlly unsettling the report also stating an unnamewhite house ofcial inserted a paragraph into the firsthreat assessment prepared the cia after the 9/11 attackshich was en used to justify the extraoinary intelligence matters. time now to tu to our own politil analyst, richard wolffe. thanks for yr time and good evening. >> good eveng, keith. >> president bush directly ordering, orchestrating the

infamous expedition to the hospital bed of attoey general ashcroft lonsuspected, long reported, w official. for at might be the first time the answer to at kind of mystery was confirmed to be viceredent cheney. how significant is the official natu of this investigation? well, i've always thought it was conven for people to lay all e blame at dick cheney's door. it was convenient r the sh adminiration officials because they cou pnt president bush as being good cop to the bad cop of dick cheney, convenient for bush's critics as ll because th had someone easy to caricaturendortray as being unmitigatingly evil and then you've gotonvenient for dick cheney because he can seem scarier than reality. in actual fact, what you hav here ia real undermining not just of the bush/cheney dynamic but thself-image of president bush of someone who playedy the rules and haa common sense of decency no matter whaheas up to anreally this gets to

the heart of that. itndermines that self-image becausthis wn't just the sort of midnight rush beuse there was a deline. this was a well hash out debate where the chi law enforcement officers of this nation said the program was illegal. he was trying to do an e run around the lawndhere are no o ways about it. it wasndecent and as it ppens illegal. at that news conference two days aft the former deputy attorney general revealed the incident, the clip we heard there,he predent played coy wh asked about it. is not a lie by omission sll a lie? >> well, i'm not sure that it is, actuly. this ithe typical kind of dodge that the psident would ha at the time and it was obvious what he s dodging. if you listen to that answer, the swer is, well, it was necessary. inact, anything is necessary if i say so because these threats are so dangerous so really these legal dates and quibbles you're having are b like the geva convention, some old faioned,rchaic, academic

theory. thats, itself, revealing insight in his mentality. i think we have sothing worse than whether you're lyinor being fully uthful or half truthf and that's whether the president abides by the laws >> onether word in there that was left out, qunt that fit into the dcription of the trties and the idea of telng the truth to the amerin public. this other thingn the report, the named white house official who addea paragraph into the first threat assessment after the 9/11 aacks. obviously he's diveredhis thinby the cia, adds something in and then they take th addionquote it as part of the cia threat assesent, and use it to justify the extraordinarintelligence meures. is looks like -- is this the first time that patterwas used essentially creang the se-fulfiing prophesy and then quote it back to the peop whare asking why are you doing this? >>ell, we don't know what the paragraph ally says. it is exaordinary that you have what we assum a

political official addg to the intelligence because presumably they thinkheir analysis is better than the intellence officials saand, again, you've got to get back to the sort of psychogy of that period. people were afraidabsolutely. it was a trifying period and people were rightly scared of and shocked at what d happened terms of the 9/11 attacks. but to tuse that for political purpes, to then say we need tombellish what we think is a serious teat, i ink, gets to the insecurity those officials ha because remember, it happened on their watch and i ink the was a sort of self-defsive re end covering going on. >> speaking of which what does this psidento about all of th given the particulars that are out? what does obama do abo trying to maintain this program wle trying tsuppress the legal challenges against it?

well, this won satisfy his e-hard supporters or at ast the people who are t base of the demoatic party but he has already said that it's just ne to we tap as long as there is minimal urt survision and as long as it's not warrantle. he has sd he wants the program to continue. i don't thk he cares who arted it. he sees the value as long as ere is this minimal supervision d for civil liberties people that real isn't enough. >> msnbc's richard wolffe as ways, great thanks. have a great weekend, richard. >> thank y. and you, keith. >> for more on t significance of what 've learned let's turn to "the new york times" vestigative reporter who in 2006 was awaed the pulitzer prize for his series of reports exposing tecret spying program. thanks for your timeonight, sir. >> thanks for having me. >> t president confirmed in an official report fromhese igs as the creator in the ashcroft hospital drama, it sounds like the headline here. is it or is thersomething in here that was more illuminin to you? it's really an interesting report because it has lot of details about noly the

hospital scene but aut other aspects of the surveillae program. to me, the heainof the entire report is something a little dferent and that is buried deep in the report it says that the interviews wh intelligence comnity officials througho the -- by all of the inspectors general- they found that no one could point to any counterterrism successes that cod caused by this program, that the program -no one could identify any majorttacksr arres that were caused specifically by th program, which contradicts what president bu repeatedly said for the st three years of his pridency that this was saving thousands of lives. i think,o me, that is a ndamental issue that will change the nature of the debate about the nsa warrantless

wiretapping program. >> change in what sense? is it the suestion here that bush was back lling to justify invasion of privacy, or was it that they ju got it all wrong? change it what way? >> what they are saying, what is no solid conclusivero there that the n wireless -- warrantleswiretapping program was responsible for any major coterterrorism successes. the entire justification by th bu administration for averting the fisa laws and going with the waantless wiretapping program s that they said it had been saving lives and thwting attacks. that is a fundamental ise that has been at the het of this debate ever since it becam public. >> it is because of your repoing th we know about the warrantless wiretappg program egin with. the new repo here revealing that the president also authorized secret surveillance activitieseyond wiretapping d without details.

the report simply cautioned the collection activits since 9/11 were unprecedented and retenon and use of the infmaon should be carefullmonitored. it sounds scary. is it in fact scary? >>ell, we have reported on what som those programs are. what they have done ry carefully here is theyave talkedbout what the president confirmed. whathe president confirmed was our initial stories about what is now kno as thterrorist surveiance program. subsequento at we reported on data ning operations and recently eric and i reported on how the fundenl debate at the hospital scene was aut dataining involving e-mails of american they have never officily acknowledged that but that is what these things were they just don't want to say it beuse it still hasn't been officially cfirmed by the white hous

>> one curious, i guess, sid light to this, mr. acrt, mr. card ang the big names who did not subject themselves to interviews for the repor, cheney's aide vid adngton also on the listthe former cia direorr. tenet, john u the proprietor of e memo factor that justified ierrogation, is it remarkable just how much the inspectors general were able to learn without any of these people? >> yeah. i mean, i und that very interesting that theormer cia director mr.en was able to just tell the ig, no. i'm t going to talk to you. i didn't know you could actuly do that. but if you worked, youere at that level of the government. i think it is a fascinating document, althgh they don't come to any grand concluons. they have a ries of details that iyou put together it becomes a ry intesting mosaic. i thought the whole issuof how theyeloped threat assessmentwithin the intelligenceommuni to justify the legal reauthorizatiowas interesting. thatadever been known

before, that they re actually having to get a threat asssment to prove that there was still a that to the united states in order toet a legal justifation, legal authorization. anthen ty had to get the white use to insert language into that. >> yeah,he's a lot of back fill, almost every direction. it's extraordinary and who bett to give us a perspective on it th jes ricen of "the new york times." than for your time and your insight, sir. >> tnks. >> then there are the lel implications of the nefariousness that orinated up the bush chain nothinhas originated this far up domestically yway. we now know who tried to bw behe attorney general and when he tried to brow beat him. if anybody evebothers to prosecute these people h that playfield just changed. as assessed, next by pfessor jonathan t turley. male announcer ] think again. expes at good housekeeping gave pantene nure sion ththr seal for damage protection sults leading salon brands can't beat.

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to get a barely conscis john ashcroft to authorize intel gathering at ashcroft thought was illegal. homany laws did mr. bush bak and what is there to be done about it now? and the johnnsign saga. new fees tonight include coerced letter wring to the a virtual kidnapping tfex ss. and the daafter breaking it off heas back with the stress breaking it -- never mind. plus, puppet theater. it's friday. takikits rightful plalace ina long line of amazingng performance machineses. is is the new e-coupe. this is meedes-benz.

a sce as dark as anything ouof tixon white house, esident bush calling the hoital room of his ailing,

barely articulate attorney general john ashcroft and over the obctions of ashcroft's fe to pressure the attorney neral to reauthorize what is noknown as the president's surveillance program. our foth story on "the countdown" the legal implications with jothan turl joining us in a moment. we also know aer mr. ashcroft refused to reauthorize the president and his whe house unsel alberto gonzalesound way arnd it making it up as they went along. from today's report quoting. on the morning of marc11, 2004, with theredential authorizatioset to expire presidt bush signed a new thorization for the psp. in a departu from the past practi of having the attorney general certy th authorizatioas to form and legality, the marc11 thorization was certified by white houscounsel gonzales. let's call in gegeashington university lawrofessor and constitutional expert jothan turley. good evening. >> hi, keith. >> all right. the president presres his attorney general in his sick bed to certify, to reauthorize this psp,nd when the attorney

general refuses, t president gets his white house cnsel to do it instead. walk us througthe sort of more obvioulegal mine field points here in this sequee. >> well, it's a grotese metaphor isn't it? as you he this scene of presidential syfhants trying to get a man who is post surry to sign away civ liberties of ameran citizens. if athing captures what happened in the bush administration it's that sne. what iis important legally is th it shows to anybody in that administration that the legal basis fothis program was never established, that ey had to essentially change the authorization process to g the sembnce of legality so when people like my neighbor, genal michael hayden and others, claimed they had clear a obvious legal authority r all of this they kneth wasn't true ey knew that they had to go to

traordinary measures and, in fact, very high rankg, very conservative peoe in justice departmentefused to gn onto this because it was blatantly unconstitutional. >>s there anything to be done about this legallyow? >> well, there is. you see, the problem, keith, i that the law has never been unclear. the law is perfectly car. there are so many crimes here at have been alleged and supported by facts in the la couple of years it almost hard to step arndhem. what is not clear is the intestinal fortitude of the democratic party to tually stigate. they like toisclose crimes because they have obvious politicabenefits. what they don't nt to do is prosecute thoscrimes. we now see w. the irony ishat in the beltway as criminal evidence mounts they become less inined to prosecute becausthey know that if they start an investigation it will ad them directly to thdesk of george bush.

no democrat wants indhim. they know that if they start an investigation, it'll be hard t avoid an indictment. the other bombshell, this unnad whhouse official who paed the underlying threat assessment aft 9/11, the one prepared by the cia anthen quoted it back aan authorizion for further intelligence gathering that skirted at best the law, i there more ith than the mere manipulation of that one paragraph? >>ell, it's a very serious thing. this is a very important document. and they're seially cooking the books. in my view they falsied the intelligence by having a political appointee outside tha allegedly change that report and then rely upon that ry section of the report. now, that'a problem. e tional security act of 1947, they have toully inform congress, even covert operatns have to be dclosed to a small number of members.

we now know that there were surveillance programs ner disclod. wee already seen the last coupleearsse statements have been shown, were given to ngress, misleading statement we know that evidence, f example the torture progm,as destroyed at the cia with e full knowledge that they were trying to do this to prevent the evidence from ever beingsed. this is an ireble litany of crimes and we're beginning to look like the couny that we despise, theountries that have intellence services above the law that arentchable. well, the cia now has e virtual criminal code checked off in tms of obstruction and in terms of toure and unlawful surveillance a false statementso congress. nobody is talkg about prosecution. andeven bring this up to date, today's developments have kind of buried this continuing saga about the panetta admissn, which addresses that last point about theia misleading the sources, the organizations at are supposed to oversight.

the program he stoppedthe house intel subcomttee chair says you've got to investigate the clear probability ofaws being broken he. if t pro, itself, is not revealed would we at lea if there isn investigation get a corete assessment of the degree to which the cia has ed to t house, to the senate,o you, me, to your neighbo mr. hayd, anybody else we can think of? >> well, we should, becauswhat we really need, keith,s for our leaders to finallyive up the ghost, stop preventing a criminal investigaon, and hand this over to prosecutors. what congresswoman described a crime, and she is correct it is mandatory subject for investigation. lying, withholding informaon fr congress, is a crime and what they are withholding and concealing happens, alsoto ha been crimes. >> jonathan tuey, george shin university, as always, our great thks. best wishes. have a good weekend. >> thank you, keith. for years i chronicl all thtimes an athlete pulled a

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incredibly the sparkg by governor mark sanford may be no match ultimately f the scandal of sen ensign which has night expanded to include a christian group, coerced letter, kind of semi-senatorl kidnapping and john ensign puppet theater. our third story inhe countdown the end of the affair with cindy hampton and the firi of doug hampton proved to be just the beginng of the headache for nevada's junior nator to say nothing rning forever the familiar july phrase he, summer in the mptons. and the new chief f oftaff giging new details on the e senator's extrtracriricurs with his wiwifen n a levised ininrvrvie

he s sayththsenator's relentless pursuit ofofifife ndy drove ensisigno o fi both hamptons. rsrst quick recap. senator r engngn h an affair wiwithindy who worked on onenef his political campmpais s committees. dodougamampt finds out and the senator fires s th b bot he a aitits the affair and resigns s omom h position in the republican leadership.p. ensign's parents wriritehehe hampton famimilyhehes totaling $96,000 0 cingng pattern of generosity b betenen t ensign familyly a t theamptons. mrs. hamptonon'senenerity took a more nonmomoneryryorm. enter ensisign g godquad a group of men hampton askeded tcoconfnt ensign, rankining mbmberenator tococobu with tim co, david co, and martrty erermathe latter three with the family,y, a seseetetivgroup associated with e e c reet christian llowship. haton says these men enencoururag ensign to pay for e hamptons' hoho a andheir move to colorara a andampton alleges the urur m urged the to write the letterer tcicindbreaking things

off with two r rigigio prprectors driving ensign n to fedex to get the letteter toto t maililmmmmedtely. after the e leerer w indeed sent enengngn ge cindy hampton a cacallsays disregard the letetr comimi u up out that stuff about ususinheher r her own pleasure and his pleasure and 24 hohour lalateenengn is in las vegas wiwithindy. in the biblical sense. toto t it all off when it wawa time to o gi c cin the old heave ho from her day job withth eigig thsesenar couldn't do it msmsf. the family asked cinin t to ave though ensign n nanageto lower e ax on hampton himselel >> he told me basically y athehe same time e heaiaid m in love thth yr wife. yocacat work for me anymore.e. >> s sin w wdon't have any visual imagery o oanany the aforementition a actity descririd d byr. hampton we tuturno the innovative newew style of journalism we p pioerer here, senator johnhnnsnsig puppet theatater.. ♪

yohave to stop this affair, , senator. you nene t to y for cindy and r r mily to move away. >>ou owe them money. >> if you had listenen t to none of thisis wldldave ever haenened >>hut up, coburn! >> you need to write herer a lelett b breing it off. >> i'll do i it isis aernoon. >> you'll do it ririghnonow,oung man. i ifact, we're going to d dri you to fedex and watatcho o ke sure y youenend to her. > iyou'd listened to me none of this would haveve er r happened. >> s shuupup, burn! >> doeoes a aolutely, positively have e b be ere torrrr? >> ovevernhtht. ten blocks from here a andhahall be227. >> if you u haliliened to me nono o of is would have ever ppened. >> shut up, , buburn >> can we stop at t a iriry een s somhing? shut up, coburn! >> cindy, the meanan m h havmade w wte a nasty letter to y you and i dodon'meme it and you ouou disregard it and i'llll wawaysove you. >>ho is this? >> it's john. john ensign. nator john ensign.

>> oh, sure. did send the 96,000 yet? [ door bell ] >>ohn. cindy. >> john. >> cindy. >> john. >> so, you want to go hiking on the old appalachian trl? ♪ >> polical columnist for oomberg news and washington editor of the week marret carlson. good evening, margar >> good evening. >> this stuff would embarras not ferring to the puppets, the whole story now would embarrass mark sanford. how on ear does senator ensign noregn? >> i think he do resignow. itlooked like he had a pass than to a fellow repuican governor sanford but there are now too many tngs ing on. the pants giving them the $96,000, first of all, it makes him look childish like hs being oked after by his parents. they're going to have a tax problem because you n't give

away mey as gift when you're getting something eturn, which ishe silence. and the deils ofhe family are just too much to surve. >> the evolution of the story, too, imagine is kind of fatal at this pot, is not? has it not become as distuing as the storyelf? srted with a little infidelity and apparently quick apology and the next thing we have failed inteentions, another senator involved catholic and chrisan group and the mistress and hband fired and this sort of quasi-kidnappi and the fedexed letter and then the ing out on the date the next day anyway. >> hey, the muppets, the "sesame stet" isoing to want royalts from you for your ppet theater. it looked like it was gointo get aw with it because it was las vegas. came back. the repuican caucus welcomed him. there was no tof an ethics committee, no censure, no nothing. but en you have him being taken hostage and i don't me

to insult real hostas here, but like at gun point to fed, you expect a tape with ensign holding the newspaper so you know what da it is and he's sending it overnight and he tually did it. it's like preposterous thing to have happen. >>eah. >> by the way, tre's a republicanovernor right now, i think up in 2011, if republicans act now, to mo ensi out, they get a chance to have a republin senator appote get a leg up on the next election. and i heard fromepublins la today that that's what they want to that now they're ready to move him ouand have a chance at retaing that seat. >> cou this one, though, have ramifications outse of the originor here of our friend senator ensign because o senator coburn's iolvement in this? he's citing privilege.

he sd he spoke to ensign in his role as physician and ordained deaco aren'there implications for this, too? where does your role as say u.s. sator fit into this equation when yohave so many different ha? sator coburn is also an obstetrician in ca anything happens. there are taliabilities. there is senator curwho -- you know, he and president obama have a lot to say to each other. they aually get along. senator coburn is an interesng guy. wever,his is like too inresting. he cannot be this teresting. he's got a lot of explainio do you wonder, is this what they do for each oer? is this what, you knowthis has come to where you're forng your g to ite the letter? i mean, engn has been

infantilized,f at's a wo by coburd his family and his parents. you can sehim like i remember the nuns making us write, i mu sit down and be qut a hundred times after school and he's being forced to sit down there and write inairly good penmanship i might add ihis own ndwriting this letter with these people lking over him and leaving nothing to chance. >> yeah. anthere is the nub of the gist here that when the senator fin his way into the sen his colleagues appud because he's made it there successfully o his own. that's the ultimate oblem here. margararlson of bloomberg news and "the we" magazine as always many thanks. >> good night, keith. when rachel joinyou at the inside "c" street ensi's circle of religious sociates with a reporter who infiltrated the group. also t reporter somebody who filtrated the sarah palin group, levi johnston sys the whole resignation storis cover. really? ank you, president of afghanistan.

marital rape, less legal. marital forced starvion, more legal. worst rsons ahead on "countdown."

hosting a radio show too much work. sting a tv show, too much work. hosting a reality show begins to sound plausible. that's what one of h reasons is for the resignation of sarah palin according to her ex-son-in-law. first, oh good, legalizd marital starvation in afghanistan? who betterer to n n e texas scho s sm than a nut job who believes public scschools e unconstititutional worst persons in t world next. r

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last year she was s ining be vice presesidt t d he was going to be her son-ininawaw. neitheher e eher and they are atach other's throats again.n. that's next but first countdown's number twowo sryry, ththwoworspersons in the world, the bronze to the micrcrost t chr. ststevballmer. speaking to o thnonortcarolina technology association confereren i in arlotte he said within ten years thehereililbe compututerevevic that will be as flexiblele aa a sht of paper and technonolo a ae to figure out wh y y meant to do. okay. steve baumer isn't reaeay y th third woworspepeon in the world. i lovevehehe ia of paper thin mpmpers but could you firsrst just get the damammamache not to eeze or shut itself off evever couplele ds?s? because it suddenly bebecos s afidid oa website or whatever r the excuse is this t tim a computer whohoigigur out what i meant t too?o? hohow ouout e that just does what i asked it toto d ththanyou. the runners up the afghan n parliament and presisintnt kzai have authorized d a viviewle law

passed in march ththategegized mariritararape now the law w habebe amended. noitit ss a husband's responsese to denial of sex by hihis fefe shshou n note to be raped but instead starving his wife.e. this will now w beegegaln afghanistatan. our winner, governor r rk k pey of texas reportedldly cocoemplating appointing t the state bobod d ofducation chair to replace the fundadamealalis ousted by opponentnts. state representative nameded cynthia dunbar w whohihink fundamentalilis s arway too liberaral. ms. dunbararroroteast year that th s sator obama was plottining a terrorist attackckn n th coununtr she now claims presidentnt omama is about to declarare rtrtl law and beliliev p pubc education is unconstitutional. she thinks public scschos s shld be abolished. she insists gogovemementhould be ided by, quote, biblical litmusus ttsts she got a law degree f frorerent iviverty also known as box t t u. her supporters call theieir opponents the e pan n le. in otherer wdsds s is a walking billboard for why y puicicchools are essentntl l anwhy religion hanonolace in government andnd why wewehohoulnever or we should negotiate e thth gernor perry. we should give him a aunundr

acres in a cororr r ofexas and let hihim cece as he has rereated provided he takes this dunbar whack k jowiwi him. gogoveor rick, let's make anan opponent of public e edutiti chaiaierersoof the board of ucucion perry of texas. day's worst person in the e world. cece d job.

whether the engagement was real or st a stunt to spare her having trun fovice president as t mother of an unwed mother, sarah lin continues to discover what can happen when somebody you used as a prop starts to talk. r number one story on the

countdowlevi johnston's version of his ex-future mother-in-law's resiation not lining up that well with that of his ex-future mother-in-law. when goverr palin quit her job she sa it was because of frivolous ethics ces. she saidt was all the public money she had to spend to fit the charges. she sa it was because she and her family were media targets. but johnston dermined to extendis 15 minutes looking cash in a tell-all book and motold the associated press it was really all about the money. i've heard of pele offering books and stuff like tt and actually there is a ality show they wanted to do buthink e g deal is the book and at's millions of dollars right there and e couldn't do that as governor. there was this reactn from the palin family spokeswoman. it is interestinto learn levi is rking on a piece of fiction while ning his acting skills. all coming as palin wiing to stay out of the media attacked the media by quoti the media's elder statesman walterer cnkit on twitt. mo newspapermen by definition have to be libal. if thereot by my definition they can hardly be goo newspapermen. aspalin's politicaluture ses to be fading, some republans facing re-eleion

next year dubng her theimby campaigner. viinia congressman frank wolf i generally don't mead peopl from outside my district to do a fundraer. lee terry, there are others would haveome in and campaign and st would be my colleagues in the house. joining fm washington democratic strategist, goo evening. good to have you bac >> good evenin there is a reason cliches are cliches. be nice to the people on the way up bause you'll meet them again on the way down, a lesn arned the governor courtesy of levi johnston theast few eks? >> i thi so. sometimes u learn the lessons the hard way. what's amazing is en you step back this has beco probay one of the most ridicuus political soappes at least of my life. heoesn't seem to ever want to end. theranother twist, it kind of gives us a wiow into the strange lives of these people back in alaska. mean, you know, it wasunny to me to read that levi talking about w governor palin may do a reality sw. i'm starti to think the real house wives of wasilla icoming toravo any time soon. it has gn pretty ridiculous

but again when you're talking about sarah palin i gues riculous has to be redefined. >> bravo of course is onofur sister cle networks here at the nbc cable family so all i can say is be carel what you say out loudn the r. yomight be right. maybe by monday. is this one of theseare ories though where there actually is too ch foc on the why that wre obscuring the sile reality this happened? i mean, if you throwuthe true higr calling stuff, you kn, she did not quit to become ambassador to china or hew secretary. does it really matter why she quit >>ell, you know, usuallyt probably wouldn't but i'ell you why i think does. he is a candidate and i know this is going to give shivers to some people out there who i think is actually seously contemplatina run for president in 201so the reasons and the excuses she gives o why e cided to quit her job two ana half years in matter. the contradictions matter. she doesn't se able to tell

the trut all ofhose factors matter. it goes to what typef candidate she . and agai ialso i think kind of reflects onhe republican part when she has become ki of the captain of theepublican "titanic" and you wonder what other iceberg she's going to steer into. it does matter. i thinwhethepotential candidates are telling youhe truth and teg the american pele the truth matters. >> somebody wrottoday online, pararasing, she has a base that will never leave her t will never be big enough to elect her to anythg. you heard the quotes from republicans running xtear. that they don't wa her around. not in my ba yard. but ring the presidential mpaign she got bigger crowds on her own than mc got on his own. what does it say thashe's nearing classification as campaign poison? >> i thi it really kind of tellyou what kind of candidate she is. one that has a very passnate slice of the eleorate but one if you're nning for office, if yore bob mcdonald for example in virginia or you're chris

christy i new jersey, i bet they'rnot going to have sarah lin come there because she is effectively the bubonic plague. shwill destroy you in terms of alienating modates, alienating dependents, and that is the worst thinyou can do when you have aery tough race as both of those candidatedo. but it is i k again indicative of how a loof republans really see sarah pan. yet she may have a small slice that is passionate about herut i thinmost republicans when you talk to them they've said ipublicly, they realize what a disaster she wod be if she ran for president and forc the republican party to acknowledge her asredible candidate. >> and yet there's just that large enough percentage that she can also sink anody who might co up thugh the ranks and be a real candidate. >> that's righ >> amazing. always a pleasure to cha sir. thanks very much for your time. >> thanks, keith. >> it's friday. i saidnks you rather than thank you. that's "countdown" for thithe 262nd day since the previous president declared msion accomplishn iraq. good nht.