and good luck. > now to diuss c street and the family, having to do so without puppets sad to say, ladies and gentlemenhere is rachel maddow. having to do it without puppets. >> good eveng, keith. never r estimate when a rprise puppet might maken appearance on this sho i'm just saying. >> i'll be right over. >> thanks, keith. >> thank you at home f sying with us r the next hour. we wl have more tonight on the secretive, religious group the family that pears to be the connective tissue of the sator ensign s scandal and the governor mark sanforof south carona sex scandal. jeff arlett who infiltrated and wrote the book on th little understooorganization wille back with us tonight. and congresswoman jan schawsky of illinois be here to pln her charge that the ci kept its own director inhe dark about a secret program. so, melissa harris will be here to decipher the repubcan playbookn the sotomayor heings which start on monday and will discuss sarah pal's

future and an odd public pearance she's made tonight th ana marie cox, all comi up in the nextour. we sta tonight with a mystery. a mystery that's uolding alongside the two major politil scandals of the summ. it's a myste that concerns is house at 133 "c" street southeasin washington, d.c. i'calling it a house becau that's what it looks likto me. peop do live there. but if consult this building's finanal paper trail you will find thatt's actually considered tbe a church. that desnationakes "c" street a convenient tax-ee haven for the cretive ornizati that runs it, an ganization known as the family. it alsmas for some awkward tax anincome questions for the at least five, probably seven members congress who live at the house in exchange fowhat appears to be sutantially below maetent. as explained by our guest last

night jeff charlotte who secretly iiltrated the family to write a book abt them the "c" street house is a foer convent used as a sort of subsidized, upscale dorm for meers ofongress who are associated with thowerful, poorly understd religious group. the family and the house at "c" street have ended up relucntly in headlines now because of the two major politicians' sex scandalsmbroiling the republan party this summer and at have taken two of tir reported 2012 presidti hopefuls out of potical contention. embattled nevada senor john sign lives at the c stet house. the husband of senat eign's mistress says thatrominent members of theamily, this religious p, including the sons of the group's founr as well as other members of congress who live at c street were botaware of ensign's secret affair and we involved in his efftso pay off the mistress and her family as the affair was on again off again ending. republican senatom coburn

lives at c seet with ensign. he hasaid he encouraged ensign to end the affr but he has denied the allegation th he specifically eouged senator ensign to pay e mistress off to the tune of millions of dollars. south carolina governor ma sanfmentioned c street by name in his long public statent of regret about his affair with a won in argentina. >> did your wife andoufamily know about the affair before the trip to argeina? >> yes. we've been worki through this thing for about the last five months. i've been to a lot of different -- as far as c street, when i was washington, believe it or t a christian bible study members of coness and i think were vy important and i've been working with them. >> harquestions.

governor sanfo said he was working with c street mehow abt his affair for months. while the afir was ongoing, while it was sti secret, and whilgovern sanford continued to lie about it public this is the first point about c street a the family that makes the group more thajust a cameo appearance in both of thsex scandals. both instances these powerful family values preaching conservative politicns who re themselves having adulterous affairs sayow that ey disclosed those affairs to other members of congress an other people affiliated th the secrive religious group for a long time while the affair ntinued and while they were kept secret from the world a large. this organization waallowed to know butobody else was. zack womp of tennessee is a republicanember of congress o says he lived in the c street house for 12 years. today he told "the knoille news sentinel" tt the members of congress o live there are

sworn to secrecy quoting, the c street redents have all agreed theyon't talk about eir prate living arrangements, wamp said, and he intendto honor that pact. i hate it that john sign lives the house and this happened because pens up all of these kinds of questions, mp said. but, he said, i'm not going to be the guy w goes out and talks". when y start looking into this organization and its membe' oaths to secre and fidelity to one another th i'm n going be the one who talks here theme looms very large but la year when jeff charlotte's book about the familyame out in hardback the resultant buzz around the secrecy and gh-lev connections spurreanea mitchello obtain sermons of the group's lo-time leader in order find out more about what the group's anda might . he is some of what she found. >> i've seen ptures of the

yog men in the red guard. they would bring in thisou mas mother. he would take an ax and cut her head off. they have to p -- the purposes of the red guards to he theifather, mother, brother, sister, and their owli. that was a covenant, a pledg that's what jesus said. that'what jesus said? here's more from tame rmon. >> jesus said, you have to put me before other people. and you have to pume before yourself. hitler, that was a demand to be the nazi party. you have to put the nazity and its objectiv ahead of your own fe and ahead of other people. >> again, e man eaking here is doug co, the leader of th grp the family, that runs the secretive c stet house that features ithe sex scandals of bothohn ensign and mark sanford.

doug c dcribing the group's mission through his interpretation of the life and words of jesus >> o of the things he said, if any man comes to me, and doe not hate his fatr, motr, brother, sister, hiswn life, can't be a disciple. so i don'tare what other qualifications you he, if you don't do that u can't be a disciple of christ. >> if you don't hate your father, moth, brother, sister, you can't be a disciple of christ. every ameran's faith is her or his own busine. it's our constitutiona inheritance as amecans. theris no ligious test for blic office, no official religion in this countand every ameranas a right to believe or not believe t worship or not worship or as he orhe sees fit. religi is a private matter in this country. and religi is the organizing principle of my powerful terestin the united states inuding this one very connecte sworn to secrecy, ministry only to theowerful

that has had aey role in how two majorepublican sex scandals have spooled this summer, that has a theology of power at is poorly understood and cites hitler a l and tt curry houses at least seven members of congress. in what it calls a church. joing us now once again jeff charlotteho lived among this gros part of the research for his book "the family, the seet fundamenlism at the heart of erican power" which is now out in paperback than very much for coming back on the show tonight. i really appreate. >> hi, rachel. thanks for having me bac >> realize when we finished our interview last nighthe were more quesons about the connection between this theogy and these politicshat i really ed to ask you. and when i asked y last night how a group like the family could essentially nctionohn ensi putting his mistress's son on the replin party payroll, you said essentially this group would bsolely focused on looking out for joh ensign dealing with it internally.

w seems like a big part o the way ensign rponded to the scandal was by spreading a lot of mey around. talk to me a lite bit about wealth and financial powernd how that fits to the theology this group. >> well, to undersnd the family's approach to wealth, it's ad place to start is their own label fothemselves. they like toall themselves the christn mafia at times. and they mean this in the e of money moving quiey behind the scenes. as david co, one of the leaders of the group the sonf the man we jt saw and also john engn spiritual counselor, we now know, as david co explain it to me a few years ago, if money moves around behind the snes through what they cl the man-to-man financial method, then we are able to sort of intain this veneer of privacy and is is very important because whe yo dealing with members of the family, ese guys have been chosen by god r leadership and what the family is going tdo

isn some ways almost play the role of fixers for theuys. so when i heard out the ensign money, that makes sense as a kindf thing they might be comfortable with. you've got tpull it out into sortf broader picture. dougo, the leader of the group has said, i loan or gi money to all sortspeople or i have my fends do so. now, co takes no salary many years. all the money is sort of moving thrghhis man method and whenou apply that overseas as they do, yostart to see at thedea of this is. they believe in somethincalled biblical capitalism and biblical pitali is the way they're going to bring the gosl to the already werful. where the money goes they believe god goes. >> so biblical capitalism, this idea othe man-to-man financial method, whicis one of the more awkward rms of a summer full of awkward terms, that is no

just pof the way that they exert power. that i part of theirtheology, part of the way th understand how they are, their version of christianity at least? >> absolutely yes. it's a theological pition. anwhen they call themselves a christian mafia and talk abo so of avoiding institutionalization, talk about avoiding, you know, the books and rerds and all of that ki of stuff, all of this stf allowshem to avoid accountability. at they see it as is avoiding the building up of an ifice. ere is a level in which they're almost antichurch. they don't like an organized chch because it's too democratic. they like this sorof behd the scenes elite aach. >> well, y write in the family about how doug co has done politicafavors for dictators like the leader ofndonesia and somalia and angola. what is the family doing with these guys? why are there so many dictators that doug co and other membe

of the family cross ths with? hodoes that work? >> well, you know, whed in that clip co talking about mao's china and on anwe also hear him again and again usinth model of hitler as an ideaof streng and i've heard him -- thiss really boilerplate sermon for doug co. it not that he's a neo nazi of some sort but that they fetishize strength th look for the leader who they believe is chosen by god. evidence is his power, his wealth, and s willingness to align himself with their version of american wer. the dictator suhar in indonesia wae such. they organized meetings fohim with american fense coractors, with the chairman of the joi chiefs of staff, th theecretary of defense, and most notably sin indonesia is a major oil producing cpany with american oil executives who descbed their meetings in memos of congress as great moments of sritual honesty

between themlv and the dictator. >> jf, briefly, we're just about out of time t religion is obviously a prite matr in this country. doou think the members of congress who belong to this religious group shld feel compelled to tell the untry more about the group do you fl that would be appropriate? >> i think when you have members of cgress who are looking to a sense of authority thais for a explitly antidemocratic, explitly fetishizing strength and dictatorial power, if they want to do that it's their choice but i thi they owe it to their constituents to say here is why i have chosen leave the mainstreams of american relion and affiliate self with this sect th is so unorthodox and so rely brutal in its tology. >> jeff sharlet contriting editor at arpers" magazine and auor of the book "the family." thanks for joining me. i owe yoone for two nights in a row. ks very much. >> thanks.

coming up new intelligence report saythe lawlessness of the bush administration's sp program is wayorlawless than we thought it s. mr. bush's own attorney general parently sort of dupednto signing ofon something he 't understand. w spying programs launched weeks before even mick mouse gal authorization could be obtainedm lawyers hand picked for the job whout even thknowledge of those lawyers' supervisors. democratic congrswoman jan schakowskyds the oversight committee on the house intelligence committee and is also blowing the whistle on e cia eping its own covert tivities secret even from th head of the cia. congresswoman jan schakowsky will join us nt. taki its rightful plala

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thfourth amendment to the nstitution says the rit of the people tbe secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects agnst unreasonable search and seizures shall not

violated. it goes on to say if yre to be srcd the government has to get a warrant based o probable cause. it has to specific. ote, particularly describing the place tosearched and the persons or things be seized. that's one of my favorites. who doesn't love the fouh amenent? well, tually today we have some more detail on that. when the congress last year decided to give the sh administration legal pow to do much of the rrantless seching that they had do illegally yway, one of the minor comforts in th legislation, that fisa authorization, for those who mourned the fourth amendment, was the fact that th gislation required the inspectors general of the pentagon, departmentf justice, the cia, the nsaand the office of the director of national intelligence tcomprensively review what the bu adminiration did in terms of warrantless wiretappg. that report is i today the public at large t accesso the unclassified veion of it. it's sort aoozie.

first, the fst legal opinion that tried to pseudo legly justifthe program wasn't sued until weeks after t program started. second, that legal opinion was issued by thvery famous torturmemo guy john yu who appears to he been hand picked to write the lal justification for the prram even as his boss and evyone ee in his department was kept in theark entire third, attorney general john ashcroft appears to have signed off onhe program for two and a half years withoutctuall understanding what he was signg f on. the bottom line? we are talking about aery sml number of people involved in instituting what appear be an ilgaprogram without evenhe barest minimum attempt to make it seem legal and at small number of pele involved includes the president, directly, george w. sh, and the vice president, richard cheney. meanile, in day three of a fight over what the cia has disclosed congress, congresswoman jan schakowsky today said forhe first five

monthsf his tenure as cia director, le panetta was himself kept in the darkbout a secret cia program thahad al been kept from congress, wch is illegal. when he found t about the program mr. panetta not on stopped it in its trac but sclosed it to congress immediately and he has now launched an instigation into w the cia is running programs withoutelling even its own leadership let alone t legiate branch it's supposed toversee the agency. joining us now icongresswoman jan schakowsky of illinois she chrs the house intelligence submmittee on oversight and investigatns represtative schakowsky thank you very much for ining us tonight. >> thankou, rachel. >> cia director leonanetta has launched ainrnal probe at the cia toetermine why coress wasn't told about this myeriousrogram that i understand we can'ow about terms of the details beuse it's classifie you've cald for an intellence committee investigation. >> right. >> what do youhink it will tao get to the bottom of this?

>> well, my pe is that on the intelligce committee we'll take this very seriously. there are two issues invold. e the underlying substanc of the program tt we weren't read int that congress was not formed about. the other is a vy serious breach of the, i tnk, breaking the law of the national curity act 1947, where they did t tell the congres it's very clear thator programs like this it is the ligation of the intelligence community to inform the uned statesongress. so that program started right after 9/11 in 2001nd it was not until june that they tol the director of the cia. that was the first he heard it, as you sai a the very next -- that day he stopped th program and the next day he came down to tell us about . those are the o things i think we need to look at. >> do you think that elements the cior even of the

telligence community more broadlare deberately operating outside the chain command now, thathey're deliberately keeng their actions secret? or do u think that things like this whichou're cumenting and saying would be a violn of t nional security act, do yothink these are oversights or inadverte mistakes? >> absutely not. this we know, at there was a decision that was madeot to ll the congress. and so tt's one of the things that we havelook into very carefull why that decision was mama, , whmade the decision not to inform the congressss this was no o ststak they did not want us t tknknow about this.. >> do o yoknknowho made the decision? >>e're going to -- i can't talk aboutut t n nam that were involveded, t t think our investigation neededtoto dermine exexacy y o -- what coersations were had and whoho signededffff othose decisions. o oka

the repoportn n the so-called president's surveieillcece pgram that came out t th a aernoon, obously we've only seen n e e unclassified versisionndnd wt's in that is p prey y ir raising. e you concerned about t atat t ininsptotorseneral found in that port about warrantlessss wiwirepping and these strange and very limimit e effts to make the progograsese legal? >> welell,hahat m interested in is that it extends beyonond e e tfp which we did f finououabout, momoly first through the newswspeper,ut that there's a presesidtiti surveillance prograraththatoes beyond that, thatat trere a other inllllence activities that john y yuurorotehe memo about. u u ow, they found their g guy again, the guy w w w wilsay thatat, llll, e president can't s stoed. 's'sis constitutional righght order to defend the coununtr hehe c basically do anythingng it was not only the totourure mo but now he was j jtitifyg this

program. it is sad i thinink atat aeputy assiststt t atrney general was the only one that,t, aththoffice of legal cououns, , at was read inintohehe pgram at all. hihibobossaid he was surprised, a littlele dapapinted that he hahadn heard about it, that t wasn't consultltedn n it and so they obviououy,y, ihink, knknewhis is a guy that woulul justify everything. now, l lat o oof course when a closer look was taken,n, h l leg opinion and ththcoconttions he went thrhrghgh we viewed as ininaduaua to really justify the ntinuance of that progogra but i'm curious. h hav't seen -- i haven't seen the classified versioion t. whatat a t tse other teteigence activities thatat constitute the presiside's's surveieillcece pgram? >> also of course e i'loloveo fi o o what john yuu has to o say about t th he o ococour refused to talk to

the inspectorsrsenener for this reportrts s didavid addington as didigegeor tenet as did john hcroft. it seems likikththers a lot more to know, congresswomanan. >> that's s rit.t. thererwewere00 people who did, wewereururved, but those imrtrtt players actually wouould not partrticatat >> democratic cocoreressman jan hahawsky of illinois, thanank you very much for yoyourimime tonight and d odod lk with your cocontueueinvestigations. >> thanknk y, , rael. >>ststilto come, melissa rrrrisacewell and ana marie e cox will be here to didiscs s e future o of e e go short term anand ng term. in thehe srtrt tm the supreme court nominatitioneaearis start onononday. the republican strategegy aiait shoe-in sosomamayomay surprise you u d d gornor sarah palin makes her firsrspupubl pepeance since the five intetervwsws iwaders experience she had on monday.y. that latest pupubl a aearance was about an hour ago. it involves ted nununtnt. i i wi explain. stay with us medical conditition thacan take so mucuch out ofou.

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still ahead the biggest politicastory of the summer. yes, bigger th the certain goves and senators philandering, judge sotomayor's confirmation hearings that start on monday. it looks like they m start a return to republican rl politics of yore. we'll talk about that shory. and sarah pawants to help r llow republicans. is she an offer they can't refuse? ana rie cox will be here in a moment. first, is timeor a couple

holy mkerel stories in today's news. president obama nded in the western african tion of ghana today. it's his first trip sub saharan africa as esident and apparely highly anticipated. doou remember what washington, d.c. looked like when president obama wainaugurated this past januy? the paraphnaa overload, the flags, t-shirts, pins, posters? well, ghanans have produced simir smattering of stuff in nor of obama's visit. the airporwas all spruced up. there are billboards showing the ghanan presint with president obama and a word i will not pronounce that means welcome me, i'm guessing a vague sort rerence to the president' paternal ancestry kenya given the fact he has never set foot in ghana before. no matter. he will delivea speech to parliament tomorrow. u.s.mbassies in multiple african capitals ll be screening the speech li.

inierra leone movie theaters will show the speech and in kenya voice ofmerica will stream the president's speh ve ovecell phones. er in somalia, however, guarantees of anything like that. somalia is csidered to have been a failed state for the past 18years and tay, as president obama ard in ghana in western africa, islamt insurgent fighters in the eastern rn of africa nation thatost americans learned about through "bckhawk down" got a terrifying remind of just howbad things are in somalia right now. miliamen who appeared to have as good oretter chance than anyone else of taking over somalia staged a masecution in the southwestern mali town. sources told the assiated press the seven people were killed foriolating islamic law. the current governme of somalia is cdered to control only a few blocks ofhe capital city of mogadishu and even that tenuous hold on wer is said to be slipping.

beforeur president left for ghana at a press conrence in italy present obama made a mae crack about sarah palin's understanding of africa. >> i wanto be very careful. afri is a continent, not a country. >> and congratulations, america. we have a president who both knows that to be trud knows it's not aort of joke. continennot country. on the western side of the continent you have t american president spking to a decrically elected parliament. on the eastern side of the contint you have an al qaeda-affiliated trorist organization cse to running things after 18 ars of no real governmeme at al gathered togeth f f2 grams of whwhole grain goodne. it'shat kes triscuit wowoh everbite. triscuit. weavave someonder.

the biggest poliliti s sto of the s sumr r about to begin. bigger than ththe sisignffair, bier than the sanford affairir. bigger than the palin n shk k resignation.n. althe legislation we donon know the fate of. it is the biggest t potitil show yet and itit srtrts monday. thth's's t first day of the senate c conrmrmatn hearings for prident obama's supreme coururt nominee, soniaia somomay. cacalln sick now to get a jump monday morning. the rerepuicicanpposition to sototomar r pears to be less reted to whether she will

ultimately become a a suememe cocot t juice. that is a wiwide t tugh not universally -- that is wididel though not u unirsrsal seen as a rerego conclusion the republican strategy seseemtoto b more aboututowow t republican pay y nts to be seen in opopsition to her. senators pat robertsts a s sam brownback of kanansaananjames inhoho o of lahoma have pledged to vote agaiainssosotoyor. inhofefe rususedo meet with her. as the repepubcacansrepared for the confirirmaononearings their ststragigidecisions about how to oppose s sotayayor nomination seem to o beining up in the same diction. the big, blinking,g, fililia americananirireconal arrow marked race. thus far republicansns he e attacked herer linincomments, calleded h a aaffirmative action nonene singled out her rulining in an affifirmivivaction discscrinanaon case, and have

calleded t lead white plaintiff in that case to testififagagait her. now in t theinin days leading up to the hearingngththeyave chosen i iade against her work f for the puerertoicic legal defense aneducation fund. the e reblblans have decided to have senator j jf f seions lead this battltle r r th. whenen aenen scter defected to ththe momoatic party the publicans had a choice of f wh shouldlde e thr top senator on the judiciary cocommteteand overtly chososjejeffessions of alabamamtoto bthat top pupublan. he had his own chance e at deral judgeship blockekeinin 1986 by the senate j judiaiary committee by both h decrcrs and republblics s afr testimony that sessions called anan afafrin-american assistant u u. attotoeyey "b"bo andnd that he called thehe acacp, quote, ununamicic and communist inired. mrmrsessions offered this s explananioion the time for his behavior. >> thehe c comnts that you could cicite abouou a mmie organizatn

or something, i i y y ha said somethining lili that in a genel y than probably was wrwrg.g. >> probablbly s s ong but you knknowwho's to say? the republicicanarartysing the sotomamayononomition to position itself aggggreivivy on race? this is s t t a eoretical rebranding a autut t party and s future, about the popoteiaial futurereeaeade. this i is w.w. t t party showing inactioion, at it is actually refofocungng ththe rtrtalong old school, mason-dixon n lis?s? joining usus n i imelissa rrrrispolitical science professosor p prieton. presesso thanks very much for r coming on the show. >> absolutely. ni to be here. >> firirstf f al i have to ask ifif y agree with my theory. does it t emem tyou that the campaign against judud sotomayor's nomiminaonon i bstantially about racece? >> absolutely. clearly, s sotayay is herself a moderarateroroessive. she has an enormrmoubabaground bebendnd h, one of the most experienced d juicic to be nonomiteted,ore experienced on

ththe deral bench even than n roberts.s. so ratathethth going after ytytng on her record they'y're ing after her identityty, r r personhood. and most crititicay y ter her ethnic i intntitand race. >> well, s satategally speaking, let's s ta a aut that decision the republicans. i mean, jeb bushsh d a a interview w isis wk with my former colleague tuckekecacarln inesesque magazine" and lamented that the rerepuicic papartis completely losing hispanicicnonow ter having made some progress withth tm.m. he says the partrty n'n'win if it c connunu to alienate hihispics. eyey he to be cognizant of that demograraph t tru so what's the political strategygy he?e? > is s ry bizarre. on one hanand u u ha michael steele supposedldlatat t helm with this s hihohostrategy apparently part t ofheheirig ntnttrategy and whatever y you think about george w wbubusht s s efctive under his administrationon. in fact,t, "s"s" ainistration had a much higher numberer o latino and africananmemerins at

ve high levels in the administration than n aracacally rereprented in the party itself. here they'y' b beepursuing a big tent strategy over thehe pt t decade a andududdey it appears they are going to o fo t thabig tent up. anand st critically they s sm mo be prepared to do it a aunund e ququeson of latino voters which is an enormous mistake b becsese of course what any pololicical party wants is new voterers d d 's'seen the latino voting g bl that's been able to give t the partrty rtrtf new voters. they're losingng tt t re. >> whyhy wldldhey make that dedecion? i i thk it doesn't make sensns for democrcrattotohink rerepuicicanare just willingly and knowingly y stpipi off a degraphic and political l ififf. i think they h he e toense there's sosomeololital wind at their back, some p policic gains b be de even if they are going to givive l lino voters t therocess. >> welell,ouounow, certainly this was true 40 years agogo wn the party strategicacay y ma a choice to go, , yoknkn, massive

resisistcecen questions of cial equality in the s sou.. it apppprsrs ty're doing a sort ofof msisiveesistant strategy herere ainin sotomayor as well. i mean, this i iprpret much a foregogoneononusion. she e isoioingo be the first latinana jtiticen the united ststat s sreme court. ey're going to go downwn aa a partrty atat oosed her on the bas s her ethnic identity.. all i i caththk is they're ininng there is a way to k kin of capitalize on anxieietybobou an african-amemecacan esident, ananetety out a growing majority rathererhahan nority of people ofolol, and try to mobilize e a ki of white anxiety base. i actually thihi t there off babaseere and that in fact they're likely to alalnanate lalano voters who are realally whwherththe w voting bloc exists. >> let me ask you abouout didiffenent t related matter. as you know i i foowowou on twitter bebeususe u're a very amusing and clevererndnd inow that you were ononofof t early

major voices i in isis cntry trng to alert people to an incidentnt tt t haened at a swim club in pennsylvania i invvivi a bunch of essenenalallylack kids being sese h homfrom the pool and d to t thathey were changing thcocompxion of that club. what can you tell us abobouthehe situtuatn?n? > yh.h. it really wawas isisoment where you fefe l likokay. here you have an african-american p predede, minating a latina woman fofor the e cot,t,nd at the same time, ghght pennsylvania the most old d faioionenasty kind of cici that we tend to assococia with the 19s, so a group of about 60 african-ameririn n an latino youth w whoererpart of a susumm camp program that hadad id $1900 for the purpoposeofof usining prprate swim club arrive at the club and arartotoldhat they cannot t p parof it. not onlyly tt t buthey hear cicial derogatory comments by the white adulultsheherend are sent home. now,w, theheappy ending to thiss that many of t thewiwier and

progressive whwhitamamicans, moderate white americansns aunun the country have e ereress trage and other swim organizations s veve ce forward to give thesese unung ople a chance. bubut u really do feel like ththe e ishis undercurrent, this kind of old fafashnened,asty cism that hasn't gone awayay a makes usus a i i tnk a little suspicious about t thededea at the election of f backckbama, the nomination o of totomar cessarily means we areren n a post racial era. > aolutely. ll put. lissa harris-lacewell l political science e presessoat inincen and ear piece wrangler extraordinaire, , we d don u u rt of look like you'rere listening reallylyntnteny. you played it off wellll. thanks, , messssa. nice to see you. >> thank you. >> sarah palin m meses h first ststaders public appearancnce tonight and, yes, , f fac it d involve ted nugent. how did you know? the e full story coming up. kind of coer myself a

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roland burris announced today will not run to defend the u.s. senate seat he was appointed to by disgraced impeacd governor blagojevich. no surprise. he only had 20 grand in the bank d we got word yesterday burris would make this announcement today. there was a surp however a fehos after the statement. the biggest named repuican in the race for t u.s. senate seat did an abrupt abo face anapparently said he wouldot be running for the seat after all. just 48 hours after telling th republican party senate campai committee that he was going run to replace burs congressman mark kirk reportedly started telling colleagues he had changed his mindnd was out of the race. now illi is a deep blue state and in normal circumstances it's unlikely republican would have a real shott winning a u.s. senate at there right now. in light of roland burs and the governor, however, anything is possie. one thing mark kirk is tionally famous for of cours is travengo china this year and teing the chinese

government that they shouldn't trt the american government. maybe the reason markirk is not gointo run for higher office in illinois is becae a plumeat has opened up for him in beijing. 3... 2... 1. ever wonder how cheez-it bakes... somuch real cheese n ch small bites? ♪

♪ one is the loneliest number ♪ that you ever kw governor s palin's first public outing since hewaders appearance on moay has just happened.

she ma an aparance on the she made an appearan on the weekly firearmfriday radio show in fair banks, alka tonight. she jointhe show's host chael dukes and musician and fellowun lover ted nugent of cat scratch fever fa. governor palin told the two gentlemen y she'quitting her job. >> i'm going to have fedom now to fig en harder for alaska. >> that's ght, fight, fight, fight, fight! soons i quit. fight noas governor, but some other capacity. at's the part of this that's important. her state of desire is thelp other people, to help her caidates, to become, if noa national candidate hself, then a leading national republican figure who can help other peop win elections.

how realtic is that? joinus now is anna marie cox, national rrespondent of air america radio and contributor "playboy" magazine. "cat scratch fever?" >> that would pl a lot if she had it. >> the republicacandide running for goveor in new jersey right now says he doesn't want sarah palin near his campaign. the republican rning in virginia imp the same thing, but sort of more nicel xas governor rick perry says he would love to have her. is that essenty the geographic sketch of sarah palin's fluencright now? >> i think he wants r as his vice president after texas cedes. the thing is, i think ere is definitely a mixed reaction her. i think right now what sarah lis future looks like

depends a lot on what we do mu as what she does. i think ife continue to talk about her after she hasn de anything n and talk about people tking about her, that's a win for her. the more, the less she does an the more we ta abouter, the people that are drn to her will see tas demonizing her and rally arounder. however, a fend of mine who is a gop strategist said and i thg he put it very well, she is like an ice sculptu. the more she is exposed to the elements, e faster shy wears down. under thathiing, yes, she should camign. that wou be faastic. she might do great, but the gic 8-ball might say, "olook not so good." >> total unbridled enthusiasm for her being on the campan trail as mucas possible with many republican candidates as possible is the head of the democratic congresonal campaign committ. please, please, plse, let's send herverywhere. all publicity is goopublicity. joe bidegot a lot less

publicity an she did as a vice presidential candidate and americans were lt thinking he would be aetter choice for ce president. >> that's what i'm saying. if she does stuff and we talk about itnd analyze it, chances are she is going to do sometng stupid. she has many faults. she is arrogant and inexperiend. the traits haven't kept people out of the white house latel however, she is also undisciplined. all of theaj scandals that followed h, people that caused people in her own pay to get upset ara resu of lack of discipline. talking to others toda someone ntioned she sniped back levi johnston in "u.s. weekly." that is not presidential. sometimes being a good politic isn't knowg what actions to take, but knowinwh not to do. in that rerd, yes. get her out ere puher in the spotlight and ke her say stuff. if she goes to nomand write as book for nine months and we keep taing about her, that is something she probab wants us

to do. through e extent she thought through that resnation, that ma what she is thinking. >> her appearing on thfirearms friday radio show with ted nuge, which is like the trifecta of things you wou make up out what she chose to next is a deliberate act putting herself on the gop right. >> i think that is the exact kind of ing ifhe keeps doing that, we know that is not exactly mainstream ameca er that's a little bit off, a little bit to the side. that is the political judgment she is showing, i d't think th is a good sign for the gop. again, most of the pple i talk to in the center of the pay, who e looking to the future candidacy and people mt excited about her candidacy are people who are looking forwa to obama's re-election. >> ana marie cox, ank you very much for your time tonight. have an excellent weekend. >> happy weekend, rach.

coming up on "countdown," t bushdministration's secret spying program. next on th show, the weak in reew.

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