republics? >> there's alway the possibility. look she has $450,000 in th bank. she could give that mone to democrats. that's always a possibility. that said, the marity of this money is gng in my mind to republicans. might she give to a democrat he or there? simply to boost her credibility about independent cdibility? i guess t i think it's unlikely. >> in all of this dide miss the headline here? did levi johnston with his endless chattering on the morning ows offer her something new when he was talking about her sress levels? her friends have been talking about how stressed the governor is. they claim she's under weight, her ha isthinning. wa it actually that that was a very simple answerand on a human level very understandable as tohy she would have resigned from a hi pressure job as a governor of any state would have to necessarily be? >> well, keith, as someone who jued to a very quick conclusion, me, saying this is all abt 2012 asoon as i heard it which by the way in a mexican reaurant in texas, really ser convenient for me, but look. thers a lot, ithink, that goes into the sorts of

decisions. i do think the stress on her and her family is a very legitimate thin i think she was thinng about 2012. she was thinkingbout herwn finaial well being ander family's financial well being. she was als thinking about the fa that her fami life was not --as number one playing itlf out in public which is a littleit her fault frankly t alsoot playing out the way she wanted it to. i think 's a legitimate part of the way made this decision to say, younow what? nothing good is comi out of this. i am wking away. w, wha impact at has on h politicafure i think is debatable ase heard david gregory a johnccain. it's up for debate. i do think stres and theay in which r family was being treated in there was aart of her decisn. >> we'll have to see what the higher calling is. that'still the mystery. as always, great tnks for the insight andthe time. thank you, keith. thats "countdown" for this the 2,265th day since t previous presidentdeclared ion accomplished in iraq. good night and good luck.

now to discuss th intoel progra dick cheney ordered kep from ngress, here is rachel maow >> thank youery muchor that. 91 years agoun light was referred to as the best dinfectant. michaelkoff will bee this hour to dcuss a big blast ofun light on dick cheney and the promise of even mre on the bush admistration's torte policy. congressman zach wamp also says we got sething wrong on this show aboutsenator ensign, c street and the religious group known as the family, s one of will get corrected tonight. judge sonia sotomayor has been judged prejuce bide a certain notorious blican senator today. and it might not all b out about sah palin but it's alst all out. there is much to ge to over t cour of this hour.

but begin tonight wit what may be the biggest post bsh presidency scaal thate have seen t date. allegations that some mbe of congress say should lead to a criminal investigation of the former vice psident rchard bruce chen. this i a tory, an allegaon that staed to unfold last week and then oblique, almost formless stor about problems with what congress knew about the cia. the impact of the story wasn't recognizablet the start until theetails stard to fl into ace one byone. on wednesday nig we got firs news of a sho, mysterious letter written by democrats on the hous inteigence committee alleging tha t cia director leon panetta had to them that the cia had been lying to congre for ars. ary ovocative letter to be sure. but it was very short. there re no details. mostly threlease of that leer just engenred a lot speculation about why this was happening, what it might be rerring to, and the timing.

why came out when it did. what political motivns might have been behi it? that was on wednesday. on thursday we lened that cia director leon panetta was stigating whatever it was that he told congress about that sparked that little leer from the democrats. we learnedfurther that this program, whatever it hadbeen, had never been described to the public before. and we learned that mr. panetta, himself, didn't en know about that progra for t first four and a halfons of hi tenure leading the cia. immediately after he found out about the program, litally at day, mr. panetta ended the program and then the very next day hewent to congress and briefed th about it. so he at leastad some sense of urgency t it. the next detail to fall into place came on fray. it w the bombshell from congresswoman n sakowsky at the cia didn't just neglect to iorm congress abouthis program. they didn't just forget. it wasn't just an oversight. she said t cia had been

ordered toot tell congress about it. theyad been overtly orderedo hide the progra from congress. onday night jan schakowsk was a gueson this program and i asked he who ordered the cia to kee the prograquiet? check out heresponse. >> there was decision that was made not to tellhe congress, d so that's one of the th thateave to look into very carefuy, why that decision was made, who made the decion not to inform the oness. this was no mistake. they didot want us know about this. >>do you know o madethe decision? we're goin to -- i can't talk about the names thaere involved. but i think our investigation needs to determine exactly who -- what conversatns were had and who signed off on those decisions. i can't talk about thenames that were involved.

that was on friday night on this sh. on saturday night, a of a sudden, yeah we can talk aut the mes now. the top alk of the new york tims website saturd ight. bingo. cheney is lind to concealment of cia project. the central intelgence agey withheld informaon abou a secret counterterrorism pgram from congress foreight years on direct orders from former vice president ck cheney. that is major bombshell that is potentially a significant crime. th1947 national security act states in very unmbiguous terms, the pident sall ensure that the congressional inlligence committees a kept fully and currtly informed of the intellincectivities of the united ates including any gnificant anticipated intelligen activity. congresshould be fully informed. fully and currently informed. that's in thelaw. as in th shalt not overtly order that congress kept in the dark. since this saturday night cheney mbshel there have been some

vae discloesures about what this program might be "e wall street joual" today characterizing it as an assassination programhich if trueould be illel. the ford administration banned that 30 years ago. regardless of what t progm is exactly, 's not the exact contours of t program expected to determine mr. cheney's fate. it's simy the eent to which deliberate order to decei congress can be proven. so far the recently qui verbose mr. cheyis not talking. members of ongress, however, are. >> to have aassive program that is conaled from the leaders in congress not only inprriate, it could be illel. >> i think thiis a problem, obviousl this is a big problem, beuse the law is vry clear. we were kept inthe k. th's something thathould never, ever happen again. >> senators dbin and feinstein of course are both democrats. nator feinstein the chair of the intelligence committee. across the aisle from them the reacon from republicans has

been rather mo subdued. >> thisofourse comes on th heels of the statement unproven by the way of speaker pelosi that the cia hadied toer abt enhanced terrogation techniques, and this looks to me suspiciously like an attempt to provide litical cover to r and hers. ok, the president and thevi president arthe two people who ve responsibilities ultately for the national security of t untry. it is not ou ofhe ordinary for the vice presidento be volved in an issue like this. >> but to orr it to be kept secret? >> wh if it's a top-cret prram? of course he a the president would both be reonble for that. let'don't jump to conclusions is what i'm saying. >> let's don't jump to conclusions. let's don't of course. but let's al make s appropriat conclusio are drawn here. joiningus nows senator whitehou fm rhode island, it was a big day on t judiciary committee committee today wich wel talk about in a moment. thanks very much for joinin us tonight.

really apprecteit. >> gooto be with you. >> senator durbin says this cob illel. senator kent coad says it's a serious each. senator stab gnaw say it very serious. senator feinstein sa it's a big problebecause the law is very clear. yourleagues are sakg out loudly and firmly. are you also concerned this is a majoproblem? >> i thinkiven the scope o some of thether problemsha 're looking at, with the central intelligence agency in particular the tture investigation, i don't know if i call this a very major one, but it cinly merits inquiry to understand why it is that president cheneydecided to order this to be kept from us if at is true. that'she pres rept. an asre thatthat's not continng to happen.

the cia, we think, and i think the american people expec should be subject to the laws of the uted states, which include the ruirement you read that they disclose totain members of cngress their covert programs. >> the 1947 national security act, i'm no expert on these things, i know you were a u.s. atrney before you were a u.s. senator and a much more qualifd than i am to judge these thgs but it does seem that theaw in this case is clear and dict. and ifhat director panetta told the committee is true and ere was an overt order for mr. cheney to keep this from ngress, does he have any gal wiggle room? is that a matter of negotiation at tt point or a rather clear cut matter of the law? >> i wong it's a rather clear cutmatter of t law. the question thewod be wha is the remedy? ery violation of l is not a crimal offense. an you have if y wish to

proceed as a ciminal matt find a char that applied to at situation. and coue that there is none. >> there have been some calls for the senate intelligence committee to iestiga this matter. you're a mer of that committee. can you tells if therere plans at thisoint to investigate? would you support that? >> i think in the exercise our oversight responsibilities it is very importt r u make sure t this isot a continuing problem with the cia. it is of so concern that this camep at t last mi. apparentlyirector pnettaas very rapid in briing itto our attention d tryin t cure the illegality, butit's not exactly heart warming to think that the director of the cia for many months was unaware of the program himsel what happened to th meeting when he went into his guys and id, okay, lks, i'm the new

dictor here. what do i need to know? what's gng to get us in ouble? bring me up to speed. i don't want anything going off under me i'm not forewarned about. i can't believe aybodys sophisticated as he is didn't have that conversation a it's hard to believe that didn't come upthen. >> filly, senator i know that it was aery big dayn the sete judiciaryry commiee which you see on. how dodoyou thinkk t day wenen for judgdge somayor todayay? >> i tnk it went fine. ihink that lindsey graam for instanceaying she'd have to ha a complete meltwn in order to notot be confirmed is sisign of e position t the republicans are in,,n terms of trtrng to stop heher. i think shehe is in avery, v ve good positioio to b coconfirmed and that a areat deal of what's going on right now is positioningg for thenext nominee andighting for t visionf what unit states supreme courjudge should think l like

and lolook lik with the republicans fifitingvery hard to try to normamalize the right wing ininfiltraon into thehe judiciary y they'v accomplilishd over the p pt couple of yearars >> when yousay lk like, do you meano implply that they havv raisised the issue ofer gendnd and race aainst her? >> well, theye tried to rt of setet as whwh's normal and a the sort of basic benchmark t almost exclusivelyly white mae,6 out of 8 rightt now status of te court, and they have trie to suggest that when she says she brings a a differe pspective that tt's a sigig of a p problem on h h part. anit is a little o o that herer perspeive should be aa prlem but the perspective of six white men should not bee aproblem. i think everody bringss that peperspectiv none of thth are a problem. and it's t the combinatatn o those perspectives thatakes a better courtrt. democratic s senator sheleldon whitouse of rhode island a member of ththe sate

intelligenence committee and senate jududiary cmittee i knknow it'been a very long day for yoyo sir. thananks very ch for m ming me fous tonight. thank you. goodo bewith yoyou. so do you know whwh it takes to get a ow about politicics to not lelead the t of the hour th the first day of susueme court nominatioion hearinings? it takes thehe former vice president starg down t proverbial barrel ofof a cimina instigation. ich wee just didiscussed and it takes the current attorney general apparently deciding to appoint aorture prosecor all of a udden. hugege news today "newswsweek"'s michael isakoff will join us next t to discucu that. plus the story of senator engn's affair withis employoyee andhe religus group al mixed up in the scand just ll not go away inin part becauae now thehey're taking issue withy coverage of the storory. oh, , dear. stay tuned.. bubut first, one more thing. among ththe reactions to the ne about fmer vice presidentt dick cheneyey day? thepeculaon on hiss lal liability, the potical brushback from his defendede in s own rty.

one response standsds out.. specificly for its weird ming. hiss daughter, liziz chcheney, s apparentlyly ung the occasion ththeotential crimiminal investstation her father for breaking the nanaonal security acto annonounce thashe plans run f office. here she wasas on a radio showwn by the cononrvativ"washington times"ewspaper. >> it's sometetng i may well do downwn the roahere. i hope to haveve the opporortun at some point totoave th make nse for my family a and everything else e at's gng on. >> inin t sasa interview liz eney argues that thehe contversy over herfather alallegedly ordering the cia to dececeive congress shohowed jusw untrust worthy democratats are nationalal securit you knw, anyonean deny.. itit takes a true chene to deny and attack in the sasame sentee. blood ll out. she wants to makup.

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more than n cece this summm we h he at the rachehel maddow sh showed up for work all geared upptoto have ouraa dropped and o o g gobs smacked the release owhat w wveve been llingththe big k k hewna. the 2004 c cia inspectorgenerals rerert on totuture evevertime we thought isis report wasasoming we inststeadad to f fi a different paa o one storor they still havaven't released . we first expected thererepo june 199. enene got thehe ns s itas going g b be layed a week til ju 26th. then it t was july 1st a nowhehe lelee is delayed until tnd august supposedly.

this report details the investigatioion th bush administraration torture prprram as it wasashappening. it appears totohaha csed full blown polititical panicnside the bush whhite usus whent t w fifitt comptete in 2004. it's never en pububliy released. bubupeople who have seen it have dedescbed it as sickenining one person w whas read i i recently is attttorne general ic holder. "newsweek" rorting that l lstst month t attorney nenera holed up with the roror in his ofofce. he clelear h his schedule for a ll two days and r re it cover to cover twice. after that,quote,fofour knowowledgblblsources tell "newsweeee t tha the a attor nenerais now lning toward pointing a p procutor to investigigat t the bush mimistration's brutal interrogation practicic.. specifically, , "t w wasngton postst reported this weekend th prececions could be tgegeted at tortuturethat wenen beyondth guidance inin those now repudiad tourure memos.s. when t t obama administratation reasasedhose memoss in april the president sasaid a the ti that no one actingininccordance

wiwithheheir instructionshohoul be precuted. bubut oioiedly di't't s anythingngbobouteople whose acacons weent bend those instruructio.. >> for ththos who carried o out someff these operatioioithin ththe fo corners of lgaga opinions or g guance that hahad been provided from the white house, i do not think itit's appropriate e foththemo be precuted. >> b but aononwho acted outdede those fourur corners o o those legal opinions? meethe new attttnene general.. not at all thame as the last attorney g genalal. joining us n n is miaeae isisofoff, "newewswee instigative correspononntnt, "n"newswk"k"nvestigative rerertrtert msnbc, contributor. thksksor joining us tninigh >> hi, hecrachel. >hoho i potentially going t berosecuted heher >> potentially, ciacontractors and o opetives who nducted the inrrrrogions in t the field.

it is portant to undetata whwhathis prprosecororl revieie, and itit's areview andnd investigation, notot cecearily a decision to prosecute, is a an atat it's nonot. ananii tnk thehere cldld be som sasaointment by peoplehoho do ththk that the enenre bush administraraonon interrogation policies and thehe pple who crcrafteththe policies an crafted those m memos need to b investigated.. that's -- they're not going t t be. i didid meme furthereporting today on isis and atat i'm hehearg from senioror ofcials is very clear. onlyly those who went beyond o potentially wentnt bonond at was inin tse memo no that's notot nothing.g. thatat'smpmpornt. ititss worth notining that the e cia inspector general w who prprararedhat report inay of

2004 alsoreferred about a dozen cacaseto thee justicece departm, the ciannector genenel,l, to the jstice department a dozoz ses for pential prececion. on o oneas prosecuted. one, a guy in noh h calina. but t ll the othersrsere clclin. now the o obama justitice departmentntththe holder justic papartnt is going totake another lolookthoseoo see whether those cas thatathahave languished for y years should b reinvestigated andprosecuted. . >> on the issue of h h the, i esess e -- how thiss gtsts dedenened,ow people figure tt whetetheththeyight tentially bebe t target of p procution re, if people arare acting outside thth bounds of the inruructns from thosetotorte memos, is s it a a forronone conclusionon tt t th were frlalaing, making it up as thth w wen alalg? isn'n't ossible that eyey we taking those actions onorders? they were beingg directed t to the things? couldn't it go rtrtr up the

chain of cocoanand? >> i ialked to s som defense lawyers todaday wh said th is absolutetely inevitably going t behehe dedefse, that of anodod whoomomes within th -- c comesp in this prosecution. thdefense lawyers are going to sayhh were r relng and d dining whatat tirir s supioiorsnew abot and told thhem to dodo that t t guguidines in those m mos werer ambibiguouanan fuzzy,,nd t th had eve reason to believeve th ththe----hen theyaarboarded sosomee, one detainee 8383 time or anotherr 83imeshhey w were doing whatat they b beliedd the supeririors ntnt them to do, ad t tse -- i think everyrybody recocogneseshese are going to be difficult cass to bring, prprecely becsese of t the dense like that. what wouldhehese people bebe chgegewith conceivabab, , lo a ing at the previoussozen casese brought upup by the inspector

general under the last administration and whahat we knw is in thh r rept now? >hat is nteresting question. i i knowrorosome reporting today that in att least one casas the inectorenenal wanted the individualal toee osecuted for torture, for vioiotition of the federaraooure statute. what inevitablyaaened in t th casesendnd in o otheas that they --- the busus justice department shyed awayrom bringing any caseslong those lilines. they looked attt for potential asasulult arges, in somee cases homicide, becacause some these ys did die in aa cucutotody theyey didt t ing anyoocide cases bubu y you kw,w, thehe an from the holder people is ttt wawas e bushususti department. thatnot nesessaly whathis justice depapartntnt igoing to do when t ty reokok at thesee caseses. >> last question, , ryrybriefly mimichl.l. is this aoo deal ortitill

being bated? > ithink it's's pretty farr along. my colleague rorted thiss weekend in "newsweek" holder i leinin inhis direction. he's still leaning in that in this direction evenn afr the potential blow bacack today. but you nevernow in shshgton. i ththinkk inevitably this is gg to be cconovoveral, so untiti it's a aoo dealal, it's notota dodo deal. > t is the firir day of whatt is going too be a h hot storyora ve l lon time. michaeael isikikf,f, msnbc contributor, inveveigigate correspondndent "newsweek" thank you so m mh h fo joining s tonight. >> thank you, chel. >> ming up the nation's finalfinal -- finely calibrated irony-o-meter explolodeasas senator jeffffesessis tells supreme court nomomin sonia sotoyoyothat she has a prudice problem. > > anmore on the s secreveve liligis group the fmimi ththat connnntete to t the sena hn ensign xx a moneney scscanl and themark sanfnforsesx

and argentininscscanl. [ enneneving ] [ engine pows down ] gentlemen, you booked your hotels on orbitz. well, the price went dow so you're all geina check thanks. r the difference. except for you - you didn't book withth orbitz, so you're e not tting a check.k. well, i think wee e all arned a valuablele lesn today. od day, gentlemen. anks a lot. thanyou. intrucucin hotel ice assurance, wherif another orbitzustomer books the sameotel for less, we send u a check for e difference, automatically.

still ahead the confirmation hearings for judgeonia sotomayor. are the republins big chances to make clear eir reservations about hernomination. wel have an eyetness report ortl all of theewly report details about governorarah palin's resiation boil down to something faless grandiose and

r less complated than we mightpreviously have undetood? that's coming up shortly. plus my friend kent jones exposes a truth abt cursing. it can be quite thapeu that's all coming up. but first, we have had a strange respon today to our recent reporng on thefamily. a secretive religious ornization that ong other things runs aouse in washington cald c street where a number of membersf congress live. pent timeon this show both thursday and friday talking about theamily because it's emerged as a y player in both majorepublican sex scandalof the summer in which famy valuesreaching politicis who have demdedresignations of other politians for having affairs have emselves now admitted t affairs but are showing no signs of intending to resign. the two scandals are of those the of south carolina gernor marksanford and nevada senator john ensignho lives in the c street houseaintained by th family. the husband of s mistress ss othemembers of congress w liveat c street both kne of

his affair and counsel senator ensign on how to resolve it. vernor sanfor name checke c street explicitly inhis press conference in which h aounced his fair saying he had received couing aboutat fair om c street while it was ongoing but still cret. on friday's show i quoted an accot from the knoxville new sentel in which aember of coress who lives at c street described one of the most worrng aspects of this shadowy, powful organization -- it serecy. the conessmann question is zack wamp of tennessee. he has lived at c streetor a dozen years and here is wha i said about him on friday. zack wamp of tennessee is a republican memberf congress who says he hasived in the c street house f 12 ars. today he told the "knoxville news sentinel" thatembers of congress who live there are sworn tosecrecy. quoting, the c seet residents have all agreed they n't talk about their private livg

arrangementsamp said and he innds to honor that pact. i hate it that johnensign lives in the house and this happened because it opens up all of these kinds of quons, wampsaid. but, he said, i'm not going to be the guy who goes out and talks. that w thon show onay. day congressn wamp' ofce contacted our office to complain about wat i said saying, quote, this statent made by . maddow friday nht is false. today he td the "knoxville news entinel" that the members of congress who li there a sworn to secrecy. congressman mp never said people who live or meet at c street are sworn to secrecy beuse that is in no way ue. thon the record quotion from mr. wamp was that c street residents ve all agreed they won'talk about their private living arrangements. the newsntinelharacterized the agreement as a pact. we called the newsentinel today tosee if they got that ong to see if mr. wamp's office had at l also called them to say the que was wrong

to demd a retraction or correcon. they said theyaven't heard from hi turns ouzack wamp office is only complaini us to. until we have reason to believe mr. wamp was lyinghen he said street residents have all agreed not to spe about c street or his home s paper s lying when theyttributed the quote to him i am going t have to stand by what i said. if i have said something unte on thi program i a quite literally not kidding more than happy to correct it. but congressman wamp if you sa someing to your hometo paper that sounds bad when repead on tional television, don't blame theerson reading your quote back to you for how creepy that crt quote makes you sound. m tempted to add something here about bearing false witness t i shall reframe -- b belely. . [ fele announcer ] st importantly, wowomeare eing results. and stilill no dstic measures. olay regenerist.t.

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here to answer. your questions. moan stanley smith barney.y. a new wealth managegement fm with o over 130 ars of experience. >> o o 11 indididudualwho ha serveded asusupre court justices throughout our naon's hhisry, 106 ha been white ales. >> that wa senator dick durbin illinois speaking at today's confirmation hearingngfofor son

sotomayor,reresint obama's pipi for the supreme courtrt. it is widely assumed judge sotomayoyor llll b cfirmed. shwiwi be sworninin as th first t erer lino to servrve on the supreme coururt, nottoto mention n lyly t court's'sththi woman.n. which means r replicans in ee senate are using t the sototoyo hearings not s soucucas a an opoprtrtuny to block ththe president's nominee, becauause thth k knothat p ptty mh they can't, but rhehero d denstrate ththehahacter o thmselves in oppoposionon which it t tur o out looks a a little somethihingikik is. > many ofjujue tomayor's public statements susuggt t at e e ma indeed allow or even brace decisionon making based on herbibias and pjujudis. >> alrlrdydy prejudicedgagast one e ofhehe parties. >>llow biasesanan personal preferenenceisis white latina woman uote. yo wise latataa ccomntnt >> jtitice sotomayay has said she accepts that her pinions, sympathies, and pjudices will affect h liling >> if yourr irony s senng ulcer is spitting bile rit now letet

me cononfi that last guy there was repububcacan nator jeff sessionsofof a alama accusinin sonia sootoyoyo of hining a prejudice problem. that would be the same j jff sessions whose ownomination r r a federeral judgeship p cod not make it ouou o the republblic-r-runudiciary mmmmite in 1986fter teimimonthat he d called the naacp unamericannndnd c cmunis inspirir, , hajoked that he thoughtt the ku klux x kl w w ok u untee found out membmber of the klann smoked pot, d that he agreed w witananotr lawyer whwhsaid a departmtmt t ofustice attotorn who was w whi was a a disgracetoto his racece becausee represented african-americans. anand ose are the thingshhat he adadmied to saying and triri defend. the charges he denied inclclud the alleletitionhat he told a blacacatattoey he ould, qtete, beararul abououtowow he t tkked to whitete fksks and that called a black attorneneyy boy. now jeff ssions is l leing the arge againstoniasosotoyor on the gunundshat she has a

ejejice problelem. and senatotoseions is doingg i i as pt ofththeearingroross atat is bsisilly certainoo result i i j jud sotomayor's confirmationonhihicheans senator sesessns specifically and hi party gneneray are usinghihis poportity to stata on the giantt didialatform that is a supreme court nominatatn n to proclaim themselveves t t the nation as opposed he first er nomination of latinototo the susupre e urt, molyly on te sis of questions about race. joining us nows the c chi lel l rrespondent and senior editor for late.com. you've covered theeaeangs in wawashgton today. thanks very y mu f f comominn e e show. >>hahas for having me. >> so farn this nininion fight t arwewe having arand debate here abobout gal strategy or as is sense arere we mostly just talkin abouou race? we are i i tnk havavin a a lilitt groupup therapy with the prime person we're supposed to bealking abut, somamar, so o of ke apotted ornamental ant in the mididee of te e room.

and the momo i intesting thingn rachel, is that she's got is nenely 18eaear judicial recoco we could b talking aut. this is notsosoone whss hard toto -- there is data here. so what we heard lot tayayas frfromhehe republicans att leas why that record doesn't matter d as you sasaid the recordd dodoestt m maer because what reallyly maers is a h hdful of statememtsts aut race. so iit'n interestiti rategy toto s we're t going to lk abouout l l tt stuffththat we ca about,llll that constitituononal interpretetatn, and cctre, and how w w think ababt the law, because we j jt want to tlklk about race instea. >> in terms ofhoho getsoo set the agdadaere the demomocrss have susu a a large majority i ththe nate that t th'v'v even g a a gege majority o on this committee and ththisueueion now ishether or nono i i guess they do set t the aagea. we d end up talking about the wisese linina mment and anytytng else they y cagege on thee agen aboutacerr whether the heariningso o en up being about her jujudialal record. is that what - - where t the si is in partisan terms?

arare mocrats trying to mke th a aut her rececor >> welel think demococrare trtryi to do twothings, at least t todn oning statementsts. one is talk a aututee recordrd. they definitely beatt t t drum for her story, an extraordinany personal rrative. i i thk they have goone out of their wawatotoalk about it. in fact, senatotor al frankenet ouout his way toalk about just ordidinaamericans and why accecessoo justice in ee crts matters. t tre is all atat. then i ihihink there's's tss ot piece of it that they reaeall ae trying to almost mamakehe case for empathy. they're fllowing presiside obobams s le in saying, llk. here's what's wrongng with the roberts couurt th're trying to use ititss a way of ayayg, she brings something totohehe bchch thatat ofofndly ckckin in sam alito, roberts, thomas s ansosoou're seeieingayayer over a discscsisn of her record this o othsort of squishier notion of sosomeinings lacking at the crtrt. youuanan cl it empathy.. you can callll it hearar you can call itt beieing in tou

with h howouou decisions affect people on the ouound ere are all sorts of rations of thisis w we heard od. but ii tnk a tt of whate ard today was savannah dding, lilly ledbetter, these key caseses that suggest suprprm court just esn't care abobo pelele >> well,s s empathy, is i itt art, is it connectionn t to the real world? it is t the closest t tngng wee got t an ivory ower. ononthey've been on the courtt they never have a a normal lee again. to what extetent should wewe ex either sotomamayo h hself or th democrats s o o ar defendining mination to make the case that erertlit isetter too have some racial diversitynhe urt because the courtrt has to make decisions for a r raclllly diverse nattio >> youknow, thehe rson i actually thohoug d did ni job ofanandlg this question of, you know,, sessions w we so fa today as tosay, epathy towards onone rtrty is prejudice toward other. atat's a pretty c chaed statement. cause certainly empathy as itit b beiononructed bybbam and d setete democrats isn't bi.

itit'sotot prududic itit's sasang, how d do tngs pl out in the rrld ithought that senenat klobuchar d a nice, n nic job today trying to say,y, look. everyone on thisis committee haa dierent lifeory. we've got diffeferebackckouound and expererieeses. that doesestt make us assed. ititeeanwe come toogeerernd ining e wealth of o our experienenceogogetr ande'e're a better group f for it. hihi th's a pointnt that is not quite being me loud andd clear.r. i think ththe'e' all sortsts of defenses o off empathyy apart o the problemss eatat itself is su a uishy, conststututiol word that t it leaves tstsel op toll sorts of attacack. but i thght that was sortrt o niniceayay o m mang the inint ththat empathy doesn't make you crazy. itit doesn't meann that everyy single tim you see aa white guy you flyntnto a a rage. empathy y messou simply understand both sisidef the dispute and iusust want toto ad at sotomamayoinin her very,erer brbrf openingstatement,t,t was sevenn minutes, really tookthe

facts as stripippe d dn as they ululd but one poinint she made was not just that shehaha fifidety of thelaw but she so d a niceittle rif a abtt how when she writesn opinion she writes outut t law,hhen she wrwres out the other s si of the story and t th fipgs o o in her opopinn whether they'r'reigig or wrong. i think it was a way of telegraphing, i h hea both sies. >> dahliliwick thanks very much for comingngn the show totonit.t. i'm vevery excited fofoththe ref ththe arings. t tha you. coming upn "countdown" keith has morore on attororne general ericic holder saying he mayapappot a special p pososecor to look into whether theusush admiminiraraon broke the law by torturing risoners. ne o on this show, evererytngne alysys wted tonn aboutt sarah palin n isararimpler than rst iminined the well, h,h, is in the detatails. ng has ever seen. so i'i've come this ring to see e who's faer... on the internet i'll be usg g the 3g at&t laptopconnect c card. he e won't.

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county, californrniahehe atomic ininteatatiol field laboratoto in the ununtas had a big, terrible whoopopsi a aower surge one of the reactors causingng a rtrtiameltdown and releaease radioactive gas s in t t airoror almoststwowo weeks. a feweeee after t incident the atomiccnergy commission rereleeded statement there wasa no evidence of r raoactive reasas, which was fae.e. it wasanother 20 yearss boror the d detlsls of the meltdown ad the coti ofof the dgers were made public. so if u're thehe federal govevernntnthat does iquette requireou to give the state of california for thehe golden ninirsary of amemeri's's frst nuclear meltdodown wewe, , a cleanup wldld be nini. right nonownne is heduled to be completed in 202017 roughly60 years after thehe meltdown. nuclear power, n not just the wod'd'most expensive means o o boilinggwater. also a constanant o oortunity f multi-generatitional radioactiv disaster. happy anniversary.in nce that isn't going to break the bank. yorere in the right place. only p pgressive gives yoyoe option

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> > thmost interestining rsrs inmemerin politics w wosose nam not barack o oba o michelle obama is of courur s sar palin. likeke i or not. realize this w weenen thatt i was not evev y a year agogohen as paanestst on thehelate lamented show "racee for the white house" i i brought uparah palilin dd e ooergate ininveigigatn as almost a s si bar, human intereres distracact from our daily speculation o on who would be the vice presidential choices ofof s sas mccain anddobama. i thought at thehe tee that trpepeate probablyasas a b b

enenou hical questionmamark over the governorff alalkaka to keep her out of any s serus contention as johnhn m mccain'se presididenalal ck. three and a half weeksaar she was mccain's vice presidentitia pick.. i ss wrong. bibitime. whwhic of course i an ocpapaonal hazard of the edicting the future part of the pndndit job. as governor palin's life has turned intnto e e momazing shshown n ble overhehe past 1 1 monthshs touou the pesesidtial cacaaiaignnd the tumultuous months for h herince thehe it turnrns t t nothat it acactulyl hahaseeeen the ethicalal eseson mamarkin her life and thehe bas problems in handldlin elected office a appprprialy that seem to hveverought her caare as a publicfficial to an end. sasarapapan announced s she was resisigng g alaska governor onn theririd befofore the july 4tht holiday weekend,d, mve that surprisesed ereryo thought to be ose to the ovovnor's lilitil thinkiki.. ankly, it susurpsesed eryone o o kns anything about potitics that's b bauausehe thing you do when you're eyeing a race f for prpresenent announce u won't

seek another term as ggovnor. e for example tim pawlenty.. you don'tt wlwlty. yoyododon' announceou are quitting t firstt termwhen yourur oyy other expereriees beining yoyoof a s sllll owow ththat p polics 101 truism. the resignationn itself and the manynyinterviviewsisincthen are y y th resignanaonon oy heheigened the alalrey y stam fascinatioion ththher. there is mar new palin scscanll about to b bakak she is tryryin geoutahahea of. is thiss some polititiclyly advancnc s shrd mood for the esesidcy too clever for potics 101 studentso grasp? wh r re does s want lilics in the fufutue?e? willll e get tolay thth rolle? in the lananarark of palintolol today inththe w york times,"

she resesnene cause her gornrnorip was a disaster. itas a jump off e political cliff to avoid being p pusd d of that cliffff among the chihief ususes of her dodofall? she e wa unable to stop herself from ckckinfights with h her critics and fromrereond weg crcrits pickedights w wit her. when david l leerman made anan ill-adadvid d jo about the govevern's'sdaughter, e triri to stokekean ongoing feudff him, accusing him of advancinghe exploioitaonon ogirls by older n. someone inin askasaid s full lly fund anti-sexism m abe e alaska.. she said to issue a statement

denounci alaskanbloggers her accuse her eery ethical sssste. she had wywyshreatenlllel actitiongagast people who spopo outagagnstheher ondaytime cable televisionon. the official prresofoffi put out t ltltip presstatements denouncing h daughter's 19-year-olold -b-bfriend which made him a hoert t tblgt thhan erer f intervrvie opportutuniess to ta trash aboutisis almost mother-i-ilalaw. that lack of sselcontrol and of boundaririesetetwe the persona and t the lilitil and thehe pet is the aw that hadrarawn her ininto earlier hnics ananda liketrtroorgrgat you rerembmbertroopergatete where the stateegegisture fod she abused her oicice firing thegogovement safety cocommsision who wouldn't fire her brother-in-laww tt.t. was s berere s got picked to run for vice president. 's's bn an inedible year off wahihing rah palin. wewe should know betttterhaha t suggest we know what she sououl do xt. what i isblble toee reported about the catastrophphic unraveling offerer governship

tetellusushat t th isn't. theresnsn't ant exotic political scheme foriigh office he.. ere isn't a dramatic shoe waiting to dropinin big new imimin investigation. this isn't even a aut how s sar palin'n's fefe changedd scece s has been subject t tththeational spspotght. sarah palin's s caerer as an electeted fifial is overr bause a a proven fa built to govern. a t thi skin about crcricism, didistteted iorities that result from haviving that thinin sn an inabililittoto judge thehe difference betweenen wtt bugs hr as a perss and wh's's an apopriate use of anlected official's time ananththe blic's resourceces. governor papaliillee a privatee citizezen aiai by thee e of next ek. whoonnow what untold m miioione a wait h h ifoooo contrtrt t and anannnevable brdcdcting deal and show job. shshmay continue t to the mos tetertning republican on thehe pletety a mile, but shewiwill not bee an elected offifialal again. ter theiisaer of her governship in alaska, iwould guess she willll n even risk k

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deaf, rd of hearing and pele with speech disabilities access www.sprintray.c. we turn now t our erapeutic profanity correspondent, kent jones. >> yes. hi, rachel. i recentlyead about a scientific experimt that claims thapeople that swear can withstan pa betterhan people that cannot swear. >> no way. >> since i've been swearing many years now i decided to try this out for myself. take a look. resechers in england did an experiment when they made voluntee dunk theirhand in a tuof ice wer as long as possible while r