we turn now to our not-quite-olympic correspondent kent jones. hi, kent. >> hi, rachel, in l.a. the second sumo athletics world championship took place in london. not sumo, sumo suit. big difference and way stupider. for thousands of years man has competed in track and field events without putting on a sloppy rubber sumo suit and a matching hair helmet, but now that we can, doesn't it seem wrong not to?

>> we want to do something in the same vein but something from the man on the street. >> a gaggle of pale english folks toward the finish line in the 100 meter dash. or facing the bar in the high jump. oh, bad luck. nice effort. and he's over, in your face, gravity. or putting the shot. how about those guys? or stretching their limits in the long jump. stick the landing. stick the landing. finally the true test of an athlete, the 400 meters, 1/4 mile of pure ego-shredding absurd i d

absurdity. can one lose one's dignity and gain athletic glory? evidently, yes. >> little under roos under the belt, very distracting. >> they may be illegal. >> thanks, kent. see you tomorrow night. "countdown" starts right now. good night. which of these stories will you be talking about tomorrow? are democrats waging a bipartisan battle only to lose the health care war? no public option, no employer mandate? why bother. is president obama slowly losing the health care fight? >> it's so obvious that the system we have isn't working well for too many people. and that we can just be doing better. >> democrats could definitely be better in the negotiations. tonight, why bipartisanship is ruining real form. who's pulling the strings behind the scenes? a whistle-blower from the world of big insurance explains how the industry plays the politicians. and fear factor.

has the gop tried to scare you about government-controlled health care? we'll look at the reality that's already out there and it works. don't believe me? just ask of all people, conservative william kristol. >> one of the ways you make it up to the voters, if they are risking their lives, you give them first-class health care. >> that would be first class government health care, just like congress has. the gop political spin job on obama's birth place. republicans scope the birther conspiracy, but when it comes to an actual vote, even the farthest right of the far right, michele bachmann of minnesota, voted that obama was born here in america. the poetry of sarah palin. >> it doesn't flip the tacos from the sourdough. >> as interpreted by william shatner. >> the cold dough, doesn't it flip the tacos from the sourdough? and the great thaw in major league baseball. is pete rose about to become

eligible for the hall of fame after a 20-year ban from baseball? my special guest, keith olbermann live from cooperstown, new york. all of that and more now on "countdown." good evening from new york. i'm governor howard dean. keith olbermann has the night off. sure, you can call it health care reform, but if it doesn't provide more americans with the insurance they need or fix what's fundamentally broken about the system we currently have, is it really actual health care reform? our fifth story on the "countdown," what, if anything, will be left in the watered-down so-called compromised bill that is now being associated by the senate finance committee? president obama took questions at a virtual town hall hosted by the aarp, the lobbying group that represents older americans. at least twice the president reaffirmed his desire for a public option in the final bill.

72% of americans, including 50% of republicans, say they want that choice. the congressional budget office has weighed in with some news about the public option with its assessment that the government-run option will not force out private insurers. house majority leader steny hoyer trumpeted the report, which contradicted a chief criticism of the republicans. he also said there would not be a floor vote on the health care bill before law makers leave town for vacation on friday. during august recess, the republican national committee is planning to spend a million dollars over just one month campaigning against health reform. but what if the senate finance committee's already done most of the republicans' dirty work for them? the associated press reports on some of the details emerging out of the committee's negotiations being chaired by senator max baucus. as it stands now, the so-called compromised bill would have no public option, no employer mandate, which requires that companies provide health insurance to their employees.

at the town hall, the president tried to dispel some of the republicans' spin about government-run health care, especially medicare, which was passed by the senate 44 years ago today. >> a lot of people had heard this phrase socialized medicine, and they say we don't want government-run health care. nobody's talking about that. we're saying let's give you a choice. you can choose the private marketplace, or this other approach. and i got a letter the other day from a woman, she said, i don't want government-run health care. i don't want socialized medicine. and don't touch my medicare. and, you know, you know, i wanted to say, that's what medicare is, it's government-run health care plan. >> a lot to talk about with congressman chris val hollen of maryland. the chairman of the democratic

committee and serves as assistant to the speaker of the house nancy pelosi. chris, welcome to the show. >> great to be with you, howard. >> chris, i know the house is doing a great job on this. but why haven't we seen democrats in the senate take a stronger bargaining position with the republicans? why give away something as fundamental as health care reform as the public option? >> you're absolutely right, howard. we've got to have a public option in the plan that we send to the president's desk. we're all still hoping that the senate finance bill will have a public option. if they don't, we're going to press hard. this has got to be in the bill that we send to the president's desk. we've got to create more choice for consumers and more competition for the insurance companies. i don't think anyone was surprised to learn that the insurance companies are fighting this. these are the same company that's have seen their profits go through the roof over the last seven years. in fact, if you look at just the top ten insurance companies, their profits have gone up about 430% over the last seven years, while everyone's income stayed flat and while their premiums

were going through the roof. so we've got to have a public option to create that competition and to give americans more choice. >> some democrats are saying that there needs to be compromise on the public option in order to get the bill passed. but 72% of americans say they want the choice of a public option. does that mean that what the american people want is already dead in the senate? >> no. i certainly hope not. it's certainly not dead with respect to the bill that we'll send to the president's desk. the american people are exactly right, if you want more choice, you want to bring down premiums, you need that competition. there are parts of the country where the private insurance companies have huge monopoly lock over the markets. we need to provide that competition as the president said. we need to start keeping these insurance companies honest. you know you're getting somewhere when you get a lot of resistance, and as you get closer to making this happen, you get more and more fight from the insurance companies, and we have to stick up for the consumers. and it's pretty clear that the republicans support the status

quo, and there's a good reason for that, which is their allies to the insurance industry which has provided huge amounts of campaign contribution to support the status quo with respect to not providing a public option. >> chris, voters were promised change they could believe in. are you concerned about what may happen to our party in 2010 or 2012 if we don't get any change at all? >> well, we're going to get change. i'm an optimist, howard. i believe the will is there. i believe when our members go back to talk to their constituents over august and early september, they're going to hear about the need to provide for the public option, to provide for real competition. the status quo is not working. in fact, as we well know, most people who currently have health insurance are already paying a hidden tax of over $1,100. those are the people who already have insurance. so we've got to fix a broken system so that we can bring down their premiums, bring down the cost to the government and to

the taxpayer, and that's what we're going to get. and a public option is a critical part of creating those choices and competition. >> how much of an issue do you think this is going to be in 2010 when everybody's up for re-election in the house? >> well, i think our whole record, of course, will be an issue and the big question when you look at that record will be, did we follow through on the promise to change direction in this country? and a big part of changing direction is trying to fix our health care system in a way that preserves what works but changes that part that is broken. so i think the american people are going to hold us accountable, as they should, on whether or not we've received -- we achieved real health care reform, and i do believe that having a public option is a critical piece of that. >> congressman chris van hollen, thank you so much for your time tonight. >> thanks, howard. to some extent blue dogs and republicans are defending genuine, ideological principles, restraint spending and constrain government. but they are also pulling in millions of dollars from health

insurance companies, which are fighting for their lives and their profits. joining us tonight is a former insurance company soldier from the front lines of this battle, wendell potter, a 20-year veteran of insurance public relations. most recently communications director for cigna. until he attended a tennessee public health care fair in 2007 that turned his view of american health care upside down. he left cigna and he's now a senior fellow on health care at the center for media and democracy. thank you so much for your time tonight, wendell phillips. >> thank you so much, governor. thank you for the opportunity. >> ideology aside, what motive do blue dogs and republicans have to defeat the public option? >> well, i think the motive is to satisfy the expectations of the insurance industry. one of the things we have to keep in mind is that the insurance industry has been devoting a lot of time and attention and money as well to make sure that the

republicans are lined up behind them, and they have been focusing most of their attention, most recently, on the members that they might be able to persuade, and those include the blue dog democrats. >> robert zirtelback is a spokesman for america's health insurance plan. today he said, quote, for every dollar our country spends on health care, less than one penny goes to health plans' profits. we need to focus on the other 99 cents. this guy does for ahab what you used to do for cigna. any reason not to believe him? >> what he's doing is what i used to do in the industry as well, misleading with statistics. a better way to look at this is if we consider we spend about $2 trillion in health care in this country, one of every $8, $250 billion, passed through the seven largest for-profit health insurance companies in this country and they made billions of dollars. so what he's doing is misleading the statistics, and there are many other ways you can look at

this and determine just how much the insurance industry is really in control of our health care system. >> what happens if this ends up as just health insurance reform rather than meaningful health care reform? is that enough? >> no, it's not enough. health insurance reform is very vital because it is such a big part of the health care system, but there are many other elements of the health care system that need to be addressed. ranging from physician compensation to a lot of other things that need to be fixed, that have created this situation of us having the most expensive health care system in the world but one in which 50 million of our citizens don't have access to it. >> aetna had higher medical costs than they expected so yesterday they slashed their earnings forecast for the year and the stock fell more than 5%. can you explain to the audience how facts like these can change someone's health care? >> yeah, it's an example of what i try -- i have been talking about quite a bit over the past month.

wall street analysts and investors look for something called the medical loss ratio, and that is the percentage of money an insurer takes in in premiums that it actually pays out in medical claims. in 1993, the last time we had a big debate on health care reform during the clinton years, 95% of every premium dollar was paid out in claims by insurance companies. since then, there's been a huge consolidation in the industry. it's now dominated by seven large for-profit insurance companies, and most recently, the medical loss ratio was down to 80%, just around 80%. which means that 20 cents of every premium dollar is being diverted to things like marketing and sales and underwriting to pay for executives' exorbitant compensation and to go in the pockets of big shareholders. >> is it fair to say that without a public option, that the bill hands the insurance companies a trillion dollars in order to add 47 million uninsured people to the

insurance rolls? >> absolutely. in fact, i'm fairly certain that the lobbyists for the health insurance industry and the analysts on wall street and new york are probably doing high-fives with the news coming out of washington that the senate committee might -- senate finance committee might be voting on a bill that does not include the public option, and that the house is not going to vote on the bill before the -- before the recess. it's getting a gift in the insurance industry, no doubt about it. >> why do you think it is that the private insurance companies have so much more trouble controlling costs? medicare is not perfect in controlling costs but the cost increases in medicare have gone up a lot more slowly than they have in the private insurance industry. what is that all about? >> well, the private insurance industry has much higher administrative costs than medicare does and that's primarily because of the things that medicare -- is not necessary for medicare. high sales and marketing expenses and underwriting expenses. a lot of those marketing dollars are, by the way, used not to

find new members but to steal profitable accounts away from each other. and also a large amount of the money that they take in goes, again, to pay executive salaries like mine used to be and the ceos. and also for shareholders. that doesn't happen in a public plan like medicare. >> do you think we ought to have solely a public plan, like a single pay, or do you think the hybrid kind of system that the president is suggesting would work better? clearly, you don't support what the senate finance committee is trying to do, which is to eliminate the public plan. what is your idea about the best way to control costs and cover everybody? >> you know, as has been pointed out before, the health insurance industry, every time this comes up, it goes to great lengths to try to scare the american public away from something like a single payer system like canada has. canadians are very, very happy with their health care system. in fact, there are more people in this country without health insurance than the entire country of canada.

i think that what we need to realize is that this year, though, it doesn't seem like the members of congress have given any serious consideration to a single payer plan. so the president's approach is the most pragmatic, i guess you would say, and one if it's a hybrid that would do a lot of good to making sure that more of our people have access to quality, affordable health care. >> wendell potter, formally of cigna, now a senior fellow at the center of media and democracy. thank you so much for your time. >> thank you, governor. after hearing his story, it's hard to understand why six senators on the finance committee are fighting so hard to preserve the system of health care we have instead of embracing a government-run option that we know works. we know because it's the very system that members of congress have for themselves and their families. coming up -- why you shouldn't fear changes we already know provide quality health care next on "countdown." the most important...

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coming up on "countdown" -- taking the fear out of republican scare tactics. why they want you to believe the very government-run health care they have won't work for you. it's a lie. and an amazing admission from william kristol. our fighting men and women not only deserve the best health care, they already have it. guess what? it's run by the government. when i was told i had diabetes, i felt amazingly boxed in. (announcer) joe uses the contour meter from bayer. (joe) my meter absolutely adapts to me and my lifestyle. i'm joe james, and being outside of the box is my simple win. (announcer) now available in five vibrant colors. (announcer) now available ♪ when can a t-shirt be a pacifier? when you add ultra downy with renewing scent pearls. you get 3x longer lasting freshness so you feel more connected. which can turn a sweater into your sanctuary.

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call or click today. one simple thing unites not only the president, democrats in congress, blue dog democrats and republicans, no matter what they think about government-run

health care, they all have government-run health care. our number four story tonight, the secret horrors of the government-run health care, a system so horrible and brutal, government politicians not only force it on themselves, but also on the elderly and our military veterans. as president obama pointed out today, elderly voters sometimes in the same breath attack government-run health care and then demand to keep their medicare, which is government-run health care. but medicare is not the only government-run health care in america. the department of veterans affairs provides both coverage and care to more than 8 million americans. and what do the brave men and women who fought for this country think of american government-run health care? studies and surveys consistently rate the va's government-run health care just like medicare's and better than that provided by private insurance. our next guest is phillip longman, whose book "the best care anywhere: why va health

care is better than yours" explores in details, if i might coin a phrase, why the va health care is better than yours. have you for joining me tonight. phil, can you explain what the va's government-run health care plan is and why it works? >> well, the department of veterans affairs operates about 153 hospitals and some 900 clinics in every state of the union and in many of our territories. it's the primary vehicle for providing care to the veterans who qualify. i came to find out about it a couple of years ago when "fortune" magazine called up and asked me to find out for them who might be the jack welsh of health care. jack welsh, of course, being the fabled ceo of general electric at the time. and i thought that was a pretty interesting assignment, so i went off to search for the jack welch of health care. and discovered as i looked

around for innovation and who was winning the highest marks for quality and cost effectiveness in american health care, it was the institution that i couldn't believe could possibly be delivering these results. because like many americans, i didn't have much contact with it. and what i did know about it came from movies like "born on the 4th of july." but as it turned out this was a really good news story for health care going forward. >> so it was published in the annals of american medicine which found that in 294 measures of quality, the va outperformed every other sector of american health care, including the private sector. how did they do that bogged down by bureaucratic inefficiency, up against the super-efficient private sector? >> right. the first thing to notice about the va is almost uniquely in american health care, they have a near lifetime relationship with their patients, which means that as an institution, they actually have incentive to invest in prevention wellness

and disease management and effective drug formulary, and they have done that. they have used health i.t., a particular program called vista that was written by doctors for doctors that has great volumes. they have used that to do very coordinated care of diabetes, for example. they have given everybody a primary care physician, and then used the health i.t. system to coordinate care among specialists. this has added virtue with the electronic medical record, researchers can go back after the fact and find out which procedures actually work and which don't. the va was among the earliest prescribers to pick up on the dangers of vioxx, for example, a drug that killed more americans than that died in the vietnam war. they picked it up because of all of the clusters of heart attacks in their electronic medical record. >> now, one of the things that happened to me when i was

governor is that we tried to allow nonveterans to use the va system, and the veterans objected to it greatly, thinking that if you let more people in, it would wreck the system or hurt it in some way. what are the pros and cons of allowing -- of expanding the va system to cover more americans? >> well, first of all, among veterans, the politics has changed very much. the va has the highest patient satisfaction level of any health care provider in the united states. and i did a lot of work recently with the american legion there. their prime legislative agenda is to enable veterans to use their medicare to be treated at the va, which would be good because the va's cost per patient is about two-thirds of what medicare is, and it has higher quality metrics. so the picture we have here is a lot of veterans banging on the door to try to get into the va. they're excluded by eligibility rules, many of them, and it doesn't make any sense at all. in fact, now the legion and many other veterans' groups are embracing the idea of allowing

family of veterans to come in. besides that, we contemplate something like a civilian va. you know, where at this moment the public option, so-called, is hanging by a thread and the reason that it is is because many blue dog democrats and others have legitimate fears about the fiscal impact of just creating an entitlement that puts more people into an already-broken system. if we combine -- if we focus on the actual delivery vehicle under the public plan, i think the va is a very good model to use. we can go into a very public hospitals all over the country, the st. elsewhere's going out of business so rapidly and say this, if you will adopt a va protocol of care, if you will wire up their hospitals with their software and use it, and we will help you to do that, we will guarantee you this new pool of patients who have been recently mandated by insurance. and then we will have an actual delivery vehicle and

congressional budget office and others will actually be able to score and make realistic estimates of what it will cost. >> in 30 seconds, if we were to adopt a public option that was modeled after the va, could they control costs? >> well, the va is a proven model. their cost per patient has actually been going down just as general health care inflation has been going up, and their quality is high. so you don't have to go to sweden or believe in some wild economic theory. this is proof on the ground. ask your veteran friends. they'll tell you. >> phillip longman, author of "best care anywhere: why va health care is better than yours." thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> i would like to take a quick moment to tell all of you watching at home you can join the health care debate after the show. we will continue the discussion online. all you have to do is go to progressivebookclub.com. coming up -- william kristol exposes the hypocrisy of the

right of exposing the public problem. and william smith said we have the best health care system there is. and the art of sarah palin's final farewell as the alaskan governor. william shatner performs palin poetry, ahead on "countdown." ever worn your clothes in the shower? if you're using other moisturizing body washes, you might as well be. you see, their moisturizer sits on top of skin, almost as if you're wearing it. only new dove deep moisture has nutriummoisture, a breakthrough formula with natural moisturizers... that can nourish deep down. it's the most effective natural nourishment ever. new dove deep moisture with nutriummoisture. superior natural nourishment for your skin.

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when republicans are playing to the media, they love to say, we've got to keep health care away from the government. the insurance companies do a better job.

it's too expensive. that's what they say. but what do they think? some insight last night, courtesy of jon stewart's "daily show." william kristol talking about health care admitting the government does just fine running a first class health care system for the military. it's just that the rest of the american people don't deserve the same. >> so you don't believe, no public option. so even though that's good enough for the military, not good enough for the people of america? >> no. the military has a different health system than the rest of the americans. >> it's a public system, no. >> it's an option? >> it's built-in health care. >> why don't we go with that then? >> i don't know. is military health care -- >> well, first of all, it's expensive. i think they deserve it in the military. i'm not sure it's necessary. >> the american public do not? >> no, the american public does not deserve the same quality health care that the ladies and gentlemen fighting in iraq and afghanistan deserve. >> they can have that level of care but are you saying the american public should not have access to the same quality of health care we give to our better citizens? >> yes. to our soldiers?

absolutely. >> really? >> i think if you become a soldier -- >> should they get paid more? >> so -- >> that's what i'm saying. >> one of the ways we make it up to the soldiers for risking their lives is give them first class health care. the rest of us can go out and buy insurance as 90% of us have. >> i just want to get this on the record. bill kristol just said that the government can run a first-class health care system. >> sure it can. >> and that a government-run health care system is better than the private health care system. you just said that. >> i don't know if it's better. i don't know if it's better. >> you just said that. >> i don't know. >> you said it was better. you said it's the best. it's a little more expensive. but it's better. >> the military needs a different kind of health care than the rest of us. >> i just want to write this down. the government-run health care -- >> i will support you for arguing for better health care for the military if they are in

any way being deprived. >> i understand that. what you are suggesting is that the government could run the best health care system for americans, but it's a little too costly so we should have the [ bleep ] insurance health care or no health care? >> i think the soldiers deserve better health care than the rest of us for risking their lives. and they have in the same situation as the rest of us. >> they have the best government-run health care money can buy. >> that could be. i hope they do. i'm not sure the va, for example, another government agency is the best run, is the best health care. >> don't try to back out of it. >> i'm not sure medicare and medicaid provide the absolute best health care. >> from william kristol, boxed into a corner, to the entire gop boxed in. republicans in the house after encouraging questions about obama's birthplace are forced to go on the record saying he was born in the usa. also, could former baseball star pete rose actually add hall of famer to his resume? keith olbermann joins us from

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the obama birther conspiracy theorists will probably never accept the facts, and certain republicans have been more than willing to fan the flames of this phony controversy. but in our third story on the "countdown," those republicans in the house of representatives have blinked, forced to vote on a resolution recognizing hawaii as the birthplace of our 44th president. but let's admit it, it was never fully resolved when he was a candidate for president. this persistent question about whether this man is a natural born citizen of the united states, particularly since he was not born in any of the united states and now this very man is president of the united states? no, this man is the defeated candidate for that office, senator john mccain. since senator mccain was born in panama on a military installation.

granted, most constitutional scholars agree this still makes mccain a natural born citizen, but some scholars have said it's not a clearly settled area of law which makes the obama controversy all the more ludicrous by comparison, since the president was born in hawaii, one of those facts that some fringe elements refuse to accept. so last night as part of a resolution celebrating the 50th anniversary of hawaii becoming a state, democrat neil abercrombie inserted this language -- whereas the 44th president of the united states, barack obama, was born in hawaii, the resolution passed with 378 aye and zero nays. 55 representatives did not vote, but no one voted against it, including the nine house republicans who are supporting the birther bill, which includes documentation for future potential candidates and a reminder about how hard it is for some republicans to simply

admit that president obama is a natural born american citizen. >> do you believe barack obama was a natural born citizen of the united states and is constitutionally permitted to serve as president? >> the question doesn't sound right. >> basically. >> thanks very much. >> what do you believe personally? >> i would like to see the documents. >> so you're kind of a fray of the lunatic fringe base? >> it's being looked at. >> what do you personally believe, though? do you think there's a question here? >> i think there are questions. we'll have to see. >> you do believe there are questions. that's good enough. thanks very much. >> let's bring in the washington editor of "the nation,"chris hayes. good evening, chris. >> good evening, governor. >> that house vote, first when pressed, looks like no house republicans could bring themselves to question that president obama was born in hawaii. >> yeah, i mean, look, these aren't -- these people aren't idiots.

i don't think anyone actually believes that he wasn't born in hawaii, or i will at least charitably interpret their actions as being cynical as opposed to insane and this is essentially a ploy to kind of stoke the base and that they don't want to be caught looking like idiots. that's why you see the discomfort in members when mike stark, who is a great blogger and writer, who is the man in that video and doing some great work for firedog lake, when mike was tracking those republican members down, that's why they don't want to answer the question because they're caught in this pinscher between sort of respectability and the fringe elements of their own constituency. >> doesn't that suggest that certain republicans want it both ways, that they'll vote as they did last night, but they'll also continue to say and do things to keep the fringe element of their base active and engaged on the birther nonsense? >> yeah, i think that's exactly right. you know, back in 2006, i was reporting on a somewhat similar kind of conspiracy theory going on about an impending north american union. and you actually have a lot of house republicans, virgil goode,

recently defeated from virginia, he was the sponsor of resolution coming out against the north american union and against currency that would unite canada, u.s. and mexico. this was all, you know, emanating from a similar sort of element to the base. the difference is that no one ever called it out, and so they were allowed to kind of simultaneously stoke this kind of stuff amongst the base and still present this respectable face to the beltway establishment. >> senator jim dement spoke to the heritage foundation last night. he, of course, is now infamous for saying health care could be president obama's waterloo. of course, this is a republican and encourages that. while his speech was critical of the president, he later told the huffington post, quote, he, obama, is not only a citizen, but he's our president and he deserves our respect. he referred to the citizenship issue as nonsense. so why haven't we heard more of this from other republicans? >> well, you know, i think

because -- for two reasons. one, i think they thought they could get away with just sort of stoking this. so now that they've been kind of caught with their hand in the cookie jar, there will be a little bit of a break. there is this famous moment in the conservative moment in the 20th vicinity where bill buckley cast the conspirators out of the conservative movement and there are some who are calling for a similar situation to go on right now with the birthers. the question is, how many people can the right afford to cast out? it's a very small constituency relative to the electorate at this point, so there's sort of a sense in which they want to activate everyone they can get. >> because the state of hawaii keeps getting flooded with requests, the state's health director again issued a statement saying he had seen obama's actual birth certificate and he was born in hawaii. so as this birther conspiracy gets shot down again and again, how much do you think obama's risk if they continue to attach themselves to it? >> well, i think they risk

respectability. i'm not sure how much reputational capital is left in the republican party at this point. its approval ratings are in the basement. it's sort of at a nadier, you sort of wonder how low it can go at this point. so i think there's part of the party who wants to circle the wagon and kind of wait for everyone to wake up to the impending socialist revolution being inaugurated by barack obama. but that's not really a winning long-term political strategy, and at some point i think some other people inside the constituency are going to rebel against that -- that direction. >> chris hayes of "the nation." thanks so much. >> thank you. coming up -- pete rose willingly banned himself from baseball in the middle of a gambling scandal 20 years ago. but now he's a major league -- is major league baseball ready to forgive and forget? my special guest from cooperstown, new york, will be the one, the only keith

olbermann. and i know keith will hate to miss this, sarah palin's farewell address to alaska, performed by william shatner as poetry, next on "countdown." my doctor told me something i never knew. as we get older, our bodies become... less able to absorb calcium. he recommended citracal. it's a different kind of calcium. calcium citrate. with vitamin d... for unsurpassed absorption, to nourish your bones.

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ahead on "countdown" -- some heard sarah palin's farewell speech and thought, that sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard. for others, it's music to their ears. up next -- william shatner turns sarah palin's good-bye into poetry. and later, keith joins me from the baseball hall of fame to talk about the new signs that pete rose might one day make it into cooperstown hall of fame. i've been growing algae for 35 years. most people try to get rid of algae, and we're trying to grow it. the algae are very beautiful. they come in blue or red, golden, green. algae could be converted into biofuels... that we could someday run our cars on. in using algae to form biofuels,

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perhaps we've misunderstood her all along. maybe she's been operating on a much higher plain than the rest of us, and instead of honking water fowl of lake lucille at her backdrop, all she really needed was the song beating of a bongo drum and mood lighting. our number two story, sarah palin, alaska beat poet. last night on "the tonight show," conan tested out the theory that palin's erratic speeches are not just random thoughts but rather one way the former governor challenges her inner alan ginsburg. first, her own words as a speech. and then as performance art. >> and getting up here, i say it is the best road trip in america, soaring through

nature's finest show, denali, great one, soaring under the midnight sun. the cold, though, doesn't flip the tacos from the sourdough. with fire blooming. along the frost-heaved and merciless rivers that are rushing. >> here to read the palin speech verbatim as it was intended to be heard is emmy award winner, and master thespian, mr. william shatner. ♪ ♪ soaring through nature's finest snow ♪ ♪ denali the great one soaring under the midnight sun ♪ ♪ and then the extremes in the

wintertime ♪ ♪ it's the frozen road that is competing with all of its frigid beauty ♪ ♪ the cold though doesn't it split the tacos from the sourdough ♪ ♪ and then in the summertime such extremes ♪ ♪ summertime about 150 degrees hotter than just some months ago and then just some months from now ♪ ♪ the fireweed blooming along the frost beams and merciless rivers that are rushing and carving and reminding us that here mother nature wins and it is as throughout all alaska that big, wild, good life ♪ ♪ teaming along the road that is north to the future ♪ >> william shatner! coming up -- is it possible that pete rose might one day make it into the baseball hall of fame? keith olbermann joins me next on

the new clues surfacing that could be good news for pete rose.

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perhaps no team sport places more emphasis on the individual as does baseball, and in the annals of baseball history, there may be no one more solitary than one pete rose. when rose was playing, he was in a league of his own. atop the rankings in career bats and hits. and in the past two decades in the scandal, he's also in the league of his own outside the sport. 20 years ago this august, rose was banned for life when allegations surfaced that the former cincinnati reds' star bet on baseball games. rose voluntarily left to be

placed on a list of players that are permanently ineligible to play ball. there are charges rose publicly finally admitted to five years later. but in our number one story on the "countdown," is baseball ready to issue a pardon and reinstate pete rose? recent developments may suggest just that. joining us now from cooperstown, our man on the ground, who has a job that's a lot harder than i thought it was, and a very familiar face to all of you, keith olbermann. thanks for taking time from your vacation. what exactly happened this weekend that all of a sudden we're talking about pete rose being reinstated? >> well, first of all, governor, i have to tell you, i like this show a lot better with you here than that usual idiot they have hosting it. but the stuff is all circumstantial. bud selig, the commissioner, still does not pete rose anywhere near this place in the baseball hall of fame, behind me, or anywhere else in baseball for that matter.

but there's increasing pressure we saw this week who that suggests that a lot of people who influence bud selig will be trying to convince him that the time has come to give rose at least a chance to get into the hall of fame if not back in baseball in a paying job. and it's all circumstantial. sparky anderson, his former manager, who had not talked to him in 20 years since he was banned, sparky came by to visit with him at the baseball card shop that rose was signing autographs at about a block and a half from here, and with tears in his ice, said you made a lot of mistakes 20 years ago. it shouldn't detract from what you did in baseball. joe morgan, the vice chairman of the hall of fame was here and talked to rose for hours. mike schmidt came by to express some sort of support. the most curious event of all, governor, was that the mlb chairman and president, chief operating officer and president, bob dupay, was seen in that card shop. i don't know if he said, hey, pete, you stink or whatever he said to him, but he visited with him, too.

so something's going on as much as baseball is insisting that nothing has officially changed, and the 20th an verse rib will anniversary will come and go next month with pete rose still being suspended. >> keith, you had a chance to speak with pete rose over this weekend. what can you tell us about the conversation, and what was his mood like? >> it was very strange, because rose is usually anything but taciturn on this subject. will he tell you how much he deserves to be back and what a benefit he will be to the game. he was giving one-record answer to questions. he said he underplayed was morgan was doing here. he said the visit with sparky was very nice, but he didn't go into detail. he just listed who was there. and that is so atypical to rose, that it suggests that he is trying to -- his critics would say put on a good sense of behavior. one way or another, he's being quiet where usually he is as loud as they come. just as a side story to this, as if you can imagine such a thing, as we're talking to pete rose, not 20 minutes ago, roger clemens walked through this town because his ha