what pulls us aport. sound like clinton here. i'm confident that -- what happened tonight about what has happened tonight -- and i am hopeful that all of us are able to draw this positive lesson from this episode." well -- >> amen. obviously's that's his talk and trade. thinks of himself as someone who can unite people, but we've seen there are limits to that. limits with race and in terms of bipartisanship in washington and that's one of the lessons they need to learn in this first months at president. >> in fact a running mate, once

again we sigh the all-important -- purposes of the utility, comes in to make the catch, and that is joe biden. his role here? >> he know how to bring -- drink beer and eat peanuts. a common force, helped the amity of the situation, sergeant crowley said, jumped around about a bunch of things. wait, you have to say one thing here. one more shoe to drop. we've not heard from professor gates yet. we assume professor gates, we know, is going to deliver some kind of statement. but it going to be -- >> he probably has more -- >> is it crowley? -- >> than a high school -- >> not going to sit around. this is a fortune cookie for some lawyer, false arrest. right? >> well -- >> he won't take that. be above the fray.

>> he's written about this. these racial situations. >> do a documentary. >> no. could do a documentary but i think it's going to be in the spirit of fellow shand not -- >> thank you. all learning, all teaching. well -- mark whitaker, thank you, roger simon. join us again tomorrow at 5:00 and 7:00 for more "hardball." "countdown with keith olbermann" starts right now. which of these stories will you be talking about tomorrow? the white house, two weeks after the racially charnged arrest of a harvard professors president holds peace talks between the two men in the middle of a culture war. >> this is three folks having a drink at the end of the day, and hopefully giving people an opportunity to listen to each other. >> and he buried the distraction once and for all. not if the race and right wingers get their way. >> finally hearing me. an angry black guy. i do believe he's angry. >> what it says, more about them than it does the president. health care. it's a health scare. >> won't pay for mire surgery

but forced to play for abortion. >> fallen for a republican radios with their august time-out? and inside the gop. >> what i don't know is why the president can't produce a birth certificate. i don't know anybody else that can't produce one. >> when ann coulter and rudy giuliani are the voice of reason you know the republicans got hijacked. and more than a month after the death of michael jackson, a custody settlement is reached. and michael jackson has another child. an older biological one. >> michael jackson, dance michael jackson. >> but who's getting custody of sarah palin? a new poll says most americans don't want her in the white house ever. almost half of republicans agree. maybe she has a future in poetry?

cue the tweet. >> no threat down here ever, but instant rain reminds us no rain, no rainbow. >> all that and more now on "countdown." good evening from new york. i'm richard wolffe. keith olbermann has the night off. on hot summer evening the kind of night washington, d.c. is famts for this time of year, who doesn't enjoy winding down way beer or two? in our first story on the "countdown" calming off with a few cold ones in the white house rose garden. how president obama held a beer summit with harvard professor henry louis gates and the police officer who arrested him, is the james crowley. beer delivered on a tray, one of 78 good things about life in the white house. vice president biden, a surprise guest at tonight's proceedings. the white house described the

interaction between gates and crowley friendly and warm, unlike the beer. more interest, not important, details the beer preference of each at the table. the president, bud light. sergeant crowley blue moon. professor gates, red and biden, and peanuts and pretzels also served. didn't they read the note from the last guy? late this afternoon during a meeting with the president of the philippines, the president tried to get away from the term beer summit telling reporters "it's a clever term but this is not a dede he's fascinated with the fascination about tonight adding he hoped the media would make his meeting with president arroyo the lead story instead of the non-summit free beer. bad news, mr. president. we just heard the latest magazine, obama's beer diplomacy. one surprise after the less than happy hour. a press conference dliven under the influence of a few beers. >> i think what you had today was two gentlemen agree to disagree on the same issue. i don't think we spent too much time dwelling on the past. we spent a lot of time

discussing the future. >> that wasn't the first. the professor and i ebb countered each other on individual tours of the white house and the professor approached me and introduced his family. i introduced my family, and then we continued on with the tour, but as a group. two families moving together, and that was the start. so it was very cordial. i'm still not, haven't caught up with it. i'm going to need a few days maybe to reflect on the veents of the past couple of weeks. >> lots to talk about. the pulitzer prize winning and good evening, clarence. >> good evening, richard. >> the white house tried to play down expectation.

how did a few beers in the rose garden become as big a deal in the media as begin and sadat? >> easy because of the drama and symbolic value. pressing all the hot buttons of the culture wars, as you mentioned. by the way, over at the white house awaiting in vain for the news makers to come out and talk to us. no beer served to the press group. >> before asking about whether anything was actually accomplished, though, was there supposed to be a communique out of this or was the whole point to get a photo of these two men, gates and crowley, sitting doin together? >> really a photo op situation and i think the images of last week were so negative, and played badly for the president. after he referred to crowley's

actions, the police behaved stupidly and then withdrew the stupidly, while still making the same point, that it wasn't necessary to arrest professor gates in his own house. nevertheless, though, we've seen, and nbc polling and elsewhere, played badly, because it was the kind of obama that he tried to avoid showing during his campaign. that of taking sides. that of being perceive as taking sides. especially with black americans as opposed to being the honest broker in this cultural war. these racial disputes, these disputes over police power, et cetera. so it was important to show, hey, let us all come together. kum ba yah moment over a few cold ones. >> that begs the question, clarence, was it about tone or do you think the president should never have got engaged in this if in the first place? >> i don't know what his thoughts are, but i think everybody around him says that he can benefit on a night trying to focus and sell his health care plan and proposal, to suddenly, the very last question of the night, the one he visibly ing was moran mated about, was this issue of racial profiling. that this suddenly, you know, grabs all the attention, because let's face. it's more exciing to talk about

race and class and professors versus cops than it is to talk about the nuts and bolts of what 60%, 70% of the gdp. what health care amounts to. so getting the debate back on track wasn't easy. >> so let's turn this to the media. beyond the questions what kind of beer they would drink, what should our teach ap moment be? can they debate race in a mariningful way at all? >> no, richard. i've given up. i've been in the media 40 years now and a little baby when i got started back in the '60s, and i've been covering social issues, police issues, courts, et cetera, and certainly racial uprisings from jesse jackson'ser days through o.j. simpson to the present day, and i think what we're seeing is that one of our pathologies in the spres that we are geared towards the visual. not towards the conceptual. we're geared towards conflict, not kum ba yah moments, and

unfortunately kind of saying that really i think society has to work upstream to try to come together, and i think that was why, you know, barack obama's election night was so exciting, even for people who didn't vote for him. the fact that we saw some kind of a coming together of americans and saw celebrating of people around the world of america and our democracy, our way of life, that we hadn't seen. dined of like america is back and now all of a sudden we're seeing the bad old days are back, where we're having these culture wars. >> great to know the media is really uplifting in this discussion. from the "chicago tribune" thank you for your time tonight. >> my pleasure. thank you. one man the attempt to start dialogue between two parties is another man's "angry black guy" trying to support a white policeman. guess who? right. rush limbaugh. and because of skin color, not politics. kind of the same way they tried

to attack his supreme court nominee for being latina and a woman. and judge sotomayor's came from the white men on the senate judiciary committee. the rights of minorities are so unsettling they seem to be suffering their own identity crisis. the biggest question is i know who you are, but what am i? >> they're finally hearing me. if he's an angry black guy -- i do believe that about the president. i do believe he's angry. >> this president i think exposed himself as a guy over and over and over again who has a deep-seated hatred for white people, or the white culture. i don't know what it is. this guy is, i believe, a racist. >> this guy that they elected who they thought was all of these wonderful, perfect things is now behaving as a community organizer. and is fanning the flames of race. >> here you have a black president trying to destroy a white policeman. >> time to bring in the editor

and chief columnist joan walsh, who's written about this for her website. rush limbaugh calls her a racist and magic honky. sorry to bring that up. good evening, joan. >> good evening, richard. thank you. >> quite a badge of honor. recently called me a dunce or idiot, something sophisticated. i just want to ask, does him calling you a racist pretty much confirm the exact point you were making in the column? that limbaugh and others are merely projecting their own racism on to the president? >> absolutely. it is all about projection. he is clearly showing his fear at seeing a black man as an equal, as leader, and you know, to rush, this goes back quite a ways. he was fired by espn because he disparaged donovan mcnabb and insisted he was only a black quarterback because of affirmative action and he was one the score stars at the time. has a habit of making sexual references and sexual paranoia,

talking about having to bend over and grab his ankles for this black president, and he wouldn't do it. i mean, the man is frightened of black people and projects it on to obama, who whether you like him, are a democrat or republican, the notion that he hates white people is ludicrous. and they are just trying to throw everything at him that they can, and race has been divisive in our society. we know this when they think it's going to work. >> one of the most interesting things to me, sounds like the usual coded messages and the comments thrown aside in favor of really racial attacks. do you think this kind of talk is accessible to middle america, to the suburban independent voters, who really have decided in recent elections? >> no, and i thought that the crowley, the beer summit, i know we're not supposed to call it that, and also his press conference, was really kind of a wonderful moment. i know it was all staged, richard, and i don't mean to be naive, but you though there was

a moment last week when both rush and other right-wing blowhards were trying to recruit and use jim crowley. you could really have imagines perhaps a different sort of man. maybe falling for it and saying maybe the problem isn't a black president, but instead you have a guy come out and say very gracious thing about both professor gates as well as the president and vice president, and so i think it is -- i think middle americans like jim crowelly don't want to hear this racist talk and they're not falling for it, some day we might find rush and glenn were paid by the democratic party. the only way i can think they'd do such damage to the democratic party. >> we'll have to add that to our list of things to find out. some are suggesting that the president's health care plan is a back door for slavery reparations. how fringy is this going to get and when and how do they go mainstream? >> well, you know, it is fringy,

but lie tell you that is the thing i worry about. you and i both know that race and ethnicity has been use ed to divide us and specifically to create fear around people getting jobs that someone else deserves or people getting support. npr featured an interview with a man hoop said obama wants to take health care away from whites and give it to minority, which, of course, isn't true. at the time of crisis and chaos, there is a little more potential for these scare tactics to make people think they're going to take it away from me and give it to them. i worry about that. not the overt racism, and it being widespread, but a kind of economic insecurity and tribalism that is, that can be fanned in times of trouble. >> another reason why we all hope this economy gets better sometime soon. joan walsh, editor-in-chief, thanks for your time tonight. >> thank you. and speaking of time, republicans and blue dogs just bought more of it.

with no one looking ats house, the finance committee before the recess, both sides will have another month to waste money or airwaves. case in point. a new ad from the family research council adding to people who will die under obamacat, and obsession where obama was born end up hurting the party that formed the conspiracy series. more republicans caught in the headlights next on "countdown." . on the internet. i'll be using the 3g at&t laptopconnect card. he won't. so i can browse the web faster, email business plans faster. all on the go. i'm bill kurtis and i'm faer than floyd mayweather. (announcer) switch to the nation's fastest 3g network and get the at&t laptopconnect card for free.

it can lift your mood, help rebuild muscle... and improve your concentration. tylenol pm works with your body to ease the aches and pains that keep you awake, and helps you fall asleep in a non-habit forming way. because the better you sleep, the better you feel. coming up on "countdown," using afworgs oppose health care reform and naturally it will kill old people too. let's see if they can work on gay marriage next time, and sarah palin's new ambition. not only thinking about the troops. also memos on how americans especially republicans feel about her as well as more of palin's twitter thoughts delivered in dramatic style by the great thespian william shatner, up next. you work for it with memberships and fees. but not walmart. they have hundreds of generic prescriptions

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republicans already won the most important house care battle, unlike much of the rest of the developed world, americans will not get free health care on demand, nor will all americans even get insurance. some democrat are fighting for now is to create a new insurance program run by the government. like medicare for the rest of us. in our fourth story tonight, just the prospect of a new competitor is touching off a firefight that will last through next month. senate democratic leader harry reid claimed today republican leaders are undermining efforts to come up with bipartisan health care reform saying the gop's point man on health in the finance committee, chuck grassley and mike ensley are under great pressure. max baucus warned by reid, what wrap it up by next week or reid

takes over the talks. and feeling cool from the republicans saying he had actually struck a deal on health care. just as the blue dogs and republicans wanted, the bill is not expected to emerge before the august recess giving time for the gop and insurance companies to stoke public fears about any government intervention. house speaker nancy pelosi called them the villains, and steny hoyer saying the democrats go on offense next month, but republicans will, too. the man formerly known at bush's brain, karl rove, accused president obama of "trying to sell his health care proposals." now who was it again that professed the politics of fear? oh, yeah. karl rove. instead of fake scares about wmv, the president is talking about real scars going bankrupt. and tony perkins of the family research council is rolling out an ad specifically to create new

bogus fears and while we're at it, tying health care to another ongoing battle. >> they won't pay for my surgery. what are we going to do? >> honey, you can't live this way. >> and to think that planned parenthood is included in the government-run health care plan, and spending tax dollars on abortions. they won't pay for my surgery but we're forced to pay for abortions. >> our greatest generation denied care. our future generation denied life. call your senator. stop the government takeover of health care. responsible for the content of this advertisement. >> let's bring in msnbc political analyst howard simon, my good friend and former colleague "newsweek." good evening, howard. >> hi, richard. >> help me out here, please. the ad says the problem with the new health care plan is that it would kill old people and young people. i guess that's one way to control cops. is that about right? >> first let me say since we're friends i know you grew up in the bosom of national

administrative health care in the uk and i'm amazed you escaped alive. you know? yeah. no. the ad is something. first of all, there's nothing in any of the bills about abortion. that's a highly theoretical fear, which, of course, the research council is stoking. as far as medical care for seniors, insurance company, the ones who have gotten very tough about denying procedures achbtd other things late in life. so it's a fear machine and they're good at it. >> the ad sounded to me like actually an argument for universal health care, because the only way to make sure everyone gets all the surgery they could ever want is medicare for everyone. but the family research council sent us this statement saying, no. "we'll only obtain universal coverage through the private sector when competition for service will contain costs." howard, don't we already have competition for service in the private sector? why are they talking in the future tense about what we have today?

>> we do have some and, in fact, what most of the bills do, all of the bills that are out there now do, is try to increase competition. they talk about creating market places either regional or national to do that. that's the whole point of what, what the president and the democrats are trying to do in many ways. what the insurance companies fear and what they're going to focus on is the idea of a public competitor in that marketplace. and in many sense, there already is one. it's called medicare. >> so let's talk about politics on this one. how does this fight play out over the next month? why was it so important for the opponent to win this? delay? >> try to drag the carcass into the alley, if i can get vivid and pick it apart. here's the thing, richard. the president successfully explained to everybody that we can't afford the system that we have. but that is a national concern, and it -- it in some way, not

theoretical but in the numbers as much as in the individual people. in the alternative, the republicans are going to be able to pick at individual proposals in the myriad of bills that have been out there, three of which have been under consideration, three of them passed. going to try to pick each individual piece apart. so is the president going at a national solution and his opponents picking individual pieces to attack just the way the family research council did. >> it's strategic. do you think the white house could go for the so-called reconciliation option, 51 votes, 60 to break the filibuster. >> could be where it's heading. the republicans in the end pull the plug on their own participation. not every democrat will take part. in the senate they will probably use reconciliation. the only problem there is certain parts of the law that would be signed into law under

reconciliation would expire years later. i think you'll see people like rahm emanuel and the president tinkering with that to expand the permanent of whatever they pass in that way. >> which means we'll argue about this all over again in a few years? >> of course, exactly. >> and thank you very much. >> thank you, richard. talk to you soon. when republicans are trying to scare you about health care reform, some are trying to scare each other about president obama's nationality. why the fringe are growing into a bigger problem for the gop. and take a look at this. you know it isn't going to end well. finale, ahead in "oddball." a. here's one for your skin that's clinically proven. olay professional pro-x wrinkle protocol is as effeive as the leading wrinkle prescription brand at reducing the look of wrinkles. that's because olay has teamed with a highly specialized group of dermatologists and created a wrinkle protocol that gives you the results of the leading wrinkle prescription brand, without a prescription.

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on this day in 1936, make way for dresses made of drapes and romantic jaunts of the decade. margaret mitchell sells the film rights for "gone with the wind" to mgm. always a sure bet. sassmaker originally blanched at the $50 million asking price. mitchell responded, "frankly, my dear, i don't give a damn." you could see that coming. on that note, let's play "oddball." we begin on the internet. ever been curious what happens when mom gets her own dirt bike, behold the evidence. >> too fast, too fast, too fast. too fast.

oh -- [ bleep ]! >> i'm sorry. >> are you okay? >> i'm okay. >> mom crashed. >> are you okay? >> i am okay. i am okay. i'm okay. i'm fine. >> all right. >> everybody's okay. >> you're okay. >> i'm sorry. >> is your ass broken? >> yes, all going so well until grandma and her pesky wheelchair came out of nowhere. those concerned about the condition of grandma's arm, it's not broken, just fine, thanks. as for shirley, next time she hops on a dirt bike she'll answer to the kids, who can run away. and the good folks ever the local mattress warehouse have an interesting way of showing off the merchandise. an afternoon game of dominoes. if you think your boss is getting heavy, you don't know until you've had a co-worker strapped to a 40 pound mattress fell on top of you. this mattress flipping in just for fun. oh, no. hoping to make it into the guinness book of records. 41 colleagues participated. i hear more had the box spring department not shown up three

sheets to the wind. coming up, the return of william shatner. and some breaking news from tonight's white house beer summit. we'll have reactions from professor gates after the break. also ahead, william shatner's first. sarah palin's farewell address at governor. now turned a tweet into -- kind of. also, the latest from the bertha conspiracy. some wanted them to stop. others are signing on for future presidents to prove citizenship. details on the big births divide in the gop next on "countdown." ♪ (announcer) introducing new tums dual action. this tums goes to work in seconds and lasts for hours. all day or night. new tums dual action.

bring it on.

breaking news. professor henry louis gates just release add statement tonight after hi meeting over beers at the white house. it's long but reads in part, "i would like to applaud president obama for bringing sergeant crowley, me and our families together.

sergeant crowley and i through an accident of time and place have been cast together inex-priply as characters. over race which he and i have absolutely no control. narrative about race are as old as the founding of his great republic itself but these new ones unfolded precisely when america signaled to the world, progress of overcoming centuries of habit and fear and electing an african-american as president. it's incumbent for sergeant crowley and me to use the fate given us to get the greatest simp simp tho fo the daily policing and fears of racial profiling on the other hand. i thank god i live in a country in which police officers put their lives at risk to protect us every day, and more than ever i've come to understand and appreciate the daily sacrifices on our behalf.

i'm also grateful we live in a country where freedom of speech is a sack kra sink value and i hope one day we can begin to know each other better as we've begun this afternoon over beers with president obama." in other news, the obama bertha movement managed to produce another two-headed monster. the enablers. realizing parking needs to move away from this nonsense as fast as possible. in our third story on the countdown, the enablers are dominated the conversation. indeed, congressmen louis gomez's texas is the latest republican to sign on to the so-called bertha bill. the proposed law requires future presidential candidates to provide copy of their birth sir tiff ted to the federal election commission. when congressman gomez was asked if he believed mr. obama was born in kenya, not hawaii, he said, "i don't know if it's true or not but i read that lou dobbs said obama's original birth certificate was destroyed." that's lou dobs as the source

pshgs and meanwhile, trying to get rank and file republicans to answer some straightforward questions. here are some of the results. >> talk to you -- >> i'll run with it. >> no, no, no. >> quick question. >> nope. >> do you believe barack obama was born in the united states? >> you know, i've got to go right now. i wish i could talk to you right now, but -- >> you might think i'm bugging you. >> well i know. >> that doesn't require that much thought. does it? was barack obama born in the united states? he's president of the united states, right? all of the constitution, is he not a natural born citizen he can't be president. you must care about your oath? where do you stand? >> sir, i'm on the way to a very important meeting and make an appointment with my office and we'll discuss it. okay? thank you very much. >> congressman, take care. >> a lot of news about barack obama's birth certificate. whether he was born in america. nin that believes otherwise is a little cuckoo. i wouldn't say that. i have no idea where he was born.

>> the first time you know the foreign minister from the republican party, do you want to give an answer whether or not you thieve barack obama was born in the united states? are you still looking into the documents? >> she has to get a vote. do you have a card? >> fact other reality for this -- >> the best way to do it, produce the birth certificate and let that be the end of it. i don't think that's been done yet. >> what i don't know is why the president can't produce a birth certificate.

i don't know anybody else that can't produce one. i think that's a legitimate question. >> can you give me clear answer? was barack obama born in the united states? >> i believe he was. ungivically. right? people that believe otherwise are absolutely crazy. i'm willing to stipulate he's from has la, i just don't know where he comes from on health care. >> and congressman mcclintock agreed there was no question about obama's birthplace, but another congressman says took him out of context. the website released the unedited video and in it mr. blount says he has no reason not to believe mr. obama was born in the u.s. and then proceeds to raise questions as seen in that individual ye. what does it say when this is actually taking the same side of the ish jew trying to dismiss the birth theory is nonsense that o'reilly and coulter and

michael steel, former mayor rudy giuliani and john boehner. a contributing eder, david waldman, good evening. >> good evening. thanks for having me. >> is congressman gomez typical of the republicans supporting this birth bill and it sounds reasonable then goes off the rails trying to explain his reasoning. after all, lou dobbs is his source here. why are they bothering to try to sound reasonable somewhere. >> well,s that the dodge they all play. i mean, yeah, absolutely. congressman is typical of the people who are co-sponsoring this legislation. there's a colonel of interesting truth in -- a kernel of interesting truth in the heart of the thing opinion yes, a constitutional requirement, but there are a million ways to deal

with it, and we've dealt with it up to now without ever asking any kinds of questions formally like this. it's interesting they now design the answers to the questions in such a way they can have it both ways. they won't say unequivocally evening wlaer either what they believe or what they believe actually means so they don't risk alienating people driving this crazy crusade. >> brings us to the conservative pundits and the politicians who are willing to dismiss the conspiracy theory. do they see the danger in allowing the party to be linked to this kind of fringe? >> they very well may. i mean, the danger is pretty clear. i don't know -- i'm surprised, i should say, at that of the people suddenly able to see danger for the republican party so clearly. this is a new phenomenon more some of them. what it shows, i guess, is that everyone from top to bottom pretty much who speaks on daily basis for the party and for

conservatives in general has their own particular psychosis. but the problem is, in many cases it's kind of nuts from top to bottom. it doesn't matter who you ask, they'll give you one crazy theory or another. if it's not berthaism it's racism. >> the conservative radio host blames the whole thing on the miya which likes to make one fun of what he says, people with a marginal amount of logic. talking about office holders or even roy blount. not polite, is it? >> not very polite, but another day and another reason for him to complain to the media for something. i mean, that shows he's learned almost nothing from this episode and blames everything on the media. there is a sense in which we may be spending a little bit too much time talking about this lunatic fringe, but the problem is that it goes from top to bottom, as i said. if you have half a dozen, now a dozen or more united states congressmen jumping on to this bill that's really the thinly veiled forum, the stuff you see on the streets, and in all of congress you see this veiled thing, and it's not that they don't know how to dismiss people like this. they dismiss crazy nuts and people they just don't like who really do have ideas that have some mirror it merit bus thet disagree with strongly. town hall meetings, they're dismissed every day. try talking to one of these days about the fact the previous administration tortured people for political gain. you won't get far. they find a way to distance themselves from you when they want to. >> good point. and blog congress methods, thanks for joining us.

>> thank you very much. and a clarification to last night's "countdown." a conversation about the financial industry, our guest arianna huffington says citigroup is basically insolvent. citigroup says hifington

coming up, did sarah palin quit the government to get a part on television. and the michael jackson custody battle. an agreement reached before the judge decides. meanwhile, joe jackson reveeps michael had another secret child. next on "countdown." as a custody agreement is and jeep dealer, and get up to double the government's cash for your old car. now get up to $4,500 for your old car... plus, up to an additional $4,500 cash allowance. no turn-in? no problem. your dodge, chrysler, and jeep dealer guarantees everyone up to $4,500 cash allowance... on virtually every model. get to your dodge, chrysler and jeep dealer on the double, and get double cash for your old car!

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as a custody agreement is reached, new allegations about a vitt son. you probably already guessed it. indeed, another story about michael jackson. family patriarch joe jackson in his latest round of interviewers claims those rumors circulating about the late pop star's illegitimate son are true. >> yes. michael has another son. >> and he looks like a jackson. >> oh, yes. he looks like a jackson, acts like a jackson, he can dance like a jackson. >> the jackson in question is 25-year-old omar battie, a front row seat at the singer the memorial. but himself denies jackson is his biological father, which can only mean she's a mother named billie jean. nbc is the scoop report that a jackson family friend says the only person who knows her true identity is deign elizabeth

taylor. you can't make it up. taylor's rep denies this. if the actress has something to say about the situation, she will twitter about it. okay. you can make this stuff up. meanwhile, a custody deal involving the pop star the three other kids was announced earlier today between katherine jackson and debbie rowe. our correspondent is jay gray. ♪ >> reporter: according to his will, if anything happened to michael jackson, he wanted his mom to raise his three young children. it's now appears that will happen. lawyers for katherine jackson and the singer's ex-wife debbie rowe released details of a custody agreement. jackson's mother will be the permanent guardian of 12-year-old prince michael, 11-year-old paris and 7-year-old blanket. rowe, the biological mother of the two oldest children agreed not to seek custody but will retain her parental rights and will get visitation. attorneys also made it clear there was no financial component to the agreement. i. think this puts to rest a

lengthy protracted piece of let gatien and the children will ben frit that. >> reporter: quoting a release from lawyers now, the timing, frequentancy of rowe's visits determined by a psychologist. there are reports that only since their father's death has the two oldest learn that she is their mother and rowe now believes she can develop a bond with the kids. >> a mother figure around. >> reporter: jackson's personal chef kai chase talk and the children during an exclusive interview this morning on the "today" show and provided insight into their perspective during the final moments of her father's death. >> panicky wondering what's going on. parents are screaming and crying, daddy, daddy, daddy. >> reporter: a horrible memory for jackson's three young children that they will now apparently work through with the help of both their grandmother and their biological mom. jay gray, nbc news, los angeles.

sarah palin is enjoying more time with her family, and an growing number of americans think that's a good thing. new poll numbers so many don't want her in the white house. thanks to the wonder. it william shatner shgs maybe she'll leave politic ace side and turn to poetry, next 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 moiurizer 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 natal nourishment for your skin.

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i know you may be feeling a little less faith now that former alaska governor sarah palin can't keep an eye on russia. but palin may need to turn her attention to other threats than russia rearing its pretty little head.

the next story, what's next for the polar-based pit bull pap new "wall street journal" poll shows two-thirds of all americans don't want palin to ever become president. 21% say they wouldn't mike a palin white house. you might expect an overwhelming ma yort majority of democrats to appose. 43% of republicans and 65% of independents even 46% of self-confessed conservatives say the same thing. what's a former governor to do? she's already got a big, fat book deal, but word palin may be looking to join the immediate yao she despises so much. inside radio reporting, setting her sights on a syndicated radio show where she will no doubt quit making stuff up. whatever was going on in 1984, what she decides to do she'll still be tweeting. the gift that keeps on giving to nbc's "tonight show" courtesy of the poet lauer yacht william shatner. >> will stay in touch using

twitter. i'm going to stay in touch using twitter. some people have been reading these twitters and found her tweets to be a little rambling, confusing and off topic. i spent the day today reading through all of palin's tweets several times, and it dawned on me, she's writing poetry. these are not tweets. this is beautiful free verse. that is what she's writing. so once again here to read sarah palin's tweets verbatim as they were intended to be heard is emmy away winner and master thespian mr. william shatner.

>> from life near a lush rain forest to energy how then a broken ton degree atop from afrost. god most creatively displaced his diversity in alaska. tourists from acrossamerica here loving their 49th state, i'm reminded one heart, one hope, one destiny, one flag from sea to sea. awesome alaska night. sensing summer already winding down with fire wheat near full bloom finally sitting down to pen listening to big and rich. left you no more for rain in juno tonight.

no drought threat down here ever. but consistent rain reminds us no rain no rainbow. >> who else could follow the surrealism of captain kirk? bluebird news political columnist and for "the week" magazine. good evening, margaret. >> good evening, richard. >> so the new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll shows that palin's capitalism is being declined. among the many lessons of richard nixon, you're never really out of the arena. is that true for governor palin as well? >> richard, i don't know about you but i would like to yield the remainder of my time to william shatner. that was so good, and i missed it in the original. maybe we do not have, you know, sarah palin to kick around anymore as governor. however, in this guise, if she

is going to go on the radio, where it's a shame she won't be able to wink, and apparently it is radio talk show akin to rush limbaugh, is what she would like to have. you know, she's going to be -- she's going get the exposure that she was missing in alaska. she was, you know, hungered for it. how many times, richard, did she do something and we would spend you know, days talking about it from alaska? now it will be all sarah all the time, just the way with talk about rush limbaugh many nights. >> she says she was quitting because of a higher calling. does that possible radio qualify as one of those? >> if she were coming to this show we could call it a higher calling, but radio? i don't know. rush limbaugh, when we were looking for a leader in the republican party and all of those polls were being taken and the republicans couldn't find one, consistently rush limbaugh