americans for prosperity has churned out a number of what appear to be grass roots organizations. they have names like patients first and patients united now. news groups are formed to oppose health care reform and to get people to pack these town hall meetings about health care. these groups direct people to town halls. they give them talking points to use there. and they try to get them fired up. here for example is the fire them up message from a speaker on mr. phillips' patients first bus tour, which yesterday held an event in pueblo, colorado. >> if this new obama care program comes to fruition, when you reach 65 and every five years thereafter you're going to have a counseling session with some federal airhead. part of this process is called end of life counseling and part of the end of life counseling

can be an end of life order. adolph hitler issued 6 million end of life orders. he called his program the final solution. i kind of wonder what we're going to call ours. if you find all this stuff is as repugnant as i do you need to take it to the next step. you need to notify your congressman. how do you notify these people? you can call them. you can write them. you can e-mail them. or you can go to their office and put the fear of god in them. >> put the fear of god in them. because what obama is doing with killing all these people like sarah palin said, that's like what hitler did and you know what hitler deserved. this is the rhetoric that corporate funded gop allied groups like americans for prosperity are funneling through what they set up to look like grass roots organizations to get

people to go put the fear of god into elected officials. politico is reporting that an event planned by congresswoman ann kirkpatrick of arizona was overrun by protestors who showed up after receiving robocalls encouraging them to show up and demonstrate. the nice thing about robo calls is it's never easy to know where they came from but it is known conservatives for patients' rights, another one of the fake grass roots organizations, a $20 million operation, run by former hospital ceo rick scott, that group posted the time and location of the event on its website. and when it started as rowdy and rude and mean spirited disruptions has turned in some cases into actual violence with several hospitalizations for minor injuries and some arrests being reported at health care town halls last night. what's also evident is that the antireform rhetoric increasingly is invoking specific references to nazis and specific comparison of president obama to adolph hitler. here for example is a

16-year-old wearing -- in a denver town hall event wearing a t-shirt with a picture of the president and the words on it "hitler gave good speeches, too." here's a toddler in a stroller at the same event carrying a sign with a swastika that reads, "no to facism." here is a protestor at a michigan event held by congressman john dingell carrying a sign that depicts the president with a hitler mustache. yesterday talk show host rush limbaugh compared the president, speaker of the house nancy pelosi, the proposed health care reform, and the president's health care logo to nazism and/or hitler. and despite criticism from among others the conservative national review online, the antidefamation league, the american jewish congress, and rabbi marvin heier founder of the simon wisenthal center, he retrenched with the health care thing today. >> his health care logo looks damn like the nazi logo.

i'm sorry but it does. i didn't create either logo but i have two eyes and i can see. infuriating democrats, good. is obama not got a website where he is asking supporters to provide the names of people providing disinformation about the health care system? what did i say yesterday that is not true? >> you know, there are people alive today who barely survived the holocaust. and there are many people alive today whose whole families were killed in the holocaust. nazism is not a metaphor for a political policy you disagree with. used deliberately to characterize an opponent it has a resonance with people looking to justify violence. the implication of conjuring up the third reich is in the case of someone identified as a modern day hitler, as a nazi, violence against that person, even murder, would not only be seen as justified it might be celebrated.

this rhetorical strategy sets the stage for political violence that the perpetrator could hope would be praised. as such the idea of assassination, other kinds of political violence, are always in the subtext. and you know sometimes assassination isn't even in the subtext. sometimes it just bubbles right up to the surface. >> i wonder what it would be like seriously. i mean if i could go, you know, to the speaker's shindig. speaker pelosi, you going to drink your wine? are you blind? do those eyes not work? i want you to drink it now. drink it. drink it. drink it. i really just wanted to thank you for having me over to wine country. you know, to be invited i thought i had to be a major democratic donor or long-time friend of yours which i'm not. by the way, i put poison in your -- >> yesterday we played tape of a republican congressman joking about lynching democratic members of congress. now it's conservative national

radio hosts calling the president hitler and conservative national television hosts joking about assassinating the speaker of the house of representatives. right wing media deliberately and systematically invoking both nazism and political assassination. hostile crowds consistently displaying nazi symbolism at these demonstrations. the corporate funded antireform movement using hitler as a rhetorical weapon against the president and against democrats in congress. it's scary. of course that they don't understand the implications of their actions and it's much, much scarier, still, if they do. joining us now is frank shaffer, the author of "crazy for god, how i grew up as one of the elect, helped found the religious right, and lived to take all or almost all of it back." mr. schaefer thank you so much for coming on the show tonight. >> thanks for having me on. >> do you think calling the president a nazi, calling the president hitler, is an implicit call for politically motivated violence? >> yes, i do.

in fact, this rings a big bell with me because my dad, who was a right wing evangelical leader wrote a book called "a christian manifesto" that sold over a million copies. in that book he compared anybody who was pro abortion to the nazi germans and he said that using violence or force to overthrow nazi germany would have been appropriate for christians including the assassination of hitler. he compared the supreme court's actions on abortion to that and that has been a note that has been following the right wing movement that my father and i helped start an evangelical context all the way. what's really being said here is two messages. there is the message to the predominantly white, middle aged crowd, people screaming at these meetings, trying to shut them down, but there is also a coded message to what i would call the looney tunes, the fruit loops on the side like playing russian roulette. you put a cartridge in the chamber, you spin, and once in a while it goes off. we saw that happen with dr. tiller. we've seen it happen numerous

times in this country with the violence against political leaders whether martin luther king or whoever it might be. we have a history of being a well armed, violent country. and so really i think these calls are incredibly irresponsible. the good news is that it shows a desperation. the far right knows they have lost. they've lost the hearts and minds of most american people. for instance who want health care. they also know they have a large group of people who are not well informed who listen to only their own sources, who buy the lies for instance all this nonsense about euthanasia being mandatory and all the rest of it and these people can be energized to go out and do really dreadful things. we've seen it in front of abortion clinics. i'm afraid we're going to see it with some of our political leaders. and the glenn becks of this world literally are responsible for unleashing what i regard as an anti-democratic, anti-american move until the this country trying to shut down

legitimate debate and replace it with straight out intimidation. it is ironic they're drawing a parallel to hitler. i wouldn't draw such a parallel but i would draw a parallel to the brown shirts of the 1930s who got into a habit of shutting down the senate and making it look like they had a majority, just like these folks do screaming the loudest and making debate impossible. these are very bad signs and i'm not at all optimistic about how this is going to end in terms of violence, though i think obama is going to win the day in terms of most americans. the problem is we're not talking about most americans but a small, angry group of white people who, you know, to paraphrase bart simpson, the election broke their brains. they're angry. and they are ready to do just about anything to stop the process at this point because they'd rather see us all lose than admit defeat. that's where they're at. >> one reason i wanted to talk to you tonight is because what you describe as the potential this could be a coded message.

what we're seeing here is language from some members of congress, from some people who are considered to be relatively main stream, within conservative politics, but we're also seeing it from movement organizers, from people who are organized, like this americans for prosperity group is a very well connected group. we have the president of that organization on the show last night. he's a former political strategist partner of ralph reed, these people, he was the campaign strategist for george bush's primary campaign, for president in 2000. these are people who are very much linked into the conservative movement. and so what i'm trying to get down to is the question of whether or not this is a deliberate coded message, whether this is sort of a dog whistle going out on the right by using specific language about nazism it as specific call for violence. >> i know this may come off as a little harsh to people, but i honestly think there is a type

of white middle aged american male, i'm a white middle aged -- i wish i was middle aged. i'm over middle age but a white male about my age who has had a kind of mental collapse. you look at the way they went after sotomayor and called her a racist. you look at them now using all these foundations and these groups, lobbyists and others pouring millions of dollars from the insurance industry and stirring up misinformed, right wing white people, not terribly bright people, the sort of people who are yelling at these meetings. there is a coded message here. and that is you have a group of people who like rush limbaugh would rather see the president and the country fail and their coded message to their own lunatic fringe is very simple. that is go for broke. when you start comparing a democratically elected president who is not only our first black president but a moderate progressive to adolph hitler you have arrived at a point where you are literally leading -- leaving a loaded gun on the table saying the first person who wants to come along and use this go ahead. be our guest. now, all these people when

something bad happens will raise their holy hands in horror and say of course we didn't mean that. we were just talking about being americans. it's american to protest. bs. they know exactly what's out there. there is a whole public there who went out and stopped up on ammunition and guns thinking obama would take their weapons. one such person shot down three policemen in pittsburgh. i'd like to know exactly what glenn beck and fox news will say the morning after someone takes a shot at our president or kills a senator or congressman. and if it's one of the people who we find a little note in their car or the literature or their television watching habits and tied to these people who are stirring the pot, or tied to these foundations that people like dick armey are running trying to use insurance company money to make the fake grass roots movement then we'll see what happens. but at that point we'll be in a new zone and it'll be too late. my warning to my old friends on the right and those who read my book "crazy for god" knows that

without the work of my father and myself there would have been no pro life movement, no religious right to be fomenting these things from. it's the same cast of characters. i came to a place in my life when i realized i had made a big mistake. now we've crossed a line into which hate has gone to a point where it is antidemocratic and anti-american. these people do not want america to succeed. they would rather see our system go down than have a black president, someone with different political views, someone appointing people like sotomayor, hispanic people, women and others. and we have arrived at a point where enough is enough. so these people are hate mongers and distributing a kind of information on two levels. one the lies about the health care system requiring euthanasia and all this nonsense. but on another level as i say leaving a loaded gun on the table, calling our president

hitler, spreading this rhetoric, spreading these lies. it isn't just a question of being bad journalists anymore. these are bad americans and they are putting all of us at risk. >> frank scheafer, author of "crazy for god" thank you very much for coming on the show. really appreciate your insight. >> thanks. coming up next we recently hosted on this show democratic member of congress who was taking a particularly pugnacious but constructive call their bluff approach to the health care fight. he is representative anthony weiner of new york and joins us next to talk about how the democrats are fighting back against the mob rule tactics they are facing. at your chevy dealer, but funds are going fast. so hurry. let us recycle your older vehicle and you could qualify for an additional $3500 or $4500 cash back on a new, fuel-efficient chevy. your chevy dealer has more eligible models to choose from. more than ford, toyota or honda. now get an '09 silverado for under eighteen-three after all offers. and get it for even less if you qualify for the cash for clunkers program. go to chevy.com for details.

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we've all seen imagery that really just shocks and surprises us and i think the best thing to do is to take that temperature down a bit. >> white house press secretary robert gibbs answering one of the many questions raised by the mob rule shutting down health care town hall meetings in many parts of the country this week. the most worrying thing about what mr. gibbs said? his use of the word "surprises." were democrats and others in favor of health care reform caught flat footed by what's happened this week? now that they've seen what they are up against advocates seem to be belatedly joining the fight. health care for america now has put out a new playbook for thwarting town hall protestors and advise health care reform advocates to contact members of congress and let them know you are coming, bring more people and arrive earlier than the other side, be more visible with signs and leaflets and locations

where tv cameras can see it, to have a plan for the media and speak with reporters, to interrupt protestors who get disruptive with prepared statements like, excuse me. i came today to listen to representative x explain how this bill is going to make health care more affordable for me. good luck with that one. they also suggest don't get in a shouting match with the protestors. to supplement these six habits of highly successful health care reform advocates, the democratic national committee has launched its own clumsily named website, setting the record straight on the special interest attack on health insurance reform. which exposes the groups behind the lies being spread about health reform right now. the democratic congressional campaign committee has also set up a website to fact check and debunk health care myths. health care myths like, grass roots protestors are disrupting those town halls. or the government will encourage euthanasia. or private health care plans will be outlawed.

there is no word on whether they feel the need to debunk the health care reform will mandate sex change operations myth. i suppose it's only a matter of time for that one. august is young. joining us now is democratic new york congressman anthony weiner who had his own health care town hall at a senior center yesterday. apparently minus the right wing drama. congressman, nice to see you. thanks for being here. >> my pleasure. thanks. >> i understand it was pepper steak day. that's part of the reason it went well yesterday? >> we chose the senior center because it was pepper steak day and we thought we'd get a good crowd. >> how did it go? >> it was actually fine. you know, it shows you a little bit what's different between the left and the right. we have this notion that if we talk about issues and we discuss the challenges we can reach conclusions. the other side just literally is yelling no. they do it on the floor of congress and now around town. but for the most part, you know, people have legitimate questions. these are tough issues and i feel very strongly for example i said on your show, the single payor plan like medicare for everyone. yet, still, there were seniors there who were standing up

saying i want you to leave your hands off my plan and don't touch it and by the way, i don't want the government involved and i had to remind them medicare, like 40% -- >> i don't want government involved in my medicare? >> yeah. a lot of them were reading and hearing some of the things they hear on angry, shouting radio shows and they were parroting them back. frankly i don't mind a good give and take at a town hall meeting. frankly town hall meetings i always tell my audiences and staff i want people to hear what their neighbors are thinking as well. and we basically had that the other day. there was almost, you know, you read about this in "the new york post" so by nature you can't believe what you read. they were genuinely crushed that there wasn't more angry shouting but people do have questions. >> you know, people have

questions. people have disagreements. people sometimes have very sharp disagreements. and there are often in american politics and in all politics myths about what's actually being proposed and what's not. that all seems normal. what doesn't seem normal to me is the effort to stop the debate. not to make one side of the debate loud or dominant but rather stop the debate from happening. the reason i wanted to talk to you is i feel you are a strategic thinker on policy issues like this particularly on health care. what's the advantage to the other side of just stopping the ability to talk about it? >> you know, inertia as powerful force in washington. change is very difficult when you're dealing with institutions like the insurance lobby and their wholly owned subsidiary the republican party. it's always easier to stand in the way of doing something than it is to do something. so i think the republicans have made the analysis that if we can just stop the governing party, the democrats from getting anything done, then we'll be okay. the problem is we're paying more taxes because they're going to the insurance companies. we're running higher debts and

deficits because of the high cost of health care. so all the things they claim to be against we're trying to solve here. so sooner or later those two conflicting views will come into sharp focus but i think the american people are in the position, most of them, they want to solve problems and i think ultimately democrats will be rewarded but this is tough sledding in large part because the republicans and the conservative right have a much easier job. they literally just have to stand in front of us and yell at the top of their lungs and will have succeeded with their day's event. that's going to be difficult for us. >> very briefly, we are sort of out of time, but do you think that this is something that can be fought shouter to shouter? should there be people turning up at the meetings they know are going to be contentious to be contentious on the other side. >> i think having a good debate benefits people like me who have an idea we want to get out like the need to extend medicare to everyone. i think president obama's plan needs a little explaining. the only way to do it is the old democratic way. i just don't think we can be shouted down but, listen, we can shout too if we have to. i just don't think it's a constructive way to have a debate. >> thanks very much for being here. >> thank you. did you hear who waited to resign from office until a friday in august? without explaining why?

and he's leaving his senate seat immediately as soon as somebody else can be found to fill it? that's coming up next. plus, an update on the class of 2000. where did the brooks brothers rioters of the miami-dade recount in the 2000 election ever end up in this big political life anyway? you might be surprised. stay with us. (announcer) regular kool-aid. goes almost three times further than soda. kool aid. delivering more smiles per gallon. of the world's most revered luxury sedan. this is a history of over 50,000 crash-tested cars... this is the world record for longevity and endurance. and one of the most technologically advanced automobiles on the planet. this is the 9th generation e-class. this is mercedes-benz.

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so far the obama presidency

has been rather rich in action movie heroics. first, u.s. navy seal snipers rescued an american ship captain being held hostage by somali pirates. this week two american journalists held in north korea were dramatically extricated in a surprise action involving bill clinton. now today we've had news that the head of the taliban in pakistan has been assassinated by an american drone. also join bourne called and would like his plot lines back. first it's time for a couple holy mackerel stories. a couple days ago on this show we drew a parallel others have drawn as well between the corporate funded republican staffed pr operation riling up mobs to heckle and harass members of congress at town hall events at these recess rallies and the mother of all manufactured fake grass roots demonstrations of this young century, the infamous brooks brothers riot which managed to halt the miami-dade recount following the presidential election in 2000. now, i raise the spectre of the brooks brothers riot as a historical analogy as a reminder this type of tactic has been

used before and to great effect. what i didn't realize at the time is that the brooks brothers rioters are more than just an analogy here. the brooks brothers rioters and the professionals orchestrating recess rallies now are connected. here's how. at the time many of the brooks brothers rioters were republican staffers working in the house and senate. some of them still are. others have gone into the private sector. one of them is now an immigration judge. one of them is named tom pyle. he had worked for indicted republican congressman tom delay and then a few months after he and his pals pretended to be ordinary outraged citizens demanding an end to the recount mr. pyle went to work for coke industries as a director of federal affairs. he has since left and is now president of the energy for energy research. this is matt schlap. he went from fake outraged citizen rioter in miami to work

at the bush white house for a while and then he got a new gig as the executive director of federal affairs for coke industries. huh. coke industries is the largest privately held oil company in this country. the co-owner of coke industries is david coke, the 19th richest person in the world. he also happens to be the national chairman of americans for prosperity, which is one of the groups organizing these recess rallies. coke industries is also funded freedom works which is another recess rally organizer. who knew the organized efforts to take over town halls and chase congressmen through parking lots would also serve as a brooks brothers riot alumni meet and greet? what a tremendous coincidence. finally, a bit of political mystery tonight. republican florida senator mel martinez who said last year he would not seek re-election waited until today, a friday afternoon, to make a completely unexpected announcement. he is resigning now. he is resigning before his term ends in the end of 2010. this was his explanation. >> this is a free country. people in florida elected me. this is of my own free will. >> that's the explanation?

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one of the weirdest almost pop cultury small details about how the bush administration started the iraq war was that deck of cards. you remember that? saddam of course with the ace of spades. the ace of cubs was kuse. the ace of hearts was as son ude. the decks go for about $1.20 on ebay right now. the pentagon made the deck of cards because apparently they had at least 52 names on their most wanted list at the start of the iraq war. well, we've also got a most wanted list for the war that we're not officially fighting right now in pakistan. officially pakistan is our ally and they're a sovereign country and they're against us using our armed flying robots, those pilotless drones to shoot missiles into their territory. unofficially the u.s. is said to have a most wanted list, an imaginary deck of cards if you will, of about 20 names of al qaeda and taliban leaders they are trying to kill in pakistan. and i say kill deliberately, not

capture, since officially we have no troops in pakistan and drones don't exactly arrest people. well, in may of last year something strange happened with a guy who was on that most wanted list. it's reported that he was from pakistan's perspective the single most wanted man in that country. i don't know where the u.s. ranked him on our list but he had a $5 million american bounty. his name is baitullah mehsud, about my age born in 1974, short, diabetic, apparently charismatic and the head of the taliban in afghanistan. he was blamed for assassinating benazir bhutto. he was that government's terrorist enemy number one. last may mr. mehsud called a press conference at his house in a huge one fingered salute to everybody trying to kill him mr. mehsud bussed reporters to his house, fed them a big meal and announced he was declaring jihad against u.s. troops in afghanistan.

live and in person in front of reporters. while there is a $5 million bounty on his head. confident? you bet. stupid? yeah, maybe. we're now learning that the u.s. military appears to have killed baitullah mehsud with one of those drone missile strikes. u.s. officials aren't confirming it but pakistani government sources say he was killed on wednesday. they say they've verified it with family members and they say there were eyewitnesses at his burial which is about a half mile from where the drone fired missile landed. joining us now is a journalist who spent two years as a freelance journalist in pakistan traveling through some of the most dangerous areas of the country and meeting with senior members of the taliban including some who had direct contact with baitullah mehsud. on my summer vacation this year i was completely taken by his new book about those experiences called "to live or to perish forever, two tumultuous years in pakistan." thanks very much for joining us. >> thanks for having me on, rachel. >> you met with senior taliban leaders who had direct contact

with baitullah mehsud. how did they regard him? what kind of role did he have? >> well, you know, i met most of the senior taliban leaders in late 2007, the fall of 2007, including the chieftain of the taliban and he was kind of regarded as someone who everyone looked up to. everyone knew he had more suicide bombers than anyone else. he had more support. he had more troops. he was just kind of this figure lording over south waziristan. he hadn't really burst onto the stage quite yet. >> pakistan blamed the assassination of benazir bhutto on mehsud. i don't know. while he may very well have done it, in your book you say that you found pakistan's public evidence against him in that case a little less than convincing. can you explain? >> it was my personal belief he was responsible but by the same token the way the government tried to prosecute the case against him was very hasty and was a little bit sloppy and they apparently intercepted a phone

call between baitullah mehsud and one of his deputies in which they were congratulating one another on benazir's assassination. a young, enterprising journalist went to the alleged spot the conversation took place, busted out a cell phone and found there was no cell phone coverage on the top of that hill, thus undermining the government's case a bit. i still think all fingers point to him but it was just evidence of the way that the government sometimes is in such a rush to pin blame rather than letting a prosecutable case develop. >> as somebody who controlled 10,000 or 20,000 troops as somebody who was the proclaimed head of the taliban in pakistan, if he is, in fact dead, do you think it will affect the war american troops are fighting in afghanistan? >> a great question. i don't think it will have that much of an impact on what troops are seeing in afghanistan because baitullah mehsud had really turned his guns against the pakistani state. with 20,000 fighters i'm sure there's a large fraction that were traveling across the border

and fighting against americans in afghanistan but they really had, i mean, the focus of their jihad had become against the pakistani state and less against nato and u.s. forces in afghanistan. >> well, the goal of u.s. troops in afghanistan is supposedly sort of nation building right now. they describe it as counterinsurgency but essentially it's to make the government control more of the country and have loyalty of the citizens. that is also sort of the goal of u.s. policy in pakistan right now that the u.s. would like pakistan to be accountable for what happens within its borders and they'd like to get some of these they consider to be lawless areas under control. does northwest pakistan, the sort of lawless of all lawless areas, most lawless of all lawless areas, get more governable or less with baitullah mehsud gone from the region? >> that's a great question. i think that it doesn't really make that much of a difference in the very short term. no matter what, the government isn't going to be able to implement development programs in south waziristan now that baitullah mehsud is gone.

there is going to be an interesting power struggle that develops amongst his deputies and lieutenants over who is going to take over for him. i think this is going to be the true test kind of of the symbolic and meaning of his death is whether someone with a big name, a household name, taliban leader steps into that role or whether it's someone that's close to baitullah but a little less well known. in that case, i think we could see the potential fate of the pakistani taliban be something akin to that of al qaeda in iraq after the death of zarkawi where, sure, it continues but never with the same vigor he brought to the organization wouldn't that be nice. sorry. briefly it sounds like you're saying that the taliban, we don't necessarily know them to be an organization that can be decapitated. we expect somebody to step in to be responsible for leading his fighters. it's just a matter of who. is that how you see it? >> the pakistani taliban are really a collection of gangs and he was the overlord of all of these gangs.

and he was logistically and in a spiritual sense the head but i think someone will step into that role. you know, the taliban are by their nature sort of a regenerative militia so you kill one and create five more. still, this is a major symbolic victory for most pakistanis and the u.s. >> author of the book "to live or perish forever, two tumultuous years in pakistan" which i enjoyed very much on my vacation and highly recommend. thanks for writing the book and being on the show tonight. >> thanks, rachel. coming up on "countdown" keith olbermann talks to our friend melissa harris-lacewell about the lobbyist organized town hall protests and the specter of political terrorism in this country.

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there was a really great piece of local journalism that happened yesterday in green bay, wisconsin. home of the mighty packers, the paper company and a tv reporter named christopher engebretson who works for nbc channel 26. democratic congressman steve kagin held a town hall meeting on health care that not surprisingly turned nasty. rather than just reporting on

the nastiness as a kinetic event, look, motion, he paid attention to who exactly was disrupting the event and why. he stuck around afterwards to ask those folks why they were being that way in the meeting and what their views were and in one case he got on the google machine to find out whether these folks disrupting the meeting were really who they said they were. check it out. >> heather blish is another one who stood out and introduced herself as just a mom from a few blocks away not affiliated with any political party. later i tried to ask her if anyone sent her here. >> no. i was not influenced. i'm not a member of the republican party. i have not paid my dues to the republican party for two years. i left the party. >> her page shows something different. she was the vice chair of the republican party until last year and worked on the john gar campaign who ran unsuccessfully last year and says she is part of the republican party for kagin's district as well as the

republican party wisconsin and the republican national committee. again, blish introduced herself as just a mom with no political affiliation with any party. >> tada! journalism. congratulations to that reporter from that local station in green bay for going the extra step for finding out what was behind the incivility in his town rather than covering it like a ping pong match. the supposed mom from down the block who was berating the congressman turns out she's a republican party official who worked for the candidate who lost to the congressman she was berating. also, patients united now, which promises you that they're people just like you standing up to the big companies and lobbyists on health care reform, they're really americans for prosperity, offices on "n" street in washington, d.c. funded by the largest oil company in the united states. mob scenes at town hall tea party events that the republican party chairman says have nothing at all to do with republicans

party chairman says have nothing at all to do with republicans that aren't being promoted by -- and aren't being promoted by them in any way? we have the mob rule, shut it down, screaming, don't talk about health care mobs and we have sarah palin, the now unemployed former vice presidential candidate and former alaska governor, who turned to her facebook page today to add this to our national conversation about reforming our health care system. she said, quote, the america i these are political attacks that are not based about health care at all. if is this is about the issue of

what to do with health care, we would have a disagreement about what to do with health care. instead, we have fact free paranoia and rage being stoked to the point where it stops all discussion. here's a case in point. the idea that health care reform is a super slam to kill old people. a claim that got an even crazier than usual on the facebook page of the former governor of alaska, sarah palin shechlt wrote, "the america i know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with downs sin drol have many to stand in frond of obama's death panel so his bureaucrats can decide based on a subject ive judgment of their level of productivity in society whether they are worthy of health care. such a system is downright evil. i actually agree. wait until all the people in the obama death panel. there is no plan to kill off people who aren't productive

enough. there's no plan to kill off any of sarah palin's children. and if we were actually talking about health care instead of waddling through this free floating factless partisan rage and corporate open tunism, it would occur to someone to notice that provision being considered by congress that has sarah palin ranting about obama death panels and the death of her own children was introduced by republican senator johnny isaacson of georgia. it's not about killing old people. it's about making it easier for old people to create living wills. a similar provision was introduced by another senator. this is a republican idea. you know what? it's a good idea. living wills are a good idea. it's the way you say what you want to happen at the end of your life, whatever that is. you want heroic measures taken, great. say it. so that nobody can say, that's not what you would have wanted. that's what a living will is. you don't have to have one. but if you want to have some say over what happens at the end of your life, it is a good idea. it certainly a bipartisan idea.

it's a patient's rights idea and never controversial in the 20-plus years the united states government has been formally encouraging it of its citizens. instead of debating that actual policy, we get this -- >> republicans have a better solution that will not put seniors in a position of being put to death by their government. >> a lot of people are going to die. this program of government option is going to kill people. >> this started on the cook job fringe. it now seeped into mainstream talking points against health care reform. when you hear it's euthanasia, when you hear the government trying to determine your end of life care, that's wrong. it's completely made up, out of whole cloth in order to scare you. it has nothing to do with the actual policy that's being considered. we're not actually having a debate about health policy in this country. we're not even having a debate

about health care. this is fact free. it's just politics. and so getting across real facts now in this environment is in part a test of our media and of the reasonable ones among our politicians to communicate about actual facts and actual policy over this deafening, deafening, deafening racket. it's the chevy open house. and now, with the cash for clunkers program, a great deal gets even better. let us recycle your older vehicle, and you could qualify for an additional $3500 or $4500 cash back... on top of all other offers.. on a new, more fuel efficient chevy. your chevy dealer has more eligible models to choose from - more than ford, toyota, or honda. so save gas... and money... now during the chevy open house. go to chevy.com for details. (announcer) introducing new tums dual action. this tums goes to work in seconds

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>> a company called moon publicity wants to put row botsz on the moon that will carve your logo directly on to the lunar surface. the cost to secure a prime spot on the moon, $700,000. madison avenue, we have a problem. one small step for robot, one giant leap for weak. next, the dallas cowboys have a fancy $1.1 billion stadium. and if you're super fancy enough to sit in one of the super fancy luxury boxes, you could order up a super fancy pizza for $60. for pizza! who's eating this stuff? j.r. ewing? ro who is running the concessions, enron. in brazil, a group is trying to get people to save water.

so they produced this tv ad which says don't use the toilet, use the shower. now i'm for water conservation as much as the next guy, but -- no. no. and i like cartoons. weak. >> if anybody gets their own shower, absolutely. absolutely. >> kent, quick cocktail moment for you. there is an xbox 360 up on ebay right now. put up by an alberta canada native named david mole. autographed by sarah palin. yeah. the description says one of a kind item before her expected run for president of the united states in america in 2012. you don't get the game cds or the controller. just the signed x box. there it is. giant autograph. starting bid, $1,100,000. does that come with or without the desk snanl. >> very good point. i'll check.

thanks, kent v a great weekend. >> thank you at home for watching. we'll see you back here on monday. i believe if i had ten talented models we could turn fashion on its head. >> it sure seemed like a great opportunity. >> my land, my passion. >> win a reality show. be a star. but this contest had a hitch. >> let's go play games. >> and they say the host had issues. >> he was trying to sleep with people. >> i wanted to pack my bags and leave. >> was anything real about this reality show? >> everything started to unrolf. >> dateline launched an investigation. >> and now the host is speaking out. >> everybody else is lying and you're telling the truth? reality undercover.

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