we'll go looking for what went wrong. and has the high profile fight over health care overshadowed some good economic news? federal reserve chairman ben bernanke said we're on the cusp of economic growth. does the president deserve credit he's not getting right now? that's in "the politics fix" tonight. finally, i was in the zinger's seat on "the colbert report." let's watch. >> why not a documentary about the bushes? they have two presidents, man. >> because i want some ratings. that's why i'm having a kennedy documentary next thursday night and not a bush documentary. we'll have more -- just kidding. we'll have more of that on the steve colbert report coming up on "hardball." we'll give you a good look at what happened. we begin tonight with the pushback by former bush administration officials who are

sending out word denying that they tried playing politics with those terrorism alerts in order to win re-election for george w. bush in 2004. well, the two men who tom ridge said pressed for an elevated threat level, josh ashcroft and donald rumsfeld, they refused to comment themselves but left it to their flacks, if you will, to dispute ridge's version of events. ashcroft's spokesman said this, didn't happen. now would be a good time for mr. ridge to use his emergency duct tape. that's pretty snarky. rumsfeld's spokesman implied it was about the selling of books. the story line advanced by his publisher seemingly to sell copies of the book is nonsense t would seem reasonable for senior officials to discuss the threat level. we're not here going over what the so-called story line put out by publishers. we're quoting directly from ridge's book, and we'll continue to do so. we have an advance copy, sir. former bush chief of staff andy card denied the politicization. we bent over backwards repeatedly and with great

discipline to make sure politics did not influence any national security or homeland security decision. that was what card said. and he's fairly credible that fellow. the clear instructions were to make sure politics never influenced anything. that's andy card's view. bush's form he homeland security adviser in the white house fran townsend was on the air saying i'm a little mystified. never did i see any political influence exerted on the cabinet secretary. let's bring in pennsylvania governor ed rendell who knows tom ridge quite well. what do you make of this, governor? it seems to me your predecessor in office has come out almost like the whistle-blower in the insider case with the tobacco companies and said, look, here, these quotes are pretty dramatic, governor. they're right from the book. he said when i wonder when i sat in the meetings in the weekend before the election in 2004 whether this was about security or about politics. it seemed possible to me and to others around the table, this is

when they're talking about what to do about the security threat, that something could be afoot other than simple concern about the country's safety. governor? >> well, first of all, tom -- i have been in politics 33 years, as you know, chris, and tom ridge is as decent and honorable a person that i have met in politics. notwithstanding his being part of the republican party, it amazes me, but he's a decent and honorable person. he's telling the truth here and it's clear, it is absolutely clear from the time bin laden made his statement, i said back in '04 and i got in trouble for it that bin laden was trying to help bush win the election by raising the specter of terrorism with three days to go. so did the bush people. they wanted to take advantage of this. i have no doubt that attorney general ashcroft and secretary of defense rumsfeld went to tom ridge and said, raise the threat

level. tom ridge doesn't lie, never has, never will. number two, this is not a mark mcclellan, this is not someone who wrote a book that attacks the bush administration. if you look at the rest of the book, it's fairly benign when it comes to the bush administration. thirdly, this isn't mark mcclellan who after saying all of these bad things continued to remain as an employee of the bush administration. tom ridge left 30 days after this incident supposedly took place. so we have every reason to believe him. i'm sure he's telling the truth. the only reason that they didn't force him to raise the threat level, and by the way as tom said, not only was he against raising the threat level, but there was no one in the department of homeland security, not one person, who agreed that the threat level should be raised because of this. the only reason they didn't raise it was because they thought it might backfire. >> did you ever get this sense as chief executive of pennsylvania when you were getting the word on these alerts, these code yellows, code oranges as they proceeded up the line, did you ever get the sense there was politics behind them? >> not so much politics, chris, but we were mystified because the underlying facts as much as they would divulge to us didn't seem to justify the ups and

downs of the threat levels. in fact, we used to on occasion joke about it. but i wasn't sure that politics were involved, but i know that bin laden delivered that message because he wanted to influence the election and he wanted to help bush because george bush was the greatest recruiter around the world that al qaeda ever had. >> yeah, you think -- do you think osama bin laden was in league with the republicans in the oddest way in a sense? let me ask you to repeat what you just said. i agree with you, by the way. i think they loved having bush as president. explain why you think so. >> i said this and i got all sorts of grief for it. osama bin laden is a smart guy. we have to grand him that. he knew by saying this three days before the election it would raise the specter of terrorism and he knew that that was bush's strong suit. it was in fact the only arrow bush had left in his quiver at that time and he knew exactly what he was doing. he was trying to help bush because george bush and his

policies were the greatest recruiter that al qaeda had. not just in iraq, but all over the globe. >> okay. congratulations, governor. i think i'm missing the other half of you. you have lost so much weight. you look so good. you're going to live to be 100. >> mike huckabee. >> i hope you make it to 100. thank you very much governor ed rendell of pennsylvania who is on one of the meanest damn diets i have ever seen in my life. you will look good in ocean city this weekend. let's go to joan walsh of salon and ron reagan of air america radio. let me go to you joan and your thoughts on this. it seems to me you must be somewhat sanguine about reading the other side of the ideological argument has been caught with an insider blowing the whistle as loud as i can imagine. the secretary of homeland security himself is saying that in the interests of politics, the people around the table the weekend before the 2004 election were playing politics to get their guy re-elected so they could keep their jobs. >> it's completely believable, and liberals are saying it that

summer and they were laughed at, they were mocked. he also admits that they raised the threat level and talked about the great presidency of george bush right after john kerry accepted the nomination in boston that year. so they really did orchestrate -- they used terror to scare people. they used terror to diminish kerry. i remember john kerry had to come out and smack howard dean, who was telling the truth about this that they were politicizing the terror warnings, because he didn't want to be seen as some kind of left wing lunatic. this is what they did all along, going back to october 2002. they had to have the authorization to use military force right before those midterm elections. they had to do that. they used politics all along. tom ridge is an honorable man. i'm glad he's finally telling the truth. >> ron reagan, thanks for coming back. it seems to me this is the line that jumped out at me. you know how careful people are when they work in

administrations. they know cheney is coming, rumsfeld is coming. here he is saying this. there was something afoot other than simple concern about the country's safety at that table. we're talking about a video conference on the nation's security. something afoot besides security. >> uh-huh, yeah, indeed something afoot. and, you know, tom ridge has actually implied as much going back to 2005. now, the media didn't pick up on it so much then because, of course, it was just left wing lunacy i guess, but isn't it funny how left wing lunacy turns into reality after a few years. >> sometimes. >> sometimes. in this instance i think so. so, yeah, yeah, and as everybody has said tom ridge is an honorable man.

if some of these people like francis townsend want to come out and call him a lure, they're welcome to do that, but if you parse their words carefully they're also hedging a little bit. townsend said it was never mentioned in that context in her presence talking about politics and the terror alert. >> i agree with you. you don't ever say what your motive is. nobody is going to say let's gig this up so we can get our boss re-elected on tuesday. what kind of brain would say that at a meeting? but what struck me this weekend as we're getting into this weekend is the way in which these people are not really denying what ridge said. ridge says there was politics around that table and it was push backed effectively by him. dan bartlett and the others went along with it. they didn't try to push this thing. did you notice it's the flacks coming out and denying it, not the principals. ashcroft's name has been taken in vain.

rumsfeld's name has been brought up. he's been accused of playing politics yet he doesn't come forward. ashcroft doesn't come forward. when do you leave office and stop having spokespeople? do you continue to have them like an aura? does it just stay around you? there's like an array of spokespeople floating around. >> butlers. >> do you have a spokesperson, joan, that could speak for you or do you want to speak for you. >> i'll send in my spokesperson next week. >> these guys have people that are out there playing their anti-aircraft guns rather than speaking for themselves when their honor is at stake. your thoughts. why they do it that way? >> couple things, i think they're trying no the to dignify tom ridge with the decency of refuting him themselves. he was perceived as not entirely a team player. he was always perceived as a little too liberal for that administration, so i think they're kind of in a way snubbing him by sending their spokespeople, their butlers, their man servants out to smack him. and, you know, it's not working. he is a person as governor

rendell said, that has a lot of integrity. i don't know -- i wish he'd said something a little bit earlier, but, you know, he expresses such regret in the book as well that your heart kind of goes out to him. he knew he was doing the wrong thing and he left. >> walsh, i love it when you don't like somebody. you accuse them of being british. you accuse them of having a butler. your ultimate putdown. you guy with a butler. >> oh, lots of people have butlers. >> i know how you think. ron reagan, your thoughts on this having experience with this. it seems to me you have a fight going on here, but it does remind me of that russell crowe part in the tobacco industry case. where somebody on the inside knows what happens and the other guys on the inside aren't as willing to be as outspoken as he. >> we've had a string of people on the inside of the bush administration coming forth for years and telling us some things. it's not a one day wonder. this is serious business. we're talking about the national security of the national security and the fact that it

was being politicized. people were being terrorized, no pun intended, by these terror alerts for no good reason other than to put george bush back in the white house. and that -- i don't know if it's strictly speaking illegal or not, but it sure is wrong. >> i would call it -- i would in fact call it terrorism. they were trying to terrorize people in supporting the president literally. it's so wrong. it's so wrong and it should not be lost in this kind of he said/she said debate. >> in that incident the weekend before the election in 2004 and the question whether they go from yellow to orange, tom ridge stopped them from doing it. thank you very much joan walsh. again, ron reagan. when we return, what was it like inside the defense department while all this was going on? we'll bring in u.s. congressman joe sestak, a democrat running for the senate in pennsylvania. he'll talk about what it was like to have all those codes flashing in their face with some politics behind it and getting

people all gigged up to vote republican. we'll be right back. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. coming up, president obama's

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call or click today. welcome back to "hardball." we're continuing to discuss the charge made by former homeland security secretary tom ridge. just out in a new book coming out in two weeks, the top bush administration officials including secretary rumsfeld and john ashcroft, the attorney general, tried to politicize the national threat alert on the weekend before the 2004 bush re-election. u.s. congressman joe sestak joins us from philadelphia. you were admiral in the navy working at the pentagon at the time. what do you make of this? this is in the book, by the way. it's not put out by some publicist.

it's in the text of the book. tom ridge, former u.s. congressman, former combat veterans of vietnam, all kinds of awards as a warrior, he's real. what do you make of this? >> he is real, and this is a disappointment, that the security of the united states can become a political football is unacceptable. on the bigger picture, when you see that we have had an administration that politicized everything from attorney general's elections over to intelligence and the selection of it to go into a war, you begin to understand rapidly why, one, people really do believe even if they don't know tom ridge, why this is probably true, and, second, why so many have lost faith in washington, d.c., and their politicians. where principle is after politics. >> do you have a sense as a military guy and as a political i go now how politics does play in wartime?

i mean, this is a general question. i mean, presidents have to win re-election. they have to win wars at the same time. how do they keep them separate? >> it's pretty tough, i'll be honest with you. in the military we just like to take orders. but i will say this, that during the rumsfeld regime, and i have respect for a lot of -- a couple of the things that donald rumsfeld said, that there was such a difference in how he actually went about his business that i actually stated that he really stole the ward room. that is, you as a military officer understood there was a belief, and i'm not saying on politics of winning president bush's next election, but there was a line of thought to where mr. rumsfeld wanted to go, and if you differed in your opinion and you were trying to get to the next step up there, he not only, which was very unusual, interviewed two stars and three stars as they wanted to go to the third star rank, which is not uncommon to the fourth star, but not that junior two and three star level, that you knew

there had begun to be a bit more personal politicalization of the military. that is very unhealthy. so leadership of our civilians never to put politics into a security issue actually was there to a bit when i was in the military. >> was this your accusation that the bush administration played politics down the line? they were interfering with the war left to play their political games and achieve their own personal agendas? >> my take is the bush administration and its civilian leaders wanted to do things. for example, there was a belief in their mind that we had to have this war with iraq, and in a sense those that might have brokered a difference at least at the very -- near the top, i believe that to some degree the ability to provide that judgment, the environment to provide that judgment was absent. it was a pretty tough crowd that

came in the administration of president bush and took over in the defense department, and while i have respect for them, i did not agree with the tone of unwillingness to broker differences of opinion that often happened. and no one trusted more junior officers in that climate. this situation with tom ridge, this is really politics about winning a political campaign and since i have been in politics, and i'm not saying it's only republicans, chris, people believe winning is more important than public service at times. i really think that washington forgets this to a large extent where principles should be triumphing over political calculations. it just doesn't enough. >> congressman, you've probably been in rooms where you have had other people at the table or maybe in the congress where you looked around the table and had

a sense that's some people at yyyyyyythe table who had a hidden agenda that began to show itself. i think the phrase is you're tanked, you're bought out by an industry or something. i just saw this movie "in the loop" about the war in iraq and how the war seemed to get around we're going to war with iraq. it became the line. if you broke from it, you were in trouble but you could never find out where it became the line. i once asked secretary rumsfeld along the lines we're talking, did the president ever ask you if we should go to war with iraq and he said he never asked me. it's not a funny question. they always knew they were in league. there was an unspoken decision somewhere in the brain, the combined brain of the bush administration on all these levels that everything was about politics, everything was about going to war with iraq, and it was all about justifying this administration that we just got rid of basically to go to war and do its thing, and it seems to be hearing the words of tom ridge who wasn't in the loop saying there seem to be something afoot in the meetings about whether to establish a higher alert level that didn't have to do with the country's safety. in other words, he senses around

the table there's some political stuff going on, and i just wonder how it works inside the top. you have been pretty close up there. >> well, in the pentagon general sheldon was chairman of the joint chiefs of staff used to hand out a book called "dereliction of duty," it was about vietnam. he wanted every officer to understand never again should you not speak your mind because you can serve your nation ill as happened during vietnam. somehow that was lost, i think, to some degree among our more senior leaders when the rumsfeld crowd came in. it was harsh when they came in. they let it be known there was a way, and as i said they actually appointed a former retired officer to interview before mr. rumsfeld did, which had never been done before, two stars about to go to three stars, and my belief is in the military and it's why i was registered

independent, if there's anything that should be nonpartisan, it's that, and in this case with tom ridge to actually fool around with the highest constitutional duty of the president, security of america, and whether you can truly believe it because how you know they have done other types of politicalization means that washington really does need to change, and i have grave concerns over that. >> thank you. u.s. congressman joe sestak. he's running for the united states senate. up next, some odd ball moments from my appearance on "the colbert report." that's up next on the "sideshow" only on msnbc.

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back to "hardball." time for the "sideshow." i went up to new york last night to appear on "the colbert report," and to talk about next thursday's "hardball" documentary which is going to be at 7:00 eastern next thursday on this channel, the kennedy brothers. i tried pointing out the many accomplishments of this remarkable family. let me just state a couple things people forget, little things ted kennedy did. if you're between 18 and 21 you get to vote because of ted kennedy. he changed -- >> he did that. >> he did that. if you are a woman athlete, my wife played tennis at stanford, if you're a woman athlete, she was on the varsity tennis team. she had to pay for all the road trips. women athletes were treated like dirt. today because of title 9, because of ted kennedy, women hawomen athletes have equal treatment in schools. these are little things. >> so we can thank him for much fitter women. >> if you're looking at it that way. >> i always look at it that way. why not a documentary about the bushes? they have two presidents, man. >> because i want some ratings. >> that is bold. that is refreshing.

>> believe me, it's not just about ratings. like many people, not just of my generation, i'm deeply interested in jack, bobby, and ted kennedy. and their impact on this country and its policies. more out of right field talk about health care. yesterday in a radio interview senator demint told us what he's been hearing from his people. >> probably the most heart wrenching experiences i have had over the last several days is when naturalized american citizens who have immigrated here from germany, iran, and other countries, they come up to me and they say why are we doing what so many have fled from? why don't americans see what we're doing, and i have realized these people who have lived under socialist type economies and totalitarianism, they know where we're head if we don't turn things around. >> the way this guy talks, recent immigrants from germany and iran?

so what does angela merkel and her conservative country have to do with ahmadinejad and iran? is this just a general attack on other countries? time now for tonight's "big number." cash for clunkers is that rare government program that's almost too success. the program will have to end this monday because it's running out of money. there's no doubt it had a good run. how many americans so far have filed claims for that $4,500 perhaps in rebates after trading in their old car for a more fuel efficient car? well, 457,000, almost half a million cars, half a million americans with a weekend to go. the government gets almost half a million cars off the lot. cars are moving off that lot. that's tonight's "big number." up next, after a nearly flawless presidential campaign, what went wrong with president obama's sales job? you have to call it that. of his health care reform plan. what's going wrong. we have pat buchanan joining us. and the brilliant willie brown

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hurricane bill weakens toe a category two as it brushes past bermuda. there's a $25,000 reward to help track down ryan jenkins. he's suspected of killing his ex-girlfrie ex-girlfriend. he's believed to have fled to canada. at the federal reserve's annual conference in wyoming, chairman ben bernanke said economic activity appears to be levels out. he says prospects are good for a return to growth in the near future.

stocks surged to new highs for the year. the dow jones industrials are up almost 156 points, the s&p 500 gained 18 and the nasdaq added 1. now back to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." charles cook, who studies elections and makes predictions sometimes based on history, said the situation for this president has gotten completely out of control. the president and the congressional democrats are in big trouble right now. we've got all kinds of new abc poll numbers coming in we can share with you right now

tonight. right now just 46% of the country approves of the president's job, the job he's doing on health care. 50% now disprove. in other words, he's in the trouble area right now. that's a flip from a month ago when 49% approved and 44% didn't. these are marginal shifts, but they're definitely going in one direction, down. half the country opposes what president obama and the democrats want to do with health care, by the way, as they understand it. that's the caveat. the country is almost evenly split in support for a public health option, in other words having a public plan to compete the private insurance companies. it was once 2 to 1 in favor of such a plan. so what's going on? what happened to the president who was so politically brilliant during the campaign last year, didn't make a mistake? pat buchanan is from the right obviously.

msnbc's political analyst. and mayor willie brown of san francisco, the former speaker of the california assembly, he's joining us right now. i want mayor brown to come in here. i haven't heard from you lately. is the president too wonky? does he lack heart in saying what he really believes in or what he really believes in, meaning health care for everybody i assume, won't that sell with the middle class who already have health insurance? what's going on here? what's not working? >> unfortunately, this is a different kind of president. this is a new politician on the block. he really says what he means. he really believes that health care should be done in a manner inconsistent with what obviously the nation is ready to succeed, ready to receive. i would guess that barack obama will sell his concept of health care. it's just that he's permitted five different congressional proposals to be out there. they've created confusion all over the lot. believe me, if you don't start out by saying i am not going to touch your health care, certainly not at the expense of insuring the 43 to 46 million people who do not have insurance, i'm going to expand your health care. i'm going to make it less expensive for you and then i'm going to address the issue of other people's needs. when he does that, barack obama will be back on track. >> are you suggesting that what he has to do is fix the current system now and say next year or

sometime in the near future we will get to expanding health care to those who don't have it? are you suggesting a two-part plan? >> that is exactly what he is going to have to do, and as a matter of fact, it's even going to be hazardous under the circumstances to achieve that goal, but it can be achieved. >> pat, do you think that's a fallback position for him to take? in other words, fix the situation most people in the middle class face. they've got some kind of insurance, but it doesn't cover pre-existing conditions and they do have health problems they worry about. it doesn't cover them if they lose their job. >> portability. >> portability. it deals with those things, but it doesn't try to expand coverage to all the millions of people, whether it's 15 million if you count it one way or 46 million if you count it another way, who don't have it now. can he do it two step?

>> i think that's the only option he's got because he's not going to get that big program right now. i think take the elements of it that both parties support, majorities of both parties support, enough to get it through, and go ahead and do it. the problem is he starts off would you like to have a public option? sure, everybody. would you like to have universal coverage? everybody always loves that. when you put this big huge, complex, contradictory thing out there, controversial thing out there, republicans hit it, the blue dogs hit it, everybody hits it, and all of a sudden people become aware of the specifics they don't like. it's been going down ever since, and now he's at a point, chris, where i think he has got to do just what you're saying because he's not getting that big thing through. one of the problems, what is obama's specific health care program? you have steny hoyer and pelosi. we're not giving you anything but the public option. the blue dogs saying you put that in there, it's done. >> mr. brown, can the president do what you say he has to do with his democratic party left?

will they allow him to move slowly now rather than quickly? in other words, in pieces? >> i do think they will. as a matter of fact, i think howard dean is being out there absolutely doing what he's doing helps the president because all of a sudden i think the people who rejected howard dean's leadership before will now understand, these are the people that are recommended certain things, and the president is in a different space. he's more conservative. he's more considerate. he's more measured, and keep howard dean doing what he's doing, barack obama's chances go up at being successful. >> i think that's right. he makes barack look moderate. makes barack look like a reasonable fellow who says, look, i want the public option, but i'm not going to go over the cliff because there's some things we want. do you think it's ironic, perhaps more ironic, that the performance of people at these town hall meetings, i don't mean people arguing politics, i don't think people arguing about policy are ever out of line,

people bringing guns. chuck grassley said people on the far right who are really, really angry give this president some moving room. he can go back to his left and say, look at this country. i can never move the middle in this environment. >> well, i think he can play off the right politically, but i think a terrible mistake has been made. chris, when you get one florida congressman, you get 1,000 people come out three times in one day -- >> i agree. there's two different groups. >> these people are upset, they're concerned. it's too complex for them. >> i don't think people should bring guns to -- >> i don't think anybody should bring an armed rifle to a public meeting, and that's very offensive. there's no doubt about it. but i'll tell you i think the attacks on the town hall folks have been a horrible mistake because those are blue dog

voters. >> your thoughts, mayor brown. just re-emphasize what you think the president ought to do. >> i think the president has to make it clear that neither of the five plans floating around in congress in any fashion is barack obama's. he said at the outset, i'm not going to do what hillary clinton did. i'm not going to present you with the whole series wrapped in paper and you're to say yes or no to my proposal. i'm going to let the congress produce, and i'll react to that. now, it's clear in every's mind if barack obama does what he's capable of doing, holds a speech in which we all pause, all channels and watch him and he lays out the four or five things that are possible right down the middle in america and indicates that this is the first step, barack obama will win that fight. >> he's got to do more than -- you got to do more than that.

he's laid out these things in speeches. his problem, chris, is he's going to have to bring them in and tell them, this is what we want, and this is -- you got to stop knocking these guys and you got to stop knocking those guys. this is what we want and i want it and get engaged. he's too much up there just, you know, as a teacher, something like that, an instructor. >> pat buchanan have a nice weekend. we have to go. mayor brown, i think everybody heard your thoughts, which is two-step. next thursday on this network we're going to have our premiere of our documentary on the kennedy brothers, all the kennedy brothers. that's joseph, jr., jack kennedy, bobby kennedy, ted kennedy. what an extraordinary group of brothers. we will show all of that in our documentary next thursday. let's take a look, a peek at it, and this is john f. kennedy's first run for congress. >> in 1946 29-year-old jack ran for congress from massachusetts' 11th district. cutting in front of local politicians who had been waiting patiently for the seat to open. the year before he died while beginning to dictate his memoirs, jack confessed having

been something of a carpetbagger. >> i was an outsider really. i had never lived very much in the district. my family roots were there, but i had lived in new york for ten years and on top of that i had gone to harvard. not a particularly popular institution at that time in the 11th congressional district. >> the kennedy tactics from 1946 would be used in succeeding campaigns. one was an astute use of public relations, image building. joe, sr., had been a hollywood mogul and knew how to promote. >> he basically was the one who took hollywood publicity techniques and applied them to politics. >> fortunately, joe, sr., also had a good product to sell. lieutenant kennedy had rescued his crew when his pt boat was rammed by a japanese destroyer, a story joe, sr., got reprinted in "reader's digest" and then handed out 100,000 free copies to local voters. to the amazement of many old hands, the thin, young upstart won. if you love politics and love

this country, you are going to love this hour on the kennedy brothers. it airs next thursday at 7:00 eastern right here on the place for politics, msnbc. up next, as the hot fight over health care overshadows some good economic news that just came out in the last couple of hours actually. when will president obama start getting some credit for this news? we'll have that back at you if you want to feel a little better over the weekend. that's coming up on "the fix."

let's talk about that big ridge report. boy, if tom ridge in this new book is going to make some noise over the weekend. the fact he's charging his colleagues in the bush administration with playing politics. back in a minute. announcer: what's your cialis moment?

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welcome back to "hardball." time for "the politics fix." despite heaps of criticism lately on how he's handling ba" ate pears that president obama has done a few things right. today we got a huge jump in home sales. july sales went up more than 7%. the largest monthly increase in ten years. analysts say the president's tax breaks for first time home buyers have a lot to do with that rebound. the federal reserve on another front, ben bernanke said the u.s. economy is on the verge of a recovery. the stock market rose by 150 poirnt points. we have the cash for clunkers program. nearly a half million cars sold in a couple weeks. joining me is gene cummins of the "poe llitico" and phil bron.

let me go to phil with his thoughts out there. there is some good economic news that car front with nobody said you could push cars this fast off the lots with this little break that's going to end. home sales in the 250,000 to 325,000 level which has nothing to do with the san francisco market, i assume, phil. it's doing very well. the market is up almost to 10,000 now. what's going on? is this all just a quick silver? is this not real or what? >> well, it's all real, chris. i think the issue, is you know, how is it affecting me, you know, the average citizen? because also today it was announced in california, unemployment rates at 11.9%. so the question is, how many of these programs are affecting me personally? each and every individual. or am i sitting there still thinking, a, am i going to have a job tomorrow? and, b, when are they going to get the s.o.b.s in washington who created this zaster? i think those are two questions that really need to be addressed for a bigger segment of the public than the people who cashed in clunkers. >> i think the answer to this

second is manifest. they're never going to get them. let me go to jean. your thoughts about the disconnect between -- you know, i watched cnbc all the time to get the numbers. they keep coming up. they went up 150 points today based upon fed reporting by the fact that bernanke seems to be somewhat bullish on the fact that housing is going up. people are buying houses at a certain level, the $250,000 level house. they have this moving. is this spring sprouts but we don't have a real harvest coming? >> i definitely agree with phil. those numbers are great. but the numbers that are still bad, unemployment, home foreclosures, and consumer confidence, those are all down. and they'll probably not move a whole lot more because now the unemployment rate and foreclosures are starting to feed themselves. and so for most americans, i think it looks like it's statistical recovery to them. but not real in their own lives. and until they can start to really feel that, i think that's

when obama will begin to get some credit and people will begin to have some more confidence. although, i will point out, chris in, the post survey that was released today which had a lot of news that wasn't so great for the president, he did hold steady on the stimulus, the impact of the stimulus and the economy. and so there's some notice of it out there. in a way, i think consumers are not trustful that this is a recovery that's reaching them just yet. and that's probably a good thing. the unemployment rate isn't going to recover any time soon. >> we'll come right back and tok more with phil bronson and jean coup cummings. i'm racing cross country in this small sidecar, but i've still got room for the internet. with my new netbook from at&t.

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we're back with jean cummings of the "politico" and phil bronson of the san francisco chronicle. tom ridge has his neck stuck out there right fwhou this claim in this new book coming out in a couple weeks. we have a copy of the book. he basically accuses rumsfeld. he accuses ashcroft of playing politics right there on the eve of the 2004 election. >> we're horrified and shocked, chris. that's never happened before. you know, i mean george w. bush is sort of at the center of this in a sense. cheney called him a woos not too long ago. now tom ridge is claiming the bush administration was alarmist at best and fibbing at worst. they used to say in the newspaper business back when it was a business, thank you for that, that you were getting hit

from both sides, you were doing something right. i tell you one thing that is interesting, going back to the earlier conversation about obama and message. the bush team in retirement came out with a stronger, more unified message against the ridge book today than obama has come out on health care. >> so what's the difference in the two parties? why the democrats have a problem with unity? >> well, i think that is part of the history, right? that's part of the history of democrats. it's debate. it's debate and message has always been key for republicans. although, you know, you talk about your kennedy specialist coming up. i think the kennedy's really understand message and how to stay on message. >> that's right. they sold the kennedys. let me go to jean cummings on that. your thoughts on this ridge thing. it seems to me that ridge has given a bombshell. he's given a very good argument to the democrats that politics were afoot in the whole war on terrorism going right through the 2004 election. playing the game right up under -- until the voting itself. >> well, absolutely. this is something that the democrats suspected at the time

and they'll jump on it. of course, they won't have the bushes to kick around anymore since it won't be any time soon that we're going tow to s see a one running for president. that's what you hear from the family. jeb bush is not ready to get in the game. it is a blow to the leg sieve the bush administration, you know, one more of many as these books come out, each one of them reveals something new that is devastating to that white house. >> you know, phil, just to talk about the documentary, i have to bring it up. you know we have jack kennedy, you have ever seen this tape? we dug up a tape where jack kennedy is actually talking about the fact that he was a carpetbagger when he ran in the 11th district in 1946. actually admitting that going to harvard was a problem in that district. many had never really lived in that district. i find it a very interesting message. but you don't get that in a man's lifetime, you get it afterwards. >> you know, candor is not something that usually goes together with politics. and i saw that sound bite. it was really pretty

fascinating. and i suspect pretty soon there after someone advised them to stop talking like. that. >> actually talking into a dictaphone. mr. bronsteen, i don't mean to zparnlg the newspaper business. it made you what you are. we hope it's around for 1,000 years. jean cummings, we hope that "politico" adds to print. "countdown" with keith olbermann starts right now. which of these stories will you be talking about tomorrow? the majority leader in the house bails out on four public options says steny hoir but also for passing a bill. he calls the option necessary but we'll have to see because there are many aspects of the bill as well. this 24 hours after the speaker said reform will not pass without the public option. to paraphrase churchill, if this is the blessing of brilliant

strategy in disguise, at the moment it seems quik effectively disguised. republicans like senator kyle have a new idea f the democrats kill everything, they'll gladly support nothing. >> let's start over and you'll have good, solid republican support. >> the best advice to president obama comes from the chairman of the republican national committee? go it alone? >> don't come up in my face talking about obstacles and we're blocking the process. you got the votes, mr. president. pass the bill. >> back to republican hypocrisy, astroturf group unleashes an ad bee rating president obama for taking a week off. >> but while president obama vacations, concerns mount about his health care plan. >> uh, didn't your last guy spend one-third of his presidency on vacation? >> i call upon all nations to do everything they can to stop these terrorist killings. thank you. now watch