threat level for political reasons. ashcroft's spokesman today, didn't happen. now would be time to use his emergency duct tape. legally, what, if anything, is next? analysis of jonathan turley and the "nexus of politics on terror." and surprise! she's pro-choice. michelle baughman insists you say under no certain circumstances will i give the government control over my body. all that and more now on countdown. >> i may not always get my words right. good evening from new york. democrat also are taking a hit and democrats are vas lating. signs of a senate spine emerge, the house goes soft.

stenny who ier said maybe. harry reid preparing to do what progressives hollered for, cut the republicans loose and pass public health care. reid's staff says they are possibly going to use the reconciliation posture. we will not pursue reconciliation until we exhausted efforts to produce a bipartisan bill, however, patience is not unlimited. jon kyl said he does not think a single republican senator would vote for either the house bill or the one senate bill that made it out of committee so far. after michael steele dared democrats to go it alone, taunting that their reluctance to do so prove democrats know the american people rejected their vision of health care reform.

>> don't come up in my face saying i'm an obstacle. you got the votes, mr. president, pass the bill. they could have done it. why didn't they? they know it's poisonous. they know the american people will not tolerate it. >> polls show american not even tolerating, but supporting the option. few americans supporting president obama on health care in general. 46% proving his handling of health care down 57% from april. let's turn to clarence paige, pulitzer prize winning columnist. the "wall street journal" croats an aide saying democratic statements over the weekend that led to confusion among supporters were, quote, calculated to test republican responses. is this rope-a-dope, then pass a

democratic plan with or without a single republican vote? is that what it is or are they pretending that's what it is? >> a lot of ways republicans have been doing that job for the democrats, but when i heard that statement, i was trying to read the tea leaves and wondering if the administration wasn't trying to top their own progressive wing to float that trial balloon out there to point out, to say that the public option is not potential. to say that public option is not essential, that is saying, hey, we're ready to cut this overboard if we need to in order to get a bill passed. that is a direct red flag to the progressive party. and they reacted that way this week. so i personally can't help but think they were really sending signals to their own left wing. president obama did come back and say oh, no, i'm still committed, blah, blah. he never quite said it was essential, though, that the public option stay in there. so that's negotiable point still. >> but there are only two signals to send. in the last 24 hours, the house leaders, the democratic house

leaders sent each of the signals. i mean what is steny hoyer doing? why contradict nancy pelosi publicly even if he feels the option is optional now? shouldn't he politically have the presence of mind to shut up about that? >> i think just as i mentioned kathleen sebelius sending signals to the progressive wing, i detect who i hoyer may be sending signals to the blue dog, saying that, well, regardless of what nancy pelosi says, the government doesn't necessarily have to hang on to the public option. in other words, he's playing that good cop to the moderates while nancy pelosi plays the hard-liner here in saying that we got to have it. so i think, you know, steny hoyer's job is to call the votes. he tries to pull that coalition together. this is like president obama is realizing to paraphrase will rogers, he has an organized party. he's a democrat. and traditionally they're fractious. we're seeing the results of that

in this crazy august. >> the flip side of that, here is michael steele who hasn't had a cogent point to make about the republican party since he assumed office, now gives perhaps the best piece of offense that obama has gotten yet. you know, if the democrats can pass a plan without republicans, but do not, doesn't that imply lack of confidence in the plan or acceptance of the plan? what is the reaction to that advice? >> i think what michael steele is kind of selling wolf tickets, as we say back in chicago. he is poking and provoking the democrats on that very sensitive point right now of their own fractiousness. they don't have the votes in the senate for the public option. in the house, they have a loose coalition with those blue dogs that gives them enough votes for a public option. but they couldn't have a vote right now or they would have had it. the fact that they have not got

more than one out of one bill out of several committees right now is what's put democrats on the defense right now in defending the plan while republicans can just easily say, hey this is crazy. let's stick with the status quo. >> clarence page of the "chicago tribune." thanks as always. have a great weekend. >> thank you. stay tuned. >> now with us to dig into the poll numbers we mentioned, melissa harris-lacewell, african-american studies at princeton university. professor, good evening. >> nice to be here. >> republicans are crowing about the president's loss of support about how he's handling health care. it's down 11%. the publicly released poll from abc and "the washington post," but the plug line blog reported the internals of the poll also show he is down 11% on this topic among liberals. is that not the message for the president? you know, never mind bipartisanship, you're not even getting partisanship on this now. >> i think it's more complex than that. so you have on the one hand this kind of issue-based approval

rating going down. but his personal approval rating is robust. two-thirds of americans still see president obama as someone who cares about people like them. well over 60% still see president obama as a strong leader. when george w. bush's poll ratings plummeted after hurricane katrina and through the lengthy war in iraq, what americans were saying was, please stop. take your hands off of everything. please don't do anything else. we don't trust you. what the poll ratings seem saying to president obama right now is not stop, it's do more. we trust you. we believe in you. we think that you can do this. so show us more fire, more intensity, lead us. we're ready to go. and that's a very different sort of lesson from these declining poll numbers. it's still a lesson they better learn quickly. but because it's coming from the left and because it's still connected with a strong sense of president obama as a leader, he can actually use this as a rallying moment.

>> well, is this -- does this then become one of those same difference kind of things? because he's lost support from moderates on the right and certainly independents because he did not stop the far rights in their tracks by leading, by being aggressive on this. and he lost this 11% margin on the left because he did not energize the left nor stop the right in its tracks by leading. is the problem not, though that, he's perceived as, you suggest, not being aggressive enough here? >> i don't think it's the same difference problem though. because what the party needs to be thinking about right now, particularly these congressional democrats, is what they're going to be doing in the midterm election. can they maintain the house? and, of course, that's where all the anxiety and fear on the part of congressional democrats is coming from. can they keep the house in 2010. if they recognize what is likely to happen if they pass a bill without a public option or do not pass a bill at all, what will happen is in these key places where you need folks to still have the excitement and enthusiasm of the obama

coattails, they will lose them. if they do not pass a bill with a public option, the democrats will lose the house in 2010. >> but this is now boiling down to a larger issue which is, okay, the dog has caught the automobile. what does it do with it? the new york mayor ed koch said years ago, "i'm not worried about a second term, which is probably why i will get one." the default position for politicians elected with the leadership in all three categories, all three branches of the government elected government, isn't that just do what you think is right as opposed to what you think will get you re-elected? >> certainly for president obama that's true. but one of the truisms of political science scholarship is congressmen are single minded seekers of re-election. they run so frequently in the house that they are basically always up for re-election. they're always thinking about those prospects, which is exactly why this is where obama's leadership matters. he should take a break for a moment at the vineyard.

then he has to come right back out and say in a way that he's been sort of reluctant to do this is where we've got to go and we've got to go there now. >> melissa harris-lacewell, of princeton university, many thanks and a good weekend to you. ironically, if the plaster falls, so, too, falls one of the villains of this entire story. betsy mccaughey, fired. and the only person inside the bush administration even remotely approaching hero in terms of its exploitation of terrorism for domestic political gains is attacked by those he has ratted out, but defended by one former colleague. and defended by what we have called the nexus of politics and terror, a revised edition of which we bring you to night on "countdown." (announcer) we understand. you need to save money. are actually susceptible to irreversible damage. your teeth are no different. everyday acids can cause irreversible loss of enamel.

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entirety, "the nexus of politics and terror." tom delay lies about one of his town halls and betsy mccaughey gets fired. the last president took 1,000 days off and critics are attacking obama for nine. 33 m they never heard that. which is better than a comparable toyota camry or honda accord? they're stunned. they can't believe it. they need a minute. i had a feeling they would. there's never been more reasons to look at chevy.

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get in touch with your new cfo. pnc. leading the way. now that's progressive. call or click today. vacation may seem like an oxymoron to any commander in chief other than george w. bush considering he spent 977 days, one-third of his presidency either at or en route to camp david or crawford, texas. after an eight-year silence, the right, almost predictably, goes after president obama for taking a week off.

after a weekend retreat at camp david, he'll spend the week with his family at martha's vineyard. that is reason for the astroturf group, conservatives for pay patients' rights to release an ad mocking the president's vacation while deriding his health care plan. the seven day mrs. obama will spend on the vineyard notably shorter than the vacation time taken by his predecessors during their first years in office, bill clinton took 11 days and mr. bush took 31 days to clear brush at his texas ranch. during the first week of that vacation august 6, 2001, mr. bush was handed the infamous pdb, bin laden determined to strike in u.s. although, to be fair mr. bush did practice constraint or restraint on his vacation in 2005. he cut short that trip by two days as new orleans drowned. it was the 2002 break at kennebunkport that defined his concept of a presidential vacation. >> i call upon all nations to do everything they can to stop these terrorist killings.

thank you. now watch this drive. >> and later he gave up golf to honor the dead veterans. worse, tom delay's health care town hall from the '80s where he is disrupted by people in wheelchairs. great story except it happened in texas while he was in washington. and next, so desperate is this woman to stop reform she has gone so far as to insist the government has no right to tell her what to do with her body. isn't that the language of -- and when rachel joins you, anthony weiner, his response to steny hoyer going soft on the public option. (announcer) this is nine generations 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.

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bests in a moment. you will never believe who just declared themselves pro-choice. and donald rumsfeld tries to rebut tom ridge with defending himself with quotes from bin laden. and someone wises up and fires death panel fabricator betsy mccaughey. these stories ahead. first, best persons in the world. dateline, new york, the best continuing fraud. shawn hannity, we told you when republican congressman spencer baucus said social security faces default in two years, he said max baucus of montana and he said we may face a deficit in

two years. hannity never mentioned the correction. we thought it was just hannity stupidity. he is deliberately lying. last night he continued to repeat the quote. honestly if, the government had standards for news as stringent as it does for when you can call a beverage orange juice, fox noise would be car wash by late sunday afternoon. challiss mcaffee arrest ford taking photographs of a home then said it was part of a foreclosure investigation. when the home owner objected, pulling a .357 handgun on the man. he is not your average gun happy rube. he is a member of the aida county republican central committee, a member of the idaho state central republican committee and organizer of the idaho tea parties. and dateline in woodbury, minnesota, congresswoman

michelle bachmann. once she is clearly not through. people need to continue to go to the town halls, continue to melt the phone lines if they're liberal members of congress and let them know under no certain circumstances will i give the government control over my body. and my health care decisions. there it is, the stunning announcement from one of the most conservative members of the house of representatives. the government will have no control over her body, michelle bachmann just defended abortion and endorsed a woman's right to choose. if you think all batteries are the same, consider this:

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>> how much the principals need to deny tom ridge's revelation that he was pressured to raise the terror threat level just days before president bush was re-elected, how much they need to still push back our reporting about the nexus of terror underscored by this. in our third story, donald rumsfeld defended himself by turning to osama bin laden. in his new book, the former homeland security secretary mr. ridge writing --

"attorney general john ashcroft strongly urged an increase in the threat delve and was supported by donald rumsfeld. there was no support for that decision in our department. i wondered is this about security or politics?" mr. ashcroft saying, didn't happen. now would be a good time for mr. ridge to use his emergency duct tape. from mr. rumsfeld's office, more of an attempt in a statement that reads, a storyline seemingly to sell copies of the book is nonsense. in his defense, incredibly, rumsfeld quotes frequently and at length osama bin laden. given those facts, the statement continues as if there were facts, it would seem reasonable for senior administration officials to discuss the threat level, talking about the time before the 2004 election, it would have been irresponsible to had that discussion not taken place. all of that carefully missing the point. mr. ridge knew the discussion had to take place after a new bin laden tape was released. he writes about that at length. most notably, the timing of the tape may have been a surprise, the content was not.

from september 11, 2001, to this video broadcast, there had been nearly 20 audio and videotapes attributed to either bin laden or his lieutenant. a threatening message, audio or visual, should not be the sole reason to elevate the threat level. now reporting on this issue began in october 2005 and was inspired by remarks made the previous may by mr. ridge himself. more often than not he said to an interviewer after his resignation from homeland security, we were the least inclined to raise it. sometimes we, his department, disagreed with the intelligence assessment. sometimes we thought even if the intelligence was good, you don't necessarily put the country on alert. there were times when some people were really aggressive about raising it and we said for that? the latest revised edition now of the nexus of politics and terror. number one, may 18th, 2002, the first details of the president's daily briefing of august 6th, 2001, are revealed including its title, "bin laden determined to

strike in u.s." the same day another memo is discovered revealing the fbi knew of men with links to al qaeda training at an arizona play school. the memo was never acted upon. questions about 9/11 intelligence failures are swirling. may 20th, 2002 -- >> the terror warnings from the highest levels of the federal government -- >> two days later, fbi director mueller declares another terrorist attack is inevitable. >> tonight there are even more warnings -- >> homeland security issues warnings of attacks against railroads nationwide and against new york city landmarks like the brooklyn bridge and the statue of liberty. >> that agility that -- >> number two, thursday, june 6th, 2002 -- >> i never really anticipated this kind of impact. >> the fbi agent who tried to alert her superiors to the specialized flight training by mousoui testifies before committee.

senate intelligence committee chairman graham says rowley's testimony inspired similar pre-9/11 whistle-blowers. monday, june 10th, 2002, four days later -- >> we have disrupted an unfolding terrorist plot. >> john ashcroft reveals an american named jose padilla is arrested. accused of plotting a radiation attack in this country. padilla had already been detained more than a month. psychiatrists find padilla is so traumatized, he's no longer mentally fit to stand trial. he is nonetheless convicted of conspiracy. but he is never tried, nor even charged with any so-called dirty bombs nor with attempted terrorism in the united states. number three, february 5th, 2003, secretary state powell tells the u.s. n. security council of iraq's concealed weapons, including 18 mobile biological weapons laboratories,

justifies a u.n. or u.s. first strike. many in the u.n. are doubtful. months later, much of the information proves untrue. february 7th, 2003, two days later, anti-war demonstrations protesting the imminent invasion of iraq continue to take place around the globe. >> take some time to prepare for the emergency. >> homeland security secretary ridge cites credible threats by al qaeda and raises the terror alert level to orange. three days after that, prior administrator who had become the acting head of fema after the hurricane katrina disaster advises americans to stock up on plastic sheeting and duct tape to protect themselves against radiological or biological attack. july 23rd, 2003, the white house admits that the cia, months before the president's state of the union address, expressed strong doubts about the claim that iraq had attempted to buy uranium from niger. on the 24th, the congressional report on the 9/11 attacks is issued.

it criticizes government at all levels. it reveals that an fbi informant was living with two of the future hijackers. iraq had no link to al qaeda. 28 pages of the report are redacted. on the 26th, american troops are accused of beating iraqi prisoners. and july 29th, 2003, three days later, amid all of the negative headlines. >> word of a possible new al qaeda attack. >> homeland security issues warnings of further terrorist attempts to use airplanes for suicide attacks. december 17th, 2003, tom ridge -- thomas kean says the attacks were inevitable. then a federal appeals court says they cannot detain jose padilla indefinitely without charges and the chief u.s. weapons inspector in iraq dr. david kay who announced he found no weapons of mass destruction there announces he'll resign his post. december 21st, 2003, four days

later, the sunday before christmas -- >> today the united states government raised the national threat level. >> homeland security again raises the threat level to orange claiming credible intelligence of further plots to crash airliners into u.s. cities. subsequently, six international flights into this country are canceled after some passenger names purportedly produced matches on government no fly lists. the french later identified those matched names. one belongs to an insurance salesman from wales, another to an elderly chinese woman, the third to a 5-year-old boy. number six, march 30th, 2004, the new chief weapons inspector in iraq tells congress we have still not found any wmd in that country. and after weeks of having refused to appear before the 9/11 commission, condoleezza rice relents and agrees to testify. on the 31st, four blackwater usa contractors working in iraq are

murdered. their mutilated bodies dragged through the streets and left on public display in fallujah. the role of civilian contractors in iraq is now widely questioned. april 2, 2004 -- >> the fbi issued a new warning tonight. >> homeland security issues a bulletin warning that terrorists may try to blow up buses and trains using fertilizer and fuel bombs like the one detonated in oklahoma city. bombs stuffed into satchels or duffle bags. may 16th, 2004, secretary powell appears on "meet the press." the late tim russert closes by asking him about the enormous credibility powell placed before the u.n. in laying out a case against saddam hussein. an aide to powell interrupts the question saying the interview is over. >> i think that is one of your staff, mr. secretary. i don't think that is appropriate. >> get out of the way. >> powell finishes his answer, admitting that much of the information he had been given about weapons of mass

destruction in iraq was -- >> inaccurate and wrong and in some cases deliberately misleading. >> on the 21st, new photos showing mistreatment of iraqi prisoners at abu ghraib prison are released. on the 24th, associated press video from iraq confirms u.s. forces mistakenly bombed a wedding party, killing more than 40. wednesday, may 26th, 2004, two days later -- >> good afternoon. >> attorney general ashcroft and fbi director mueller warned that intelligence from multiple sources -- >> indicate al qaeda's specific intention to hit the united states hard. >> and that 90% of the arrangements for attack on the united states were complete. the color coded warning system is not raised. the homeland security secretary tom ridge does not attend the announcement. number eight, july 6th, 2004, democratic presidential candidate john kerry selects john edwards as his presidential

running mate, producing a small bump in the opinion polls and producing a huge swing in media attention towards the democratic campaign. july 8th, 2004, two days later, credible reporting now indicates that al qaeda is moving forward with its plans to carry out a large-scale attack in the united states. >> homeland secretary ridge warns of information about al qaeda attacks during the summer or autumn. four days after that, the head of the u.s. election assistance commission confirms he has written to ridge about the prospect of postponing the upcoming presidential election in the event it is interrupted by terrorist acts. number nine, july 29th, 2004, at their party convention in boston, the democrats, formally nominate john kerry as their candidate for president. as in the wake of any convention, the democrats now dominate the media attention over the subsequent weekend.

august 1st, 2004, monday morning, three days later -- >> it is as reliable source -- group of sources we have never seen before. >> the department of homeland security raises the alert status for financial centers in new york, new jersey and washington to orange. the evidence supporting the warning, reconnaissance data left in a home in iraq, later proves to be roughly four years old and largely out of date. number ten, october 6th, 2005, 10:00 a.m. eastern time, the president addresses the national endowment for democracy. once again emphasizing the importance of the war on terror and insisting his government has broken up at least ten terrorist plots since 9/11. at 3:00 p.m. eastern time, five hours after the president's speech has begun, the associated press reports that karl rove will testify again to the cia leak grand jury and that special prosecutor fitzgerald has told rove he cannot guarantee that he will not be indicted. >> we're awaiting a news conference.

>> at 5:17 p.m., seven hours after the president's speech had begun, new york officials disclose a bomb threat to the city's subway system, based on information supplied by the federal government. the homeland security spokesman says the intelligence upon which the disclosure is based is of doubtful credibility. and it later proves that new york city had known of the threat for at least three days. and had increased police presence in the subways long before making the announcement at that particular time. local new york television stations wnbc reports it had the story of the threats days in advance of the announcement but was asked by high ranking federal officials in new york and washington to hold off on its story. less than four days after having revealed the threats, mayor michael bloomberg of new york says since the period of the threat now seems to be passing, i think over the immediate future we'll slowly be winding

down the enhanced security. while news organizations ranging from "the new york post" to nbc news -- quotes sources who say there was reason to believe the informant who triggered the warning simply made it up. a senior u.s. counter-terrorism official tells "the new york times," "there was no there there." number 11, a sequence of events in august 2006 best understood now in chronological order. as the month begins, the controversy over domestic surveillance without legal warrants in this country crack. then on august 9th, the day after the connecticut democratic senatorial primer, vice president cheney says that this is a positive for the al qaeda types who he says "clearly are betting on the proposition that ultimately they break the will of the american people in terms of our ability to stay in the fight." the next day, british authorities arrest 24 suspects in an alleged imminent plot to blow up u.s.-bound aircraft

using liquid explosives smuggled onboard in sports drink bottles. domestic air travel is thrown into chaos as carry-on liquids are suddenly banned. on august 14th, british intelligence reveals it did not think the plot was imminent, only the u.s. did. and our authorities pressed to make the arrests. 11 of the 24 suspects are later released and in the months to come, the carry-on liquids ban is repeatedly relaxed. number 12, may 7, 2007, greensburg, kansas, leveled by a tornado and the state's then governor notes more in sorrow than in anger that the redeployment of the kansas national guard and equipment to iraq may cripple the soldier's ability to respond if another disaster hits kansas. >> what we're really missing is equipment. and that is putting a strain on recoveries like this one. >> the next day, the authorities announce arrests in a far-fetched plan to attack soldiers at ft. dix in new jersey.

the terrorists plan to gain access to the base by posing as pizza deliverymen. it is not a suicide mission. they state clearly they intend to kill personnel and then retreat to safety even though they were going to attack a closed compound full of trained soldiers with weapons. and though the plan is branded sophisticated, its perpetrators are not sophisticated enough to not have handed over the videotape of themselves training with weapons to a circuit city store in order to be transferred to dvd. the ft. dix plot not only he 's's races races for most news coverage the disaster ready us in but obscures the next day's story that in anticipation of the testimony to a house panel, attorney general alberto gonzalez has submitted opening remarks that match word forward the remarks he had given the previous month it a senate committee. >> recognizing my limited involvement in the process, i

truly acknowledge the mistake. i have soberly questioned my prior decisions. >> and number 13, june 2007, the jfk plot to blow up the jet fuel pipeline feeding john f. kennedy international airport and causing the entire airport to be conful confullygration. one of the men arrested has, as a past employee, access to the sprawling complex. the manager of the system says that pipeline is not some kind of fuse, shutoff valves throughout would have contained any damage just as a leak in any tunnel in any city would not flood everything in that city below ground. a so-called plot happens to be revealed the day before the second democratic presidential debate. and as the scandal continues to unfold over the firings of u.s. attorneys and their replacements by political hacks, the so-called plot is announced by the bush appointed u.s. attorneys for brooklyn, new york and the police chief of new york city.

>> but they would never, ever play politics with terror. except that in in addition to mr. ridge, there is a second key member of the bush administration who thinks they very well may have that and whether or not legally anything could still come of this with jonathan turley next. if you're using other moisturizing body washes, you might as well be. you see, their moisturizer sits on top of skin, almost as if you're wearing it. only new dove deep moisture has nutriummoisture, a breakthrough formula with natural moisturizers... that can nourish deep down. it's the most effective natural nourishment ever. new dove deep moisture with nutriummoisture. superior natural nourishment for your skin. a day on the days that you have arthritis pain, you could end up taking 4 times the number... of pills compared to aleve. choose aleve and you could start taking fewer pills. just 2 aleve have the strength... to relieve arthris pain all day. you'll love it.

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defending tom ridge's second set of assertions about politicizing the terrorism warnings, jonathan turley on what was left to do on what was another version of terrorism and later in "worst persons," the end of the road for betsy mccaughey. announcer: welcome to the now network. currently, thousands of people

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the possible consequences of tom ridge's version of the nexus of politics and terror, he is demonized by bush loyalists for those claims, who better to take counsel from than press secretary scott mcclellan. in an e-mail to "politico," he said it is one thing if he simply felt it was politically motivated. it is quite another if he has specific information showing it was politically motivated. there is no question exploiting the war on terror is viewed by the political strategists as integral to branding the president as a strong and decisive leader who will keep america safe. if secretary ridge is making the serious allegation that terror alert was driven primarily by political concerns late in the campaign, he's going to be expected to back it up with specific information. if he can. it is a serious matter. if he cannot, then i suspect critics will pounce. let's bring in as promised george washington university law professor, constitutional law expert jonathan turley. john, good evening. >> hi, keith. >> frame this for us.

if political pressure was applied to raise the threat level in that instance or any other during the bush administration, what does that amount to in terms of abuse of power? and is there still any avenue to prosecute? >> well, it is certainly an abuse of power. it's perhaps the worst form of abuse of power. national security has always been treated as something that crossed party lines. indeed, if you recall, it was a virtual mantra during the bush administration that anyone questioned a bill or a position of the government, you would have bush himself other others saying stop playing politics with national security. and, yet, we see in books like this, allegations that national security was being really manipulated and used as a prop. i mean people like ridge who's obviously a very committed republican, obviously do not like the fact that bin laden is being treated like some type of rnc asset. that, you know, when you need him, you take him out of, you know, the backstage and bring him forward to terrify the

children. and, you know, it's -- the problem with this abuse of power is that it doesn't have an easy translation into the law. it is not criminal. these different levels of threat are largely discretionary. it's not entirely discretionary for the president. he can, in fact, in his underlings can in fact, play around with national security and it's not a crime. but it most certainly is a betrayal of his oath if these allegations are true. and i think your program raises a very powerful series of events, a pattern where we have had these threats that occurred at very significant moments. >> is it incumbent upon ridge to try to provide more specific information to this claim as mr. mcclellan suggests? or is this an entree to investigation or any chance of it going from here in any direction officially? >> well, you know, keith, that's why they don't call these tell

some books. i mean when you get into an allegation like this, you're in for a penny a pound. you need to make good the allegations, very serious allegation. it's not a new allegation. what ridge is suggesting here, critics have said for a very long time that the bush administration always seemed eager to keep fear alive. that national security had become their only selling point. they basically lost on all the other political fronts. but what it did then was create this really dangerous situation where danger was a commodity. it was something that was being used not just politically but in courts, to roll back civil liberties, for arrests. it became an entire industry. in fact, i testified to congress about how we still have this infrastructure from the bush administration with which is occupied by people who are told, given a huge amount of money to find domestic threats. that's all they do. and there's a tendency when you

have that large bureaucracy that is being paid, they find them. because it sort of perpetuates their existence. >> there's one other thing in the book here. we can only go into this in the most brief detail about ridge describing when they raised the terror threat level for the financial centers in august, 2004 right after the democratic convention. the white house asked him to add language to the announcement which lauded bush's leadership on the war on terror and he did so. is there any violation in that? is that, again, is that discretionary stuff you talked about? >> unfortunately, it is bad taste, bad policy. but it's not a crime. but it is an abuse of power. and that report is supposed to be a guarantee to the american people that this is the unvarnished professional apolitical announcement of the types of risks we are facing. and basically, he is suggesting that white house treated it like a press release for the president. >> indeed it was. jonathan turley of john washington university. always great. thanks for the perspective and have a great weekend.

>> thank you, keith. >> it's rare, that's true. but sometimes there is justice in this world. the original hit woman in health care reform, betsy mccaughey, just lost a job. worst persons next. when people say, hey mike, why ford, why now? i say brace yourself. that gas guzzler in your driveway, just might be, a clunker. budon't panic, it could be a good thing. your ford and lincoln mercury dealers are cash for clunkers specialists. they'll recycle your ride, and get you a big fat juicy rebate from uncle sam. you can get allhe details, charts, graphs, etc, at ford.com. why ford, why now? why not? visit your ford or lincoln mercury dealer. i'm thinking now would be a great time. when a tornado tore through holly, colorado,

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oddly placed in the lineup because of the time we devoted to "nexus in terror," tonight's "worst persons in the world." the bronze, blogger andrew malcom of the political page, the "times" screwed up the tv listings for this program and issued a correction. but he wrote --

>> without this kind of correction online, too, a few thousand people might have tuned into msnbc. mr. malcolm is a very old and very stupid talking points that date back to 1999 or 2000 that nobody watches msnbc. on wednesday night of this week, the three airings of this program drew a collective audience of 2.2 million, each of the airings beat cnn by all measures. it is the number one rated cable news program for all viewers under the age of 35. it is the number one rated news cable program not on fox. mr. malcolm claims to be a pulitzer prize finalist in the editorial board and as such you might want to check out whether his prejudices are behind the curve that they make him look like a hack. he also mocks any customers any news organization has. for 20 years, the "l.a. times" has the largest newspaper virtual monopoly in the country. yet even before the newspaper crash, it was already approaching bankruptcy. the daily circulation dropped

below 725,000. first rerun of this program the other night had a larger audience than that. msnbc is going to profit a quarter billion dollars this years. the l.a. times will be lucky to be publishing next year. i mentioned republican talking points. andrew malcolm's biography notes in 1999-2000, he was secretary to laura bush. runner up, tom delay of "dancing with the stars." tried to suggest that town halls about health care are chaotic. he was once the victim of one of them. when i did my town hall meetings, i'll never forget one, they brought in quadriplegics on gurneys and dumped them on a floor on the podium in front of me. this is not new. what is new is the people that came in to disrupt my town meetings, we let them go on because it turned off the people there. what is going on here is the american people are on their side. mr. delay left out a little detail, he wasn't there.

there is an article detailing the blockading of his office in sugarland, texas, for the decreased air of the disabled. tuesday's protesters narrowly escape arrest by police when delay who is in washington, d.c., agreed to meet with them next month. i'll never forget that time that thing happened that i wasn't there. can we see your birth can we see your birth certificate, mr. delay? but our winner tonight, betsy mccaughey, the originator of the lie that there is euthanasia in the reform bill. she humiliated herself on john stewart's "daily show" resigned for her post on the board of directors of can tell medical corporation. she says she was resigning to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interesting during the health care debate. but i'm told that, in fact, she was voted out by the can tell death panel. betsy the human conflict of interest mccaughey today's "worst person in the world."

that's "countdown for this, "the 2,334th day since the last president declared mission accomplished in iraq. cheerio. and now with house majority leader steny hoyer finding the public option optional, anthony weiner, ladies and gentlemen, here is rachel madow. >> good evening, keith. have a great weekend. >> you, too. >> thank you for spending your friday us with. anthony weiner has become the country's most forceful add advocate of the public option if not single payer health care will be joining us this hour in a couple of moments. we also have john stuart's brick by brick dismantling of betsy mccaughey. there's lots to come. we're beginning with breaking news. nbc news learned that as early as monday the obama administration plans to release what we have been calling the

big kahuna. the report on the bush administration's torture program made while the program was still going on in 2002. this is the report that supposedly stopped the torture . this is the report that supposedly stopped the torture program in its tracks when the report circulated inside the administration. the cia inspector general's report has been described as sickening by some who have seen it. the only version of it that's been publicly released so far looks like this -- was released last year and almost completely redacted. in her book "the dark side," jane mayer say, you couldn't read the documents without wondering why someone didn't say, "stop." >> on monday, we'll get a chance to read this report although we don't know how much of it is going to be redacted this time. michael isikoff has a rep