>> over to alaska. this is the fourth time in recent months governor palin was scheduled to appear somewhere, but didn't -- backed out or just didn't show up, isn't miscommunication. if she winds up running for president, isn't somebody going to step in and say you can't skip the debate tonight just because "the meantalist" is on cbs and you want to watch that. >> i'm defending governor palin in this one. these particular events took place in alaska. listen, alaska, i don't mean to be cruel. sarah palin dumped you. it's time to move on. okay? i defend her in this. i'm sure you've been in this situation. you're in a relationship, it's run its course. you just want to end it. you say, let's just be friends, and then the other person just purely out of desperation and spite is like, well, then if we're friends you should come and speak at my event, since we're friends and all. sarah palin is like, okay. then a week later what am i doing? i don't need to do this. just move on. when sarah palin said she wanted to be friends, she just wanted not to be weird when you bumped into each other. like, oh, alaska. do you know iowa? iowa, alaska. >> and yet here she goes

inviting all friends to watch glenn beck. is that the way to earn brownie points so she can get her own show over there? if that's the case, will she send out a facebook message saying don't watch his show. watch mine. >> i want to know who the people are who are avid sarah palin facebook readers but aren't aware of glenn beck. seems like there is a crossover there. i agree with what you said about the death panels and you don't read any newspapers, but that guy is crazy. >> who? i never heard of him. comedian christian finnegan, as always, great fun. >> bye-bye. that's "countdown" for this 2,310th day since the previous president declared mission accomplished in iraq. i'm keith olbermann, good night and good luck. to talk about how the gop is slowly tying itself up with twisted rhetoric in the health care reform. ladies and gentlemen, a warm welcome back to what's left of the voice of rachel maddow. >> good evening, keith. >> okay. see you later! >> thanks, keith.

and thank you at home for tuning in and thank you as keith implied for bearing with me if i sound like i've got a little frog in my throat this evening. we begin tonight with the galvanizing of the democratic party. in the wake of the loss of massachusetts senator ted kennedy. senator kennedy defined health care as the cause of his life, whether or not his inspiration will be enough to bring democrats together to finally pass the kind of health reform that senator kennedy fought for for so many years, of course, remains to be seen. as democrats do fail at reforming health care now, they have only themselves to blame, because as the democrats in the wake of kennedy's death have at least tried to pull together on health reform, republicans have really fallen apart. today is the only national elected republican figure in the country, the head of the republican party, michael steele, gave an interview to national public radio in which he really struck out swinging. appearing utterly confused and tied up in knots over the most

basic issues of health care. what his position is. what he has said in the past and what he's now trying to unsay. you have to hear this. here he is speaking with npr host steve inskeep. this is just a portrait of bewilderment. >> with a couple of paragraphs of writing we need to protect medicare you write you oppose president obama's "plan for a government run health care system." you're a veteran public policy official. you're aware medicare is a government run health care. >> look how it's run. that's my point. take medicare and make it writ-large across the country. because, how many times have we been to the -- to the precipice of bankruptcy for a government-run health care program. >> it sounds like you don't like medicare. >> wait a minute! exactly. no.

medicare is what it is. it's not going anywhere. so let's focus on fixing it so we don't every three, five, ten years have discussions about bankruptcy and running out of money. >> i'm still having trouble with the notion you are going to protect medicare, that you are going to preserve this program to make sure this government-run health care system stays solvent -- and yet you are opposing government-run health care. >> wait a minute. >> exactly. no. i hate government-run health care. but since we already have it, you better not mess with it even though it's totally broken. ooh. strike one. strike two, mr. steele's decision to go in the same interview with a fact-free declaratory statement about what the health reform debate has been like so far. >> okay. no one is trying to scare people with sound bites. i've not done that and i don't know any leaders in the house or senate that have done that. >> okay. i understand the need to make

short declarative statements in order to sound like you're not confused anymore, but don't make them about something like this. because if there's one thing we can all absolutely positively, left, right and center agree on, scare tactics have been used. >> we should not have a government program that determines when you are going to pull the plug on grandma. >> 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 options is going to kill people. >> and no one's trying to scare people with sound bites. i don't know any leaders in the house and the senator who have done that. yeah, strike two. then there was strike three. a republican party mailer being sent across the country with was surfaced online today. called the 2009 future of american health care survey and it claims to be a friendly questionnaire about health care, sent by, rnc chairman michael steele who promises that, of

course, no one's trying to scare people. the survey questions about health reform include, "it's been suggested that the government could use voter registration to determine a person's political affiliation, prompting fears that gop voters might be discriminated against for medical treatment in a democratic imposed health care rationing system." does this possibility concern you? health care reform, really a secret plot to kill republican, which it totally might be, wouldn't that scare you? really, no one's trying to scare people. i swear. in the horrible hobbsian and mischaracterizations, the health care debate this summer thus far, this one, this health reform is a secret plot to kill republicans lie offered up by the republican party itself was so bad that the republican party actually had to apologize for it today.

they called it "inartfully worded." apology or not, democrats seem increasingly aware the republican party as a whole really isn't here to help on health reform. now the question is, will any republicans decide that they would like health reform more than they'd like to stand with their party on this issue? joining us now is democratic congressman anthony wiener of new york. he sits on the house energy and commerce committee and the health subcommittee. congressman weiner, not nice to see you not on a friday. >> it's my pleasure. thanks.ice to see you not on a friday. >> it's my pleasure. thanks. welcome to queens. >> are you standing in a median right now? >> no. i was just -- seems that way. i'm on a parkway. i'm in enough they wouldn't hit me, anyway. >> fair enough. you and i have talked a number of times about misinformation about health kay reform coming from republican members of

congress. the republican party itself sending a survey to people asking whether or not they think health care reform might about plot to deprive republicans of medical care. your reaction? >> well, the republicans are so furious about trying to stop any type of reform at all that they're be to self-immolate. seems they'll say or do just about anything. you have the chair of the republican national committee putting out the most vigorous defense of a single payer health care plan that i can imagine, then quickly running away from that notion. and today the idea that your voter registration form will be used somehow to pull the plug on granny. look, the bottom line here is that republicans and many folk on the right fundamentally don't believe that government should do anything to try to solve the problems of this country. that's why they lost the house, the senate, the white house. now there's a team in charge and the democrats, we're not getting everything exactly right. i've had problems with the steps we've taken. to say we don't need to try to fix health care and somehow this is an assault on our constitution or on our way of life is just absurd. i think more and more americans are seeing that.

>> that's what coming down to the end of the august recess. is it your sense that democrats have realized that they may have to go it alone on health care reform? they may not get any republican votes, at least where they were expecting them, and do you think republicans are leaning toward supporting health reform? >> let me make it clear. i think there are a lot of republican citizens of the country who understand this a lot better than their leaders do. it's also clear the republicans in the senate and house think the only way they can gain any traction and get back into the majority is by simply voting no on anything and being a general no party. if that's the case, we can't afford to just sitting around negotiating with ourselves. i can't remember the last time i saw a republican member of the united states senate stand up and say, here's the things i'd like to have in a bill. all i've heard them say is what they're against. >> do you think that senator kennedy dying this week is going to have a practical impact on what a final bill ultimately looks like? he, of course, was the chair of

the senate health committee. is it possible that that bill will gain more traction now as opposed to the one that's been held up so long in the finance committee? >> i think the active legislating in this issue will be just as hard with or without senator kennedy the blessed memory. i will say this. i think more and more people reading about senator kennedy's life, reading about things like the american disabilities act didn't just happen. it was widely opposed. the idea medicare itself was opposed by many people in congress and many people today, and these things had to overcome similar type of scare campaigns like we are seeing today. seeing the history written for people and people having a chance to see it on local television and read about it in the newspaper i think it is going to improve conditions for this debate. i think a lot of americans realize that with senator kennedy what he offered was ideas on how to improve people's lives. that's what this discussion should be about. >> from the big picture perspective, you have championed

the idea that a single payer option, a single payer program ought to still be on the table. it ought to be one of the things we are discussing when we're thinking about how to reform health care. how goes your fight to keep the option of single pay are alive? >> i would point out that the notion of medicare for all americans was something that senator kennedy was carrying in the united states senate. increasingly as we see arguments like the one that you had carried out on your show at the top, you know, people like the head of the republican national committee arguing on one hand that he loves a single payer option. on the other hand, he loves it only up to a point has gotten people to think about what makes medicare a success. sure, it has financing problem, but we know, for example, that every dime that goes into medicare goes into health care and doesn't go into profits and overhead. we're gaining traction. now, it's going to be tough, but frankly it's going to be tough to get anything done, but i'm comfortable making an argument. i want to step back and watch steele argue with himself for a while. that seems to be the best case for single payer health care.

democratic congressman anthony weiner of new york, thanks again for your time tonight and make sure somebody gets you safely out of traffic there. okay? >> thank you. >> thanks. we've had news today that the extremist group that allegedly gave information about dr. george tiller's whereabouts to the man who eventually killed dr. tiller identified the new doctor they consider to be public enemy number one now that dr. tiller has been killed. that man, the new public enemy number one joins us next to respond. stay with us for that. first, one more thing about health reform. today's "rachel maddow show" award of excellence goes to bob cesta of "the washington post." health reform legislation will be named for senator ted kennedy, it must follow the principles that senate kennedy fought for during his life. it must cover everyone, be affordable and deliver quality care to all americans. if that seems too much to remember, tuck away in your mind

the excellent headline today. "held care reform named after ted kennedy must not suck." everyone's talking about them. and now we can actually do something about them. at wal-mart, their prices are unbeatable. over 300 prescriptions are just four dollars. four dollars. imagine that.

live pictures from the john f. kennedy presidential library in boston where people are filing through, paying final respects to senator ted kennedy who, of course, died tuesday night. the doors to the jfk library will remain open to the public at least until 11:00 eastern tonight and then open again tomorrow at 8:00. so far at least 12,000 people have paid their respects. stay with us. i'm here on this tiny little plane, and guess what... i've still got room for the internet. with my new netbook from at&t. with its built-in 3g network, it's fast and small, so it goes places other laptops can't. anything before takeoff mr. kurtis? prime rib, medium rare. i'm bill kurtis, and i've got plenty of room for the internet. and the nation's fastest 3g network.

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if over here you have the incoherent post-rational violent-threatening activity of the anti-protestors this summer and over here you have the incoherent violence hostility of the extreme anti-abortion movement, this is what they look like when they both happen at once. >> the guy screaming, "howard dean is a baby killer" is randall terry. he may look familiar because he makes a living doing this. a day after the kansas abortion dr. george tiller wars assassinated mr. terry gave a press conference calling dr. tiller a mass murderer saying he

reaped what he sowed. shortly thereafter one of the handful of doctors in the u.s. who still does abortions gave a speech in denver, he said in august 1993, randall terry on the national christian radio broadcast invited listeners to assassinate dr. hearn. he founded a group called operation rescue. since no longer with that group, they sent out a fund-raising appeal celebrating the fact dr. tiller's clinic has been closed since his assassination, and they are calling for action this weekend against another doctor who does abortions. his name is dr. leroy carhart and he practices in nebraska. in an online fund-raising appeal showing a picture of dr. carhart and a picture of his clinic, opt rakes rescue says this is leroy carhart who plans to take tiller's place as the number one abortionist in america.

with your help we can stop him. now that george tiller's mill is closed forever, leroy carhart plans to take his place, open a new butchering mill he already operates in nebraska. this is where operation rescue comes in. as you know our years of fighting george tiller makes us highly experienced in how to peacefully and legally shut down these late-term abortionists. we will be in omaha and at carhart's abortion mill on august 28th and 29th to encourage and train pro-lifers, working with us on this project to stop him from becoming the next george tiller. carhart's days in nebraska could be numbered. head of operation rescue signs the letters, yours for the babies, and asks for donations. women's groups across nebraska and kansas and other states are asking for counterprotestors to show up on saturday in nebraska as well as to block the operation rescue folks. in the middle of it all, there stands our next guest.

joining us, dr. leroy carhart, friend and colleague of the late dr. george tiller. one of the few remaining in this country who performs late abortions. tomorrow and saturday he will face protesters from the wichita based anti-abortion group operation rescue. thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you for inviting me, ms. maddow. >> you've had a long history of dealing with protesters and threats. how are you and your staff preparing for this weekend? >> well, we are still seeing patients. we -- and we have not cancelled any appointments. i'm -- i have to say i'm getting a complete feedback of everything i say about two seconds later. so i'm having trouble thinking here. >> okay. i'll ask them to turn you down there. hopefully this will still work. you signal if it isn't working. >> i'll turn it down so i can answer this question. what we're doing with our -- our staff, we had patients scheduled and i'm sure that they were well aware of that when they made the arrangements to come this

weekend. we were off last weekend. we will be off next weekend. we are not cancelling any patients. we have tried to meet with all the local authorities to ensure that, first of all, things remain peaceful and second of all, that access for our clients is not denied. >> can you hear me while i ask you a question? is this going to work? >> i can hear you now. thank you. yes. >> operation rescue is an organization that worries me, frankly. they blockaded dr. tiller's clinic, relocated their headquarters to wichita because of his clinic. they ran tiller watch on their website. an ex-convict, former clinic bomber on his staff admitted to having multiple conversations with dr. tiller's alleged killer about the doctor before the murder and latest fund raising appeal is all about you, saying they want to shut you down.

i worry about you as a fellow american and i worry about anti-abortion extremism as terrorism. do you feel enough is being done to protect you and your staff? >> i think the local authorities are doing everything they can. i think the national law enforcement agencies also are, but i think congress needs to get involved. i think the biggest omission so far is to not identify anti-abortion terrorism as hate crimes. certainly murdering a doctor in his church is a hate crime. most of us that perform abortions are very religious people. we believe that abortion is both a moral right and a religious right. the antis think they have a moral majority in the country, however, there are 41 different churches in the coalition that belong to reproductive choice.

they all support abortion as an option, but, of course, not the option and none of us include myself think that abortion is the right answer for every pregnancy. >> "newsweek" wrote a long profile of you this month, and they noted in that profile that before so many doctors were killed in the '90s, there was something like 2,700 doctors in the u.s. who did abortions as part of their practice. the most recent numbers say that it's down to about 1,800 now. a very big drop-off. because you're so much in the spotlight, do you hear from doctors and medical students considering whether or not or not to include abortion in their practice? >> i have heard quite a bit from doctors. in fact, since dr. tiller's murder, i have started training two new physicians, both what i call second career physicians. they are both well established in their primary medical fields and they want to give something back to the community and they came to me asking me to train them in abortions. i also have a list of about a dozen abortion providers already

that want to be trained to do the late seconds and the third trimester abortions. and take them back to their home states. so i -- you know, i think that's been a catalyst even though we tremendously miss the loss of dr. tiller. it has -- it has helped to galvanize the movement for abortion providers and even medical students for choice have came out now, and they're starting to become more vocal and demanding training in their own institutions. >> the more people know about that as a response to this horrible murder, the more people have hope terrorism isn't going to work in this case. dr. leroy carhart, thank you for joining us. good luck to you, sir. >> thank you. so if were you to read some of the news today you would find that the late senator edward kennedy was known for being a centrist. a compromiser. actually a fairly conservative guy for a democrat. that and other shameless

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barely a day after he died his republican colleagues in the senate say if they could get health care reform done, if only ted kennedy were still alive. the exact same republicans who voted against ted kennedy's health care reform bill when he was alive. yes. that is it.

that is ahead. first a couple of holy mackerel stories in today's news. by 2007 it was widely understood the whole torturing people problem we had during the bush administration pretty much wound down. the cia inspector general's report in '04 stopped some of it. president bush emptied the jails in september 2006. the u.s. supreme court ruled we couldn't just decide some prisoners weren't covered by the geneva convention. and even congress, little old congress, passed a law banning degrading treatment of prisoners. but even after all of that happened, after all of that, the associated press reports today that we were still using the classic torture technique of extreme sleep deprivation as recently as november 2007. newly released documents show bush administration lawyers authorizing five day and six day sleep deprivation torture. in august '07 and again in november '07.

that would be blatanty illegal under u.s. law and it's much later than we knew anything of this was happening. we're working to bring more reporting on this. stay with us on this one. and there is a new grassroots group around. they are calls faces, federation for american coal, energy and security. i hope that if there's a federation for european coal energy security they don't try the same foul acronym. it's facesofcoal.org or facesofcoal.com. it's not just coal companies funding corporate pr trying to protect their profit no matter what the cost to america's air quality, america's health, global competitiveness, our environment, not just faceless corporations trying to protect the bottom line. it's real people with real faces. the faces of coal. "they call themselves an alliance of people from all

walks of life joining forces to educate law makers and the general public about the importance of coal and coal mining." and they actually mean there are pictures of people from all walks of life that appear to have been bought from istockphoto.com. honestly these faces of coal of clip art. here's a photo you can buy called woman working at a flower shop. coincidentally, here's that same woman, at that same flower shop. identified as one of the faces of coal. here's another photo you can buy from istockphoto called group of happy business people standing against a white background. and, hey! here are those same happy business people standing together against white background. this time they're faces of coal.com. the folks at appalachian

environmental news figured out the group of adult students standing in a campus corridor, the elementary school students doing a science experiment, the firefighters and the couple whitewater rafters, they all in fact are real people in support of the coal mining company's agenda. that may be true, but they also are definitely people whose photos are available for sale on a stock photography website. you know when the coal industry's pr firm stole letterhead from the naacp to make it look like it was against cap and trade, political science textbooks across the country had to be scrapped and rewritten to account for the new most fake grassroots organization of ever. now they've topped even that. eventually we'll just scrap political science textbooks altogether and just send everyone to advertising school instead. ( siren blaring )

special interest groups are trying to block progress on health care reform, derailing the debate with myths and scare tactics. desperately trying to stop you from discovering that reform won't ration care. you and your doctor will always decide the best treatment for you. tell congress not to let myths get in the way of fixing what's broken with health care. learn the facts at healthactionnow.org.

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he will be laid to rest at 5:30 p.m. eastern time at arlington national cemetery alongside his brothers. on capitol hill, the tributes to senator kennedy from democrats and republicans have been undoubtedly heartfelt. that said, there is a notable theme emerging in the comments on kennedy's passing from many republicans. it's an insinuation or in some cases an outright argument if senator kennedy were alive today to put out the right kind of bill, these republicans might actually be voting for health reform. >> had teddy been healthy and strong, first thing he would have done and strong, he have called me and said, let's get this done. >> ted kennedy has a long history of being involved in this in a variety of ways. >> -- over the last few moss probably would have reached some sort of consensus agreement.

>> in other words, if only ted kennedy were still here. if only he had a health care bill, those republicans say they'd vote for that. you know, ted kennedy did have a health care bill. senator kennedy was chair of the health education and labor pension committee which approved a health care reform package in july. it's called the kennedy bill. senator kennedy helped write that bill. senators hatch and mccain and greg all voted against it. but the revisionist history goes deeper. they aren't just saying they would have voted for a kennedy health care bill, even though they had the chance and they didn't, they are saying they would have voted for a kennedy health care bill because ted kennedy would have compromised with them, because ted kennedy was all about making concessions to republicans. >> i would hope that his example of working together, coming together, in the spirit of compromise for this sake and good of the american people would have some effect.

>> and he always was willing to reach an agreement, if it was reasonable, to try to move things along. >> we met for an hour about a couple months ago, and he said i'd really like to get this done and, of course i was prepared to try and put it together in a way that would really bring both sides together. >> apparently in the history of ted kennedy's life and work, as imagined by the gop today, senator kennedy was the great compromiser, ready to water down health care reform in order to bring republicans onboard. of course, in the actual history of ted kennedy's life and work he always said that -- i say this without a hint of shyness he was a liberal who spent the last four decades fighting to get health coverage for every american. and awash in this mainstream republican revisionist is a history about ted kennedy, the great compromising moderate

centrist. we're facing warnings from the right now about how they intend to go after senator kennedy's memorial service this weekend. conservative water led by those writing on national view online are already predicting and criticizing what they're calling a politicized memorial service. their message is don't talk about ted kennedy as a liberal at this memorial service, and don't even think about making liberal sound like a good thing. otherwise, conservatives will be upset. joining us now, chris, good to see you. thanks for joining us. >> thanks, rachel. >> the service hasn't taken place yet, obviously. on the right it is already being criticized for being political. what's your reaction to this? >> well, it's pretty shameful. i mean, it's hard to take rhetoric from, you know, the right wing fringe that have been championing some of the most vitriolic rhetoric against whether it's health care, let alone senator kennedy over the years. it's kind of shameless that this is the kind of tack they're taking to basically suggest that those are going to go up and eulogize senator kennedy and talk about the man, his career, his incredible accomplishments,

somehow they'll be lectured by the right wing about what is appropriate. it's pretty shameless, and i would say actually disgusting, but it is what it is. >> chris, we have seen only on the fringe of the fringe, far right attacks on senator kennedy so far. i'm sure that they will start if they haven't started more in earnest soon. and i don't mean to say that those people who have attacked him already shouldn't be teased and made fun of for having done so, but it hasn't been a mainstream attack from republicans at this point. that said, we are seeing a real reimagining of ted kennedy as if he was not a liberal. as if his real legacy was he was sort of in between democrats and republicans somehow. as if he was a centrist. do you think it's hard for the right to sit by while somebody who is lauded is lauded as a liberal? >> i think it's difficult. i mean it is kind of interesting considering the fact that the right and the republican

mainstream attacks senator kennedy for decades, and he was fund-raising, or in commercials, for their very own political ends. i agree republicans like senator mccain and others have been kind in terms of their words, but in terms of how i would say revising senator kennedy the legacy and his record, was he bipartisan in the sense that he worked with republicans on issues like education, immigration, health care at times? absolutely, but i don't think anyone can actually argue he was not an incredibly powerful liberal voice that woke up every day as a senator and fought for the very causes that he cared about in terms of improving poor people's lives, providing health care, improving education option, and in terms of his health care debate, this notion of somehow that we could find a compromise, i have yet to hear any suggestion from any republicans including the three that were just mentioned, what that compromise would be. tell us. we would like -- democrats would like to know. the reality is, they're

thinking is compromise is no health care reform. >> chris, we have seen something like this before in liberal politics. the right went on the attack for the funeral of the great senator paul wellstone. they attacked it that as being a celebration and rededication to his political goals, and to his political mores. is there residual resentment for having been attacked for the way they mourned senator wellstone? could this end up being a really big fight? >> there's some residual resentment, it was distasteful when that happened. in terms of senator kennedy, i think it's going to be a very respectful affair, but i have no doubt that they're going to, and appropriately so, talk about his incredible accomplishments. define him as public servant pap man who spent nearly five decades fighting for issues that i and so many americans care about. the notion that you shouldn't talk about that, the notion you shouldn't talk about health care and these other issues i actually think to would be

inappropriate. i think they'll do a great service to a great public servant. >> democratic strategist, thanks for joining us. >> thanks. coming up on "countdown," talking to congresswoman maxine waters about what a kansas republican congresswoman could have meant when she said that the gop is looking for its great white hope. next on this show, republicans are busy trying to re-invent senator ted kennedy as the great compromiser and centrist. recently unearthed footage of a classic ted kennedy speech i think you have not seen serves as testament of what he really was. an unapologetic very proud american liberal. see for yourself in a moment. and first, political implications of the death of senator kennedy, no longer "u.s. news" which is no lock longer "u.s. news and worldy reports," floated the news they might run mitt romney as their candidate

for the ted kennedy seat in the u.s. senate. picked up and run with by conservative bloggers and playing a useful role for all bloggers in the united states serving as simple direct fail-safe stupidomiter. mitt romney was governor of massachusetts for one term whereupon he quit rather than try to get re-elected on the 34% approval rating in the state. mitt romney's voters in massachusetts hated him so much by the time he quit, his approval rating there was lower than governor ernie fletcher's approval rating at the same time. governor ernie fletcher hat the time had been indicted thrice. mitt romney's greatest legacy in massachusetts politics was hand-picking his successor republican kerry healy to run for the governorship after he stepped down. she lost by 21 points. now mitt romney doesn't even fake live in massachusetts anymore. he sold his multimillion dollar mansion in belmont this past year. still, though, this conservative dream the voters of

massachusetts are poised to elect mitt romney to ted kennedy's senate seat is a very useful thing. useful the same way that a bag of dye that explodes in bag of stolen money is useful. it smears anyone who holds it with a big stain of "stupid." prepare your mouth for a battle against germs. protect your mouth right with crest pro-health rinse at night. it kills 99% of germs that cause gingivitis, plaque, and bad breath, without the burn of alcohol. for a healthier mouth that's cleaner in the morning.

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have you been waiting breathlessly for your update about art heist during news in iraq wartime? wait no longer. on tuesday, i slept through the day completely on a cocktail filled with tamiflu and theraflu and other things. the iraqi police had seized an prism painting by pablo picasso. the police released a video of the paineding and of a 33-year-old man who says he got the painting from his father who said he stole it from kuwait while he was a soldier in iraq's invasion of kuwait in 1990. the painting is supposedly a picasso original called "the naked woman." in the police video officers are seen holding it up to the camera to see picasso's signature.

in addition to that signature, the back of the painting has a tag on it which says it was sold by the louvre to the museum of space, space, space, space, space, kuwait. it you're keeping track of this heist at home, note that the tag has the louvre and the museum of kuwait all in lower case. like it's an e.e. cummings poem or text or something. several other words on the tag are misspelled. also the louvre doesn't actually sell anything that's in its collection and the louvre has never had a pi casso. but other than that, this is totally the "abu thomas crown affair."

left politically convenient revisionism. cloud the real legacy of senator edward m. kennedy. we refer you to a keynote speech he made on april 7, 1968 at the alaska democratic convention, it met that year in sitka, alaska. originally senator rob kennedy was slated to give the address. after martin luther king was assassinated on april 4th, just three days before the speech, bobby kennedy decided to stay behind in washington to monitor the reaction. he sent his younger brother ted to give the speech instead. what then 36-year-old senator edward kennedy delivered was not compromising. it was not moderate. it was a liberal homage to civil rights. it was a pretty darn good soliloquy about this itself.

this tape was only rediscovered this january when a contractor working for the alaska state library found an open reel that was simply marked, "ted kennedy sitka." here with senator edward kennedy. watch this. >> if any man ever doubted the good intentions of his fellow man, if any man ever wondered whether institutions of government could be responsive to human needs, if any man ever yearned for a way of life that satisfied his desires for human freedom and dignity, he could look to america. this was our image in truth. this was america as we knew it, as we grew this was our image in truth. this was america as we knew it, as we brew in it and as we have taught our children. the weakness of our society is a weakness in ourselves. with each and every one of us who are complacent, who are

doing well, who realize the comforts of material gain and who are above all else apathetic, where is the moral of strength with us? the quality of character with tribute to our children as the american heroes that have gone before us? i, for one, do not feel that we are any less than our poor, i for one do not feel that there is anyone with this room who has less courage, less conviction or is any less dedicated to the american dream than generations, but i do feel that in a few short years we have left rather than dance. i feel in our great history we have fallen into a lapse. each and every one of us, with the talent, the character bred into us, and as a result, in a land that was created on the judeo-christian ideals of love

and brotherhood, we have let the haters take the lead, and we are paying that price today as we have paid for it many days and nights in this difficult decade. "are where we are because all of us are passing through life with our own personal blinders on. we made a civil right bill and feel a warm glow in our heart when we feel the eloquence of a martin luther king. we clench or tung tongues and call them outside troublemakers. in essence we are all very decent men and women of good faith and we are all very busy with our careers and our families. all too busy with our own concerns to fight injustice, to fight poverty, and to fight ill-will in the immediate world around us.

as a united states senator, my message to you today is very simple. we only delude and mislead ourselves if we feel that we lift a personal burden from our shoulder by passing pieces of legislation, important as that is, if we feel legislation can be our only response to our fellow man, who are deprived. beyond that i would say that no matter how the most difficult of questions of vietnam are. no matter how we meet the future challenges of the future.

no matter how we do these things, it will be where it could not find its own moon in itself. if wars do not meet the needs, and they don't. we just heard from the kennedy family that line of people waiting to pay their respects to senator kennedy at the j.f.k. library in boston now stretches for 3 1/2 hours. wee will be right back. reading about washington these days... i gotta ask,

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we turn now to the chief of our many, many performance art correspondents, kent jones. hi, kent. >> hi, rachel. welcome back. or should i say echinecea. when is it okay to dance in public without your clothes? new york's metropolitan museum of art. what better place to pause, reflect, party naked? model casey neal and photographer zach hyman got their freak on at the met gallery yesterdate