the registered voters of the united states of america. and we would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for these meddling harvard symb symbolgists. but it could be useful. for example, i discovered a symbol that explains the entire universe. >> thank you, kent. i have a great cocktail moment for you. it's an update on the iraqi baseball team. >> my favorite. >> the iraqi baseball team has received their uniforms! >> yes! >> awesome! abbotts field flannel donated the jerseys and hats and stirrup socks and everything. they finally arrived. the mcclatchy news service got this photo of the team for us. it's very cool. they wrote today and said, i can't tell you how great it feels to see them finally being worn by the guys. it's very cool. i should also point out that if you would like to have an iraqi baseball team jersey, you can

buy one from abbotts field. >> very cool. >> very cool. we have the link posted at rachel.msnbc.com today. and the cool part of it, if you buy one of these jerries, a portion goes to iraqi and afghanistan veterans. >> great. >> i'm so happy. thanks to abbotts field and the folks in the south bronx for donating the other gear. it's been so cool. thanks. "countdown" with keith olbermann starts right now. which of these stories will you be talking about tomorrow? the max tax. the baucus compromise. insurance premiums for middle class families to be deducted directly from their paychecks. 13% off the top right to the insurance companies. the republicans rejected the democrats can't possibly survive by supporting it. the insurance companies, they love it. they're stocks all rose 2% to 3% today.

this is the compromise? this is insane. >> it is balanced, a common sense bill that can pass the senate. >> pass the senate? senator baucus, after this turkey you'll be lucky if they let you keep your senate parking spot. carter and courage, the former president elaborates on his comments about racism being at the core of some of the rage about the president. >> there's a feeling among many that an african-american -- >> and he gets the all-too-predictable reactionary blowback from the racists he's talking about. >> jimmy carter is a nation's hemorrho hemorrhoid, folks. >> i have to defer to him here. the nation's [ bleep ] would know about the nation's hemorrhoid. >> and no, no racism here. sarah palin's new career, public speaking. advertised as known for the meteoric rise that captured the hearts and minds of the global

audience, but they left out -- i'm not the only man in america when palin dropped her first wink sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, hey, i think she just winked at me. and from the university of i don't remember, meltdown. >> it's a sacred honor. the sacred honor even exist in washington anymore? joseph mccarthy was a powerful senator surrounded by the trappings of power. >> the over/under on him is next tuesday. and worsts. congressman joe wilson wasn't an immigration lawyer? >> i'm for immigration, legal immigration, i've got an immigration attorney. >> you lie! >> all that and more now on "countdown." >> joe wilson hollered out, "you lie." good evening from new york. if it were up to senator max baucus, middle class families would be forced, literally forced to pay far more on health care than they already do right

now. 13% of what they make could be deducted directly from their paychecks and mainlined to insurance companies. so-called max tax. it would be handed over to the very industry that has given the chairman of the senate finance committee $3 million in campaign donations and that 13% payroll reduction does not count co-pays and deductibles. see a doctor for any reason and get sick, you can expect to pay nearly $12,000 a year more. our fifth story in the countdown, only $3 million to chairman baucus in exchange for a bill in which the health insurance industry's guaranteed to make billions upon billions? we know what you are, senator baucus, we're now arguing about the price. mr. baucus today releasing his version of the health care reform bill that would give coverage to 30 million americans who do not have any by extending medicaid the state federal insurance program for the poor, next by providing government subsidies to modest-income families and individuals to help them buy over the counter coverage. only those who make less than

300% of the poverty level would fall into either of those categories. that means any individual making more than $32,500 or any family of four making more than $66,150 is on their own subject to the max tax of 13% for families $66,700, that is $700 a month they'd have to pay if the families do not buy that insurance at that rate, they would be fined nearly half that amount. some other nuggets in the baucus bill, private insurers would be allowed to charge older individuals up to five times as much for coverage. you heard that right, five times. forget about pulling the plug on grandma, he wants to help the insurance industry steal her purse. also in the bill, anyone with preexisting conditions would go into a high-risk pool, but the provision says they would need to be uninsured for six months before they could gain access to that pool. exactly what you want for those who already sick. and yet the republicans on the senate finance committee continue to distance themselves from the mess they helped to create here.

olympia snowe of maine, the most important vote in the history of the world apparently today calling the bill a first step but adding that a number of issues still need to be addressed. mike enzi saying it does too little to cut costs with those with health insurance. democrats on the committee not liking it much more than that including the lack of the public option. >> there's got to be some discipline that other insurance companies. that make them take seriously, not just competing with each other, but competing with somebody because they're non-profit and don't have a marble headquarters and don't have to report to wall street and don't have to please their shareholders because they don't have any. that they can offer premiums of lower prices. will that mean they put private insurance industry out of business? of course it doesn't. >> the bill pleasing no one but the insurance companies. they rallied today on wall street after baucus revealed his bill.

health net up 3%, united health group, 2.7%, wellpoint, 1.7%, aetna, 1. %. baucus himself not aware of the provisions in his own bill. >> americans to date simply cannot afford quality health insurance. that's why it's time to act. and that's why this is our moment in history. this is our chance to reform health care in america. our mark ensures choice. so every american can find quality, affordable coverage that cannot be taken away. >> taken away? the price will be taken out of your paycheck. time now to call on our own howard fineman, senior washington correspondent for "newsweek" magazine. howard, good evening. >> hi, keith. >> individual mandates, no public option, squeeze the middle class, cost them more for health care than they're paying now, did he kill off reform or

his own political career today? >> well, they're mad at him in the senate at the highest levels of the democratic leadership for a couple of reasons. first of all, they gave him a lot a lot of time on to get republican support. i'm told that this bill such as it is baucus unveiled two months ago and it would have been exactly what it is today. people don't like it now, wouldn't have liked it then, but he could've short circuited his own process by two months but instead he spent all of this time behind closed doors negotiating with people who didn't want to negotiate and ended up with the mess that you just described. >> democrats don't like it as you suggest and are angry at him. republicans were never going to support it in the first place, how can the white house even stand next to it let alone behind it? >> well, they're not exactly full throated in their enthusiasm for sure. but you have to step back and look at it from their perspective. in that they are looking at the long haul here, they want to get something out of committee to match or change the other bill

in the senate from the so-called health committee, which is a more liberal bill that has a public option so they can have more tools to sort of deal with it as they come to conference. but the problem, keith, is that this particular bill may not get out of its own committee. by my count, there are at least two, maybe three or four democrats who will vote against it. if that happens, this is a double waste of time so there'll be no other bill beside the more liberal senate bill from the health committee. >> what is the premise from ba baucus' point of view? is it the idea that he has to come up with something that pleases the insurance companies because and the whole health sector because there's a large percentage of his fund-raising as a small state senator comes from that? and he has to put up this fight on their behalf and then produce something so ridiculous that it's necessarily going to fold and lead the way for something else that might actually reform health care? what is the thought process? >> well, you're giving them way too much credit here. i think that he's probably

thinking and i haven't spoken to him today. so i don't know, but he's probably thinking i'm sacrificing here -- i'm just saying what's probably going on in his mind. i'm sacrificing here to help ensure that moderate bill will come out of the senate. talking to senate leaders, they forget about the republicans. they now claim to be worried about being able to get 50 or 51 democratic votes for any kind of reform plan at all. even without the public option. things have slid so far, keith, that if the democratic leadership is to be believed, you know, what they're looking at it might not be conservative enough to get 50 democratic votes, which is shocking to me, but that seems to be where we are. >> are the democratic senators prepared for the angry villagers with the, you know, the proverbial pitch forks and flaming torches? >> well, i think they should be, keith. there's a weird disconnect on the hill today, for example, more stories about how messed up the health care system is. how people aren't getting coverage, how the cost of health care went up by 3.5% last year compared to 1.5% drop in the overall cost of living.

it's clearly not working properly. it clearly needs to be reformed, and yet the congress seems to be moving backwards not forwards at this point. >> i'd like the senators to come with me the next time i go see my dad in the hospital right now. i don't mean to exploit his situation for any other purpose except to say welcome to the world the way it is at this moment. they have no earthly clue. eric fineman, great thanks as always, howard. >> thank you. >> for more on what's in the baucus bill, let's turn to a veteran of the insurance industry, wendell potter, former communications director at cigna, now senior fellow for media and democracy. much thanks for your time tonight, sir. >> thank you very much. >> we anticipated the baucus bill would be bad, difficult to swallow, but a bill that actually makes health care more expensive for the middle class and essentially taxes that will off the start 13%. and then starts talking about

what you're actually paying to see a doctor. how could it possibly be this stunningly awful? >> i can't imagine. i read the framework of the bill before this was released. and that was about enough. but to see what it really looks like, i got an e-mail from a medical director i worked with who said she must be doing a jigity jig when she saw this. karen is the head of the trade group for the health insurance companies. it really is an absolute gift to the health insurance industry. >> was this bill more or less written by the insurance lobby? or did somebody just anticipate their needs and decide to double them? >> you know, that's a good point. it looked at first like it might have been written by the lobbyist and the lawyers for the health insurance industry, but i don't think they would have been quite this audacious to expect something like this. >> if you don't hand over if you're in the 60,000 plus four-member family group and don't hand over your 13%, the government could fine you $3,800 under baucus' plan, no public option to turn to, no leverage to negotiate a lower price on

any of this. is this not exactly the opposite of the premise of the choices that president obama discussed just last week let alone in the entire i would up to this? >> absolutely the opposite. and the president said that he wanted to make sure that no family would have to go bankrupt or lose their homes because of high medical expenses. this would guarantee that more and more of us would be in that boat. this is -- it's absolutely ludicrous to think that this could be something that the president would sign. >> you could go out of -- you could go bankrupt without seeing the doctor. that's enough of the margin at $68,000 income for a four-member family, take $16,000 off the top, that is often make or break for a family with that kind of income in this kind of america. >> it is. and another thing to keep in mind too, the people who really can't afford those premiums will get subsidies from taxpayers' dollars that will go straight into the insurance companies, as well. so they win, win, win and we

lose, lose, lose. >> all right. to sum it up, lawmakers seem to be looking for a bill that maintains massive profits for the insurance industry that offers choice, but doesn't offer a public option had, that creates state exchanges that are not government run, that cost the government nothing while bringing down the deficits and does not negatively impact working families. anthony weiner called the possibility of bipartisanship on health care reform like children looking for a unicorn. this bill, this super idea, this is a unicorn, isn't it? >> it's a unicorn, but i want to make one more point. the house side and a lot of democrats are very supportive of a public option. it is not dead. i've talked to many members of congress this week, including senators. and i think this -- there may be so much outrage and pushback to this bill that it may give the public option a new lease on life. >> you almost wonder if there isn't some, and if somebody in the democratic party wasn't saying let's put up the worst possible bill and the recoil from that, the way the pendulum

swings back will get us something decent. i imagine in some work of fiction that might be true. it can't possibly be true here, can it? >> i don't know, but this is the worst-case scenario. surely we can come up with something better than this. >> seriously. wendell potter, insurance industry whistle-blower, former head of pr for cigna. once again, thank you very much for your insight, sir. >> thank you, keith. so much of the irrationality about health care reform, irrationality that twists to people who would most benefit from the most reform to the biggest unthinking detractors. main lines back to one of the several kinds of racism has been posed by many for many months. last night a former president, native southerner gave voice to that sentiment. tonight we'll review at least three dozen incidents that prove jimmy carter correct and review the irrational response to president carter's comments spit with the kind of bile and hate these people have reserved for the current president. in the housing industry. the fact is, with all the talk of a national real estate market, your town, your neighborhood, your home, or the home you'd like to buy, are each unique.

the national conversation may not apply at all. if you've been worrying about what your property may be worth, or wondering if your dream home may finally be affordable, ask a re/max agent or go to remax.com. nobody sells more real estate than re/max. jimmy carter tells the truth about some, not all, but some of the rabid rage against president obama and thus is the recipient of the automatic blowback for

those livelihoods that depend on telling those it's not racism they feel. tonight instances that prove him correct. . later, meltdown. lonesome road said he should be compared to murrow, not mccarthy. and he misquotes what he thinks murrow said although it wasn't him who said it. there are places off the continental shelf. natural gas can be a part of the solution. i think we need to work on wind resources. they ought to be carefully mapping every conceivable alternative. there is an endless opportunity right here. now your card comes with a way to plan for what matters to you. introducing blueprint. blueprint is free and only for chase customers.

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hehealthy makes it . few former presidents have continued to actively serve this country regardless of political orientation years in the white house. tend to be one of the ultimate sacrifices. yet this week a former chief executive may have tendered as

great as service as anyone in our past. inclination to racism in this country still exists said the 39th president crystallizing a whispered fear and it has bubbled up to the surface. our fourth story on the "countdown," the right issues, it's predictable response calling this president a kenyan, muslim, comparing him to hitler, depicting him as a joker or a witch doctor all the while pretending to be talking about health care reform. president jimmy carter's remarks to "nbc nightly news" bringing the discussion of racism to the center of this nation's discourse, repeated some of the sentiments at a town hall at the carter center in atlanta. >> there's a feeling among many people in this country that an african-american ought not to be president. not ought to be given the same respect as if he were white. and the outburst that we see -- the language that i saw on television last night -- and obama is -- those kind of things are not casual outcomes of a serious debate on a national

program or not. >> the race to deny about racism, this isn't about race it's about policy steele offering this pearl of wisdom on president carter. >> i think the president, with all due respect, is just plain wrong. and quite frankly ignorant as to matters of race if he thinks that that we heard in that chamber that evening was somehow stoked by or stems from racism. i think, i think it's unnecessary. i think it colors, if you will, this debate on health care in a very unfortunate way. >> he made a pun. in a written statement mr. steele went on to note this is a pathetic distraction by democrats to shift the attention away from the president's wildly unpopular government-run health care plan that the american people simply oppose. mr. steele also calling on the

president to repudiate president carter's comments. meanwhile the white house responding that the president does not believe that the criticism on health care is racially motivated. commentary the morning after was putrid, impersonal, and in some cases naive. >> it's not just former president jimmy carter saying this, it is many members of congress and other people columnists here in the u.s. who are now race baiting this whole topic. so it appears that this issue's not going to go away. >> jimmy carter is a nation's hemorrhoid, folks. and we don't have a tube of prep h big enough to deal with it. >> as suggested earlier we will defer to mr. limbaugh as an expert on that area of anatomy. melissa harrislacewell will join us. she'll join us in a moment. dus s and is clinically proven to help regulate dus s your digestive system.

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technical issues fixed. time now to call in melissa harris-lacewell, associate professor of politics and african-american studies at princeton university. our apologies for that problem, professor. thanks for your time. >> no problem, i'll have to start taking that train ride into new york and sitting at the table. >> back to president carter, his remarks, the reaction to them today. the president grew up in the jim crow south. is there something to be said about any southern man aged 80 or above making these comments whether he's a former president or not? >> well, i think there's something very powerful whenever white men, particularly southern

white men of a particular age make this argument. in fact, a big thank you to you and to president carter, to people like the scholar tim wise and others who as white men have been very clear and very consistent about saying this is not about white versus blacks or browns. this is about an impulse towards racism versus an impulse towards antiracism. and i think saying anti-racism really matters. it's not just a matter of being sort of neutral. it's a matter of actively pushing back against the forces in our country which are old, which are ugly, and which require us to call them out, call them by name, and root them out of the contemporary discourse. >> you praised a speech by president johnson about the protests in selma and by doing so you wrote racist attacks against the black president are

tantamount to hollering fire in a crowded theater. is that what the right does not understand about this debate? there's not a little racism under these circumstances? >> yeah, i think what's critical here is that clearly people who are against health care reform are against health care reform. if we had hillary clinton as president, if we had john edwards as president, there would be efforts against these presidents. it's even possible that some of the things that we see, let's take george w. bush, one of the most famous images that went around with bush was an image of bush, turned into a chimpanzee and george w. bush is a dumb monkey, right? that was a bad and awful thing to say about your president, but it wasn't racialized. if you take president obama and turn him into an ape or a monkey, then you carry the whole history of race, racism, and the things that turned and thought of black people as apes, as monkeys, as animals. so you've got to recognize that you exist within historical framework.

and you have to say, okay, i have a point to get across, but i'm not allowed to do it in a way that reduces public discourse to the ugly history of american racism. >> to deny this is absent and in play, is it as i suggested because people's livelihoods rely on enabling their viewers on what they actually feel or is it something else? >> well, i think to go back to this notion of feeling that racism is about like i have this negative feeling in my stomach and i have to have it about all black people or brown people. that's not racism, right? racism is about deploying particular strategies against either an individual or a group that leads to greater inequality. and in this case, we have, you know, the reality that you have an african-american president that many of those who are most critical and most vocal are white people in a party that at one point made a choice to use race as a wedge issue in order to gain a foothold in the

american south, which was the former confederacy and which has an ugly racial history. that is the history of the republican party. they have a particular requirement to be careful on race because it was through race that they first gained power 40 years ago. >> previously on many topics, this president has taken a minor controversy and turned it into something worth contemplating, worth analyzing, particularly on race itself. is he missing an opportunity to take what seems like a central controversy and turn it into the same kind of thing by reacting the way he did to president carter? to say through a spokesman the white house doesn't believe it's a significant factor here? >> yeah, i guess i understand that the president is trying to pass health care. i've heard people say maybe what president obama is doing is the rope-a-dope strategy of muhammad ali, laying back taking the body blows to tire out the opposition so he can come out with a knockout.

what was true about muhammad ali, when he saw racism, he always spoke to it, said it. it was part of what we loved about him. and about his brashness. i wish it was a little bit more muhammad ali in barack obama today. >> melissa harris-lacewell of princeton. great thanks, and great thanks for your patience. >> thanks. mr. limbaugh is in the right neighborhood. you would have to had your hair up your backside to miss the blatant racism of the last year and a half directed against the president. we'll checklist the sorry spectacle, the number reaches 37. and the most recent component, congressman you lie wilson who insisted he was once an immigration lawyer. looks like he lied about that. only in america. (announcer) there are engines... and then there's the twin-turbocharging, 365-horsepower-generating, ecoboost™ engine in the all-new ford taurus sho that has the thirst of a v6 with the thrust of a v8.

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if i can lose the weight, you can lose the weight. that's 105 meals free. call or click now. we're going again what was said by former president jimmy carter, quote, i think the demonstrated animosity toward president barack obama is based on the fact he is a black man. president carter placed that

claim in context, context of the nation's long historical struggle with racism and his own personal experience, his own witness. in our third story in the countdown, the cutting context. the problem with claiming that joe wilson's outburst might have been racially tinged is not that it's a stretch, but it fuels the false equivalency. if you say any criticism of obama is racial, your words will be twisted into all criticism is racial and if deniers can prove one instance isn't racial, they will exaggerate that long proof into all criticism isn't racial. they will exaggerate that loan proof to say that all of it isn't racial. was this poster of the president at a tea party in brighton michigan not racist? the kind of poster that turned up in various town hall meetings with the 9/12 protests serving as a road rage conventions. the most blatant examples were there along with the heavily coated ones. the president as the devil, the president as the blood-sucking alien. the president as undocumented worker, the president as hitler. and if you think that illusions

to violence are not racially motivated, you may reconsider. hate from the ground and hate from the airways is complicated. symbiotic increasingly dangerous unupsmanship. in obama's america, the white kids now get to beat up the black kid with the black kids cheering. white kids now get beat up with the black kids cheering basing it on a school bus incident which police determine was not over race but over an argument of who got to sit where. that alteration is definitionally unadulterated racism. more on limbaugh in a moment. that school bus was played on matt drudge's website surrounded by anti-obama headlines. context is key, but hardly necessary to reveal the obvious. when the president's environmental adviser resigned, it was in part because this man stirred up accusations of mr. jones' otherness. of course glenn beck had been losing advertisers because of efforts by the organization mr. jones co-founded. advertisers objecting to mr. beck saying he thought obama as a guy who had a deep-seeded hatred for the white people or

white culture this guy is, i believe, a racist. mr. limbaugh picked up where beck left off pointing out that van jones is obama just as obama is william aires, which is a racist double dip. black president is the same as other troublesome black men. so when bill o'reilly tops his show last night with another segment on a.c.o.r.n. continues in the way of pundits and politicians who have taken cases of abuse to portray a.c.o.r.n. as a collection of criminally minded african-americans, and with the president as a.c.o.r.n.'s poster child. bringing us back to mr. limbaugh whose consistent mission has been to denigrate obama the candidate, obama the president, in overtly racist terms.

calling him hafri-american and playing a song, whatever the origins the song is on its face racist. late in that same campaign, a local mccain campaign volunteer falsely claimed she had been robbed and pinned to the ground by a black man 6'4" with a knife who then scratched the letter b into her face. she did it to herself backwards in the mirror. a campaign in which obama as monkey brandished by a mccain supporter was a near footnote to the far more dangerous theme then candidate sarah palin taking up the william aires story and turning it into this. >> our opponent is someone who sees america as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who targeted their own country. >> and while we literally do not have time here to recount all of the fear-driven nonsense stirred up during that campaign, it led to instances like this one. >> i can't trust obama. i have read about him, and he's not -- he's not -- he's an arab.

he's not? >> no, ma'am. >> so when calls to kill him rang out at some gop rally, who could legitimately claim it could be isolated from that context? meantime rumors about the other side and its racism never proved true, but spread like the false accusation that michelle obama had used the word whitety, plus the pain this "new yorker" cover stirred because it was so accurately and painfully and achingly representational of what was going on back then. and after the election, the watermelon picture e-mailed by the mayor of "the new york post" and a dead monkey cartoon, and the incidents in durham, north carolina. police officers investigated for making racial slurs on their myspace pages. dozens of incidents of alleged hate crimes by ordinary citizens

across the country. and at a maine convenience store, betting on when barack obama might be assassinated. the spray painting of "kill that racist expletive deleted." but it is just sickening and just a sampling and shares in the same obvious undercurrent, just as the brandishing of the confederate flag at the recent 9/12 protests. just as the south shall rise again sentiment associated with states' rights finds its way to flirtations with succession, as in texas where rick perry is governor. that amountly amply context supplemented by the foul refreshers built for consumption like limbaugh wondering "if obama's brother is still in the hut." said against that, are we to believe that the birther movement can be separated for that reason? and the ratist racist fears of a black man's otherness and his stereotype proclivity to violence? unless the first time the president was heckled by a man

who had maligned strom thurmond's mixed-race daughter. and why anyone might think the out burst was even slightly racially motivated. and contemporaneously thatly still assert that it was an aberration, though they brought signs in its anticipation. it gets worse, when rachel joins you at the top of the hour, now one-third of republicans in new jersey think obama could be the anti-christ. well, i think one-third of republicans in new jersey could be the anti-christ, so we're even. other possibilities, she has finally made her choice of a new career. michael musto chimes in on governor palin. ex-governor. but my choice -- how many factual errors can one man make? "worst persons" with a classic becker head meltdown. first, top three best persons in the world. "dateline," number three best dumb criminal, daniel of shreveport impersonating a cop he pulled over a driver. the city's mayor. mr. neederhelman is under arrest.

"dateline" washington. number two best flip-flop. senator lamar alexander of tennessee quoting the czars are an front to the constitution. they're anti-democratic. they're a poor way to manage the government and they seem to be a principal symptom of this administration's eight-month record of too many washington takeovers. 2003 senator alexander spoke on the floor of the senate advocating that president bush appoint a sort of manufacturing jobs czar and later appoint a new aids czar. the bush administration, which mr. alexander was slavishly loyal, had 15 or 16 czars. that statistic is according to fox news. "dateline," new york. number one best gullible news actress trying to sell more conspiracy nonsense. she showed a clip in which an a.c.o.r.n. employee in san bernardino, california, claimed she had killed her ex-husband. an actor trying to trap her into something said, you killed him emotionally? and is he answers, no, i shot him. and the ex-beauty pageant contestant answers, seriously, she killed somebody?

despite this, some want to continue funding the group. she had previously noted -- according to a.c.o.r.n. he's still alive. yeah, also according to the san bernardino police department. police point out that the woman says the actors trying to entrap her were so bad at it, she started playing them. she also said they investigated and found that her former husbands were all alive and well. but gretchen, why listen to the police when you can listen instead to the all-knowing voices inside your head?

sarah palin finally made her choice of a new career. professional guest speaker, no word if she's available for kids parties and bar mitzvahs. and the worsts, lonesome roads misquotes joe mccarthy's last opponent and misidentifying him. and joe wilson may have lied about his resume. the interior "positively oozes class,"

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sarah palin's new career, public speak. sorry public speaking. and a fabulous meltdown in worst persons. first on this date in 1908, my great grandfather lost his chance at fortune. he was a traveling music instructor and instrument craftsman and early in the last century he spent a week at the home of william durant of flint, michigan. as mr. durant escorted by great grandfather to the train station, mr. durant said he was so grateful for his work, he wanted to offer my great grandfather not his usual fee but stock in a new company he was going to start. he ran the durant dort carriage company but wanted to branch out

into horseless carriages. my great grandfather said, gee, thanks, but i put all of my money into the world's safest investment, polish national bonds. too bad mr. durant, it's going to be a big hit once we get past the idea we need a national name. my great grandfather said why not national motors? can't mr. durant said, there already is a national motor company. well, my great grandfather said with a laugh, why not something more general, why not general motors? very good, mr. durant answered. oh, look, there's your train. on september 16th, 1908, mr. durant founded general motors. and that note, time for "countdown's" number two story. tonight's "worst persons in the world." michelle bauchmann of minnesota. we just heard last week that the federal government now under the obama administration is calling for a reordering of america's food supply. what's that going to mean? now will the white house decide how many calories we consume or

what types of foods we consume? she's talking about the food safety enhancement act of 2009 which, quote, sets forth provisions governing the reorganization of food and drug administration field laboratories and district officials. so they can better inspect our food, especially the imported food. sorry, congresswoman, no dessert czar will be coming to your house to not let you eat cake. never mind. the runner-up from the university of i don't remember, it's lonesome road with tonight's top lie on fixed news. this one is too good for me to do the silly voice. >> because i ratted out a self-avowed communist in the administration in van jones, the same organizations, the same politicians, the same progressive media that are ignoring or standing for a.c.o.r.n. now have called me joseph mccarthy. they have such little regard for your intelligence that they don't think that you're going to figure out that joseph mccarthy

was a powerful senator surrounded by the trappings of power of the united states government. with the power of subpoena and the power of congress. the guy who stood against that was alone. while everybody else wet their pants and cowered in fear. you'd think the members of the media might remember his name, it was edward r. murrow. and while i am nowhere near an edward r. murrow, never claim to be. let me use the words of finally somebody else that stood up to the power and these senators and said "senator, have you no shame?" >> hey, you got the quote wrong, and the speaker wrong. it wasn't "have you no shame?" it was have you no sense of decency, sir? it wasn't murrow, it was joseph welch. the man who represented him during the mccarthy hearings. hadn't thought of the mccarthy analogy, lonesome. let's take it for a test drive. >> and because i ratted out a self-avowed communist in the administration --

>> any man who had been given the honor of being promoted to general and who said i will protect another general who protects communists is not fit to wear that uniform, general. >> okay. and by the way, glenn, get the blood pressure checked. a winner, congressman joe wilson. yeah, him. >> the reforms i'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally. >> you liar! >> wilson said the next day "i'm for immigration" legal immigration, i've been an immigration attorney. the website tpn is trying to vet congressman wilson's resume on that point. there's the possibility he was somehow involved in an immigration case but no record of that has yet been found. he was a real estate attorney and a staff judge advocate in the south carolina army national guard and another lawyer for wilson's home county says he's known him since 1985 and "joe's never been anything but a real

estate attorney," a prominent immigration lawyer says he's been doing that for 21 years and he's never crossed legal paths with mr. wilson. and the lawyers immigration lawyers association says it has searched its data base and nobody from south carolina named joe wilson or using his real name addison wilson has ever been a member of its organization. so congressman wilson, immigration lawyer, eh? you lie! republican congressman "you lie" wilson, today's "worst person in the wrong-way wilson world"!

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after the only vice presidential debate last year, the national review's rich lowry blogged the following timeless description of the republican candidate. i'm sure i'm not the only male in america who sat up a little straighter on the couch and

said, hey, i think she just winked at me and her smile it was so sparkling, it was almost mesmerizing, like little star busts through the screen and ricochetted around the living rooms of america. dear national review forum, i never thought this could happen to me. in our number one story, she can burst stars all over the country for a couple of bucks a head. the washington speakers bureau that books appearances for high-profile types, bureau has an online bio page for the new client sarah palin and reads like something out of "the onion." known for the rise, she is a ground breaker who speaks on her vision for energy independence, national security, fiscal responsibility health care, and small government. it goes on and gets increasingly hilarious, but let's break down that first part. known for the meteoric rise, then there was the election, ethics charges, the close, the dead turkeys, the quitting. in fact, here's the other side

of the meteoric rise -- as you saw live here on msnbc with tea leone. she captured the minds and hearts of the global audience. well, hearts and minds not so much maybe. sarah palin is a ground breaker who speaks on her vision. vision? ahem. >> you can actually see russia from land here in alaska. >> this thing goes on, but in summary, you should know even though she may leave early, palin will come prepared. remember, she does read everything. just don't ask her to give a speech about the supreme court. >> what other supreme court decisions do you disagree with? >> well, let's see. >> time now to call in the

columnist of "the village voice," michael musto. >> good evening, keith. >> the palin sales pitch from this washington speakers bureau, how did they leave out maverick? these people are not even trying. >> i guess that goes without saying, sort of like giant deutsche nozzle. i don't know four eyes. whatever label fits her. forever 21? >> that last one -- that's going to be trouble right there. sorry about that you 21-year-olds. if you were in charge of representing her if something happened. perhaps as compensation for what you just said you had to do that as community service or anything. >> i would rather go to hell. >> all right. what would you pick as your biggest selling point? >> that people -- that people might confuse her with tina fey and think that's who they're going to see. in fact, i think sarah should go along with that, get a fake emmy award, pretend to be tina fey, and as everybody cracks up over everything she says, say, well, it's supposed to be funny, wink, wink. >> is part of the excitement to potentially booking her to speak at your wedding is the whole guessing game of whether she'll

actually show up? because she has not shown up at a number of events this year? it sort of turns your event into this instant surprise party. >> you're thinking of liza minelli, with sarah palin you rattle the cash, she's there, she need that's money to pay extra day care for her out-of-wedlock grandchild and to help special adults -- special needs children. the problem with her is she's starting to show up and talk. learn from liza, stay home and practice her arm gestures. >> we learned this week her first big paid speech a week from today in hong kong will be closed to the press. and it's to chinese communist investors. what could possibly be wrong with that? >> i think they wanted to close it to the press and found out in china even the press doesn't care. except for the chinese bureau of "mad magazine." so it's basically just closed to the chinese bureau of "mad magazine." >> some other political career shifts while we have you. tom delay taking to the dance floor on "dancing with the stars." she's been whining about being injured. he has a stress fracture, turns out it's a pre-stress fracture.