what values does he represent exactly? no media allowed for her big international speech. it's international and she's in another country, too. who better to comment than the american on purpose tv's craig ferguson. all of that and more now on "countdown." good evening from new york. anyone that holds out hope that republicans might be serious about health care reform, please refer to hatch fs-7. this is not from the onion or "daily show" which would add transition relief for the tax with any state that begins with the letter u. republican senator orrin hatch representing the only state in the union that begins with the

letter u. so it begins. the next phase of watching government sausage made among hundreds of amendments senator snow and her trigger option for public plan getting the most attention today in a fallback plan to ensure access to affordable coverage. democrats calling for the creation of one national exchanges otherwise known as the public option outright. should his amendment covering americans of all ages fail, senator rockefeller calling for universal coverage for children. meanwhile, a republican of nevada not extending coverage to mistress and staffers asking simply to strike the word fee everywhere it appears in the bill and replace with the word tax. that would certainly make it easier for him to argue against the measure in an effort to defeat it. you might think that the senator might want to pass the bill if his amendment calling for transparency and czars survives a snow ball chance in hell.

many thought the majority of republicans not even bothering to provide offsets leaving those ways of paying for it blank when all they seem to do is talk about how much government costs. senators kerry and schumer would replace with an employer mandate requiring all companies to provide health insurance. the free rider provision would penalize employers that do not offer insurance if their employees obtain government subsidies which could have the effect of discouraging employers from hiring workers from low income families. senators grassley and kyle both looking to eliminate proposed fees on health insurers and all medical device manufacturers,

clinical laboratories and pharmaceutical drug companies. senator grassley suggesting this be paid for with money not paid out of the stimulus act. the same stimulus act he voted against. the proposed offset from man who believed in march a three-year spending freeze would be the best way to fix our economy otherwise known as the depression express route. in one of their amendments, a proposal of inclusion of puerto rico and territories in the exchange. who would like to be in charge of explaining to congressman joe "the heckler" wilson that they are part of the united states. you don't even need a passport to get into them. president obama discussing health care on all of the key talk shows. he said republicans have made a political decision to oppose his plan. on "meet the press" he said there's agreement on 80% that's been proposed and tonight with

david letterman, part of what is fueling right wing rage in this debate is race. >> first of all, i think it's important to realize i was actually black before the election. >> really? >> this is true. this is true. >> how long have you been a black man? >> so the american people i think gave me this extraordinary honor and that tells you, i think, a lot about where the country is at. i actually think that what's happened is that whenever a president tries to bring about significant changes, particularly during times of economic unease, there is a certain segment of the population that gets very riled

up. >> also on meat meet, house minority leader boehner declared that the public option is dead but refused to say that president obama is a socialist even though he has said just about that in the past. >> do you think the president is a socialist? >> when you look at how much they want to grow government, you can call it whatever you want. but the fact is -- >> what do you call it? >> this is unsustainable. >> do you think the suspect a soci is a socialist? >> no. i didn't call him that. i'm not going to call him that. >> good evening, sir. >> good to be here. >> senator baucus says he plans to ease the financial burden his bill would impose on middle income families. that up to $13,000 max tax. more subsidies would be paid for by paring back.

we would take federal money used to pay down the deficit and give it instead to private insurance companies. if you're going to have to bribe the private insurance companies to make private insurance affordable, isn't it still government insurance only with no control or oversight? >> most especially no price control. so this is the government's subsidizing the purchase of a product from an industry which gets to pick whatever price it wants for that product thereby making the subsidy work or in the work or putting political pressure again to be drive the subsidy up higher. this is an unworkable situation. the idea that the insurance companies product is unaffordable therefore we will give people money to buy the unaffordable product and then leave control of the price in the hands of the insurance company executives. this is a hopeless situation. >> as this would play out, health insurance lobby would get

to go after democrats for subsidies to make the baucus bill affordable for the middle class. meaning, it would lobby republicans on the absence of a government run plan and it stands to profit billions pretty much win or lose. this is more health care reform for insurance companies basically? >> this is a dream for the insurance companies. they won this game before it started because before it started the president and the practical democrats in house and senate ruled out the possibility of simply opening up medicare. that was anthony wiener's idea and the idea of the liberals in the house. it was senator kennedy's idea a couple years ago before barack obama got elected. the wise men decided we shouldn't go with that simple explainable thing because they might be accused of being socialists if they do that and now they've ended up with the ugliest bucket of socialism you could possibly have written. >> now they still outnumber

republicans on the finance committee 13-10. how do republicans win in the next step if the democrats don't also tank and let republicans win in markup? >> well, there's only one way for republicans to win an amendment in any committee in the house or senate and that is democrats have to vote for that amendment. if the case of the finance committee, you have to get at least two democrats to join a republican amendment. there are some possible candidates for that as this thing moves along. so we'll see how they get their amendments in. >> what else should we look for during the markup process this week? who or what should we be looking at? >> what it's come down to in many ways is the standoff between senator rockefeller and senator snow. if olympia snow gets her way, jay rockefeller will vote against the bill. if jay rockefeller gets his way, olympia snow will vote against the bill over the public option whether it will be real and in

place or triggered. the other one that's been ignored is blanch lincoln. she's from arkansas. she's in a tough re-election situation there next year. she has not been forced to comment and take hard positions on any of these things. she has come out against the cap and trade bill passed by the house of representatives. she is definitely the one to watch in terms of the ability to be peeled off by republicans for some of their amendments and possibly vote against this bill on its way to final passage. if chairman baucus loses jay rockefeller for final passage of the bill in the committee, he needs every democrat. he can't lose one. blanch lincoln is very iffy. >> senator link on wicoln with ratio of health sector donations compared to overall election donations. thanks, lawrence. >> thanks. >> for more on the 564

amendments been introduced, let's turn to chris hayes. good evening. senator grassley put in at least ten of these 564 proposed amendments directly benefiting the health care industry. never mind getting excluded from the bipartisan negotiations, how does he avoid getting questioned by local police over large scale robberies or ponzi schemes around the nation? >> the republicans are sort of -- they're kind of playing two different angles here. on the outside they rail against the bill. they want to kill it. they go along with crazy accusations like death panels saying it's a government takeover. on the inside they are schilling to the insurance companies. on one -- they're banking that no one will take a look at the

amendments very close. if they do, it will sort of be in the front of their mind for about two minutes and come election time it's not going to be. it's this inside/outside game. you say one thing back home when you're in nebraska and you do another thing when the lobbyist is at your door and you're in committee markup. that's standard operating procedure for both parties in washington. >> let's see if we can burn that "sesame street" one from hatch into people's minds. if senator hatch believes it's unfair that the states with high insurance costs would be provided with transition relief, why not ask for exemption for any state more than that state that begins with the letter u. >> this ises cl classic. everything you need to know about commitment of small government is embodied in that amendment. reminds me of the omnibus bill

being passed and people bringing home pork were the republicans. they're vegetarians between meals. they're constantly saying that whenever they don't -- whenever they can't bring the bacon home for their constituents or interest groups funding them, then they're against spending. when they get a chance to smuggle a little in, they're totally fine with it. >> what is behind the use of the phrase that hatch put in here. any state that begins with the letter u? >> i don't know if he thinks people are that dumb they won't figure it out. >> perhaps maybe he thinks we'll go to uganda or something like that. there are three public option amendments among this tide of amendments. odds that any will survive markup week? >> they're slim. there is five bills. four have a public option.

the health committee bill in the senate and three passed in the house. this is the fifth. this is the only one if it passes without a public option won't have a public option. odds of public option getting into are much better when there's conference committee between the house and senate bills. right now there's such conservative democrats on that finance committee the only way i see a public option getting through is if in a kind of tactical feint republicans vote for it saying it will be a poison pill. short of that i don't think it will get out of committee. >> if you don't hilike sausage chris hayes, thank you very much. one clear minded visionary has had a flash of inspiration. september 28th. a day of fast and prayer for the republic. spread the word. let us walk in the founder's steps. fast and prayer on september 28th. why does that sound so familiar?

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the president expresses the slightest hesitation to send troops to afghanistan and within 12 hours a secret pentagon investigation has a leak to "the washington post." wow. what are the odds? the bid to change yom kippur to atonement and prayer. if when you march on the guy's office tomorrow you keep some of 6th avenue so us good guys can get to work, we would appreciate it. ( conversation )

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less than 24 hours after president obama first voiced skepticism about sending more troops to afghanistan, a secret report was leaked saying without more troops in the area next year the u.s. will lose. coincidence no doubt. our fourth story tonight, the afghanistan war spreads to a new front. the pentagon. president obama appeared on all major sunday morning news programs yesterday saying he will not commit to sending more troops to afghanistan without first hearing a strategy that requires it and that he believes will work. >> the question that i'm asking right now is to our military, to general mcchrystal, to general petraeus, to all our national security apparatus is whether it's troops already there or any troop request in the future, how does this advance america's

national security interests? how does it make sure that al qaeda and its extremists allies cannot attack the homeland? that's the question that i'm constantly asking because that's the primary threat that we went there to deal with. >> this morning somehow "the washington post" did obtain the classified report submitted by general stanley mcchrystal. the one he submitted to the pentagon last month which president obama has seen and which general mcchrystal says without a new strategy the mission should not be resourced. either accept mcchrystal assessment or correct it or let's have a discussion. there is a frustration. a significant frustration. an election is marred by allegations of fraud and defined by them and the pentagon is not

uniform on whether to send more troops. defense secretary gates having worried about the impact of too many u.s. troops there. let's turn to steve clemens. steve, thanks for your time tonight. >> good to be with you. >> mcchrystal's report gives the outline of one suggested strategy for which he says more troops are needed. namely focus on protecting afghans rather than use forces. is the president asking a question bigger than the strategy and namely what is the objective? >> i think that the president is. what we see mcchrystal doing and we all need to think about it is saying that the objective we're looking for is no longer just al qaeda and the way we go after bad guys is no longer just blowing them up. what's not written in the headlines is this is about a civil war. afghanis willing afghanis and afghanis we don't like setting up base for enemies mainly al

qaeda but you would have to look in small print to find al qaeda mentioned. we're talking about fundamentalist groups we don't like much. the problem is that karzai and those running things on the side of afghanistan that we do like don't like us very much. it's a very divided situation. >> to the point you just raised, the al qaeda point, the minority leader in the senate, mr. mcconnell, issued a statement tonight endorsing the mcchrystal request for more troops and in it he said anything less would confirm al qaeda's view that america lacks the strength and resolve to endure a long war. you said would you have a hard time finding al qaeda in that report. where does al qaeda rank in mcchrystal list of who we are fighting in afghanistan? >> if you listened to hillary clinton, she said that al qaeda lies behind all of the taliban groups. there are three taliban groups outlined. it's probably the second network that has the closest affiliation not only with al qaeda but other

jihadist groups. the issue is not just that. the issue is that al qaeda most people think is operating out of pakistan, operating on the pr y privile outside. what do you hear referenced are issues about how the taliban would run against the democracy that we hope would define a victory eventually in afghanistan. that's a very different kind of mission. something that general mcchrystal's report argues you need something on the order of near a doubling not only of afghan forces and police but also american military and european military that are deployed there. this would be a huge upgrade in america's responsibility for an outcome in afghanistan after eight years of not getting very far. >> is the problem with the mcchrystal report that is just about afghanistan? or focused seemingly just about

afghanistan but even he wrote senior leaders are based in pakistan. suddenly you are talking about afghan and pakistan relations. >> serious strategists know this is all about pakistan. there's a fear unless you get a modern stable pakistan in place, which people feel you can't do unless you stabilize afghanistan, afghanistan will constantly feed in insurgent groups and groups. we saw recently just six months ago how vulnerable and fragile pakistan was with major towns and cities falling very near the capital of pakistan. fragile democracies and very, very committed insurgent and islamic fundamentalists groups make us nervous when nuclear weapons are involved. >> the leak, we don't know who leaked it. who benefits from this? >> the military benefits. it's not just timing.

for a long period of time admiral mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff has been talking about a big surge in american forces and resources committed to afghanies and they are talking about military resources and not private and civilian and not military resources. that's not a part of my report. the military benefits to some degree and when joe biden said barack obama would be tested by his rivals and his enemies in the beginning of his campaign, it seems to me the military is testing him right now. >> steve clemons, many thanks for your time and insight. police always advise do not try to thwart a robber. exhibit a. he didn't get a memo about not doing that. when this gets out there could be a blowback. glen beck tries to turn yom kippur into a national day of fasting for his followers.

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the governor who cut off funding to a.c.o.r.n. a breakfast meeting in washington mr. watt described diverse makeup of a panel he made up. about the five-minute member panel he told the crowd, i have

a black, a woman, two jews and a cripple. mr. watt would retire within two weeks. we begin at a bank in west allis, wisconsin. there are key figures to watch. note the man in the back of the bank eating popcorn in the yellow shirt and notice the man in the black hood who enters the bank and tries to hold it up. the popcorn guy dropped his kernels and took the crook down and said hello ray lewis style. he was detained until the police arrived. he leapt into action because he was worried for his wife at the nexteler's window when this happened. he did not need to be too worried because she's the lady in blue seen kicking the perp while he's down. outside studio 1-a, more

secret socialist imagery. matt lauer and meredith vieira are shrinking. no he's 8'1". one of only ten confirmed cases of a man growing more than eight feet. he was here to publicize the new guinness book of world records. in north carolina, we get an overturned poultry truck carrying chickens. some of the birds made it some made a run for it. most chickens were fine. nothing human trous add about this chicken story but let's go over to the news desk and ernie. >> all right. >> ernie is still 9,000 times the journalist this fox news

cheerleader. this while wrong way wilson gets caught in another lie about a colleague's daughter. number three best surprise for a newspaper from the group the yes men. environmentalists who today hand out new york post with a screaming headline "we're screwed." the editors wanted to know what the environmentalists found interesting enough about the post that they bothered to parity it. someone put a report out the first state coming out of the recession will be the state of texas. i said we're in one? unemployment in texas just at 8%. the governor is being challenged for renomination and he doesn't think there's a recession.

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networks missed covering the 9/12 gathering in washington. perhaps it would be because we didn't want to get in the way of fox's staging of their own event. bill o'reilly gets a courageous award and so much so the media wasn't allowed to cover the speech. we begin with the already embellished corporate funded

9/12 event. the poster convention that they did not bother to attend. after the inflated lies about how many ordinary americans attended with the citing of 11 billion, it turned out it was not just numbers made up. much of the rage itself was also manufactured. video of a news producer egging on the crowd surrounding jenkins mistaking the protesters for a studio audience at "springer." heidi is on a cell phone urging the crowd to cheer louder. she said she's been disciplined. even someone at fox was ashamed enough to leak an internal e-mail from bill sammon.

i'm sorry. we're journalists and not participants and not performers. you didn't really explain why it was her fault she was on a cell phone and couldn't imagine anyone besides her office since they were alive and could hear her staging the news before they took the live report to the news anchor. that's just a note. a one-page ad brags that fix news were the only one that covered that event. the problem with the claim is video exists that the other networks covered the event. >> i'm joined live from washington by wrc reporter derrick ward. maybe the ad meant how come the other networks missed the

opportunity to manufacture the news? the family research council hosting the values voters summit over the weekend. platforms to the like of carrie prejean and jesse waters showed up finding himself questioned by the people he sought laearlier the year. he was held accountable for his ambush tactics. >> he said the reason you do ambush interviews is to get answers from people not willing to come on and answer the questions. she said she was never asked to come on the show. >> you're from -- >> i'm a co-worker of hers. >> you're trying to ask me why she wasn't contacted? >> yes. you said that the reason we do ambush interviews are to get answers -- she said she got no call. >> i called her. >> who in the office did you

call? >> i called the main number. >> at the same event little jesse's boss was awarded the first ever media courage award. so courageous the event was closed off to the media. family research council in its explanation of the award -- especially life with two or more women. i think the cost was $10 million for that. mike stark was not only able to infiltrate the event, he listed values out loud. stark was led out of the event by security but video says billow felt more than threatened

by mr. stark's remarks. incredibly it gets worse tonight, glenn beck is trying to turn september 28th into a day of fast and prayer for his 9/12 tea baggers. september 28 is already a day of fast and prayer. i think that's what it says on the calendar. my special guest, craig ferguson as sarah palin gives a speech to chinese communist. no freedom loving americans allowed. and eyebrows raised by a joke about a monkey.

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okay. seriously, you choose. go national. go like a pro. craig ferguson to talk about why sarah palin wants to talk to chinese communists. first, words that may liberate a nation. glenn beck tries to steal yom kippur. next on "countdown."

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sarah palin to give a speech to rich xhin ease communist. no american media involved. remember, country first. that's next. first, number two story tonight. the group change congress website -- don't get crowded in there. a post today --

a video criticized mike ross and half is taken from my special comment on august 3rd. our permission was never given to use the video. permission they don't have. we'll ask they remove the video. and we were never contacted for comment. the site wrote it's not clear if olbermann volunteered to be in the ad. how exactly would i have done that if i didn't know anything about it? i'll wait. also, you should explain how you think you're a journalism website with a piece we reached out to msnbc for comment waiting for their feedback. you get comment before you write. and john cornian of texas asked

recipients questions which includes are you concerned that health care rationing could lead to denial. and a lottery system of who will get priority treatment. and a priority system who will get treatment based on race and age and sleaziness of that thing may be mirrored by are you worried that he could be a fascist and just a nitwit? there would be some truth in those choices. our winner, beck. he stepped in it this time. he thought this tweet would be a good idea. september 28th, let's make it a day of fast and prayer for the republic. spread the word. walk in the founders steps. i'm not jewish but isn't that a full day of yom kippur? beck went further today. september 28th is the day of

atonement for the jewish faith and a good day for all of us to fast and pray. i got this idea from thomas jefferson. he's dead, by the way. the first thing they did was put together a national day of fast and prayer. i thought the day of atonement would be a good day to do it. so you want to politicco-op yom? when becker heads fast and pray for republic to honor founders and glenn goes to count them, he'll add in jewish people who are fasting on september 28th and get a producer to whip it up a bit. dear. glenn doesn't quite understand the whole religious thing beck. today's worst person in the world. tomorrow will be worse.

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some politicians might fare better if only the media would not get in their way. former governor sarah palin is giving a big foreign policy speech that conveniently will be closed to the press. she's going to speak to communists and keep out those that like democracy. good thinking. congressman wilson tried again to buff up his image with another swing and miss. joining me in a moment, craig ferguson, author of "america on purpose." the keynote address in hong kong. subject u.s./china relations and governance and health care.

mrs. palin choosing to opt out of media in the room. only congressman wilson can thwart the pesty media. wilson claimed he supported clyburn daughter's but he supported someone else. a wilson aide acknowledged the mistake quoting he honestly thought he voted in favor of her. joining me now is host of "the late, late show" and "america on purpose" tomorrow. craig ferguson. welcome. >> it's nice to be here. my wife just texted me and said how lovely your glasses are tonight. i have to agree. you look dashing. >> thank you. thank your wife for me. i'll give them to you as souvenirs. they're brand new. as my guest here, let me

throw out -- you can throw out the first interruption. i'll be saying i voted for clyburn's daughter and you say -- >> you lie. >> we're living in this post-joe wilson world. is it to your benefit to having a post-joe wilson world? >> were we living in pre-joe wilson? >> everyone will have 15 minutes. this is his. >> i don't know. i get very upset. not because -- i don't care if he disagrees with the president. he should disagree. if he disagrees, he disagrees. that's fine. he can disagree. what he did was he turned congress into the jerry springer show. that's not acceptable. you don't do that. you can't do that. that's not right. >> you almost had that opportunity. you did have that opportunity. you could have done that, couldn't you? >> when i was -- you were mad at me when i did the white house correspondence. you didn't go.

>> not at all. i thought my wife would not be -- i could not get insurance to go. it had nothing to do with you. >> what amazed me at the dinner is the amount of people that were there and everyone was just excited because of jonas brothers turned up. that's the big deal that night i'm afraid. >> there's a certain -- someone called it the prom for not so attractive people but they didn't use that phrase. >> i wouldn't have said that. >> you had too much fun as you recount in the book with this antidote from the evening. can you recount any of the unexpected views of the presidency as it were or at least part of the presidency? >> it was one of the things that my wife who i mentioned earlier, megan had a reception beforehand. when laura bush stood up in the light, could you see her underpants. if your sense of humor is like mine, i said i saw england, i

saw france, i saw the first lady's underpants. the bushes were charming. not in any way ungracious or rude or standoffish. they warm and welcoming. i couldn't help but notice i could see her underpants and it delighted me. anything but a patriotic way. >> inside washington kind of way. >> very inside washington. >> one other topical thing here i mention this speech that mrs. palin is going to give. >> i'm with palin on this. i tell you why. when you do your best material and there are cameras in the room, you can't do it again later on. you can't do your material with cameras in there. you save it for comedy special. >> she's not a comedian. >> that's what you say. i don't know about that, keith. >> now you're a published

american author. part of the inspiration for the book was the citizenship process. do you, you discuss that it is a surprise that we couldn't all -- natives here couldn't all pass the same civics test you had to get your stamp of approval. >> i say that with a certain amount of -- i don't mean that. there are a lot of things when i'm in scotland and american tourist say this is from the battle of -- i was, like, yes. i did know that. did you know that. i'm just making crap up. i think that the great tragedy is when you -- have you been up in the umpire state building recently? >> 1966. you can't n . >> you take for granted what you have around you. >> last time we were on together mr. obama was on "the tonight show." he's on dave's show. he joked about whether

opposition to him was because of race. he said he was born a black man and was a black man before the election. is that the way to handle it? >> it's an odd and difficult thing to do. the thing he did wrong was he did "the tonight show" before he did dave. he should have done "letterman" first. he squeaked by the election but he should have done "letterman" first. a statesman would have done that, keith. >> after dave got him elected? you're damn right. he should have -- >> mccain let down dave. i think that was written into history, wasn't it. >> unbelievable to this day. sitting next to we willington at waterloo as he's defeating nep oelian. that great to watch. "american on purpose" out tomorrow. best of luck with it. >> i did my very best on it. >> i read it.

thanks for your time. "late, late show" on another network. thanks. that's "countdown." i'm keith olbermann. as ernie would sign off, keep plucking that chicken. now to the monkey joke. values voter summit. here is rachel maddow. good evening. >> if he only said plucking so much of the last week wouldn't have happened. >> he's a good guy. i'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. keep on plucking. >> thanks, keith. thank you at home for staying with us for the next hour. we begin tonight with a new campaign to terrify you about health care reform. within congress what will happen is being worked out, the action is all among democrats and frankly things are happening really fast now. pressure from the left for major reforms is heavy and it is starting to change the range of

what's possible. conservative democratic senator max baucus saying late today because of pressure from the left he'll make more generous the subsidies in his bill to help people afford health insurance. over in the house, the lead conservative blue dog democrat on health care was hit at the end of last week with ads that threatened a democratic primary challenger against him if he didn't support real reform including the public option. now congressman ross has been hit with devastating poll results. highlighting the risks of his stance against the public option to compete with private health insurance. this poll was commissioned by the liberal website "daily coast" but carried out by a nonpartisan traditional polling firm called research 2000. the poll found that in arkansas's district, voters in general are in favor of the public option. independent voters in the district specifically are in favor of the