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." >> this time it's personal. good evening from new york. anyone that holds out hope that republicans might be serious about health care reform, please refer to hatch f-7 one of the 564 amendments members of the senate finance committee have introduced to the baucus bill and this is not from "the onion" nor "the 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 john "take me to fedex" ensign of nevada not extending coverage to mistress and staffers asking simply to strike the word "fee" everywhere it appears in the bill and replace it 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.

it would prevent certain workers from the excise tax, the so-called cadillac plan tax or make changes to it paid for either by capping itemized deductions at 35% or closing corporate tax loop holes. many if not the majority of republicans not even bothering to provide offsets literally 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 the free rider provision with an employer mandate that would provide 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. this proposed offset from a man who in march proposed a three-year spending freeze to 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. wait until the right wing gets wind of that. who would like to be in charge of explaining to congressman joe "the heckler" wilson that they are part of the united states. places like guam and puerto rico. you don't even need a passport to get into them. president obama discussing health care on all of the key sunday morning talk shows. he said republicans have made a political decision to oppose his plan no matter what is in it. 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 "meet the press"

house minority leader boehner declared that the public option is dead but refused to say that president obama is a socialist 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 president is a socialist? >> no. i didn't call him that. i'm not going to call him that. >> wow. time to call in lawrence o'donnell contributor to the huffington post and of course of msnbc. 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 basic $13,000 tax or up to $13,000 max tax as it has been called. he thinks more subsidies would be paid for by paring back the amount of deficit reduction in the legislation. instead of the socialism of the government option we would just take federal money that would

have been used to pay down the deficit and give it instead to the 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 not work or putting political pressure again to 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.

meanwhile 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 is possibly the most conservative democrat on the senate finance committee. 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. blanche lincoln is very iffy. >> senator lincoln with a huge ratio of health sector donations compared to overall election campaign donations. thanks, lawrence. >> thanks. >> for more on the 564 amendments introduced, let's

turn to chris hayes washington editor of "the nation." 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're basically shilling for the insurance companies. it's sadly not limited to the republican party in this whole sordid affair. they're banking that no one is going to look at these

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. sadly, that's very 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 more than any state with a name that begins with the letter "u?" why not propose to do away with transition relief all together? >> this is classic. everything you need to know about the republican party's philosophy of governance and so-called commitment to small government is embodied in that amendment. reminds me of the omnibus bill being passed and people bringing home pork were the republicans. they were railing against pork.

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 like my stickup men to address me by name, not just say, hey, you! >> i don't know if he thinks people are that dumb they won't figure it out. >> perhaps maybe he thinks we'll annex uganda or something like that. there are three public option amendments among this tide of amendments. are there any odds 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 legislation are much better when the bills are either reconciled in the senate or ultimately when there is 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. and that it'll spell the doom for it on the floor of the senate. short of that i don't think it will get out of committee. >> if you don't like sausage -- chris hayes, thank you very much. in the midst of the nation's turmoil, one clear minded visionary with a flash of inspiration. i'll quote it. 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? september 28th. yom kippur. somebody wants to take the

holiest day on the jewish calendar and turn it into a political stunt? any guess as to who? 6 million women have doubled theirs. try lash blast. only from easy, breezy beautiful... covergirl.

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 open so us good guys can get to work we would appreciate it. xxxxxxxxx

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 its -- 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 continued underresources will likely cause failure. he also writes, without a new strategy the mission should not be resourced. "the washington post" also quoting one unnamed pentagon official, either accept mcchrystal's assessment or correct it or let's have a discussion. there is a frustration. a significant frustration. afghanistan has been complicated since mcchrystal began his assessment most pointedly by the election not so much marred by allegations of fraud but defined by them. even the pentagon is not uniform on whether to send troops no

less than defense secretary gates having worried about the impact of too many u.s. troops there. let's turn to steve clemons. 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 u.s. 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. it's about afghanis killing afghanis and those that we don't like potentially setting up a base for our enemies, meaning al qaeda though you'd have to read in the very small print to find al qaeda mentiones. 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 you'd 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 outside. maybe even operating in other parts of the world. it's become somewhat peripheral. you hear al qaeda reference less and less. 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. does that explain the obama desire to look at it in terms of the big picture? >> 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. there are probably good guesses. 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 afghanistan. they're talking about military resources, not the sort of private civilian and nonmilitary resources. that's not a part of this report in my view. 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. glenn 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. even though his state had no funding for acorn. 26 years ago reagan's interior secretary, at a breakfast meeting of lobbyists for the chamber in washington he described a diverse makeup of a panel he created. about the five member panel he told the crowd, i have black, a woman, two jews and a cripple.

he would resign within a couple 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. the 54-year-old man said he leaped into action because he was worried for his wife at the next teller's window when all this happened. he didn't need to be too worried because she is the lady in blue seen kicking the perp while he's down. hats off to them! outside studio 1-a, more secret socialist imagery. i can't believe you people don't see it.

sticks out like a sore -- matt lauer and meredith vieira are shrinking. no the guy is huge. he's sultan kosen of turkey, 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. he plans to take in lots of american landmarks including possibly the dallas cowboys stadium where he will bang his head on the video board. in north carolina, we get an overturned poultry truck carrying more than 5,000 chickens. the driver was unhurt but lost control. some of the birds made it some made a run for it. most chickens were fine. nothing humorous to 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 caught trying to tell the crowd to protest louder at the 9-12 protests is.

this while wrong way wilson gets caught in another lie about a colleague's daughter. top three best persons in the world, best surprise from a newspaper from the group yes men. environmentalists who today hand out parodies with the new york post with a screaming headline "we're screwed." they were apparently detained by building security and new york police. the posted itors who lost 20% of their readers in a year's time wanted to know what the environmentalists found interesting enough about the post that they actually bought it to parody it. rick perry of texas, someone put a report out that the first state out of the recession is going to be the state of texas. i said we're in one? unemployment in texas is just at 8%. he doesn't think there is a recession. number one best governor

champion, louisiana's bobby jindal issuing an executive order to end all state funding that goes to a.c.o.r.n. one detail he forgot to check from today's neural times picayune according to the state's division of administration no state agencies have existing contracts with a.c.o.r.n. nice try, governor knee jerk. ♪ i'd like to know where you got the notion ♪ watch a bad reality show, you can learn to switch off hungry and lose weight. right now weight watchers is offering a whole month free. join and get a month of unlimited meetings and online tools. so all you'll need is 45 minutes a week to take control, turn hungry off... ...and turn weight loss on. the free month offer's only available for a limited time so join today. hurry registration's free too. weight watchers. stop dieting. start living.

fixed news claims the other networks missed covering the 9/12 gathering in washington. it's a lie but even if it were true it was perhaps 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 road rage poster convention that lonesome roads beck threw

but didn't bother to attend personally. 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 fixed news associate producer egging on the crowd surrounding junior stalker/producer griff jenkins perhaps mistaking the protestors for a studio audience at "springer." heidi is on a cell phone urging the crowd to cheer louder. fixed news blamed it on the producer's youth and inexperience telling the huffington post she has been disciplined. even someone at fox was ashamed enough to leak an internal e-mail from bill sammon. as journalists we must always be careful to cover the story -- i'm sorry -- not active participants.

there to chronicle the news not create it. no. again, we're journalists not participants and certainly 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. the war room propaganda campaign continues. this time in the form of one-page ads placed in "the washington post" and the murdoch owned journal. 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. msnbc covering the event. tom costello filed a report for nightly news. abc, cnn were all there too. maybe the ad meant how come the other net works missed the opportunity to manufacture the

news? the family research council hosting the values voters summit over the weekend. they gave platforms to the likes of carrie prejean and michelle bachmann and jesse waters who found himself questioned by the very people he stalked earlier in the year. think progress found little jesse in return and held him 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. >> this guy? 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 was billo the event was closed off to the media. the 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. or life when it's spent asking who will rid me of this meddlesome killer and, bang, suddenly a doctor is assassinated and the recipient winds up playing captain reino in casablanca is shocked that the guy he wanted dead is dead. mike stark was not only able to infiltrate the event, he listed some of billo's values out loud, including loofas. he was led out of the event by security but video shows billo felt more than a little 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. worsts ahead. my special guest, craig ferguson as sarah palin gives a speech to chinese communist. no freedom loving americans allowed. when rayann chandler please joins you, the eyebrows raised as there is a joke about a monkey at the values voter summit in d.c. announcer: cialis asks, when is it time

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sarah palin to give a speech to rich, chinese communists. no american media involved. remember, country first. didn't say which country. that's next. first, number two story tonight. the head professor of stanford, the website mediaites, don't get all crowded in there. media eye asked if olbermann, me, who considers himself a serious journalist and not just another pundit crossed the line by appearing in a political ad. they put together a minute-long video criticizing the blue dog

arkansas congressman and half is taken from my special comment of august 3rd. they never contacted us for our permission to use the video which they do not have. we will be asking them to remove the video. the site wrote it's not clear if olbermann volunteered to be in the ad. he certainly couldn't have ended it if he wanted. 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. that's not the way it works. you're supposed to get the comment first before you write. thank you. our runner-up senator jon cornin of texas asked -- asked recipients questions which

include are you concerned that health care rationing could reed to 23 denial of treatment in cases where the patients' prospects are deemed not good? 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 a democratic mailing reading are you worried that senator cornin of texas could be a fascist or toe tailian or a knit witnenitwit? 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. let eswalk in the founders' steps. september 28th. i'm not jewish but isn't that the 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. after they put together the continental congress 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. you want to politicize yom kippur or preempt yom kippur or co-op yom kippur? when becker heads fast and pray for the republic to honor the founders and glenn goes to count them and he'll add in all the jewish people who happen to be fasting on september 28th and maybe get a producer to go out to the synagogues and try to whip it up a little bit? hum? hum? oh, dear. bye, glenn. glenn doesn't quite understand the whole religious thing beck. today's worst person in the world. tomorrow will be worse. access to favorite courses

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some politicians might fare better if only the facts and meddlesome media wouldn't 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 joe "wrong way" wilson tried again to buff up his image with another swing and miss. joining me in a moment, craig ferguson, author of "american on purpose." the palin keynote address before the investors forum in hong kong, the subject u.s./china relations as well as governance

and health care. mrs. palin choosing to opt out of media in the room. she said if i do that with press in the room i'll have to say different things. only congressman wilson can thwart the pesty media. wilson claimed he supported clyburn's daughter for a state position in 1998 but in fact had 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 "american on purpose" in book stores tomorrow. welcome. craig ferguson. >> 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 joe wilson and say i voted for jim clyburn's daughter and you can say? >> you lie. absolutely. >> thank you. >> 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 correspondents dinner. you didn't go. you were saying i'm not getting

cozy with the bush administration. >> not at all. i thought my wife would not be -- i could not get insurance to go. my life would not be worth -- 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 turning up. that's the big stars there 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 anecdote 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 noticed in the little reception before-hand. when laura bush stood up in the light you could 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.

it really made the event for me. the bushes were charming. very nice people. not in any way ungracious or rude or standoffish. they were very warm and welcoming but i couldn't help but notice i could see her underpants and it delighted me. not in anything but a patriotic way though. >> 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 tourists will say this is where the battle of gachmahash was, i say, 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 kind of take for granted what you have around you. >> last time we were on together mr. obama was on "the tonight show." he was just 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? from both a comedic and presidential point of view in your opinion? >> i don't know. 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 wellington at waterloo as he's defeating napoleon, that good to watch. >> it was fun. >> "american on purpose" is 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. actually a network. this is another network. thanks. >> thanks. that's "countdown." i'm keith olbermann. as ernie would sign off, keep plucking that chicken. now to the congressman's monkey joke, a so-called values voter summit. ladies and gentlemen here is rachel maddow. good evening. >> if he had 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 in an interview with the "new york times" that because of pressure from the left he will 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 mike ross's arkansas district voters in general are in favor of the public option. indeen