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 f-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 snowe and her trigger option for public plan getting the most attention today in a fallback plan to ensure access to affordable coverage. other senators on the committee, 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.

they would cap itemized deductions or closing corporate tax loopholes. 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 "meet the press," 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 president 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.

instead of the socialism of a public option, we would take federal money used the 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 snowe. if olympia snowe gets her way, jay rockefeller will vote against the bill. if jay rockefeller gets his way, olympia snowe 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. 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 lincoln with a huge 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. and should i note, that's not limited to the republican party. 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 is 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 like them to he had a 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 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 like 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? september 28th. yom kipper.

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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. i know it is already a day of atonement and prayer. this would turn it into a fox day of 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. that can control your heartburn for hours all day or all night. it's called tums dual action, and it's the longest lasting tums ever. tums dual action works two ways to relieve heartburn: like all tums, it goes to work in seconds. plus, tums dual action has an effective acid reducer that works for hours,

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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. the "washington post" quoting one unnamed person saying, 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 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. afghanis killing 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 outside. maybe even operating in other parts of the world. it is somewhat peripheral. you hear al qaeda less and 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 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. 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 afghanis 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. glenn beck tries to turn yom kippur into a national day of fasting for his followers. uying?

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the governor who cut off funding to a.c.o.r.n. even though the state had no funding forrar o'connor. a breakfast meeting in washington mr. watt described diverse makeup of a panel he appointed. 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. 54-year-old matt said 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 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. 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." activist who's tried to hand them out were reportly detained by building security and police. presumably, the post 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. baton rouge, number one best dumb governor champion.

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networks missed covering the 9/12 gathering in washington. it's a lie but even if it were true, 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. it was blamed on youth and inexperience. 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 live 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. msnbc dofrd event. tom costello, abc, cbs, cnn were there, too. 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 earlier in 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. or who will bring me this meddlesome? he is shock that the guy he wanted dead is dead. nevertheless, the blogger 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 communists. no freedom loving americans allowed. and eyebrows raised by a joke about a monkey.

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♪ take me home 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.

sarah palin to give a speech to chinese communists. no american media involved. remember, country first. that's next. the fro if he issor and his group put together a minute-long video criticizing the blue dog

democrat. about half taken 40 from may comment. they never contacted me. we will be asking them the remove the video. as important, mr. quigley never contact me for comment. this was the first i had heard about the video. yet the site had the audacity to write, it is not clear if olbermann explicitly volunteered to be in the ad. he almost certainly could have put if kibosh on it if he wanted. how i would have done that if i didn't know anything about it? also, you should explain how you think you're a journalism based website if you close with a piece saying, we've reached out to msnbc for comment and are waiting for feedback. john cornyn of texas described mailing in from the u.s. senate health care task force as its chairman. it asks recipients questions,

are you concerned that health care rationing could lead to 23 dial treatments where the prospects are deemed not good? a lottery treatment? it would be based on race or age? the sleaziness might be, are you worried that senator john cornyn of texas could be a fascist? or just a nitwit? our winner, lonesome roads beck. he stepped in it this time. on saturday, he got it into his brain. 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 us walk in the founder's 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 i thought it would be a good day for all of us to fast and pray. and i got this idea from thomas jefferson. his dad, by the way, after they put together the continental congress, the first thing they did was put together a day of fast and pray and i thought day of atonement would be a good day to do it. you want to politicize yom kippur or preemyom kippur or co-opt yom kippur? or win something becker heads out there? they fast and prayer to honor the founders? and glenn goes to count them and say how many there were from the university of i don't remember? he will honor the jewish people had a also happen to be fasting on september? maybe he'll go to the synagogues and try to whip them up a little bit? 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.

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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 life 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 ten to not take advantage of it. 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.