slaughter on the air. >> yesterday. >> i don't know if i've used the word slaughter. >> last november. >> they are taking you to a place to be slaughtered. all the news and commentary now on countdown. >> that's the dumbest thing i've ever heard. good evening from new york, there's breaking news tonight about the man accused of trying to blow up northwest airlines flight 253 over detroit on christmas day. he's talking. more than that, we are learning tonight umar farouk abdulmutallab is giving up information about the group al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, without the u.s. using any of the methods approved by the bush administration. no water boarding, no beatings, no sleep deprivation, no military commission, no dishonor to this nation. abdulmutallab is cooperating freely with the fbi, providing very valuable intelligence, the u.s. is acting on it in yemen.

pete williams reports, after the u.s. government gave abdulmutallab the rights enumerated in the constitution, he has a lawyer, he got due process, he got his miranda warnings and he will get a trial. chuck todd says the fbi did it by going to nigeria, and rather than threatening his family, getting their help. members of the family flew to the u.s. on january 17th and helped the fbi get abdulmutallab's cooperation. nevertheless, even though the shoe bomber, richard reid got the same treatment, republicans disapprove of this. lamar alexander calling for the resignation of eric holder whose prosecutors are overseeing the case, and whose fbi agents first interviewed the man. interviewers furious with abdulmutallabfusing to

talk for a month. today the fbi director, robert muller explained the concept behind abdulmutallab's conversation were anyone not swift enough to follow an episode of "law & order." >> the system in the united states which allows for consideration of contributing intelligence information and credit for that, is a powerful incentive for persons to provide truthful, actionable information, evidence and intelligence. we have other country that is don't have the same system of justice, where there is no incentive to cooperate or provide intelligence, and the person stays in jail without any incentive to provide intelligence and without providing ultimately any intelligence. >> with us tonight, jonathan holter. what just happened here?

>> this was a big triumph for the rule of law and a lucky break for the obama administration. if this had gone the other way, he would have stayed on for the republicans. this let's us say, as fbi director muller did, that our system works. there is no fundamental clash between national security and our values, and that's the message the president has been trying to deliver since his inaugural address, and was reinforced tonight. >> you said the republican heat would have continued. obviously pete king and hoekstra and giuliani are not going to say we were wrong, the system does work. we're sorry. >> yeah. >> even though that last poll said 62% specifically approved the way obama had handled the detroit case before this development, where gosh the system works and cooperation with the family, turns out to be more valuable than trying to drown the man, they've been selling obama's soft on terror. which push back will they offer and from which orifice will they

pull it. >> i'm not going to hazard a guess on the last one. >> we can all guess the second one. >> i think they're in a place now where they just want to hurt obama. and what they don't get, i wish they would look into their souls a little bit, if they convey over and over again that the president of the united states is weak, what does that do? it emboldens the terrorists, and i don't say that lightly. but think of terrorists overseas and -- or at home. who might be plotting an attack. if they think that the president is weak, which he is not. he's killed twice as many of them, not to put too fine a point on, as his predecessor did. he's not weak, if they continue to convey that he is weak, that gives serious help to the terrorists. so i think the pressure should now be on these republicans, aren't you helping the terrorists by insisting against

all evidence? remember, we have 100% conviction rates of terrorists in civilian courts in this country. 100%, it's not like any of them are out walking the streets as we're told. the only detainees from guantanamo who have been released and have returned to terrorism in their home countries were released under president bush. >> yes. >> so far there's not been one case of that happening under president obama. so this line is a bunch of huey and they have to stop saying it, and the onus has to be on them for harming us as they continue to do so. >> is there -- and i was -- the person most aggravated and insulted by the ripidity and stupidity with which the bush administration would trumpet their own successes in stopping terrorist plots, that involved

nothing more than diet pepsi and m mentos to blow up the moon. this administration with, its laid back attitude of we stopped this, we stopped that. to say something a little more loudly under this point that the system works? >> well, you know, this case has not been completed. let's see how it's resolved. apparently they cut a deal where he won't face the death penalty in exchange for his testimony. i don't think they need to get out there and start bragging about the case, but it's important for people to understand that this is a good development. lamar alexander wants holder to resign? does he want muller to resign too? who was appointed under president bush? does he want the others who have been standing up for the rule of law. reasonable people can disagree on whether khalid sheik mohammed

should be tried in new york city, which is not going to be. there's all sorts of legitimate debate over how we handle terrorism. but let's not cast these aspirtions. >> will the republicans come back, we're not going to get to hang him? we're not going to get to execute him? >> yes. >> the point to that is, don't you want that out in a terrorist's mind at the last moment. if i chose -- something caused richard reid, as an example not to go to the bathroom where he would have been able to destroy that plane, to stay in his seat and try to light his shoes on fire with people around him. some doubt exists in his mind. don't you want to reward that doubt? if you don't do it and you cooperate, we're not going to kill you. if you don't want to kill yourself, we're not going to do it for you?

>> what has gotten this guy to talk is that his father tried to warrant embassy about him, you know, was brought over hp his family was brought over. if you were in a military situation, that would not happen. >> exactly. >> don't we want our interrogators to have a lot of different tools to use? why would we want to create a system where they can only water board when -- under torture as we know from john mccain and others, when people will say anything to stop the abuse. from another senate military hearing today, the republican party line on all bush-era defense issues. listen to the generals, what they said went until a republican was no longer the commander in chief. until, of course, commander in

chief obama called for a repeal of don't ask, don't tell. until his military leaders went before the senate this afternoon and said, it's time to scrap don't ask, don't tell. that's when the top republican on the armed services committee said this. >> numerous military leaders tell me that don't ask don't tell is working and that we should not change it now. i agree. >> in 2006 on this network, senator mccain having said the exact opposite about don't ask, don't tell. >> the day that the leadership in the military comes to me and says, senator, we ought to change the policy, then i think we ought to consider seriously changing it, because those leaders in the military are the ones we give the responsibility to. >> well, guess what? this is tomorrow, mccain making today's blanket declaration about military leaders on don't ask, don't tell, before the military's top uniformed officer admiral mullen had been given the chance to speak, including

especially the chance to say this -- >> it is my personal belief that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do. no matter how i look at this issue, i cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens. >> that would be the leadership of the military coming to you and saying, senator, we ought to -- no matter how you look at this issue, we ought to change it. once the questioning began, senator mccain angry that the military had not consulted him first. >> fortunately it is an act of congress, and it requires the agreement of congress in order to repeal it. and so your statement, obviously is one that is clearly biassed, without the view of congress being taken into consideration. >> sweet and divine. let's turn to lawrence core,

senior secretary of defense under ronald reagan. thank you for your time tonight, sir. >> nice to be with you. >> is changing don't ask don't tell something we ought to be giving serious consideration too? or is that something that should only happen when a republican is president? >> well, it's something that should have happened quite a while ago. and the interesting thing is, that even the majority of conservatives now support changing the policy. and senator mccain three years ago had a chairman who basically did not want to change the policy, in fact did not want to have gays in the military at all. so i think he thought he had political cover, and i think admiral mullen's statement took everybody by surprise today, especially senator mccain. >> we were told time and time again during the bush administration, we need to listen to the generals, particularly the generals on the ground. does that apply only to iraq, or when broad policy decisions are

being made about the military, the general is somehow uninformed? >> i think what they were doing, republicans said we ought to list tonight generals, some of the generals were saying what they wanted to hear. for example, when senator mccain was saying, we can muddle through in afghanistan, the generals there were saying, that's not working. but he didn't want to hear that, because he was so focused on iraq. and what happens is, you try to get political cover for what you want to do by theoretically relying on the experts. but what happens when you open that door, then the experts change, then you have a big problem, and senator mccain had a big one today, particularly since on the hardball tour three years ago, he took the opposite position. >> the defense secretary mr. gates said, it would take -- could take two years to implement the change to don't ask, don't tell. why so long, and would that period of time not how for plenty of time for congressional opponents to make sure the policy stays in place, or for

mr. mccain, 10 to 12 opportunities to change his mind on this again? >> there's no doubt about the fact you take that long, not just in the congress, but some people in the military, if you look at the experience of other countries, it doesn't have to be that way. in 1999, the european court told the british military, which is very similar to ours in terms of submarines and they go -- expedition airy forces, they were told you have to change the policy. the british changed it right away, just changed it. you can do that, and i think that's what we have to be very careful of, that people don't try to slow walk this thing, and keep the pressure on. i'm hopeful that in this year's defense authorization bill, they can put an amendment on there that will change the policy. >> yeah, like we have to phase out lying in the military. lawrence korb, former assistant defense secretary under president reagan. thanks for your perspective. >> thanks for having me. as the fate of health care

reform hangs in the balance in congress, another reminder of the need for crucial reform, our final clinic funded by you the countdown viewer in hartford, connecticut. you can go to msnbc.com to schedule an appointment. frank luntz' advice to lie about financial reform, and you get michelle bachman's warning to minnesota. complain about health care reform, and you'll get put on a list in japan. it's the maccato all of a sudden. [ ellen ] hey! [ receptionist ] hey!

i was just in town for a few days, and i was wondering if i could say hi to the doctor. is he in? he's in copenhagen. oh, well, that's nice. but you can still see him! you just said he was in... copenhagen. come on! that's pretty far. doc, look who's in town. ellen! copenhagen? cool, right? vacation. but still seeing patients. oh. [ whispering ] workaholic. i heard that. she said it. i... [ female announcer ] the new office. see it. live it. share it. on the human network.

now tonight's first quick comment between john mccain's self-contradiction and john luntz' position, just lie, which we'll talk about in a moment. say anything, because they believe the republicans to whom they are talking are literally so stupid they'll believe anything. michelle bachman who has mentally not been on this planet for three years, told a small

gathering this terrible secret, some guy stopped her and told her he use ed to live in japan. in japan, people have stopped voicing their opinion on health care, because they know they would get on a list, and then they wouldn't get health care, they wouldn't get in, they wouldn't get seen. people are afraid to speak back to government, they're afraid to say anything. is that what we want for our future, that takes us to ganster government at that point. so if you criticize american health care, you get on a list in japan? or if you criticize american health care you get on a list in america. or michelle bachman believes every random stranger that comes up and tells her a story about japan, and believes it's going to come true here? the congresswoman said i will fight it until my last breath. okay. mother made the best toffee in the world.

it's delicious. so now we've turned her toffee into a business. my goal was to take an idea and make it happen. i'm janet long and i formed my toffee company through legalzoom. i never really thought i would make money doing what i love. [ robert ] we created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams. go to legalzoom.com today and make your business dream a reality. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side.

the short version of the advice from frank luntz, republicans moving to kill health care reform to trying to kill financial reform, lie about it. paint it as a massive government takeover again. he has leaked his own memo. you may recall that even president obama had the gop retreat recognize the republicans get their poll tested wordage from frank luntz. luntz details how opponents of finance reform can kill it by saying it's punishment for taxpayers and rewards for big banks and credit card companies. the opposite is true. while he fancies himself the

yoda of instructionalism, it's actually crass. his client list includes merrill lynch, bear stearns, american express, ameriquest mortgages. the proposed consumer protection agency would police the kinds of financial products that nearly brought down the entire economy and regulate the credit card industry, including its predatory interest rates and fees. don't think for a second the corporate clients want any of that. we know they work, whether created by luntz, sarah palin or cheryle jackson. 63% of voters believe obama is a socialist. 38% believe he was not born in the united states. another 22% not sure. obama won the election by the largest margin since ronald reagan and no one has explained

how he stole it. the rest think obama should be impeached for something. let's bring in steve hildebrandt. thanks for your time tonight, steve. >> thank you, keith. >> the thrust of the luntz memo is to take aim at the big banks and paradoxically channel this into opposition for bank and finance regulation. is that a fair characterization, what he and the right wing are already doing on this? >> sadly, keith, it is. what frank luntz and the republican party is doing, is playing wreckless havoc with the american people, they should be ashamed of themselves, they should get their act together and take back a position in in country where they can provide some political leadership, this is a disaster waiting to happen. >> are democrats not very skilled at combating the nonsense and do you have a handle on why that might be if

that is the case? >> i think our president is very skilled at it. i think every democrat in the country, every political leader in the country on the democratic side ought to be raising problems over this memo. we have to look at who funded the research and that memo, and call them on the carpet too, you don't go out in a strategic way and try to kill financial reform that is desperately needed for the american people. the people that are hurting the most, we're going to hurt them even more with this strategy that frank luntz and the republicans are trying to enact. >> a couple other lies from this memo say the cpa would be

overlooked by a czar. is there any kind of expectation this kind of thing won't be effective again? >> i think they're crazy to try this strategy. these politicians -- republicans are morneau tore yoe notorious n anyone, they ought to stop worrying about their re-election. our country is on the brink of catastrophe if we don't get moving. washington should be held accountable for it, and republicans should be ashamed to have this strategy in place. and frank luntz' clients like these loopholes in this bill, i'm not sure why they're trying to kill it, but it seems a little on the odd side. >> this also addresses another catastrophe in another direction, to the recent supreme court decision in the citizens united case, if luntz does bidding for corporate clients where there are breaks on the

system, are we getting an idea of what the system will look like without those breaks, with more corporations taking over politics? >> this is disturbing and this is where i have to go bipartisan a little bit. democrats and republicans both need to get behind reform. they need to reform the finance -- the campaign finance system in this country, they need to do everything they can to reduce the influence of money in politics, because it's gotten so out of control, with this supreme court decision, corporations have the ability now to putten limited amounts of money into campaigns to elect or defeat a candidate. and you're going to see the likes of exxon mobil and their $45 billion profits and goldman sachs and their $12 billion in profits being used to buy washington in an even bigger way than they already have bought it. >> and frank luntz will look like a minor leaguer when the money gets like that. steve hildebrand former computy

commissioner for the obama campaign. if you have been watching closely for the last week, you will have noticed another obama campaign just underway. could the secret of saving the party of no and no principles be a new invention called facts? need a lift? hey, buddy, i appreciate the ride, you know? no problem. mind if i take a shortcut? yeah, sure. [ tires screech ] ♪ [ man ] i knew the subaru legacy was the smart choice. ♪ what i didn't expect was the fun.

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little jimmy olson o'keefe keeps talking about his future journalistic career as if he had one. since i heard somebody talking about how great it was that they had a holiday for that movie, you know, "groundhog day."

the first groundhog day was celebrated in 1886 in punxsutawney. there's a reference to one in berks county, pa, in the diary of a store keeper named james morris, dated february 5th, 1841. let's play "oddball." we begin with the groundhog day, groundhog roundup. countless towns and villages cashing in on the weathercasting ability of buck tooth rodents. he saw his shadow this morning, even though it was completely clouded over. that means six more weeks of winter or lights. general beauregard lee didn't see his shadow, so we're back to even. lastly, also no shadow for sir walter walley in north carolina,

summer arrives in march. by the way, on the internets, paranoid punxsutawney pete says we'll have six more weeks of intrigue. sydney, australia, hello. we go behind the news for the real newsroom no-no. during an afternoon broadcast, a financial analyst for the mochrie bank was on to discuss reserve bank interest rates, the guy in the left was not interested in interest rates he was using his workstation to view soft core porn. viewers pay close attention, you can see the man checking out a seminude woman. they're dealing with the issue internally and the woman has been brought to the attention of fox news manager. we'll see her on the air next tuesday. the president on the road again trying to radicalize this nation by the forced imposition of democracy next.

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freshly energized from the

state of the union and his nose-to-nose encounter with republicans, he hits a town hall in new hampshire, in which suggests the outline of the new traveling war of facts tour. in the granite state, the president taking questions from voters, but once again, engaging his republican opposition by painting as political opportunists willing to switch positions at will just to score points. the president urging lawmakers to work together to get things done for the american people. remember them? >> it's one thing to have an honest difference of opinion on something. there's nothing wrong with that, you can't walk away from your responsibility toss confront the challenges facing the country because you don't think it's good short term politic politic. we can't afford that. we can't afford that. the message you all sent when you elected me. the message that was sent this

past month, whether you're democrat, republican, independent you're out of patience. you're out of patience with this kind of business as usual. you want us to start worrying less about our jobs and more about your jobs. >> the president set for another round of question time with lawmakers this week, this time with the senate democratic caucus tomorrow morning. majority leader reid's office telling the huffington post that cameras will record obama's remarks tomorrow. the president's decision to pass a jobs bill this year already seems to be heading down the same path as health care. senator baucus would like a crack at marking up the bill before democrats try to pass one. the jobs bill is and would be different the house having already passed a jobs bill, and a good one at that that. anyone notice it's groundhogs day. time now to call in david kohn.

good evening. >> good to be with you, keith. >> the state of the union, the house meeting, nashua. has it become clear that the white house has a new strategy four going after these things called facts? >> i think obama is on the offenser, it's game on for obama. massachusetts was a wakeup call to the white house, and perhaps caused them to re-evaluate their legislative and political strategy of the past year, i think obama is trying to address two constituencies at once, one is the american public who indeed -- many of whom are out of patients or worried they see unemployment high even if the economy has grown a lot in the last quarter, and they see big bailouts. the other constituency that obama is aiming at, is the democratic senators, he wants to basically show them that he can be a strong political leader and can be of help to them in the fall and get them to pass this health care reform bill within

the next couple weeks. i mine -- i think this whole turn that he's on now is about demonstrating once again that when he wants to, he can indeed grab ahold of some of those independent voters out there, and he can mobilize the base and keep that coalition together jazz it up, and give these democratic senators a little more security about what they believe rightly are or wrongly, might be a hard vote on health care. >> what should we expect out of the question time tomorrow with the democratic caulk us? >> well, probably less confrontation ap than the one that we saw on friday. which is pretty breath taking with obama versus the house gop. i thought it was great, in fact there are going to be a bunch of conservative and liberal bloggers and political activist notice next day or two, calling to have those things on a regular basis. nevertheless, i think tomorrow morning, he's going to appear before the democratic senators, and i hope he asks them, hey, what are you doing with health care? and when are you going to pass this? letting this sort of -- letting

this get stuck in the muck for too long again. letting the jobs bill go back to max baucus, took forever to mark up a health care bill is not going to be successful i think for the democrats overall. obama is still their star, still the leader of the team, the degree he can take whatever shine he has, and put it on what the senate and the house is doing, it can only help the house democrats and the senate democrats, i think he missed an opportunity to do that with the health care bill a year ago, he has to do that with the jobs bill now, and they have to let him do that. >> i'm going to put you on the spot for filling in the details of something chris matthews said a week ago after the republican event. the president's learning curb should be a fright thing thing to republicans. how is it tangibly. what is he doing differently as opposed to a year ago, with -- fill in the topic which policy it is, but materially,

politically, strategically, what does he do when he says to them, do something and they don't? how does he make it actually happen? >> well, far be it from me to add what chris says, he's the "hardball" expert here. i think he has -- a lot of this is fright thing to say so, a lot of his personal relations, particularly when it comes to senators -- every senator believes he or she should be president of the united states, and they expect to be catered to a bit. you have to do that while at the same time putting the pressure on and showing -- demonstrating to them, that i can help you win elections and stay in your job. that's what he's doing now. but i think at some point he has to sit down with max baucus, and say, we can't repeat what happened last spring with the health care bill, and that's just it. no ifs, ands or buts about that.

>> david corn, thanks. >> thanks, keith. little jimmy olson o'keefe explains he doesn't know the difference between a u.s. senator taking a bribe and winning funding for her state. not just another denial about using the word slaughter but a denial that contradicts yesterday's denial. the don't ask don't tell hearings as she witnessed them. and a service man about to lose his job because of a policy on forcing american heros to lie. [ male announcer ] a bad cold hits your whole body.

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the second of tonight's quick comments, and a visit to sister sarah. she's called for the white house to fire rahm emmanuel after his unacceptable use of a term which miss palin describes to special needs kids and their families. she has done three things, proved that she will use her kids for political hay at any time under any circumstances.

she reminded us all that her ex-future son-in-law quoted her as having called her own youthest child her retarded baby. she's probably just guaranteed mr. emmanuel his job for life. perhaps her real intent has failed. she was trying to divert attention from her latest scandal, in which she has used $63,000 of contributions to her political action committee to buy copies of her own book wholesale and give them to donors. the blog hot air, one of the greatest sources for soffestry on the web says this is no big deal because it would only involve 4,700 books. that's not the question, but the royalties on the books. an author can set themselves up as a special sales client buy their own book in bulk, and then the author gets a 10% royalty on the deal. there's a way for sarah palin to

timing all the donations to her political action committee and keep it for herself, it's only $6300. and, of course, this is not the kind of person who would do something unethical for only $6,300. way to celebrate any moment. fancy feast appetizers. [dinner bell chimes] simple high quality ingredients like wild alaskan salmon, white meat chicken, or sea bass and shrimp in a delicate broth, prepared without by-products or fillers. fancy feast appetizers. celebrate the moment why do women like you love activia light? sometimes i have no choice but to eat on the run... and to eat whatever happens to be around. heavy greasy food that's hard on my diet... and my digestive system. so i eat activia light every day. activia light, with bifidus regularis is clinically proven to help regulate your digestive system. mmmm. the new taste is better than ever. and with only 70 calories activia light

helps make it easier to watch my weight. it helps me feel good and look good too! ♪ activia! little jimmy o'keefe -- little jimmy olson o'keefe identifies the real victim in mary landrieu's office, himself. that's next, but first the worst person's in the world.

u.s. president barack obama bows to tampa mayor. gretchen carlson's back jurngs now, there's a sad job. gretchen carlson's backup, alison camerota. what is going on here? there he is with the emperor of jap japan, there he is with the queen, i think. and the next is the king of saudi arabia. we've seen it too many times now, this is a strange habit. it's a bow. were we raised in a barn? should the argument -- show the argument ending photo, this is richard nixon, he's bowing to the emperor japan, the one who authorized the bombing of pearl harbor. international diplomats bow to each other, and sometimes men bow to women. our runner up, beck. last night on the network that nobody watches, i don't think the cameramen are watching.

bernie, are you watching? what's his face got on with ariana huffington and said, we have to correct the record here and make sure everyone knows there are standards. he said this, he said that, then they always go back to the ratings, beck did this, national review did this. a site called finance daily did this. give me 17 seconds to clear this up. countdown up 5% in january from december at 8:00 p.m., up 6% at 10:00 p.m. the 8:00 p.m. show beat cnn by 27%, and headline news by 24%. it's the highest rated cable show not on fox news. meaning it's the highest rated cable news show. our winner, lonesome roads beck. on yesterday's broadcast i said i never used the word slaughter on the air, never used it on the air, because i'm pretty sure i would remember saying the administration was slaughtering people, going to slaughter

people. yesterday, i don't know if i've used the word slaughter, and if i used the word slaughter it wasn't in the context of stalin or hitler, in the idea that the truth is being slaughtered by this administration. not saying that this administration is going to slaughter anyone. today he says he never used the word slaughtered on the air, yesterday he didn't know. here's november 3rd of last year. >> i told you yesterday buckle up your seat belt, america. find the exit, there's one here, here and here. find the exit closest to you, and prepare for a crash landing. this plane is coming down because the pilot is intentionally steering it into the trees. they are taking you to a place to be slaughtered. >> yep, he's right, he never said the word slaughtered. he's not named glenn beck, he's not on television. we've always been at war with east asia. glenn, did you ever get the feeling some people just stop trying, beck. today's worst person in the

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in a few days, the right wing will have its story straight about james o'keefe, make sure you remember today, because they haven't quite got their stories straight yet. last night o'keefe gave his first interview since his arrest on charges he tried to interfere with a senator's phone. he still defend u.s. his action as professionalism. >> this is a u.s. senator's office, versus for example going into acorn. this is federal property, you're going near federal phones. did that enter your mind prior to going into this office? >> generally speaking, it's the people's office, it's -- these are representatives of our country. we zwev deserve to find out if

they're accepting $300 million in money, we deserve to find out what's going on? why the people of louisiana couldn't get through -- >> of course, most journalists know the difference between accepting money which senator landrieu did not. o'keefe need not consider such critiques because the media is out to get him. >> are you now calling on the rest of the media that you feel has wrongly reported this, because they didn't have any of the facts and they ran with this? do you think that was because of your acorn work, number one? >> i'm willing to bet it was. >> shepherd smith, the day ao'keefe's arrest, it sounds like they're looking for acorn hafrpg can i panky and they tried to tap into landrieu's phone to get it. andrew brightbart, shunts he have to be forced to pronounce his neat breetbart? o'keefe tweeting that jim lettin

recaused himself. brightbart may want to get his accusations straight after this. >> at any point were you held without the opportunity to get an attorney? >> i don't want to get into that, honestly. >> you don't. >> i don't. >> you say you're cooperating with the attorneys? >> yeah, we have no complaints about the way the u.s. attorney is handling the case. >> none at all? >> i have no complaints -- >> do you have any complaints about your arrest? >> i have no complaints about the way the u.s. attorney is handling this. >> o'keefe opened up about what kind of abuse as these right wingers crying for mom. >> it wasn't like -- what was it like when you got arrested? what was jail like? >> the food was terrible. the applesauce was like water. >> there you go. let's turn to carl frish, senior fellow at media matters. thank you for your time, sir. >> thanks for having me.

>> o'keefe repeatedly and hannity helped him citing dateline as templates. can you explain the difference. >> i don't think keith would know what real journalism was if it bit him on the rear end. perhaps he could get an internship with mike wallace or chris hanson. they seek evidence and once they get the evidence they let it dictate their story. o'keefe does the exact opposite, he comes up with an idea, he seeks the evidence to prove the idea and runs with it. that's right wing hackery. >> there's no question, one point that was raised in his defense, although it's kind of tangential, some of the reporting turned out to be wrong, including on fox news. using his rationale, fox news was punishing o'keefe for targeting acorn? >> it would be funny if it wasn't so sad. >> yeah.

>> we're waiting for o'keefe and andrew brightbart to call for corrections. i bet the irony is lost on them, that o'keefe's own website ran a story with the incorrect information in it. you don't see anybody yelling. ultimately, the question we should be ask is what did brightbart and fox news know, and when did they know it. >> o'keefe told hannity last night he's at work on new projects. he's already being sued by acorn for taking people without permission. in at least one state where that literally is illegal, clear as a bright line, no pun intended that. he has a court date for these criminal charges on the 12th of this month. any guidelines for his future journalism you'd like to share? >> i never thought i'd see the day where he would plead the fifth in a softball interview with hannity. it's shaping up to look like a

conspiracy theory. the attorney general's office held o'keefe so they could come up with a story against him, all to cover for acorn. i'm still waiting to see how sasquatch and obama's birth certificate enter into this. >> o'keefe was part of his own conspiracy theory to take himself down? >> well, you know, it is the people's office, and i live in d.c., we have the people's zoo. so i'm going to have a couple friends dress like zookeepers so i can pet a panda. >> do the same people who were demanding lawyers for o'keefe make the same demands on behalf of brown people sold to u.s. troops for bounties overseas. >> you're not likely to see that kind of coverage on the conservative hack outlets. o'keefe told a right wing student publication if you do this kind of stuff, if you take calculated risks, you'll be rewarded.

that's the life lesson he learned from andrew brightbart and that's ultimately who shares in the responsibility here. >> great thanks, and have a good night. >> thank you, you too. that's "countdown" good night and good news. now after witnessing the don't ask don't tell hearing today and to the timing on that -- i don't know how i'm doing this, it's like lightning and three seconds later there's thunder. to interview another american hero who is about to lose his job because this lie-based policy. here's rachel maddow. >> thank you, keith. i think of it as a knuckleball. i'm swinging, a few seconds later -- >> watch that, nothing happened. >> thank you. i'm glad somebody heard it. >> thank you, keith. greetings to you from washington. having spent months playing defense, president obama played more high profile offense today.

the don't ask don't tell policy had its day before a committee for the first time in 17 years today. a lot to say about the policy and senators chambliss and mccain tonight. health reform is not dead. there's a mini-oil crisis being caused by swordfish. that's all coming up this hour, but we begin tonight with president obama making joint appearances with hisp debated political mojo. >> i didn't run for president to kick these challenges down the road. i didn't run for president to play it safe, i didn't run to keep my poll numbers as high as possible for the next election, i ran to solve problems for the next beggeneration. i ran to get the hard things done, that's why you elected me. >> mr. obama hit what sounded like the campaign trail today in nashua, new hampshire riding a wave newfound momentum that's been building since his state o