choose which words they use subconsciously with an eye toward other meanings? >> the galleries couldn't be nicer. it was incredible and the encouragement i got, it blew me away. >> all the news and commentary now. >> i'm actually going to try and not get as hot when i play. good evening from new york. the fate of washington, d.c., this summer, our national discourse and potentially the outcome of november elections lies tonight, partially, in the hands of a man who turns 90 years old in 15 days and whether or not he's going to retire. justice john paul stevens, the man who led the supreme court's opposition to the bush/cheney attack on civil liberties at guantanamo bay in u.s. courtrooms and holding cells around the world now says he is deciding whether to retire this

year or next, opening a gap on the increasingly divided court and sparking a nomination battle in the increasingly divided senate. justice stevens lived through prohibition, the great depression and world war ii and watched babe ruth's alleged called shot from behind third base at wrigley field. appointed by president ford, confirmed 98-0 by the senate, stevens is considered by today's right wing as a liberal, having used his position to marshal support for gay rights, abortion rights, with his 90th birthday, stevens is considering when to step down. a departure bigger than just one man. the new yorker writing, quote, when stevens leaves, the supreme court will be just another place where democrats and republicans fight. indeed, his departure is likely to spark just a fight like that. democratic senator arlen specter sending a not too subtle plea yesterday to stevens saying, help democrats avoid a nomination battle. a battle republican senator jon kyl did not exactly rule out.

>> i hoped to begin a little earlier that justice stevens does not retire this year. i think the gridlock in the senate might well produce a filibuster which will tie up the senate on a supreme court nominee. i think if a year passes, there's a much better chance we could come to a consensus. >> if he doesn't nominate someone who is overly ideological, you may see republicans voting against the nominee, but i don't think you'll see them engage in a filibuster. >> of course, that depends on what the definition of ideological is. the newspaper roll call reports that republican senate leader mitch mcconnell is using the easter break to decide whether his party should go obstructionist on the looming fight over financial regulations. roll call reporting if the white house insists on what the gop considers overregulating wall street, mcconnell wants a united front in opposition, even though some republicans fear democrats are hoping for the fight. this after christina romer, chair of the white house council

of economic advisers, expressed confidence yesterday that democrats can still pick up some republican support. and the "los angeles times" reported that president obama hopes to avoid a divisive, bruising partisan battle at least until after the november elections. that strategy however apparently sidelining only immigration and climate change. not wall street, nor are republicans waiting for mr. obama or mr. mcconnell to set the strategy on wall street. senator bunning is not only blocking extension, he and tom coburn are blaming democrats, because democrats refused their demand to use stimulus money to pay for it. let's turn now to msnbc political analyst jonathan alter. also, of course, national affairs columnist for "ne "newsweek." >> hi, keith. >> this premise that was in the new yorker piece, that justice stevens' departure means more than just the loss of one vote. explain that. >> first of all, justice stevens is the great intellect on the

court in our generation. he makes scalia look like a pygmy, intellectually, despite all the fireworks scalia gives off. he was an appointee of republican gerald ford. he's always been a moderate who has tried to interpret the law, which is his job, in an intellectually honest way. and you do get the sense that this idea of trying to sort of build majorities across ideological lines on the court is becoming a thing of the past. there are some very talented justices still on the court, but they don't have stevens' ability to work with people -- i don't want to say both sides of the aisle, because they don't have an aisle at the court. but on the different ideological extremes of the court to bring them together as stevens has done in many, many cases over the many years. >> specter appealed to stevens to wait until after the

election, is that so things will be calmer in 2011 than they are in 2010? >> i think the latter. i happen to think senator specter is mistaken about this because the democrats are only, as we all know, only one vote shy of having a filibuster-proof majority after the midterm elections, they might be a few votes shy. and should the republicans filibuster, as they're threatening to do, it would be easier to get a nominee like stevens to replace him on the court before the midterms. it would be easier to survive a filibuster before the midterms. >> can the republicans as easily filibuster as might be theorized in these times, isn't there anything left from, say, gerald ford remaining proud of this appointment until the day he died, that he thought it was one of the great things he did in his brief presidency? isn't there some residual effect that this republican party has to honor about that. party? >> if president obama appoints

somebody who justice stevens believes is in his mold, then it would be a little bit harder from -- for some of the more reasonable republicans in the senate to oppose it. and i think it would be quite difficult for them to successfully filibuster somebody that president obama names. if you look at the short lists that have been put together, i think any of those nominees would be able to survive a filibuster. >> and kyl's remarks, they want judicial restraint, that means citizens united, or no democrat, or -- what does it mean? >> he's just trying to fire a shot across obama's bow saying don't nominate somebody too liberal. but they're so hypocritical now. remember, supreme court chief justice john roberts said when he was at his confirmation hearings, i'm only calling balls and strikes. i'm just interpreting a law. for a generation they've been saying they don't want to legislate from the bench. now they are the hypocrisy court. the republican majority is the

hypocrisy court. they've completely turned on a dime. they now believe in judicial activism. so pretty much any argument they would have against an obama nominee would be intellectually empty because the argument they've been making against liberals is completely bankrupt now after these recent very activist conservative decisions. >> so we can expect them not to do that. jon alter, great thanks as always for coming in. >> thanks, steve. let's turn now to sam stein, political reporter for the the "huffington post." for the big picture, where are we now in terms of big picture, this report about postponing all contentiousness, except wall street, until after the midterms. is the white house backing down on some of its big stuff, and are republicans really considering cooperating on some of the other stuff? >> it's all up in the air right now. but i would contend that financial regulatory reform is a big deal. on the topics of immigration and

energy, it does look like, reading the tea leaves, like those will be postponed. you talk to some people in the party, including parliament strategists like stan greenburg, they're sort of upset about this. they think it would be a great issue for the obama administration to push right now, particularly because it would help the base, make the hispanic community during the health care reform process, but also because it divides the gop profoundly along fault lines. but the obama administration went through a bruising health care battle. i don't know if they want to get into it again on another major legislative initiative. once we hit the summer, it could all be about 2010. >> if the white house is postponing climate change, or anything else, how much is it risking losing some base energy for november for as much as they could come out and say, look, here's what health care reform was, whatever they got in terms of economic or wall street reform, here's what that is. at least the former is in the minds of the voters, already done.

>> i think going back to the immigration issue, during the last days of health care debate, a bunch of hispanic lawmakers were very upset with the white house, threatening to vote against the bill. essentially they met in the white house and they talked to the president and they were given something to the form of an implicit agreement that immigration would be tackled within the next year. if it doesn't happen before 2010, it will happen shortly thereafter. but there's a real issue here, a real concern that the base won't be motivated. when you look at energy legislation, the president has laid out at least two cases in which he's already turned against the base. it's on nuclear energy and on offshore drilling. both of which have angered the environmentalist community. so there's concerns among people there won't be as much energy for 2010, which is already an election year which should historically favor the republicans. >> and about the republicans and this latest effort by bunning and coburn, and the results of this, each of them went out on to that platform and got the platform sawed off behind them by other republicans.

why are they doing it now, and how do they convince people if they can't convince leadership in their own party that they're not doing this, so this is the democrats' fault? >> it actually has been sort of fascinating to watch. in some respects, the republican leadership has gotten more and more comfortable with the stance they're taking. one of the things they're arguing is, well, anything spent on unemployment benefits should be from the stimulus funds. philosophically that is counter intuitive. the unemployment benefits are a form of stimulus. to take them out of the stimulus funds would be a disservice to the entire package. harry reid's office told me today that they were looking far and wide for a 60th vote so they could do this through regular order. they couldn't find one up to the point of recess, so they had to go to recess without these unemployment benefits extended. they're flabbergasted. they think it's terrible politics for republicans, but, also, keep in mind, tax cuts were not paid for. but marginal unemployment and insurance extension has to be paid for? terrible politics.

it's awful that it went to this point. 200,000 people might lose their unemployment benefits now, but i don't understand what the gop's card is here. >> what is the christina romer, picking up public support for wall street, does that suggest that the white house might capitulate and leave loopholes that we'll have a repeat of 2008 and we'll have a melt down then? >> i know the roll call story said mitch mcconnell is talking about what to do with this. i think this one is really a tough one for republicans to vote against, at least some of them. i might be totally in three weeks, or proved totally naive. but the tea party, which they've saddled up to, they are as much against wall street as anyone else. for the republicans to defeat reform and expect the tea party crowd to be a-okay with it would seem to be counter intuitive again. i would suspect the white house knows it has one or two moderate republicans it can turn to for a

semi-serious, comprehensive regulatory reform bill. >> sam stein of "huffington post," thanks as always. >> thank you, steve. sign miners are dead, 21 others unaccounted for. one in intensive care after another underground explosion. national car rental knows i'm picky.

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the breaking news, 3:00 p.m. eastern this afternoon the mine country in raleigh county, west virginia, shook with an all too familiar sound. at least six miners dead, 21 more unaccounted for, and one is in intensive care at a hospital nearby after an underground explosion at the upper big branch mine. at this point even camera crews have not reached the area and obviously we're relying on visual aids and graphics of this sort. the plant's owners massey energy providing no details about this explosion except to say that

five trained rescue teams from its company and a second company are now on the scene trying to get to these trapped miners, believed to be trapped miners. the upper big branch, just 100 miles from the scene of the 2006 disaster of the sago mine offer some hope of recovery if there has been survival after the explosion. it has cache's of extra oxygen and air-tight so-called refuge chambers along emergency escape routes that could keep trapped miners if there are trapped miners alive to keep them alive for as long as four days. details are limited at this hour as are illustrations. we'll bring them to you as become available throughout the become available throughout the night here on msnbc. he's actually right behind... what up, mike? hey, dude! [ laughs ] yeah, this is how he dances. uhhh! [ laughs ] it's, uh, haunting. anyway, while i was away, the e-trade machine... thanks, martha. ...worked its technomagic, triggered my stop loss orders, saved me a pantload! [ pilot ] please fasten your seatbelts.

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the latest from west virginia, seven now confirmed dead at the disaster at the mine explosion there, and 19 now reported missing. we'll continue to update you as further developments warrant. meantime, he wanted an apology from majority leader reid for mentioning slavery during the health care debate, he criticized president carter from the current president for suggesting and criticized him for the same thing. when he would not condemn glenn beck's charges that he was racist, said he was not a play the race card. michael steele has today done just that. and at this hour, word that the party's chief of staff has resigned. this morning, mr. steele telling abc he's very angry about the behavior stemming from an rnc political consultant's visit to a lesbian bondage-themed strip club.

then suggesting some of the criticism aimed his way is over his skin color. >> we've got a lot of questions on my blog for you. one came in from myron. do you feel as an african-american you have a slimmer margin for error than another chairman would? >> the honest answer is yes. >> why is that? >> it just is. it's the -- barack obama has a slimmer margin. a lot of folks do. it means a different role for, you know, for me to play and others to play. and that's just the reality of it. but you take that as part of the nature of it. it's not -- it's more because you're not someone that they know. i'm not a washington insider, even though i grew up here in d.c. my view on politics is much more grassroots oriented. it's not old boy network or oriented. so i tend to come at it a little bit stronger, a little bit more street wise, if you will.

>> harkening back to the club escapades and the billing and repaying of that billing, mr. robert gibbs, the white house press secretary, reacted thusly, i think that is a very silly comment to make. i think michael steele's problem isn't the race card, it's the credit card. that point that mr. steele hired a former lobbyist, his former fund-raising aide, misusing substantial amounts of funds at his previous group. a political action committee, another a non-profit, was ordered by the city government to repay nearly $70,000 in unauthorized expenses and unaccounted funds as well as fined $4,000. on the heels of his arrival comes the resignation of two key rnc players, ron maccay and sam fox. a republican source telling politico mr. fox had lost confidence in mr. steele and was deeply troubled by the pattern of self-inflicted wounds and missteps. joining me now, melissa

harris-lacewell, professor at princeton university. professor, good evening. >> thanks. good to be here. >> let me start, big, big picture here. in a weird way, has michael steele become good for the republican party because the more time its critics spend talking about him the less time they're talking about the more substantive problems with the gop? >> i mean, sure. sex is easier to talk about, liquor and drugs and whatever else are always easier than policy and substance and that whole lawmaking part. you know, there's actually an interesting parallel here to another moment for the gop in its battle against barack obama. and that is the choice of sarah palin as the vice presidential candidate. you know, i often will give public lectures and people will say to me, wasn't that a terrible choice, sarah palin for vice president? hasn't it been a terrible thing for the rnc? and i always say, no, no, no, it was a brilliant strategic choice politically, because the democratic party was coming out of the unifying and nearly

perfect convention in denver. they needed something that would really turn the media conversation. the choice of sarah palin, even with the seeming scandal of her daughter's out of wedlock pregnancy was perfect for moving media attention. so although this may not have been strategically planned, it certainly might be used strategically by the gop to distract from things like the health care reform, major education reform, the things that the obama administration is moving forward on and get us talking about the more titillating topics of how the rnc is using its credit card. >> the subissue that mr. steele addressed because of a viewer comment on abc, it's ludicrous for me to be telling you that race is just a pervasive issue in this country but a fluid issue. a lot of people have valid perceptions about when it does and does not apply to a given situation, but is there not one rule about it and did mr. steele violate that rule, if you say you don't play the race card,

then don't play the race card? >> fl only race were so easy that we could boil it down to run rule. but i do think the question you're asking here is a key and central one, that we are grappling with in america. that is, how do we figure out what this mysterious race card is? i'm black, and yet when i was born i wasn't given, i don't know, maybe ten race cards that i could deploy in order to get out of jail free whenever i wanted. but that seems to be how michael steele is using it here. we need to be really careful because there have been, again, other moments when conservative african-americans have attempted to use race to explain the negative situation in which they find themselves. the key example here would be clarence thomas during his confirmation hearing saying that what was going on was a high-tech lynching. what we saw was a dramatic increase among african-american supporters when he described what he was experiencing as a lynching. even though as a matter of history, no black man has been

lynched by white men for something he allege eddie did to a white woman. so it was a poor use historically, reasonably, in terms of what we were looking at. in this case, we similarly have to say that what michael steele is talking about, you know, he's being persecuted or that he has a slimmer area to make mistakes in, i think that's not accurate. that's a bit like tiger woods saying his scandal broke because of race. >> given the plausity of african-american representation, certainly in the management, can the argument be made the reverse is true, he may have a wider margin for error? >> i think that we could hypothesize that, which is to say that there are some very talented african-american politicos who look at the democrat party and the republican party. and they see that in the democratic party the line to leadership is pretty long, and in fact many older civil rights black leaders won't move out of the way to provide young black leaders an opportunity to lead. they look over in the republican line and think, man, that line

is moving faster, it's much shorter, it's a much less diverse party. so if i'm willing to be part of the republican party, if my views fit there, then in fact i might find myself in leadership more quickly. and might, in fact, because the party needs desperately to have diversity, to be part of the american story, then in fact they might have wider latitude for these sorts of misbehaviors. >> melissa harris-lacewell, great thanks as always. >> thanks. the tiger woods news conference, the florida doctor who doesn't want to treat you if you voted for obama, our guest, congressman alan grayson, and one of the funniest moments of honesty in the moments of television sports. the latter is next. hi, we're the campbells.

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the latest on the world's worst doctor with our special guest. first, on this date in various years of the 209 century were born spencer tracey, betty davis, gregory peck and melvin douglas. he could do impressions of all four of them. let's play "oddball." all you need to know about this clip from sky sports in england is, one, the studio anchor is jeff stehling and the analyst at the game is chris camara. when a player is thrown out of a soccer game, he is given a red card and his team has to play one man short. in america, in english, in swahili, never sports player gives the answer, i don't know. >> up to the park where there's

been a red card, but for who, chris? >> reporter: i don't know. i must have missed that. red card? >> have you not been watching? i haven't. i don't know where that's come from, chris. i have no idea what has happened there. what's happened, chris? >> reporter: i don't know. [ laughter ] i don't know. the rain must have gotten in me eyes. >> chris, let me tell you, according to our sources, he's been sent off. get your fingers up. count the number of players are on the field. >> reporter: you're right, i thought they were bringing a sub on. and what's this? i don't know. looks like a night out in l.a. with the republican national committee. we are in the czech republic, and this is a tradition of the

day after easter. the men lightly spank the women with little whips in this 100-year-old festivity. does it hurt? reportedly no. czechs point out the name comes from the lash comes from the word rejuvenate. i didn't know tiger woods had been to the czech republic. back to england, and indoor skydiving. the competition known as body flight world challenge. participants check their flying and diving skills in a vertical wind tunnel, 16 feet in diameter. flight area of 26 feet. in other words, a perfect simulation of the real thing. yet, more than 80 teams competed. many top international sky divers. a british team won the two-person event and the czechs tried to spank each other mid flight. kelly tilghman and the tiger woods news conference next.

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"the new york times" has a story that has just broken on its website, that merits further analysis which we may or may not

have time to do in this hour. the headline perhaps answers the questions that itself creates. obama limits when the u.s. would use nuclear arms and to read the first paragraph, easier than summarizing it. president obama said monday he was revamping american nuclear strategy to substantially narrow the conditions underwhich the united states would use nuclear weapons, even in self-defense, carving out exception for outliers, outliers like iran and north korea. this part of his approach to nuclear security. the day before releasing a formal new strategy which obviously would be tomorrow. the times qualifies this as a sharp shift from that adapted by his predecessors and revamps the posture as we attempt to cover further the reaction of that in the half hour to come. let's turn it over to the story of the florida doctor who was telling obama supporters to go elsewhere for urologic

treatment. he was saying his sign was fun and provocative and using the platform to parrot falsehoods of the reform. alan grayson is trying to facilitate a would-be protest for doctors prioritizing politics over care. the congressman will join us in a moment. you'll recall dr. jack cassell, posted this sign on his office door, if you voted for obama seek urologic care elsewhere. changes begin right now, not in four years. he says he does not deny care, is at least misleading since one patient reports seeing the report and going elsewhere. the doctor admits some have complained to him about the sign. now in speaking at the supposed or reporters of the health reform law, his lies so unchallenged over at fox news. >> well, as of this next year, medicare cuts are going to be huge. did you have -- did you realize that hospice, you know, which is

the end of life caring -- that that's going to be totally cut in 2012? i mean, not only do they want you to die at a younger age, as they -- as they basically ratchet down care, but they want you to die a slow and painful death as well. i mean, it's horrible. >> i hope he's better at his you're logical practice than he is at truth. the health care law does not eliminate hospice providers, and analysts noted hospice care membership organizations expressed support for health care reform provisions. joining me now as promised, congressman alan grayson who represents florida's eighth district. congressman, good evening. >> good evening. >> tell us about your constituent, what happened, and what you're trying to do about it? >> exactly what you described. he walked up to the door, saw the sign, was horrified and turned away. i'm sure as others did as well. i'm horrified. >> where do you go on this? obviously he didn't break a law, did he? >> well, it's a clear violation

of the ama code of ethics and the hipocratic oath, and it's cruel. it's inhuman to treat another person like that. when you walk up to his office with cancer, you shouldn't have to worry about your voter registration. >> so is the path through the american medical association, through the licensing board in florida? where do you go with this, do you know? >> the licensing board in florida. >> are there sanctions? is there a way to reprimand him? i presume you don't take a doctor's license away for something like this. >> well, listen, i think that's for them to decide. we have to establish a clear line here. he's trying to tear up the social contract. in the same way that these right-wing doctors only want to treat right-wing patients, soon the right-wing garbage collectors will only start picking up right-wing garbage. you need to put an end to it. we've got to stop it. >> we don't have enough garbage collectors. dr. cassell says obama care fatally compromises my ability

or any doctor's ability to uphold the hipocratic oath. between that and what he said about hospice care, what do you think of his tact in taking advantage of this new platform he's gotten? >> it's worse than that. he told a local fox station he was against health care reform because it means no old people will be able to go to nursing homes anymore. that's how wrong headed he is. he's got plenty of opinions, not many facts at all, and he's using his opinions to try to deny care to other people. think about it. he says he's concerned that the obama health care plan is going to be end up denying care to his patients so he's going to deny care to his parkts. what's the sense in that? >> it simplifies it, doesn't it? congressman alan grayson, good enough to spend a few moments on this, dr. cassell, thanks again for your time tonight. >> thank you. we'll switch back briefly to the subject of when u.s. use of nuclear arms would be approved under new rules that are about to be announced tomorrow by the president.

jonathan alter who was with us before in person joins us now by phone. is this familiar to you? was this a surprise, the headline certainly would be a surprise, i think someone just tripping over this. >> it is a surprise, because he has not -- until now, actually directly renounced upstanding nuclear doctrine. so this is a departure. but it is not a surprise in that he has scheduled a conference, a global conference for later this month in washington and asked all the members of the international community to come with specific proposals of what they would do to move toward a nuclear-free world. and so if he's asking other nations to take dramatic action, either to secure loose nuclear weapons or to change their

nuclear doctrine, he felt like he needed to start with the united states doing so. so in that sense, it's very much in keeping with the new nuclear that he began to outline in an important speech he gave in prague last year. >> so one premise here that i think mitigates to some degree that headline, which i imagine is going to have the right wing insane by this time tomorrow, deeper in the article, for the first time the united states is explicitly committing not to use nuclear weapons against nonnuclear states that are in compliance with the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, even if they attack the united states with biological weapons or launched a crippling cyber-attack. despite what the implication would be, the first paragraph or two of this, we're not saying that nuclear force could not be used in retaliation or defense. >> right, it's a partial renouncing of what they call a no first use or fully renouncing no first use. remember, since the dawn of the nuclear age, when we had a

policy of massive retaliation, we have always left on the table the option of using nuclear weapons if we thought it was necessary. and all this does is -- says that we will no longer do so, leave that option on the table in all circumstances. but when it comes to north korea, iran and others, we will continue to have the nuclear option on the table. >> jonathan alter of "newsweek" helping us understand this story just breaking at "the new york times," thank you again, jon. >> thank you. one other line from this and then we'll move on. to set an example "the times" writes the new strategy renounces the development of new nuclear weapons overruling the position of his own defense secretary. this will be announced officially tomorrow. it limits to any attack by a nonnuclear state, it essentially would prohibit or deny the u.s. to use a nuclear response in the event of a nonnuclear attack from a nonnuclear state in compliance

with the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. rachel can give you have the latest on the explosion at a coal mine in virginia. six dead, 21 unaccounted for there. ahead of that worst persons, you know why rush limbaugh flunked out of college, math, and tiger woods, one of the few golf reporters asks him if any tough questions asked him if anyone asked him a tough question about his underwhelming news conference today the wellbeing. we're all striving for it. purina cat chow helps you nuture it in your cat... with a full family of excellent nutrition... and helpful resources. ♪ purina cat chow. share a better life.

because with national, i roll past the counter... and choose any car in the aisle. choosing your own car? now that's a good call. go national. go like a pro. here are the updates on the two stories breaking at this hour. first, the latest report from west virginia, 7 dead and 19 missing in a mine explosion at the massey energy plant. there is some hope of recovery there, a rather extensive situation, a series of escape and secure air-tight areas are believed to exist, if miners survive the explosion, they have up to four days supply of air beneath. and "the new york times"

saying the president will revise the nuclear policy, two quotes from the newspaper, to set an example, the new strategy renounces the development by this country of any new nuclear weapons overruling the initial position of his own defense secretary and to conclude for the first time the u.s. is explicitly committing not to use nuclear weapons against nonnuclear states that are in compliance with the nonproliferation treaty, even if the united states is attacked with biological weapons or a cyber attack back from the "new york times" about the obama nuclear policy which will be announced tomorrow.

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tiger woods at his news conference at the masters. the one golf reporter who has asked him tough questions joins us next. that's next. but tonight's worst persons in the world, tonight's john avalon, another one of those straight down the middle cnn new hires, he was a speech writer for rudy giuliani which makes him neutral. avalon selects for the dying giant, two, quote, wing nuts of the week, this past week's code pink which tried to make a citizens arrest on karl rove, and the hutaree militia, nine members of whom were arrested and charged with seditious conspiracy to kill law enforcement officials and set off bombs at their funerals. sure, those are the same. nonviolence, sort of lumpy protests as opposed to domestic terrorism. additional note to them, t. and a note to the real journalists of cnn, the term wing nut is -- there are no left wing wing

nuts. the left wing equivalent is moon bats. thank you. the runner-up, orly tate, most of the job growth is census. most are people who have unemployment benefits at all. who knew that hiring census workers would thank the world outlook and cause oil prices to go up? oil prices rising because we hired a bunch of temporary census workers. total job gains in march? 162,000. number of new suns us jobs, 48,000. that's 28%, which is not most. limbaugh flunked after two semesters in summer school. could you tell? but our winner, beck, with a quote that speaks for itself. let me tell you something, you are the key, not me, or people like you. people like you. millions of people like you. they're not afraid of me, they're afraid of you. like gandhi, just like rosa

parks. it wasn't rosa parks, it was the millions of people that were inspired by rosa parks' non-movement. what you're doing can be compared to what rosa parks did? the guy who used to sing "miss america," bert parks. sorry. that's insulting to bert parks. lonesome roads beck. today's worst person in the today's worst person in the world. regular moment can become romantic. and when it does, men with erectile dysfunction can be more confident in their ability to be ready with cialis. with two clinically proven dosing options, you can choose the moment that's right for you and your partner. 36-hour cialis and cialis for daily use. cialis for daily use is a low-dose tablet you take every day, so you can be ready anytime the moment's right. >> tell your doctor about your medical condition and all medications and ask if you're healthy enough for sexual activity. >> don't take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. >> don't drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach,

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four quotes of relevance tonight from tiger woods today. one, i lied to myself. two, i fooled myself. three, i deceived myself. and the crowds at his first post addicted to love practice rounds, quote, blew me away. ahem. number one story on the countdown, tiger woods and what

he would think was the last time he'd have to answer questions about, you know. kelly tilghman who might be the only reporter to ask him tough questions about that joins us in a moment. first, all you need to know about the news conference is galleries, for golf, for crowds. >> the galleries couldn't be nicer. it was just incredible. and the encouragement that i got, and it was just -- it blew me away, to be honest with you. >> mr. woods fielded several dozen questions for over 30 minutes. the names rachel uchitel and the term perkins waitress were never mentioned. he was asked about involvement with the canadian doctor known for treating several american athletes, currently under investigation in the u.s. for smuggling human growth hormone allegedly across the border. he says he received blood spinning treatment from the doctor and nothing more. >> he did come to my house, he never gave me hgh or any peds,

i've never taken that my entire life. i've never taken any illegal drug ever. >> there are a lot of doctors that do blood spinning. what was it that prompted you to go to, or have the doctor come to you? >> he's worked with so many athletes. that's also one of the reasons i went and saw dr. whitton for my eyes. he's done a lot of different athletes, and there's a certain comfort level to that, when a person has worked with athletes. >> as to what to expect the rest of the masters week, he revealed his wife elin would not be in attendance at the tournament. as for golf? >> what are your expectations for this week? >> nothing's changed. we'll try and go out there and win this thing. >> and how much would you pay in cash to hear a presidential news conference where the president said, nothing's changed, salty. >> kelly tilghman joins us now. she interviewed him one-on-one in the wake of his personal problems. thanks for your time tonight. >> my pleasure, keith.

>> you spent time speaking with him in addition to this most recent interview and previous interviews. you also consider him a friend. how do you think it went for him today? >> i think it went as well as it could have. i think tiger woods walked out of that press room swaying a few opinions, people who were quite hard on him before. he looked very sincere, very contrite. i was impressed with the opening statements he made before ever being asked a question. there was a point where he talked about touching with the gallery and his fellow players for the fist time, reconnecting that he said it blew him away. there was a point in which he was genuinely misty eyed and i thought he might shed a tear. >> was that news conference tough enough or was it too tough, and is there a danger -- there is a sense he is being, if not protected, then at least screened by his sport. is this just setting him up to be chased for the rest of the year by the tmzs and others by the world? >> i don't think this press conference determines that in any way. i think basically that's

something he's going to have to deal with, regardless of what he said, or any questions he was asked today from the popular media. the pop cultures, if you will. that's going to go on for a long, long time, if not for the rest of his career. but as it relates to the sanctuary, for lack of a better word, that a lot of people have said is the press room at augusta national, i thought the questions were tough on several questions, especially the ones about the canadian doctor, you showed just moments ago. a lot of people in this industry knew going in that the masters and the press room there, these people that come year in and year out to this place and you knew they were going to be very golf or rented if not sports oriented questions. so that was coming, for sure. >> what's the headline going to be at the end of the masters? is it tiger woods is not heckled? or tiger woods wins? or tmz reporter appears out of the sand trap on 16, or what is the headline going to be next week? >> tiger took his next huge step.

i think this is really big. it's re-entry, it's mainstream. the world has a chance now to reconnect with him, particularly the media here, but more importantly to him just the fans in general. you could tell it really meant something to him that they were accepting him at the masters. but as you well know, regular tour stops are coming and we will probably have some episodes here and there, but this is certainly a nice way for him to get back into the fray. >> kelly tilghman of the golf channel. great thanks for your perspective. congratulations for your interview with him. thanks for your time tonight. >> thank you very much. and that is "countdown" for this, the 2,531st day since the previous president declared mission accomplished in iraq. i'm keith olbermann. good night and good luck. now with the president's policy on nuclear arms previewed tonight in the "new york times," and before that, on the mine explosion that has left at least seven dead in west virginia with varying numbers of missing and

unaccounted for ranging from 19 the highest than that, the latest number we have is 19. ladies and gentlemen, here is rachel maddow. good evening, rachel. >> good evening, keith. thank you for that. and thanks to you at home for staying with us at the next hour. breaking news tonight out of west virginia, about 30 miles south of charleston, which is the capital city of west virginia, there has been an explosion. it was this afternoon at the upper big branch south mine. it has left seven miners dead, 19 miners unaccounted for. one injured miner is reportedly in intensive care tonight, and the charleston area medical center says it is preparing for more patients. rescue efforts reportedly in full effect this hours a family members gather for news at the nearby whitesville elementary school. this mine is operated by performance coal company. performance coal company is a subsidiary of a larger company called massey energy. massey is actually the largest coal producer in central ap lash sha.

five rescue teams from massey and conso are on the scene, as well as from the miners health, safety and training. the upper big branch south mine has extra oxygen stashed on escape routes underground. they also reportedly have air-tight refuge chambers that are supposed to be able to keep trapped miners alive for up to four days. if they are underground and can't get out. joining us by phone is ken ward, jr., he is a reporter with the "charleston gazette." thank you very much for your time tonight. >> thank you for having me. >> what can you tell us on the rescue efforts right now? >> well, we can't tell you very much at all about the rescue efforts because we're not getting that sort of information out of the department of labor. we know that there are nine rescue teams, highly trained, very well equipped special teams that would be able to go underground and search, try to find any survivors. we know that they are on-sit