farewell. i wish you good luck in whatever your future holds and for all our sake, i hope that does not involve any sensitive information. "countdown with keith olbermann" starts now. which of these stories will you be talking about tomorrow? turning the tea table. the first shot across the bow of the mid-terms, democrats to republicans. are you with tea party extremism or are you against it? attacking 1.7 billion on stimulus projects while defending $800 billion in tax cuts for the wealthy. the democrats' other plan to push republicans on the nonsense plan. >> $1.7 billion is a lot of money anywhere but our nation's capital. >> our guests, howard dean and eugene robinson. >> trying to turn the internet into something like cable where some content gets priority, other stuff costs more.

and other stuff, the stuff you don't really want, gets to you first. >> i believe that net neutrality is the first amendment issue of our time. >> day 108 in the gulf. down your hole with a cement roll. >> today's effort into tomorrow will be finish off the well from the top down. >> angling for an interview. she won't give us one because we won't ask the questions she wants to answer so we just made the interview up. >> we wanted them to ask the questions we want to answer so they report the news the way we want it to be reported. >> dan quayle's son running for congress. what's wrong with this picture? the tea party's latest tempest. the international communist bike-sharing conspiracy. in the tennessee third, the club for growth's new anti-spending hotline. turns out the words "hot" and "growth" are not meant the way

you would expect they were meant. all the news and commentary now on "countdown." >> it's the best call you'll ever make. good evening from new york. a report today just as democrats ramp up their efforts to spotlight how similar the current republican agenda is to the policies of president bush. that mr. bush is trying to keep the wraps on something in his new book for fear it will hurt republicans at the poll in november. what's he hiding now? we'll get to that. we begin with another democratic strategy for the midterms as members of congress go home for the august recess. the democratic party launching a new campaign to portray the republican party as the republican tea party, asking people in home districts to question republican incumbents on whether they will join the tea party caucus and all candidates about issues such as

repealing health care reform, which would allow health care insurors to strip coverage from sick people, doing new rules for wall street and getting rid of medicare and the department of education. this as "the new york times" reports that senate democrats expect to begin debating in september whether or not to extend the bush tax cuts for the rich, forcing republicans in the weeks before the election to defend cutting taxes for the richest 2% of the country, especially considering president obama campaigned and won on a platform that explicitly included letting the tax cuts for the rich die after they expire this year. despite the fact that those cuts would only help 2% of america's businesses and would hand america's rich a tax cut worth $830 billion, nearly as much as the entire stimulus plan, republican senators mccain and coburn are focusing their efforts on $1.7 billion of alleged waste in that stimulus plan. senator mccain claiming it created not a single job.

senator coburn admitting he has already had to correct mistakes in that report. but rejecting the white house claim that senator coburn made errors in that report. >> mr. gibbs knows i don't mess around when it comes to stealing money from our kids and grand kids. if he wants to defend this kind of stuff, that's exactly what -- and making it -- this isn't political. it's too serious to be political now, guys. we're $13.4 trillion in debt and growing. >> senate republican leader mitch mcconnell talked about what happens after the elections and said if his party fails to gain the majority, a few more republican seats would force democrats to bring the senate to the political center. >> if you have a big majority, what you want to do is pick off a republican or two, give it a patina of bipartisanship and do what you want to do. if you're between 55-45, you get genuine bipartisan agreement. what i hope we're going to have

after november is more balance, more balance. >> of course, it's not clear what that balance means. but senator mcconnell graciously explained how he sees that balance translating politically given that democrats would still control the white house and the senate. >> but i'm not going to be very interested in doing things left of center. it's going to have to be center right. and i think the president's a flexible man. >> he always makes me laugh. let's bring in former dnc chairman and vermont governor, dr. howard dean, a consultant to democracy for america, as well as political analyst for cnbc and longest introduction. good evening, sir. >> hi, keith. >> pressing for the republicans to declare their stance on the tea party and tea party issues. good idea? >> i think it is a good idea.

i'm sure they polled for it. here's the problem with the tea party. their two tea parties. there are a bunch of people in the tea party that are thoughtful and really worried about the deficits. there are also a lot of people carrying signs saying obama is a nazi. somebody today said the marriage thing out in california was soviet-style takeover of marriage. this is exactly what middle of the road people, this is why they abandoned the republican party to elect president obama. i guess they figured out most people in this country see that the colorful members of the wing of the tea party get all the press. that's what they think of the tea party. that's probably reflected in the polls. and the republicans have got a big problem. they need those tea party -- they've always needed the far right for themselves to win. but that really turns off middle of the road, ordinary americans. >> those members that fit into both that category and the tea party that you alluded to, why not pursue them as voters? literally ask for their votes? because the fiscal responsibility that those were

genuinely interested in that topic are claiming it is clearly not in the republican manifesto at the moment, not with $800 billion in tax cuts for the rich. >> i think that's what the president is doing. the dnc is going after the far right tea party people who obviously look extremist. meanwhile, the president is going after the sort of -- what i would call the average american who has sympathy with the tea party, reminding them how we got here. you know, it's a spectacle. i think this is why senator reid will bring all this stuff up. the spectacle of the republicans wanting to blow a $850 billion hole in the budget by giving tax cuts to people who began all these problems we're having on wall street is unbelievable while they're still talking about cutting social security at the same time. that's the republican party that we need to remember. that's the republican party that was in charge for eight years, sending people to iraq, giving huge tax cuts that were never paid for. republicans don't care about balancing the budget.

their spending program is tax cuts for people who make lots of money. our spending program is health care. the american people will make a choice there. it really is a choice. the president is appealing to more normal tea party people reminding them what it's like to be in a republican administration and how bad their fiscal policy was. >> you mentioned mr. reid. it's almost scheduling a boxing match in the late summer or beginning of the fall over this subject of tax cuts for the rich in the final weeks of a midterm campaign. what is he counting on happening there by scheduling it that way? >> i think what he wants -- the republicans have said no for two years. there have been a number of things that have passed. none with any republican support of any consequence. the republicans have a problem. they have no platform and nothing to run on except they're not president obama and they're not the democrats. now we'll find out what they really do stand for. i think what senator reid is doing is highlighting that in the senate debate, just like he

highlighted the fact that the republicans were not willing to extend unemployment benefits to a lot of hard-working americans who through no fault of their own have lost their job. >> there are two goals in the mid-terms we've been able to identify so far on the part of the democrats. to equate the republicans to the tea party and to equate these republicans to the previous republicans who occupied the white house, which would be bush. >> exactly. >> does the transit of property apply here? if you're comparing both to the tea party and bush, are you comparing the tea party to bush, and does that work? >> it sort of does. president bush's father, who i thought was -- i understood he was a decent president, even though i didn't agree with him. they both relied on the far right wing. president bush senior was certainly not a racist, nor do i think his son was, but they both didn't mind appealing to the racist elements of the republican party in order to win or the extremist elements in the republican party. h.w. bush was pro-choice before he had to be anti-choice when he was selected as ronald reagan's

running mate. these guys, they take advantage -- they are personally not tea party people but certainly don't mind having the fringe support. they certainly aren't mainstream tea party people upset about deficits and did not vote for the republicans because of what they did to the deficit. the president is really being smart about this. this is not a referendum on the obama administration. if it is, we don't win. this is a choice. do you want to go back to what we had, which is what the republican, mcconnell and sessions said they would do, or do you want to keep going and use some real discipline as bill clinton did on the budget deficit. i think we can do that. you certainly can't do that by putting the republicans back in office. >> howard dean, thanks for your time. >> thanks for having me. as we mentioned earlier, there's reportedly something in president bush's new book on the inside story of his presidency he does not want american voters to know before they go to the polls this year. the financial times quotes unnamed friends of mr. bush

saying he rejected plans to publish in september because he did not want to insert himself into the midterm elections. mr. bush has done this before, making himself scarce in the 2008 presidential campaign of john mccain. who seemed grateful for the lack of help. nor is his secrecy not the only thing republicans don't want voters to know about in november. he'll remind voters while democratic scandals play out in the open, house republican leader john boehner has several times claimed to have called republicans with ethical clouds over them into his office for the proverbial stern talking-to. republicans have not revealed who they are and what they are alleged to have admitted and the outcomes of those investigations, if any. joining us on the next edition of "i've got a secret," mr. eugene robinson.

associate editor of the "washington post." >> if you say the secret word, the bird comes down. >> >> all i need is groucho marx and we have a complete set. everybody under 50, just went -- >> i know. >> the general tone of the coverage is mr. bush doesn't want his name in the news before the election because it's like saying beelzebub or something. is it possible we're going to learn something about the role that congressional republicans played in getting up the fake intel on iraq or letting bin laden out of tora bora or how the economy got to be tanked? i've only got a thousand of these left. jump in whenever you want. >> it is indeed possible there are secrets in there we don't know. president bush was not a man to -- he was not known for his self knowledge. he did not lead what seemed to

be an examined life. so i don't hold really high hopes. i think the real problem is reminding people of the bush era. i think even president bush gets it, that that's not good for the republican party. >> yet, if they are aware enough to know not to remind people of that face, what about the policies? why do think they he was so unpopular if not for the very policies they're still pursuing? >> i think it's because of the narrative that the republicans are trying to sell. essentially, that we are really, truly the party of fiscal responsibility and all of that. of course, we had a few bad years there under bush. we didn't really do what we say -- said we would do or say we want to do now. but really we're going to do it now. so if you reintroduce the president, who -- you know, the man who was president while the republicans in congress were spending like drunken sailors

and all the rest, then you just remind people of that whole thing. >> the other secrets, mr. boehner gets indignant when democrats get reported to the ethics committee. he wants to know when leadership knew about the issue. now, he's saying, i know about republican scandals all the time and i just don't report them. we take care of them internally. maxine waters and charlie rangel play out however they'll play out. how do republicans move forward if the democrats respond to that by saying every day, what are you hiding now, mr. boehner? >> that's a very good question. what we're seeing is very interesting, keith. finally this cycle, the democrats are getting a message machine together. quickly after the rangel and waters allegations surfaced and this boehner tidbit came up, the democrats were out there with a line to counter the expected attack from republicans. you see the same thing you and governor dean were talking about. the overall question of do you want to go backwards or

forwards? the president's line about you put your car in "d" to go forwards and "r" to go backwards. that sort of thing seems to be being done at a more sophisticated and quicker level right now than it has been in the last few years. and some would say it's about time. >> gene robinson of the washington post. when we're lucky enough to have him, of msnbc. as always, great thanks, gene. >> great to be here. the internet and the founding premise the only thing that should determine how quickly you can see something on it is their band width and the quality of your connection. it's called net neutrality. its doomsday has just arrived. how far google and verizon may have neutralized that neutrality, next. - he's in cope. - 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.

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this senator calls it the first amendment of our time. net neutrality. is it gone forever before the debate has begun? this candidate for the governor of colorado revealed one of the evils of our time, the international communist bicycle-sharing conspiracy.

our exclusive interview with sharron angle. when i say exclusive, i mean, she doesn't even know about it. and the infamous club for growth trying an entirely new approach in tennessee's third congressional district. its message to the voters, oh, hi, sexy. i'm so glad you called. more on that as it develops. i want to be a volunteer firefighter. when i grow up, i want to write a novel. i want to go on a road trip. when i grow up, i'm going to go there. i'm going to work with kids. i want to fix up old houses. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe you're never done growing. i want to fall in love again. [ female announcer ] together we can discover the best of what's next at aarp.org.

if you're on the web right now, all websites, e-mails and so on, reach your computer at the same speed. that's true if you're checking your bank statement or looking at photos of your cousin. it's called net neutrality,

where no form of content is favored over another. it could go away if the big internet providers get their way. any content they don't approve of would come to you -- well, like this. slow speeds give you bad audio. downloads take a long -- time. next week a doomsday scenario internet advocates have warned of could become reality. google and verizon are nearing a deal that could define when users see and when. some content would get more priority, meaning you could

access some stuff more quickly than other stuff. especially if that stuff is owned by that company that wants you to see it. senator al franken of minnesota framing it in terms of the constitution. >> it used to be that really only the government could threaten your first amendment rights. now, corporations with government permission pose the greatest threat to your first amendment rights. tonight, i want to tell you that i believe that net neutrality is the first amendment issue of our time. >> verizon's policy blog said "the new york times" story is mistaken, with google saying, we remain committed to an open internet. then of course twitter crashed. the wall street journal reporting two companies may be nearing an agreement that could be used as a model for legislation aimed at preventing telephone or cable companies from delaying or blocking internet traffic. as for the government's role, courts ruled that the fcc cannot regulate to maintain that neutrality.

earlier this afternoon, federal regulators abandoned efforts to reach compromise on the issue. this put an end to weeks of negotiations between phone, internet and cable tv companies and the fcc which means ', of course -- >> goodbye. >> joining me is josh silver, the founder of free press, a nonprofit nonpartisan public interest group that focuses on media and tech issues. thank you for some of your time tonight. >> you bet. >> is this doomsday or has it always been doomsday? >> time will only tell on this one. this is a fascinating fight. it's a good lead-in. really, what we've had is a five-year battle most people have never heard about over this seeming arcane issue of net neutrality. what most americans don't know, though, is that net neutrality is the game-changer for the future of all media. with phone service and emerging technology, all of it delivered with a high-speed internet connection. the rules of the road set by government and obeyed by verizon

and comcast and at & t will fundamentally shape the internet. verizon, comcast and nbc were against it. then this big announcement this week. google and verizon cutting a deal in the context of what you mentioned, an amazing debacle of government where you actually have a federal communications commission that has no authority over the internet thanks to a bad decision by the bush era fcc. only time will tell but the good news, there's a fairly easy solution. this could be solved with an up or down vote. >> if the fcc is not in charge of oversight from a governmental point of view, is anybody in charge? is the federal trade commission in charge? anaconda wire? who's in charge? >> nobody. this is the problem. it shows how badly money has corrupted the government.

we've got a situation where the phone companies are second only to the pharmaceutical companies in washington spending. they've got the majority of the u.s. congress on their side on this issue and they know it. they're running the table. the federal communications commission is the only agency who can regulate on this. so far the chairman -- obama's appointee, has sat on his hands since that court decision last april. the only thing that will work is if people across the country understand the gravity and importance of this issue and start to actually get involved. >> how did alan grayson, one of the progressive heroes of the last six to eight months, how did he get on the wrong side of this? he's against net neutrality. >> he's saying congress should make the decision and not the federal communications commission. because who knows, the next fcc could change the rules again. but the problem is, as i said, it's important to note nancy pelosi, harry reid, most of the leadership in congress right now are good on this issue.

they support net neutrality and consumers. but the rest of the congress is not good. 74 democrats came out against net neutrality and against the fcc reclassifying or reasserting authority and all but one republican house member is against agency authority. once people start to understand that this is the big game changer, things can and will have to change. because the president has come out as a big supporter of net neutrality. as has the fcc chairman. >> sketch out the worst case scenario if nothing happens. >> worst case scenario is this, we've only got about another year where anything's going to happen in washington. the 2012 elections are on the horizon and it's going to be gridlock in washington. the worst case is the fcc chairman continues to sit on his hands. the president of the united states continues to be silent. the congress continues to threaten that fcc chairman and tell him not to do anything. in that environment, the deal that's being cut by google and verizon, which would allow toll

roads on the internet and would completely take a pass on wireless and let anything wild west of wireless, that would become the de facto law and we would have industry self-regulating in the exact same way they did with the oil industry and the same way they did with the big banks. we saw what that gets us. >> josh silver, founder of free press. thanks for the insight and the time. >> you bet. >> this sounds like something out of "the godfather." i'll fill your mouth up with cement. you'll be at the bottom of the ocean sleeping with the fishies. it's the next stage for the solution of deepwater horizon. keep your fingers crossed. take the cannoli. [ male announcer ] missing something? like 2 pairs of glasses for $99.99 at sears optical. now includes bifocals at the same great price for a limited time. hurry in to sears optical today and don't miss a thing.

he was not breaking into the house to rob it. he was breaking into the house to leave a note thanking them for letting him rob it last year. ahead. first the sanity break from eileen left. i like the acronym rwnj for right wing nut job. but now i prefer just using rwn, because they don't care about jobs. don't forget the 99ers. let's play "oddball." we begin in montgomery county, maryland. the oddball car chase of the week. three teenagers decided they can outrun the police. no one escapes johnny law. eventually the stolen car arrives at a single-lane bridge. oh, this couldn't end well. nowhere to go, the teens finally make the right decision or not. hello. goodbye.

the car flips over the police cruiser, over the side rail, all involved escaped unscathed. the crooks who decided to back up into the cop car will have plenty of time to finish driver's ed in the big house. japan. hello. where the heat wave continues. the best way to beat that heat is to head to the beach. meet mickey and umika, who battled to shore all the way through the traffic to the shore from the elephant kingdom. they didn't come here to play, they came here to be inspired. he is an accomplished painter. as you can tell from this happy little tree. upside down but what the heck. everybody enjoyed the elephants' trip to the beach and thank goodness they brought their swimming trunks. finally, we go to china. the next generation of commuting vehicles, using an animation that bears a striking resemblance to an apple video. it's the straddle willing bus.

it will fit under any bridge or overpass provided it's 900 feet tall. complete with safety doors on the side and what appears to be laser beams to ward off attacking whatevers. it's the future. dancing tiger woods is not included. the tea party reveals the dreaded international conspiracy to take over the united states one metropolitan city bike-sharing program at a time. and the president on gm and the gop. he came to quicken loans, asking for a little bit of help on how to go about buying a home. david gave me all kinds of support. what i need to look for in a house, setting me up with a realtor, ways to get the house inspected. everything you could want to know and more. i just kind of walked him through the process... at 23, i was just trying to find somebody who would have confidence in me. everyone at quicken loans made things amazingly simple for me. that's why i love quicken loans! ♪

bearing witness to bp's seemingly endless destruction of the gulf of mexico has been as fun as watching cement harden. on day 108 of the disaster, the success of bp's latest attempt to plug the gushing well hinging in our third story on watching cement harden, literally. at this hour, bp engineers now monitoring the well to determine

the effectiveness of the cement they finished pouring down the well, needing to wait at least a day for the compound to set. it doesn't really dry. today's procedure coming a day after they pumped enough mud down to reverse the flow of the oil. admiral thad allen having given his permission for the cement only if bp continued with the digging of the relief wells. the gusher will have to be plugged from two directions. think of the relief well as bottom kill. bp still refusing to say what they will be doing with the relief wells. kent wells saying, we need to take each step at a time. clearly we need to pump cement. if we do it from the top we might alter what we do with the relief well. but the relief well is still part of the solution. the ultimate objective is getting this well permanently sealed. admiral allen responding, the well will not be killed until we do the bottom kill and do whatever needs to be done. i am the national incident commander and i issue the orders.

this will not be done until we do the bottom kill. wait, there's more. oil industry expert bob cavnar warning us engineers might regret cementing the well from above too soon. with today's procedure, he said bp sealed off the only way it has to tell what's really been going on below the surface. something it will want to know when the company intercepts the blown-out well with the relief well. if any part of the well in between the cement plug above and relief wells below has ruptured, they will have no way of gauging the pressure to find out whether or not that has happened. that the well hasn't been killed from the top, the clean upstill to follow, doesn't stop the administration from saying the long battle in the gulf is far from over. president obama repeating his claim today at a ford plant in chicago, returning to the phrases he used at similar events recently, like made in america and number one again.

mr. obama reminding the autoworkers if the republicans had their way, an industry in crisis would have been left to file for bankruptcy and fend for itself. >> that's the challenge we faced when i took office. an industry that was on the brink. there are a lot of folks who are ready to write off the american auto industry. who thought we should have walked away from it. some still think that today. you know what? that's not how you build a better future. that's not how you build a better america. >> in fact, in the days, weeks and months before and after congress passed the auto bailout, gop lawmakers saying the bailout would guarantee the car industry's doom, if not the end of democracy and capitalism itself. >> just giving them $25 billion doesn't change anything. it puts off for six months or so the day of reckoning. >> what obama wants to do is raise taxes and take over the entire economy. this man in my opinion is a

collectivist. he believes in a collectivist society. i think he has very strong socialist tendencies. it really scares me because he's moving not only in the auto industry but the health industry, and every place. >> when gm, ford, chrysler, their management teams have not been able to run their companies obviously very well. how does anybody expect some car czar or some politician to be able to make the decisions that are right from a business standpoint for these car companies? >> i think the average american would say, what? isn't that putting the cart before the horse? isn't that, to use a common phrase, just ass backwards? >> they're losing their jobs when somebody else has been bailed out. the unfairness of it becomes more and more evident as we go along. >> five guys, five mistakes.

if any senator knows his ass backwards, it's senator vitter. we'd like to thank you, the viewers, for making the free clinic possible in washington, d.c. yesterday. your donations helped over 1,000 people have care they would have otherwise not had access to. putting on the fifth such clinic thanks to your generosity. you can support the upcoming two-day clinic in new orleans coincide wg the fifth anniversary of hurricane katrina on august 31st and september 1st. for more details or to donate, please go to freeclinics.us. sharron angle wants interviews filled only with a question she wants to answer. we'll do our best in a "countdown" exclusive so exclusive that the guest doesn't know it's happening. dan quayle's son running for congress from arizona. this is a campaign picture. we don't know who two of those people in the picture are. when rachel joins you, it's quiet. it's too quiet. why is there so little reaction from the right about the overturning of prop 8?

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calling the hottest political hot line of them all in the tennessee third. first, no, it isn't your hotline coming to a boil. it's our nightly checkup on the something for nothing crowd. it's tea time. now they found it. the tea party found the issue that will tip the elections in its favor and free patriots from the death grip of communism, fascism, socialism, obamaisms and altruism. the issue, the international conspiracy to convert denver, colorado, quote, into a united nations community, unquote, through the virulent, subtle influence of the share bike program. dan mays is one of the tea boys running for the republican nomination for governor of colorado. he says he too once thought that the bike-sharing efforts were just harmless and well meaning. he says now he has realized, quote, that's exactly the attitude they want you to have.

this is all very well disguised, he says, but it will be exposed. he said this at one of his rallies. one of his rallies where only 50 people showed up. the issue, sharing bikes, doing little things to help the environment, suggested by the international council for local environmental initiatives. how could that not be a conspiracy? it's got the word "international" in it. at first i thought, gosh, public transportation, what's wrong with that? what's wrong with people parking their cars and riding their bikes and what's wrong with incentives for green cars? if you do your homework and research, you realize iclei is part of a greater strategy to rein in american cities under united nations treaty. some would argue this is contradictory to our own constitution. mr. mays apparently does not realize that denver became a member of the iclei in 1992. so by now, the international

communist bike-sharing conspiracy has had 18 years to worm its way into the collective american soul. this is all very well disguised, but it will be exposed. the only thing that's going to be exposed here is what the tea party is all about. paranoia. i'm sorry that only 50 people attended mr. mays' rally. i think these rallies ought to be shown to everybody in the country, live. so everybody can understand that the premise of the tea party is anybody with a delusion they just assume everybody else shares has come out of their own homes for the first time and run for office. because the international bike-sharing conspiracy has this country by the throat. and the body snatchers are here. and soylent green is here. have an old 401k?

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1-800-539-8115 request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment objectives, risks, fees, expenses and other information to read and consider carefully before investing. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. the next best thing to an actual sharron angle interview. it's a fake sharron angle interview. you know, like puppet theater. only a little bit more gratuitous. that's next. first, get out your pitchforks and torches. time for tonight's worst persons in the world. a man arrested as he was breaking into a home on chippewa place. the same home he was arrested for breaking into a year ago. not a burglary, says mr. maxwell. his statement to the cops. i was going back in to leave a thank you note. because i burglarized this place last year. i just got out of jail.

convicted burglar, accused burglar and bad liar. the runner-up, ben quail, son of the former vice president running for the third congressional district in arizona. this is from his direct mail advertising campaign, titled a new generation. below the picture we are told, my roots in arizona run deep. my grandparents and great grandparents lived in this district. my parents and all of my siblinging live in this district. tiffany and i live in this district and are going to raise our family here. good for tiffany and you. the problem? let's take another look at that warm and fuzzy picture. the two girls, they are not ben quayle's kids. point of fact, ben quayle doesn't have any kids. the campaign spokesman said, they're not quayle's kids. they're just terribly cute kids. it took two days. finally, the kids have been identified tonight. they are his nieces. i'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he knows that those are not his kids.

and the winner, robin smith house candidate for the tennessee third on whose campaign has spent $107,000 already this year. she is hoping to unseat incumbent chuck fleishman. the latest, a flyer giving out the number of a phone hotline that will elaborate on her opponent's spendthriftness and her qualities. the number, 1-800-get-some pork. this is what happens when you call. >> hi, sexy. i'm so glad you called. you're about to be connected live to my wild and hot friends who will satisfy your wildest fantasies. enter your credit card number -- >> is this 1-800-get-some-pork? is ms. robin smith there? tennessee third candidate, robin smith and the club for growth,

exactly what kind of growth are you guys shooting for? today's worst persons in the world. here, kitty. here, kitty. oh! just come snuggle with mama. [ male announcer ] missing something? like 2 pairs of glasses for $99.99 at sears optical. now includes bifocals at the same great price for a limited time. hurry in to sears optical today and don't miss a thing. on your next business trip,time. pack your marriott rewards visa card. get triple points every time you use your card at marriott. apply now and earn 22,500 bonus points when you use your card and enjoy a free night stay. so, before you know it, work time becomes well-deserved downtime. apply now at marriott.com/freenightstay. you've got staying power.

the las vegas sun reports that nevada republican senate candidate sharron angle told a christian radio station that president obama wants government to replace god and that that is a clear violation of the first commandment, which prohibits worship of any idol except, well, what they think is the right one. it prohibits even making idols. normally we would ask if she advocates outlawing the worship of any god but hers. but angle told fox news she only wants reporters to ask her the questions she wants to answer so they report the news the way she wants them to.

so in our number one story, we'll settle for giving her exactly what she wants, the "countdown" sharron angle interview. we could not ask ms. angle the questions she wants us to ask because we did not know whether one of the questions she wants us to ask are, what questions do you want us to ask. we've done the next best thing. we've assembled the interview using only the answers she has wanted to give in the past, along with our best guess at what the question should be. >> sharron angle, republican senate candidate from nevada. you are a big sport for joining us here. >> well, first of all, neil, it's great to be on your show to talk about this campaign. >> let's start with the remarks you made to carl cameron from fox. i was thinking he may have missed what you meant. that interviews are for letting voters see how you handle yourself on the fly. under pressure. that's the whole point, right? for the voters? >> the whole point for an interview is to use it, like they say, earned media. to earn something with it. i'm not going to earn anything

from people who are there to badger me and batter -- you know, use my words to batter me with. >> that would explain why you've been doing interviews with fox rather than interviews in front of the audiences that real journalists get, right? >> well, in that audience, will they let me say i need $25 from a million people? go to sharronangle.com. send money. would they let me say that? >> no, ma'am, they would not. would you like to say it again? >> i need a million people with $25. they can send that to sharronangle.com. >> can you say harryreid.com? for people who want to donate to harry reid? >> sharronangle.com. >> how did you get into the race? did god just call you to run or did he also prepare you? maybe the word isn't prepare. equip you?

>> when god calls you, he equips you. he doesn't say, today you're going to run against harry reid. there is a preparation. everyone in the bible, when you read the bible, you can see that preparatory time. moses had his preparatory time and paul had his preparatory time. even jesus had his preparatory time. so my preparation began on a school board. >> you said that god equips you. and you have talked previously about the role jesus plays in your life. how have they helped with your campaign? >> they began to remake our website. and they said, you know, you're pretty wordy, sharron. i am pretty wordy. i say that's one of the benefits of electing me as a u.s. senator. i'll be able to lead a filibuster. but they said, you're pretty wordy. what you need to do is condense this into small, very precise statements about who you are. and so that's what they began doing, was making precise statements.

we're not completely there yet. >> can you give us examples of the precise statements you've come up with so far about who you are? >> jimmy carter. >> that's a surprise. anybody that republicans could relate to better? >> dick morris. >> anybody mainstream america could relate to better? >> i am mainstream america. >> okay. tell us a little bit about your childhood, growing up as part of mainstream america. >> we did those things as a kid growing up that americans don't do. we cleaned bathrooms and made beds and swept floors, did laundry, those kinds of things. >> laundry? who does laundry? you're crazy. as a grown-up, what do you make of your opponent's campaign so far? >> when they resort to personal attack and name-calling, it means they haven't got anything else. >> name calling? how dare they.

how do you define this race without resorting to personal attack and that kind of name-calling? >> i'm running for the people's seat in the united states senate. now occupied by the "let's make a deal, tax and spend, good old boy politics as usual" harry reid. >> you want to try that answer again just in case people would think you were calling harry reid names? >> let's make a big, raid the social security lockbox, tax and spend, harry reid. we have to ask harry why he doesn't care about nevada and america. >> i know you didn't mean that. >> like i said, he doesn't care about america. >> not the way you do, anyway. stop me on this one if i'm wrong. as a u.s. senator, you'd be in the business of creating jobs. that means that you would -- >> as your u.s. senator, i'm not in the business of creating jobs. >> of course not. who wants a job when you can get unemployment. >> you can make more money on

unemployment than you can getting one of those jobs. >> of course, unemployment benefits aren't the only problem, deficit, mortgages, the economy have become a major threat to the american way of life. as a strong republican, what do you suggest we do about this awful economy? >> waterboard the economy. >> we're almost out of time, mrs. angle, in fact, should i say senator-elect mrs. angle. i can't believe i'm going to say this on television, but sharron angle, i love you. >> i love you too. >> jesus remade my website. that's "countdown" for august 5th, 2010. >> it's the 2,653rd day since president bush declared victory in iraq and the 108th day of the deepwater horizon disaster in the gulf. good night and good luck. now to discuss whether the far right hasn't heard prop 8 was overturned or maybe their