for senate in florida and levi johnston running for mayor of wasilla. countdown is up next. which of these stories will you be talking about tomorrow? pledge this. >> they proposed $4 billion in tax cuts and $16 billion in spending cuts. then they say we will somehow magically balance the budget. that's not a serious approach. >> as the president pounds the republicans on the pledge, even the gop begins to back down. those weren't plans. they were just measurements. >> once americans understand how big the problem is, we can begin to talk about potential solutions. >> it's really a pledge to nowhere. with an astounding crunch of the numbers. how many jobs would the gop pledge kill off? you new health care reform

metric. the number of american who is think we need more and doubles the number who think we need none and why is that a secret. let's go to the videotape. >> evolution is say myth and even darwin can tell. >> have you ever looked at a monkey? >> why aren't monkeys still evolving. >> you just do the joke here. 16 years to the day after the last episode of the epic ken burns documentary baseball comes baseball the 10th inning. new history and new comments. >> baseball didn't truly get integrated until you had black players that sucked. >> the history of it, it is the only sport that goes forwards and backwards. >> that guy. my special guest, ken burns. and worsts, why what this former minster of justice from france just said is one of the wildest things in political history.

[speaking foreign language] >> ooh la la. all the commentaries here on countdown. >> good evening from new york. 36 days until the mid-term elections and what if the new governing agenda from the party that wants to assume power appears to be irresponsible. president obama said the pledge to america is not serious. house democrats have the chance to lockdown the difference between themselves and republicans on tax cuts for the rich and the middle class with leader john boehner daring them to do just that. president obama first who in characterizing the pledge could have been speaking to the deficit hypocrites within the opposition. >> what are i'm seeing out of the republican leadership over the last several years has been a set of policies that are just irresponsible. we saw in their pledge to

america a similar set of irresponsible policies. they want to balance the budget and propose $4 trillion in tax cuts and $16 billion in spending cuts. they say we are going to somehow magically balance the budget. that's not a serious approach. >> as more criticism that the pledge is not new and the confession of the third ranking house republican. >> what we have in this proposal is not necessarily new. the idea of fiscal responsibility pro growth policies openness and transparenciy in government are solid american ideas. what republicans are committing to in this pledge to america is taking important first steps in this congress to steer the national government back to the basic practices. >> the pledge explainers like not necessarily new and first steps doing little to spike support from the so-called insurgence the gop so desperately needs. the main coordinator calling the

pledge a maly mouthed sop to the tea party movement that is to the plenty tut. a nice pr piece, but it's not showing occupant radar. conservatives were equally critical, but the house leader was occupied with the topic of which south dakotas with the democrats, tax cuts for the rich. if democratic leaders leave town, we are not stopping the tax hikes. they are turning their backs on the american people. returning the congress without a vote to stop all the tax hikes will destroy jobs. he failed to mention that republicans passed the tax cuts 10 years ago with a built in expiration date at the end of this year. he demanded the democrats vote on taxes without using the suspension procedure. suspension would require a 2/3 vote. more on that in a moment. the senate's fail youure to vote, dick durbin on what he sees as simple math. >> i can count and i know you can too.

we have 59 democrats and not a single democrat supports our position that we need to do something responsible, but to help middle income families bring us out of the recession. >> 'is that different after the election? >> well, i hope it will be different. occasionally one republican will respect us. what it gets down to is we can count. we don't have 60 votes for the tax position. we want to say after the election, when we still face a deadline by the end of the year, we will take up the tax issues. >> however immediately after the election, the terms of three a pointed senators expyre from west virginia, illinois and delaware. if they are seated immediately as expected, the republican filibuster would be harder to over item. another issue with which democrats may want to come to grips before the mid-terms. the popularity of their health care reform law. a poll looks like a strong plurality oppose. 23% think the law did not go far

enough. 20% opposed only a few changes. finally president obama signed into law what may be the last item passed before the mid-term elections. the small business package which that includes taxes and makes loans more available. let's turn to "washington post" staff writer, news week california um nift and msnbc contributor, ezra kline. the tax cuts for the middle class and the rich. the audience is the house democratic leaders. what should they be hearing that they don't seem to be? >> the reality is that the house democratic leaders seem more willing to take a chance than the senate leaders. dick durbin said they can do the math and don't have the votes. you mentioned this and i'm more worried after the election and have three fewer seats. that's in the lame duck session. we are hearing the house is uncertain and maybellining towards not voting. they won't vote if they

definitely won't vote. there is chicago and there always is with the house and senate. the senate is refusing to hold hands. >> we're discussed a notion that the speaker might have a strategic motivation to bring up the tax votes under the suspension process that requires a 2/3. boehner spoke out against that. is he admitting that he fierce the possibility that it would be employed? >> yeah. i think they do fear t. it's an odd procedure and i wonder how the democrats would go along with it. so a suspension requires a 2/3 vote and what you would be doing and it's the first time i would see them do this. instead of trying to get the number of votes you need down as democrats did, you begin to get the number of votes you need up so more democrats could vote for the tax cuts for the rich and they still wouldn't pass with the democrats and republicans would vote and it would get through. somehow i have trouble seeing it happening, but if it does, it

would be quite a way to end the session. >> turning to this other subject, it's hard to believe looking ahead that the gop pledge would continue to gain traction for reason that is the gop could not possibly have wanted. it's criticized from both ends of things. have democrats been handed something they can pick a pardon from now until november? >> very much. the difficulty in any election is for the governing party making it a choice and not a referendum just on them. the gop pledge is specific. what are they going to do when they govern? they will massively increase the deficit and do tax cuts and roll back the health wear bill and a bunch of other things that don't make a ton of sense. it's not going to be fresh thinking about what the economy should look like after one of the greatest economic disasters in history. the americans who didn't love the gop to begin with are a little bit confused and democrats feel they have a target. it's not enough. they do have to end this session

governing well. watch them wilf on the bush tax cuts is not restoring confidence on their base. >> apart from the fact that that requires a veto-proof majority for the republicans, the highly popular provisions of the law going into effect, some of them are in that republican pledge that they would be retained. they don't offer any way to pay for the ones they like. this new polling that looked dire actually shows that there more people who think the thing didn't go far enough. that that it went too far. are any democrats running on their own success in health care policy? >> a couple are. we have begun to see ads coming out. it's smart. it's what they need to do. the whole has been unpopular, but the component parts have been popular. preexisting conditions and that's the republican strategy in their pledge. we will do the component parts,

but not the thing you call the obama care bill. it's smart to run on the pieces and much more to the point and force them to say which we will keep and how. they had trouble doing it because at the end, the republicans get to be in the position. we will not going to tell you how. democrats have to defend every piece. as you say, the consensus in the country is for health care reform. when republicans have to answer what's going to happen if they turn it back and replace it with nothing, that is say lot more difficult. >> ezra kline, as always, thanks. political mechanics. let's go to analyst howard klineman of news week soon to be at the "huffington post." good evening. >> hi, keith. >> the vote on extending tax cuts for the middle class and also for the wealthy, is the house going to punt? is it not dead yet? is it any clearer than last week? >> well, as of a little while ago when i was talking to my sources on the hill, i would say

it's comatose. i think nancy pelosi would like to do it and some of the political leaders in the house on the democratic side would like to try to do it. i know here in pennsylvania, i'm in philadelphia here tonight, here in pennsylvania represe representative running for the senate would much like to do it. he thinks it would play here. but there conservative democrat who is don't want to do it. ezra kline said without the partnership and cooperation of the senate, the house doesn't want to go first and in part because of the blue dog democrats are still angry they were made by the white house to vote for the cap and trade environment bill a year ago. that's their excuse and they are sticking to t. >> the admission by minority leader boehner that he seems worried that pelosi might bring the vote through in the house using suspension, the 2/3.

is that resonating to any degree from what you are hear and is there a serious approach from the democrats to do it that way? >> it sounds possible. again, not entirely likely i don't think. i think it would be a smart thing for the democrats to do if they were brave, but that would require them to be brave on this issue and have a positive add tud from the beginning. and you don't get anything unless you risk something. this would require and call the republicans' bluff. it would take approximately 60 republican votes to bring it up under suspension. if john boehner wants to vote for it, why not call his bluff? i don't hear a ferment to do it right now. maybe they will try in the next few days, but that's not the sense i get. >> swinging back to health wear reform, ben holland is disputing the idea that the democrats are

not talking about the success, but are they doing this to a greater degree than republicans continue to talk about it in terms of the parts they would keep? >> ezra is right. the republicans are hammering the whole thing as a giant exercise in big government, but the democrats are not running on in any consistent and high profile way they could argue or be good at. like the kids under 26 can be on their parents's plan and preexisting conditions are no longer a bar to coverage and there is no limitations on coverage now. these are things that the democrats could challenge the republicans to oppose. why there not tv ads talking about this up and down, i don't know. here in pennsylvania, talking about it, but it's not the number one issue on the campaign trail. jobs is the number one issue. the democrats don't really want to use political capital on this. if you don't use it, you are not

going to get anything out of it. >> not only that, but there is something to the cliche that at the end of the day, porcelain must be broken if you get anybody awe attention. politics is to some degree if only the clash of ideas, it should at least be that. the democratic idea at the moment is let's see if we can tiptoe past without anybody noticing the bad things or the good things. certainly there is a way where you can emphasize the good things? >> that's what bill clinton was a master at. plucking out the particulars and selling them in an unemotional way. don't start with the philosophy. bill clinton was good at it and pennsylvania here, pat too maniy wants to cut taxes and he's the pure thing on the conservative side. sus tack would be wise to do an ad saying okay, representative, which parts of the health care

law that have gone into effect right now do you want to deny the voters of pittsburgh and philadelphia. >> these democrats are not plucking out. they are plucking off at the moment. msnbc analyst howard fineman in the transition president. i am loosening you up for "huffington post." you have been loosened. when the gop made the pleaj pledge, they forgot to mention how many people would lose their j job.

the rhetoric over the gop pledge is on the good side. the numbers are a strounding. you may not believe how many jobs his pledge would eliminate. she said there was no evolution because monkeys were not turning into people as she watched. how about the reverse? his last documentary got the highest ratings ever. the next documentary is tomorrow

night and on the other hand, i'm in it. this is a tombstone in a private tiny muslim cemeteriy on private land in new york. what local leaders want to do to the dead bodies here you will not believe. all ahead. ♪ i had just turned 17 ♪ a harmonica and a box guitar ♪ ♪ in a canvas-covered wagon stuffed... ♪ [ male announcer ] while the world's been waiting on the electric car, maybe the whole time, the electric car has been waiting for this... the wattstation from ge. it's going to change the way we get to where we all want to go. ♪ i didn't think much of it till i took it apart ♪ one month, five years after you do retire? ♪ client comes in and they have a box. and inside that box is their financial life. people wake up and realize i better start doing something. we open up that box. we organize it. and we make decisions. we really are here to help you. they look back and think,

"wow. i never thought i could do this." but we've actually done it. [ male announcer ] visit ameriprise.com and put a confident retirement more within reach. >>. >> we told you the number crunchers at epi came up with the first estimate of how many jobs the country would lose. in the fourth story before we review the number, we will show you the math first because it's fun. house republican leader boehner has a two-bronged approach. freeze tax rates and freeze

friending except for national security. what would this do to the economy? it ain't good. job creation is generally tied to gross domestic product, gdp, how much money the country makes. renewing the rich tax cuts would do some good, but tax cuts for the rich are the worst way to boost the gdp, giving less bang for the buck than any other method. the tax cuts would boost next year's gdp by $12.2 billion and the spending cuts? they would reduce levels to 2008 levels, a 23% cut in spending on infrastructure and roads and bridges and government workers and teachers and scientists and so on. obviously paying salaries to workers creates jobs that helps rich people stuff savings accounts full of dough. using the formulas, the epi calculate that is the spending cuts would cut the gross domestic product by $183.2

billion. now prepare for math. $12.2 billion gained minus $183.2 billion equals $171 billion. $171 billion lost from america's gross domestic product that. say 1.1% drop for next year's estimated gdp. remember i said gdp is tied to jobs? the rate is one million jobs for 1% gdp. the 1.1% drop from the republican economic plan would cost america 1.1 million jobs. wait, you say. when the bush tax cuts were passed in 2001 and 2003, job creation took off, didn't it? uncertainty holes back hiring. in december of 2000 it became certain that george w. bush would become president and get to pass some form of the tax cuts he had campaigned on. the unemployment rate went from

3.9% the month he was appointed to 4.2% after his appointment removed the uncertainty. if fairness, the tax cuts did not become law until june 2001 when unemployment had risen to 4.5%. how many jobs did they create when they were signed into law? unemployment rose to 4.6% the next month. 4.9% the month after that and 5%, 5.3%, 5.5%. what about his secretary round of tax cuts in may of '03 when it rose to 6.1. it rose to 6.3% the next month. in all the years of his presidency, the unemployment rate dropped below 4.5 when he signed the first tax cuts in just four months, dropping to 4.po 4, four times in 2006. in the middle of a housing boom. let's go to washington director of a nonpartisan policy think tank.

thanks for your time. that analysis saying a certain amount of spending cuts equals another certain amount of jobs lost. 1.1 million jobs lost, does that sound right to you and can you explain why the jobs would be lost? >> absolutely. that was a really important contribution that the policy institute made today. it really goes to show you the peril of what happens when politicians start legislating talking points instead of actual policies. since the reagan era, you had the republican mantra, the bumper sticker being cut taxes, cut spending. that's what the boehner plan would do. cut taxes and cut spending. unfortunately, we are in the middle of a jobless recovery from the deepest recession we have had since the great depression. corporations are sitting and hoarding trillions of dollars in cash and they are not hiring. the banks which are sitting on trillions of dollars from the

federal reserve are not lending. states are in the red so they are not because of the house crisis, they are not able to increase demand. the federal government has to increase demand. we know economic data shows from the cbo and all outside commentators if you have government spending of the type that the obama plan would do, infrastructure, research, education and energy, you get $1.75 in output for every dollar that you spend. unfortunately tax cuts that are at the core of the boehner plan are more expensive than they are productive in the economy. >> republicans live on the mantra. tax cuts equal job creation. is it not true, but is the reverse true? can tax cuts hurt job creation? >> in this instance they can. particularly because we are talking about the bush tax cuts. the vast majority went to the wealthiest 3% of americans.

if i'm working and a middle class person living paycheck to paycheck, i spend every dollar i can hold on to. i spend it on groceries and my kids's books and gas for the car. i immediately through put that out into the economy. if i'm a millionaire or billionaire i as you said sock it away. the problem with using tax cuts as a stimulus is that it's far too expensive and it ties the government's hands to do the more effective form of stimulus. such as infrastructure spending. >> for it's clear that tax cuts are at best most effective and least effective way, 'democrats insisting on extending them even to the middle class? >> that's a really good question, keith. to answer it, we have to look at the inequalities in the tax code. in 2005, the new york time diagnosis a study of what all the bush tax cuts meant for the richest and middle and lower

class americans. it found that because of the bush tax cuts, the 400 richest households in america were paying the same share of their income on their federal income, social security, and medicare taxes as americans making $50,000 to $7 thousa0,000. the same as those in the middle class. the tax cuts for the low income folks are what we need to be investing in. >> heather, thanks for your time. the director of the d.c. office of demos. >> al capone's vault, all of the supposed great storage units of history plundered and echoed with dust until the bill maher vault. another christine o'donnell tape emerge and her proof that there

is no evolution, ahead. ♪ to know, know, know you grandma is the bestest. the total package. grandpa's cooooooooool. way cool. ♪ grandpa spoils me rotten. ♪ to know, know, know you ♪ is to love... some people call us frick and frack. we do finger painting. this is how grandpa and i roll. ♪ and i do [ pins fall ] grandma's my best friend. my best friend ever. my best friend ever. ♪ [ laughing ] [ boy laughs ] ♪ to know, know, know you after this we're gonna get ice cream. can we go get some ice cream? yeah. ♪ and i do ♪ and i do ♪ and i do ♪ and i do ready to try something new? campbell's has made changes. adding lower sodium sea salt to more soups.

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christine o'donnell and the monkeys is ahead. first we have the tweet of the day. christine o'donnell's philosophy can be summed up as don't read, don't know. hoping she can get expelled for violating and doubting she will violate. let's play odd ball. we begin in chicago. a correspondent dorothy tucker is finishing up a piece on bed

bucks with what we like to call the on air tact. the woman in the background is not familiar with how television works. here's a tip. when the light goes on, the camera is live. hello! the latest example with the live you get caught in an embarrassing moment and see how the station picks itself. france or no france. a boat made of chocolate. no earth leeway of know which direction they are going. the rowers keep on rowing and they are not showing any signs that they are slowing. there aren't any rower there is and the boat is not doing a good job of floating. they made it as far as they could, but where are the oompa loompas? finally it's time for what you have been wait for example. soccer highlights. remember two weeks ago we introduced you to the keeper who made the save and saw the

biscuit go into the basket while he was celebrating his wonderfulness. he is the victim of what i am told is a bad first touch. instead of pounding his chest he decides to expose said chest for a few teammates making a lame attempt to stop him. he runs off the field and into the locker room. and time marches on. rip them. how to defeat the tea party. keep them talking and keep playing christine o'donnell videotapes. yellow. banana. ...to the standard rgb color system, quattron produces more colors... banana! ...and makes images brighter. banana! banana! when seen in 3d -- whoa! whoa! aah! quattron makes tv so realistic... whoa! ...you won't believe your eyes. [ male announcer ] aquos quattron 3d from sharp. [ engineer laughs ] you have to see it, to see it.

the latest from the christine o'donnell archive reveals she is more of a mainstream republican than previously thought. falling in line, she said evolution is made up.

in a twist she argues if evolution was real, we would be able to watch monkeys turn into people as we wait. another clip of delaware's nominee for senate explaining her world view from the old abc show, we take you back to 1998. >> evolution is a smith and even darwin himself -- >> evolution is say myth? ever looked at a monkey? >> why aren't monkeys still evolving into humans. >> okay. perhaps o'donnell was clarifying comments she made earlier in a debate from a biology professor when she was asked to let her expertise as a concerned woman of america. she said too many people blindly accepting evolution as fact and it might be taught in schools in addition. if you teach them together, it is not the establishment of a religion. evolution is based on a set of belief systems, ie a religion.

that's secular humanism. she alleged that dna is linked to god and citing the well-known journal the book of genesis, she pointed out god created the earth in days and there is just as much evidence supporting that and challenged the merits of carbon dating. they use that ann example to prove something was millions of years old. the carbon dating test they used then would have to prove these were hundreds of millions of years younger they had the same results in the fossils that they did on the tests that were supposedly hundreds of million was years old. it's the inconsistent test like this they are basing their facts on. they had tests run by the institute run for research. biblical, accurate, certain. the website posts such intensive articles like water flea study fits genesis mandate and even

bacteria seem to follow golden rule. joining me now, never follow children or animal act or performing bacteria. the senior correspondent with john mccain in the media. paul, good evening. >> hi, keith. when the i dabbled in witchcraft clip was released, she and her camp got to it and addressed it. she remained silent and they have remained silent. is that an admission that this is stilt evolution and there is no position on evolution? >> this is kind of thing is whether you are talking about her belief that scientists created mice with human brains or her apparent belief that your average chimp is a member of the x men is the last thing in the world that christine o'donnell wants to talk about. everyone understands that the number one priority for voters right now is jobs and the economy. christine o'donnell is riding this tea party tiger even though that's not really where she

comes from. her career has been built on the conservative culture war. so the thing that she does not want to talk about is those things she spent the last 20 years talking about. what she would be on much safer ground talking about is that the economy is bad and we need change. if she gets pulled in, it's not good for her. chances are she will just be hopeing it goes away. >> is it a plus for her in delaware? do we have any idea of how they feel about evolution in delaware or is this on scientific issues of concern to voter there is? >> that may be troubling to you and me, but one of the things that will happen regardless of whether the democrats hold on to the house and any individual race is we are going to see a pretty significant increase in the size of the wing nut caucus. we may look at people like michelle bachman and find them amusing and horrifying, but there going to be a lot more people like them in congress.

the gop as the tea party is take over it, it is becoming simultaneously more radical and also dumb dumber. that's what we will see in the coming congress with the new incarnation of the republican party. >> i appreciate i am asking for a consistency that is not requisite, but every illness classified under autism using air quotes. rejecting air science with medicine and i don't know, the formula that goes into h20, can the tea party continue to claim it's only about small government that all the other issues are irrelevant or are they suddenly getting big crazy tent on their supporters? >> they can try to claim that and their anti-establishment and republicans as well as establishment democrats. as you see when they get into the details of the issues, they are really just extremely conservative republicans. on health care, the provision

that she was objecting to is something that's going to take effect in 2014. there going to be certain kinds of conditions that insurance companies will have to cover. right now for instance, they treat having a uterus as a preexisting condition. a lot of plans don't cover maternity care. when you speak out against the affordable care act which will change that, all of a sudden that kind of view is not so popular. that is sort of what the view is on the extreme right. that's where the tea party really is despite all the rhetoric that they are just concerned about deficits and the size of government. >> they will get every vote from everyone like them. the more they talk the less people that like them. thank you again, paul. >> my pleasure. how to make a ken burns documentary in the video age on the eve of the tenth inning. we will ask ken burns. this is the former minster of justice in france. she lost it because they show

she was not serious and showbizy and sexy before she made this blooper. why democrats are too scared to run a national campaign this mid-term season. [ advisor 1 ] what do you see yourself doing one week, one month, five years after you do retire? ♪ client comes in and they have a box. and inside that box is their financial life. people wake up and realize i better start doing something. we open up that box. we organize it. and we make decisions. we really are here to help you. they look back and think, "wow. i never thought i could do this."

but we've actually done it. [ male announcer ] visit ameriprise.com and put a confident retirement more within reach.

>> he is actually launching a sequel to the documentary baseball on pbs even though the first sound bite is from me. i don't know. seeps like crazy talk to me. this reminder and the new schedule kicks in. we are live at 8:00 eastern and 5:00 p.m. pacific as we have been for years and nearly six months. we will be there at 11:00 and that's an old picture of me. or 60 to 0? [ tires screech ] the quarter-mile, or a quarter-century? is performance about the joy of driving? or the importance... of surviving? to us, performance is not about doing one thing well. it is about doing everything well.

because in the end... everything matters. the best or nothing. that is what drives us. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers on the c-class. lord of the carry-on. sovereign of the security line. you never take an upgrade for granted. and you rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go.

you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i deserve this. [ male announcer ] you do, business pro. you do. go national. go like a pro. on the eve of baseball, the tenth inning, it's maker ken burns. get out your pitch forks. time for the worst persons in the world. the former justice minster of france, she made a bit of a boo-boo in a television interview about the economy. all you need to know before seeing this is that there two words in french and english that are nearly identical. they sound like each other as well. is the word that means inflation and the other is felation that doesn't.

the translation into english of the full quote was when i see some of them looking for returns of 20 or 25% when failateio is close to zero and in a slump, we are destroy destroying businesses. vif la france. >> his sunday pretend news interview show, he selects a power player of the week. it was the govern nor's association. he complimented him because he quoted the biggest political committee in town when which at the end of june had more than $40 billion in cash. considering one million of the 40 billion the largest donation so far was made by fox pack when which he thinks is a television news organization. the winner is the town supervisor of new york in delaware county he just set a

record for islam phobia. there was a 50 acre farm and town supervisor is trying to get the town to sue the community and force it to dig up the bodies of a handful of muslims who are buried there. they came in and buried the bodies and there is no funding there. it will be a liability to the town. carthy adds i don't know what the law is. there is no law. no local or state laws cover cemeteries on private land. the city approved that on land and everything is above board and the town government of sydney wants the graves desecrated and the lead muslims exhumed because the burials didn't break any laws and were already approved. maybe they are muslim zombies waiting for the to jump out of the ground and do something terrible to the target of sydney freaking new york. it is only 38 miles from

binghamton. the supervisor bob carthy, today's worst person in the world. ♪ [ deb ] people don't just come to ge capital for money. they come to us for help. at ge capital, we've been financing taylor guitars for over eight years, helping them build a strong dealer network. bringing music to people... i like that. ♪ ♪ [ bob ] i didn't know you could play. i didn't either. ♪ everybody has somebody to go heart healthy for. who's your somebody? eating campbell's healthy request can help. 25 delicious soups with low cholesterol, zero grams trans fat, and a healthy level of sodium. because heart healthy is good for your life... and the people in it. healthy request from campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do.

in september of 19 nor, the montreal expos, the remnants of the washington nationals finish said a season with the best record in the game. barry bonds was over 500 runs away from hank earn's record and the most famous major leaguer was the pitcher and number one story, ken burns and the baseball documentary resumes with the tenth inning. dispassionate observer calling it the finest television program ever made. ken burns joins me in a moment. it will spend two nights and the bottom of the tenth on

wednesday. they explore from the 94 strike and the prominence of international players in the majors. the highlights, interviews with a pedro martinez and microphone reluctant suzuki. the braves in the early 90s, the curse of the bambino forever broken by the red sox in 2004. he deals with the issue of performance enhancing drugs. getting introduce on the subject of peds like baseball commissioner bud selig and fans like chris rock.

>> people get upset. who in the whole country wouldn't take a pill to make more money at their job? you would. if there was a pill and you get paid like steven spielberg, you would take the pill. you just would. >> i am joined by filmmaker ken burns. baseball the tenth inning premiers on pbs and the cup was not from water. you will do testing for both of us. >> cheers. >> thank you very much. >> your standards for doing the series have been consistent and the part of america that allows us to see the whole of america. what about baseball in the last 16 years tells us about the country in the last 16 years. >> what doesn't? the deregulation was rampant in the 90s and allowed the steroids to flood and the players to take whatever they wanted with impunity and without worry of

punishment. we live in a farm logical culture and we give kids pills to do better in school. part of who we are. the sociologist said if you want to know the heart and soul of america, study baseball. sometimes that heart and soul is not so pleasant. the good news is despite all this stuff, despite the strike, despite the steroids, this is the greatest game ever invented and the resilience of the game is the real star. despite everything like in every other decade where people say baseball is washed up and gambling scandals and pay under the table, there was a complaint in the first inning that they don't play baseball the way they used to. that was 1858. free agency was going to kill it. colosing was going to kill it. the strike and steroids is going to kill it. that's in the rear view mirror and it hasn't killed it. nothing will. >> you start in a different

place. explain that. with the american theme of all of your work, it's a departure. nine innings after a prologue, we began everything with the star spangled banner and the last words are apparently play ball. we chose to go to the dominican republic so tee these kids playing barefoot in backalies with two by twos and throwing a rag around and running around with joy about the game that we love so much. they are not running down a field or a gridiron or in a court. this wonderful game which they get and the siren song that will move them off of that island is the star spangled banner and the promise both real and bitter sweet that they will eventually get to the major leagues and lift themselves and by extension their country out of the poverty they live in. >> your style traditionally on making the most you can and the

most use you could out of still photographs. the civil war much of baseball and a lot of the second world war and a lot of jazz. how did you stay true to what your documentary film should be in an era that is recorded on videotape with six different angles? >> we have to edit that and there was a tyranny of choice just as no choice say in the civil war where there is not an old photograph of battle. huh to recreate. the dna is still that individual image's ability to convey complex information. we had great cooperation with the mlb that helped us and gave us this footage and let us see all the different camera angles, we return again and again to a photograph that would anchor you in meaning as well as illustration. you don't want to illustrate it, but have meaning where 1 and one, word and image don't always add to to two or three. that's what we want.

we want that strange and impossible calculus in our lives. >> wha who is the break out commentator: pedro martinez? >> pedro is surprising. he did an unbelievable interview with him and joe torre. they have fandom in the most dramatic way. particularly in the top of the tenth, he is so moving. he knows barry bonds and he is a fan of the giants and know what is it is to be a hispanic america. without the role models and the resistance in baseball is what rewarded that group in the midst of an era where we are talking about against them. i think in some ways it's torre and pedro and howard bryant is great and so is tom and so many people. so are you? >> no, no. >> you don't get the opening

statement for nothing, buster. >> far be it for me to question your filmmaking, but the first voice you hear in one of these sets the tone for the whole thing and you opened with this guy talking about drowning in the river. >> this is the only game that goes forward and backwards at the same time. you go to somebody who is trying to convince you in a bar that football or basketball is the game. how many points does wilt chamberlain have? they have no idea. the person who has 10 beers knows what hitting .406 means and having a 56-game hitting streak and also in 1941, these are all important numbers. a .300 hitter means the same to my daughters as it does to me, but it means to abraham burn who is fought in the civil war. me anything that has that