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tv   Hardball With Chris Matthews  MSNBC  November 16, 2010 5:00pm-6:00pm EST

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defense secretary and chairman of the joint chiefs to take their cues on how to deal with the military. how to work with a military. do things that the military wants and needs. >> understood. brilliant and handsome and well spoken as always, jonathan. thank you for the rant and contribution to today's program. that will do it for us. "hardball" is up right now. mike smerconish at the elm. tomorrow's election day. at least for nancy pelosi. let's play some "hardball." ç good evening. i'm michael smerconish in for chris matthews who's in rome. leading off tonight, challenges in the house. you can add charlie rangel to
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the list of embarrassments on nancy pelosi's plate. the new york xhang was found guilty on 11 counts and now awaits punishment. pelosi may have held on to her job, but is still facing down challenges from blue dogs and liberals. on the republican side, at least 39 new house members, they're not shy about making their voices heard. we'll talk to two of the incoming freshman. a democrat and tea party republican. at least 27 republican senators have agreed to ban earmarks including minority leader mitch mcconnell who secured 113 million in pork projects for his state last year. and how far can a presidential library go in shaping the legacy of george w. bush? will a record that includes katrina and wall street's collapse be overshah doughed. among those celebrating, dick
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cheney. also, lisa murkowski took her best shot against sarah palin. now that the alaska senator leads joe miller, she said palin lacks quote leadership qualities and curiosity that are needed to be president. and some advice for the national football league. if you want to cut down on head injuries, consider ditching the face mask. we're joined by two incoming members. steve sutherland and karen bass. mr. sutherland, you're in the midst of orientation. what have you learned in the last 48 hours that you department know? >> i'll tell you, we're busy learning the lay of the land. even the floor plans are all new to us. we're learning about ourç bulg and how to go about hiring our congressional staff which will
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be helpful you know, going forward. it's been a lot of information. >> do you feel more of an aallegiance to the tea party or grand ole party. >> let me say this. i am a candidate who has run on the desire of representing all the people of florida's second congressional district, so i believe that the constitution is the law of the land. i believe it should be honored, but i also believe that common sense and accountability must always be honored and recognized in this great house. the people's house. >> nancy pelosi presumably gets elected as minority leader. does she have your support? >> absolutely. i was proudly to serve as speaker of my house and have been very honored to see her leadership over these last
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couple of years. >> to an outsider, one looks at the recent results and says perhaps she should step down and not be seeking that position. >> i think what one has to remember is four years ago when she became speaker, she did bring us to the majority and i have to say that i think the number one message from voters and the number one problem was unemployment. in my state, unemployment is 12%. we have to focus on jobs. there was all of the outside money that we don't know where it came from that also helped to defeat the democrats. >> any lesson in what happened to congressman rangel today? i'll start congresswoman elect with you. on your agenda was the briefing on standards of official conduct and legal issues. when you put that together with the experience of congressman rangel, it tells you what about carrying out responsibleties? >> what we heard yesterday meanç we have to always keep our eye
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on the ball. we have a lot more to learn in that area. we were given a thick handbook and enkournled to read it. >> any surprise to you when you got the briefing on the dos and don'ts? >> there's a lot to digest. we must be patient. it's impossible to digest everything we've got. i think that we just be committed to right as opposed to wrong and no matter how long you're a part of this gre institution, you must be committed to right. >> what is it you must do so that in two years, if you wish to stand for re-election, you can face those who just sent you to washington and say, there, i got it done. >> well, i think the american people spoke very loudly and with great clarity last week. they're concerned about the economy. about jobs. i know in florida, we are
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running almost historic unemployment numbers, near 12% and i think that if people do not have gainful employment then they cannot realize the american dream of home ownership and sending their children to college. they've been very, very clear. they want government spending at the federal level to be drawn back and they want more power in their family budgets. >> i noticed this looking at the agendas of briefings that have been offered to you congressman -- i'm getting all tongue tied. mr. sutherland, there were briefings by tea party patriots, freedom works and the claremont institute. these represent change on the gop side. when i look at the speakers, it's bill bennett, ed mease, dick army. >> sure.
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well, i will tell you on sunday, we took advantage of the time we had here.ç we interviewed potential candidates for chief of staff. we were not able to attend those functions they had because we felt we needed to get a drop on maximizing our time here. as far as attending those, i was not able to do so, so i can't go into what was said or how it was said. >> congresswoman bass, did you pick out your office? do you know where to park? did they give you the pledge pin yet? >> we don't have the pin until we are sworn in on january 5th. we pick our offices on friday. we have been involved in the day-to-day work of wa it means to be in office. i was sworn in six years ago in the state assembly. >> that's a pretty quick career
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path for you. six years ago and you've been the speaker of the california assembly. >> in california, we have very strict term limits. our current speaker is actually a freshman, so he's finishing his second year in office. that's california. >> let me ask you if i may, the same question. what must you do so that this two years you can go home and say, you wanted me to do it, i did it. >> first and foremost what i can do is move our country forward in terms of jobs, to make sure that health care reform continues and goes forward, making sure there's transportation resources for the state of california and having gone through the crisis we went through in california over these last couple of years, i know that all of my colleagues are very hopeful that i will be able to bring some resources back to california so that we get out of this economic crisis.
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but order number one, two and three the jobs, jobs, jobs. >> you're each joining an organization that is not held in the highest of regard by the public. i've got data. only 26% of approveç of the wa congress is doing its job. 71% disapprove. you know the old adage. everybody hates congress, but seems to love their member of congress. congressman, what can you do to raise the esteem of that clekive body? >> you cannot have trust if you don't have a conversation. if you don't listen to them. i think the american family is disenchanted. they know that this institution and in many ways, washington, d.c., has had been a reflection of the american people. great leaders listen and listen
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well. hard work with honest dealings. >> does that go for listening to your opponent? congresswoman bass, are you ready to reach across the aisle? >> i'm used to reaching across the aisle. i will continue to do that. but if you look at it historically, when you look at the poll numbers for legislative bodies, on the state or federal level, it tends to go along with the economy. when we have the jobs, when health care reform is implemented, i believe that the prestige of this institution will go up. >> those with -- to put the brakes on this administration. is that a fair characterization? >> i think those who are not a port of a formal tea party organization, they want common
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sense. the unemployment numbers, they want jobs. they want this economy moving forward and they want the brakes put on federal spending. it has increased 20% over the last two years while families and small businesses have decreased. >> and congresswoman, go ahead. i'm sorry. >> having gone through the i came here and we desperately needed the help of the federal government frankly so the state of california didn't go under the cliff. if it wasn't for the resources sent to us, not only would you have a higher unemployment rate, but our economic crisis would have been severe and we would have been thrown into a depression. so on the one hand, i recognize people are concerned about federal spending. on the other hand, our country was in a crisis and those
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dollars have helped california from going over the edge. >> congratulations to both of you. coming up, mitch mcconnell caved into the tea party caucus on earmark reform and now, 27 republican senators say they're committed to banning earmarks. what does that say about the power of the tea party about how much republicans fear them. ard s for a gift card. tell points please? 250,000. calculating... ooh! answer: five fifty! 550 bucks?! 5 dollar, 50 cents. minus redeeming charge. leaving 50 cents. say what? happy time! what kind of program is this? want better rewards? switch to discover. america's number 1 cash rewards program. it pays to discover.
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i know the good that has come from the projects that i helped support throughout my stay. i don't apologize for them. but there is no doubt that the abuse of this practice has caused americans to view it as a symbol of the out of control spending that every republican in washington is determined to fight. >> welcome back. that's senate republican leader mitch mcconnell siding with the tea party wing of his party and announcing his support for an earmark ban. senator mark udall of colorado supports the ban. if there's a community good works project that requires funding, will it be bure krats compared to elected officials? >> this is a real opportunity for us. it's americans across the board who think spending needs to be
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reigned in in smart ways. what we can do to your question is upgrade and redouble our effere efforts on the grant making progress. i have a staff person who's dedicated to working with colleges, universities, non-profits, for profit companies that want federal funding. that's the way to send federal dollars into the state. this earmarking process has resulted in some bad habits. in projects to the exclusion of really managing our budget. this is an american idea to eliminate this practice. >> allow me to share with you the words of sherrod brown who said --
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how about those hospitals at all? what can we do to protect them? >> most earmarks are very useful and important. i've earmarked for government and university and public sector entities and organizations. if you look at the earmarks i've generated, they're good earmarks, but the point i want to make is because we've focused so much on these projects, in many ways, we're forced into a corner to support funding. we did an earmark over 200 years an the public survived. the process has gotten out of control. i think it's time to end it. >> to what extent do you feel your role is diminished if earmarks go away? >> there are plenty of other ways i can support what my state needs. one of the ways is to get on the
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front end when the president presents hi budget and advocate for all the funding needs in the state. anticipate and redouble the efforts we can make on the part of those who want grants that are generated across the board. that would incelude some of the projects senator brown has mentioned. >> let me show you a clip of the final debate from hofstra. it's senator obama at the time, senator mccain on this very suggest. >> senator mccain talks a lot about earmarks. that's one of the center pieces of his campaign. earmarks account for one-half of 1% of the total federal budget. there's no doubt the system needs reform and there are a lot of screwy things we spend money on and they need to be eliminated, but it's not going to solve the problem. >> we would callç that chump change. >> it's $16 billion, michael.
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that's not chump change. it's not a significant portion of federal budget. we make an enormous statement to the american people who across the board think we've got to get spending under control. we also have to sprenten social security and medicare and look at the tax code, so it's going take all three steps to get our federal budget on a sustained path. i was the ceo of a non-profit business for years and i want to tell democrats, independents and republicans watching, if you don't have a strong balance sheet, you can't pursue your mission. if we go broke, if america goes broke, we're not going to be a strong country. we're not going to be able to do what we want to do for our own people. >> many thanks for your time. appreciate it. >> thanks, michael. look forward to coming on again with you. >> howard fineman is senior editor of the "huffington post." is it chump change?
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>> it is in arithmetic terms. the senator's right. there are democrats and republicans. argue that it's these earmarks are kind of like the appetizers that wet the appetite for all the fiscal gluttony that's been going on here and it's also a way in which campaign donations can be focused to get specific projects. and of course, everybody who wants their prokt is going to look to give a donation to a member of congress, which is legal. in theory, it makes sense. >> but won't it give elected officials the opportunity to go home in two or four years and thump their chests and say, see, this is what i did for deficit or debt reduction ft it's like beer muscles. >> if this is all they do, it's laughable.
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if this is just the prelude and the sort of moral sceno setter, if you will, to something real, then it's valuable. there's no doubt that right now, the republicans are doing it because their running scared of the tea party mitch mcconnell switched positions because rand paul got elected in his state as a tea party candidate. not only is it not a lot of money, it's not going save match up of that money because it will just be reprogrammed back into the bureaucracy where it will be spent if the members of congress don't look at what the bureaucracy spends, which is trillions of dollars. >> what i was trying to get across was the fact a hospital style requires funding. there's a lot of good that has come out of the earmark program and i think that constituents appreciate the fact that bureaucrats may make those
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calls, they may not be too happy with the outcome. >> i think that's quite possible. as you know, both harry reid who survived to live another day as senate leader and nancy pelosi, who's clinging to that job and will have it, are earmark fans. they say there's more transparency and they're going to do to reforming barack obama talked about when he was a candidate, but the democratic leadership's not about to give up earmarks for precisely the reason you said and there may be a more cynical game going on here because on the senate side, if harry reid is correct, democrats are going to still try to put democrats into legislation. they are going of the the majority and the republicans may beat their chest and complain, but if some just happen to slip into a bill courtesy of the democrats and barack obama doesn't veto that bill, they'll hope to get part of that action if they can. if there's a way they can do it subt subtly. you had a situation where
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michele bachmann, the congresswoman from minnesota, already talking about things she wanted to exempt fromç the ban including transportation projects. >> i'm glad you raised harry reid's name. here's what his spokesman said on the ban -- it's reminiscent of the conversation at the start of the program, if they came home in their state, hey, it was a great thing. where's that ribbon cutting cht. >> what's happened is that everybody comes to congress with a list. really like first day of class. you hand in the last, your wish list of projects. barack obama participated in this when he first came to the senate. that is a habit of the way you start your year in the congress. i think it's what the reformers are talking about, but you're
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absolutely right. if this is all they do, then it will be worse than nothing because it's not going to save much money. it will give people the illusion that something has been done when nothing has. >> many thanks as always. cominging up, talk about hi pock rasy. an incoming congressman who ran against president obama's health care plan is up in arms that he has to wait a month before his federal health care kicks in. that's next in the "sideshow." i said "sure." "well, let's grow some algae." and that's what started it. exxonmobil and synthetic genomics have built a new facility to identify the most productive strains of algae. algae are amazing little critters. they secrete oil, which we could turn into biofuels. they also absorb co2. we're hoping to supplement the fuels that we use in our vehicles, and to do this at a large enough scale to someday help meet the world's energy demands. old legs.
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welcome back to "hardball." time for the "sideshow." first, the beatles and apple come together. today, they announced it struck a deal to bring the music to the i-tunes store. the beatles' record label has
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accused the computer maker for decades of its enfringing upon its trademark. not only are the beatles the top selling band in history, their greatest hits collection was the biggest album of the decade. former arizona state quarterback sam keller is suing electronic arts claiming they've illegally profited from using images and him and others in their ncaa games. electronic arts argues that it -- the courts are expected to tackle this one in the months to come. next, an incoming freshman gets a big time reality check. during his campaign, andy harris said he's fight to repeal health care reform or as he called it, government run insurance. when he got to washington, what
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did he ask for? his government run insurance. at a meeting, he was dismayed to cover that his policy only kicks in four weeks after he starts his job. politico reports -- congressman elect, some might say millions of americans go without health insurance all the time for a lot longer than 28 days and will continue to do so if you continue to repeal health care reform. sarah palin's racked up big wins with campaign endorsements and book deals and reality tv. what are the chances she uses that success to launch a presidential run? according to the traders at
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intrade.com, 68%. they say there's a 2-1 chance palin makes the big run. 68% is tonight's big number. up next, george w. bush breaks ground on his presidential library today in dallas. between the library and his new book, can bush reshape the legacy of katrina, iraq, the wall street collapse? ♪ [ growls ] ♪ ♪ [ polar bear grunting ] [ growls ] [ male announcer ] introducing the 100% electric nissan leaf. innovation for the planet. innovation for all. but basically, i'm a runner. last year. (oof).
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a significant sell-off on worries about overseas debt and inflation. the dow plunging 178 points, s&p skidding 19. ireland's debt troubles dragging on the euro, lifting the dollar
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and weighing on stocks. the european union is discussing a package set up -- meanwhile, china says it will impose food price controls in hopes of tamping down inflation there. materials took a beating. they had been booming from a demand in china. a handful of retailers reporting eerngs. walmart posted a higher outlook. home depot beat expectations. and gm has just announced it will boost the size of its ipo by 30%, making it the largest ever. that's it from cnbc first in business worldwide. now back to "hardball."
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and now ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming. the speeches are over. it is time to shovel dirt. >> welcome back to "hardball." i'm michael smerconish. that was former president george bush at the ground breaking. he was joined by his wife, former vice president and kond lose rice for t. much more than a building is being built. they're building a legacy. what will that be? patç buchanan is an msnbc analyst, david corn, a contributor to politicsdaily.com. i want to show you a snippet of dick cheney delivering a zinger today. >> it isn't much to look at just
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yet, but the workers are ready, construction will move fast after today's ground breaking. this may be the only shovel ready project in america. >> now true to his recent form, president bush didn't behave in kind. >> the decisions of governing are on another president's desk and he deserves to make them without criticism from me. >> pat buchanan, which is more in step with predecessors? here's vice president cheney who has been relentless and the former president, who's taken a different path. >> i was at carter's dedication and reagan flew down there. but i think clearly, former president bush is handling
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himself magnificently. he's been silent, out of the news. i think he's done well, but i think cheney, of course that was a cutting jab, but i think cheney feels he's the dartt vader of the administration. i don't fault either of them for how they've handled themselves since the presidency. >> david corn, do you think pat's defense of vice president cheney's reaction to obama cuts the mustard? >> no, it doesn't, pat. vice president cheney, he may forget this, but it was because of the financial crash that happened on their watch that we lost 8 million jobs in this country and weç needed a stimus program, so for him to go around making any jokes whatsoever about the economic condition of this country shows that the guy has no class and is out of touch and still hadn't come to terms with the destructive legacy of
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his own time in office. >> what's the vibe between bush and cheney? play doctor buchanan for me. how do you read what's going on on this stage today? >> i think dick cheney feels very, very badly that scooter libby, who was his top man, was not pardoned by george bush and cheney is a loyalist and i think however it's got to be a mixture of feelings. i mean, it was george w. bush that pulled cheney out of that business community in texas and made him the most powerful vice president in history and a real figure in history, so i think there's got to be some tensions between the two because of that last episode. at the same time, dick cheney was the most powerful figure in the bush administration. >> in "decision points," president bush talks about how he gave some thought to removing
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cheney. do you think he regrets not having done so? >> i don't. quite frankly. i they dick cheney -- i don't agree with dick cheney, the wars. and this is what's the administration's going to be judged on. if iraq and afghanistan turn out badly and they could for our country, there's no way the bush administration presidency is going to be a success. you know, as what david corn said about the economy, what happened in the economy is a rul of the federal reserve just like it wasn't hoover's fault is economy crashed on his watch. >> wait a second. these guys while they were slicing and dicing subprime mortgages, bush and cheney did nothing.ç the clinton people did the same as well. ooichl not saying it's just a republican problem, but that problem exploded because of their negligence. >> but david, david, the hoover
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of this piece is barack obama who has done nothing in two years to turn it around and has been reputeuated by the american people. >> every mainstream says that the stimulus he passed saved 2 to 3 million jobs, which is more than bush did. you can laugh at that, pat, but they're the ones -- >> you saved your state government jobs all the politicians and all the -- but look what's happening in the economy. you cannot -- i don't defend what president obama -- i think he overspent and i think no child left behind -- >> it was letting wall street run wild. >> this is president bush standing by former vice president dick cheney. >> i can't thank dick enough for coming. you know, i've been doing these interviews trying to peddle my book.
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i'm asked about dick cheney. here's what i say. dick cheney was the right pick in the year 2000 and as i stand here, there is no doubt in my mind he was the right pick then, he was a great vice president of the united states and i'm proud to call him friend. >> david corn, i read your thesis on bush's handling of rove. can you give me the dumbed down version? what is it do you think he left out of the book relative to karl rove? >> there's a one-page description of the whole valerie plame leak case that led to the issue of to do court or not. in that, he talks about how -- the office of valerie plame. he leaves out who was the number two leak.ç that was karl rove to write
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about the case -- coming to terms with the darker moments of his presidency. >> you cannot be saying that silly episode is the darkest moment. david, you are involved in trivial pursuit as usual. >> that's what he talked about with dick cheney. >> what was the significance of this thing? it's a minor matter. >> cia operations were blown because of this. >> to be continued. appreciate very much. pat buchanan and david corn. next, lisa murkowski is headed to a third term. she's making bigger headlines by bashing sarah palin. that's ahead. this is "hardball," only on msnbc. what is that? oh, i'm a fidelity customer.
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is this the final nail in michael steele's political cough in? one of his aides quit today. the aide and says republicans could have won senate races in colorado and washington with a better ground game. at least one other republican is in the race to challenge steele and several others are considering doing so. "hardball" comes back right after this. for their every financial need. [ thunder rumbling ] [ thunder crashing ] and then, in one blinding blink of an eye, their tree had given its last. but with their raymond james financial advisor, they had prepared for even the unthinkable. ♪ and they danced. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you.
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leading joe miller in the race for alaska's senate seat. now that she's won about 97% of the write-in vote, she went after sarah palin. >> she would not be my choice for president. i just do not think that she has that -- those leadership qualities that intellectual curiosity, that allows for building good and great policies. i don't think that she enjoyed governing. i don't think she liked to get down into the policy. >> michael carey is with the "anchorage daily news, "-- she essentially called her a dope. >> chose arenthose aren't the w used. they do not get a long.
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i don't think this was surprising that lisa murkowski is not going to back sarah palin. you have to rememberç that sar palin has gone after lisa murkowski pretty hard during this process. she called her shameless throughout the process on her facebook post about joe miller. >> help me educate a national audience. i guess it begins with governor frank murkowski having picked his daughter for the senate over palin. >> no, governor palin was not really a candidate for the united states senate, but she was the candidate who beat frank murkowski, lisa's father, in the election four years ago, so i think it all starts right there in the family differences. >> palin becomes governor by defeats frank murkowski then palin was for miller and not
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murkowski in this race. talk to me about the status of this recount. what's being allowed? what is not being permitted thus far? >> they've counted almost -- >> go ahead, michael. >> okay. they've counted somewhere 100,000 100 votes. they are counting right now, today, in juneau, where they are getting down to the end of the absentee questioned ballots and overseas ballots that might be coming in from the military or travelers or missionaries or who knows what. it is pretty clear that senator murkowski is going to wind up ahead. here, intent of the voter is paramount and the director of elections has been generally liberal in interpreting the intent of the voter when they are trying to write murkowski, to the dissatisfaction of miller who is in court. >> in other words it is a phonetic reading of these ballots, for lack of a better
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descripter? if someone can look at it the individual you have identified and make out how it would sound and if it sounds like murkowski, then the vote counts? >> yes, but it hasn't been in the anchorage daily news today there were several examples of attempts to spell murkowski that seemed phonetically close to the ballpark but were overruled. this is a tremendous responsibility that they have had as director of elections, reviewing thousands and thousands of ballots personally. >> shoshanna, play paleontologist, if you would, everybody is marveling at the success of the episode of the reality program, you have written a book about her. do you think this is a precursor to her get nothing 2012? >> i have to say yes. i think that this -- the reality show going to be good for her, you see a different side of palin we haven't seen the last year, not the person we see on facebook blasting obama, a
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softer, more appealing side, more of the palin that -- before she was picked to be john mccain's running mate, the pail than michael carey knows very well that is a softer, more appealing governor palin and i think that this will really help her going forward. i spoke to some political operatives and they described it as an eight-week bio ad. every candidate has a bio ad, introducing the constituency, potential constituency to their family. this is paid by tlc. >> more on murkowski about palin that i would like to air for you and everyone else. let's air that. >> since she left the governor's office, we just really don't have much in common. we don't talk to one another. i would like to think that if there were an opportunity to help -- help do something good for alaska, she would call me or i could call her, but she -- in
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fairness, she is not -- she is not really that keyed into the state anymore. she is looking, obviously, at a bigger -- a big pond and so we don't see her up north as much. >> michael carek, how is she regarded at home? can you offer me a personal take as to whether you think she could win a state-wide race in alaska? >> sure. well, first of all a, i think senator murkowski was very restrained in her evaluation of sarah pail baun a lot of alaskans would agree with her, she is in a bigger pond, she has gone elsewhere. she came back here and ran in the statewide election it would depend who she was running against, i don't think she could beat lisa murkowski and i don't think she could beat mark begich, our other senator. >> shoshanna, one wonders how it should play, move forward for 2012, given that she did not fulfill that term in alaska. >> i think really this is going to be her biggest achilles heel
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to get over, you can see her potential rivals running ads saying, hey, if you can't fill out a term as governor of alaska, how can you be president? she will say what she calls frivolous ethics complaints but it really, i think, going forward, going to be the hardest thing for her to explain to the american public if she decides to run are. i think that's really going to be her hardest hill to climb. >> speaking as one who answers the telephone for a living and deals with a number of talk radio callers, i don't know that it matters much because people there seem so fixed in their views, they either love her or don't love her and i think that that television program is reinforcing what ever opinions they already hold. the only conclusion i can come to is everybody now wants to come and visit alaska. any way, thank you, michael carey and shoshanna walsh for being here. >> thank you. when we return, counterintuitive advice for the nfl if you want to cut down on head injuries. ban the players' face masks. you are watching "hardball,"
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permit me a final word tonight about football. first, how about those eagles last night? michael vick played so well, he almost made me forget what happened off the field. second, thinking of the nfl brings to mind a commentary that i saw bryant gumble deliver recently on hbo's "real sports." like joe paterno before him had, gumble offered a way to cut down on the high-impact helmet hits that can lead to concussions,
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ban the face mask. his logic, without the protection the mask affords no play letter want to lead with his head. it is not so outlandish. face masks weren't recommended to nfl until the 1950s. now, i doubt the nfl players' union would buy in, i can hear die-hard fans across the country decrying the sissification of america's real national pastime. here is my proposal, let's give it a test run. ban face masks in one preseason game. think about it the best players hardly hit the field duringthe preseason and almost never in that final tune-up game and nobody in their right mind, not owners, coaches or fans believes the preseason is any accurate predictor of how good or bad a team will be in the regular season. case in point, 2008, the detroit lion also a preseason record of 4-0. they went 0 had-16 in the regular season. meaning, the nfl's preseason is a joke. the only reason they played four games is so the owners can collect the television, ticket and concession revenue they will inevitably bring in. so why not