and that's what he's going to show you all the republicans complaining from the sidelines. >> howard simon of "newsweek" and msnbc. howard, thank you so much. appreciate it. >> thank you, david. >> you're welcome. >>> let's bring in howard's colleague, "newsweek" magazine senior editor at msnbc political analyst jonathan alter. good evening to you. >> hi, david. >> republicans dare president obama to take ownership of the economy. so he does. while slamming them for being whiners and sitting on the sidelines. is that effective? >> yeah. he goats have it both ways. he can slam the carpers and whiners that he called them and continue to make the point that he didn't create this mess. continue to jump on president bush, and convey that he's really part of almost the shovel brigade, cleaning up this mess, but at the same time, he's seen as taking responsibility. that was something that he stressed over and over in the campaign. he talked about the new era of responsibility at the beginning of this presidency, and he's not in any position to shirk that responsibility. so right now he's kind of

and howard simon and the obama administration's no more mr. nice guy stance with jonathan alter. irony hits the sotomayor hearing, after a week of offering the nominee no slack in her wise latina remarks, caie's session let fly a doozy. >> we when you going to do that crack cocaine thing that you and i talk about before? >> context important to you now, senator? maybe feeling a little empathy for sotomayor? why follow the law if you can just ignore the law? so said former bush administration justice official john yu. defending spying on millions. considering it obsolete. shocking video surfaces 25 years past as this pyrotechnic mishap lead to an addiction of painkillers and the subsequent death of michael jackson? and the nominee is -- >> now i'd like to entertain everybody with some fancy pageant walk-ins. >> tina fey earns an emmy nomination for her portrayal of sarah palin. congratulations to "saturday night live" for an amazing year in politics. all that and more now on "countdown." >> and i can see russia from my house. >>> good evening from washington, everybody. i'm david

. >> let's bring in msnbc political analyst howard simon, my good friend and former colleague "newsweek." good evening, howard. >> hi, richard. >> help me out here, please. the ad says the problem with the new health care plan is that it would kill old people and young people. i guess that's one way to control cops. is that about right? >> first let me say since we're friends i know you grew up in the bosom of national administrative health care in the uk and i'm amazed you escaped alive. you know? yeah. no. the ad is something. first of all, there's nothing in any of the bills about abortion. that's a highly theoretical fear, which, of course, the research council is stoking. as far as medical care for seniors, insurance company, the ones who have gotten very tough about denying procedures achbtd other things late in life. so it's a fear machine and they're good at it. >> the ad sounded to me like actually an argument for universal health care, because the only way to make sure everyone gets all the surgery they could ever want is medicare for everyone. but the family research council

howard fineman, political analyst and roger simon from politico. roger, your piece the other day in "politico" your experience firsthand about walter cronkite was dreamy. it was wonderful. >> thank you. >> what does the president got to do? can he still do it? you're pretty good at the bottom line. is it already lost? health care? >> no, it's not lost. the american people want some version of health care reform and they want the reassurance he's going to try to give them tonight. i was over listening to the spin from them. two key words -- security and stability. >> can you tell me who he was briefing? >> no, i can't. >> i think i can guess, though, right? >> security and stability. the republicans have had success in saying watch out for this risky thing that's going to destabilize the insurance you already have. so his main audience tonight are the 85% of the american people who already have ininsurance. >> not the poor people who work hard and don't have health insurance, but the people who find out after they get in trouble in terms of medical