we know ensign was distracted. he must be the most marvelous multitasker with everything he was supposed to be doing. being a u.s. senator, running the nrsc and chasing this woman who doesn't live in washington anymore, how could he possibly have done a good job? now, i think what really john ensign should be worried about now is this all starts to percolate up and they're, there are not just recriminations about his performance in 2008 but what about now? the republicans don't need this. i think they hope that the last shoe has dropped in this. they don't want to keep hearing this drip, drip, drip of revelations about john ensign. the question for him is how big will this bubble up inside that caucus where there's tremendous pressure for him to get out of the way so he's not a liability for them? >> i would only add the other question that now needs to be answered and we have to watch for the timing on i guess is when the republican party will feel compelled to answer whether or not they were involved in actively

wife, listen to this, john ensign's wife, darlene ensign, called mike slanker and said do you know whyentially you were told to hire doug hampton? it's because of this affair. think about how sordid and tawdry that is and think about this, too, rachel. this is the most important point that comes out of these e-mails. john ensign was willing to sell his top finance and political person at the nrsc down the river to cover up this affair to use them, to use them without telling them the full truth, to take on this man that he wanted out of his office and he wanted to continue to pursue his wife. that's what those e-mails really reveal to me. >> and this is all happening in the summer of 2008, leading up to the fall of 2008, when in the senate the republican party lost eight seats and john ensign was the man in the republican party who had responsibility for overseeing the republican party's efforts in the senate. are you hearing from any republican sources about dissatisfaction with his level of perhaps focus at the time? >> well, i think that's going to start happening. there were rumble

the one ensign said clinton should resign for.ory is coming up along with a sharp, serious international hatred between two countries that is now playing out over a pop music contest. >>> plus, senator max bachus is attacked by the youtubes. kent jones investigates. >>> first, it's time for news from iraq and afghanistan. and life during war time. it was six years ago today that a suicide bomber crashed a truck packed with explosives into the united nations compound in baghdad. that bomb killed 22 employees including the top u.n. coordinator for iraq. it was the deadliest attack ever on u.n. personnel. today on this anniversary of that attack another tremendous wave of bombings in baghdad. nearly a hundred people killed, another 600 wounded. at 11:00 a.m. local time a suicide truck bomb hit iraq's finance ministry killing at least 30 people. the blast was so strong it knocked down part of a nearby overpass. then just minutes later a second, more powerful bomb tore apart the ten-story foreign ministry building killing at least 60 p

. >>> senator john ensign's pretzel logic. his infidelity was nowhere as bad as president clinton's and he shouldn't be impeached because -- >> i haven't done anything legally wrong. >> so senator vitter's infidelity with illegal prostitutes? you're saying he should be impeached. uh-oh. all that and more on "countdown." >> this is a good deal. >>> good evening from new york. in the classic "peanuts" lucy repeatedly convinced charlie brown she would allow him this time to kick the football she held out for him. time after time she pulled it away at the last possible second causing him to fly in the air and land flat on his back. the allegory of charlie brown and the football possibly reflected in our fifth story in the "countdown," in one breath the president taking direct aim at unnamed republicans, accusing them of making a decision to deny him a victory on health care. pure politics. in the next breath the president adding that he wants to give the republicans negotiating health care in the senate a chance. the president add

what role would it play for any re-election bid by ensign?i find it hard to believe that john ensign is going to actually run for re-election in 2012. as you know, he's announced he's going to, which was probably the only thing he could say, but it doesn't really mean anything right now. but this is certainly very damaging for all the reasons that you suggest. mike slanker, who is the top political guy at the republican senatorial committee last year, and his wife, lindsay slanker, who was the top money person at the nrsc, clearly knew about this in early 2008, shortly after the affair began, and they clearly knew about it when doug hampton went to work for them in may of 2008. so what does this look like now? it looks like to some like a cover-up had ensued. it looks to some like john ensign was willing to use his top political aides at the republican senatorial committee to try to appease the husband of the wife he was sleeping with. it's all tawdry and ugly. i can assure you no one in that republican senate caucus is happy this stuff is be

the ensign investigation has not really even started.e's the possibility that he'll be put under oath by investigators who want to know if he paid off his mistress or if his parents did with this money. i mean, the jury is still out about whether john ensign is going to testify truthfully under oath. >> we don't know if the ethics committee have been investigating that. there have been requests to investigate him but that committee operates with its own discretion. they could very well be taking this up as we speak. they don't -- they're not under any obligation to tell us that they're doing this, but they could be investigating him as we speak. >> emily heil of roll call. thank you very much. and monica, you know, this sort of approach by john ensign doesn't seem like the way to, i don't know, raise goodwill in your home state of nevada. it sounds ridiculous. >> you think? yeah. i don't get it. >>> let's shift gears. massachusetts senator ted kennedy is asking the senate to change succession law. he wants the governor to appoint a tempo

that the june announcement, senator ensign left out the fact that he put ms. hampton's son, teenage son, on the payroll of the national republican senatorial committee during at fair. he also helped her husband, who also work forward senator ensign, find a job. and he convinced his own parents to give nearly $100,000 in gifts to his miss stress' family. now the fourth estate, particularly the las vegas son, has helped senator ensign come more completely clean about this affair. the senator is ready after 63 days of not being seen in public to finally be seen in public. on thursday he will hoet the annual tahoe summit, the summit focused on protectsing lake tahoe. do you think he will be taking questions from the media? please, please, please, please, please? speaking of senator ensign, the marquee slate for republicans in election in 2010 and 2012 took sort of a big hit. ensign was supposed to be a contender and so was mark sanford, whose road to the white house apparently did not run through the appalachian trail, and former alaskan governor and former vice p

john ensign and mark sanford are among the names associated with that group. we'll talk to judge charlotte on "hardball" tonight. plus, the people disrupting those congressional town hall meetings. we know these are organized by the right and the white house and the democratic national committee are now determined to make them the face of republican opposition to health care. is this going to work? that's in the politics fix tonight. perhaps no one was happy to see bill clinton back in the news with those two young women than the late night comedians. highlights in the "hardball" sideshow. we begin with bill clinton's successful mission to north korea. dee dee myers was president clinton's press secretary. and michael was the senior top aide in fact to former vice president al gore. this is one of those strange moments. it's not what bill clinton did. he just did this ministerial role. he went over there but all his prestige from an accumulation of 40 years in public life was with those north koreans wanted. they wanted class, they got it. >> right. bill clint

it doesn't help ensign's case that he demanded at one point that bill clinton's resignation be taken for his sin with monica lewinsky. in fact, since the clinton affair, these prominent republicans are among those caught in similar trysts of the flesh. louisiana senator david mitter, idaho senator larry craig, the aforementioned john ensign, and now, as you know, governor mark sanford of south carolina. now, in fact, do you remember sanford's mea culpa, the one he made upon his return from argentina where he had his final fling with his secret lover? i want you to hear the part where sanford reveals his connection to this previously secret organization, a group that also involves some of those other men that we just mentioned. >> we've been working through this thing for about the last five months. i've been to a lot of different -- we call c street when i was in washington. believe it or not, it's a christian bible study, some folks that asked members of congress hard questions that i think were very, very important. >> christian bible study. that's a good thing. right? my kids go t

where senator john ensign and governor mark sanford ones called home. later on. welcome back to "hardball." what does bill clinton's success in north korea tell us about the state of the obama/clinton coalition? that's what it is between president obama and hillary clinton. who's getting the most out of this? this doesn't necessarily mean they both aren't. let's find out. pat buchanan on bob herbert with the new york times. mr. herbert, you almost lost me the other day. let's go into where we can find common ground here. let's talk about this thing. bill clinton, there was something very emotional that happened that grabbed me. i'm not the softest touch although i do throw up my leg once in awhile. this is what the freed journalist laura ling said today about this epiphany with bill clinton. >> we were taken to a location and when we walked through the doors, we saw standing before us president bill clinton. we were shocked. but we knew instantly in our hearts that the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end. and now, we stand here home and free. >> w

where senator john ensign and governor mark sanford ones called home. later on. plus support for heart health. that's a great call. one a day men's. helping people save money doon car insurance.ut there gecko: aw thank you, sir. boss: but i think there are a few other things you can say about what a reliable company geico is. gecko: right. uh, well maybe how geico's the third-largest car insurance company in america? nice tidbit there. boss: exactly. and i've been thinking, looking a bit more businesslike might help too. gecko: oh my. uhhh, no it's, what's, what's the word... vogeico. 15 minutes could save you 15 percent or more on car insurance. when we're in a sandwich you'll know it we are our own mixed up blend of one of a kind spices welcome back to "hardball." what does bill clinton's success in north korea tell us about the state of the obama/clinton coalition? that's what it is between president obama and hillary clinton. who's getting the most out of this? this doesn't necessarily mean they both aren't. let's find out. pat buchanan on bob herbert with th

ensign has the answer for us. that's in the "sideshow" tonight. >>> we begin with the revelation by former homeland security secretary tom ridge that top bush administration officials pushed him to raise the terror threat level in the weekend just before the 2004 presidential election. here was the scene that friday before the election in 2004. members of the bush administration's national security team assembled to weigh the u.s. response to a new bin laden videotape. here is how ridge described the meeting. quote, a vigorous some might say dramatic discussion ensued. ashcroft strongly urged an increase in the threat level and was supported by rumsfeld. there was absolutely no support from that position within our department. that's homeland security. none. i wondered, is this about security or politics? post election analysis had demonstrated a significant increase in the president's approval rating in the days after the raising of the threat level t seemed possible to me and others around the table that somethi

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is this a good explanation, senator ensign? time. >> when you're in a hole, stop digging. i've been in some focus groups in different parts of the country lately. when you ask people what do you expect from your government, from your political leaders, it's funny. they don't say, oh, fix health care or give me a tax cut. they say tell those guys up there to straighten up, act ethically, be responsible, because they see government right now as irresponsible with their money and irresponsible with their own lives. and i think these things just add to that perception. >> i have this quote now on my wall from jenny because i thought -- >> the wife of the governor of mark sanford. >> politicians have become disconnected from the way everyone else lives their lives in this country and it's easy for them to call out for help and if ten people will help them it's an ego boost and easy to drink your own koolaid. john ensign has drank his own koolaid. >> mark mckinnon, a great republican strategist, worked for president bush, helped get

he has given cover to john ensign, mark sanford.elieve what he did with, with the wife suffering from cancer. moving the mistress and child close to their home so he can be part of raising the child. bill: this story makes me queasy because of elizabeth edwards and the baby. now this becomes a federal crime. a federal grand jury. >> it certainly appears as if he who participated in public campaign finance used donations and taxpayer dollars to finance his affair. moreover, he did something that in my code of honor is even worse, he went to a young assistant. he was a married man with children and he asked him after "the enquirer," exposed him, for andrew young to pretend he was the father of this child. andrew young did that. he also took money from a fellow, a tort lawyer, to fund and to say that he funded the lover moving around the country. he was given $15,000 every month to support her and the child. take this scenario, john edwards is now the democratic candidate. things could easily have gone his way. he is now the democratic

ensign. >> no. >> mr. enzi. >> no. >> mr. franken. >> aye. >> mrs. joelgillibrand. >> aye. >> mr. graham. >> aye. >> mr. grassley. >> no. >> mr. gregg. >> aye. >> mrs. hagan. >> aye. >> mr. hatch. >> no. >> mrs. hutchison. mr. inhofe. mr. johnson. mr. kaufman. >> aye. >> mr. kennedy. >> aye. >> mr. kerry. >> aye. >> mr. kohcole. >> aye. >> mr. kyl. >> no. >> mr. lautenberg. >> aye. >> mr. leahy. >> aye. >> mr. levin. >> aye. >> mr. lieberman. >> aye. >> mrs. lincoln. >> aye. >> mr. lugar. >> aye. >> mr. martinez. >> aye. >> mr. mccain. >> no. >> mrs. ms. ccaskill. >> aye. >> mr. mcconnell. >> no. >> mr. menendez. >> aye. >> mr. bmerkley. >> aye. >> ms. mikulski. >> aye. >> mr. nelson of nebraska. shepard: judge sonia sotomayor has just been confirmed as the next supreme court justice of the united states. it takes 50 to confirm her and she is now confirmed. history has just been made in the united states. the first latina to sit on the supreme court. the fastest growing minority population in america, which at some point will continue to grow and be a very, very powerful voting bl

>>> later, republican senator john ensign claims his extramarital affair was not as bad as bill clinton'sout whether her husband is the baby daddy of a woman who used to work for his campaign? >> dna tests, do you know if anything is going to happen? >> my expectation is at some point something happens. >>> and, yes, this plane is flying, and, yes, that 8-year-old boy is taking a walk on the wild side. and the other things we thought yo

senator ensign and others are trying to reach agreement on a co-op plan they think would get health care to people in rural areas. are you open to a co-op that doesn't have a full government option? we have to see what the details are. the problem is that there is a lot of middle ground where we can meet where insurance reform, it's realigning incentives to provide value rather than insent vized volume of procedures, providing continuity of care, medical homes and the like which i think have a lot of hope out there providing better quality of care at hopefully a lower price. >> senator durbin, the man leading the bipartisan negotiations, just talked about, the chairman of the finance committee. he said this this past week. he wants to keep going. he has to make a decision f republicans aren't there, it could get to the point where sometime after the recess democrats may have to go in a different direction. i hope not. but we have to face facts. facing facts would be going it alone with a democratic bill. as you know, many of your own conservative democrats think that is a bad idea both f

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that does not include governor hanson or senator ensign. >> thank you. >>> that's "countdown" for this 2,299th day since the president declared victory in iraq. good night, and good luck. 9:00 p.m. >>> and now to discuss the stifling debate of health care in town halls, ladies and gentlemen, here is rachel maddow. >> good evening. a stifle sounds like something awful you use to get before inoculations. >> archie bunker used to get stifled on a regular basis. >> thank you very much, keith. nice to see you. >>> thank you for tuning in. timothy phillips is the president of an organization called americans for prosperity. he will join us this hour, as keith said. the group that mr. phillips is head of is one of those groups we have reported this week as a corporate affiliated organizer of the anti-health care reform uprisings that are happening in places that used to host civic discourse. we're very glad that mr. phillips agreed to be here and he'll join us here live shortly. >>> we begin tonight with a new ugly term and what was already a pretty ugly politician situation. the wave of angr

"the family" and because its "c" street house has been implicated in the sex scandals of senator ensignrnor sanford and the alleged affair of former congressman chip pickering the family has been getting a lot of unwanted scrutiny this summer. now it's coming from an unlikely direction. as we reported on this show on friday, the current cover story in the christian magazine "world" is an investigation into the family and "c" street. in the past, "world" has expressed what could be described as hostility to untoward discussion of the secretive organization but now the family is on the front page and not in a good way. the article exposes the mysterious money trail and describes the "c" street scandals using the word "scandal" and argues the family subscribes to a, quote, muddy theology and harbors, quote, a disdain for the established church. perhaps even more significantly "world" magazine quotes several relatively well known and important figures on the religious right willing to go on the record stating their own misgivings about the family. for example the article quotes a man named

john ensign and mark sanford are among the names associated with that group. the author. plus, the people disrupting those congressional town hall meetings.

victim, if you will, if he's a victim, extortion, that these affairs end up in extortions from senator ensign, alleges there. this case, i don't know. i don't know. it's. >> there's no extortion if you're not going to the bathroom of a restaurant with a woman, not your wife. >> it's come to light. i guess my point is that they come to light because of alleged extortion. >> right. >> david, you put me on the spot. i thought we were friends. anything i say would get me fired. >> i'm with you, tamron. >> he's a jerk obviously. okay, over 1,000 people lined up outside a los angeles sports complex. david, this story will startle our audience i think because they were not there to see a game. >> that's right. they wanted to see a doctor. the los angeles forum turned into a mobile hospital, some people even camped overnight to get free health care checkups. a group of doctors called remote area medical started out providing free medical services to third world countries. now the need for health care is so dire here at home, the doctors are making stops in major u.s. cities. >> the people that are co

john ensign and mark sanford are among the names associated with that group. we'll talk

. >> you want a broad consensus, but senator grassley, his colleague senator ensign is saying, they need those assurances. you can't get them? >> we need to make sure we look at anything reasonable consistent with those principles to get this done. >> you want it to be through consensus. the president said he wants a bipartisan bill if possible. but do you believe it's possible, if necessary, to get meaningful health care reform with democrats only? >> george, i think that, again, this is a big consequential reform for the country. as many people, ideally, you want to do this with as broad a base of consensus as possible. but people want to make that choice. do they want to help shape this and be part of it? or do they want this country, the united states of america, to go another several decades without doing what every other serious country has done, which is to give their citizens access to basic quality care. >> but if the republicans can't come to an agreement with the democrats, are the democrats and the white house willing to go it alone? >> george, again, we're going to try to ge

the fact that sanford and ensign and alleged pickering affair happened with inclusion from c street means they're doing a great job stopping all the other ones. >> they just swat them away. like, boom. no. >> these ones were the most resilient. only they got through. >> no, no. >> you go ahead. >> stop. >> this christian broadcasting network did also find time in the intrepid report to take a shot at me which this week right here is starting to feel like a badge of honor. here's that part. >> but coe's decision to keep things hush-hush has led to more media scrutiny. >> operated by a secretive religious organization. >> i love that definition. secretive religious organization. okay. >> they just praised them for being a secretive religious organization. >> okay. >> they specifically praised their secrecy. >> they did. >> i love that the liberal media thinks they're secret. >> yeah. >> what have they done to deserve that? >> just amazing. anyway so thank you for my extended cocktail moment. >> absolutely. had a rough week. >> thank you for watching tonight. see you back here at 9 p.m. on m

fox business news correspondent rich ensign has been looking into co-ops. first of all what is a co-op? >> there are a number of co-ops. there are ones for utilities in rural areas and ones for other areas, but the federal government wants to kick in $6 billion to create more co-ops around the country. if you are a customer, you are looking to buy healthcare. a co-op would work. you select the co-op. you pay into the cooperative. you become a member of that cooperative and then you go and select board members who select a c.e.o. to run the the key is that it's non-profit and that's how supporters say it will cut costs. bret: so which groups oppose co-ops? >> like any compromise, there are problems on the left and right. on the left side, you have got liberal democrats who say it won't be able to mandate payments like you have with the medicare system, that it won't really achieve the type of reform that democrats are looking for that strong government system. conservatives say this is just a backdoorway into getting that government-run plan if the governmen

john ensign, mark sanford, john edwards. we can all come together on this one. >> we can come together on this one for sure. >> there's a movie out today called "the time traveler's wife" about a guy who keeps disappearing because he's traveling in time. mark sanford should have used that excuse instead of the appalachian trail. >> all right. what did you say about it? we better not say that to stephanie. i know where you were on that whole deal. let's talk about -- let's talk about the president -- >> it does sound line argentinean tales. >> i knew you'd get away with that, that's good. moving forward to the weekend news here. the president's going to be holding a town hall meeting again tomorrow in colorado. at this point, it's been a good week for the white house, i think, michael medved. what does he have to do to close out this deal down the stretch? >> i think what he has to do is compromise. i've been saying this for a while. i don't think

we excnged our bows on the banks of force a weitz ensign dimare the degette and add their nameto the city registry and with the k said was official. in skness and in health, and war and peace we were wed. in quickunz crib ceremy by live began erratical ship, not just from singleton to wife but from free flowing civilianship to tilin spouse. the household member who c's the pls goes a long ereever the army since the soldier. the day i really became an army wife carried the mark of bureaucratic flourish when i receive my military i.d. otherwise known as my dear scarred, t tents enrollment eligibility reporting system card. with our mage to degte in hand mic and i went to the schwin office at fort meade where thelerk readed us gormley. mike said she is here for her dependent id. the clerk shook her head and said no, we don't call spouses dependents anymore. the stereotype mitary spouses at divisibly pass dot appen@ant low geppart bypassed the the necessary paperwork r the my social security card,y passport, mike's id and our marriage t to degette. from there my information would be proc

. >> good morning, robin, this is nina, and this is a salute to my boyfriend, ensign michael gabrielastor. his job is very challenging, but he manages to tackle every difficult task. i'm very proud of you, michael. i can't wait to see you again and i can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you. i'll see you in hawaii soon. i love you! >> isn't that sweet? if you have someone in the service, why don't you salute them? >>> california, you've been spared a travel nightmare this morning. a strike with the train line has been avoided. a strike would have stranded more than 300,000 rail system riders. >>> the largest bank failure this year could affect you even if you never had any money in that bank. regulators seized colonial bank on friday and sold most of its assets to bbc. all of its accounts are fdi insured up to $250,000. experts say the interest rates could rise for people in the market for a mortgage in other banks. >>> colonial had almost 350 branches across florida, alabama, georgia, nevada and texas. it is the sixth largest bank failure in u.s. history. the fdic says colon

it has been a long parade, huckabee, jindal, pataki, ensign.ing to build the party, senator santorum going october 21st -- october 1st, to do a right-to-life group. but if you're republican, if you're even semiwell known, the easiest way to get a headline is to go to iowa. >> if you had to handicap this race, it's way too handicap it but it's what we do. >> "way too early. ". >> thank you. who is the republican front-runner to be president? >> i think most people would say that governor romney has the biggest head start but, as you know the history of republican politics, both sides like having a head start isn't always necessarily where you want to be. when you're out front, folks are shooting you from the back. >> mitt romney for now. back to these town hall meetings. there has been amazing video, screaming, fighting, pushing, shoving. the one congressman from texas, i understand, is actually canceling a trip to go back into the teeth of these town hall meetings. >> to get pushed and shoved a little bit. this is actually extremely wise. a dem

the second thing is that way back in about 1981, or before that, my son was an ensign on a ship here in 1976. i thought it is just too bad that nothing has ever been done so that the fellows that were on the ship december 7 could not go back here and have a memorial service or something like that. so i worked on that, and succeeded. in 1981, we probably had about 75 or 100 people who were either survivors of the arizona court former ship's crew, going way back to 1960, or their relatives. we got that thing started, and we repeated in 1986, and in 1981 we had 300 people out there. this is the way it is. yesterday we went back to the ship for the reunion, which i always do on the first day we went in -- first that again. we had a beautiful memorial service. how to get the government -- in 20 years i learn how to get the government to do things i did not know before. we had a beautiful ceremony, and because we were the uss arizona, they closed the memorial, and all the flags were flying, just like on an important day. beautiful. >> president obama used his weekly online address to revie

the second thing is that way back in about 1981, or before that, my son was an ensign on a ship here in 1976. i thought it is just too bad that nothing has ever been done so that the fellows that were on the ship december 7 could not go back here and have a memorial service or something like that. so i worked on that, and succeeded. in 1981, we probably had about 75 or 100 people who were either survivors of the arizona court former ship's crew, going way back to 1960, or their relatives. we got that thing started, and we repeated in 1986, and in 1981 we had 300 people out there. this is the way it is. yesterday we went back to the ship for the reunion, which i always do on the first day we went in -- first that again. we had a beautiful memorial service. how to get the government -- in 20 years i learn how to get the government to do things i did not know before. not know before. we had a beautiful ceremony, and because we were the uss >> on friday we received better jobs in july, some 200,000 fewer jobs than we lost in june, and far fewer than the nearly 700,000 a month we were los

i came in as an ensign. that was my battle space. 40-kilometer miss her, a gun that could shoot to the horizon. and then i went to a 993 and i thought that was about as good as it got. i thought it was a slickest ship i ever set foot on. and up to about 80-kilometer missile, and no, fox. still had, but i had harpoon. so i could at least launch a surface to surface missile on the horizon. and i took command of the uss taylor, and i had a tomahawk. i reverted. i didn't have standard missile. i had sea sparrow so i had my battle station. but look at the battle space that is starting to change. so i go to cape saint george better missile. good. i got tomahawk. that's good. and i got a great radar. so my battle space is out here now. a little bit better. at this point i've got about 23 years of service. so i think, man, my world has changed a lot. now, uss lake erie. now you talk about space. not only are you just talking about space, engagement in space, you are talking about instead of defending a carrier or so