We are falling apart at the seams because a bridge failed??  This is an example of hyperbole and why y'all have no credibility.

So here's Republican Senator Arlen Specter's verdict on Alberto Gonzales' testimony, delivered during this morning's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with Karl Rove's aide Scott Jennings, who showed up clad in his muzzle!! Karl Rove, once again, thumbed his nose at Congress and “we the people”!!

"Gonzales, he says, sought to mislead the committee, but should not be investigated for perjury, because his testimony, while misleading, doesn't rise to that standard."

- Ok, Specter, should Gonzo be forced to stand in the middle of The Rose Garden while everyone chants "Pants on Fire"?  Does that meet your standard for punishment?

"Reading from a Supreme Court opinion on the statute of perjury, which said that a witness cannot be convicted of perjury simply because he is a 'wily witness' who 'shrewdly' evades the questioner by speaking "the literal truth," Specter said that that's what we have here.

- Look Specter, Gonzalez' IQ is not only in the negative, he's a liar!! Shrews you say? No, it is you attempting to be "shrewd"!!

Gonzales is certainly "wily" and sought to mislead -- but he spoke, in Specter's judgment, "the literal truth."

- That's it Specter, a 'wily witness' dismissal? Ok, let him be “crafty” in a prison cell, I’ll donate some yarn!! And, NO ONE believes he spoke "the literal truth", including you, so just shut up!!

But "just because it's not perjury," Specter said, "doesn't mean it's the way that the highest ranking legal officer in the United States ought to respond to a Senate inquiry." Specter went on to say that he thought that the conclusion of the committee's investigation of the U.S. attorney firings would be to "end the tenure of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales." When that conclusion will come, however, no one knows.

- Newsflash - No, Specter, you cannot split this hair!! You cannot have it both ways and it is YOU who is attempting to be a "wily politician" and you're not fooling anyone!!

RESIGN!! You’re a treasonous co-conspirator!!

Real news and real debate are not allowed here...OK its your site..pretty lame though......I have NEVER attempted to post a single word of hate, I have never attack one of the posters personally or their opinion, I HAVE questioned their opinion, content, validity and intent. There are a few posters at this site that are given much latitude to call others "idiots", "stupid" and use words like "shit", "bastards" and worse. If this is your idea of fairness in the marketplace of ideas then so be it, it shows and so do your ratings. Good night and your actions will determine your luck.

I do give you credit for not mentioning Sandy Berger though.
Scott Copeland, Naples, Florida (Sent Thursday, August 02, 2007 3:47 PM)

Classic Scott, just classic!!

Bunny Bump Beantown Mass. (Sent Thursday, August 02, 2007 5:36 PM)

You are now a liar also!! You have mocked my name, Senator Obama's name, insulted the Arab culture, insulted the Islamic faith, insulted an entire region of the world yet you have the audacity to post this?

Read what I posted to you on the fourth thread "hop along"!!

Keith: Many of president Bush's allies seem to contact ALZHEIMER.Attorney general Alberto Gonzales, can't recall  a lot of things, Vice President Dick Cheney also can't recall,now  I just saw Donald Rumsfeld ,  at the Tillman hearing and he can't recall . Well Keith I'm  seventy Five and Can't recall another  President  that made so many bad decisions.Is it possible that I'm coming down with Alzheimer.

Kevin sugerland tx- You are almost right bush is selling arms to the saudis who are sunni and arming sunnis in Iraq but he is also backing Maliki and the shite government in Iraq.  We haven't picked sides we are arming both side guaranteeing perpetual war for profit.  Also we have lost 200,000 guns in Iraq and we never secured the saddams weapons depots.  Iran has not provided anywhere near the amount of weapons for this war that we have.  bush and co. have no intrest in ever ending this war.  They are all getting filthy rich off of it and they haven't even got the oil field up to producing at full capacity.

Roger/Oakland just posted this on First Read:

Here's something to ponder. From http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/g/d4ca0ff6-5992-43f7-9169-87a9239ab94e:  "President Bush invited ten talk hosts into the Oval Office for an hour of conversation today --Glenn Beck, Bill Bennett, Neal Boortz, Scott Hennon, Laura Ingraham, Lars Larson, Mark Levin, Michael Medved, Janet Parshall and me. This was an off-the-record conversation, and so I won't be quoting the president.

"I will say on today's show that I am confident about the course of the war and about the momentum in Iraq, as well of the president's absolute commitment to doing right by the troops and his concern for every lost and wounded soldier and their families. President Bush's command of the details and his broad view of the conflict is reassuring, and among my comments to him was the wish that he found more opportunities to engage in long interviews that would allow the American public to see that grasp and that commitment."

Bunny Bump Beantown Mass. (Sent Thursday, August 02, 2007 5:36 PM)

Your arrogance and bigotry speaks for itself "Bunny"!! Enjoy your hate filled rhetoric!!

"Obama da bomma" says Nard....The brilliant insight of posters here far exceed the knowledge of all of your guests combined. A plethora of untaped talent.

Lets roll, Obama da bomma is ready to kick some ass.
Bunny Bump Beantown Mass (Sent Thursday, August 02, 2007 3:28 AM)

Oh Brenda...to be young again.....Obama: Mahmoud Ahmadinajad hows that uranium enrichment thing going?...MA: Great Obama, we have 5,000 centrifuges running now and expect to have 20,000 more on line in a month or two. BHO: Uhh...you know when you said that as soon as possible you were going to wipe Israel off the face of the earth, you were just kidding....right? MA: NO! BHO: Oh come on Mahmoud lets talk about it....that would not be cool man. MA: Allah demands it be done..all praise be to Allah. BHO: I know you Mahmoud..wink, wink....you funny guy you, you would not do that. MA: All praise be to Allah. BHO Thinking to himself...crap...what do I do now? HILLERY!
Bunny Bump Beantown Mass (Sent Wednesday, August 01, 2007 9:08 PM)

I can't belive what I am reading.......One word from the great Obama and doves turn into war-mongers. Whats wrong with you people? Nard....straighten these people out!
Bunny Bump Beantown Mass (Sent Wednesday, August 01, 2007 1:19 PM)

No “hop along”, it is those like you, who reek of arrogance and bigotry, which is the foremost reason MANY hate Americans AND America.  

You are part of the systematic problem and not in the slightest way part of the solution!!

WRONG! Pam, I referred to you as "Nard" not "Nards" I use ONLY parts of your name...NEVER added to it. Obama the same way I have referred to him as "BHO" his initials, I have called him "Obama", I have called him "B Hussein Obama" and "Hussein Obama" again NEVER adding to his name in any way. When he said in a speech that he would bomb certain country's under certain conditions I then referred to him as "Obama da bomma". NEVER, NEVER, NEVER have I included "malice" of ANY kind, OR HATE, NEVER mention race or bigitory of any kind. I am however responsible for sarcasm, levity, self serving senseless posts and stupidity................GUILTY! PS.(Check my posts...I never respond to specific personal criticism of my posts or point of view from you or anyone else, I expect your point and laugh at it...my choice.)

Obama in 08, lets roll!

To the Dailey Whiner, concerning the wrongful acts of putting drugs on the street, where was all this indignation when papa Bush was trading drugs so he could arm some war in central america. This was MUCH larger scale for a purpose MUCH less forgivable. Republiecans were more than happy to look the other way then. This is still wrong but some slack should be shown.

to RMNYC, when one flings S**t at something that is primarly composed of said material, and it does score a bulls eye, it is hadly noticeable due to the fact that they are so full of it.

It suddenly came to me today that, in this particular situation and "era", there is a vital and necessary question that should be being publicly and repeatedly posed to every Democratic Presidential Candidate, a question that should become a "litmus test" in the same way and to the same extent that Conservatives/Republicans have used such things.

The question is this:  "Are you willing, and do you pledge and promise, from the beginning of your administration and term in office, to authorize and/or to support federal criminal investigations into all possible criminal matters involving members of the current executive branch (elected, appointed and/or civil service)with respect to any act, activity or conspiracy that may have occured prior to January 20, 2009?"

Given the unfortunate propensities being displayed on the part of weak Congressional leaders currently in power (who are likely to stay in power), and, given the more or less historical propensity of Presidents to "look forward" and not allow their predecessors to be held accountable, the referenced question should be asked relentlessly.

It is clear that the current administration's "gameplan" is to "run out the clock".  This gameplan clearly assumes business as usual going forward, in that it is assumed that future administrations will not be aggressive in enforcing the law against prior political and governmental "operatives".

And, it is quite possible (in fact, I think probable) that the Decider, the man who as Governor never saw a clemency plea worthy of action, even for clearly potentially innocent or mentally-deficient inmates, will astonish folks with the length and breadth the list of his 11th hour pardons--and he will do so precisely because of this potential, but historically unlikely, threat.
 
But, he won't get them all, and there will still be some out there (although, then, of course, they will be labled small-fry, as in "we can't go after the small fry after letting the big fish go scot free.")

But, to maintain our system, we must go after them, small or big, and they must be investigated completely, and, if appropriate, prosecuted.

Take this to the bank:  any Democratic Presidential Candidate who isn't willing to make such a promise and pledge (and then act on it), is making public that they are just as willing and capable of ignoring and undermining our system of laws as the current cynical bunch.  

Shame on us if we let that happen without at least a challenge and appropriate notoriety.

We need to learn to ask the right questions, and to begin to hold government individuals (elected, appointed and employed) accountable--both for their actions and for their culpable inaction.

Après moi, le deluge: greetings from The Alone Star State. Down here in Austin we have always known the reality behind the smug, simpering mug of loyal-unto-death Bush family retainer Al “Tio Taco” Gonzales: that he has never tried a case in open court IN HIS ENTIRE CAREER; the multiple local DUI arrests of then-Governor Bush’s twins that he had quashed and kept out of the Austin media as Travis County District Court Judge and later Texas Secretary of State (between three and six, depending on who y’all talk to) and above all else, enabling the Presidential aspirant Governor to escape jury duty in a 1996 Travis County DUI trial, thus avoiding public acknowledgement of Smirky McFlightsuit’s own DUI conviction.

Now, as Sydney Blumenthal writes in Salon.com today, this vile, dissembling, transparently-clueless sycophant is the last splintering bulwark standing between The Decider, Rove, Cheney and utter disaster. His cringe-worthy performance on the Hill last week must have them very scared indeed. He is the malfunctioning firewall, the flimsy, dry-rotted plywood door to a closet bursting at the seams with years of Bushivek skeletons and 3,660 rotting American corpses of a much more recent vintage.

Does anyone remember Nixon AG John Mitchell? This war-criminal cabal would do well to do so, because to quote another, much more intelligent tyrant whose hubris brought him to a bad end, "all you have to do is kick in the door and the whole rotten structure will come tumbling down."

Krista, I wanted to echo your response about wanting to give up on the government yet knowing you have to do what you can..for your own conscience if for nothing else.

This train of thought brings to mind the classic quote from Albert Einstein which is so very appropriate for the times we live in: "The world is a dangerous place to live.  Not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it."

And then I ask myself, what can I do? Well, this week and for the forseeable future, I'm going to help put together care packages for soldiers in Iraq. I am going to vote in every election-state, local and national, from now until I can no longer pull a lever. I am not going to change the world, but I will sleep at night.

It really amazes me that the criminals running our government and the do-nothing's in Congress who stand aside while over 200 years of laws, procedure/precedents and sound institutional practices are tossed aside and trampled in a little over six years.. How are those people able to sleep the sleep of the righteous?

Peace to Us All

'Why did Keith spend the ENTIRE HOUR covering the bridge collapse?  I can understand 15, 20 or even 30 minuted, but the whole hour!???

What perfect right-winged timing this had to prevent keith from focusing on the true tragedy occuring dailing in our nations capital.  Cause a well timed event to pre-empt Keith from exposing the corrupt underbelly of the bush administration...well you cannot cover up all the lies forever 'loyal bushies'.

Impeach em all!
FreedomOfInformationAct (Sent Thursday, August 02, 2007 3:39 PM)'

WTF?  You ARE kidding-right? 'True tragedy?'  My God, is isn't a 'true' tragedy when people are flung to their deaths just driving down the freeway?  

I despise just about everything this administration has done and continues to do.  I despise the fact that my brother, SIL & nephew are serving in Iraq right now, but guess what people?  THAT is NOT the f**king news happening in this country or the world.

To say I'm disappointed by some of the comments on here, would be an understatement.  Is the AG going to suddenly fess up?  Nope.  Are Bush & Dick going to suddenly do the jobs they were appointed to do and discontinue shredding our Constitution?  Nope.

A TRUE tragedy did happen, and you people are so freakin worried that somehow, someway something is going to change in DC for 24 damn hours, and that covering the news of a TRAGEDY will somehow give the neocons the upperhand.

This is the Countdown NEWSHOLE-not politics 24/7.  As I posted earlier and will post again the nice little blurb that you can all see on the left hand side of your computer screen:

"ABOUT THE NEWS HOLE
It's the new award-winning blog* from the cast and crew of the award-winning television news hour** "Countdown with Keith Olbermann."

We heard about this whole "blogosphere" business from Tom DeLay, and came to the immediate realization that we too, "needed to become involved" in it.

So here it is. Covering the big news, the small news, medium-sized and irregular, The News Hole strives to bring everything you love or hate about Countdown to the internets.

Your feedback and hate mail is encouraged."

Have a nice life folks.  I pray that should tragedy ever befall you, that it isn't ignored for politics the way you want this bridge collapse to be.

Rocky Mountain Guy, Colorado (Sent Thursday, August 02, 2007 4:30 PM)

Thank you and I could not agree with your summation more!!

PEACE!!

awacobud (Sent Thursday, August 02, 2007 6:31 PM)

Excellent and I agree with you 100%!! Each candidate should be asked the questions you posed and each candidate must be willing to prosecute this criminal administration - top to bottom!!

THANK YOU!!

LT, Brenda, and Jamie, thank you SO MUCH for your support; Lord, I sound like the Bartles & James commercial - remember those ads?! Seriously, those thoughts mean so much coming from you. I'm going to remember what you said when I'm signing letters, sealing envelopes, and paying for postage.

Once again, THANK YOU!

Res Ipsa Loquitur re: Canada.  Already making plans.  See you there.

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen:  We (those of us smart enought to realize we're getting screwed twelve ways from Sunday) are absolutely right in how disgusted, angry, frustrated and used we feel.  

I for one, would like to be proactive and do something about it.  Our representatives won't do what we're asking them "they haven't got the stomachs for it"... so what other resources do we have for recourse?

Come'on... let's think!!!!  We are strong and out number them!  What can we do, how can we effect the most change in the quickest way possible?  where should we strike?  Let's get a forum going for brainstorming ideas that we can actually implement!  

what do you say?

Please, anything except for more bridge coverage--26 hours straight is too much!

the more the shrubbery refuses to allow members of his administration testify, the more we should be concerned about what they are really hiding, what evil they have done that we do not know yet.  
and they've sealed or destroyed administration records.
how in the he-- could any american vote for the shrubbery in 2004? what kind of american would vote for them?
never in the history of the union has a president & his administration acted in such undemocratic, unconstitutional ways, so undermined the essence of this nation.
the founders must be rolling over in their graves.

Once again, THANK YOU! Krista Swisher  

No, Thank you Krista. Your posts have made me laugh and made me learn quite a lot. Good luck on another round of letters to our stomachless govt. wimps. We're supposed to refer to Congress er men, as "Honorable" right? HA! Double HA!

Larry Flint has more integrity than all of Congress..at least he admits to what he is.

Kimberly, CA I think your idea for a forum is an excellent one..but I think this blog space would be a little difficult to keep one going on. Maybe some of the regulars like Pam, B A, Brenda, Todd (where ya been Todd?), Krista or Jaime can advise if there is a discreet way to make contact outside of here.

Again, thanks for your uplifting words Krista. It warms the uh, cockles? of my wittle heart to know anything I wrote had meaning for someone.

In the immortal words of Patsy and Edina: "Cheers Thanks a Lot! (To you all)

   I'll tell you why those democrats won't impeach me or any other member of my team, and why that red hen peloci took impeachment of the table... cause I got stuff on her and the others. I can even tell you how I heard them talking about stuff they should not have. It won't make a bit of difference, you won't do anything anyway. you democrats are spineless anyway, He spector, peloci next time you go to fu****
car to have a private chat make sure it doesn't have ONSTAR. There I said it. You won't do a thing any way
I have nothing but contempt for the lot of you.
C.R.

This tragdy in MN should be a wake up call for all of us, in that the walls are crumbling. While the tax cut/pork barrel mentallity is part of the making of this, I agree with Jamie and feel we should save the finger pointing for tomorrow in respect for the dead, injured and all of the affected families. My prayers go out tonight for them. Peace

Keith,

Your show is hands down my favorite in all of TV land.
I laugh at your humor, feel your passion and agree with almost everything you say.
There were just a few words that you said on the Aug 2nd show that I think were well said but not well thought out.
Concerning the tragedy in Minneapolis.
It was about priorities with tax payer money. Do we secure our infrastructure such as bridges over the Mississippi or
build baseball stadiums? You backhanded the local government by insinuating that they skimped on safety to build a ball park.
That is simply not true. I would like to say I think Minneapolis is the most well thought out, safest and beautiful large city in America.
It was a horrible accident and could have happened anywhere. Further more the ballpark issue was fought hard against by local government for 7 years.
They were unwilling to have the public pay for it. Finally the demand for a state of the art facility to go with a state of the art city was to much to ignore.
Civic leaders, business interests and the public at large teamed up to get a new ballpark. They pressured the politicians and the public overwhelmingly supported the tax. It's a good thing.
Now let's find out what happened on the bridge and make sure it never happens again.

Thanks,

one of your biggest fans.

Mike Ellert
Formerly from Minneapolis now Chicago

Jamie-Over and Out! (Sent Thursday, August 02, 2007 6:54 PM)

Thank you Jamie, and you are absolutely right!! But please don't leave us, we NEED YOU!! You know I feel as you do, please, we need you to contnue sharing with us, please, please don't go away!!

Pity--I'll no longer be tuning to MSNBC.tv. They've jacked up the volume of commercials and  keep hyping the seamy stuff. I'd imagine there are a lot of folks like me. Good luck, all

To the Countdown krewe:
Thank you all for helping keep us informed, for working yourselves ragged to keep this forum up, and for letting us wander in and sit on the good furniture with our pizza, Slushies, and opinions. "Mercy buckets!"  :)

LT in MD (Sent Thursday, August 02, 2007 8:43 PM)

The most secure way to make contact outside the blog is for you to set up a temp email id. Offer it to the bloggers. (Access it on a breakdown computer to avoid malicious behavior) Come back to the blog and "vet" the responders via a discrete question to confirm that the "real" blogger responded. Email your "real" address back once vetting is complete. I did that and had absolutely no problems with it. In fact, my temp id is still available for about 6 more days. You can use that if you like. (independent@281.com)

LT (8:43 pm post), yes, my stomach does do a little nauseating churn when I have to type "The Honorable" so and so. I have to really fight the urge to upchuck and say," Hey you spineless hypocritical two-faced worthless so and so's! Either s*** or get off the pot and do something!" But, I still type "The Honorable..."

I also echo to the extreme Niels' kudos to the hard working blogger moderators. That's why I include them in my weekly Friday evening "words of wisdom and inspiration (??!)." Ummm...pizza and Slushies [insert Homer Simpson gurgle here]...

KO: don't know if you've seen this, but it's worth a look.

http://www.kansas.com/static/video/brownback-girl/

"Update: Bush is arming the Sunni in Iraq and selling weapons to the Saudis. I guess we've picked sides in the civil war."

Isn't it interesting that we've picked the side of the people who attacked us on 9/11 and on the sect of which Saddam Hussein was a member?

And this is supposed to be a fight against terror????  Right.  Now, we're just going to tick off the other half of the Muslim world.  (shaking head)

Carol, I'm in the legal profession.  Didn't have to look up the term, we use it often, but as used in the insurance defense biz: Res ipsa loquitur is a Latin term meaning "the thing speaks for itself". It is a  doctrine of law that one is presumed to be negligent if he/she/it had exclusive control of whatever caused the injury even though there is no specific evidence of an act of negligence, and  the accident would not have happened without negligence.

My comment which apparently has disappeared was correct and it was a compliment to the writings of the same.  The thing spoke for itself.

I think George Bush has a lot of nerve telling congress to pass his wire-tapping bill before they go on vacation. Wasn't he on vacation when the 9/11 report was on his desk. And didn't the Iraqi parliament take off. And what is it he wants passed. A bill that was in effect before he trampled all over our Constitutional rights. He wants to begin intelligence gathering before going to FICA and then go to them for permission. That was the original bill. Why is he demanding something that those "evil" Democrate have been wanting to return to for the last three years? I'm 60 years old and this is by far the worst administration in my lifetime. As John Dean says "Worse the Watergate."

Steve he wants the bill passed to cover his political heinie.  The NSA spying program is vastly bigger than we know about and this bill will give him legal standing with ALL his illegal programs.  That's why they are spinning this so hard.  

Congress - give him an investigation on this spying and NOT the bill he wants to keep him and his buddies out of jail.

Well it's pretty clear to me every one in the beltway is blaming each other for our sorry infrastructure. The congress and senate are the best money can buy, how ever we should never forget the is one power greater the all three branches, and that is the voices of the amarican people, we are the top branch so we should all call and express our concern.

Yes Kevin we have picked sides....BOTH!

Possibly off topic here, but I just wanted to mention KO defending Billo--was that Thurs. nite.  KO, babe, you should have been a southerner by birth.  To defend a man' privacy--i.e., the "pervert" signs around his house was going too far (amen)--then turn around and Billo was the WPITW--that one's classic southern; the only thing you didn't do right was to preface the WPITW bit with the words "bless his heart."  That's what we say just before we stick the knife in.  Born diplomats, that's us.

# Question: On Passage
# Bill: S 1927 (This is the Bill in question, which passed)
# Vote description: Protect America Act
# Vote type: Yea-and-Nay
A standard vote that requires a simple majority for approval or passage of the legislation.
# Result: Passed, 227-183, with 23 not voting.
# Date/time: August 4, 2007, 10:20 p.m.
# Republican majority opinion: Yes
The position of more than 50 percent of voting Republicans. "None" means an equal split between "Yes" and "No."
# Democrat majority opinion: No

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