The full text of Keith's Special Comment: President of Hypocrisy, after the jump.
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Meet the Press This afternoon sixteen more United States senators -- 72 in all -- voted to toothlessly condemn a newspaper ad by the liberal anti-war group Move On dot org... than voted yesterday to guarantee that American troops get to spend as much time at home between deployments... as they now do on the front lines of Iraq. Our fifth story on the Countdown: With their yes votes, 22-Democrats... apparently reacting -- like Pavlov's dog to a bell -- to the criticism voiced by President Bush in his news conference this morning... when he said he was quote "disappointed that not more leaders in the Democrat Party spoke out strongly against that kind of ad." And so, the fallacy of who is really supporting the troops, continues. CONTINUED >>
Tune in at 8p ET for Keith's Special Comment regarding the President's attack of the anti-war movement and Moveon.org. We have provided an excerpt after the jump.
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(here's a pic of the ice cream cake the staff got for Keith today...in case you can't read it, it says "You're Alive!!")
Tonight marks the triumphant return of our now appendix-less leader, and not only will we give you a complete break down of the President's news conference this morning. Not only will we bring you Ken Burns to talk about his new documentary "The War". Keith will also deliver a Special Comment on the President's attack of Moveon.org and the anti-war movement. We'll have an excerpt soon....we hope you join us.
The Juice is Loose Our fifth story.. a severe case of O.J. deja vu. You know.. OJ gets arrested.. OJ gets hauled into court... OJ gets followed by the media....tooling down the road in a car, this time, not heading toward the border...but a casino. CONTINUED >>
Squeezing the Juice : Our fifth story tonight... O.J. Simpson facing the actual possibility of life in prison after some severe charges were levied against him...7 felonies in all. Day two, lockup Simpson style. He is still inside a Las Vegas prison cell and time is really flying. I mean.. literally. Simpson's Rolex watch may soon be in the hands of the Goldman Family. A judge ruled it to be so. CONTINUED >>
Seems like last week's Bush speech isn't resonating with the American public (surprise, surprise.) According to a new poll from the folks at CBS News, most Americans still want the troops in Iraq to come home and most believe the plan announced by Mr. Bush does not go far enough.
In related news, General David Petraeus is taking his show across the pond today to brief the government of Britain. But Prime Minister Gordon Brown probably won't be quite the pushover that predecessor Tony Blair was. At least, the News Hole hopes as much. (Somebody, anybody please challenge him on the "facts" and "figures" in his Kinko-riffic presentation panels.)
Meanwhile, the Pentagon report released last night (quietly, end of business, one week after Petraeus's testimony) is already calling the bulk of what the general fed Congress into question.
BLACKWATER DOWN
Why does the News Hole think it has not heard the full extent of what - exactly - Blackwater USA must have don e to get kicked out of Iraq? What we know so far: The U.S. security firm stands accused of having been involved in a Baghdad shootout Sunday that left at least eight Iraqi civilians dead and another thirteen wounded. On the plus side, according to security analyst William Arkin: If all private contractors are forced to leave Iraq... maybe the Iraqi government will be forced to take responsibility for running the country.
THE PLAN FOR IRAN
NOMINATION CONFRONTATION
Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy appears ready to go to the mattresses to get the White House to hand over documents relevant to the many ongoing investigations regarding Alberto Gonzales's tenure at the Justice Department. Mr. Leahy's threat: No documents, no hearings on the Mukasey nomination. That's the good news. The bad news: So far the White House does not appear scared .
Keith is out of the hospital, and home recovering after his emergency appendectomy on Friday.
Fed Up After spending nearly two decades as chairman of the Federal Reserve... Alan Greenspan is kind of like EF Hutton in those old television commercials: When he talks, people listen. So when -- in our fifth story on the Countdown -- Mr. Greenspan seemed to state in excerpts of his new memoir, that the invasion of Iraq was largely about oil... people were definitely listening, and the fiscal guru created a firestorm, to say the least. CONTINUED >>
We're hoping to have the great Ken Burns on the program to talk about his upcoming PBS documentary "The War" real soon. In the meantime, check out this extended preview ...and the link to all the web exclusive teaser material. Watching these clips (the Bataan Death March story from a guy named Glenn Frazier) is a great way to pass an hour.
Keith out sick, Amy Robach filling in...and we didn't lose the tape last night, we had to switch blocks due to the President's Speech not being re-aired. So, enough aready! HA!
Extended Tour Defense Secretary Robert Gates tonight put new numbers on the Iraq plan laid out by President Bush... numbers that could further reduce the US presence there... but not until 2009. In our fifth story on the Countdown, Secretary Gates says troop levels could go down to about 100,000 by January of 2009... pending conditions on the ground. CONTINUED >>
Tired of the endless back and forth of the political crap here on Earth? Here are what appear to be legit pics from high above the Earth...taken by NASA's Endeavour astronauts. Click through to the link, because the smaller version we have here don't do the images justice (especially the dirty hurricane). These pics are simply awesome.
The New Catch Phrase : It used to be, that only sportscasters and carnival barkers had catch-phrases. Now Presidents have them. For war. For matters of life and death. And by themselves, they can mean the life or death -- of a presidency. Consider "Mission Accomplished"... Or -- in our fifth story on our Countdown to Mr. Bush's Iraq speech tonight -- consider "Return On Success" -- that's the new one, being broken out tonight.CONTINUED >>
Tonight...
A full Countdown show tonight before the President's address to the nation. After the speech, we'll have the Democratic response...and then Keith and Chris Matthews with round out the hour with coverage and analysis of its content.
For the 8p ET show...we'll have some exclusive speech excerpts the White House will release before Mr. Bush's address. We'll have the story of Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha...the leader of the Anbar Salvation Council, who was leading group of Sunni clans against Al Qaeda in Anbar Province. And who was killed today by a bomb, just 10 days after meeting with the President in Iraq when this picture was taken.
We'll have all the latest on Rep. John Boehner's gaffe that put him in league with last night's WPITW.
Senator and Presidential Candidate Joe Biden will give his views on the Senate testimony of General Petraeus and what the President intends to do about it. It's a busy show...lots of other great stuff as well.
Here's the craziest use of a rubber hoses since Vinnie Barbarino's...this is too cool.
De-surging in Iraq Six years in, and he can still leave you speechless. Our fifth story on the Countdown: President Bush was not speech-less -- he was already rehearsing the one he will give tomorrow night. This was yesterday...Even as he was meeting with Congressional Leaders, and telling them, quote, "I think it's very important before I make up my mind that I consult with the leaders of the House and the Senate." Here is your consultation we hope you enjoyed your consultation. CONTINUED >>
Petraeus: Part Deux: Day Two of the atrociously, suspiciously timed Petraeus hearings on Capitol Hill. The US commander in Iraq repeating his plan... to reduce the US presence in Iraq, gradually, by some 30,000 forces bringing them back down to where they were -- before the surge -- by next summer. CONTINUED >>
Some of what we're working on for tonight...
Tonight Keith broadcasts live from ground zero, in the footprints of where the World Trade Center stood until this date 6 years ago. We have some special guests lined up for the evening, including Tom Brokaw on the political decay that has taken place in the six years since the attacks.
Keith will also speak to Frank Silecchia...one of the brave workers who spent months at ground zero, sifting through wreckage and debris...only to suffer dire consequences for his heroic effort. His story is written up in the Bergen Record ...here's an excerpt:
Frank Silecchia says he has good news on this sixth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attack.
He's not dead.
The bad news is that Silecchia, a construction worker who virtually traded his Little Ferry apartment to labor for months at Ground Zero, can barely walk a block without wheezing. Like hundreds of other Ground Zero workers, Silecchia breathed too much toxic dust and is now paying for it.
"I'm dying a slow death," he said on Monday from his new home -- a trailer parked on a patch of a friend's yard not far from Coney Island in Brooklyn.
Also, from Stephen Hadley to Condi Rice to Osama Bin Laden and more, Keith will have a special "6 Years Later: Where Are They Now" update.
Plus, we'll have all the news on the Petraeus/Crocker testimony before the senate, including more on the exchange between Crocker and Joe Biden recounted in the NY Times. An excerpt can be found after the jump.
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A Report Report Card: Not since April 28, 1967... when General William Westmoreland addressed Congress on America's expanding military role in Vietnam... has so much attention been focused on a briefing by a military commander. But... in our fifth story on the Countdown... when General David Petraeus tried to begin his prepared remarks on Capitol Hill this afternoon... not even the microphones wanted to hear it.
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Some of what we're working on for tonight...
After some protestors got kicked out, and a faulty microphone (Bill Maher's tech staff working the hearing?) was remedied, General Petraeus finally got started around 1:15 this afternoon. The big headline so far is that General Petraeus says we can get our force level in Iraq down to pre-surge levels by next summer.
We'll be all over this tonight with the nuts and bolts from Newsweek's Howard Fineman, and analysis from Frank Rich of the NY Times and John Dean who knew a little about working for an unpopular President.
*******UPDATE*********
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Gen. David Petraeus says a Marine unit will depart Iraq later this month, beginning a drawdown that would be followed in mid-December with the departure of an Army brigade.
********UPDATE********
The slides General Petraeus brought for show and tell after the jump.
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Here's a little weekend fluff. Enjoy.
Report: Petraeus Report Not a Report First "The Petraeus Report" turned out to not be written by General David Petraeus. Tonight, it turns out not to be a report. At this rate, by the time of its scheduled presentation to Congress Monday, it'll just be a Post-It. Our fifth story on the Countdown: All this time that we have been thinking of the so-called Petraeus Report as a noun... it turns out we should have been classifying it as a verb. CONTINUED >>
Petraeus or delay us? When Mr. Bush announced the Surge, he told those who wished to debate it on its merits... just wait for the official assessment. Four days from now, General David Petraeus goes before Congress to give that assessment. Then... only then, are we supposed to make judgments about... and debate the future of... America's military presence in Iraq. Today we learned that by then, it will be too late. In our fifth story tonight, the President has already made up his mind. CONTINUED >>
Some of what we're working on for tonight....
More on that Jones Report issued yesterday that stated the Iraqi Army won't be able to stand on its own for another 18 months...and what that means for our presence in that country.
We'll have a special report on the Bush Administration's lip service regarding the possibility of a draw-down of troops come this September.
We'll report on the Fred Thompson announcement and the attacks he's getting from the right...as well as the Larry Craig announcement that on third thought, he's going to go .
Also...something we may not get to tonight, but it sure is interesting. Sidney Blumenthal's Salon article about the 2002 CIA briefing that confirmed the lack of WMD's in Iraq that the President chose to ignore. It's a fascinating read.
Will Craig Resign? : It is unprecedented to the degree, that the office of the official historian of the U.S. Senate, cannot come up with another example of it, anywhere in its 218 years of operation. A Senator resigning... and then announcing "uhh... maybe not." Our fifth story on the Countdown: it's not as if Larry Craig resigned on Saturday and, three days later, suddenly had a change of heart. CONTINUED >>
When President Bush tried to blame Paul Bremer for the dissolution of the Iraqi army, at least Ambassador Bremer shared in the blame for the mess that resulted from debaathification. But when he tries to claim that John Roberts suggested Harriet Miers as a possible Supreme Court nominee ... the News Hole has to spit out its coffee and say "You have GOT to be kidding me." Another day, another treasure trove of fascinating details from Robert Draper's biography of Mr. Bush, "Dead Certain." Mr. Draper joins us on the Countdown tonight.
Spinning the Surge
What he said about maybe, possibly, hypothetically reducing troop levels, at a photo-op for which he circumnavigated the globe, got the headlines. What the President revealed about his real motives, that he's keeping our troops in Iraq in hopes that the Republican presidential candidates will have to drink his kool-aid, not so much. T he President is trying to preempt opposition, and out-shout his own words in the new Robert Draper biography. But statistics paint as bleak a picture as ever about the level of violence, sectarian strife and political infighting in Iraq. Surge, or no surge.CONTINUED >>
Tonight on Countdown at 8pm ET, Keith will deliver a special comment regarding the president's surprise trip to Iraq over the holiday weekend.
********UPDATE*********
Special Comment Text after the jump...
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Even as President Bush traveled to Australia the long way over the weekend -- via Iraq -- (as if flying to Australia does not take long enough) for what amounted to a glorified photo-op... he managed to tell Congress they should wait until hearing testimony from General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker before weighing in on the conflict. All the while, circumnavigating the globe, he gets to frame the war debate during a week-plus head start . Nobody ever said this White House plays fair.
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Here's something we're calling Keith Olbermann's "Master FFL List By Somebody Who Is Not A Master." Selected by the Football Night in America's own Keith Olbermann...these picks are hand crafted, using only the finest fantasy football information.
This list was compiled with Keith's own fantasy league in mind...two quarterbacks start each week, making them slightly more valuable. This list puts also puts an emphasis on youth in the world of RB's, and puts a lower value on players whose coach doesn't talk to the media about his gimpy roster (you know who you are!). So...you can go with some of the list the so-called 'experts' have compiled...but if you want to win, you'll stick with Olbermann.
Keith's top ten are on the front page...you'll have to click on read more to see the final 237.
001 LaDainian Tomlinson , RB 1, San Diego 002 Steven Jackson, RB2, St Louis 003 Willie Parker, RB3, Pittsburgh 004 Joseph Addai, RB4, Indianapolis 005 Shaun Alexander , RB5, Seattle 006 Rudi Johnson, RB6, Cincinnati 007 Marshawn Lynch, RB7, Buffalo 008 Carson Palmer, QB1, Cincinnati 009 Marc Bulger, QB2, St. Louis 010 Peyton Manning , QB3, Indianapolis CONTINUED >>
