Countdown Wednesday: 'Puzzlement' Over McClellan
Posted: Wednesday, May 28, 2008 8:59 PM by Countdown
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Blogging the Countdown
The McClellan Book:
He is not John Dean, testifying to Congress within a year of the crime, that the President offered to get him a million dollars to bankroll the Watergate cover-up, when all around him called him liar and traitor. But -- in our fifth story tonight -- as the second day of the Scott McClellan story we brought you first last night unfolded with the subtlety of a ten megaton device... This thought. If an entire Administration lied a nation into war, essentially killed and maimed thousands of its own troops, and one man finally says "I can't lie any more"... has he earned himself some credit? Those who are or were deceiving can only do one of two things. They can keep deceiving...Or they can stop. McClellan... stopped. They are his words -- NBC News has learned tonight -- no ghostwriter
Going the Distance:
A federal judge rejects a lawsuit arguing that the DNC discriminated against Florida's voters by stripping the state of its delegates... Lawyers for the Democratic National Committee informed the Rules and Bylaws committee that it lacks the authority to seat any more than half of the delegates from Michigan and Florida. All of which could be really good news... for Senator Clinton. Our fourth story on the Countdown -- this could go all the way to the convention.ODDBALL: A bear in a tree, a man lost his balloon, and the cheese chase rides again.
The Gramm Problem:
As we reported last night, we now know that John McCain's top financial advisor, Phil Gramm, was a paid lobbyist for the Swiss bank UBS, which is deeply involved in the mortgage crisis... and was so, at the same time he was helping to write McCain's economic policies. But in our third story tonight, what we still do not know. When we asked UBS tonight whether Gramm had ever lobbied McCain specifically, on the bank's behalf... UBS declined to comment. Nor do we know to what extent McCain's Senate votes, and proposed presidential policies, have coincided with how UBS has tried to shape US policy on the mortgage crisis... through Gramm and its other lobbyists.
Worsties...see below.
WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD: Dunkin Donuts, Bill-O and Senator Joe Lieberman vie for tonight's top honors.
Sex & The City: Dressed outlandishly -- at heart much more concerned with the exotic clothing than the plot -- often desperate for a date -- standing in line, for hours, even if it rains, to see the movie before everybody else does. Star Wars fans? No, no -- those at the premiere last night of... the Sex & The City Movie. Our Number One story tonight: for two-thousand decked-out ticket-holders, there was a premiere all right... but no movie. As for the men who dread being dragged to the movie with their significant other... a survival guide with comedian Paul F. Tompkins, presently.
