Countdown Wednesday: Tale of Two Presidents
Posted: Wednesday, November 26, 2008 8:59 PM by Countdown
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Blogging the Countdown
Taking Charge:
The question tonight -- at least as it pertains to the staggering economy -- is whether or not the inauguration is just a formality. Is Barack Obama already the de facto economic commander-in-chief?. Our fifth story on the Countdown, illustrated by two schedules of two Presidents. The 44th, holding his third news conference on the economy in as many days... The 43rd, in his only official act of the day -- pardoning a turkey.
Terror in Mumbai:
It began around 10 o'clock at night... coordinated attacks throughout one of the world's major cities... gunmen ran into a busy train station... two hotels... a popular restaurant... an airport, two hospitals... and they attacked the police head-on... killing three top officials, including the state's anti-terrorism chief... and at least 79 more. Hundreds more wounded, including, a U-S official tells NBC... one American, "seriously injured." Our fourth story tonight, unknown terrorists, and a world financial capital under seige... Mumbai, India, the historic city once known as Bombay.ODDBALL: Civil war dinosaurs, and a drunk guy drives over his own leg.
Pain and Suffereing:
This is not that complicated. A) The Bush Administration has acknowledged it water-boarded some terror detainees. B) Even John McCain acknowledged that water-boarding is torture. Therefore, C) The Bush Administration tortured people. But in a flabbergasting irony, because the Administration cannot accept that irrefutable chain of logic, the President is not believed likely to issue sweeping pardons for those who authorized or did the torturing. On the other hand, the Obama Administration... may not prosecute them. Our third story on the Countdown...Our nightly question to the President-Elect: What do we do now...when it comes to torture? 
Worsties...see below.
WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD: LaDonna Hale Curzon, Andrew Ross Sorkin and The New York Times, and Glenn Beck vie for tonight's top honors.
What a Turkey: Sometimes the politically bizarre is so bizarre, that even political satirists need some time to recover, and get back to the serious business of satire. Such it is, tonight, as Slate finally marries the Sarah Palin Turkey Atrocity Video to such things as nuclear holocaust, the movie Carrie, and Dan Aykroyd portraying Julia Child as an accident victim. Our number one story on the Countdown: that bit of brilliance, ahead. First, the continuing bizarre-ness of reality. Fresh from his pardon of Leslie Owen Collier -- who killed three bald eagles in 1995..President Bush today did not try to top Palin's almost-out-of-body experience... But he did do the turkey-pardon thing anyway.
