Storm Center: The former CIA chief's book is out and already attacked for propping up the Bush Administration's excuses to go to war in Iraq, it is now being truth squadded by the State Department for claiming the Administration targeted Iraq from the day the Supreme Court decided Bush v Gore. Former CIA counter-terrorism specialist Philip Giraldi joins us.

Mission & Misdirection: The war that Tenet and company got the United States into - claiming a heavy toll. Over a hundred American troops killed in April alone, while the President prepares to veto funding for said war four years after "mission accomplished."

ODDBALL: The coolest volcano video you'll see all week...What drives ATM thieves? In this case, it's a back-hoe... and a man with a million bees all up in his grill.

For a Good Time... A Deputy Secretary of State has already resigned because he availed himself of her "massage services". Who else is among the 15,000 names on the so-called "D.C. Madam's" client list? Dana Milbank covered the circus today, and joins us with a full report.

Tony Snow is Back:  The White House Press Secretary returns to his podium after undergoing cancer treatment, he looks great and is greeted by the press corps with a standing ovation.

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD:Rudy Giuliani's campaign releases a list of supporters, some of the 125 are surprised to be on it... The Bald Headed Stooge from the Imus show makes the ridiculous Nazi comparison of the week... and the guy who looks like Osama bin Laden who keeps getting arrested in Pakistan.

Enter Bateman : The star of the best show ever to be canceled for no good reason, Jason Bateman of "Arrested Development" is here to talk politics, sports, his new movie and whatever else comes up.

With all the discussion lately of people who should be fired yet remain in their positions, tonight we have a special guest who should be on the air and isn't.

Jason Bateman, star of "Arrested Development" will join Keith tonight in Los Angeles.

Countdown 8pm ET / 5pm PT

Nazi Comparisons

POST WRITTEN IN ALL CAPS

9/11 Conspiracy Theories. 

Keith, you sucked as a sportscaster and now you suck on the news.

Well, that was some interview with Vince McMahon George Tenet on 60 Minutes tonight. Lots of revelations, accusations and agitated gesticulation.

If you missed it, the CBS page sums it all up nicely, but for purposes of starting the discussion here, we kinda like how 'Todd from New Orleans' kicks it off, with his comment post in the 'puppies' thread below...

"After watching the 60 Minutes interview etc. this weekend with George Tenet, it made me slightly nauseous. It struck me that Tenet so clearly pulling a semi-Gonzales in an effort not to get scapegoated on the decision to go to invasion, er, war, must be a good sign for We The People.

"Here is a man in the center of things saying things like he does "not know what the Vice President was thinking" on several key intelligence issues, quibbling on the term torture versus "enhanced interrogation", that he did not do his job of reviewing the SOTU speech for intelligence laws but instead delegated it, and the excuse that when he said "slam dunk", he was referring to the ability to make a case for WMD's and not the argument and evidence the case was based upon...

"Well soon it will just be Bush and Cheney pointing fingers at each other ("Dick told me to do it! I really love the Bill of Constitution!", "Don't look at me. The monkey is President and CIC, not me. I am just a demented old man who shoots his friends in the face and then makes THEM apologize."). My money is on Dick and his superior shotgun prowess.

"It also occurred to me upon seeing the general responses to Tenet across the Internets today that as each scandal of incompetence or corruption unfolds for this administration, the "cover up and spin" half-life has fallen from months and weeks to mere hours and days. I am betting George Tenet by next weekend will be wishing he had a puppy instead of that that Medal of Freedom. I am betting the puppy is glad to have an alternative home in a better ethical environment than a politician can provide. Why? Because dog's have better sense and general behavior than the Bush administration. And they have been known to eat poop. You decide if I mean the dogs or the politicians."

Todd, New Orleans, LA (Sent Sunday, April 29, 2007 10:42 PM)

It seems so long ago that Deputy Secretary of State Randall L. Tobias resigned after getting himself caught up in a Washington sex scandal, but that's why they always do these things on a Friday night.

Now, ABC News is teasing that there may be more to come, claiming the customer phone number list of the "D.C. Madam" includes the names of some "very prominent people," as well as a number of women with "important and serious jobs" who had worked as escorts for the firm.

One's imagination could run wild with either part of that statement, but it appears we'll have to wait until next Friday night to find out the who's and the what's and the with who's and the what with's. ABC plans a sweeps-week report on the D.C. Madam and her clients on May 4th.

Any sudden resignations between now and then will be tougher to bury, but there is a big debate this week to hide behind, so keep your eyes open for "so and so is resigning for personal reasons" right about 8:05pm ET on Thursday night.

Oh, and there's this too:

Sibley [the attorney for the so-called 'D.C. Madam'] also filed notice that he intends to depose political consultant
Dick Morris in a separate civil proceeding. Morris would not comment.

Should be an interesting week.

click for VIDEO

Countdown salutes Keith's debate night tag-team partner Chris Matthews, with a condensed version of Thursday's coverage... Ha!

Wow, talk about "take out the trash night!"

AIDS activists protest against a speech by Tobias in Bangkok in 2004

Friday night, after all us media types have gone home for the weekend, Deputy Secretary of State Randall L. Tobias, whose emphasis on abstinence in AIDS prevention programs has been so controversial, tries to quietly exit, stage left.

Tobias submitted his resignation one day after he confirmed to ABC News that he had been a customer of the escort agency run by the so-called "D.C. Madam."

ABC's Brian Ross reports:

Tobias' private cell number was among thousands of numbers listed in the
telephone records provided to ABC News by Jeane Palfrey, the woman
dubbed the "D.C. Madam," who is facing the federal charges. In an
interview to be broadcast on "20/20" next Friday, Palfrey says she
intends to call Tobias and a number of her other prominent D.C. clients
to testify at her trial.

"I'm sure as heck not going to be going to federal prison for one day,
let alone, four to eight years, because I'm shy about bringing in the
deputy secretary of whatever," Palfrey told ABC News.

Ooh, she sounds like trouble!

Meanwhile, the old 'Friday Night News Dump' trick is far less effective since "us media types" figured out this whole blogging thing -- and Ross is certainly among the best doing it.

Keith anchors live from Charlotte, North Carolina tonight...

Changing Tenets: There is no possible alternative conclusion now: The President lied us into war. Quoting his former head of the CIA: "There was never a serious debate that I knew of within the administration about the imminence of the Iraqi threat." George Tenet also says he did say the case for war in Iraq should be presented as a "slam dunk" -- that the President used it, and him, to justify an unjustifiable war. Plus, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin admits members of the Senate Intelligence Committee knew the American people were being lied to in the run-upo to the Iraq war, but remained silent because they were sworn to secrecy. Larry Johnson joins us.

Office Politics:A list of Justice department information Congress can't see, yet another US attorney who would have been fired, if he hadn't quit first, and at least 20 apparent violations of the law prohibiting political conduct at the governmental office. The fresh stench of scandal from the administration.

ODDBALL: A dangerous haircut at 14,000 feet, two deer caught on tape rampaging through a nursing home, and what your help desk guys are doing in the office when you go home at night.

The D-8 Debate: A fresh look at the Democratic debate 24 hours later. How and when to get out of Iraq was front and center, we'll rate the candidates. Plus a special presentation: "HA! Four and half hours of Chris Matthews in 90 Seconds!"  VIDEO

No Limits:
Stephen Hawking, leaving his wheelchair to float freely in the closest thing yet available to the public to space travel, and the closest thing yet available to anybody to liberation from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD: John Gibson makes no sense, but he's plenty offensive doing it... John McCain's really really short memory... and John Boehner flip flops like we've never seen before.

See The Stars
: Richard Gere's Kiss Karma, and Alec baldwin consults Doctor Phil. When celebrities are in trouble, who you gonna call? Michael Musto!

Former CIA Officer and Deputy Director of the State Department's Office of Counter Terrorism, Larry Johnson, will be our guest tonight.

He has provided us with a letter that he and a group of other former CIA officers are sending to George Tenet, calling upon him to return his Presidential Medal of Freedom.

27 April
2007

Mr. George
Tenet

c/o Harper Collins
Publishers

Dear Mr.
Tenet:

We write to you on the
occasion of the release of your book, At the Center of the Storm.  You are on the record complaining about the
"damage to your reputation".  We are
stunned that someone who reportedly is earning $50,000 per speaking engagement
and has received a $4 million dollar advance for your book is worried only about
reputation.  The damage to your
reputation pales in terms of the harm that has been inflicted on
U.S. soldiers engaged in
combat in Iraq and the national
security of the United
States.  In our view we believe you have a moral
obligation to return the Medal of Freedom you received from President George
Bush.  We also call for you to dedicate a
significant percentage of the royalties from your book to the
U.S. soldiers and their
families who have been killed and wounded in
Iraq.

We agree with you that
Vice President Dick Cheney and other Bush administration officials took the
United
States to war for flimsy
reasons.  We agree that the war of choice
in Iraq was ill-advised and
wrong headed.  But your lament that you
are a victim in a process you helped direct is self-serving and misleading.  You were not a victim. You were a willing
participant in a scam to fight an unnecessary war and you share culpability with
Dick Cheney and George Bush for the debacle in
Iraq.

You are not alone in
failing to speak up and protest the twisting and shading of intelligence.  Those who remained silent when they could
have made a difference also share the blame for not protesting the abuse and
misuse of intelligence that occurred under your watch.  But ultimately you were in charge and you
signed off on the CIA products and you
briefed the President.

This is not a case of
Monday morning quarterbacking.  You helped send very mixed signals to the
American people and their legislators in the fall of 2002.  CIA field operatives
produced solid intelligence in September 2002 that stated clearly there was no
stockpile of any kind of WMD in
Iraq. This intelligence
was ignored and later misused.  You then
allowed a sloppy, inaccurate NIE (National Intelligence Estimate) to go to the
most senior policymakers-an estimate deliberately prepared to dovetail with the
alarming nuclear and other claims, unsupported by intelligence, in Vice
President Dick Cheney's alarmist speech of August 26,
2002.

But even you
recognized that the White House repeatedly tried to present as fact intelligence
you understood was unreliable.  In
October of 2002 you called the White House and stopped the President from using
unreliable intelligence a speech in Cincinnati to make the case that
Iraq was buying
uranium.  

Although
CIA officers learned in
late September 2002 from a high-level member of Saddam Hussein's inner circle
that Iraq had no past or present contact with Osama bin Laden and that the Iraqi
leader considered bin Laden an enemy of the Baghdad regime, you still went
before Congress in February 2003 and testified that Iraq did indeed have links
to Al Qaeda.

You showed a lack of
leadership and courage in January of 2003 as the Bush Administration pushed and
cajoled analysts and managers to let them make the bogus claim that
Iraq was on the verge of
getting its hands on uranium.   You
signed off on Colin Powell's presentation to the United Nations.  You, more than
any other U.S. Government senior official, were in the unique position to know
that the Secretary of State was selling a pack of lies.  And you sat behind him
nodding affirmatively.   

You may feel you were
bullied and victimized but you were also one of the bullies.  You cannot claim
that you were bullied into acting by the administration while you were helping
carry the Bush Administration's water to the American people.  In the end you
allowed suspect sources, like Curveball, to be used based on very limited
reporting and evidence.  Yet you were
informed in no uncertain terms that Curveball was not reliable.  You broke with
CIA standard practice and
insisted on voluminous evidence to refute this reporting rather than treat the
information as suspect.  You helped set the bar very low for reporting that
supported favored White House positions, while raising the bar astronomically
high when it came to reporting that did not support the solution favored by Bush
and Cheney.

It now turns out that
you were the Alberto Gonzalez of the intelligence community--a grotesque mixture
incompetence shielded by a genial personality.  Decisions were made, you were in
charge, but you have no idea how decisions were made even though you were in
charge.  Curiously, you focus your anger on the likes of Dick Cheney, Don
Rumsfeld, and Condi Rice, but you leave President George W. Bush out of the line
of fire. 

Mr. Tenet, you failed
to use your position of power and influence to protect the intelligence
process.  What should you have done?  What could you have done?  For starters, during the critical summer and
fall of 2002, you could have gone to key Republicans and Democrats in the
Congress and warned them of the pressure.  But you remained silent.  Your candor
during your one-on-one with Sir Richard Dearlove, then-head of British
Intelligence, of July 20,
2002" provides documentary
evidence that you knew exactly what you were doing; namely, "fixing" the
intelligence to the policy.

Even after the fact
you declined to raise these issues with the Robb Silberman Commission?  By your silence you helped build the case for
war.  You betrayed the CIA officers who
collected the intelligence that made it clear that Saddam did not pose an
imminent threat.  You betrayed the analysts who tried to withstand the pressure
applied by Cheney and Rumsfeld.  You betrayed the
CIA itself by allowing
active duty employees like Michael Scheuer to write books critical of Bush,
which contributed to the perception that the
CIA was a politicized
gang eager to embarrass the Bush Administration.

Most importantly and
tragically, you have betrayed your country.  Instead of resigning in protest,
when it could have made a difference in the public debate, you remained silent
and provided the Bush Administration the pretext of respectability for
unwarranted claims.  Your silence contributed to the willingness of the public
to support the disastrous war in
Iraq which has killed more
than 3300 Americans and hundreds of thousands of
Iraqis.

So now you are going
to correct the record with your book?  Not so fast.  Why don't you start by
returning the Medal of Freedom hung around your neck by President Bush in
December 2004?  You claim it was given only because of the war on terror, but
President Bush's comments were not confined to the threat of terrorism.  He said that
you:

played pivotal roles
in great events, and [your] efforts have made our country more secure and
advanced the cause of human liberty.

The reality of
Iraq demonstrates that
fruits of your efforts have in fact made our country less secure.  The damage to
the credibility of the CIA is serious but can
eventually be repaired.  The U.S. soldiers who died or
have been maimed in the streets of Fallujah and
Baghdad cannot be fixed.  The
dead have passed into history.  Many of the wounded will live the rest of their
lives missing limbs, blinded, mentally disabled, and physically disfigured.  You
cannot remove the bloody stain of that betrayal, George.  But you can do one thing to show that you do
have some sense of shame-that you will forgo the opportunity to profit
financially from your role in "fixing" intelligence in order to "justify" a war
of aggression.  Give at least half of
your royalties to the veterans and their families, who have paid and are paying
the price for your failure to speak up when you could have made a difference. 
That would be the decent thing to do.

Sincerely
yours,

Phil
Giraldi

Ray
McGovern

Larry
Johnson

Jim
Marcinkowski

Vince
Cannistraro

Some of what we're working on for tonight...

Former CIA Director George J. Tenet has a new book out, so apparently he's in the clear now to begin telling us some of the truth about how the administration got us into the Iraq war. In the book, titled "At the Center of the Storm," Tenet says "There was never a serious debate that I know of within the
administration about the imminence of the Iraqi threat," nor, "was there ever a significant discussion" about
the possibility of containing Iraq without an invasion.

Tenet complains in the book, and in an upcoming 60 Minutes interview, that the administration misused and twisted his "slam dunk" comment about the evidence of WMD in Iraq to justify the invasion, then later to deflect blame to Tenet and the CIA when the weapons were not found.

It didn't stop him from later accepting the Presidential Medal of Freedom (above), though he says in the book, he was "not at all sure he wanted to accept" it.

But he did.

On the TODAY show, White House lawyer Dan Bartlett was the designated hatchet man sent out to discredit yet another adminstration official with a dangerous book. Bartlett said, "I am a bit confused by that because we have never indicated the
president made the sole decision based on that 'slam dunk' comment."

But in fact, they did "indicate that." Vice President Dick Cheney on Meet The Press September 10, 2006, told Tim Russert"

"when George Tenet sat in the Oval Office and the
president of the United States asked him directly, he said, 'George,
how good is the case against Saddam on weapons of mass destruction?'
the director of the CIA said, 'It's a slam dunk, Mr. President, it's a
slam dunk.' That was the intelligence that was provided to us at the
time, and based upon which we made a choice."

Much more on this tonight, along with the amazing statement of Democratic Senator Richard Durbin, who said this week that he knew the American people were being lied to in the run-up to the Iraq war, but kept quiet about it, because due to his position on the Senate Intelligence Committee, he was sworn to secrecy.

The White House has always said that the Congress voted to go to war based on the same intelligence the president had, but Durbin says that is simply not true.

"The
information we had in the Intelligence Committee was not the same
information being given to the American people. I couldn't believe it,"
Durbin said Wednesday.

"I was angry about it. (But) frankly, I couldn't do
much about it because, in the Intelligence Committee, we are sworn to
secrecy. We can't walk outside the door and say the statement made
yesterday by the White House is in direct contradiction to classified information that is being given to this Congress."

Something could have been done. Something should have been done. And while the failures of these two men pale in comarison to those of the administration that used them, we find it difficult to celebrate the forthrightness of Tenet and Durbin, who both suddenly found candor four and a half years too late.

Adding... this is the rest of the membersip of the Senate Intelligence Committee at the time, each of whom - according to Durbin - would have known that the American people were being lied to (includes how they voted on the Iraq war resolution)

       Democrats                                     Republicans

	Bob Graham, Florida Chairman (Nay)		Richard C. Shelby, Alabama Vice Chairman  (Yea)
	Carl Levin, Michigan  (Nay)		Jon Kyl, Arizona  (Yea)
	John D. Rockefeller IV , West Virginia  (Yea)		James M. Inhofe, Oklahoma  (Yea)
	Dianne Feinstein, California  (Yea)		Orrin G. Hatch, Utah  (Yea)
	Ron Wyden, Oregon  (Nay)		Pat Roberts , Kansas  (Yea)
	Richard Durbin, Illinois  (Nay)		Mike DeWine, Ohio  (Yea)
	Evan Bayh, Indiana  (Yea)		Fred Thompson, Tennessee  (Yea)
	John Edwards, North Carolina  (Yea)		Richard G. Lugar, Indiana  (Yea)
	Barbara A. Mikulski, Maryland  (Nay)

This just not in: Instead of a document dump tonight, the Justice Department sending lawmakers a detailed list of all the memos and emails they are refusing to dump. What seems to be the Bush administration equivalent of a "Wish you were here" postcard - if a postcard can be 159 pages long.

According to the Associated Press the description of one withheld memo reads:

"'Request for information from Sen. Ensign re: dismissal of Bogden." It's dated Dec. 8 -- two days after Nevada U.S. Attorney Daniel Bodgen and six other prosecutors were ordered to quit.

Another says "Discussion with Sen. Pryor staff re: ways a person can become a USA, [U.S. Attorney]."

Tomorrow the Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty answers questions behind closed doors. We're sure the Bush administration will be similarly kind to send us a list of all that we won't be hearing from there, as well.

Film industry lobbyist Jack Valenti dies

STATEMENT BY PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH

Laura and I are saddened by Jack Valenti's death. Jack Valenti was a great American and a great Texan. He bravely flew combat missions during World War II and ably served in the White House. From protecting families by creating the movie rating system to advocating for intellectual property rights, Jack Valenti helped transform the motion picture industry. He leaves a powerful legacy in Washington, in Hollywood, and across our Nation.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Jack's wife Mary Margaret, his children, and his friends and colleagues.

STATEMENT BY GOVERNOR ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER

"Maria and I were deeply saddened to learn of the death of Jack Valenti.

"Today, our nation has lost a great leader, a true gentleman and a genuine American hero.

"A model for public service, Jack inspired us all when he defended our freedoms with honor and distinction as a pilot during World War II. After the tragic assassination of President Kennedy, he continued his dedicated service to our nation when he joined President Johnson's administration as a trusted advisor.

"In his 38 years with the Motion Picture Association of America, Jack's passionate advocacy and steadfast leadership guided the organization to tremendous success and prepared the film industry for the new millennium.

"He offered me his valuable expertise when I ran the President's Council on Physical Fitness as well as during my campaign for Governor and after I was elected by the people of California. I will always remember Jack for his exceptional grace and unwavering support. And I will always treasure the wonderful advice he gave me as a film professional, mentor and dear friend.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife, Mary Margaret, and to his entire family."

Click for LIVE VIDEO

Refresh for updates...

7:05 - If you're tracking American Flag lapel pins, it's 3 with, 5 without. Clinton, Obama, and Gravel and Richardson & Dodd are "flagless."

7:10 - Hillary Clinton has answered (for the 400th time, but the first time tonight) the question about her vote for the war. We'll see how many more times it comes up.

7:15 - Kucinich's bill -- HR 1234 - you think he named it so he could finish with the rallying cry "1234, we don't want no stinkin' war"?

7:22 - Sen. Edwards just tried to talk his way out of the $400 haircut with an old anecdote. Gonna take more than that.

7:23 - Note to Sen. Clinton: You just won re-election to the senate by a landslide in a very blue state that voted for John Kerry in the last election. That shoutout to your constituency was wasted airtime.

7:25 - Lot's of "ooh's"  in this control room when Richardson took the "blow-dried candidates" shot at Edwards there, though it seemed like piling on after Edwards had already (sorta) addressed the issue.

7:26 - Dennis Kucinich in response to question about being anti-war before anti-war was cool, claiming that 650,000 Iraqi civilians have died in Iraq - what sounds to be a much higher number than anyone has claimed thus far.

7:28 - Biden gets the first big laugh with a one word answer - can he reassure us he won't be a human "gaffe" machine and restrict his "verbosity" if elected?  "yes."

7:30 - Second big laugh comes from Senator Gravel -- "well how the hell did any of these

7:31 - Never thought the day would come when Senator Clinton would trumpet her time trying to create a universal health care system in this country. Then again, what if, on the night of the first Democratic presidential debate of 2004, we'd told you that Al Gore would win an Oscar for his movie about global warming?

7:40 - That whole "Your model Supreme Court Justice" thing didn't work out the way brian had planned. Probably meant someone the candidate would nominate, not their "fave"

7:42 - We missed it - did that 'show of hands' of candidates who've had guns in the house match up perfectly with the American Flag lapel pin count? people get here?!"  A lot of people are going to know Mike Gravel's name tomorrow. (Question: how did this guy ever get elected in ALASKA?) He then went on a rant about pre-emptive war with nuclear weapons and we all got a little uncomfortable.

7:50 - We're into the viewer questions now -- countdown to "have you smoked pot?" and "boxers or briefs?"

7:53 - That Gravel is the wackiest potted plant we've ever seen.

7:59 - Those leaving on TV at 8 are probably pretty disappointed in what they got for the first hour. Not much real debate thus far, a whole lot of agreement, and not nearly enough criticism of the administration for the target audience here.

8:01 - Then again, we did learn that Dennis Kucinich lives in a house he bought for $22,500

8:04 - Gravel again on our "important enemies: "We have no important enemies, what we need to do is begin to deal with the rest of the world as equals."

8:07 -- Brian tee's up Rudy Giuliani for his fear-mongering that the Republicans will protect America better than ther Democrats...  Clinton: "this administration has tried to hype the fear."  Dodd: "It's a myth."

8:10 -- Four of eight on the latest 'show of hands' "Is there a Global War on Terror?" That was a test of courage, Kucinich definitely had it.

8:15 - Hillary addresses the war vote for the 2nd time

8:16 - Not a single candidate in the latest 'show of hands' : Do you support Dennis Kucinich's measure to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney. That probably won't go over too well with the base.

8:18 - We're learning more about Kucinich. Lives in a modest house, carries a "pocket constitution". If he says he rides a bicycle to work then it's official... he's "Dave."

8:22 - Mike Gravel says "Terrorism has been with us since the beginning and it will be with us to the end. We're going to be as effective fighting 'terrorism' as we have been fighting drugs."

8:24 - Kucinich takes on Obama, the closest thing to fireworks all night. He's making Obama look like a war-hawk over Iran. Gravel joins in the smackdown.

8:26 - Can't help thinking Gravel stood out tonight in a way that Joe Biden should have.

8:30 - So that's that. It's what you get with eight politicians and 90 minutes, too many people and not enough time.

sigh... stay tuned for the 'spin room' interviews, maybe we'll get some action there.

8: 37 - Joe Biden coming up in a minute

8:40 - Governor Richardson coming up after Biden

8:45 - Chris Dodd coming up next

8:48 - Hillary Clinton is actually out on a stage speaking to supporters already -  after Dodd we'll jump into that

8:51 - Speaking of Hillary, for what it's worth, there were a lot of spouses on that stage after the debate - hers was not.

9:00 - Here come Mike Gravel

9:04 - If this guy challenges Chris to a duel, this will really have come full circle.

(and yes, we're keeping track of the "HA's")

9:11 - Obama's on the same stage Hillary was a while ago, they must have cleared out the Clinton crowd and brought in Obama's.  That lattice-work sure is spiffy.

9:12 - Dennis Kucinich with Joe Scarborough after this.

9:15 -  Wondering what that long awkard pause was all about? Keith's mic died in the middle of Tucker's report - if we had gone to his camera you would have seen him being manhandled by a tech person. Oh well, nice job Tucker.

9:20 -- It was not long ago (early '04 we think) that there was a "find a bride for Dennis Kucinich" thing his campaign was running.  We hooked him up live on Countdown, but apparently it didn't work out. In the meantime, he appears to have done just fine on his own.

9:31 -- ok, the blog team had to run out and smoke - did we miss anything?

9:32 -- Yikes!!  We got back in time to hear Chris say "dickin' around", so I guess we couldn't have missed anything better than that.

9:35 - A live booking war going on between Chris, Keith & Joe for Obama!  It's all in good fun (or is it?)

ok, enough already. Talk amongst yourselves...

No Countdown tonight, Keith is at South Carolina State University to cover tonight's Democratic debate.

Keith and Chris Matthews will host the pre-game coverage beginning at 6pm ET on MSNBC, then Brian Williams moderates the debate from 7:00 to 8:30, with Keith and Chris returning afterward for comprehensive analysis and interviews with the candidates until midnight.

We'll also be live-blogging best we can during the event.

A couple of non-debate related stories to note...

DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL John McCain, the Republican Senator who just happened to mention yesterday that he's running for president, also just happened to mention that he thinks Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should resign. Why hasn't he mentioned this before? He says it is because nobody ever asked him. "He's not serving the president well," McCain said, "I reached that conclusion a long time ago. I just haven't been asked." He may not be on the Judiciary Committee, but as a candidate for the nation's highest office, that's no excuse. Can't help but wonder what else is on the list of things he hasn't weighed in on because no one has thought to ask, can you?

Update: It's not true, he had been asked.

SEE YOU IN SEPTEMBER This just came to our attention. The Iraqi parliament is taking the summer off. The entire summer... July and August... eight weeks... regardless of whether it has reached agreement on the issues that have paralyzed the political process, and thus, the entire country. And for that, the political process in this country is approaching paralysis as well. For that, 3,334 (and counting) Americans in uniforms have died. How many more will be dead by September?

On the fourth anniversary of his infamous 'Mission Accomplished' speech on board the USS Abraham Lincoln, the president will likely veto the bill that would begin to bring the troops home from that mission.

The $124.2 billion war funding legislation, passed by the Senate today by a 51-46 margin, would require the start of troop withdrawals from Iraq by October 1.

The Senate said the bill was on track to arrive on the president's desk
by Tuesday, four years to the day after President Bush's announcement that major combat operations in Iraq had ended.

Michelle Malkin shows once again why she's the intellectual superstar of conservative punditry. Combining substantive debate, scathing satire and top-notch production values, Malkin makes the strongest case yet for staying the course in Iraq - no matter what the Generals say.

[YouTube:tt_YcQlYxyY]

fyi: That vile, smear-merchant website MediaMatters has the full context of Harry Reid's comments.

click to WATCH VIDEO

"Rather than a reasoned discussion — rather than a political campaign
advocating your own causes and extolling your own qualifications — you
have bypassed all the intermediate steps and moved directly to trying
to terrorize the electorate into viewing a vote for a Democrat, not as
a reasonable alternative and an inalienable right ... but as an act of
suicide."

Full Transcript

The Politics of Fear:  If you had hoped the 2008 election cycle might move the national debate beyond the politics of fear, if you had expected more out of the candidate who had been there when the World Trade Center fell, if you had imagined that on the very day Congress was debating a phased withdrawal from Iraq the Commander in Chief might do more than dance... literally dance... It seems that you have been expecting way too much out of your elected leaders.

Scabdalabra: Gonzales-gate escalates. The attorney general goes to Capitol Hill to try to patch things up, instead he gets news of a possible no confidence vote and an offer of immunity to top aide. Monica Goodling.

ODDBALL: The Countdown Cool-Ass Robot if the week, is actually kinda creepy -- and decorating tips for Karl Rove, what to do with all that shredded paper!

Factor Fiction: Bill O'Reilly has declared was on the website Media Matters, so we decided to investigate to see what all the fuss was about. Turns out they do the slimiest thing: They take direct quotes of Billo lying, offending, or otherwise making a fool of himself, and post them... in context!

Ro Better Blues: Rosie O'Donnell is leaving 'The View', was because of her views? The line to claim responsibility forms to the right.

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD: Glenn Beck suddenly cares about the Iraqi people when it's politically convenient,  Rush Limbaugh figures he's got a "Be A Racist For Free" card, and Congressman Dana Rohrabacher tells Americans opposed to the US taking suspects to other countries where torture is allowed: "I hope it's your families that suffer the consequences."

They Hate Us For Our Freedom
: A survivor of 9/11 threatens voters with a new 9/11 if they dare to vote for anyone but him. Why is Giuliani trying to terrorize the electorate?

Keith Olbermann will deliver a Special Comment tonight on the remarkable and disappointing fear-mongering of politician Rudy Giuliani. The following is a preview...(click here for video & transcript)

How dare you, Sir?

"How many casualties will we have?" - this is the language of Bin Laden.
Yours, Mr. Giuliani, is the same chilling nonchalance of the madman, of the proselytizer who has moved even from some crude framework of politics and society, into a virtual Roman Colosseum of carnage, and a conceit over your own ability -- and worthiness -- to decide, who lives and who dies.
Rather than a reasoned discussion -- rather than a political campaign advocating your own causes and extolling your own qualifications -- you have bypassed all the intermediate steps, and moved directly to trying to terrorize the electorate into viewing a vote for a Democrat, not as a reasonable alternative and an inalienable right... but as an act of suicide.

This is not the mere politicizing of Iraq, nor the vague mumbled epithets about Democratic 'softness' from a delusional Vice President.
This is casualties on a partisan basis -- of the naked assertion that Mr. Giuliani's party knows all and will save those who have voted for it -- and to hell with everybody else.
And that he, with no foreign policy experience whatsoever, is somehow the Messiah-of-the-moment.

Even to grant that that formula - whether posed by Republican or Democrat - is somehow not the most base, the most indefensible, the most Un-American electioneering in our history - even if it is somehow acceptable to assign "casualties" to one party and 'safety' to the other - even if we have become so profane in our thinking that it is part of our political vocabulary to view counter-terror as one party's property and the other's liability... on what imaginary track record does Mr. Giuliani base his boast?

Countdown tonight 8pm ET/ 5pm PT

FULL TRANSCRIPT & VIDEO

Charles Ommanney / Getty Images

TIME Magazine's Joe Klein has an amusing translation at Swampland of Vice President Dick Cheney's impromptu press conference yesterday.

CHENEY:  Maybe it's a political calculation. Some Democratic leaders seem to
believe that blind opposition to the new strategy in Iraq is good
politics. Senator Reid himself has said that the war in Iraq will bring
his party more seats in the next election. It is cynical to declare
that the war is lost because you believe it gives you political
advantage. Leaders should make decisions based on the security
interests of our country, not on the interests of their political party.

Translation: We have never played politics with Iraq. We didn't
schedule the initial authorization vote for just before the 2002
elections. We didn't cook the intel. We had nothing to do with the
Mission Accomplished banner. The Navy told Bush to put on the flight
suit. We didn't ignore the insurgency and spend vast resources on the
Iraq Survey Group to look for non-existent WMD. Karl Rove never told
Republicans they could use the war for their benefit. We never
questioned the patriotism of people who opposed the war. I'm not
questioning Harry Reid's patriotism now. And if you can't get that
through your thick heads, you stupid, stupid Americans...you stupid
Americans impatient with our master plan for VICTORY in the middle
east...you...you... well then, as I once explained to Pat Leahy
[expletive deleted].

Rudy Giuliani is apparently eager to show Republican primary voters that he can use wild scare tactics with the best of 'em, warning a crowd of supporters of a 'new 9/11' should a Democrat win the White House.

If you expected more out of the man who was there when the WTC fell, than to use that day as a divisive political tool, you're not alone.

But for some reason Giuliani needs to show the '30 percenters' that he will stay the course -- not just on policy, but on empty, discredited rhetoric as well:

'They hate us for our freedom.' 

Yes, he actually said that.

Update: Barack Obama has issued a statement: "Rudy Giuliani today has taken the politics of fear to a new low and I
believe Americans are ready to reject those kind of politics."

Keith Olbermann will deliver a Special Comment on Giuliani tonight.

Some of the other stories we're working on...

TURD-BLOSSOMING DEVELOPMENT
We now know why the Office of Special Counsel opened its investigation into Karl Rove and other White House officials. David Iglesias, who was fired from his post as U.S. Attorney for the state of New Mexico, told MSNBC's Hardball last night that he'd filed a Hatch Act complaint with the OSC earlier this month.
Iglesias believes Mr. Rove (and others) may have violated the law by firing him for failing to launch partisan-motivated prosecutions.

CLEAN SLATE EXPRESS
Senator John McCain makes another attempt at officially announcing his campaign for President today. So long as he doesn't sing about bombing Iran before his noon rally at Prescott Park in Portsmouth, NH... it looks promising that this launch might actually take. 

THE DEAD-ENDER
President Bush might call himself the Decider, but we
doubt this new moniker from Ron Brownstein of the Los
Angeles Times is something he's ever going to use
himself. Countdown's certainly ready to put it into
circulation though. Brownstein's thesis: that on the
three issues of Iraq, stem cells and global warming
(surely there are more?) Mr. Bush is steadfastly (some
might say stubbornly) holding onto his beliefs as
everyone else has, shall we say, evolved. It's
Wednesday's must read. Get crackin'.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK 1 "I'm not going to get into a name-calling match with somebody who has a 9 percent approval rating."

- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Vice President Dick Cheney

QUOTE OF THE WEEK 2 "It was a bit of a shock to find a man and a horse asleep in the foyer of the bank. I rang the police straight away."

- "Local man," Stephan Hanelt

This one's gaining steam in the blogosphere tonight, a parody song played on the radio by Rush Limbaugh: "Barack the Magic Negro," sung by a white guy doing an Al Sharpton impersonation.

Yeah, they're gonna love this.

The video, apparently done after the fact by a third party, but the audio is from Rush's show.

[YouTube:TJb-qUaSa38]

Rush's defense of course, will be that it was the LA Times that started the whole "magic negro" meme in respect to Obama -- much like the Imus' defense, that black rappers invented the term "Ho" -- so Rush can hardly be blamed for so enthusiastically running with this when he's clearly holding a "Be A Racist For Free" card.

Alison Stewart is in for Keith tonight...

True Heroes :The death of Pat Tillman and the rescue of Jessica Lynch...both stories falsley portrayed by military and administration officials, both stories used to distract Americans and the media from the mistakes in Iraq. Both stories set straight before congress today.

Turd-Blossoming Investigation:A special counsel is looking into the political moves of Karl Rove from inside the White House. He vows that no stone will go unturned, but just how serious is this investigation, or is it a political smokescreen?

ODDBALL: It's raining women in Australia, Captain America hits rock bottom, and the fastest way to add years to your jail sentence is demonstrated in an Oregon courtroom.

The '08 Horserace: The big momentum in the Democratic race for president. Can Barack Obama do anything to stop his progress in the money race and the polls?  Is it critical Hillary Clinton slam the breaks on the Obama express?

Seriously Distracted Driving:  New details about the car crash involving New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine. Did a love triangle distract the trooper behind the wheel of that speeding SUV?
 
Support the Troops : Paying tribute to the  troops. John Mellencamp this week singing for wounded vets at Walter Reed. How did the loud voice against the war get picked for the performance... and what does he hope to accomplish?

Some of what we're working on for tonight...

Karl Rove is going to be investigated... again. But what makes this one different, and potentially more dangerous for the White House and Bush's Brain, is that it has been launched not by Democrats in Congress, but by the administration's own Office of Special Counsel, headed by Bush appointee Scott J. Bloch.

The LA Times reports the obscure investigative unit will launch a broad inquiry into Rove's political operations, it will examine the firing of at least one U.S. attorney, those missing White House
e-mails, and the efforts to keep presidential appointees
attuned to Republican political priorities.

"We will take the evidence where it leads us," Bloch told the Times Monday. "We will not leave any stone unturned."

Time to start hiding the stones.


AND HOW'S YOUR MEMORY, PAUL?
Just another reason for Alberto Gonzales to have agita... Deputy Attorney General Paul 'don't call me Jimmy'  McNulty will be interviewed behind closed doors by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday, a week after his boss's nationally televised amnesia attack. Just answer as honestly as you can, Deputy, and try not to contradict the boss. Or the boss's boss.

'WE OWE OUR TROOPS THE TRUTH' Dramatic testimony underway before the House today, as Congress examines "misleading information from the battlefield" in the cases of Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman.

WATCH LIVE VIDEO of the hearings.

THEY KNOW FROM LOSS
More than 200 University professors in Iraq have been
killed in the past few years, never mind the number of
students, making the banner hung at Baghdad Technology
University that much more poignant. "We, the students
of Technology University, denounce the attack at
Virginia Tech. We extend our condolences to the
families of the victims who faced a situation as bad
as Iraq's universities do. The sanctity of campuses
must be protected around the world."

COALITION OF THE LEAVING
Did you know that Romania still has troops in Iraq?
Well if you didn't, it looks like you may not have to
remember for much longer. On Monday, Romanian Prime
Minister Tariceanu said he was likely to propose
bringing home his country's 600 troops from in Iraq at the next meeting of the Romanian defense council, which he might call in the
next three weeks.

Time to update the list.