Stunt McMan:  That a man cannot be in two places at once, one of the axioms of the universe. As a metaphor for opinion, a politician disproves it an average of once every six hours. John McCain today somehow managed to be in three places at once. Our fifth story on the Countdown: the Republican nominee with a metaphysical hat trick. He insisted again this is not the time to be allocating blame for the bailout failure. His campaign, a quarter of an hour later, releasing a commercial... blaming Obama for the bailout failure. And the Republican Party issued its own commercial that only showed up today... blaming Obama for the passage of the bailout -- the one that didn't pass. Senator McCain tonight... is in three places at once.

Vice Squad:  The most recent and astonishing Sarah Palin gaffe is one we have not yet seen.  It is an exchange wherein Katie Couric asks the governor about major Supreme Court decisions.  Asked to cite one besides Roe vee Wade, Governor Palin reportedly falls silent.  No Brown v Board of Education, Plessy v Ferguson, or even Bush v Gore. None of the customary non-sequitors or Tina Fey-esque stammering -- simply crickets.  According to Politico dot com -- an unnamed Palin aide is supposedly furious at the network for leaking the contents of the interview. Ms. Couric confirmed the topic, but not the answer, and that CBS will air it, alongside Senator Biden's answer to the same question, tomorrow. Our fourth story on the Countdown: and then... Camp Palin has a debate Thursday.

ODDBALL: a teen wins the lottery and a bear goes to the hospital

OH 8:  It sounds horribly familiar to anyone who remembers 2004. Republicans trying to stop same-day voter registration and photographing license plates to try and prove voter fraud. This - in our third story on the Countdown -as early voting gets underway in the state that gave George Bush the last election - Ohio.

Worsties...see below.

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD: Two crooks, Bill-O and Michelle Bachmann vie for top honors.

Mashed Potato:   There is perhaps no greater conceivable rebuke. A former speechwriter for the current President, so dismayed by the current nominee for Vice President that he has just said... in essence: "Governor Palin, I knew Dan Quayle. "And you're no Dan Quayle." In our number one story on the Countdown: Governor Palin must be wishing she could trade Mr. Quayle: His potato for her... everything else.

No Deal:  Senator McCain and his advisers, who last Wednesday had warned that this nation would be in the midst of another Great Depression by today unless Congress passed bailout legislation...This morning, claiming credit for building a winning coalition of votes in the House to pass that bailout bill and, thus, save the American economy. Only one problem: The bailout bill failing in the House when 67% of Republicans voted against it... And the stock market promptly losing seven percent of its value. Senator McCain -- in our fifth story on the Countdown -- having led his party and his country... to Congressional chaos and an economy in crisis.  Mission Accomplished!

Krugman is here:  Writing on his blog for the New York Times this afternoon, columnist Paul Kroogman awarded the top headline to Market-Watch's Rex Nutting: "House To Wall Street: Drop Dead." But he also re-submitted his own writing after the first bailout deal collapsed last Thursday:  "What we now have is non-functional government in the face of a major crisis, because Congress includes a quorum of crazies and nobody trusts the White House an inch. As a friend said last night, we've become a banana republic with nukes." Our fourth story on the Countdown... what the quorum of crazies and the banana republic with nukes means for you...

ODDBALL: Bruno crashes the party and a kid crashes behind the Canadian PM

Poll to Poll:  Just one day after John McCain scolded Barrock Obama in the debate Friday for the naivete of his foreign policy, McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, came out in favor... of Obama's position. Just one reason our third story should come as no surprise... a clear lead for Obama... gelling in two national polls...

Worsties...see below.

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD: Sean Hannity, Barack Obama and Karl Rove vie for tonight's top honors.

Twist of Fey:  In 1975 and 1976 Chevy Chase single-handedly established the indelible comedic caricature of President Gerald Ford as an unending physical risk -- a man who might fall down, or trip over something, at any moment. Last winter, Saturday Night Live established a meme of a media in the tank for Barack Obama, which promptly begat a conversion of the Clinton campaign into a serious version of the same martyrdom, and has, in a kind of political grand-child, the non-stop whining of the McCain Campaign about media bias -- even though most of it seems to benefit its own candidate. Our number one story on the Countdown: public ridicule as critical political component. And here it comes again with what is reportedly week two, of a seven-week cameo, of Tina Fey, as Sarah Palin. Some of her lights-out impression didn't even require any new material.

Suspending Disbe:  The bipartisan leadership of the Senate, this afternoon reaching "fundamental agreement" on principles for a bailout bill... Amid a financial crisis purportedly so "urgent"... the Republican nominee pretending to suspend his campaign to attend to it. Which he might have been able to do... had he not metaphorically **parachuted** into the Capitol as the agreement was already being announced. Our fifth story on the Countdown: Late this afternoon, House Republicans abandoning the agreement... to float an entirely new plan... starting over from scratch. The only urgency for House Republicans... the White House... and the McCain campaign concerning the bailout... is that Senator McCain be seen taking credit for it.

McMismanagement:  It may take some time to adequately assess just how much Senator John McCain contributed to the ever-changing mess of today's bailout, turning suddenly into a craft bailing water... But the Senator's non-suspension suspension of his campaign injected presidential politics into it, instead of making the process more bi-partisan. And his stance may still scuttle an actual presidential debate in favor of a false one, full of surrogates and lies. So in our fourth story on the Countdown... what does all of it say about his management style... His ability to be the President?

ODDBALL: A corn maze sarah palin, and oddball's favorite criminal rides again

Baked Alaskan:  The first irreparable crack might have come the day it was first suggested that any Governor of Alaska had inherent foreign policy credentials because, at the Bering Strait, Alaska is just 53 miles away from Russia. That the governor's residence in Juneau is actually only about 130 miles closer to the Russian capital in Moscow than is New York City to Moscow... Reduced that thin gruel to a transparency. And now in our third story on the Countdown, in her latest interview, the Governor seems to have reduced herself... to a punch-line. Part two of Sarah Palin's interview with Katie Couric of CBS... And the wheels have fallen off the whole "I Can See Russia From My House" thing.

Worsties...see below. 

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD: Neil Cavuto,  Thomas Soderman, and Steve Doocy vie for tonight's top honors.

The Littlest Idol:  In understanding the relevance of John McCain's non-appearance on Late Night With David Letterman, there is one paramount fact about one of the nights he did make it: February 28th 2007. That's when -- and where -- McCain announced... he was running for President. Our number one story on the Countdown: in absentia what McCain said -- and didn't say -- to Letterman, may ultimately prove to have been even more important than the time he told him he was announcing his candidacy. Letterman says McCain called him, personally, after 3 P-M yesterday, to explain his own bail-out. Said he was rushing to the airport to get back to Washington, and suspending the campaign. But in the middle of the taping of the show, Letterman was advised, to his great surprise, that McCain had gone not to D-C, but to 57th Street, to tape a different interview with the same network, without telling Letterman -- or anybody at his show. The worst was yet to come. McCain didn't even go to Washington after the Couric interview -- he was still in New York -- and still campaigning, at the Clinton Global Initiative, this morning. Hours after a McCain spokesperson revealed McCain's story to Letterman was... simply... a lie.

The Politics of Pause:  And when the story of that Presidential Election is written... These last ten days may be noted, as the time John McCain stopped running against Barack Obama, and started running against Freedom of the Press, the First Amendment, and reality. The New York Times revealed today that McCain's Campaign manager did not stop receiving payments of 15-thousand a month from the failed mortgage giant Freddie Mac years ago as McCain claimed... but only last month... so the campaign responded with the wrath of a thwarted child. Our fifth story on the Countdown: and with every poll and every measure of momentum against him, Senator McCain suddenly announced it was necessary for him to stop campaigning for a time so that the nation could focus on the economic crisis for which he has tried to blame Senator Obama, and, oh by the way, postpone Friday's presidential debate. Till when? December?

Fit to be Tied:  So far, but one discernable upside of Senator McCain's decision to suspend his campaign and postpone the first debate: In our fourth story on the Countdown: It all but obliterated today's news that the lobbying firm of McCain campaign manager Rick Davis has been receiving secret monthly payments of 15,000 dollars from the failed mortgage giant Freddie Mac... The most recent one coming **last** month... and not **years ago** as Senator McCain himself recently claimed.

ODDBALL: a model takes a header, and the RCA dome loses its air

Numb and Number:  Earlier today, our Kelly O'Donnell spoke with McCain advisors who insisted the campaign suspension had nothing to do with sliding poll numbers. They insisted this is, quote, "an even race." In our third story tonight... yah. The numbers in a moment, but as Politico dot-com's Ben Smith put it today, quote, "The only thing that's changed in the last 48 hours is the public polling." So, who's right?  Even race... or a change in public polling?

Worsties...see below. 

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD:  Captain Scott Oltman and First Officer Dillon Shepley, Mark Salter, and Rush Limbaugh vie for tonight's top honors.

Palintology:   As if the Palin-McCain -- sorry McCain-Palin -- campaign weren't desperate enough today... In our number one story on the Countdown... a trifecta... for Governor Palin. Officially stonewalling on Troopergate. On the same day that a video re-surfaces of her witch-obsessed pastor laying hands on her, three years ago. And on that persistent issue of foreign policy experience, Governor Palin does not have it... so says the First Lady... Laura Bush. Troopergate first.

All of you Late Night fans tuning in to see John McCain with David Letterman tonight will be in for a real treat.  McCain canceled...and wouldn't cha know who they called and asked to fill in?

Debt Con Five:  If the proposed bailout of the banking industry were a country -- It would be the 21st biggest country in the world. If it were a state -- It would be equal to three Ohios. If it were a conflict -- It would pay for three wars in Iraq (so far). In our fifth story on the Countdown: If you were spending 700-Billion dollars on something -- or 700-Billion dollars on this something -- Wouldn't you demand some answers about what, exactly, you were buying?

You Say Dubai, I say Hello:  In TV news, as in politics, there is one thing you must never, ever do. It's this. (((pause ))) Our fourth story tonight, the politics... of -- waiting.

ODDBALL: road grading, astronaut father and sons and a chicken wearing a shirt.

Pool Cues:  Sarah Palin landed in the New York area last night, and today kicked off a 2-day international tour of sorts... meeting with a round of high-profile world leaders during the United Nations General Assembly.

Obama One on One:  This year if you want to get specific about the sunshine state, the phrase for election night may not be Florida, Florida, Florida...but Tampa, Tampa, Tampa. The latest NBC News/Mason-Dixon polling shows Barack Obama now up two in Florida.. Pollsters who know about these things point to Obama's performance in the Tampa Bay area as the reason for his edge.

Will to Power:   In his column today, the conservative icon George Will reveals that John McCain may have just lost one of his most important conservative constituencies... George Will. Our number-one story...a small-c conservative who is often also a big-c Conservative suggests that McCain is just... too risky. The highlights?

Here's the article in Contingencies Magazine containing McCain's line, "Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation."

(Here's the corresponding Obama piece in the same publication.)

Progressive Accountability tallies McCain's pork.

Keith introduced Oddball on Friday with the note that it was the anniversary of the first Mary Tyler Moore show. Watch Episode 1, Season 1 on Hulu for free.

Panda Land at Adventure World, home of the two new panda cubs.

Here's the 1999 Christian Science Monitor article describing Thomas Muthee's "Mama Jane" witch hunting incident.

The Web site devoted to transparency in government as a result of the efforts Senators Coburn and Obama and with the support of Senator McCain is USASpending.gov.

And here's the "singing road" in Lancaster, California that is grooved to vibrate car tires to the tune of The William Tell Overture.

Health Care Deform:  There is a man running for president who actually believes -- right now -- that deregulation has been a great thing for the U-S economy... He has surrounded himself with lobbyists who made millions pushing for the regulatory changes that facilitated the current crisis... And he thinks that deregulation of the banking industry has been so great... we should do the exact same thing with -- make that "to" -- health care. Naturally his campaign today conducted a conference call to announce the New York Times can no longer be considered a news organization... and when Politico-Dot-Com chronicles the factual errors the campaign makes during the conference call... the campaign declares the Politico writer is quote "in the tank." Our fifth story on the Countdown: The Political Implosion of John McCain.

Risk and Reword:  Nothing like an intensely complicated economic problem, multiplied by urgency phrased in the most cataclysmic of terms... to bring out contradictory answers from the Presidential candidates. The switch here is: Senators McCain and Obama don't seem to disagree with each other. The conflict seems to be between... Senator McCain... and Senator McCain. Our fourth story on the Countdown: the Treasury Secretary pressing Congress to approve, without changes or significant debate, an unprecedented financial bail out -- funded by tax payers -- that could reach a trillion dollars. And, oh by the way, give him all the power... and none of the accountability.

ODDBALL: a radio station goes up in flames, and David Blaine just goes up

EarMcMarks:  To hear John McCain tell it, when it comes to earmarks -- those pet projects funded by federal legislation-- he is a modern-day Vincent van Gogh. In our third story tonight, his opposition to earmarks... the foundation, one might even say a fundamental... of his campaign. Turns out those fundamentals aren't too sound either. Or too true.

Worsties...see below.

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD:  Paul Lindemann, Steve Doocy, and Neil Cavuto vie for tonight's top honors.

Yankee Dawdle Dandee:   That the history of Yankee Stadium in New York stretches back to 1923, you probably already know...That "Win One For The Gipper" was coined there, you might have heard. That Aryan Supremacy was first vanquished there, probably not. That there may be a sliver of doubt that last night's game there really was the last to be played in the facility is probably a complete surprise to you. An explanation in a moment. But in our number one story on the Countdown, Yankee Stadium not only hosted Babe Ruth, but it was also played in, by men who started playing baseball in the 19th Century.  And by Fred Merkle, whose involvement in the most controversial moment in the sport's history will be remembered on its Centennial...tomorrow. First the end of Yankee Stadium. Probably.

The Twitter account at Twitter.com/CountdownMSNBC is now set up to automatically deliver links to show clips, blog entries and even Keith's Daily Kos posts.

It's the Economy Stupor:  The Presidential candidate said if he were in office now, he'd respond to the financial crisis by firing the chairman of the SEC... evidently not knowing the president can't fire the chairman of the SEC. The Vice Presidential candidate responded by apparently demoting him... referring to an administration in which her name comes first. Our fifth story on the Countdown: Senator McCain and Governor Palin -- or Governor Palin and Senator McCain -- pretty much squeezed Senator Obama out of the headlines today. And with headlines like these... one would assume Obama's pretty happy with that.

Map Quest:  For the third day in a row, starting with Sarah Palin's tanning bed... the McCain camp's explanation for some problem or other... is causing even more problems than the original problem. In our fourth story tonight, is Spain in Europe?  Is it in Latin America? Or is it in the Axis of Evil?

ODDBALL: Bear-chase ends, and baseball hazing.

"It's a Stretch":  The prominent Senate Republican who traveled with Senator Obama on his trip to Iraq and Afghanistan... and who later skipped the GOP convention... has now answered the question so few have been willing to bluntly address. In our third story on the Countdown... Is Governor Sarah Palin ready to be President? Quoting -- "I think it's a stretch to, in any way, to say that she's got the experience to be president of the United States." That, from... Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska.

Worsties...see below.

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD: Bill-O the clown, Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, and the Virginia GOP vie for tonight's top honors.

Palinanity:   In two weeks, support for the McCain-Palin ticket by white women dropped... 21 points. The presidential candidate learned, at age 71, that the White House can't fire the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. One of his converts from Senator Clinton's camp said Mr. McCain would be nicer than would Obama, to quote "rednecks," un-quote. The Vice Presidential candidate confirmed she installed a tanning bed in the governor's mansion, revealed she didn't know what the Bush Doctrine was, wasn't sure if she'd immediately accepted a spot on the ticket or had a family vote first, and listed herself before the Presidential candidate. And we haven't even gotten to the stuff on Fox News in the last 24 hours. Our number one story on the Countdown: for the G-O-P and its television network, a kind of perfect storm.

It's the Economy Stupid  McCain campaign adviser Rick Davis declared the presidency would be decided on personalities and not the issues. Americans are tonight declaring otherwise. One issue, paramount: The Economy. Our fifth story on the Countdown: in heavy trading today, the Dow dropped four percent... and Senator John McCain... dropped seven.

The Palin Truth:  How easily the simplest truths are... to forget. When riding the Alger Hiss perjury case to political prominence, Richard Nixon observed "The Cover-Up Is Worse Than The Crime." 22 years later during Watergate, the thought... apparently never crossed his mind. Our fourth story on the Countdown: in 1991, John McCain probably saved his career by abjectly admitting to his stupidity and impropriety in the Keating Five scandal. Now, running for President, he seems to be doing everything he can to turn whatever messy, regional, embarrassment comprises Trooper-Gate, into a cover-up of national proportions.

ODDBALL: BEAR CHASE!!!

Election Detection:  The Republican Party Office for Macomb County, Michigan, just happens to be in the same building as the state's leading foreclosure firm. The company's boss has donated and raised a couple of hundred thousand dollars for the G-O-P. So our third story on the Countdown seems, in retrospect, inevitable. The Macomb County Republicans decided to try to deny the vote to people -- most of them African-Americans -- whose homes had been foreclosed on.

Worsties...see below.

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD: Rupert, Billo and Rush vie for tonight's top honors.

Disappear:   Two weeks ago, a little before 9 P-M Eastern Time, the fired Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina spoke -- albeit not very well -- on behalf of John McCain at the Republican National Convention. In our number one story on the Countdown: to quote one of McCain's Senior Advisors, "Carly Will Now Disappear." Yesterday, one of Senator McCain's advisors said something true about the candidate, on this very network, and is now banned from making tv appearances. So based on that logic, the McCain advisors who are still allowed to show their faces are... Well... all of them except Ms. Fiorina.

Trail Fix:  Our sister network CNBC reporting that the Fed has agreed to extend an 85-billion dollar loan to the insurance giant AIG in exchange for an 80% stake in the company...Thus, tonight, as the Wall Street's Wild West Meltdown worsens --  Senator McCain having dinner with two families in Youngstown, Ohio... After economist and columnist Paul Kroogman compared his approach, and his language, to that of President Herbert Hoover at the start of the Great Depression... No word yet on whether the menu consisted of a chicken in every pot. Our fifth story on the Countdown: The Democratic Nominee rolled out a plan to try to address the crisis spreading outwards from the Mortgage Industry... The Republican Nominee admitted he had oversight of every part of the economy that has hemmorhaged... he called for a long-term study of some sort..

Beyond the Palin: "I am one of the journalists accused over the years of being in the tank for McCain," writes Richard Cohen of The Washington Post today. "Guilty," he confesses. "It had to do with integrity," Cohen explains. It all unravelled for him today... Cohen turned him into little McCain pieces. Quotes: "He has become the sort of politician he once despised.... "McCain has turned ugly..." "McCain lied about his lying..." And... "Once is tragedy, a second time is farce. John McCain is both.  Our fourth story on the Countdown: Mr. Cohen never even mentioned Governor Palin... New polling on her suggests she has, in Newsweek's terms, gone, quote "from being the most popular White House hopeful... to the least."

ODDBALL: Doggie DNA and a woman meets a short man.

Vice is No Defense:  It is almost heart-breaking to consider, but what if all that stood between us and the Iraq War... 41-hundred Americans dead... hundreds of billions gone... American influence, respect, sympathy from 9/11 squandered... was a single lie, behind closed doors, from one man to another? In our third story tonight, this, from the new book,

Worsties...see below.

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD: G. Gordon Liddy,  Kevin D. Williamson, and Eddie Burke vie for tonight's top honors.

MacBerry:   March 9th, 1999. Asked what distinguished him from fellow Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Bradley, Al Gore started talking about technology in the 21st Century and mentioned that while in Congress, quote, "I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system." Thus was born the urban legend that Al Gore ever claimed he had invented the internet. Tonight, in our Number One story on the Countdown, the former Vice President can finally sleep the sleep of he who has been shunted out of the "what-the-what-the" limelight. This will be the day the story began, that John McCain claimed he invented... the blackberry.

Related, mostly primary source links to recent stories covered on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann:

A lot of people, including NY Times columnist Paul Krugman on Monday night's Countdown, are comparing John McCain's insistence that the economy is fundamentally strong with Herbert Hoover's insistence that the economy under his administration was fundamentally sound on the eve of the Great Depression. The actual Hoover quote is, "The fundamental business of the country, that is, the production and distribution of commodities, is on a very sound and prosperous basis." This remark came in a press conference on Friday, October 25th, following Black Thursday, and in advance of the big crash of "Tragic Tuesday," October 29th.

Talking Points Memo has assembled an efficient clip for those who need a reminder of McCain economic advisor Phil Gramm's July statements about a "mental recession" and America being a "nation of whiners."

National Constitution Center and Associated Press poll reveals American oppose giving the president more power.

The complete list of Shea Stadium items up for auction is here and if you plan on buying something you might consider joining the Shea Stadium "Premiere Club."

The place to find NBC's electoral map projections and make your own is on the msnbc.com Politics page.

Tune in to Countdown with Keith Olbermann tonight at 8p ET for our cable news exclusive interview with the author of "Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency", Barton Gellman. The Dick Armey story alone is worth tuning in for...we hope you'll join us.

Fundamental Error:  The clang of the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange this morning... might as well have been the ringing of the first proverbial 3am phone call of the presidential campaign. In our fifth story on the Countdown: With an economy in crisis, on hold... The Republican nominee all but calling -- as did his chief economic adviser, Former Senator Phil Gramm -- anyone now complaining about, or worried by, the state of the nation's economy... a whiner.

Karl "The Truth" Rove:  It's not just the New York Times and the ladies of "The View" any more. Our fourth story on the Countdown, even Fox News and Karl Rove are calling out the McCain campaign for lying.

ODDBALL: A firesale at Shea Stadium, and a groundhog with a coffee cup stuck on his head

The Numbers Game:  As he has admitted the economy is not his strongest subject... So too have numbers not been Senator McCain's best friend. Final numbers, anyway. The Campaign claimed a Fire Marshal had estimated the crowd at its rally five days ago at Fairfax City, Virginia, at 23,000 people. The City Fire Marshall's Office says it made no such estimate. Reporters say it was closer to eight-thousand. Our third story on the Countdown: there are other estimates tonight that the McCain Campaign hope don't undergo similar shrinkage... Estimates of the Electoral College vote.

Worsties...see below.

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD: Rupert, Sean Hannity and Bill-O the clown vie for tonight's top honors.

Sarah Smile:  You like Ice Cream? Would you like to have it, every meal for two weeks? Everybody, eventually, would get sick of it -- especially if it turned out it wasn't really ice cream, but just frozen paint. Our number one story on the Countdown: hence the dismissive phrase, "Flavor Of The Month" -- and its applicability... to Governor Sarah Palin. Among the latest pieces of... frozen paint... She appointed a high-school classmate... to the top Agriculture position... after that applicant cited her childhood love of cows. And, just confirmed tonight, she installed a tanning bed in the Governor's mansion.  And, after Tina Fey portrayed her on Saturday Night Live, a McCain advisor called Ms. Fey's performance quote "sexist." Even though Ms. Fey, Ms. Palin, and the advisor -- Carly Fiorina -- are all women.

Thus tonight -- as promised -- a Special Comment about our sad anniversary tomorrow.

Or, more correctly, what our sad anniversary tomorrow has been turned into by the presidential administration, and the current Republican candidates for President and Vice President.

This is supposed to be a day of remembrance. Remembrance of the attack, remembrance of the national unity which followed it.

Most important of all, remembrance of the dead.

But 9/11 has become…... a brand name.

A Republican campaign slogan.

Propaganda of the lowest form.

9/11 has become… 9/11 with a trademark logo.

9/11 (TM) has sustained a president who long ago should have been dismissed, or impeached. It has kept him and his gang of financial and constitutional crooks in office without - literally - any visible means of support.

9/11 (TM) has made possible the greatest sleight-of-hand in our nation's history.

The political party in office at the time of the attacks, at the local, state and national levels, the party which uniformly ignored the warnings -- and the presidential administration already through twenty percent of its first term and no longer wet behind the ears -- have not only thus far escaped any blame for the malfeasance and criminal neglect that allowed the attacks to occur, but that presidency and that party, have managed to make it seem as if the other political party would be solely and irredeemably responsible for any similar catastrophe in the future.

Thus, Senator McCain, were you able to accomplish a further inversion of reality at your party's nominating convention last week.

There was the former Mayor of the City of New York -- the one who took no counter-terrorism measure in his seven years in office between the first attack on the World Trade Center, and the second attack.

Nothing, except to insist -- despite all advice and warning - that his Emergency Command Center be moved directly into the World Trade Center.

Yet there was this man, Sir - Rudolph Giuliani -- quite succinctly dismissed as "A Noun, a Verb, and 9/11," and repudiated even by Republican voters -- transformed into the keynote speaker, Senator McCain -- at your convention.

And his childish, squealing, braying, Tourette's-like repetition of 9/11 (TM), was greeted not as conclusive evidence that he is consumed by massive guilt - hard-earned guilt, in fact - but rather as some kind of political tour-de-force, an endorsement of your Vice Presidential nominee, a rookie governor -- a facile and slick con artist.

The blind endorsing the bland, to a chorus of 9/11 (TM), 9/11 (TM), 9/11 (TM.)

Your ringing mindless cheer of "We've Kept You Safe Since Then"...

While nobody asks "doesn't then count?"

All of this, sadistically disrespecting the dead of New York, and Washington, and Shanksville…

Endorsed,  Senator McCain…

Exploited, Senator McCain…

Trademarked, Senator McCain… by you.

And yet of course the exact moment in which Senator McCain's Republicans showed the nation exactly how far they have fallen from the Better Angels of Mr. Lincoln's Nature, came the next night.

The television networks were told that the Convention would pause, early in the evening, when children could still be watching, for a 9/11 Tribute, and they were encouraged to broadcast it.

What we got was not a tribute to the dead of 9/11, nor even a tribute to the responders, or the singularity of purpose we all felt.

The Republicans gave us sociological pornography… a virtual snuff film.

Years ago, responsible television networks, to the applause of the nation, and the relief of its mental health authorities, voluntarily stopped showing the most graphic of the images of the World Trade Center, except with the strongest of warnings.

And yet, the Republicans, at their convention, having virtually seized control of the cable news operations, showed... the worst of it.

This is all anyone with a conscience can show you of what the Republicans showed you.

The actual collapse of the smoking towers.

A fleeting image of what might have been a victim leaping to his death from a thousand feet up.

And something new.

From this angle, ground-level, perfectly framed, images -- of the fireball created when the second plane hit the second tower.

It was terrifying.

After all its object was… to terrify.

Not to commemorate, not to call for unity, not to remember the dead.

But to terrify.

To open again the horrible wounds, to brand the skin of this nation with the message -- as hateful as the terrorists' own -- that you must vote Republican or this will happen again and you will die…

And just in case that was not enough, to also dishonestly and profanely conflate 9/11 with the 1979 Iran Hostage Crisis -- to stoke the flames of paranoia about another Middle Eastern Nation.

This was a 9/11 Tribute.

Not to the dead, nor to the unity.

But a tribute to how valuable 9/11 has been as a political tool for the Republican Party.

9/11... (TM.)

Senator McCain, you had promised us a clean campaign.

You could be Snow-White the rest of the way, Sir, yet that manipulative videotape from your convention should tar you always in the minds of decent Americans.

And still, as this seventh 9/11…(TM)… approaches -- that, Sir, is not the worst of your contributions to the utter politicizing of a day that should be sacrosanct to all of us.

Hard to believe, but the Senator has done worse with 9/11 and the evil behind it.

We heard it last week in Minnesota… we've heard it off and on since January…

But Senator McCain said it most concisely in June.

"Look," he said. "I know the area, I've been there, I know wars, I know how to win wars, and I know how to improve our capabilities so that we will capture Osama bin Laden -- or put it this way, bring him to justice. We will do it. I know how to do it."

Senator McCain seems to be quite serious -- that he and he alone -- not the CIA, nor the U-S Military, nor the current President -- can capture Bin Laden.

Thus we must take him at his word, that this is no mere ludicrous campaign boast.

We must assume Senator McCain truly believes he is capable of doing this, and has been capable of doing this, since last January.

"We will capture Osama bin Laden… we will do it. I know how to do it."

Well then, Senator... you'd better go and do it... hadn't you?

Because, Sir, if a man or woman in this nation, Democrat or Republican, had a clear and effective means of capturing or killing Osama Bin Laden…

If that person had been advertising his claim, Senator… for eight months…

But if that person not only refused to go to responsible authorities in government and advise them of this plan to catch Bin Laden, but further announced he would not even begin to enact this secret plan to corral the world's most hated man… until the end of next January…

What would be your description of such an individual, Senator?

Charlatan?

Do-nothing?

Opportunist?

Senator McCain, if you have -- if you have had -- a means of capturing Osama Bin Laden, and you do not immediately inform some responsible authority of the full scope of that plan, you are to some degree great or small…aiding and abetting Osama Bin Laden.

If you could assist in capturing him now, Senator McCain, but you have chosen not to… you, Sir, have helped... Osama Bin Laden... stay free.

Free to inspire and supervise the terrorists.

Free to plan or execute attacks here.

You, Sir, are blackmailing some portion of the American electorate into voting for your party, by promising to help in the capture of Bin Laden…only if you are made president!

No more cynical calculation has ever been made in this nation's history, Sir.

If you lose the election, Senator, are you not going to tell the President-Elect?

Are you intending to keep this a secret until the next election and your party's next nominee?

Senator, as you and your Republicans shed your phony, crocodile, opportunistic tears tomorrow on 9/11 TM, in front of the utterly disingenuous banner "Country First"….

The fact is, you have shown that it is John McCain first, and the country last.

The fact is, Sir, by holding out on your secret plan to catch Bin Laden...

By searing those images into our collective wounded American psyche at your nomination last week...

Terrorists are not what you, John McCain, fight.

Terrorists... are what you, John McCain, use.

Good night, and good luck.

Glossing Over:  Psychology's word for it is "Projection." You take something you have done, about which you are guilty or ashamed, and you accuse somebody else of it -- you project it on to them. Our fifth story on the Countdown: to laugh-out-loud funny results, Senator McCain and his mouthpieces took violent umbrage at a phrase they falsely claimed Senator Obama had used in sexist fashion about Governor Sarah Palin... A phrase which Senator McCain himself had definitely, unquestionably, and proudly used... about Senator Hillary Clinton's health care proposal.

Enough is Enough: As the factual inaccuracies of the accusations by the McCain campaign increase to such a degree that even all the network newscasts noticed them -- and debunked them...The question is raised, again, as to whether Senator Obama is sufficiently angry or outraged. I asked him myself... Should his declaration of  "Enough" during his acceptance speech... be amplified? Now... in our fourth story on the Countdown, whether it's "angry" or rather, "justifiably forceful"... we are today seeing more of that from Senator Obama. And... if the McCain campaign won't stop 527 groups... the Obama campaign will no longer hamstring itself by discouraging those groups, either.

ODDBALL: The Little Big Bang and a missing mascot. 

Domestic Disturbances: When she, and the on-going scandal "Trooper-Gate," were introduced to the national stage, it seemed pretty open and shut. Whatever she might have done wrong, Sarah Palin was entirely in the right, trying to defend her sister and niece and nephew, from an abusive ex-husband. Our third story on the Countdown: forget the entirely part. Reports that an Alaska judge twice expressed concern that the Palin family -- including the Governor, before her election -- continued to harass her former brother in law by filing a series of complaints against him to his bosses.

Worsties...see below.

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD: Bill-O, Rick Goddard, Felix Gillette

Special Comment...see transcript here.

The Palin Myth:  If the Republican strategy behind the selection of Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate was to distract voters from McCain's sell-outs and tone-deafness... it's working. Perhaps, however -- not in the way the GOP thought. The Governor again today claiming again, that she sold the jet on eBay... when she didn't sell the jet on eBay.  Again today claiming... that she fired the chef... when she didn't fire the chef. Again today claiming... that she fought against Alaska's Bridge to Nowhere... when she was for... then against... then re-directed the money from that monumental piece of pork. Again today claiming... that she controlled spending... when, in a stunning example of self-interest over state interest... she actually billed Alaska nearly 17-thousand dollars for nights that she spent...in her very own home.  Our fifth story on the Countdown: the myth of Sarah Palin... being revealed to be just that. A carefully constructed story of somebody whose existence is widely believed in, but who -- in reality -- is entirely fictitious.

Iraq Status Quo: To Part Two of my interview with Senator Barock Obama...And the mischaracterizations of both his tax policy and his position on the surge in Iraq. And... in our fourth story on the Countdown... President Bush announced minimal troop reductions in Iraq through February, 2009... when he will have just left office.  Still leaving more troops there than before the surge began.

ODDBALL: A robotic spider descends on Liverpool and a bear in a tree doesn't stay there too long.

The Politicization of  9/11:  Senator Obama and Senator McCain are to appear at a Presidential Forum here in New York Thursday night...Intended to be a-political... Intended to be about service... We'll see. In our third story on the Countdown: the conclusion of my interview with Barack Obama... About how everything else about 9/11 seems to have been co-opted for political advantage.

Worsties...see below.

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD:  Stephen Spruiell, Jerome Corsi, and Sean Hannity vie for tonight's top honor.

Rove's Role: They have declared the Republican Party began only five days ago... A-B... After Bush. They happily kept the President out of the Convention, and out of the Network Specials broadcast from it. So... in our number one story... why on earth would John McCain's handlers have turned for campaign guidance... to Bush's Brain?

McMaverick:   It might be time for an entirely new definition of "Maverick"  No longer "someone who holds independent views"... Nor... "one who refuses to conform"... Rather, in our fifth story on the Countdown, the term -- as it applies to the Republican nominee, Senator McCain -- would seem increasingly to refer to the continued repetition of out and out lies...  Including the Republican ticket's now daily assertion that Governor Palin has always been against the World-Record Pork-Barrel Project that was Alaska's "Bridge to Nowhere." Presently, my interview today with Senator Obama...

You Say Dubai, I say Hello:  When Senator Obama told a crowd of voters in Missouri earlier this summer that Republicans would try to scare voters by saying he doesn't look like "all those other presidents on the dollar bills"... McCain campaign manager Rick Davis accused the Democratic nominee of quote "playing the race card from the bottom of the deck."  A reminder that last week, Senator Obama's race was injected into the campaign... by a Republican: Congressman Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia, calling both Senator Obama and his wife, Michelle quote "uppity." Asked further if he really meant to use that word, Mister Westmoreland saying, quote "Yeah, uppity." In our fourth story on the Countdown: When I asked Senator Obama about that -- in passing -- in our interview today -- and he answered my larger question -- he was not, Rick Davis, "playing the race card."

ODDBALL: Penguin Art and the Alamo gets a shampoo.

Lies and Videotape:  Nothing beats injecting a brand-new, not-battled-scarred, broadcasting-trained sarcastic zingers and one-liner machine, into any political campaign. There is only one problem with such an entity... If those sarcastic zingers and one-liners... aren't true. As in: mistakes, and lies. Our third story on the Countdown: and you can make it worse -- especially when it turns out the sarcastic zingers and one-liner machine, turns out to only have one speech, which she repeats, again and again. Because that means the machine, in this case, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, repeats -- again and again -- her mistakes and her lies.

Worsties...see below.

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD: A Fox Sports host, Chris Wallace and Bill-O vie for tonight's top honors.

Bible Belting:   Perhaps the fate of the McCain - Palin campaign lies in the hands of a power much greater than America's constitutionally designated democracy.  In fact, your votes may not matter at all.  Your prayers however...that's a whole different ball 'o wax. In our number one story on the Countdown, Sarah Palin, messenger and messiah.