keith olbermann, they're dangerous. they're unpredictable. it's like live television used to be. what is going to happen next? and that's one of the reasons why in fact their audience is much larger than cnn's audience was 20 years ago when larry king started... and more when he started his show. but it's still a limited niche audience. it's people want to... who have an expectation like bill o'reilly, like his point of view but also like the surprise. what outrageous thing is he going to say today? >> brown: all right, ken auletta... >> i'll break in briefly and say i'm surprised seen then? continuing with the interview model, to be frank. i think the audience has voted and what they want is the bill o'reilly keith olbermann style presentation. i'm surprised they're bringing on someone else to try hour-long interviews, as dangerous as he is, i think viewers have kind of voted and said they're not interested in that. >> brown: all right. we'll see what happens. eric deggans and ken auletta, thanks a lot. >> woodruff: finally tonight, a look back at the life of baseball great, bob

that's "hardball" for now, thanks for being with us, "countdown" with keith olbermann starts right now. >>> which of these stories will you be talking about tomorrow? the president signs the tax cut deal. but the spirit of bipartisanship is yet to come. >>> the omnibus bill yanked from the floor after republicans' demands were met. >> they want to ram this bill through congress and they're using once again the christmas break as an inducement to the vote for it. >>. >> dropped on them democrats call shenanigans. >> what hasn't been commented on by senator kyle, that's exactly the amount they asked for. so to stand back in horror and look at $1.1 trillion and say where did this figure come from? it came from mitch mcconnell in a motion he made before the committee. >> our guests, congresswoman debb debb debbie masserman schultz. >> something you could hit your crazy relatives with over dinner this weekend. a study that shows everything we believed about the effects of watching fox news. of course fox news viewers won't know about the study. >> that is astoundingly good news for firefigh

. >> bristol palin has also taken aim at keith olbermann when he made her the worst person in the world. and she also got upset with margaret cho, one of her competitors on "dancing with the stars," saying she was forced on the show by her mother. that's the latest on the bristol drama. >> always some drama over there, wow. here's good news especially for the holidays. we told you about this last week. world aids day december 1st, a whole bunch of celebrities said i'm getting offline twitter and facebook to raise a million bucks for alicia keys' charity. called keep a child alive which helps out families impacted by hiv and aids in africa and india. guess what, they raised the money, so you can sleep easier, all the celebrities are back online, they raised $500,000 through their fans and a philanthropist gave the last $500,000. they got their goal and everyone's back online. congrats to alicia. >> every time there's a reality star we all secretly wonder, how much does that person really make? >> money, they make green. >> we know how much kim kardashian reportedly made in 2010. it's goi

michael moore told keith olbermann he donated $20,000 to help assange. >> anyone who supports wikileaks is committing an act of patriotism. it guarantees, i hope, that we have a better shot the next time the bad guys try to pull one off of us. >> council members in berkeley, california, are questioning whether or not to bestow hero status on pfc bradley manning. he provided assange allegedly with confidential material. >>> both police and school officials in panama city, florida, are coming to terms with a shocking violent incident at last night's school board meeting. a man had been sitting quietly stood up, pulled out a gun, wrote on the wall, ordered everybody to leave the room, took the panel hostage. you are seeing the big large redv" on the boardroom wall. he accused them of firing his wife, a teacher. panicked board members tried to reason with him. one school board member knocked him in the head with her purse. afterward littleton described what she was thinking. >> i've got a good friend who sent me an e-mail this morning. she is a lawyer in new york. she said i don't know abou

"countdown" with keith olbermann starts now. >>> which of these stories will you be talking about tomorrow? disorder in the house. democrats revolt as leadership tries to turn a vote on an amendment to increase the estate tax into a vote on the entire tax compromise. not that any of it necessarily matters. >> i'm trying to run out the clock. >> he wants to read aloud the 1,429 pages of the omnibus bill so nothing gets passed, especially snot the s.t.a.r.t. treaty. full of republican earmarks the republicans are now condemning. >> i'll fight as hard as i can. and my republican colleagues who hate to vote for them but love to get them. >> the don't ask, don't tell votes are there. but the vote itself may not happen in time. >> we cannot let the clock be used as an excuse or people's desire to get home. >> the report to the president on afghanistan. everything's leaving here fine. >> thanks to the extraordinary service of our troops and civilians on the ground, we are on track to achieve our goals. >> are we buying that when 60% of the country tells a new poll this war is not worth fighting?

i'm chris hayes in for keith olbermann, you can read more of my work on msnbc.com. have a great night and a great weekend. >>> it's friday night but the workweek is not over yet on capitol hill. harry reid's diabolical plan to make republicans work before christmas. somebody's got to pass the bill to keep the lights on and the government's only funded right now through tuesday. >>> also don't ask, don't tell, could repeal finally happen this weekend? >>> unanimous consent, unanimous consent, all members of the senate actually agree on something, so why then did it take nearly ten months for them to say they agreed on the thing they all agreed to? ten months? >> i'm bobby jindal, governor of louisiana. >> the case study of bobby jindal's $20 million boondoggle. a drone, not a drudge, not a honeybee, but an unmanned vehicle, i think the rachel maddow show is the only show to have its own drone, which i will inexpertly federal ahead this hour. >>> all that and more starting right now on the rachel maddow show. >> hey, happy friday. are you familiar with the concept of

boehner, where are the i'm keith olbermann. goodnight and good luck. now to discuss what is not being achieved in the senate, here is rachel maddow. merry christmas. have a good new year. >> if you think i'm going to leave you alone between now and the new year, you've got another thing coming. thank you, keith. >>> thanks to you at home for staying with us for the next hour. we start with breaking news out of washington. what we were expecting to bring you at this hour was a high stakes showdown on the senate floor between democrats and republicans. we expected to show you democrats calling the republicans' bluff over a spending bill that democrats hoped to pass before the end of the year. it's the spending bill to fund the government. it's the spending bill to fund the entire u.s. government through the next year. earlier it today, republicans threatened to paralyze the senate by having that bill, 1,924 ages read out loud on the senate floor. even though it was a bill they helped author and a handful of senate republicans reportedly said they would s

"countdown" with keith olbermann starts right now. >>> which of these stories will you be talking about tomorrow? the great sellout nears. >> the motion is agreed to. >> today's first test vote in the senate. >> i do think that this package required me to take some things i didn't like. it requires them to take some things they didn't like. that's part of the compromise. >> or -- >> do we really need to give tax breaks to the rich in order to drive up the national debt so that our kids and grandchildren will pay higher taxes in order to pay off that national debt caused by tax breaks for the rich? >> our special guest tonight, senator bernie sims. nine old men, the idea that nine old bankers control the derivatives market. a federal judge rules the mandated health kale mandated health kal health cares unconstitutional. and the judge's company was paid $9,000 this year by the virginia attorney general who filed the lawsuit. howard dean joins me. >>> the new chairman of the house financial services committee. in washington, the view is that the banks are to be regulated. my view is that w

"countdown with keith olbermann" starts right now. >>> good evening, americans, welcome to "the ed show" tonight from new york. these stories are hitting my "hot buttons" and on the table at this hour. the republicans have president obama right where they want him. i think this tax deal is really bad news. for his re-election campaign and so does mitt romney. my commentary on that plus reaction from senator jeff bingaman of new mexico who's get the deal. >>> here's one for you. a group of wishy washy washington types want them to come together so they started a no labels group. what a bunch of garbage. here what it really mean. no conviction whatsoever to see it through. i'm going head to head with one of the founders of this group. >>> and incoming speaker is a weeper of the house. can you imagine if nancy pelosi had started just crying at the drop of a hat? what do you think the right wing talkers of america would have been saying about her? joan walsh and the republicans, their big double standard, we're talking about that. >>> this is the story that has he fired up tonight. at this

michael moore will be a special guest on count down with keith olbermann tonight on msnbc. we'll see what mr. moore has to say. >>> and the jets coach who intentionally tripped an opposing play frer the miami dolphins game on sunday. he's been suspended for the rest of the season and post season without pay. he's also being fined $25,000. let's see what the "news nation" had to say about this dirty play. 46% of you say he should have been fired. 54% of you say he should be fined. there you have it. interesting. i thought you would think he should get fired. that does it for today's edition of "news nation." i'm tamron hall. catch us at 2:00 p.m. eastern time on weekdays. richard lui picks up the coverage after a quick break. ah, it's stinging a little bit more than usual! yeah, you'll get used to it. the longer you keep your high mileage car, the more it pays you back. get castrol gtx high mileage. it helps engines last longer by fighting the main causes of engine failure. i think a dime went up my nose. yeah, it happens. don't change your car. change your oil to castrol gt

boehner, where are the jobs, i'm keith olbermann. goodnight and good luck. now to discuss what is not being achieved in the senate, here is rachel maddow. merry christmas. have a good new year. >> if you think i'm going to leave you alone between now and the new year, you've got another on thing coming. thank you, keith. >>> thanks to you at home for staying with us for the next hour. we start with breaking news out of washington. what we were expecting to bring you at this hour was a high stakes showdown on the senate floor between democrats and republicans. we expected to show you democrats calling the republicans' bluff over a spending bill that democrats hoped to pass before the end of the year. it's the spending bill to funds the government. it's the spending bill to fund the entire u.s. government through the next year. earlier it today, republicans threatened to paralyze the senate boy having that bill, 1,924 ages read out loud on the senate floor. even though it was a bill they helped author and a handful of senate republicans reportedly said they wo

"countdown with keith olbermann" starts right now. >>> which of these stories will you be talking about tomorrow? the long dismal tide of surrender. >> the yeas are 81, the nays are 19. the motion is agreed to. >> next to fail on the tax cut deal, the house. >> at the end of the day, i think we're going to have to pass a bill. that's the view of many of us. >> only accurately see what this is a precursor to. >> it changes the very nature of social security. >> our special guest, congressman rush holt. >>> most importantly, republicans are now enraged about the war on christmas vacation. >> it is impossible to do all of the things that the majority leader laid out without doing, frankly, without disrespecting the institution, and without disrespecting one of the two holiest of holidays for christians and the families of all of the senate. >> chris hayes on new noise about not raising the debt ceiling without cuts and the war on christmas vacation. >>> quantico, it's the new gitmo. the alleged wikileaks source, bradley manning, is in the brig, in solitary in conditions that are being comp

"countdown" with keith olbermann starts right now. untdown >>> which of these stories will you be talking about tomorrow? the great sellout nears. >>> good evening, americans, and welcome to "the ed show." tonight from new york, these stories are hitting my hot buttons and at the table at this hour. well, president obama wanted this tax cut deal now he owns it. the senate just passed the first stage of his tax cut, compromised with the republicans. folks, i think this is a disaster. i think it's the wrong thing for the country. my commentary on that in just a moment. >>> plus, senator bernie sanders spent nearly nine hours on the senate floor protesting this tax cut deal with the rich. he'll be coming up live for more in just a moment. >>> a right-wing attorney general in virginia has convinced bush-appointed judge that health care reform is unconstitutional. a big fight on the horizon. >>> and the republicans orchestrated this ruling and now they're celebrating their work. we've got rapid-fire response on that. >>> and sarah palin's

boehner, where are the jobs, i'm keith olbermann. goodnight and good luck. >>> deadline. let's play "hardball." >>> good evening, i'm chris math use down in washington. leading off tonight the last harrumph. over the tax plan reluctant house democrats are roaring their disapproval one last time before taking a deep breath and then probably voting for the bill. now here's the irony. the closer this gets to passage, the more it's the republicans who are having second thoughts because politics again. they think it's too good for president obama. uh-oh, he likes it. the president likes it, there must be trouble in there somewhere. that's the republican attitude now. and plus the reviews on afghanistan are in and they're not good. yes, we're making some progress in afghanistan, but it's slow-going and here's the killer, pakistan isn't helping enough. and that's not to mention the corrupt afghanistan government. so even if we had to go into afghanistan after 9/11, does the war still make sense today? that's the hot issue that's getting hotter. >>> plus, who's the grinch? did de

"countdown" with keith olbermann starts right now. >>> good evening, americans and welcome to "the ed show" tonight from new york. these stories are hitting my hot buttons and on the table at this hour. house progressives, well, they're going to the firewall to stop this tax deal. good for them. today, they fought this tax gamble and have caused a major speed bump. i couldn't be prouder, if you're a lefty you've got to be cheering tonight. we'll hear live from the progressive lawmakers anthony wiener and peter defazio about how they hit the pause button today and that what it means. >>> republican senator john thune is thinking about running for president in 2012. he also thinks tax cuts for the rich are more important than helping the 9/11 first responders. you know those heroes that americans have been so proud of. you know the ones that got sick at ground zero. tax cuts are more important than their medical care? he'll get an uncomfortable ride into the "zone" tonight. >>> and the reverend al sharpton met with the fcc about the drugster and the racist hate speech that's that he's p

i'm keith olbermann. good night and good luck. >>> and now to discuss the game the gop is playing with national security with senator john kerry, ladies and gentlemen, here is rachel maddow. good evening, rachel. >> good evening, keith. thank you for that. and thanks to you at home for staying with us for the next hour. we begin tonight with some big news out of d.c. our long national nightmare may finally be over. the united states senate, which has been the source of a weeks' long republican-imposed logjam is now freed, open, back up for business. you will recall at the beginning of this month, senate republicans stood absolutely yun anied. all 42 members signed on to a letter proclaiming they would block all other senate work until the expiring bush tax cuts issue was dealt with. nothing else could happen in the senate, not even the funding of the united states military until those tax cuts, that whole deal, was resolved. period, end of story. nonnegotiable. well, today senate republicans got their wis

i'm keith olbermann. good night and good luck. >>> romney heads right. let's play "hardball." >>> good evening, i'm chris matthews down in washington. leading off tonight. who's sorry now? one week ago, all that noise against the tax cut deal came from the democratic left. now the noise is on the right. limbaugh, palin and hoping to be seen in the same club, mitt romney, complaining about the $900 billion bill. the question you have to ask the what are they complaining about? they love tax cuts. this deal gives you huge tax cuts. are you complaining just because you don't want the president to have a win? is that your economic philosophy? downgrade obama? >>> also, whose presidency has president obama been reading about lately? guess. according to "the new york times," it's bill clinton. clinton's emergence from the ashes of the 1994 congressional defeat could help explain what may be the most important political alliance in america today. bill clinton and bill and hillary clinton. two former clinton administration heavy weights -- robert reich and terry

i'm keith olbermann. good night and good luck. to discuss how and if anyone can fix the senate, here's rachel maddow. >>> thank you for staying with us for the next hour. i grew up in northern california, there's relatively speaking not very much weather. for my adult life i've lived on the east coast where there is lots of weather. doing everyday things like going to the grocery store have to be coordinated with the weather forecast. if you want to get your regular grocery shopping done, don't do that when a giant storm is in the forecast. when a giant storm is in the forecast it activates a primal animal instinct to hoard and burrow just in case you get snowed in or something. have all of your provisions with you at that time. learning that was an important part of becoming an east coaster in my life. bad weather forecast equals mobbed grocery store. i've also learned if you are trying to do your grocery shopping in the least possible time, if you're trying to do your shopping as fast as it can be done, one of the best ways to d

"countdown with keith olbermann" starts right now. >>> which of these stories we will you be talking about tomorrow? julian assange granted bail in england with the help of our special guest, michael moore. assange is not contrite. "we now know visa, mastercard, pay pal and others are instruments of u.s. foreign policy. it's not something we knew before." the blowback, the lunatic right wing fringe calls for suppression of the free press. >> i think we also should be n censoring american news aswrensys which enabled him to do this and also supported him and applauding him for the efforts. >> oh, and assassination. >> i'm not for the death penalty. it i'm not for the death penalty, illegally shoot the son of a [ bleep ]. >> on fox he says this. did i tell you how ruppert mor dock's father made his money by leaking censorship laws during world war i? >>> moody's investment firm says the tax cuts will put america's international credit rating at risk and any economic growth they create will be wiped out by the deficit they increase. with robert reich. >>> and more death panels threatene

i'm keith olbermann. good night and good luck. >>> and now to discuss the game the gop is playing with national security with senator john kerry, ladies and gentlemen, here is rachel maddow. good evening, rachel. >> good evening, keith. thank you for that. and thanks to you at home for staying with us for the next hour. we begin tonight with some big news out of d.c. our long, national nightmare may finally be over. the united states senate, which has been the source of a weeks' long republican-imposed logjam is now freed, open, back up for business. you will recall at the beginning of this month, senate unified. all 42 members signed on to a letter proclaiming they would block all other senate work until the expiring bush tax cuts issue was dealt with. nothing else could happen in the senate, not even the funding of the united states military until those tax cuts, that whole deal, was resolved. period, end of story. nonnegotiable. well, today senate republicans got their wish. today the senate by an over

i'm keith olbermann. good night and good luck. >>> it's my party and i'll cry if i want to. let's play "hardball." >>> good evening, i'm chris matthews in washington. leading off tonight, one down, one to go. the senate has just passed the tax bill that angered so many on the far left and the far right, a number of progressives are still promising to fight it in the house but our latest nbc news/"wall street journal" poll shows americans left, right and center approve of the bill, which raises two questions. why is the minority making all the noise and why is the majority staying silent? two great questions. and speaking of today's poll, it has some surprisingly good news for president obama. contrary to the buzz, voters have not given up on the president. that includes independent voters. truly alarming, by the way, in terms of numbers, are the latest test scores that show american schoolchildren falling behind further and further the rest of the world. is it because unions keep us from firing bad teachers or what? former washington, d.c., schools chancellor michelle rhee j

i'm keith olbermann. good night and good luck. to discuss how and if anyone can fix the senate, he's rachel maddow. >>> thank you for staying for us for the next hour. i grew up in northern california, there's relatively speaking not very much weather. for my adult life i've lived on the east coast where there is lots of weather. doing everyday things like going to the grocery store have to be coordinated with the weather forecast. if you want to get your regular grocery shopping done, don't do that when a giant storm is in the forecast. when a giant storm is in the forecast it activates a primal animal instinct to hoard and burrow just in case you get s w snowed in or something. have all of your provisions with you at that time. learning that was an important part of becoming an east coaster in my life. bad weather forecast equals mobbed grocery store. i've also learned if you are trying to do your grocery shopping in the least possible time, if you're trying to do your shopping as fast as it can be done, one of the best ways to

. >> that is filmmaker michael moore on "count don with keith olbermann" last night. assange is still behind bars. tomorrow, the british court will hear an appeal from sweden on that bill decision. assange is facing rape charges in sweden. >>> unlike anything florida has seen this time of year. bitter cold conditions. in fact, they're affecting much of the east coast but that deep freeze in florida a second day with temperatures as much as 30 degrees below normal will likely make your food prices go up and could put a dent in some folks' vacation plans. nbc kerry sanders is following that story live in orlando, florida. i just checked with our folks at the weather channel. here in new york, it's 25 degrees. feels like 12. how is it there? >> it's 39 degrees. we started out at 32 here this morning. a record for orlando this time of year. i'm at the wizarding world of harry potter. you see that snow up there, well, of course, that's artificial, but it was cold enough this morning to snow and just look at how i'm dressed and how other folks are dressed. i will take a pho

and i think the success of keith olbermann gave us a path that we hadn't necessarily predicted would be the voice of that network. but it put us on a path and then we built upon that and i think today msnbc is incredibly successful. and again part of that powerhouse news and information portfolio that i talked about. but you know, fox news, msnbc they all play, they play a roll in news and information and opinion. and there is a role for all of them. >> so the power that they may have doesn't bother you at all? >> look, i think ultimately the viewer decides here. and the viewer is smart enough to make their own decisions and i think that there is more access to news and information today than there has ever been. and the fact is if you go back 25 years you know when you basically had three evening news programs that were being programmed by you knowivey educated graduates, that were all delivering the same kind of program, i think the fact is today there is much more varied choice than there has ever been. and i think that's in the best interest of the consumer. just because it's lou

first one last week during his comments keith olbermann compare the presidents tax compromise to nazi appeasement and i wanted to see if you had a reaction to that? >> i doubt the president heard that. i obviously have given a number of answers that would denote that we think it's a good agreement and i would say this to democrats or republicans. i think whenever you compare anything to what the nazi's did, if you ever get to that point in your speech, stop, because nothing does. and hopefully, god willing, nothing ever will. >> fair enough. over the weekend, sarah palin was visiting haiti. she told reporters that she thought anyone who is considering freezing aid to haiti should go down there and visit first. i think she was referring to a statement by senator leahy. does the white house have a position on that, and freezing aid? >> let me look at what the statement was and whether or not there is some reasoning. obviously our response to the earthquake in haiti was and has been befitting a disaster of that magnitude and our responses have been at the forefront of all the internation

keith olbermann reacted to president obama's pat -- press conference. here is what he had to say. >> we should have gotten you angry at your news conference today at all the moderate democrats and ask why in do you get publicly angry at liberals who campaigned for you when you might save some of the sarcasm and sells more than -- self martyrdom for republicans. host: mike, democrat. caller: funny you just played olbermann because public opinion is one or loss on the cable tv without a lot of them dared -- won or lost on cable to be with a lot of them. ed schultz -- the kind of fight that the democrats need to show. i think obama, president obama, who i am still rooting for, of i think he showed weakness. i had no expectations of republicans all along. one of the reasons why i feel like i am disappointed is i never expected anything from the bush administration accept, you know, war and the deficit and rhetoric but i had high expectations of president obama and the democrats and i feel like from almost the get go he never comes across like a really stron

olbermann last week, too, on her facebook page. >> bristol is a very, very bright girl. may have some hidden literary talent. >> chelsea hammer is in a little bit of hot water with angelina jolie. >> angelina's not saying anything. chelsea went to do a stand-up routine in newark and called her a home wrecker. worse things. >> we can't repeat it. >> chelsea handler is bff with jennifer aniston. jen took chelsea along with a number of other friends for a thanksgiving weekend in mexico. they partied together for several days. >> don't you think jennifer aniston's upset? who wants that all over again? >> that's the moral of the lesson -- beware what you tell friends on vacation. >> and drinking margaritas with. >> can't wait to see who comes out of the turks and caicos last week with you. >> billy ray cyrus and his wife were getting a divorce. now maybe not? >> we've been following this at hollywoodlife.com. we found out the divorce papers once they are filed in tennessee they must be served within 30 days. if they are not served, then the filing is off and you have to refil

keith coleman talked about -- olbermann. just report what you want to report. you don't report anything bad about republicans. they need to arrest dick cheney. it's got another store in the news from "the washington times." -- host: another story in the news from "the washington times." columbus, ohio, bob, independent line. caller: good morning. as far as the tax cuts, let's get a couple of things straight. first of all, in the 1950's up through about 1987, taxes were considerably higher and the 1950's looking at 91% rate. it wasn't until about 1987 that we got down to the 50% rate. taxes have been much higher over the years. there haven't been any permanent tax cuts. you can go through federal tax information on the web and you can't find federal sources -- can find a tax cuts have been changed multiple times over the years so permanent is a misnomer. in 2000 we entered with a surplus in the budget. that surplus was being used to pay down but then current deficit. so, we were in the process of putting down the deficit. in to about the mud and in it 2003, tax