January 19, 2023 • 44 mins
EPISODE 115: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN
A-Block (1:42) It's kind of a drag: The Republican Party has persecuted, vilified, targeted, and endangered every drag performer (and any of the rest of us who have refused to join them in their smears) by branding them 'Groomers' has been twisting itself in knots for a month all to protect a new New York Congressman who has been identified by a Brazilian Drag Star as a fellow Drag Artist.
Just when we thought "George Santos" had run out of new names, he got his best yet: Kitara Ravache. And there's a photo. And there's apparently a new VIDEO. And this is all that's left to Kevin McCarthy: throw Kitara overboard and risk a smaller House majority, or stick with him and spend the rest of the next two years answering questions about SANTOS'S DRESS SELECTION AND ABILITY TO ACCESSORIZE.
It's. Perfect.
Plus: the only Republican who's lied more than Santos does it again. Trump inadvertently gives the DOJ evidence of his intent to steal classified folders. And under oath in the E. Jean Carroll rape lawsuit he is asked who's the woman in the photo with him. He answers "that's my wife Marla Maples." It's not. It's... E. Jean Carroll.
Could've been worse. Could've been Kitara Ravache.
B-BLOCK (16:24) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: "Critical Boy" in Texas. (17:50) IN SPORTS: The National Hockey League destroys its own "Pride Night" in Philadelphia, choosing to defend not the LGBTQ community it pretended to celebrate, but the bigoted player who hid behind his religion that endorsed Russia's attack on Ukraine because Ukraine has Pride Parades. It's a disaster. (25:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Compromises in exchange for debates, Boris Johnson's new book, and a Tesla engineer says there's a problem with the 2016 "Tesla X Drives Itself" video. He says: it's fake.
C-BLOCK (29:48) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Republican Primary Debate Chairman David Bossie - THAT David Bossie - says he's willing to put some debates on CNN and/or NBC. Do you know how much CNN and/or NBC had to prostitute themselves just to get this far? I do, from personal experience. Because in 2008, the Republicans' debate price to NBC was: "Fire Olbermann."
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of I Heart Radio. Okay,
if this all ends with George Santos turning out to
(00:27):
also be Lindsay Graham, I wouldn't be a bit surprised
if somehow you missed it. Seven days ago, while America slept,
a Brazilian drag performer named Euler Rochard went on Instagram
and posted an old photograph of herself standing with another
(00:47):
drag performer in address very nice dress, and wrote, as
it translates from the Portuguese me with the American Republican
deputy at the Niche Roy parade, with whom I spoke,
he wouldn't leave my house. There's the proof for those
who called me a liar, u Le Rochard says. Standing
(01:08):
next to her in that photograph is George Santos in
an address the Republican Party, which has turned itself into
an arm of persecution against drag performers, which has insisted
every one of them and every one of us who
supports them or refuses to target them or ascribe terrible
motives to them, is a quote groomer, which has tried
(01:31):
to break up their performances with everything from armed vigilantes
to panicked legislation which has put the lives of every
one of them at risk, which has revived Pizza Gate
and every other transparently ludicrous, paranoid conspiracy and centered it
on them. The drag phobic Republican Party has twisted itself
(01:52):
into knots to defend and maintain in his new ill
gotten House seat a drag queen named Katara Ravascha, Tara George,
Anthony Devolder, Zabrovsky, Santos Ravasha. This, this will be why
(02:17):
Kevin McCarthy ousts him. The GOP anti drag their groomers,
You'll burn in hell. Panic mob has too much momentum,
too much attention, too much power, too much invested in
it for any of them to drop it or to
turn back. Yet, if Kevin McCarthy and House Republican leadership
(02:39):
try to finesse this, the pitchforks and torches they unleashed
will be turned on them. Kevin McCarthy groomer. Even if
there is no further photographic evidence beyond that one old
shot on Instagram, it's over and ask yourself, what is
the point of somebody dressing in drag besides leaving photographic
(03:04):
evidence of it. Oh, and there may be a YouTube
video of Qatara Ravasch in a dress, just a little
black dress, and then they go in for a close
up and the face looks like George Santos, and Juela
Rochard says, yeah, that's her. For the record, there isn't
a damn thing wrong with drag queens, and there isn't
(03:26):
a damn thing wrong with kids seeing drag queens. And
if you have any qualms about that conclusion, I have
only two words for you, Mrs doubt fire. Also, for
the record, it appears Qatara Ravasch was named for an
enduring Brazilian actress named Irene Ravasch. And also for the record,
it appears the first American to find the Euler Richard
(03:49):
Instagram post was writer producer Rachel Wolfe, and the first
to interview Euler Rochard was Marissa Kabas, who does a
Santos newsletter. And for the record, last April, candidate George
Santos posted a video to Facebook endorsing Florida's Don't Say
Gay law, and, as The New York Times put it,
quote Mr Santos in a caption for the video, accused
(04:11):
Democrats and wanting to groom our kids, repeating a conservative
talking point that associates any discussion of sexual orientation or
gender identity with children to sexual abuse. Hey, everyone, Mr
Santos said at the beginning of the video, George Santos
here end quote. That's the point. The hypocrisy is the point. Meanwhile,
(04:35):
back at the ranch, Euler Richard told Marissa Kabas that
she met Katara. That's what she says. Santos called himself
almost exclusively when Katara was sixteen or seventeen years old. Quote.
The picture was taken in two thousand and eight at
the Pride parade at Kari Beach in Nitroy. George had
(04:55):
disappeared for a little while and then returned to Brazil
with a lot of money, and that was about the
same time when the picture was taken. George always lied
about everything. He used to create stories, usually involving money.
She says she saw congress in Santos on TV recently
and couldn't believe it. Knew it was him, checked with
(05:17):
friends and it's him. Quote. He used to hang out
in my house while his mom was playing Bingo ban Go.
I don't know what's next, and I'm not sure I
want to know what's next. He's a furry. He dated
(05:40):
Madison Clothorne. He's actually three short liars stacked in one raincoat.
He's planning to vote for raising the debt limit. I
don't know what's next, but I do know that since
this latest one broke, this latest in the series, the
daily series of jaw droppers, I have seen in my
(06:00):
mind's I one thing and one thing only, one of
my favorite James Thurbert our tuns in which a lawyer
is holding a kangaroo and confronting a clearly shocked and
shaken witness on the stand, and the caption reads, perhaps
this will refresh your memory the irony of all ironies
(06:21):
and the sadness of all sadnesses in this is that
George Santos as Katara Ravasha is probably the most human,
most endearing thing he has done yet, in fact, it's
probably the only human, only endearing thing he's done. Yet.
This is still the creature who at best let the disabled,
(06:43):
homeless Navy Vets service dog Sapphire die and redirected the
money raised for her somewhere else. This is still the
creature who has lied about every aspect of his life,
and lied about the Holocaust, and lied about nine eleven,
and lied about the Pulse nightclub shooting. This is still
the albatross around the neck of nearly every Republican who
(07:04):
has reduced them now to trying to defend deflect by
attacking a Democratic Congressional aid who mentioned that his office
was located in just the right spot to be able
to point to reporters looking for Santos by saying he
went that way. And the Republicans have come this close
to saying that the real victim here is George Santos.
(07:31):
I would go out on a limb and predict that
this one blame it on. Rio has to be the
last of the George Santos scandals, or at least the
last of the George Santos scandals while he's still in Congress.
But we have all learned our lesson here that this
is a man who in his closet does not merely
have skeletons. He in fact has dozens more closets, each
(07:54):
containing dozens more skeletons. And the Republican Party of Three
has as its lack of moral center as it's organizing
unprincipled the lie. But this is the first lie or
the first story anyway that in this moment threatens Kevin
McCarthy more than does santos is resignation and a new
(08:17):
special election in the New York third. If it was
not clear before, it is now. McCarthy can risk an
eight seat majority, or he can keep what he has now,
but he has to spend every second of every minute
of every day of the next two years defending George
Santos's choice of dresses. There are a couple of other
(08:43):
things to mention. A small follow up to the Nightmare
of rich Austoff and Sapphire. Santos first said the story
was fake and he did not know any of the
people claiming he in effect killed lost offs poor dog.
Then he issued a statement to CNN quote, I have
no clue what he's talking about. And the crazy part
is that anyone that knows me knows I'd go to
(09:05):
hell and back for a dog, and especially a veteran.
I have dozens of people reaching out to me and support,
sharing their stories about the dogs and cats that I
helped save and rescue. Unquote yes, Congressman, Yes, they're all
laughing and smiling, just out of frame in that picture,
and of course a tweet from two thousand sixteen referring
(09:26):
to Sapphire and Divolder and go fund me is still
live on Twitter. Go fund me also issued a statement.
They said they shut down the fundraiser in two thousand
sixteen after complaints and that it's quote trust and safety
teams sought proof of the delivery of funds from the organizer.
The organizer failed to respond. The organizer, of course, would
(09:48):
be Santos uh Ramanche uh Devolder. Oh and speaking of
compulsive liars, Trump was good enough yesterday to injure himself
on two different fronts. He made a slight mistake. During
the deposition in the rape loss suit by E. Gene Carroll,
shown a photo of himself and a woman, Trump identified
(10:10):
the woman as his second wife, Marla Maples. Quote that's Marla, Yeah,
that's my wife. In fact, the woman in the photo
he identified as Marla Maples is E Gene Carroll. And
Trump also handed the Department of Justice evidence of intent
in the Documents and or Espionage case. He posted that
(10:31):
when I was in the Oval office, papers would often
be an ascribed paper folder with classified or confidential or
another word on them. When the session was over, they
would collect the papers but not the folders, and I
saved hundreds of them. They were a quote cool unquote keepsake.
(10:51):
That's intent and a confession and a warning for George
Santos and every other Republican. Eventually you do run out
of lies, or at lea to run out of good lies.
And lastly, just to call back to the beginning of
this and to skip ahead, this does not all end
(11:13):
with George Santos turning out to also be Lindsay Graham.
Maybe Marjorie Taylor Green, but definitely not Lindsay Graham. Still ahead.
(11:37):
Speaking of pride events, Hockey's Philadelphia Flyers had one Tuesday.
It could not have gone worse if Santos had been
there pretending to be a left wing And then yesterday
the league itself through its pride night and its own
hollow catchphrase, hockey is for everyone. Under the bus Hockey
is for everyone except the famous Elon Musk two thousand sixteen,
(12:01):
The Tesla X drives Itself video. A Tesla engineer testifies
they faked it, and the Republicans are willing to are
negotiating putting some of this year's presidential primary debates on
CNN and or NBC. Do you know how much CNN
and or NBC have to have already prostituted themselves just
(12:23):
to get that chance? I do, because in two thousand
and eight, one of the GOP demands for debates to
NBC was fire Olderman. Things I promised not to tell
coming up. That's next, this discountdown. This is countdown with
(12:47):
Keith Oberman still ahead on countdown. Hockey is for everyone,
they say, except if you're in the Russian church that
says Pride Night is a good enough reason to bomb
Ukraine and kill its civilians. The NHL has a thoroughly
(13:07):
botched up disaster coming up, and the Republicans ready to
put their debates on CNN or NBC. So what did
CNN or NBC due to whore themselves out sufficiently for that? Because,
as I will tell you in things I promised not
to tell, I know from bitter personal experience that the
Republicans expect CNN or NBC or any other network to
(13:30):
whore itself out completely first. In each addition of Countdown,
we feature a dog in need you can help. Every
dog has its day to Texas and a beautiful stray
shepherd rescued by the Big Dog Haven Rescue. He doesn't
have a name. They have listed him all too aptly
as Critical Boy. They found him coated in fleas. He
(13:53):
has a small sister. He has heartworm and most urgently
is bleeding profusely from what turns out to be as
large a bladder stone as the VET has ever seen.
For all this, his ignosis is still great. If Big
Dog Haven can raise another eleven bucks or so for
the vet bills. He's just a stray dog. He's just
another soul like the rest of us, in pain, pain
(14:16):
which we can help to quickly relieve. If you can donate,
look up Critical Boy on the fundraising site Cuddly, or
just check my tweets and retweets will help too. I
thank you, and the shepherd called Critical Boy thanks you
as well. This is Sports Center. Wait check that not anymore.
(14:56):
This is Countdown with Keith in Sports. The New York
Mets have signed free agent outfielder Tom me Fam for
the Gifted Fam. The Mets will be his sixth different
team in six seasons that he actually placed the eleventh
in the two thousand seventeen National League Most Valuable Player voting.
Fam is best known for having walked up to a
(15:17):
Giant's outfielder Jock Peterson before a game last year and
slapped him because Fam was mad at how Peterson had
manipulated his own player roster in the fantasy football league
in which they had played together the year before. Reportedly,
Fam got a one year deal from the Mets worth
six million dollars, including two million in incentives, possibly as
(15:39):
much as a million I hear if he wins the
Mets Fantasy football League, and another million if he don't
slap anybody. More seriously, Sports illustrated his reporting that the
c W TV network is about to hop into bed
with Saudi Prince MBS and announced a deal to televise
the Live Blood Money Golf League on TV stations in
(16:01):
two and twenty u S markets this year. The yell
was hinted at by Live publicist and lackey David Ferity,
the disgraced x CBS commentator who once joked about assassinating
Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Charity will fit right in
at Live and by the way, yes, the name Live
is meant ironically. More seriously still, the National Hockey league
(16:38):
has shamed itself again. Tuesday was Pride Night at the
Philadelphia Flyers game. The players all wore uniforms just during warmups,
the only difference from their regular uniforms being rainbow numbers
and letters. There were no speeches, there were no patches,
there were no players asked to endorse this or support that.
Just where your Flyers uniform for fifteen minutes, just like
(17:02):
all the other players and all the other teams and
all the other ten thousand Pride Nights in the last
decade in hockey. But just before the pregame skate, Flyers
defenseman Evan Provaroff refused to go on the ice wearing
the uniform that didn't have I'm pro gay or anything
else on it, just a rainbow colored numerals and his name,
(17:26):
otherwise his regular uniform. Afterwards, Provorov said, quote, I respect
everybody's choices. My choice is to stay true to myself
and my religion. That's all I'm going to say. The
Flyers coach John Tortorella, who once proudly announced that if
any of his players ever took a knee during the anthem,
(17:46):
he would bench them, though he said four years later
he was wrong about that, and he had changed his mind.
Tortorella responded to Provorov's refusal to where his own uniform
only in rainbow numbers and letters by having provorofs sit
out the pregame skate, but he played in the game.
Tortorella later said of Provoff's quote, It's one thing I
(18:08):
respect about pro v He's always true to himself. He
was true to himself and his religion. Prover Off his
Russian Orthodox and that is a religion whose leaders have
supported Russia's war on Ukraine because for the head patriarch
they have pride parades in Ukraine and quote, pride parades
are designed to demonstrate that sin is one variation of
(18:32):
human behavior. He added that homosexuality is a sin that
will lead to the end of the world. That's Ivan
Provarov's religion. So that's what his coach was praising and
what the team did not punish, an excuse for Russia's
slaughter of innocent civilians based on homophobia. If this could
(18:53):
somehow get worse, yesterday, the National Hockey League made it worse.
It issued a word salad statement in response to the
disaster in Philly Tuesday night, in which basically it's through
its own pride nights under the bus Hockey is for
Everyone is the umbrella initiative under which blah blah blahlah
blah clubs decide whom to celebrate when and how with
(19:17):
lead counsel and support, and we continue to encourage their
voices and perspectives on social and cultural issues. It's pride
night for homophobes in Philadelphia. I just added that last part.
In point of fact, Ivan Proveroff refused to wear his
own uniform that did not bear any endorsement or change
(19:38):
stronger than letters and numbers in different colors than usual.
He should have been suspended on the spot for insubordination
and possibly had his contract voided. And as to coach Tortorella,
who not only did nothing to prover Off but applauded
his being true to himself, John Tortorella should have been
should be today fired. And Provoff's action and the NHL's
(20:01):
measly mouthed weak need statement that reminds us its claim
hockey is for Everyone is just a brand name. The
NHL needs to be asked why it continues to permit
players from Russia who subscribe to a religion that states
that war against the country friendly to the United States
is not only justified, but necessary because that country has
(20:24):
pride parades. The NHL needs to be asked why it
continues to permit these pro war, homophobic Russian slobs to
play in North America and take our money from us
while they hide behind their barbaric religion. Probarof was not
asked to do anything endorsing lgbt Q nor denying his
(20:44):
own religion, as barbaric as it might be. He lied
about his own actions. He mischaracterized sexual orientation as a choice.
His coach defended the lie and praised the insubordination. The
league then defended both of them. If the NHL really
gave a damn, or really gave something else about this cause,
(21:05):
or any of the causes it continually congratulates itself unquote
celebrating unquote, prover Off should have been kicked out of
the NHL, Tortorella should have been suspended and fired, and
the Flyers should be fine something notable like five or
ten million dollars for screwing this up so badly. None
of that will happen, though, because the NHL does not
(21:27):
give a damn about this cause and hockey is for everyone.
That doesn't mean anything unless you want to change it
to read hockey is for everyone unless this one guy
over here believes countries should be invaded and people killed
there in their homes because some of them are gay.
(21:59):
Coming up something that pertains to a cable network buckling
under two Republican demands, which also features in the latest
daily roundup of the miscrants, morons, and Dunning Kruger Effi
specimens who constitute today's worst persons in the world. Lebron's
shared by NBC News chairman says our Conde and CNN's
(22:20):
chief president and become death destroyer of worlds. And when
we work together at MSNBC, we thought he used to
eat paste. Chris Lick The New York Times reports at
the Republican Party is currently negotiating its schedule of televised
presidential primary debates beginning late this year, and that its
Debate Committee chairman David Bossi from the Arkansas Project and
(22:44):
Citizens United, David Bossi one of the great anti democracy
scumbags in this nation's history. David Bossi is willing to
put one or more of these debates on NBC and
or CNN. This means obviously that Cenn NBC sees are
Conde and CNN s Chris Lick to have so instituted
(23:05):
themselves and prostituted their journalism that they have agreed to
the Republicans preliminary demands and things I promised not to tell.
You will hear what Republican demands were like in two
thousand eight. Many of US civilians would call it blackmail,
and the Republicans got Tom Brokaw to be their in
house rep for it at NBC anyway. The runner up
(23:27):
former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who had to quit
in Shane last summer over a minor scandal well over
three seventy seven minor scandals, and also his participation in
the fraud that was Brexit, but he was railroaded. Boris
Johnson has signed a deal with Harper Collins to write
a memoir of his premiership. No title yet, no word
(23:47):
on the advance he got. My sources indicate the book
will be unique. If you read Boris Johnson's autobiography and
then go back and read it a second time, you
will be surprised to find it, says exactly the opposite
of what you read the first time. But our winner
Elon Musk and Tesla remember that two thousand sixteen video
(24:09):
Tesla showed off of its self driving Model X car
stopping at a red light accelerating at a green light,
all by itself staged. That is according to a sworn
deposition by the director of autopilots software at Tesla, ash
shock Elliswamy. He testified in a lawsuit against Tesla over
(24:31):
a fatal crash in two thousand eighteen, and quoting the
engineer's testimony, Reuters quotes him as confirming media reports that
to fake the video, Tesla used a predetermined route from
a house in Menlo Park, California, to its then headquarters
in Palo Alto, and it used three D mapping. In
other words, they rehearsed the route and when they tried
(24:51):
to have the damn thing park itself at headquarters, the
engineer said, it crashed into a fence. Elon, next thing,
you'll be telling me the Model X was once a
drag performer in Brazil Old Musque, Today's worse person and work. Finally,
(25:23):
our number one story on the countdown in my favorite
topic me I missed the exact anniversary by day, but
it's close enough. The demand for spots in the Shafe
Stadium press box that night was so great that there
was a signed seating. I had no real reason to
be there, but as usual, the New York Mets took
care of me, and so on Friday, the fifth, September
(25:44):
two thight, I was shoulder to shoulder with reporter friends
watching the Mets begin to blow their three game Pennant
Race lead against the Philadelphia Philly Sorry Mets fans for
bringing this up again. Brett Myers had just struck out
New York's David Wright looking when my phone rang. It
was my agent, Gean Sage. They just called. She said, flatly,
(26:04):
you and Matthews have been fired from anchoring the presidential
debates because of what you said. What I had said
had been said. Three nights previously, Chris Matthews and I
were co anchoring the Republican Convention on MSNBC. He was
there in Minneapolis. I was in the studios in New York,
ostensibly so I could also anchor hurricane coverage, although it
(26:26):
was pretty clear that at least half the reason I
was not in Minneapolis was because the Republicans had threatened
NBC or said they couldn't guarantee my safety or something
like that, and NBC folded. So I was the one
during MSNBC's coverage of the two thousand eight Republican Convention
who had to throw it to a video they were
introducing that we had been told by the Republicans was
(26:49):
a quote tribute to the dead of nine eleven. It was,
in fact a snuff film. All of the images that
all of the networks had stopped showing within weeks or
even days of the attacks, all of those images were
in the video. People jumping and falling to their deaths
from the World Trade Center on nine eleven, endless replays
(27:11):
of the planes hitting the towers, dismembered bodies in the plaza,
the building collapses, the equally terrifying scenes at the Pentagon,
and all with a grotesque Robert Davy voiceover emphasizing that
this was all the Democrats fault. The message was simple,
elect Obama and you will die like this. I was angry,
(27:35):
just on that base level. For the five and a
half years I had been back at MSNBC, we had
been rigorous about not showing any of that video. There
were rules that if we had to for some reason,
we should show only the skill images, and even then
only with extensive warnings to the viewers. But I knew
from my conversations with the president of MSNBC, Phil Griffin,
who had only known for twenty eight years at that point,
(27:58):
that he would insist that on the scene in Minneapolis,
Matthews and Tom broke Off, whose career at NBC I
had resurrected Bryan Williams had buried him alive two years earlier,
that one or both of them would rebuke the GOP
for showing not a nine eleven tribute, but, as I
just said, a nine eleven snuff film. The video ended,
(28:18):
and we came out to Brokaw with Matthews, and Brokaw
kind of coughed, and Matthews said wow. And he turned
to Brokaw and said, in that loose fire hose delivery
of his Tom, the kind of underscoring terrorism big thing
with Republicans as they triestop Obama. Brokaw droned on approvingly
(28:40):
the Republicans sneaking a snuff film a band video onto
MSNBC and by the way, also onto CNN, onto NBC
onto CBS, onto ABC without any warning. That was not
mentioned by Brokaw or Matthews. Back to New York and Keith.
I was supposed to add libertase about what we were
expecting from the Republican convention for the rest of the
(29:02):
night and then throw to a commercial instead, I said,
and this is a paraphrase, the original tape disappeared that
night that before we moved on, I felt I needed
to apologize that we at MSNBC and for that matter,
NBC News, had extremely strict rules about not showing that video.
The Republicans had just shown you without any warning, without
any context, and we certainly would not have shown the
(29:25):
horror and death and blamed it on the Democrats, or
for that matter, blamed it on on the Republicans. I said.
If we had done such a thing ourselves, there would
have been people fired at NBC News. The public program
the GOP provided said that was going to be a
nine eleven tribute film, I said, and so did the
private conversations with the network, which included the reminder from
NBC and MSNBC that we had rules against showing the
(29:47):
scenes of the horrible death and mutilation and destruction. So
I apologized on behalf of whoever trusted the Republicans to
live up to their word that MSNBC viewers were forced
to see the video our network had long before vowed
never to show again. So three nights later, without as
much as an email, this Griffin guy had called my
(30:10):
agent and told her I was fired Matthews two from
our further coverage of the upcoming McGain Obama debates. She
related these details to me as I walked down the
many ramps in the back of Shasee Stadium towards the subway.
I told her to call Griffin back and tell him
I had quit on the spot right then and he
could work his way out of the ensuing disaster. Liberal
(30:33):
network MSNBC fires liberal host Lberman for criticizing conservatives for
sneaking nine eleven snuff film onto MSNBC. He could figure
that out any way he wanted, and he could hear
my response on I don't know, Good Morning America, CBS,
This Morning, the PBS News Hour, and any other news
program that bothered to ask me to stop by and talk.
(30:54):
I phoned my live in girlfriend, Katie turn and told
her I was on my way home and I made
a few phone calls to friendly voices within the NBC
management structure and got from them a clear picture of
what had happened. And despite the spotty cell service along
the elevated line heading back to Manhattan, I got a
message from a newspaper reporter friend who neatly tied together
all that I was hearing elsewhere. Tom Brokeaw is going
(31:17):
around NBC saying he got you fired from the debates
because the Republicans told him to. Nine maybe ten months earlier,
Phil Griffin had come to me and asked me if
I would be okay with this guy who had been
kind of disappeared by the network. Tom broke All was
his name appearing during our weekly coverage of the Democratic
(31:39):
and Republican primaries, just a couple of minutes, like from
a perspective desk. That's all he wants to do. He's
really Tom's really unhappy. Brian has frozen him out of everything.
Brian Williams. Of course, I was appalled, but not surprised.
The power had gone to Brian's head, and of course
there it had not met much resistance. Plus, as I
(32:01):
said to Griffin, you're asking me if i'd like to
add Tom Broke aus at experience and Tom Broke caused
gravitas two stuff. I'm anchoring when I'm not sure I
know as much as I really need to know to
do this right. You're asking me this. Tom fit in beautifully.
And twice after those long Tuesday evenings in the primary season,
he sent me brief emails awarding me what he called
(32:23):
the game ball, because he was so impressed by my
ability to balance the roles of political anchor and political commentator,
having tried this myself. One of them read, I know
what a perilous tight rupless is. Game ball to Caro,
I'm mocking him now, but these meant so much to me.
I printed the emails out and carried them in my wallet.
(32:47):
And now he was claiming he had gotten me fired because,
as my newspaper friends said, the Republicans told him to.
That was not hard to unpack either. Tim Russer had
died on June three of that year. I anchored that
night until two in the morning. It was still an
open wound. There were still tears. We didn't know it then,
(33:07):
but the structure of NBC News and the perilous tight
group balancing NBC and MSNBC had died with Tim Russers,
so did the role of moderator of the second debate
between John McCain and Barack Obama, scheduled for about a
month after my subway ride on October seven in Nashville.
Tim had not even been buried yet when Brokaw began
(33:27):
to angle to get that assignment, along with brushing away
the dirt of his Penny Anti role on the MSNBC
Prospective Desk. We never saw him again in order that
he could take Tim's spot as Brian Williams sidekick on
Big NBC. The month before August, there was a story
coming out of the east end of the third floor
at thirty Rock, where NBC News management sat around not
(33:49):
doing much of anything, that a Republican goon named Ed
Gillespie had been in there with Griffin and the NBC
News president, Steve Cappus, trying to get me silenced or
fired or off the convention coverage or something. And that's
somebody prominent within NBC News was in there with Gillespie
or was invoked by Gillespie. The rumor mill wasn't certain.
(34:12):
As I switched from the elevated seven train to the
underground f train. The whole thing came together before my
comments about the GOP Convention nine eleven snuff film. Ed
Gillespie had come in and had somehow vaguely threatened Cappus
and Griffin about me using as leverage the debate which
Tom Brokaw was now supposed to moderate, And when I
(34:34):
apologized for their video on our air, Gillespie must have
turned it into an either or get rid of me
or McCain would refuse to participate in any debate moderated
by Brokaw or anybody from NBC News, and Brokaw had
already come back from the dead once in two thousand eight,
and he would be damned if he would be forced
(34:55):
to do it a second time. But as the train
took me home to an apartment I was now going
to have to sell since I had just quit MSNBC
on the spot for folding to such obvious Republican blackmail,
something else now occurred to me. Why would MSNBC or
NBC or our parent corporation at the time, ge actually
(35:16):
think that they could remove me from the debate coverage
on MSNBC, where the Rachel Meadows Show had yet to
be born and the three times a night my show
ran accounted for something like six of the entire day's
network audience and do that without getting a really bad
reaction from our audience. Plus, if a newspaperman already knew
(35:38):
the Brokaw part, how could this story be avoided. MSNBC
announced it had removed its liberal star Keith Alderman from
coverage of the McCain Obama presidential debates. Sources confirmed former
NBC News anchorman Tom Brokaw, now an MSNBC commentator on
Alderman's coverage, had helped Republican Party to blackmail NBC into
(36:00):
the decision. Alderman immediately resigned, saying, quote in succumbing to
this coercion on behalf of John McCain, NBC has now
forfeited any right to further be called a news organization.
And I'm sad to say MSNBC, which I built, is
now dead. My god, MSNBC and NBC News for that matter,
would have committed corporate suicide before the weekend was over.
(36:24):
At that point, it dawned on me that the only
thing that could save the credibility of the whole news
division and the careers of Griffin and Cappus and NBC
network president Jeff Zucker, and especially the career of Tom Brokaw.
Was for me to publicly state that I had asked
to be removed from anchoring the debates because the whatever
(36:46):
was just too much blah blah blah for me, and
I felt I should stick to the post debate analysis
and commentary. NBC would now have a choice. They could
fire me from the debates and destroy everything, including the
hundred million dollars a year or so in profit that
NBC made off MSNBC, or I could and you know why,
(37:07):
and claim it was my idea and save everybody's ass,
including my own. I got out of the subway and
raced home. Katie met me at the door with a
big hug. She had been crying. Relax, I said, I'm
not quitting. In fact, I'm going to get a huge raise. Now,
listen carefully. I called my agent and I explained the
idea that had lit over my head on the subway
(37:29):
like a lightbulb to both of them. I said, you
call Phil Griffin back and explained to him that I
will personally save his job and Steve Campuses and Jeff
Suckers and Tom broke Aus and everybody else's I'll take
the fall instead of letting them all get fired by
the MSNBC audience. I'll say this was my idea, and
(37:51):
all it will cost Phil is twelve million dollars. And
he has to leak the terms so everybody knows it
costs him twelve million dollars. And she paused for a
second and said it's genius. It might not quite twelve million,
but I bet, I bet they'll pay you at least nine.
On Sunday, several news organizations reported I had asked to
(38:13):
be taken off the anchor desk two months and one
week later, The New York Times wrote, quote, Keith Olberman,
the anchor of Countdown on MSNBC, has extended his contract
through the next presidential election season. The network announced Mr
Alderman and MSNBC essentially tore up the four year, four
million dollar year contract they signed last year and replaced
(38:34):
it with one worth about seven and a half million
a year. On that was a three and a half
million dollar raise for four years for a total of
fourteen million dollars, except the new contract added two years
to my old deal, so the race was actually twenty
(38:55):
two million dollars. All stories have a punchline. This punch
line is about Tom Brokaw. We would have gotten away
with this cleanly. NBC would have gotten its money's worth
for the twenty two million in hush money, which is
what it was that it had to pay me because
I had agreed with them rolling over for the Republican
Party blackmail. Except Brokaw could not keep his mouth shut.
(39:18):
So proud was he of preserving his role as the
moderator of the October seven NBC debate that he had
to explain in explicit detail in public how he went
to his bosses at NBC News and threatened them on
behalf of the GOP. On September twenty nine, two eight,
(39:38):
a lengthy and glowing broke Off profile appeared in The
New York Times. Quote Mr Brokaw said that over the
summer he had quote advocated within the executive suite of
NBC News to modify the anchor duties of the MSNBC
hosts Keith all Woman and Chris Matthews on election night
and on nights when there were presidential debates. Mr Brokaw
(39:59):
said he had also conducted some shuttle diplomacy in recent
weeks between NBC and the McCain campaign. His mission, he said,
was to assure the candidates aids that despite some negative
on air commentary by Mr Olberman in particular, Mr McCain
could still get a fair shake from NBC News. Unquote,
(40:21):
Oh that was his mission. The hell it was. Happily,
Brokaw just could not resist boasting even further. The next
sentence actually reads quote. Mr Brokaw said he had been
told by a senior McCain aide whom he did not name,
that the campaign had been reluctant to accept an NBC
(40:41):
representative as one of the moderators of the three presidential
debates until his name was invoked. Quote. One of the
things I was told by this person was that they
were so irritated. They said, if it's an NBC moderator
for any of these debates, we won't go, Mr Brokaw said,
(41:03):
quoting him again. My my name came up, and they said, oh, hell,
we have to do it because it's going to be Brokaw.
There is a second punchline after all this, when the
new format came out and I was sitting there counting
my money MSNBC had David Gregory quote anchor unquote the
(41:23):
debate coverage. David was terrific during this. Practically all this meant, anyway,
was that I was on the er until literally nine
seconds before each debate began, which is when I said,
now here's David Gregory. And he was then on for
four or five minutes after the debate ended, which is
when he said, now here's Keith Olberman. And on Election
Night itself with David again formally anchoring, per the Republican
(41:48):
blackmail at ten PM, to his great credit and to
my eternal gratitude, David Gregory said, with the last voting
booth closing at eleven PM, NBC News can now project
the winner of the two thousand and eight presidential election,
Keith Bless him. Plus I still have all the money.
(42:21):
And now the great Chris Licked John Malone destruction of
CNN and the Great Jeff shell says Our Conde destruction
of NBC have so progressed that the Republicans are willing
to put some of their debates on CNN and NBC. Congratulations, boys,
Countdown has come to you from the studios of All
Women Broadcasting Empire World headquarters in the Sports Capsule Building
(42:45):
here in New York. Thank you for listening. Here are
the credits. Most of the music, including our theme from
Beethoven's Ninth, was arranged, produced, and performed by Brian Ray
and John Philip Channel. They are the countdown musical directors.
All orchestration and keyboards by John Philip Chanelle, guitars, bass
and drums by Brian Ray, produced by t Ko Brothers.
(43:06):
Other Beethoven selections have been arranged and performed by No
Horns Allowed. The sports music is the Overman theme from
ESPN two and it was written by Mitch Warren Davis
courtesy of ESPN eight. Musical comments by Nancy Faust, the
best baseball stadium organist ever since I forgot to say it,
I'll say it now. Thank you Nancy Faust. Our announcer
today was Stevie Van's aunt. Everything else pretty much my fault.
(43:30):
So let's countdown for this, the seven dwty four day
since Donald Trump's first attempted coup against the democratically elected
government of the United States. Arrest him now while we
still can. The next scheduled countdown tomorrow Till then, I'm
Keith ol Reman, good morning, good afternoon, goodnight, and good luck.
(43:58):
Countdown with Keith Olman is a production of I heart Radio.
For more podcast from I heart Radio, visit the i
heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of I Heart Radio. Okay,
if this all ends with George Santos turning out to
(00:27):
also be Lindsay Graham, I wouldn't be a bit surprised
if somehow you missed it. Seven days ago, while America slept,
a Brazilian drag performer named Euler Rochard went on Instagram
and posted an old photograph of herself standing with another
(00:47):
drag performer in address very nice dress, and wrote, as
it translates from the Portuguese me with the American Republican
deputy at the Niche Roy parade, with whom I spoke,
he wouldn't leave my house. There's the proof for those
who called me a liar, u Le Rochard says. Standing
(01:08):
next to her in that photograph is George Santos in
an address the Republican Party, which has turned itself into
an arm of persecution against drag performers, which has insisted
every one of them and every one of us who
supports them or refuses to target them or ascribe terrible
motives to them, is a quote groomer, which has tried
(01:31):
to break up their performances with everything from armed vigilantes
to panicked legislation which has put the lives of every
one of them at risk, which has revived Pizza Gate
and every other transparently ludicrous, paranoid conspiracy and centered it
on them. The drag phobic Republican Party has twisted itself
(01:52):
into knots to defend and maintain in his new ill
gotten House seat a drag queen named Katara Ravascha, Tara George,
Anthony Devolder, Zabrovsky, Santos Ravasha. This, this will be why
(02:17):
Kevin McCarthy ousts him. The GOP anti drag their groomers,
You'll burn in hell. Panic mob has too much momentum,
too much attention, too much power, too much invested in
it for any of them to drop it or to
turn back. Yet, if Kevin McCarthy and House Republican leadership
(02:39):
try to finesse this, the pitchforks and torches they unleashed
will be turned on them. Kevin McCarthy groomer. Even if
there is no further photographic evidence beyond that one old
shot on Instagram, it's over and ask yourself, what is
the point of somebody dressing in drag besides leaving photographic
(03:04):
evidence of it. Oh, and there may be a YouTube
video of Qatara Ravasch in a dress, just a little
black dress, and then they go in for a close
up and the face looks like George Santos, and Juela
Rochard says, yeah, that's her. For the record, there isn't
a damn thing wrong with drag queens, and there isn't
(03:26):
a damn thing wrong with kids seeing drag queens. And
if you have any qualms about that conclusion, I have
only two words for you, Mrs doubt fire. Also, for
the record, it appears Qatara Ravasch was named for an
enduring Brazilian actress named Irene Ravasch. And also for the record,
it appears the first American to find the Euler Richard
(03:49):
Instagram post was writer producer Rachel Wolfe, and the first
to interview Euler Rochard was Marissa Kabas, who does a
Santos newsletter. And for the record, last April, candidate George
Santos posted a video to Facebook endorsing Florida's Don't Say
Gay law, and, as The New York Times put it,
quote Mr Santos in a caption for the video, accused
(04:11):
Democrats and wanting to groom our kids, repeating a conservative
talking point that associates any discussion of sexual orientation or
gender identity with children to sexual abuse. Hey, everyone, Mr
Santos said at the beginning of the video, George Santos
here end quote. That's the point. The hypocrisy is the point. Meanwhile,
(04:35):
back at the ranch, Euler Richard told Marissa Kabas that
she met Katara. That's what she says. Santos called himself
almost exclusively when Katara was sixteen or seventeen years old. Quote.
The picture was taken in two thousand and eight at
the Pride parade at Kari Beach in Nitroy. George had
(04:55):
disappeared for a little while and then returned to Brazil
with a lot of money, and that was about the
same time when the picture was taken. George always lied
about everything. He used to create stories, usually involving money.
She says she saw congress in Santos on TV recently
and couldn't believe it. Knew it was him, checked with
(05:17):
friends and it's him. Quote. He used to hang out
in my house while his mom was playing Bingo ban Go.
I don't know what's next, and I'm not sure I
want to know what's next. He's a furry. He dated
(05:40):
Madison Clothorne. He's actually three short liars stacked in one raincoat.
He's planning to vote for raising the debt limit. I
don't know what's next, but I do know that since
this latest one broke, this latest in the series, the
daily series of jaw droppers, I have seen in my
(06:00):
mind's I one thing and one thing only, one of
my favorite James Thurbert our tuns in which a lawyer
is holding a kangaroo and confronting a clearly shocked and
shaken witness on the stand, and the caption reads, perhaps
this will refresh your memory the irony of all ironies
(06:21):
and the sadness of all sadnesses in this is that
George Santos as Katara Ravasha is probably the most human,
most endearing thing he has done yet, in fact, it's
probably the only human, only endearing thing he's done. Yet.
This is still the creature who at best let the disabled,
(06:43):
homeless Navy Vets service dog Sapphire die and redirected the
money raised for her somewhere else. This is still the
creature who has lied about every aspect of his life,
and lied about the Holocaust, and lied about nine eleven,
and lied about the Pulse nightclub shooting. This is still
the albatross around the neck of nearly every Republican who
(07:04):
has reduced them now to trying to defend deflect by
attacking a Democratic Congressional aid who mentioned that his office
was located in just the right spot to be able
to point to reporters looking for Santos by saying he
went that way. And the Republicans have come this close
to saying that the real victim here is George Santos.
(07:31):
I would go out on a limb and predict that
this one blame it on. Rio has to be the
last of the George Santos scandals, or at least the
last of the George Santos scandals while he's still in Congress.
But we have all learned our lesson here that this
is a man who in his closet does not merely
have skeletons. He in fact has dozens more closets, each
(07:54):
containing dozens more skeletons. And the Republican Party of Three
has as its lack of moral center as it's organizing
unprincipled the lie. But this is the first lie or
the first story anyway that in this moment threatens Kevin
McCarthy more than does santos is resignation and a new
(08:17):
special election in the New York third. If it was
not clear before, it is now. McCarthy can risk an
eight seat majority, or he can keep what he has now,
but he has to spend every second of every minute
of every day of the next two years defending George
Santos's choice of dresses. There are a couple of other
(08:43):
things to mention. A small follow up to the Nightmare
of rich Austoff and Sapphire. Santos first said the story
was fake and he did not know any of the
people claiming he in effect killed lost offs poor dog.
Then he issued a statement to CNN quote, I have
no clue what he's talking about. And the crazy part
is that anyone that knows me knows I'd go to
(09:05):
hell and back for a dog, and especially a veteran.
I have dozens of people reaching out to me and support,
sharing their stories about the dogs and cats that I
helped save and rescue. Unquote yes, Congressman, Yes, they're all
laughing and smiling, just out of frame in that picture,
and of course a tweet from two thousand sixteen referring
(09:26):
to Sapphire and Divolder and go fund me is still
live on Twitter. Go fund me also issued a statement.
They said they shut down the fundraiser in two thousand
sixteen after complaints and that it's quote trust and safety
teams sought proof of the delivery of funds from the organizer.
The organizer failed to respond. The organizer, of course, would
(09:48):
be Santos uh Ramanche uh Devolder. Oh and speaking of
compulsive liars, Trump was good enough yesterday to injure himself
on two different fronts. He made a slight mistake. During
the deposition in the rape loss suit by E. Gene Carroll,
shown a photo of himself and a woman, Trump identified
(10:10):
the woman as his second wife, Marla Maples. Quote that's Marla, Yeah,
that's my wife. In fact, the woman in the photo
he identified as Marla Maples is E Gene Carroll. And
Trump also handed the Department of Justice evidence of intent
in the Documents and or Espionage case. He posted that
(10:31):
when I was in the Oval office, papers would often
be an ascribed paper folder with classified or confidential or
another word on them. When the session was over, they
would collect the papers but not the folders, and I
saved hundreds of them. They were a quote cool unquote keepsake.
(10:51):
That's intent and a confession and a warning for George
Santos and every other Republican. Eventually you do run out
of lies, or at lea to run out of good lies.
And lastly, just to call back to the beginning of
this and to skip ahead, this does not all end
(11:13):
with George Santos turning out to also be Lindsay Graham.
Maybe Marjorie Taylor Green, but definitely not Lindsay Graham. Still ahead.
(11:37):
Speaking of pride events, Hockey's Philadelphia Flyers had one Tuesday.
It could not have gone worse if Santos had been
there pretending to be a left wing And then yesterday
the league itself through its pride night and its own
hollow catchphrase, hockey is for everyone. Under the bus Hockey
is for everyone except the famous Elon Musk two thousand sixteen,
(12:01):
The Tesla X drives Itself video. A Tesla engineer testifies
they faked it, and the Republicans are willing to are
negotiating putting some of this year's presidential primary debates on
CNN and or NBC. Do you know how much CNN
and or NBC have to have already prostituted themselves just
(12:23):
to get that chance? I do, because in two thousand
and eight, one of the GOP demands for debates to
NBC was fire Olderman. Things I promised not to tell
coming up. That's next, this discountdown. This is countdown with
(12:47):
Keith Oberman still ahead on countdown. Hockey is for everyone,
they say, except if you're in the Russian church that
says Pride Night is a good enough reason to bomb
Ukraine and kill its civilians. The NHL has a thoroughly
(13:07):
botched up disaster coming up, and the Republicans ready to
put their debates on CNN or NBC. So what did
CNN or NBC due to whore themselves out sufficiently for that? Because,
as I will tell you in things I promised not
to tell, I know from bitter personal experience that the
Republicans expect CNN or NBC or any other network to
(13:30):
whore itself out completely first. In each addition of Countdown,
we feature a dog in need you can help. Every
dog has its day to Texas and a beautiful stray
shepherd rescued by the Big Dog Haven Rescue. He doesn't
have a name. They have listed him all too aptly
as Critical Boy. They found him coated in fleas. He
(13:53):
has a small sister. He has heartworm and most urgently
is bleeding profusely from what turns out to be as
large a bladder stone as the VET has ever seen.
For all this, his ignosis is still great. If Big
Dog Haven can raise another eleven bucks or so for
the vet bills. He's just a stray dog. He's just
another soul like the rest of us, in pain, pain
(14:16):
which we can help to quickly relieve. If you can donate,
look up Critical Boy on the fundraising site Cuddly, or
just check my tweets and retweets will help too. I
thank you, and the shepherd called Critical Boy thanks you
as well. This is Sports Center. Wait check that not anymore.
(14:56):
This is Countdown with Keith in Sports. The New York
Mets have signed free agent outfielder Tom me Fam for
the Gifted Fam. The Mets will be his sixth different
team in six seasons that he actually placed the eleventh
in the two thousand seventeen National League Most Valuable Player voting.
Fam is best known for having walked up to a
(15:17):
Giant's outfielder Jock Peterson before a game last year and
slapped him because Fam was mad at how Peterson had
manipulated his own player roster in the fantasy football league
in which they had played together the year before. Reportedly,
Fam got a one year deal from the Mets worth
six million dollars, including two million in incentives, possibly as
(15:39):
much as a million I hear if he wins the
Mets Fantasy football League, and another million if he don't
slap anybody. More seriously, Sports illustrated his reporting that the
c W TV network is about to hop into bed
with Saudi Prince MBS and announced a deal to televise
the Live Blood Money Golf League on TV stations in
(16:01):
two and twenty u S markets this year. The yell
was hinted at by Live publicist and lackey David Ferity,
the disgraced x CBS commentator who once joked about assassinating
Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Charity will fit right in
at Live and by the way, yes, the name Live
is meant ironically. More seriously still, the National Hockey league
(16:38):
has shamed itself again. Tuesday was Pride Night at the
Philadelphia Flyers game. The players all wore uniforms just during warmups,
the only difference from their regular uniforms being rainbow numbers
and letters. There were no speeches, there were no patches,
there were no players asked to endorse this or support that.
Just where your Flyers uniform for fifteen minutes, just like
(17:02):
all the other players and all the other teams and
all the other ten thousand Pride Nights in the last
decade in hockey. But just before the pregame skate, Flyers
defenseman Evan Provaroff refused to go on the ice wearing
the uniform that didn't have I'm pro gay or anything
else on it, just a rainbow colored numerals and his name,
(17:26):
otherwise his regular uniform. Afterwards, Provorov said, quote, I respect
everybody's choices. My choice is to stay true to myself
and my religion. That's all I'm going to say. The
Flyers coach John Tortorella, who once proudly announced that if
any of his players ever took a knee during the anthem,
(17:46):
he would bench them, though he said four years later
he was wrong about that, and he had changed his mind.
Tortorella responded to Provorov's refusal to where his own uniform
only in rainbow numbers and letters by having provorofs sit
out the pregame skate, but he played in the game.
Tortorella later said of Provoff's quote, It's one thing I
(18:08):
respect about pro v He's always true to himself. He
was true to himself and his religion. Prover Off his
Russian Orthodox and that is a religion whose leaders have
supported Russia's war on Ukraine because for the head patriarch
they have pride parades in Ukraine and quote, pride parades
are designed to demonstrate that sin is one variation of
(18:32):
human behavior. He added that homosexuality is a sin that
will lead to the end of the world. That's Ivan
Provarov's religion. So that's what his coach was praising and
what the team did not punish, an excuse for Russia's
slaughter of innocent civilians based on homophobia. If this could
(18:53):
somehow get worse, yesterday, the National Hockey League made it worse.
It issued a word salad statement in response to the
disaster in Philly Tuesday night, in which basically it's through
its own pride nights under the bus Hockey is for
Everyone is the umbrella initiative under which blah blah blahlah
blah clubs decide whom to celebrate when and how with
(19:17):
lead counsel and support, and we continue to encourage their
voices and perspectives on social and cultural issues. It's pride
night for homophobes in Philadelphia. I just added that last part.
In point of fact, Ivan Proveroff refused to wear his
own uniform that did not bear any endorsement or change
(19:38):
stronger than letters and numbers in different colors than usual.
He should have been suspended on the spot for insubordination
and possibly had his contract voided. And as to coach Tortorella,
who not only did nothing to prover Off but applauded
his being true to himself, John Tortorella should have been
should be today fired. And Provoff's action and the NHL's
(20:01):
measly mouthed weak need statement that reminds us its claim
hockey is for Everyone is just a brand name. The
NHL needs to be asked why it continues to permit
players from Russia who subscribe to a religion that states
that war against the country friendly to the United States
is not only justified, but necessary because that country has
(20:24):
pride parades. The NHL needs to be asked why it
continues to permit these pro war, homophobic Russian slobs to
play in North America and take our money from us
while they hide behind their barbaric religion. Probarof was not
asked to do anything endorsing lgbt Q nor denying his
(20:44):
own religion, as barbaric as it might be. He lied
about his own actions. He mischaracterized sexual orientation as a choice.
His coach defended the lie and praised the insubordination. The
league then defended both of them. If the NHL really
gave a damn, or really gave something else about this cause,
(21:05):
or any of the causes it continually congratulates itself unquote
celebrating unquote, prover Off should have been kicked out of
the NHL, Tortorella should have been suspended and fired, and
the Flyers should be fine something notable like five or
ten million dollars for screwing this up so badly. None
of that will happen, though, because the NHL does not
(21:27):
give a damn about this cause and hockey is for everyone.
That doesn't mean anything unless you want to change it
to read hockey is for everyone unless this one guy
over here believes countries should be invaded and people killed
there in their homes because some of them are gay.
(21:59):
Coming up something that pertains to a cable network buckling
under two Republican demands, which also features in the latest
daily roundup of the miscrants, morons, and Dunning Kruger Effi
specimens who constitute today's worst persons in the world. Lebron's
shared by NBC News chairman says our Conde and CNN's
(22:20):
chief president and become death destroyer of worlds. And when
we work together at MSNBC, we thought he used to
eat paste. Chris Lick The New York Times reports at
the Republican Party is currently negotiating its schedule of televised
presidential primary debates beginning late this year, and that its
Debate Committee chairman David Bossi from the Arkansas Project and
(22:44):
Citizens United, David Bossi one of the great anti democracy
scumbags in this nation's history. David Bossi is willing to
put one or more of these debates on NBC and
or CNN. This means obviously that Cenn NBC sees are
Conde and CNN s Chris Lick to have so instituted
(23:05):
themselves and prostituted their journalism that they have agreed to
the Republicans preliminary demands and things I promised not to tell.
You will hear what Republican demands were like in two
thousand eight. Many of US civilians would call it blackmail,
and the Republicans got Tom Brokaw to be their in
house rep for it at NBC anyway. The runner up
(23:27):
former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who had to quit
in Shane last summer over a minor scandal well over
three seventy seven minor scandals, and also his participation in
the fraud that was Brexit, but he was railroaded. Boris
Johnson has signed a deal with Harper Collins to write
a memoir of his premiership. No title yet, no word
(23:47):
on the advance he got. My sources indicate the book
will be unique. If you read Boris Johnson's autobiography and
then go back and read it a second time, you
will be surprised to find it, says exactly the opposite
of what you read the first time. But our winner
Elon Musk and Tesla remember that two thousand sixteen video
(24:09):
Tesla showed off of its self driving Model X car
stopping at a red light accelerating at a green light,
all by itself staged. That is according to a sworn
deposition by the director of autopilots software at Tesla, ash
shock Elliswamy. He testified in a lawsuit against Tesla over
(24:31):
a fatal crash in two thousand eighteen, and quoting the
engineer's testimony, Reuters quotes him as confirming media reports that
to fake the video, Tesla used a predetermined route from
a house in Menlo Park, California, to its then headquarters
in Palo Alto, and it used three D mapping. In
other words, they rehearsed the route and when they tried
(24:51):
to have the damn thing park itself at headquarters, the
engineer said, it crashed into a fence. Elon, next thing,
you'll be telling me the Model X was once a
drag performer in Brazil Old Musque, Today's worse person and work. Finally,
(25:23):
our number one story on the countdown in my favorite
topic me I missed the exact anniversary by day, but
it's close enough. The demand for spots in the Shafe
Stadium press box that night was so great that there
was a signed seating. I had no real reason to
be there, but as usual, the New York Mets took
care of me, and so on Friday, the fifth, September
(25:44):
two thight, I was shoulder to shoulder with reporter friends
watching the Mets begin to blow their three game Pennant
Race lead against the Philadelphia Philly Sorry Mets fans for
bringing this up again. Brett Myers had just struck out
New York's David Wright looking when my phone rang. It
was my agent, Gean Sage. They just called. She said, flatly,
(26:04):
you and Matthews have been fired from anchoring the presidential
debates because of what you said. What I had said
had been said. Three nights previously, Chris Matthews and I
were co anchoring the Republican Convention on MSNBC. He was
there in Minneapolis. I was in the studios in New York,
ostensibly so I could also anchor hurricane coverage, although it
(26:26):
was pretty clear that at least half the reason I
was not in Minneapolis was because the Republicans had threatened
NBC or said they couldn't guarantee my safety or something
like that, and NBC folded. So I was the one
during MSNBC's coverage of the two thousand eight Republican Convention
who had to throw it to a video they were
introducing that we had been told by the Republicans was
(26:49):
a quote tribute to the dead of nine eleven. It was,
in fact a snuff film. All of the images that
all of the networks had stopped showing within weeks or
even days of the attacks, all of those images were
in the video. People jumping and falling to their deaths
from the World Trade Center on nine eleven, endless replays
(27:11):
of the planes hitting the towers, dismembered bodies in the plaza,
the building collapses, the equally terrifying scenes at the Pentagon,
and all with a grotesque Robert Davy voiceover emphasizing that
this was all the Democrats fault. The message was simple,
elect Obama and you will die like this. I was angry,
(27:35):
just on that base level. For the five and a
half years I had been back at MSNBC, we had
been rigorous about not showing any of that video. There
were rules that if we had to for some reason,
we should show only the skill images, and even then
only with extensive warnings to the viewers. But I knew
from my conversations with the president of MSNBC, Phil Griffin,
who had only known for twenty eight years at that point,
(27:58):
that he would insist that on the scene in Minneapolis,
Matthews and Tom broke Off, whose career at NBC I
had resurrected Bryan Williams had buried him alive two years earlier,
that one or both of them would rebuke the GOP
for showing not a nine eleven tribute, but, as I
just said, a nine eleven snuff film. The video ended,
(28:18):
and we came out to Brokaw with Matthews, and Brokaw
kind of coughed, and Matthews said wow. And he turned
to Brokaw and said, in that loose fire hose delivery
of his Tom, the kind of underscoring terrorism big thing
with Republicans as they triestop Obama. Brokaw droned on approvingly
(28:40):
the Republicans sneaking a snuff film a band video onto
MSNBC and by the way, also onto CNN, onto NBC
onto CBS, onto ABC without any warning. That was not
mentioned by Brokaw or Matthews. Back to New York and Keith.
I was supposed to add libertase about what we were
expecting from the Republican convention for the rest of the
(29:02):
night and then throw to a commercial instead, I said,
and this is a paraphrase, the original tape disappeared that
night that before we moved on, I felt I needed
to apologize that we at MSNBC and for that matter,
NBC News, had extremely strict rules about not showing that video.
The Republicans had just shown you without any warning, without
any context, and we certainly would not have shown the
(29:25):
horror and death and blamed it on the Democrats, or
for that matter, blamed it on on the Republicans. I said.
If we had done such a thing ourselves, there would
have been people fired at NBC News. The public program
the GOP provided said that was going to be a
nine eleven tribute film, I said, and so did the
private conversations with the network, which included the reminder from
NBC and MSNBC that we had rules against showing the
(29:47):
scenes of the horrible death and mutilation and destruction. So
I apologized on behalf of whoever trusted the Republicans to
live up to their word that MSNBC viewers were forced
to see the video our network had long before vowed
never to show again. So three nights later, without as
much as an email, this Griffin guy had called my
(30:10):
agent and told her I was fired Matthews two from
our further coverage of the upcoming McGain Obama debates. She
related these details to me as I walked down the
many ramps in the back of Shasee Stadium towards the subway.
I told her to call Griffin back and tell him
I had quit on the spot right then and he
could work his way out of the ensuing disaster. Liberal
(30:33):
network MSNBC fires liberal host Lberman for criticizing conservatives for
sneaking nine eleven snuff film onto MSNBC. He could figure
that out any way he wanted, and he could hear
my response on I don't know, Good Morning America, CBS,
This Morning, the PBS News Hour, and any other news
program that bothered to ask me to stop by and talk.
(30:54):
I phoned my live in girlfriend, Katie turn and told
her I was on my way home and I made
a few phone calls to friendly voices within the NBC
management structure and got from them a clear picture of
what had happened. And despite the spotty cell service along
the elevated line heading back to Manhattan, I got a
message from a newspaper reporter friend who neatly tied together
all that I was hearing elsewhere. Tom Brokeaw is going
(31:17):
around NBC saying he got you fired from the debates
because the Republicans told him to. Nine maybe ten months earlier,
Phil Griffin had come to me and asked me if
I would be okay with this guy who had been
kind of disappeared by the network. Tom broke All was
his name appearing during our weekly coverage of the Democratic
(31:39):
and Republican primaries, just a couple of minutes, like from
a perspective desk. That's all he wants to do. He's
really Tom's really unhappy. Brian has frozen him out of everything.
Brian Williams. Of course, I was appalled, but not surprised.
The power had gone to Brian's head, and of course
there it had not met much resistance. Plus, as I
(32:01):
said to Griffin, you're asking me if i'd like to
add Tom Broke aus at experience and Tom Broke caused
gravitas two stuff. I'm anchoring when I'm not sure I
know as much as I really need to know to
do this right. You're asking me this. Tom fit in beautifully.
And twice after those long Tuesday evenings in the primary season,
he sent me brief emails awarding me what he called
(32:23):
the game ball, because he was so impressed by my
ability to balance the roles of political anchor and political commentator,
having tried this myself. One of them read, I know
what a perilous tight rupless is. Game ball to Caro,
I'm mocking him now, but these meant so much to me.
I printed the emails out and carried them in my wallet.
(32:47):
And now he was claiming he had gotten me fired because,
as my newspaper friends said, the Republicans told him to.
That was not hard to unpack either. Tim Russer had
died on June three of that year. I anchored that
night until two in the morning. It was still an
open wound. There were still tears. We didn't know it then,
(33:07):
but the structure of NBC News and the perilous tight
group balancing NBC and MSNBC had died with Tim Russers,
so did the role of moderator of the second debate
between John McCain and Barack Obama, scheduled for about a
month after my subway ride on October seven in Nashville.
Tim had not even been buried yet when Brokaw began
(33:27):
to angle to get that assignment, along with brushing away
the dirt of his Penny Anti role on the MSNBC
Prospective Desk. We never saw him again in order that
he could take Tim's spot as Brian Williams sidekick on
Big NBC. The month before August, there was a story
coming out of the east end of the third floor
at thirty Rock, where NBC News management sat around not
(33:49):
doing much of anything, that a Republican goon named Ed
Gillespie had been in there with Griffin and the NBC
News president, Steve Cappus, trying to get me silenced or
fired or off the convention coverage or something. And that's
somebody prominent within NBC News was in there with Gillespie
or was invoked by Gillespie. The rumor mill wasn't certain.
(34:12):
As I switched from the elevated seven train to the
underground f train. The whole thing came together before my
comments about the GOP Convention nine eleven snuff film. Ed
Gillespie had come in and had somehow vaguely threatened Cappus
and Griffin about me using as leverage the debate which
Tom Brokaw was now supposed to moderate, And when I
(34:34):
apologized for their video on our air, Gillespie must have
turned it into an either or get rid of me
or McCain would refuse to participate in any debate moderated
by Brokaw or anybody from NBC News, and Brokaw had
already come back from the dead once in two thousand eight,
and he would be damned if he would be forced
(34:55):
to do it a second time. But as the train
took me home to an apartment I was now going
to have to sell since I had just quit MSNBC
on the spot for folding to such obvious Republican blackmail,
something else now occurred to me. Why would MSNBC or
NBC or our parent corporation at the time, ge actually
(35:16):
think that they could remove me from the debate coverage
on MSNBC, where the Rachel Meadows Show had yet to
be born and the three times a night my show
ran accounted for something like six of the entire day's
network audience and do that without getting a really bad
reaction from our audience. Plus, if a newspaperman already knew
(35:38):
the Brokaw part, how could this story be avoided. MSNBC
announced it had removed its liberal star Keith Alderman from
coverage of the McCain Obama presidential debates. Sources confirmed former
NBC News anchorman Tom Brokaw, now an MSNBC commentator on
Alderman's coverage, had helped Republican Party to blackmail NBC into
(36:00):
the decision. Alderman immediately resigned, saying, quote in succumbing to
this coercion on behalf of John McCain, NBC has now
forfeited any right to further be called a news organization.
And I'm sad to say MSNBC, which I built, is
now dead. My god, MSNBC and NBC News for that matter,
would have committed corporate suicide before the weekend was over.
(36:24):
At that point, it dawned on me that the only
thing that could save the credibility of the whole news
division and the careers of Griffin and Cappus and NBC
network president Jeff Zucker, and especially the career of Tom Brokaw.
Was for me to publicly state that I had asked
to be removed from anchoring the debates because the whatever
(36:46):
was just too much blah blah blah for me, and
I felt I should stick to the post debate analysis
and commentary. NBC would now have a choice. They could
fire me from the debates and destroy everything, including the
hundred million dollars a year or so in profit that
NBC made off MSNBC, or I could and you know why,
(37:07):
and claim it was my idea and save everybody's ass,
including my own. I got out of the subway and
raced home. Katie met me at the door with a
big hug. She had been crying. Relax, I said, I'm
not quitting. In fact, I'm going to get a huge raise. Now,
listen carefully. I called my agent and I explained the
idea that had lit over my head on the subway
(37:29):
like a lightbulb to both of them. I said, you
call Phil Griffin back and explained to him that I
will personally save his job and Steve Campuses and Jeff
Suckers and Tom broke Aus and everybody else's I'll take
the fall instead of letting them all get fired by
the MSNBC audience. I'll say this was my idea, and
(37:51):
all it will cost Phil is twelve million dollars. And
he has to leak the terms so everybody knows it
costs him twelve million dollars. And she paused for a
second and said it's genius. It might not quite twelve million,
but I bet, I bet they'll pay you at least nine.
On Sunday, several news organizations reported I had asked to
(38:13):
be taken off the anchor desk two months and one
week later, The New York Times wrote, quote, Keith Olberman,
the anchor of Countdown on MSNBC, has extended his contract
through the next presidential election season. The network announced Mr
Alderman and MSNBC essentially tore up the four year, four
million dollar year contract they signed last year and replaced
(38:34):
it with one worth about seven and a half million
a year. On that was a three and a half
million dollar raise for four years for a total of
fourteen million dollars, except the new contract added two years
to my old deal, so the race was actually twenty
(38:55):
two million dollars. All stories have a punchline. This punch
line is about Tom Brokaw. We would have gotten away
with this cleanly. NBC would have gotten its money's worth
for the twenty two million in hush money, which is
what it was that it had to pay me because
I had agreed with them rolling over for the Republican
Party blackmail. Except Brokaw could not keep his mouth shut.
(39:18):
So proud was he of preserving his role as the
moderator of the October seven NBC debate that he had
to explain in explicit detail in public how he went
to his bosses at NBC News and threatened them on
behalf of the GOP. On September twenty nine, two eight,
(39:38):
a lengthy and glowing broke Off profile appeared in The
New York Times. Quote Mr Brokaw said that over the
summer he had quote advocated within the executive suite of
NBC News to modify the anchor duties of the MSNBC
hosts Keith all Woman and Chris Matthews on election night
and on nights when there were presidential debates. Mr Brokaw
(39:59):
said he had also conducted some shuttle diplomacy in recent
weeks between NBC and the McCain campaign. His mission, he said,
was to assure the candidates aids that despite some negative
on air commentary by Mr Olberman in particular, Mr McCain
could still get a fair shake from NBC News. Unquote,
(40:21):
Oh that was his mission. The hell it was. Happily,
Brokaw just could not resist boasting even further. The next
sentence actually reads quote. Mr Brokaw said he had been
told by a senior McCain aide whom he did not name,
that the campaign had been reluctant to accept an NBC
(40:41):
representative as one of the moderators of the three presidential
debates until his name was invoked. Quote. One of the
things I was told by this person was that they
were so irritated. They said, if it's an NBC moderator
for any of these debates, we won't go, Mr Brokaw said,
(41:03):
quoting him again. My my name came up, and they said, oh, hell,
we have to do it because it's going to be Brokaw.
There is a second punchline after all this, when the
new format came out and I was sitting there counting
my money MSNBC had David Gregory quote anchor unquote the
(41:23):
debate coverage. David was terrific during this. Practically all this meant, anyway,
was that I was on the er until literally nine
seconds before each debate began, which is when I said,
now here's David Gregory. And he was then on for
four or five minutes after the debate ended, which is
when he said, now here's Keith Olberman. And on Election
Night itself with David again formally anchoring, per the Republican
(41:48):
blackmail at ten PM, to his great credit and to
my eternal gratitude, David Gregory said, with the last voting
booth closing at eleven PM, NBC News can now project
the winner of the two thousand and eight presidential election,
Keith Bless him. Plus I still have all the money.
(42:21):
And now the great Chris Licked John Malone destruction of
CNN and the Great Jeff shell says Our Conde destruction
of NBC have so progressed that the Republicans are willing
to put some of their debates on CNN and NBC. Congratulations, boys,
Countdown has come to you from the studios of All
Women Broadcasting Empire World headquarters in the Sports Capsule Building
(42:45):
here in New York. Thank you for listening. Here are
the credits. Most of the music, including our theme from
Beethoven's Ninth, was arranged, produced, and performed by Brian Ray
and John Philip Channel. They are the countdown musical directors.
All orchestration and keyboards by John Philip Chanelle, guitars, bass
and drums by Brian Ray, produced by t Ko Brothers.
(43:06):
Other Beethoven selections have been arranged and performed by No
Horns Allowed. The sports music is the Overman theme from
ESPN two and it was written by Mitch Warren Davis
courtesy of ESPN eight. Musical comments by Nancy Faust, the
best baseball stadium organist ever since I forgot to say it,
I'll say it now. Thank you Nancy Faust. Our announcer
today was Stevie Van's aunt. Everything else pretty much my fault.
(43:30):
So let's countdown for this, the seven dwty four day
since Donald Trump's first attempted coup against the democratically elected
government of the United States. Arrest him now while we
still can. The next scheduled countdown tomorrow Till then, I'm
Keith ol Reman, good morning, good afternoon, goodnight, and good luck.
(43:58):
Countdown with Keith Olman is a production of I heart Radio.
For more podcast from I heart Radio, visit the i
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Host
Keith Olbermann
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