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KEITH OLBERMANN, HOST (voice over): Which of these stories will you be talking about
tomorrow?
The day after President Obama's epic speech, there is an unexpected headline.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. BOBBY JINDAL, (R) LOUISIANA: Let me tell you a story.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OLBERMANN: Governor Bobby Jindal's story of witnessing Katrina rescues prevented because
of red tape over insurance. It looks like he made it up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JINDAL: Before I knew it, he was yelling on the phone, "Congressman Jindal's here, and
he says you can come and arrest him, too!" Harry just told those boaters to ignore the
bureaucrats and go start rescuing people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OLBERMANN: And, unfortunately, that was the best part of the Republican response. The
reviews: "Sing-songy - childish," FOX News. "Jindal didn't have a chance," Charles Krauthammer.
"A disaster for the Republican Party," David Brooks. "I love Bobby Jindal, and that did
not change after last night," Rush Limbaugh.
So, it's unanimous. All in the reviews from a thousand places on the Internet, he is "Kenneth
the Page."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who told you that?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OLBERMANN: Richard Wolffe on the Obama/Jindal contrast. And how the new GOP would deal with
the economy with Paul Krugman - as he put it: "The party of ideas has become the party
of Beavis and Butthead."
Senator Leahy's "truth and reconciliation" commission: He announces a preliminary hearing,
but Speaker Pelosi announces to Rachel that she has one big doubt.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI, (D) HOUSE SPEAKER: I don't think we should be giving them immunity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OLBERMANN: Putting the twit in Twitter: GOP Congressman Joe Barton's tweet, "Aggie basketball
game is about to start. For those of you that aren't going to bother watching Pelosi smirk
for the next hour."
Can the Republicans handle the new technology or should they stick to the telegraph.
And, which of these dogs is the new first pooch?
All that and more - now on Countdown.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You'd think they'd want to breed them bigger, wouldn't you? Like grapefruits
or watermelons.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OLBERMANN (on camera): Good evening from New York.
Hey, how about that Bobby Jindal speech, huh? Our fifth story on the Countdown: Now that
he's given a Republican response slammed by apparently all but one Republican, what's
he going to do now? He's going to Disney World - seriously - taking the family to Orlando.
At least that's his story, and unfortunately, his story last night - the linchpin anecdote
- apparently not true.
Meet the Republican Party's new best hope to defeat President Obama in 2012. Sorry,
Governor Palin. The 37-year-old governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, is adopting the mantle
of something last night. He was already out on something of a limb as a Republican seeming
to cite the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina as the reason not to
trust President Obama on the economy now. But what he said next was more curious still.
The governor is telling the story about a purported visit to the office of Harry Lee,
then the sheriff of Jefferson Parish in the storm's immediate aftermath.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JINDAL: During Katrina, I visited Sheriff Harry Lee, a Democrat and a good friend of
mine. He told me that he had put out a call for volunteers to come with their boats to
rescue people who were trapped on their rooftops by the floodwaters. The boats were all lined
up ready to go - when some bureaucrat showed up and told them that they couldn't go out
on the water unless they had proof of insurance and registration.
And I told him, "Sheriff, that's ridiculous." Before I knew it, he was yelling in the phone,
"Congressman Jindal's here, and he says you can come and arrest him, too." He told those
boaters to ignore the bureaucrats and go start rescuing people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OLBERMANN: One small problem, every public account placing then Congressman Jindal right
after the storm, not in Jefferson Parish, but about 75 miles away in Baton Rouge. When
he did tour the immediate disaster area, he did so by air, flying over it. And in May
2008, Mr. Jindal telling a story of having talked with the sheriff about bureaucracy
and boats but no mentioned of having done so in person. Conveniently, there is no way
to confirm the account with Sheriff Harry Lee. He died in October 2007.
Another problem for Governor Jindal, widespread criticism of his speech last night from conservatives
including "New York Times" columnist David Brooks, who called the substance of Jindal's
"government is the problem" argument a disaster for the Republican Party.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID BROOKS, NEW YORK TIMES: It's just a disaster for the Republican Party. The country
is in a panic now. They may not like the way the Democrats have passed the stimulus bill.
But the idea that we're just going - that government is going to have no role, the federal
government has no role in this, that - in a moment when only the federal government
is big enough to actually do stuff, to just ignore all that and just say, "Government
is a problem, corruption, earmarks, wasteful spending," it's just a form of nihilism.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OLBERMANN: Mr. Brooks, not alone. Brit Hume, Charles Krauthammer, Juan Williams, Jim Geraghty
of the "National Review," just a few of the many on the right voicing their disapproval.
Comedian Rush Limbaugh, who was referred to Mr. Jindal as the next Ronald Reagan, however,
he all but threatened all of them for going after Jindal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: But the people on our side are really making a mistake
if they go after Bobby Jindal on the basis of style, because if you think - people on
our side I'm talking to you, those of you who think Jindal was horrible, you think - in
fact, I don't want to hear from you ever again. If you think that Bobby Jindal was bad and
what he said was wrong or not said well, because, folks, style is not going to take our country
back. Solid conservatism articulated in a way that's inspiring and understanding is
what's going to take the country back.
OLBERMANN: Well, now that Mr. Limbaugh has reduced the conservative movement to one guy,
time now to call in our own political analyst, Richard Wolffe.
Good evening, Richard.
RICHARD WOLFFE, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Good evening, Keith.
OLBERMANN: Did Mr. Limbaugh conflate there, I mean, substance and style? Because David
Brooks was definitely going after the substance of Jindal's remark, the premise of his article;
others went after his style. But Limbaugh appeared to be defending both of these things
when he said, "If you think that Bobby Jindal was bad or what he said was wrong or not said
well."
WOLFFE: Well, Keith, you know, I can understand where Bobby Jindal is coming from. You see,
my father, like his and like the president of the United States, came from a distant
land far away across the seas.
(LAUGHTER)
WOLFFE: A continent where we have supermarkets but no goods in the aisles. And he took me
down the aisle one day and he said, "Son, if you ever use one of these stories, it means
you are all out of stories."
(LAUGHTER)
WOLFFE: This wasn't just about substance. It wasn't just about style, even though the
spiritual leader of the movement says it was just style. Look, the key story here, apart
from the impoverished state that his father grew up in, the key story was about a government
official, a sheriff, whose salary is paid for by the public purse arguing with bureaucrats
from the federal government run by a Republican president. None of it makes sense.
OLBERMANN: There was, however, the element of style, which is part of politics. And one
criticism that was so prevalent that it now has its own Facebook group is titled "Bobby
Jindal is Kenneth the Page." And there are more than 2,800 members here. Is that, I mean,
serious bad news for somebody who might be hoping to look presidential to cultivate some
sort of measure of gravitas?
WOLFFE: Kenneth Page runs for president?
Look, Gravitas is something you need if you are desperate. And I think, actually, the
problem here for Bobby Jindal was that he was trying too hard to find the gravitas.
The hall "walk around the corner" that Chris Matthews loved so much.
(LAUGHTER)
WOLFFE: The stripped tie, the red and white striped tie, the folksy stories, the father
from overseas. Hell, he even talked about the American scope of narrative of history
as if he was Barack Obama, only, the comparisons were just awful. And I guess you could have
some sympathy and say, well, he didn't have a cheering crowd in front of him. But cheering
or not, this was - this was a disaster.
OLBERMANN: If you are planning out Republican strategy for the presidential election of
2012 or even just contemplating it, where is the Republican bench between what happened
to Governor Jindal last night and the not self-destruction of Governor Palin, she seems
indestructible, but she certainly doesn't seem as formidable as she would have eight
months ago?
WOLFFE: Look, they are all trying too hard. At some point, you just have to take stock
and say, "What do we stand for," as opposed to saying, "Who is going to be the next candidate?"
The election is too far away. This was too personal a pitch for Jindal, saying, instead
of responding to the policies, trying to make a pitch for himself. Sarah Palin, of course,
had her own wonderful TV moment or two.
If you are not ready for primetime and these people surely meet that definition, then you
can actually ruin a career that had some promise and potential. I think Governor Jindal probably
did have some potential. That's all gone.
OLBERMANN: Well, devil's advocate though on this, I mean, as recently as Monday of this
week, Governor Jindal got high marks in the wake of his appearance on "Meet the Press."
I mean, could that have been a bad night, a bad reading. Could he have teleprompter
disease, Richard?
WOLFFE: No. I think it is more serious. You know, you can have one bad moment or two,
but as Sarah Palin showed with Katie Couric and everybody else, if it is indelible, if
people never forget it, if this is what you go down for as a national joke, then there
is no way back.
OLBERMANN: MSNBC political analyst, Richard Wolffe, on fire tonight, and himself a veritable
huddle mass yearning to be free. Thank you, sir.
WOLFFE: Please. Thank you.
OLBERMANN: But wait, there is more. Governor Jindal's Hurricane Katrina anecdote that likely
did not happen, only one apparent misstep in last night's Republican response. Remember
his claim that volcano monitoring program are wasteful government spending?
The U.S. Geological Survey is saying that an active volcano in Alaska, the Redoubt Volcano,
which last erupted in 1989, has been threatening to erupt since late January. Scientists can't
pinpoint exactly when it's going to blow because of a GPS network has not been put in place
in there due to lack of funds. In 1980, the eruption of Mount St. Helens in the shadow
of Portland, Oregon, killed 57 Americans and darkened the sky for months.
The economic substance of Governor Jindal's plan to fix the economy in turmoil (ph), the
same old Republican song and dance about tax cuts and more tax cuts and more tax cuts after
that.
Let's turn to Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, also, of course, columnist for
the "New York Times," and an economics professor at Princeton.
Doctor Krugman, good evening.
PAUL KRUGMAN, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: Good evening.
OLBERMANN: All right. To the Republican response last night, its absolute best argument that
what he is doing - what Obama is doing is wrong and they can do better. What did you
take away from that?
KRUGMAN: I don't think there was much of an argument there. I mean, it really has, you
know, I said it was Beavis and Butthead. They find things that sound silly if you don't
actually know anything. So, volcano monitoring - why would you want to monitor a volcano?
Because it might erupt and kill a lot of people.
But they are basically reduced to just picking out a few things, or, in some cases, just
making thing up - you know, the salt marsh mouse thing on the stimulus, and say, "This
is stupid. See, government is stupid. Cut taxes." It's not much of an argument.
OLBERMANN: And the train, he brought in the big train last night, the magnetic levitation
train that's running from Disneyland to some casino on the strip in Vegas. That's another
one that isn't .
OLBERMANN: . based in reality, correct?
KRUGMAN: Yes, that's right. There is $8 billion in the stimulus for high speed rail transit.
One of the things that somebody somewhere wants to talk about, but is not in the bill
was high speed trains from L.A. to Las Vegas, which is not actually stupid, actually, that's
a pretty busy corridor. But anyway, it's not in the bill.
And, you know, he talks about magnetic levitation because, I guess, he or his speechwriter thought
that sounded funny. It's actually - it's high tech. It's something that the United States
is going to want to use eventually. We are actually kind of falling behind other countries
on that technology.
OLBERMANN: And he did not mention that one of those other train corridors under consideration
would run right through John Boehner's district in Ohio by the way. But to the ..
KRUGMAN: Yes, right.
OLBERMANN: . to TARP and the president last night, he said it's going to be administered
differently going forward. Does that mean - is that code for nationalization of the
banks eventually sooner or later?
KRUGMAN: Not if you listen to what Ben Bernanke said in his congressional testimony, not if
you looked at the interview that Tim Geithner, the treasury secretary, just did. I've got
a bad feeling about this, as do a number of people.
I was just reading testimony from Adam Posen, who's our leading expert on Japan. He said,
you know, we are - we're moving right in the track of the Japanese during the 1990s, propping
up zombie banks, just not doing resolution.
There's a - I was very happy with the president's speech. The actual implementation on financial
policy looks like the kind of failure of nerve.
OLBERMANN: Are you seeing a coordinated strategy in this on how to handle the economic crisis?
Is there a grand plan at this point?
KRUGMAN: There is - no. I mean, there is good stuff. The stimulus is good, it should be
bigger, but it's good. On the banks, I really can't see. There really seems to be, we are
going to put in some more money, we're going to, you know, say stern things to the bankers
about how they should behave better, but if there is a strategy there, it's continuing
to be a mystery to me and to everybody I talk to.
OLBERMANN: Of all the mysteries of economics to us laymen, the idea that confidence is
actually a tangible thing, that it is important for a president to, in fact, talk the economy
up to the people who make the economy happen. Is it - is it true, is it measurable and did
he do it last night?
KRUGMAN: Well, you know, it's - we could ask people. There are confidence indices, which
were supposed to measure it. And look, it matters, but, you know, you can't be created
out of thin air. It is true that if you have - you could have good fundamentals. You can
actually have a good plan but if you do a lousy job of selling it, panic can destroy
it.
This is why FDR with his "The Fear Itself" speech mattered, because he actually had a
plan to get the banks, bank holiday, all that, but he also needed to calm people down, which
he did. But confidence by itself won't rescue you if you haven't got the fundamentals straight.
If you really have banks that are deeply under water and you don't have an effective plan
to fix them, then confidence is not enough.
So, that was a very encouraging speech. It sounded like a president who knows what he's
talking about. But we need some more substance on the actual plans.
OLBERMANN: And the premise of - as it has been the premise for presidents since at least
Lincoln saw the Civil War as an opportunity to restructure the nation in some finer form
- the idea of restructuring the economy in finer form, is it, indeed, an opportunity?
KRUGMAN: Oh, sure. I think, in some ways, some of the things, people saying we are never
going to get health care reform given the trouble in the economy. Actually, the troubles
in the economy highlight the need for a guarantee of healthcare for every American. And that
was the really good news.
Today, by the way, it appears that Obama really is going to put substantial funds behind universal
health care. So, this is good.
OLBERMANN: The Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman - as always, a little bit of
education. Thank you, sir.
KRUGMAN: Thank you.
OLBERMANN: Another economic question: Why would a major investment firm announce retention
awards for its brokers based on how much money they generated in 2008? Because retention
awards are euphemisms for 2008 bonuses deferred until 2010, so one bailed out firm can claim
it is not using bailout money for bonuses. And the identity of that bailed out investment
house? Oh, come on, I have to save something for after the commercial.