1 00:00:04,795 --> 00:00:22,675 Speaker 1: Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. I 2 00:00:22,715 --> 00:00:26,755 Speaker 1: would like to congratulate Tucker Carlson on winning Dominion Voting 3 00:00:26,835 --> 00:00:31,195 Speaker 1: Systems lawsuit against Fox Quote News unquote and News Corp 4 00:00:31,715 --> 00:00:35,795 Speaker 1: Four Dominion Voting Systems last night. And I'd like to 5 00:00:35,835 --> 00:00:39,635 Speaker 1: thank Tucker Carlson for slitting his professional throat from ear 6 00:00:39,755 --> 00:00:43,995 Speaker 1: to ear by doing the absolute last thing that Rupert 7 00:00:44,075 --> 00:00:47,435 Speaker 1: Murdoch could have wanted him to do last night. And 8 00:00:47,515 --> 00:00:50,995 Speaker 1: I'd also like to applaud Tucker Carlson for introducing a 9 00:00:51,075 --> 00:00:55,555 Speaker 1: new catchphrase that will, for me define media dishonesty forever. 10 00:00:56,235 --> 00:01:00,875 Speaker 1: The video proves this in the midst of a legal 11 00:01:00,955 --> 00:01:05,435 Speaker 1: crisis so severe that Rupert Murdoch has reported we considered 12 00:01:05,475 --> 00:01:10,035 Speaker 1: firing the CEO of Fox quote news unquote because of it, 13 00:01:10,155 --> 00:01:12,755 Speaker 1: and firing at least one out of the pile of 14 00:01:12,915 --> 00:01:17,275 Speaker 1: Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingram Maria Bardaromo, and Janine 15 00:01:17,315 --> 00:01:20,435 Speaker 1: Pierrot because of it, and having we now know already 16 00:01:20,555 --> 00:01:23,475 Speaker 1: fired Lou Dobbs because of it, in the midst of 17 00:01:23,515 --> 00:01:27,035 Speaker 1: the release of paper trails a mile long and a 18 00:01:27,155 --> 00:01:31,555 Speaker 1: mile wide with Carlson and the others refuting and repudiating 19 00:01:31,595 --> 00:01:35,835 Speaker 1: Trump's claims of twenty twenty electoral fraud in private while 20 00:01:35,955 --> 00:01:39,075 Speaker 1: selling that lie in public, and a time when the 21 00:01:39,235 --> 00:01:43,595 Speaker 1: one thing a Rupert Murdoch entity could not do was 22 00:01:43,835 --> 00:01:47,395 Speaker 1: newly claimed that the twenty twenty election was stolen from Trump? 23 00:01:47,675 --> 00:01:51,395 Speaker 1: How did Tucker Carlson open his first hour of trying 24 00:01:51,435 --> 00:01:55,595 Speaker 1: to gaslight the January sixth insurrection with video improperly given 25 00:01:55,595 --> 00:01:59,435 Speaker 1: to him by the Speaker of the House quote the 26 00:01:59,595 --> 00:02:03,875 Speaker 1: twenty twenty election was a grave betrayal of American democracy. 27 00:02:04,235 --> 00:02:07,195 Speaker 1: Given the facts that have since emerged about that election, 28 00:02:07,715 --> 00:02:14,835 Speaker 1: no honest person can deny it ute the point of 29 00:02:14,875 --> 00:02:19,395 Speaker 1: the dominion defamation suit against Rupert Murdoch and his minions, 30 00:02:20,115 --> 00:02:25,795 Speaker 1: and Tucker Carlson began his hour of propaganda by doing 31 00:02:25,875 --> 00:02:32,355 Speaker 1: the same thing all over again. I'd also like to 32 00:02:32,355 --> 00:02:35,275 Speaker 1: take the opportunity to congratulate the next co owners of 33 00:02:35,395 --> 00:02:38,555 Speaker 1: Fox quote news unquote and maybe News Corps as well, 34 00:02:38,675 --> 00:02:42,635 Speaker 1: after they sue Rupert Murdoch and Tucker Carlson for repeatedly 35 00:02:42,995 --> 00:02:46,955 Speaker 1: calling them liars. That would be former Republican congress people 36 00:02:46,955 --> 00:02:49,835 Speaker 1: Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney. Although they presumably will have 37 00:02:49,875 --> 00:02:56,355 Speaker 1: to share ownership with you know, Dominion Voting Systems. Nothing 38 00:02:56,475 --> 00:03:01,475 Speaker 1: of the much hyped video Carlson showed proved anything, least 39 00:03:01,515 --> 00:03:03,955 Speaker 1: of all his basic premise that the January sixth assault 40 00:03:03,955 --> 00:03:08,355 Speaker 1: on the Capitol was staged by federal agents. Since there 41 00:03:08,395 --> 00:03:11,275 Speaker 1: are people shown on the forty four thousand hours of 42 00:03:11,355 --> 00:03:14,675 Speaker 1: video who have not yet been arrested, therefore they must 43 00:03:14,755 --> 00:03:22,715 Speaker 1: be federal agents. Instead of saying unicorns, Carlson's argument is 44 00:03:22,715 --> 00:03:28,795 Speaker 1: that peaceful sightseers he used the word sightseers were goaded 45 00:03:28,875 --> 00:03:32,275 Speaker 1: somehow by a few hooligans. He also used the word 46 00:03:32,355 --> 00:03:39,395 Speaker 1: hooligans into non violent chaos. And the whole premise of 47 00:03:39,475 --> 00:03:44,715 Speaker 1: January sixth as an insurrection was a fabrication by Nancy 48 00:03:44,755 --> 00:03:48,835 Speaker 1: Pelosi to cover up the real crimes in the twenty 49 00:03:48,835 --> 00:03:56,595 Speaker 1: twenty election. Popcorn consumption at Dominion Voting Systems breaks all records. 50 00:03:58,315 --> 00:04:01,755 Speaker 1: It was not just, though, that the video proved none 51 00:04:01,755 --> 00:04:04,275 Speaker 1: of that. It was that nothing that the video even 52 00:04:04,315 --> 00:04:07,715 Speaker 1: seen connected to any of the claims Carlson was making. 53 00:04:08,235 --> 00:04:11,755 Speaker 1: That's not surprising. Nothing of that video had to prove 54 00:04:11,795 --> 00:04:14,355 Speaker 1: anything to the Fox audience. Nothing of the video or 55 00:04:14,395 --> 00:04:18,435 Speaker 1: the claims had to be connected. Tucker Carlson assumes his 56 00:04:18,635 --> 00:04:21,595 Speaker 1: viewers are stupid enough to believe anything he tells them, 57 00:04:21,595 --> 00:04:25,555 Speaker 1: and of course he is exactly right. They are stupid 58 00:04:25,635 --> 00:04:28,315 Speaker 1: enough to believe anything he tells them. They're Fox viewers, 59 00:04:29,675 --> 00:04:36,475 Speaker 1: show video ads, sophistry, factually lie, misdirect, decontextualize. But Jess 60 00:04:36,595 --> 00:04:40,475 Speaker 1: keeps saying, the video proves this, the video proves this, 61 00:04:40,675 --> 00:04:43,915 Speaker 1: And you have done all you need to do with 62 00:04:43,995 --> 00:04:47,435 Speaker 1: people whose entire lives require only that they're fed enough 63 00:04:47,555 --> 00:04:52,755 Speaker 1: nonsense to continuously support their own stupid rationalizations about their 64 00:04:52,795 --> 00:04:56,435 Speaker 1: own lives, about the victimization of white people, about how 65 00:04:56,515 --> 00:04:58,715 Speaker 1: much better it is to be a minority right now, 66 00:04:58,755 --> 00:05:01,795 Speaker 1: about quan On, about Trump, about twenty twenty, about Tucker 67 00:05:01,875 --> 00:05:08,475 Speaker 1: Carlson being good on TV, and about January sixth, God 68 00:05:08,515 --> 00:05:13,235 Speaker 1: help me. I watched the show. Basically, if Tucker Carlson 69 00:05:13,275 --> 00:05:15,955 Speaker 1: were to do a show like that one but about 70 00:05:16,035 --> 00:05:20,275 Speaker 1: Pearl Harbor, he would play the film backwards and insist 71 00:05:20,355 --> 00:05:23,635 Speaker 1: Pearl Harbor was a false flag and the American Navy 72 00:05:24,315 --> 00:05:27,195 Speaker 1: had blown up its own ships in the water, hoping 73 00:05:27,235 --> 00:05:29,915 Speaker 1: that the debris would fly into the sky and knock 74 00:05:29,955 --> 00:05:33,475 Speaker 1: down Japanese pilots who were just sightseeing in order to 75 00:05:33,515 --> 00:05:38,275 Speaker 1: frame a couple of hooligans named Tojoe and Emperor Heater Herahito. 76 00:05:40,315 --> 00:05:43,555 Speaker 1: It was that nonsensical, and again, given the audience, that's 77 00:05:43,595 --> 00:05:47,155 Speaker 1: all it needed to be. But as somebody who once 78 00:05:47,195 --> 00:05:50,275 Speaker 1: worked with Tucker Carlson, who was once pleaded with by 79 00:05:50,315 --> 00:05:54,675 Speaker 1: our bosses to co anchor a program with Tucker Carlson, 80 00:05:55,315 --> 00:06:00,235 Speaker 1: I am genuinely stunned that even he was arrogant and 81 00:06:00,315 --> 00:06:04,355 Speaker 1: stupid enough to repeat this on air gas lighting. Inexactly 82 00:06:04,395 --> 00:06:07,395 Speaker 1: this same matter that has put Fox Quote News on 83 00:06:07,515 --> 00:06:10,755 Speaker 1: quote at risk of one billion, six hundred million dollars 84 00:06:10,795 --> 00:06:15,395 Speaker 1: in defamation damages or more in the dominion case, if 85 00:06:15,435 --> 00:06:20,755 Speaker 1: that case needed for anybody's memory to be refreshed about 86 00:06:20,795 --> 00:06:23,435 Speaker 1: what Carlson and Hannity and Ingram and Murdoch all did. 87 00:06:23,675 --> 00:06:27,795 Speaker 1: Carlson did it for them last night. This of course 88 00:06:27,875 --> 00:06:30,995 Speaker 1: raises a further question how did Fox let him do 89 00:06:31,275 --> 00:06:34,915 Speaker 1: this to them on their own air? And it raises 90 00:06:34,955 --> 00:06:38,435 Speaker 1: one more question, how did Sean Hannity or Laura Ingram 91 00:06:38,515 --> 00:06:43,355 Speaker 1: or Murdoch not strangle Tucker Carlson into unconsciousness rather than 92 00:06:43,475 --> 00:06:48,955 Speaker 1: let him destroy them as he did last night. I 93 00:06:49,035 --> 00:06:51,835 Speaker 1: guess it would be helpful to summarize what Carlson showed 94 00:06:51,875 --> 00:06:55,315 Speaker 1: and said. He started with the big lie stuff about 95 00:06:55,315 --> 00:06:58,475 Speaker 1: the election, as I've already quoted. Then he said the 96 00:06:58,555 --> 00:07:03,715 Speaker 1: video proved that January six committee members lied. Then he 97 00:07:03,755 --> 00:07:06,435 Speaker 1: said the video proved the evidence was hidden. Then he 98 00:07:06,435 --> 00:07:10,115 Speaker 1: said Kevin McCarthy rectified the crime. Then he said, in 99 00:07:10,115 --> 00:07:11,995 Speaker 1: a moment that in any other context would have been 100 00:07:12,075 --> 00:07:15,195 Speaker 1: laugh out loud funny. We assumed those who weren't arrested 101 00:07:15,195 --> 00:07:18,835 Speaker 1: were federal agents of some kind. We still assume that 102 00:07:19,995 --> 00:07:22,235 Speaker 1: if anybody can bring that old joke to life, it's 103 00:07:22,275 --> 00:07:25,475 Speaker 1: Tucker Carlson. In assume he is both the ass and 104 00:07:25,835 --> 00:07:29,875 Speaker 1: the me. He said the video proved the January six 105 00:07:29,955 --> 00:07:33,035 Speaker 1: criminals were political prisoners because the video had not been 106 00:07:33,075 --> 00:07:37,675 Speaker 1: provided to them. Politico then promptly quoted Capitol police sources 107 00:07:37,875 --> 00:07:41,355 Speaker 1: who said all that video was made available to all 108 00:07:41,435 --> 00:07:46,155 Speaker 1: the defendants by March of twenty twenty one. Carlson said 109 00:07:46,155 --> 00:07:49,715 Speaker 1: the video proved that the people in the crowd must 110 00:07:49,755 --> 00:07:53,035 Speaker 1: have been federal agents. He said the video showed people 111 00:07:53,035 --> 00:07:55,995 Speaker 1: in civilian clothes holding doors open for the sightseers, but 112 00:07:56,035 --> 00:07:58,435 Speaker 1: he said that since he assumed they were federal agents, 113 00:07:58,555 --> 00:08:01,355 Speaker 1: he couldn't show that part of the video because it 114 00:08:01,355 --> 00:08:04,075 Speaker 1: would be unfair to point at a specific person and 115 00:08:04,155 --> 00:08:07,795 Speaker 1: say he was a federal agent. Later, of course, he 116 00:08:08,115 --> 00:08:11,315 Speaker 1: showed the video of Ray Epps and said that proved 117 00:08:11,355 --> 00:08:15,195 Speaker 1: he was a federal agent. Carlson said Ashley Babbitt was murdered, 118 00:08:15,755 --> 00:08:20,315 Speaker 1: but she's not on the forty four thousand hours of video, 119 00:08:20,755 --> 00:08:23,955 Speaker 1: not once, so he could only speculate. But other video 120 00:08:24,035 --> 00:08:25,995 Speaker 1: proved that if there were video, it would prove she 121 00:08:26,115 --> 00:08:30,235 Speaker 1: was murdered. Carlson said the protest of the release of 122 00:08:30,235 --> 00:08:33,515 Speaker 1: the video proves that the video demolishes the claim that 123 00:08:33,635 --> 00:08:36,475 Speaker 1: January sixth was an insurrection. He said the video proved 124 00:08:36,475 --> 00:08:39,835 Speaker 1: that people who protested its release because it might risk 125 00:08:39,995 --> 00:08:44,275 Speaker 1: lives or jeopardize safety procedures can't say that because they 126 00:08:44,315 --> 00:08:48,035 Speaker 1: all support open borders and defunding the police. And then 127 00:08:48,035 --> 00:08:51,715 Speaker 1: he had on the batcrap crazy Congressman Massey of Kentucky, 128 00:08:51,835 --> 00:08:53,995 Speaker 1: who said he didn't feel like his life was at 129 00:08:54,075 --> 00:08:58,635 Speaker 1: risk at the Capitol. Carlson said the video showed the 130 00:08:58,755 --> 00:09:02,835 Speaker 1: qan On shaman didn't murder anybody, and in fact, the 131 00:09:02,875 --> 00:09:06,715 Speaker 1: shaman later thanked the Capitol in a prayer. And because 132 00:09:06,795 --> 00:09:09,435 Speaker 1: the shaman wasn't guilty of that, nobody was guilty of anything. 133 00:09:10,475 --> 00:09:12,475 Speaker 1: He said, the video proofs that all the rioters were 134 00:09:12,475 --> 00:09:21,035 Speaker 1: doing we're taking quote cheerful selfies, my god, cheerful selfies. 135 00:09:23,115 --> 00:09:25,355 Speaker 1: And he said that the few minutes of footage that 136 00:09:25,435 --> 00:09:29,115 Speaker 1: he showed proved that the Capitol police did not try 137 00:09:29,115 --> 00:09:32,835 Speaker 1: to arrest anybody, so how could anybody be guilty? And 138 00:09:32,955 --> 00:09:36,955 Speaker 1: he showed only video of the Capitol police not getting 139 00:09:36,955 --> 00:09:39,995 Speaker 1: their brains beaten in, And oh look, there's video of 140 00:09:39,995 --> 00:09:44,275 Speaker 1: Officer Brian Sicknick walking around the Capitol after he said 141 00:09:44,595 --> 00:09:47,795 Speaker 1: the January sixth Committee said sick Nick had already been murdered, 142 00:09:47,795 --> 00:09:49,835 Speaker 1: and their liars, and the video proves that, and the 143 00:09:49,915 --> 00:09:53,635 Speaker 1: video proves this, and and if he'd shown the Zapruder film, 144 00:09:53,715 --> 00:09:55,995 Speaker 1: he would have shown it backwards instead of bullet lodged 145 00:09:56,035 --> 00:09:58,835 Speaker 1: in Kennedy's head had suddenly ejected itself in a bid 146 00:09:58,875 --> 00:10:04,875 Speaker 1: to kill Lee Harvey Oswald. Again, I'm not surprised that 147 00:10:04,955 --> 00:10:08,755 Speaker 1: the video that he showed was as nonsensical or non 148 00:10:08,875 --> 00:10:14,275 Speaker 1: impactful as it was, nor that Carlson's presentation was as 149 00:10:14,395 --> 00:10:19,435 Speaker 1: weak as it was, but I remain absolutely shocked that 150 00:10:19,515 --> 00:10:23,435 Speaker 1: Fox let this go out on their air this week 151 00:10:23,875 --> 00:10:28,195 Speaker 1: with this dominion lawsuit hanging over its head, centering on 152 00:10:28,235 --> 00:10:34,195 Speaker 1: the premise that Fox people Carlson named specifically will lie 153 00:10:34,235 --> 00:10:37,795 Speaker 1: about anything, whether they already knew in advance they were 154 00:10:37,875 --> 00:10:41,595 Speaker 1: lying and acknowledged afterwards that they were lying. I cannot 155 00:10:41,675 --> 00:10:45,275 Speaker 1: fathom Murdock's strategy unless he is planning to make Tucker 156 00:10:45,275 --> 00:10:49,155 Speaker 1: Carlson himself the scapegoat who will inevitably fall in the 157 00:10:49,155 --> 00:10:52,475 Speaker 1: wake of the dominion case and whatever more revelations dominion 158 00:10:52,555 --> 00:10:57,515 Speaker 1: lawyers have up their sleeves. There is one matter of 159 00:10:57,555 --> 00:11:01,395 Speaker 1: importance Carlson raised inadvertently. He said the Capitol Police had 160 00:11:01,435 --> 00:11:04,155 Speaker 1: looked at all of the tape Fox planned to show, 161 00:11:04,955 --> 00:11:08,475 Speaker 1: and the Capitol Police had only minor requests, including the 162 00:11:08,515 --> 00:11:12,275 Speaker 1: blurring of video of one door, and Fox made that 163 00:11:12,395 --> 00:11:16,595 Speaker 1: change given the just Sunday morning, King Jeffreys had said, quote, 164 00:11:16,635 --> 00:11:18,915 Speaker 1: I have no indication at this moment that the police 165 00:11:18,915 --> 00:11:22,275 Speaker 1: have vetted that footage. We have a problem here. This 166 00:11:22,435 --> 00:11:25,915 Speaker 1: may be the same problem underscored by image after image 167 00:11:25,955 --> 00:11:29,955 Speaker 1: that Carlson showed of Capitol police standing by placidly, even 168 00:11:29,995 --> 00:11:34,035 Speaker 1: seeming to guide or assist as insurrectionists, including that poor 169 00:11:34,115 --> 00:11:37,675 Speaker 1: fool that Q Shaman wandered the halls of the Capitol. 170 00:11:38,275 --> 00:11:42,195 Speaker 1: Not once was the prospect raised, as it had begun 171 00:11:42,235 --> 00:11:45,635 Speaker 1: to be raised while the insurrection was just beginning that day, 172 00:11:45,675 --> 00:11:49,675 Speaker 1: that there were Capital officers sympathetic to Trump, who were 173 00:11:49,755 --> 00:11:53,715 Speaker 1: by plan or by happenstance sympathetic to Trump and his 174 00:11:53,795 --> 00:11:58,995 Speaker 1: goon squads as they approached. Carlson even asked one of 175 00:11:59,035 --> 00:12:03,235 Speaker 1: his stooge guests, why if this was an insurrection, police 176 00:12:03,275 --> 00:12:08,355 Speaker 1: didn't arrest everybody? And since what else the video proved this? 177 00:12:09,395 --> 00:12:14,675 Speaker 1: Why weren't the police charged as accessories? Well? What the hell, Tucker, 178 00:12:14,715 --> 00:12:18,435 Speaker 1: you got one? Why? Indeed, who at the Capitol Police 179 00:12:18,915 --> 00:12:24,355 Speaker 1: secretly approved the video? Why wouldn't such information Capitol Police 180 00:12:24,395 --> 00:12:28,955 Speaker 1: approved Tucker Carlson video seemingly so beneficial to Fox and 181 00:12:29,035 --> 00:12:32,555 Speaker 1: Kevin McCarthy. Why wouldn't that be trumpeted by Fox and 182 00:12:32,675 --> 00:12:38,835 Speaker 1: Kevin McCarthy. Assuming that Tucker Carlson did not appreciate what 183 00:12:38,995 --> 00:12:41,795 Speaker 1: damage he was doing to his own employers, Networks and 184 00:12:41,955 --> 00:12:44,995 Speaker 1: Fox in particular, I guess he did this to shore 185 00:12:45,115 --> 00:12:48,715 Speaker 1: up Trump, obviously, especially in light of the none too 186 00:12:48,795 --> 00:12:52,355 Speaker 1: surprising calculations released by the Harvard Journal of Law and 187 00:12:52,395 --> 00:12:55,195 Speaker 1: Public Policy that if Trump were squeezed out of the 188 00:12:55,235 --> 00:12:58,995 Speaker 1: Republican nomination and into a third party role, Trump would 189 00:12:59,035 --> 00:13:01,155 Speaker 1: not be on the ballot in as many as twenty 190 00:13:01,155 --> 00:13:05,475 Speaker 1: eight states and his absolute maximum electoral lar vote count 191 00:13:05,675 --> 00:13:10,155 Speaker 1: would be two hundred and ninety more. Immediately, there is 192 00:13:10,195 --> 00:13:13,915 Speaker 1: the delightful implosion of Jim Jordan's House Weaponization Committee, which 193 00:13:13,915 --> 00:13:16,075 Speaker 1: after all, is predicated on the same sort of nonsense 194 00:13:16,235 --> 00:13:20,075 Speaker 1: as Tucker Carlson showing video of nothing much happening and 195 00:13:20,155 --> 00:13:24,355 Speaker 1: declaring this means January sixth was a government plot, and 196 00:13:24,595 --> 00:13:29,555 Speaker 1: the video proves this. Jim Jordan is getting savaged by 197 00:13:29,635 --> 00:13:34,555 Speaker 1: right wingers, assaulted on Fox by Jesse Waters, buried by 198 00:13:34,555 --> 00:13:38,195 Speaker 1: a former Chuck Grassley, aid on Twitter, insulted by Epic 199 00:13:38,355 --> 00:13:43,435 Speaker 1: Times TV, or, as the headline at AXEOS read, Jim 200 00:13:43,515 --> 00:13:51,115 Speaker 1: Jordan Scramble's amid claims weaponization probe is a dud in 201 00:13:51,195 --> 00:13:55,235 Speaker 1: the bigger picture. Of course, Tucker Carlson did this, possibly 202 00:13:55,915 --> 00:14:02,835 Speaker 1: sabotaging his own network's existence, because he is a megalomaniac 203 00:14:03,595 --> 00:14:07,955 Speaker 1: and while a surprisingly large number of people in television 204 00:14:07,995 --> 00:14:12,155 Speaker 1: news or commentary actually think that someday they will be 205 00:14:12,235 --> 00:14:18,115 Speaker 1: president of this country. Sure, Starborough, I think Tucker Carlson 206 00:14:18,315 --> 00:14:22,435 Speaker 1: is the only one who believes that someday he will 207 00:14:22,475 --> 00:14:28,075 Speaker 1: be this nation's fuer. I worked with him, as I mentioned, 208 00:14:28,115 --> 00:14:30,595 Speaker 1: at MSNBC, and as a favor to an old friend 209 00:14:30,595 --> 00:14:34,835 Speaker 1: who had been tasked they do mean tasked with trying 210 00:14:34,835 --> 00:14:39,435 Speaker 1: to formulate some format for Carlson's new show. I served 211 00:14:39,955 --> 00:14:44,395 Speaker 1: for two or three demo or pilot shows as Carlson's 212 00:14:44,635 --> 00:14:49,195 Speaker 1: liberal foil in a discussion of topical issues. At some point, 213 00:14:49,595 --> 00:14:53,195 Speaker 1: the former CNN president who was then running MSNBC, Rick Kaplan, 214 00:14:53,555 --> 00:14:57,875 Speaker 1: saw these demos and liked the interplay. Probably because I 215 00:14:57,955 --> 00:15:01,275 Speaker 1: was just saying whatever would get me off the stage 216 00:15:01,355 --> 00:15:03,995 Speaker 1: the fastest so I could go back to my office 217 00:15:03,995 --> 00:15:07,675 Speaker 1: and write count Down. Kaplan approached me with an offer. 218 00:15:07,675 --> 00:15:09,875 Speaker 1: He would tear up my contract and give me a 219 00:15:09,915 --> 00:15:11,755 Speaker 1: new one with a big rays if I would do 220 00:15:11,875 --> 00:15:15,715 Speaker 1: Countdown at eight and stick around until eleven every night 221 00:15:15,755 --> 00:15:20,875 Speaker 1: and co host carlson show. It would be perfect, he said, 222 00:15:21,395 --> 00:15:26,075 Speaker 1: because he could combine our initials and call the new 223 00:15:26,155 --> 00:15:32,115 Speaker 1: show t KO. Well, that was this Rick Kaplan in 224 00:15:32,155 --> 00:15:34,835 Speaker 1: a nutshell. The content of the show or its feasibility. 225 00:15:34,955 --> 00:15:37,315 Speaker 1: I was already working myself sick, trying to get countdown 226 00:15:37,355 --> 00:15:40,515 Speaker 1: above water. None of that mattered to him. What he 227 00:15:40,635 --> 00:15:45,075 Speaker 1: was in love with was the title t KO. It 228 00:15:45,075 --> 00:15:50,195 Speaker 1: would be perfect Kaplan, who, as I have described here earlier, 229 00:15:50,595 --> 00:15:53,555 Speaker 1: would later chase me around the studios threatening to kill 230 00:15:53,595 --> 00:15:56,355 Speaker 1: me because I had referred to blood in my mouth 231 00:15:56,435 --> 00:15:59,595 Speaker 1: after a cancer scare, and he believed I had done 232 00:15:59,635 --> 00:16:03,035 Speaker 1: so in order to sabotage the premiere of the next 233 00:16:03,075 --> 00:16:07,955 Speaker 1: of his genius hires are to Cosby. Kaplan never forgave 234 00:16:07,995 --> 00:16:12,915 Speaker 1: me for denying him his TKO. Honestly, after a lot 235 00:16:12,955 --> 00:16:14,555 Speaker 1: of years to think about it, I think it was 236 00:16:14,595 --> 00:16:17,155 Speaker 1: the best call, because honestly, if I had actually had 237 00:16:17,195 --> 00:16:19,675 Speaker 1: to work with Tucker Carlson for more than about an 238 00:16:19,755 --> 00:16:23,835 Speaker 1: hour in total in my life, I well I suspect 239 00:16:23,875 --> 00:16:30,355 Speaker 1: I would not yet be out on parole. But ultimately 240 00:16:30,395 --> 00:16:32,835 Speaker 1: Tucker Carlson did this, and we have to thank him 241 00:16:32,835 --> 00:16:36,675 Speaker 1: again for doing this, because in his little world of privilege, 242 00:16:36,715 --> 00:16:42,835 Speaker 1: where whatever his stick dujure, once a preppy boatie, then 243 00:16:43,115 --> 00:16:47,155 Speaker 1: being a pretend reasonable conservative looking for the middle now 244 00:16:47,195 --> 00:16:51,075 Speaker 1: a conspiracy freak, theorist with a head tilt reminiscent of 245 00:16:51,155 --> 00:16:55,635 Speaker 1: a dog being shown a card trick. Whatever he's tried, 246 00:16:56,115 --> 00:17:01,115 Speaker 1: it's always worked before. He's always triumphed, Even after John 247 00:17:01,235 --> 00:17:04,355 Speaker 1: Stewart shamed him and cut him up into little Tucker 248 00:17:04,355 --> 00:17:08,235 Speaker 1: Carlson and Pieces and CNN fired him, and even after 249 00:17:08,275 --> 00:17:11,835 Speaker 1: his mediocre ratings went down from there at MSNBC and 250 00:17:11,875 --> 00:17:14,395 Speaker 1: he got fired again, and even after Fox finally hired 251 00:17:14,435 --> 00:17:18,795 Speaker 1: and but relegated him for seven years to weekend fill ins, 252 00:17:19,795 --> 00:17:25,515 Speaker 1: he has ultimately prevailed. The problem here isn't the risk 253 00:17:25,595 --> 00:17:30,475 Speaker 1: that he didn't prevail with his audience. Duh? It's that 254 00:17:30,635 --> 00:17:35,675 Speaker 1: last night, in essence, he testified in the dominion Fox 255 00:17:35,835 --> 00:17:40,515 Speaker 1: billion points six dollar defamation trial. And he testified for dominion. 256 00:17:41,875 --> 00:17:44,755 Speaker 1: And I know Rupert Murdoch. I have been fired personally 257 00:17:44,795 --> 00:17:47,435 Speaker 1: by Rupert Murdoch. He's not going to like it, you 258 00:17:47,475 --> 00:18:06,475 Speaker 1: know how I know the video proved this stella ahead 259 00:18:06,475 --> 00:18:09,275 Speaker 1: of us. In this edition of Countdown, Michael Knowles doubles 260 00:18:09,275 --> 00:18:12,995 Speaker 1: down on the eradication of transgenderism thing and again threatens 261 00:18:12,995 --> 00:18:16,795 Speaker 1: people who had the nerve to quote him saying what 262 00:18:16,835 --> 00:18:22,715 Speaker 1: he said, the BBC reports Elon Musk needs two bodyguards 263 00:18:22,995 --> 00:18:27,635 Speaker 1: to escort him to the bathroom, fulfilling a joke about 264 00:18:27,675 --> 00:18:31,275 Speaker 1: a guy so stupid he couldn't relieve himself without help 265 00:18:31,315 --> 00:18:34,875 Speaker 1: from a committee. And since we're talking about Fox and 266 00:18:34,995 --> 00:18:38,475 Speaker 1: Dominion and how Tucker Carlson helped the Dominion case last night, 267 00:18:38,555 --> 00:18:42,075 Speaker 1: let's talk about the guy Murdoch already threw overboard in 268 00:18:42,115 --> 00:18:47,075 Speaker 1: this case, Loudobs, who is almost single handedly responsible for 269 00:18:47,115 --> 00:18:50,715 Speaker 1: the big break that started my TV career. Because talk 270 00:18:50,755 --> 00:18:55,315 Speaker 1: about single handedly. In nineteen eighty one, lou was all hands. 271 00:18:56,075 --> 00:19:07,355 Speaker 1: That's next is his countdown. This is countdown with Keith Olberman. 272 00:19:11,235 --> 00:19:14,595 Speaker 1: Postscripts to the news, some headlines, some updates, some snarks, 273 00:19:14,595 --> 00:19:19,435 Speaker 1: some predictions, dateline, the Michael Knols scandal, the Glenn Quagmire 274 00:19:19,515 --> 00:19:24,475 Speaker 1: look alike. Doubled down on his call to eradicate transgenderism entirely, 275 00:19:25,315 --> 00:19:29,035 Speaker 1: entirely meaning everything to do with it, and transgendered people 276 00:19:29,115 --> 00:19:31,955 Speaker 1: and the surgeons and the nurses and the counselors would 277 00:19:31,995 --> 00:19:35,115 Speaker 1: have something to do with it. All this great flaming 278 00:19:35,235 --> 00:19:39,275 Speaker 1: fraud on the daily wire Indoctrination Channel was concerned with 279 00:19:39,715 --> 00:19:43,235 Speaker 1: was threatening more people who accused him of saying what 280 00:19:43,555 --> 00:19:47,395 Speaker 1: he said, quoting the idea that I or anybody else 281 00:19:47,435 --> 00:19:51,035 Speaker 1: called for trans people to be eradicated, obviously a total lie. 282 00:19:51,395 --> 00:19:53,995 Speaker 1: There are some news outlets that have not yet changed 283 00:19:54,035 --> 00:19:58,715 Speaker 1: their headlines. I would recommend they do so. Another video 284 00:19:58,755 --> 00:20:01,275 Speaker 1: of this Knols turned up. It's less than a week old, 285 00:20:01,475 --> 00:20:03,675 Speaker 1: and in it he specifically says, you can't have a 286 00:20:03,755 --> 00:20:07,875 Speaker 1: genocide transgender people because quote, they are not a legitimate 287 00:20:07,915 --> 00:20:12,795 Speaker 1: category of being. Dayline Salt Lake City, Utah Senator Mike Lee. 288 00:20:12,955 --> 00:20:15,035 Speaker 1: You may remember him from the plot to overturn the 289 00:20:15,035 --> 00:20:18,835 Speaker 1: twenty twenty election and installed Trump as dictator. Mike Lee 290 00:20:18,835 --> 00:20:21,515 Speaker 1: has now struck out at two of the great issues 291 00:20:21,555 --> 00:20:24,395 Speaker 1: of our time, the real victim in the Michael Knols 292 00:20:24,515 --> 00:20:28,355 Speaker 1: story and the barring of tennis player Novak Djokovic from 293 00:20:28,355 --> 00:20:31,355 Speaker 1: this country. Lee says, the real victim in the Knowles 294 00:20:31,395 --> 00:20:34,715 Speaker 1: case is, of course Knowles, and he's using that as 295 00:20:34,715 --> 00:20:37,715 Speaker 1: a springboard to urge that the Supreme Court ruling from 296 00:20:37,795 --> 00:20:41,635 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty four, the one that protects news organizations from 297 00:20:41,675 --> 00:20:45,515 Speaker 1: being sued even if they are honestly mistaken. New York 298 00:20:45,555 --> 00:20:48,915 Speaker 1: Times v. Sullivan, should be overturned it's the one that 299 00:20:48,995 --> 00:20:53,275 Speaker 1: requires actual malice to establish defamation by a news outlet, 300 00:20:53,315 --> 00:20:57,195 Speaker 1: and it basically guarantees, you know, the first Amendment as 301 00:20:57,235 --> 00:21:00,475 Speaker 1: to Djokovic not admitted to this country because he's still 302 00:21:00,555 --> 00:21:04,355 Speaker 1: not vaccinated. Lee has drawn the perfect parallel, at least 303 00:21:04,355 --> 00:21:09,715 Speaker 1: in his mind, between Djokovic and drug cartels, quoting the 304 00:21:09,755 --> 00:21:13,515 Speaker 1: senator to Djokovic, you're unvaxed, so stay out to people 305 00:21:13,675 --> 00:21:18,555 Speaker 1: trafficked by drug cartels. You're unvaxed and undocumented, So come 306 00:21:18,555 --> 00:21:23,195 Speaker 1: on in, Secretary mayorchis you have this exactly backwards. Reverse 307 00:21:24,075 --> 00:21:27,395 Speaker 1: imagine the reasoning of DHS. Djokovic is far less likely 308 00:21:27,475 --> 00:21:30,875 Speaker 1: to bring fentanyl into the US. This is a US 309 00:21:30,995 --> 00:21:36,435 Speaker 1: senator who thinks like this, thinks maybe an exaggeration, Senator, 310 00:21:36,555 --> 00:21:39,555 Speaker 1: stick to what you're an expert in insurrection. Oh listen 311 00:21:39,555 --> 00:21:43,795 Speaker 1: to me again, mister Glass half full calling Mike Lee 312 00:21:43,795 --> 00:22:15,115 Speaker 1: an expert in something. Thank you, Nancy Faust and Dateline Germany. 313 00:22:15,155 --> 00:22:17,835 Speaker 1: The Adidas group thinks it may have found a solution 314 00:22:18,115 --> 00:22:21,475 Speaker 1: to its little problem of about five hundred million dollars 315 00:22:21,515 --> 00:22:26,515 Speaker 1: in unsold and it thinks pretty much unsellable sneakers that 316 00:22:26,635 --> 00:22:32,995 Speaker 1: it co produced with Kanye West, remember Kanye West. Adidas 317 00:22:33,035 --> 00:22:35,915 Speaker 1: has been trying to sell it since he's self destructed, 318 00:22:35,995 --> 00:22:38,395 Speaker 1: even going so far as to prose ripping off the 319 00:22:38,515 --> 00:22:42,395 Speaker 1: labels and selling the shoes at TJ Max's as so 320 00:22:42,515 --> 00:22:47,635 Speaker 1: called zombie easies. But a new idea has hit Adidas headquarters. 321 00:22:47,835 --> 00:22:51,515 Speaker 1: Burn them, burn them all, ten twenty million pairs of shoes. 322 00:22:51,555 --> 00:22:55,355 Speaker 1: Burned them, burned them. It has not apparently occurred to 323 00:22:55,395 --> 00:23:00,555 Speaker 1: anybody there give them to people in poorer countries or 324 00:23:00,555 --> 00:23:04,235 Speaker 1: even you know, sell them to people in poorer countries 325 00:23:04,275 --> 00:23:08,875 Speaker 1: forty cents for a pair. We can't do that, that 326 00:23:08,955 --> 00:23:26,395 Speaker 1: would be helpful, just to had. Lou Dobbs is in 327 00:23:26,435 --> 00:23:29,755 Speaker 1: the news again with this latest Fox big lie crap 328 00:23:30,515 --> 00:23:32,835 Speaker 1: and the evidence that he was one of the Lamb's 329 00:23:32,875 --> 00:23:36,875 Speaker 1: Rupert Burnoch sacrificed, which makes me laugh because after a 330 00:23:36,955 --> 00:23:41,155 Speaker 1: career I wout of screwing others, it was Lou Dobbs's turn, 331 00:23:41,315 --> 00:23:46,275 Speaker 1: speaking of screwing. How his personal messy life literally started 332 00:23:46,315 --> 00:23:49,395 Speaker 1: my TV career. Something good should have come at that 333 00:23:49,635 --> 00:23:51,435 Speaker 1: next first time For the daily round up of the 334 00:23:51,435 --> 00:23:54,395 Speaker 1: miss Grants, morons and Dunning Kruger Effect specimens, who constitute 335 00:23:54,595 --> 00:23:58,955 Speaker 1: two days worst persons in the world Lebrons, the Prime 336 00:23:58,955 --> 00:24:02,395 Speaker 1: Minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunac. He's that chi 337 00:24:02,555 --> 00:24:06,355 Speaker 1: whiz smiley guy who was the third premier of that 338 00:24:06,435 --> 00:24:09,075 Speaker 1: country and like the time it takes for a head 339 00:24:09,075 --> 00:24:13,275 Speaker 1: of lettuce to go bad, Sunac is a gung ho innovation, 340 00:24:13,915 --> 00:24:17,915 Speaker 1: business growth kind of annoying guy. And to prove that point, 341 00:24:17,995 --> 00:24:21,435 Speaker 1: yesterday he tweeted a QR code which led you to 342 00:24:21,475 --> 00:24:24,755 Speaker 1: a press release with a bunch of enhanced reality words 343 00:24:24,835 --> 00:24:26,435 Speaker 1: flying out of it in the three D. The problem 344 00:24:26,515 --> 00:24:30,035 Speaker 1: was he tweeted it and nearly everybody reads tweeter at 345 00:24:30,035 --> 00:24:33,275 Speaker 1: Twitter on their phones. So to scan the QR code 346 00:24:33,635 --> 00:24:37,995 Speaker 1: the PM just sent to your iOS, you'd need two phones, 347 00:24:38,795 --> 00:24:41,795 Speaker 1: one to display the code and the other to scan 348 00:24:41,915 --> 00:24:45,875 Speaker 1: it with. Well, that will increase phone sales at least 349 00:24:46,355 --> 00:24:50,075 Speaker 1: there'll always be in England maybe runner up. Now this 350 00:24:50,115 --> 00:24:53,795 Speaker 1: is a coincidence Boris Johnson, who was two prime ministers 351 00:24:53,795 --> 00:24:56,995 Speaker 1: before Sunac, so that's like three weeks, and whose instability 352 00:24:56,995 --> 00:24:59,515 Speaker 1: and inability to just follow the rules for two minutes 353 00:24:59,875 --> 00:25:03,275 Speaker 1: forced him out of that office. Each Prime Minister, no 354 00:25:03,315 --> 00:25:05,995 Speaker 1: matter how badly they end up, gets to nominate people 355 00:25:06,035 --> 00:25:09,635 Speaker 1: for the so called year end honors list. Who's going 356 00:25:09,715 --> 00:25:11,995 Speaker 1: to be a lord and who's going to be a 357 00:25:12,035 --> 00:25:14,915 Speaker 1: time lord, and who's getting an Order of the Garter 358 00:25:15,235 --> 00:25:17,555 Speaker 1: and who's getting an Order of the Garter's Snake? I 359 00:25:17,595 --> 00:25:20,155 Speaker 1: don't know. All the other British titles I know are 360 00:25:20,155 --> 00:25:22,595 Speaker 1: from Monty Python or the Goon Show, and they turned 361 00:25:22,595 --> 00:25:25,235 Speaker 1: out to be jokes. Who is the new Viscount of 362 00:25:25,275 --> 00:25:30,195 Speaker 1: the third disgusting fusel is Gridpipe? Anyway, Boris Johnson has 363 00:25:30,235 --> 00:25:34,355 Speaker 1: reportedly nominated one hundred people for honors, the average is 364 00:25:34,395 --> 00:25:37,315 Speaker 1: like forty, and one of the people he wants the 365 00:25:37,395 --> 00:25:41,075 Speaker 1: king to make into a sir or knight or something sir. 366 00:25:42,555 --> 00:25:45,075 Speaker 1: One of the people is named Stanley Johnson. Well, that's 367 00:25:45,075 --> 00:25:50,875 Speaker 1: a coincidence. Stanley Johnson. Stanley Johnson is Boris Johnson's father, 368 00:25:51,755 --> 00:25:54,835 Speaker 1: The disgraced ex Prime minister wants them to night his 369 00:25:54,915 --> 00:26:00,035 Speaker 1: own father. But our winner is Elon Musk. This is 370 00:26:00,035 --> 00:26:02,355 Speaker 1: not about his latest upgrade to Twitter, which caused it 371 00:26:02,435 --> 00:26:05,315 Speaker 1: to crash yesterday, because he apparently only has the engineer 372 00:26:05,395 --> 00:26:08,235 Speaker 1: now working for Twitter, and it's rumored that that's the 373 00:26:08,275 --> 00:26:10,715 Speaker 1: guy's side hustle. The guy is actually a motor man 374 00:26:10,755 --> 00:26:14,835 Speaker 1: on a San Francisco cable car line. This isn't about 375 00:26:14,875 --> 00:26:18,915 Speaker 1: his tweet new Twitter as the sourcial truth, which leads 376 00:26:18,915 --> 00:26:22,515 Speaker 1: to the question, so when is new Twitter? Elon? Now? 377 00:26:22,595 --> 00:26:26,515 Speaker 1: This is a report from the BBC about how abused 378 00:26:26,555 --> 00:26:29,635 Speaker 1: particularly of women, including rape threats and death threats, has 379 00:26:29,675 --> 00:26:33,515 Speaker 1: shot through the roof on Twitter under Musk. Musk dismiss 380 00:26:33,595 --> 00:26:38,475 Speaker 1: that as quote trolls. But the aside at the end 381 00:26:38,515 --> 00:26:43,035 Speaker 1: of the BBC piece is it's I'll just read it. 382 00:26:43,035 --> 00:26:45,835 Speaker 1: It's quoting a Twitter engineer who spoke anonymously to the 383 00:26:45,875 --> 00:26:49,915 Speaker 1: BBC for fear of retribution. Quote. The level of disarray, 384 00:26:50,195 --> 00:26:53,995 Speaker 1: in his Musk's view is because mister Musk doesn't trust 385 00:26:54,035 --> 00:26:57,395 Speaker 1: Twitter employees. He believes this lack of trust is betrayed 386 00:26:57,435 --> 00:27:01,595 Speaker 1: by the level of security mister Musk surrounds himself with. Quote. 387 00:27:01,915 --> 00:27:05,115 Speaker 1: Wherever Musk goes in the office, there are at least 388 00:27:05,115 --> 00:27:11,275 Speaker 1: two bodyguards, very bulky tall, Hollywood movie style bodyguards. Even 389 00:27:11,355 --> 00:27:17,795 Speaker 1: when Musk goes to the restroom elon, Musk needs bodyguards 390 00:27:18,675 --> 00:27:22,275 Speaker 1: to escort him to and from the toilet. God nubble one, 391 00:27:22,435 --> 00:27:25,835 Speaker 1: you hold it, God number two, you shake it. The 392 00:27:25,915 --> 00:27:30,555 Speaker 1: paper towels, I meant elon No Wonder. He brought his 393 00:27:30,595 --> 00:27:35,435 Speaker 1: own sync with him to Twitter headquarters. Musk Today's worst 394 00:27:36,355 --> 00:27:52,395 Speaker 1: Parson and still ahead on Countdown. Everybody has a different 395 00:27:52,435 --> 00:27:56,715 Speaker 1: kind of career origin story, and mine is I got 396 00:27:56,715 --> 00:28:00,635 Speaker 1: my start in TV because Lou Dabbs was rumored to 397 00:28:00,675 --> 00:28:05,915 Speaker 1: be stepping out on his wife. That Lou Dabbs crazy old. 398 00:28:05,955 --> 00:28:07,755 Speaker 1: You know how old he is. He's two hundred and six. 399 00:28:07,875 --> 00:28:11,515 Speaker 1: Lou Dabbs, who was then in nineteen eighty one, the 400 00:28:11,675 --> 00:28:17,755 Speaker 1: centerpiece of CNN's business department. Next. First, in each edition 401 00:28:17,795 --> 00:28:19,755 Speaker 1: of Countdown, we feature a dog in need you can help. 402 00:28:19,795 --> 00:28:22,515 Speaker 1: Every dog has its day. First, the really good news 403 00:28:22,595 --> 00:28:25,835 Speaker 1: the Kane Corso brothers on the deathwatch in New York yesterday, 404 00:28:25,955 --> 00:28:29,395 Speaker 1: Brooklyn and Butter, they have been saved. Thank you for 405 00:28:29,475 --> 00:28:33,515 Speaker 1: your help. Now to the slaughter pen in Riverside, California, 406 00:28:33,555 --> 00:28:37,235 Speaker 1: where August, who is a Shepherd Beagle mix with haunting eyes, 407 00:28:37,395 --> 00:28:39,595 Speaker 1: has been in the pound for a month. He's three 408 00:28:39,635 --> 00:28:42,635 Speaker 1: years old. He's about thirty five pounds. He has kennel's stress. 409 00:28:42,915 --> 00:28:45,755 Speaker 1: He needs a foster or adopter or our pledges to 410 00:28:45,755 --> 00:28:48,235 Speaker 1: help a rescue pull him out. If you can pledge, 411 00:28:48,315 --> 00:28:51,035 Speaker 1: please reply to my tweets about August. You can see 412 00:28:51,035 --> 00:28:53,595 Speaker 1: a video of him there, and if you can retweet August, 413 00:28:53,675 --> 00:28:57,275 Speaker 1: please do so. I thank you, and August thanks you. 414 00:29:12,555 --> 00:29:17,755 Speaker 1: I went to work at Cable News Network CNN, then 415 00:29:17,795 --> 00:29:20,115 Speaker 1: just starting its second year on the air on the 416 00:29:20,235 --> 00:29:24,595 Speaker 1: morning of Monday, August third, nineteen eighty one, because Lou 417 00:29:24,755 --> 00:29:27,195 Speaker 1: Dobbs was rumored to be stepping out on his wife. 418 00:29:28,355 --> 00:29:32,355 Speaker 1: On my first day, my first interview was with Joe Tory, 419 00:29:32,355 --> 00:29:35,195 Speaker 1: who was still a friend. On my first day, I 420 00:29:35,275 --> 00:29:38,515 Speaker 1: learned you have to take the Lavalier microphone off your 421 00:29:38,595 --> 00:29:42,835 Speaker 1: lapel before you walk away from the camera. And on 422 00:29:42,915 --> 00:29:45,515 Speaker 1: my first day, I learned that if you are videotaping 423 00:29:45,595 --> 00:29:50,875 Speaker 1: near airport radar, the cameraman has to take steps to 424 00:29:50,955 --> 00:29:56,475 Speaker 1: protect the camera, often with tinfoil. Otherwise almost everything you 425 00:29:56,515 --> 00:30:01,195 Speaker 1: record will have radar blips embedded into it and be unusable. 426 00:30:01,835 --> 00:30:05,555 Speaker 1: And I learned all this all because Lou Dobbs was 427 00:30:05,635 --> 00:30:10,315 Speaker 1: rumored to be stepping out on his wife. So I 428 00:30:10,395 --> 00:30:13,595 Speaker 1: was a radio sportscaster in nineteen eighty one, twenty two 429 00:30:13,675 --> 00:30:16,235 Speaker 1: years old and having already moved from the United Press 430 00:30:16,235 --> 00:30:19,635 Speaker 1: International Network, which I've mentioned before where my boss was, 431 00:30:19,715 --> 00:30:22,875 Speaker 1: As I've also mentioned before Sam Rosen, who has been 432 00:30:22,875 --> 00:30:24,955 Speaker 1: the play by play man of the New York Rangers 433 00:30:24,995 --> 00:30:27,635 Speaker 1: for most of the forty one years since, and I 434 00:30:27,755 --> 00:30:30,755 Speaker 1: moved from working for him to the much better paying 435 00:30:30,995 --> 00:30:34,875 Speaker 1: RKO Radio network, where my boss was Charlie Steiner, who 436 00:30:34,915 --> 00:30:37,995 Speaker 1: still does play by play of the Los Angeles Dodgers games. 437 00:30:38,915 --> 00:30:42,075 Speaker 1: But two years into my radio career, I had almost 438 00:30:42,155 --> 00:30:45,675 Speaker 1: topped out salary wise, and my ambitions had always been 439 00:30:45,675 --> 00:30:48,315 Speaker 1: to do TV anyway, I just wasn't sure how to 440 00:30:48,395 --> 00:30:52,155 Speaker 1: do it. Turned out my career was not a question 441 00:30:52,195 --> 00:30:55,155 Speaker 1: of my doing it. It was a question of lou 442 00:30:55,315 --> 00:30:59,915 Speaker 1: Dobbs doing it. My alma mater, Cornell University, had one 443 00:30:59,915 --> 00:31:03,355 Speaker 1: of the best student radio stations in the world but 444 00:31:03,475 --> 00:31:07,355 Speaker 1: the entire universe. He offered one television course and to 445 00:31:07,395 --> 00:31:09,555 Speaker 1: take it you had to rent the camera for fifty 446 00:31:09,595 --> 00:31:12,275 Speaker 1: dollars an hour, and it was black and white and 447 00:31:12,355 --> 00:31:15,475 Speaker 1: you needed three guys to lift it. So as well 448 00:31:15,515 --> 00:31:18,555 Speaker 1: as I had done starting in network radio in New 449 00:31:18,635 --> 00:31:22,475 Speaker 1: York straight out of college, I was somewhat stymied. RETV 450 00:31:23,475 --> 00:31:25,515 Speaker 1: one local news director offered me the chance to have 451 00:31:25,555 --> 00:31:28,075 Speaker 1: a kind of audition at his station, but that never 452 00:31:28,115 --> 00:31:33,035 Speaker 1: worked out. The lou Dobbs thing worked out. I actually 453 00:31:33,075 --> 00:31:36,875 Speaker 1: interviewed with Cable News Network twice, once in April nineteen 454 00:31:36,915 --> 00:31:38,795 Speaker 1: eighty when they were not on the air yet, and 455 00:31:38,835 --> 00:31:41,475 Speaker 1: I saw no reason they ever would be, because the 456 00:31:41,555 --> 00:31:45,755 Speaker 1: New York bureau consisted of one coffee table, one coffee machine, 457 00:31:46,235 --> 00:31:52,195 Speaker 1: one stairwell, one unisex bathroom, and one staffer, the bureau chief, 458 00:31:52,435 --> 00:31:56,435 Speaker 1: Mary Alice Williams. Plus the day I went there, CNN 459 00:31:56,475 --> 00:32:00,155 Speaker 1: Sports president Bill McPhail, up from Atlanta, was visiting, so 460 00:32:00,235 --> 00:32:04,995 Speaker 1: it was technically two staffers. After a long year. My 461 00:32:05,075 --> 00:32:07,515 Speaker 1: phone rang one day and McPhail asked me to fill 462 00:32:07,515 --> 00:32:10,475 Speaker 1: in for two weeks. In two weeks for their New 463 00:32:10,555 --> 00:32:13,955 Speaker 1: York sports reporter. She was going on vacation August third, 464 00:32:14,075 --> 00:32:17,955 Speaker 1: sooner McPhail added if the baseball strike ended before then. 465 00:32:17,995 --> 00:32:21,795 Speaker 1: Her name was Debbie Sigura, and all I knew was vacation. 466 00:32:22,155 --> 00:32:25,755 Speaker 1: Turned out it was part vacation, part get out of 467 00:32:25,795 --> 00:32:30,875 Speaker 1: town quickly, very very quickly. See when CNN started, it 468 00:32:30,955 --> 00:32:35,515 Speaker 1: wasn't just news, news and commentary and opinion shows. There 469 00:32:35,595 --> 00:32:39,075 Speaker 1: was a half hour business show every night and a 470 00:32:39,155 --> 00:32:42,875 Speaker 1: half hour sportscast at seven thirty and another one at eleven, 471 00:32:43,355 --> 00:32:47,675 Speaker 1: and a fashion program, an hourly stock reports and meteorologists, 472 00:32:47,675 --> 00:32:51,635 Speaker 1: and short sportscasts. And the business anchor based in the 473 00:32:51,675 --> 00:32:54,875 Speaker 1: New York Bureau in the World Trade Center was Lou Dobbs, 474 00:32:55,635 --> 00:32:57,715 Speaker 1: and as the producer they had sent up to work 475 00:32:57,755 --> 00:33:01,635 Speaker 1: with me. Phil Griffin later, the president of MSNBC, explained 476 00:33:01,635 --> 00:33:03,035 Speaker 1: to me when we got in the car to go 477 00:33:03,075 --> 00:33:07,675 Speaker 1: out to Chase Stadium to interview those Mets guys. Forty 478 00:33:08,115 --> 00:33:11,875 Speaker 1: two years ago, Lou Dobbs was rumored to be stepping 479 00:33:11,875 --> 00:33:15,635 Speaker 1: out on his wife with the CNN New York sports 480 00:33:15,635 --> 00:33:19,915 Speaker 1: reporter Debbie and Missus Dobbs had found out, and there 481 00:33:19,955 --> 00:33:22,275 Speaker 1: was even another rumor there was somebody else who also 482 00:33:22,315 --> 00:33:25,275 Speaker 1: worked in the CNN New York Bureau, And thus Bill 483 00:33:25,355 --> 00:33:28,435 Speaker 1: mcvail's hurried call asking me to fill in for her 484 00:33:28,555 --> 00:33:31,515 Speaker 1: for two weeks. In two weeks because she was going 485 00:33:31,635 --> 00:33:38,515 Speaker 1: on quote vacation unquote, Dobbs and the first Missus Dobbs 486 00:33:38,515 --> 00:33:44,475 Speaker 1: eventually split, but apparently the ill will persisted. Everybody decided 487 00:33:44,515 --> 00:33:47,315 Speaker 1: it would be better off for all concerned if Dobbs 488 00:33:47,315 --> 00:33:50,035 Speaker 1: and Debbie Cigura or as she was then called behind 489 00:33:50,035 --> 00:33:53,795 Speaker 1: her back, Debbie does dobbs if all of them and 490 00:33:53,955 --> 00:33:56,715 Speaker 1: most of the New York Bureau business staff moved to 491 00:33:56,835 --> 00:34:00,955 Speaker 1: CNN headquarters in Atlanta. This left New York without a 492 00:34:00,955 --> 00:34:03,075 Speaker 1: sports reporter, and they tried another one of the Atlanta 493 00:34:03,115 --> 00:34:06,155 Speaker 1: anchors for a while, but they kept him extra vacation time, 494 00:34:06,395 --> 00:34:08,795 Speaker 1: so they would have to bring me in freelance every month. 495 00:34:08,875 --> 00:34:10,835 Speaker 1: And finally the following March, they offered me the job 496 00:34:10,875 --> 00:34:14,555 Speaker 1: full time. And I have not earned an honest paycheck since. 497 00:34:15,355 --> 00:34:18,035 Speaker 1: And I mean that in two ways. They were paying 498 00:34:18,035 --> 00:34:21,115 Speaker 1: me five hundred dollars a week, which was about forty 499 00:34:21,155 --> 00:34:24,635 Speaker 1: percent less than what I made for like three days 500 00:34:24,675 --> 00:34:30,435 Speaker 1: a week in radio. I pointed this out acceptingly. I 501 00:34:30,475 --> 00:34:34,195 Speaker 1: was learning how to do TV while on TV and 502 00:34:34,235 --> 00:34:36,635 Speaker 1: getting paid for it. And that's when they told me 503 00:34:36,675 --> 00:34:38,915 Speaker 1: that five hundred dollars a week was already more than 504 00:34:38,955 --> 00:34:41,995 Speaker 1: they were paying Debbie Sigura or the guy who was 505 00:34:42,035 --> 00:34:46,515 Speaker 1: their reporter in Los Angeles. And then Bill McPhail, the president, 506 00:34:46,555 --> 00:34:49,355 Speaker 1: called and offered me a contract for twenty five grand 507 00:34:49,595 --> 00:34:55,275 Speaker 1: and I said, wait, that's less. Why would it take less? 508 00:34:55,835 --> 00:34:58,475 Speaker 1: Is there health insurance or something? And he said, no, 509 00:34:58,915 --> 00:35:02,715 Speaker 1: there's just security, and I said, I'd rather have the 510 00:35:02,795 --> 00:35:05,875 Speaker 1: thousand dollars. You're just cut out of my salary, and 511 00:35:05,955 --> 00:35:08,155 Speaker 1: they found it somewhere. But they always reminded me how 512 00:35:08,195 --> 00:35:10,275 Speaker 1: generous they'd been and how many meetings they'd had to 513 00:35:10,275 --> 00:35:13,635 Speaker 1: have just to get me the thousand dollars back. I 514 00:35:13,715 --> 00:35:17,395 Speaker 1: didn't have to do much with Dobbs in New York, 515 00:35:17,875 --> 00:35:20,435 Speaker 1: but there is something about TV. Either it's a really 516 00:35:20,435 --> 00:35:23,035 Speaker 1: small world or the people in it will do anything 517 00:35:23,075 --> 00:35:26,355 Speaker 1: to stay in it. I might be an example of 518 00:35:26,395 --> 00:35:31,155 Speaker 1: the ladder. When Dobbs moved to Atlanta, the guy who 519 00:35:31,235 --> 00:35:34,355 Speaker 1: stepped up to become CNN's number one business reporter in 520 00:35:34,435 --> 00:35:38,155 Speaker 1: New York was named Stuart Varney, and he was great 521 00:35:38,195 --> 00:35:41,115 Speaker 1: to me. One night, our sports producer in Atlanta call 522 00:35:41,235 --> 00:35:44,075 Speaker 1: up around five and said, congratulations, you get to do 523 00:35:44,115 --> 00:35:47,675 Speaker 1: a commentary on the seven tonight and I croaked what 524 00:35:48,475 --> 00:35:51,155 Speaker 1: and she said, yeah, you'll do it live. And I said, 525 00:35:51,555 --> 00:35:53,635 Speaker 1: I have no idea how to read a teleprompter, and 526 00:35:53,675 --> 00:35:58,275 Speaker 1: she said, better learn fast click and I told Stu 527 00:35:58,435 --> 00:36:00,195 Speaker 1: and he taught me how to use a teleprompter in 528 00:36:00,235 --> 00:36:03,115 Speaker 1: like ten minutes. And I was always grateful, and then 529 00:36:03,115 --> 00:36:07,395 Speaker 1: he had some sort of religious conversion or hit his 530 00:36:07,515 --> 00:36:10,875 Speaker 1: head on something or both, and he's still one of 531 00:36:10,915 --> 00:36:15,435 Speaker 1: the most virulent fascists on Fox Nudes. Anyway, Dobbs and 532 00:36:15,475 --> 00:36:17,595 Speaker 1: Debbie got married and Lou settled in and as part 533 00:36:17,595 --> 00:36:20,795 Speaker 1: of the deal, Debbie Sigura Dobbs became a CNN sports 534 00:36:20,835 --> 00:36:24,915 Speaker 1: anchor in Atlanta. Except while she could get through those 535 00:36:24,955 --> 00:36:28,155 Speaker 1: short three or in four minutes sports updates she used 536 00:36:28,195 --> 00:36:30,835 Speaker 1: to do in New York, which I inherited during the 537 00:36:30,955 --> 00:36:34,875 Speaker 1: longer half hour and hour long shows, she could not 538 00:36:35,115 --> 00:36:40,075 Speaker 1: read the prompter to save her life. About two months 539 00:36:40,115 --> 00:36:42,675 Speaker 1: into her time in Atlanta came the night she got 540 00:36:42,795 --> 00:36:46,155 Speaker 1: so lost in the teleprompter that about twenty minutes in, 541 00:36:46,675 --> 00:36:52,075 Speaker 1: she got up and left the studio. Her boss. By 542 00:36:52,075 --> 00:36:55,075 Speaker 1: this point, my boss, Bill McPhail, had to take her 543 00:36:55,115 --> 00:36:57,875 Speaker 1: off the longer shows and return her to doing those 544 00:36:57,915 --> 00:37:00,315 Speaker 1: three minute updates in the middle of the afternoon. She 545 00:37:00,475 --> 00:37:05,075 Speaker 1: was secretly relieved her husband, Lou Dobbs, who arted My 546 00:37:05,115 --> 00:37:07,395 Speaker 1: TV career because he was rumored to be stepping out 547 00:37:07,435 --> 00:37:11,275 Speaker 1: on his first wife. He was not relieved. He promptly 548 00:37:11,315 --> 00:37:14,275 Speaker 1: went into Bill McPhail's office and challenged him to a 549 00:37:14,355 --> 00:37:17,755 Speaker 1: fist fight. I have looked this up on the Internet. 550 00:37:18,035 --> 00:37:21,315 Speaker 1: The day this happened, Lou Dobbs was thirty six years 551 00:37:21,315 --> 00:37:28,075 Speaker 1: old and Bill McPhail was sixty one. Debbie's TV career 552 00:37:28,155 --> 00:37:32,515 Speaker 1: ended not long after, as my began. She went into 553 00:37:32,555 --> 00:37:35,955 Speaker 1: horses equestrian stuff. Ultimately, she and Dobbs made it back 554 00:37:35,995 --> 00:37:38,715 Speaker 1: to the New York Bureau. I worked with him again 555 00:37:38,835 --> 00:37:42,995 Speaker 1: in two thousand and one. Two He deteriorated into a 556 00:37:43,075 --> 00:37:47,435 Speaker 1: running joke spewing anti immigrant and anti Latino bile while 557 00:37:47,475 --> 00:37:49,595 Speaker 1: she raised their family in New Jersey, and the rest 558 00:37:49,635 --> 00:37:53,315 Speaker 1: of us marveled that Lou and his Latino family made 559 00:37:53,355 --> 00:37:58,075 Speaker 1: millions off his anti Latino bile. Jersey was where Debbie 560 00:37:58,155 --> 00:38:01,595 Speaker 1: Cigura Dobbs was on Tuesday, January twenty second, two thousand 561 00:38:01,595 --> 00:38:04,195 Speaker 1: and three, when she tried to board a flight for 562 00:38:04,195 --> 00:38:08,035 Speaker 1: Florida at Newark Airport and a TSA agent found a 563 00:38:08,115 --> 00:38:12,835 Speaker 1: loaded gun in her handbag. She was arrested, released on bail. 564 00:38:12,875 --> 00:38:15,315 Speaker 1: I never did hear what happened to that charge. It 565 00:38:15,515 --> 00:38:18,435 Speaker 1: carried the possibility of prison that clearly did not happen. 566 00:38:18,675 --> 00:38:22,075 Speaker 1: Can't find anything in the newspaper archives or anywhere online, 567 00:38:22,635 --> 00:38:25,675 Speaker 1: But Dobbs later explained the whole thing it was all 568 00:38:25,675 --> 00:38:30,075 Speaker 1: a misunderstanding. He said that loaded gun had been in 569 00:38:30,195 --> 00:38:33,835 Speaker 1: his wife's handbag since the previous autumn and she'd just 570 00:38:33,995 --> 00:38:39,515 Speaker 1: forgotten about it. Although exactly what that explained I still 571 00:38:39,555 --> 00:38:56,155 Speaker 1: haven't figured out. I swear it's true. Thanks for listening. 572 00:38:56,195 --> 00:38:58,115 Speaker 1: Countdown has come to you from the studios of the 573 00:38:58,155 --> 00:39:02,315 Speaker 1: Olderman Broadcasting Empire, High Top headquarters in the Sports Capsule 574 00:39:02,355 --> 00:39:05,995 Speaker 1: Building here in New York. Here are the credits. Most 575 00:39:05,995 --> 00:39:08,555 Speaker 1: of the music was arranged, produced and performed by Brian 576 00:39:08,635 --> 00:39:11,675 Speaker 1: Ray and John Phillip Channel, who are the Countdown musical directors. 577 00:39:11,675 --> 00:39:15,515 Speaker 1: Produced by t Ko Brothers. All orchestration and keyboards by 578 00:39:15,555 --> 00:39:18,875 Speaker 1: John Philip Chanelle, guitarist, bass and drums by Brian Ray. 579 00:39:19,395 --> 00:39:22,195 Speaker 1: Other Beethoven selections have been arranged and performed by the 580 00:39:22,235 --> 00:39:25,515 Speaker 1: group No Horns Allowed. The sports music is the Olderman 581 00:39:25,595 --> 00:39:28,355 Speaker 1: theme from ESPN two and it was written by Mitch 582 00:39:28,355 --> 00:39:31,955 Speaker 1: Warren Davis courtesy of the ESPN Inc. Musical comments by 583 00:39:31,995 --> 00:39:35,395 Speaker 1: Nancy Faus. The best baseball stadium organist ever Our announcer 584 00:39:35,435 --> 00:39:37,915 Speaker 1: today was Kenny Maine, and everything else is pretty much 585 00:39:38,035 --> 00:39:41,155 Speaker 1: my fault. So that's countdown for this, the seven hundred 586 00:39:41,315 --> 00:39:44,955 Speaker 1: ninety first day since Donald Trump's first attempted coup against 587 00:39:44,955 --> 00:39:48,515 Speaker 1: the democratically elected government of the United States. Arrest him 588 00:39:48,555 --> 00:39:52,595 Speaker 1: now while we still can. The next scheduled countdown is tomorrow, 589 00:39:52,635 --> 00:39:55,675 Speaker 1: and until then, I'm Keith Olberman. Good morning, good afternoon, goodnight, 590 00:39:56,275 --> 00:40:09,755 Speaker 1: and good luck. Countdown with Keith Alderman is a production 591 00:40:09,915 --> 00:40:15,235 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 592 00:40:15,275 --> 00:40:18,675 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.