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Speaker 1: Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. This

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Speaker 1: is what happened. The most influential conservative justice on the

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Speaker 1: Supreme Court accepted a free private jet flight worth one

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Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars from a hedge fund manager, and then

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Speaker 1: six years later that justice voted in favor of a

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Speaker 1: Supreme Court decision that gave that hedge fund manager's company

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Speaker 1: two billion, four hundred million dollars. That is what happened.

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Speaker 1: And neither all the hand ringing and self martyring in

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Speaker 1: the world by the recipient Sam Alito, nor all the

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Speaker 1: hand ringing and calls for ethical reform in the world

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Speaker 1: by the likes of Senate Judiciary Chairman Durbin, changes the

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Speaker 1: fact that we should not have to have rules saying

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Speaker 1: that it is a bad and corrupt idea to do this,

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Speaker 1: and you shouldn't do this. Anybody, anybody in government, anybody

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Speaker 1: above the age of twelve or the IQ of twelve,

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Speaker 1: should know already that it is a bad thing to

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Speaker 1: take free stuff from somebody. You will or just could

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Speaker 1: make a judicial decision about later. The issue of Supreme

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Speaker 1: Court ethical standards is important and overdue, and maybe please

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Speaker 1: Christ this will scare Dick Durbin out of his stupor.

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Speaker 1: But the real issue is Samuel Alito's ethical standards, and

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Speaker 1: the unfortunate complication here is that he clearly doesn't have

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Speaker 1: any What kind of god damned corrupt fool gets on

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Speaker 1: a private jet to Alaska, convinces himself and later tries

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Speaker 1: to convince other adults that the trip has no actual

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Speaker 1: cash value because otherwise the seat would have been empty.

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Speaker 1: Then does not hand a court clerk or all the

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Speaker 1: court clerks for the rest of his life a file

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Speaker 1: card with the name Paul Singer on it in capital letters,

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Speaker 1: and tell the clerks check all our cases from now on,

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Speaker 1: and tell me if he's involved in any of them,

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Speaker 1: because I'll have to recuse. You know, what kind of

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Speaker 1: person does all that? Either some Supreme Court justice trying

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Speaker 1: to prove a point about how easy it is to

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Speaker 1: construct the perfect appearance of conflict of interest in real life,

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Speaker 1: or an actual goddamned corrupt fool. In other words, Sam Alito. Now,

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Speaker 1: what little of the story actually clarified yesterday is surprisingly

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Speaker 1: mildly encouraging. Senate Judiciary Chairman Durbin actually did arise from

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Speaker 1: his torpor, though maybe not from his stupor. Quote. The

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Speaker 1: highest court in the land should not have the lowest

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Speaker 1: ethical standards, he and Federal Judiciary Subcommittee Chair Sheldon white

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Speaker 1: House said in a statement, But for too long that

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Speaker 1: has been the case with the United States Supreme curd level,

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Speaker 1: that that needs to change, et cetera, etc. This is

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Speaker 1: a recording, This announcement will not be repeated. Then, However,

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Speaker 1: Durbin added what at least sounds like some start to

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Speaker 1: possible rumored maybe token action. Quote. That's why when the

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Speaker 1: Senate returns after the July fourth recess, the Senate Judiciary

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Speaker 1: Committee will mark up Supreme Court ethics legislation. Obviously they

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Speaker 1: will not pass such legislation. The House will do nothing,

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Speaker 1: and Senate Republicans will do worse. They will act decisively,

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Speaker 1: as they always do, in favor of Supreme Court corruption.

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Speaker 1: The Supreme Court, in my view, can't be dictated to

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Speaker 1: by Congress, says Minority Leader McConnell. I think the Chief

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Speaker 1: Justice will address these issues. Congress should stay out of

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Speaker 1: it unquote, which interestingly parallels sam Alito's view on all this.

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Speaker 1: Sam Alito thinks the Chief Justice should stay out of

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Speaker 1: it too. Of course, what McConnell wants is not just

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Speaker 1: unelected over lords for all of us for life, but

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Speaker 1: unelected over lords for life who may not be criticized.

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Speaker 1: The practical problem is that John Roberts and Alito and

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Speaker 1: Clarence one hundred thousand dollars for one flight Carl Harlan

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Speaker 1: Thomas think they are getting away with it and think

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Speaker 1: they will continue to get away with it, and they

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Speaker 1: have good reason to think that way. Alito is being

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Speaker 1: congratulated on the right for his adroit move in pre

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Speaker 1: denying the Pro Publica report, and that side of the

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Speaker 1: equation has dismissed this as a smear. And when journalism

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Speaker 1: ethicists complained that the Wall Street Journal had published Alito's

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Speaker 1: self martyring answer without checking anything with Pro Publica and

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Speaker 1: never even asked for a comment before publishing the headline,

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Speaker 1: pro Publica misleads its readers, the journal just laughed and

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Speaker 1: printed its new personalized own staff editorial, calling Alito's crookedness

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Speaker 1: a quote non scandal. What is necessary to do right

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Speaker 1: now to try to at least rein in our lawless

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Speaker 1: Supreme Court. He is something that Dick Durbin may or

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Speaker 1: may not have in him. He can't legislate honesty into

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Speaker 1: corrupt men, but he can scare the crap out of

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Speaker 1: some of them. This is when he has to subpoena

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Speaker 1: Alito and Roberts and Clarence Thomas and Paul Singer and

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Speaker 1: Harlan Crow and Leonard Leo, Leonard Leo the Federalist matchmaker

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Speaker 1: and all these tawdry associations, or as Josh Marshall put it,

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Speaker 1: the man who basically each new justice with a billionaire

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Speaker 1: sponsor family. These men need to be frightened of the publicity,

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Speaker 1: of the backlash, of the damage to their reputation, of

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Speaker 1: the damage to the court, and of their own futures.

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Speaker 1: And somebody in power, maybe Sheldon Whitehouse, needs to dirty

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Speaker 1: up and bruise Alito and Thomas, and especially to bruise

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Speaker 1: the weakest of the pack, this Roberts, and to do

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Speaker 1: so by carefully but forcefully throwing around words like bribery

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Speaker 1: and payment and quid pro quo. We need somebody out

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Speaker 1: there to use some nice imagery and allegory, and as always,

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Speaker 1: to use a theme song that ties the illusions together.

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Speaker 1: That would help. I'm good Nancy Faust and Monty Hall. Meanwhile,

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Speaker 1: to the House. No, not about the Adam Schiff censcher

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Speaker 1: and the John Durham testimony, both of which blew up

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Speaker 1: in the Republicans' faces yesterday, and I will get to

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Speaker 1: each shortly. This is about the lead story from Capitol

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Speaker 1: Hill today. In fact, this week, Marjorie Taylor Green reportedly

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Speaker 1: called Lauren Bobert a quote little bitch to her face

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Speaker 1: on the floor of the House, which allows all of

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Speaker 1: us in the media to say that Marjorie Taylor Green

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Speaker 1: called Lauren Bobert a quote little bitch unquote. There seems

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Speaker 1: to be video of this, but nothing approaching audio, at

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Speaker 1: least discernible audio. So just look for the video clip

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Speaker 1: and the Daily East story. It's their reporting, and of

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Speaker 1: course we should have seen it coming because A it's

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Speaker 1: Marjorie Taylor Green and Lauren Bobert, and they are what

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Speaker 1: we used to call quote trash, and b you knew

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Speaker 1: this in particular was simmering from early yesterday when somebody

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Speaker 1: asked Green if she supported Bobert's articles of impeachment, and

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Speaker 1: Green said, of course she did, since Bobert had copycatted

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Speaker 1: it from her. These are adults trash, but adult trash

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Speaker 1: Marjorie Taylor Green called Lauren Bobert a quote little bitch.

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Speaker 1: The Daily Beast quoted two sources who witnessed the exchange

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Speaker 1: and a third who was familiar with it, that Bobert

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Speaker 1: started it confronting Green about quote statements you made about

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Speaker 1: me publicly. The gentle lady from Georgia then rose and

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Speaker 1: claimed that the gentle garbage from Colorado had quote copied

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Speaker 1: my articles of impeachment, whereupon the Honorable Barney rubble body

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Speaker 1: double from Georgia asserted, quote, I've donated to you, I've

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Speaker 1: defended you, but you've been nothing but a little bitch

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Speaker 1: to me unquote. Bobert responded to quote, okay, Marjorie, we're through,

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Speaker 1: to which Green answered we were never together unquote, and

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Speaker 1: added and anyway, I'm voting for Tracy Flick. Neither side

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Speaker 1: denied the exchange. Asked if she had really called Bobert

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Speaker 1: a quote little bitch, Green told the Daily Beast, quote

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Speaker 1: imitation is the greatest form of flattery, which would mean

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Speaker 1: that they would both be quote little bitches unquote. Right,

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Speaker 1: all right, I'll stop. I would note two other things.

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Speaker 1: Can't the two of you put aside your differences? And

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Speaker 1: fight the common enemy. Anna Paulina Luna, Anna Paulina Meierhoffer.

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Speaker 1: Her real name is mister Mihahoffer. And if Green did

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Speaker 1: call bober to quote, uh, it's the first thing she's

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Speaker 1: ever said in Congress that was truthful. Also, congressional observers

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Speaker 1: and historians noted that this was the first time such

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Speaker 1: language had been used on the House floor since Daniel

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Speaker 1: Webster called Henry Clay a damned hussy in eighteen twenty three.

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Speaker 1: And one more addendum from the political scene, the forever

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Speaker 1: candidate for governor of Arizona, Carrie Lake, has posted a

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Speaker 1: photograph of herself on a boat. Evidently the boat is

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Speaker 1: in Florida. She is wearing what appears to be a

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Speaker 1: bikini or at least bathing suit. She is standing inside

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Speaker 1: a pool float. Inside a pool float one of those

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Speaker 1: toy life preserver shaped things, and this one features car

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Speaker 1: tune images of the hands and head of dementia Jay Trump. Inexplicably,

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Speaker 1: Carrie Lake did not also post a photo of herself

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Speaker 1: blowing it up. Also of interest today, it had never

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Speaker 1: before seriously occurred to me that John Durham and Kevin

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Speaker 1: McCarthy might be Democratic Party plants. But yesterday, first Durham

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Speaker 1: before the Judiciary Committee, then McCarthy before the entire House

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Speaker 1: pretty much self destructed. McCarthy got booed so loudly it

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Speaker 1: was a surprise that Marjorie Taylor Green didn't go over

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Speaker 1: and call him a quote. That's next. This is countdown.

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Speaker 2: This is countdown with Keith Auberman, quot scripts to the.

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Speaker 1: News, some updates, some snarks, some predictions, state line, Capitol Hill.

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Speaker 1: All right, I think we need some confessions here after

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Speaker 1: his testimony yesterday to the House Judiciary Committee, I think

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Speaker 1: somebody better come out with the truth. The quote Russia Gate,

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Speaker 1: unquote Special Council John Durham was clearly planted by the

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Speaker 1: Democratic National Committee, or maybe even by the Special Council,

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Speaker 1: Jack Smith, And I'm beginning to wonder if maybe Speaker

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Speaker 1: Kevin McCarthy is also a plant in both senses of

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Speaker 1: the word. Durham. First, he was abused for several minutes

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Speaker 1: by Republican Congressman Matt Gates of Florida, and then, as

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Speaker 1: David Korn noted in Mother Jones, Durham made at least

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Speaker 1: two statements that were not true under oath, statements completely

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Speaker 1: contradicted by the report of Special Council Robert Muller promulgated

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Speaker 1: during the Trump administration. Durham testified that the June twenty

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Speaker 1: sixteen Vasiltnitskaya meeting at Trump Tower, recounted in full detail

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Speaker 1: in the Mother Report as a bid by Trump Junior

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Speaker 1: to try to get Russian dirt on Hillary Clinton, was

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Speaker 1: something other than that quote. The more complete story is

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Speaker 1: that they met and it was a ruse and they

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Speaker 1: didn't talk about Missus Clinton. So by that point John

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Speaker 1: Durham had already outed himself either as a perjurer or

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Speaker 1: a really dumb guy. Now perjurer is more interesting, but

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Speaker 1: the correct answer, I'm afraid that's probably really dumb guy.

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Speaker 1: Another Republican congressman observed that the quote central charge in

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Speaker 1: the Russia collusion hoax was that Trump campaign operatives were

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Speaker 1: in contact with Russian intelligence sources, to which Durham replied

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Speaker 1: there was no such evidence. Well, other than the repeated

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Speaker 1: meetings between the Trump campaign and Constantine Klimnik, who had

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Speaker 1: worked for Trump campaign manager Paul Manifort. Kalimnik was not

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Speaker 1: only identified in ' Muller report as having quote ties

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Speaker 1: to Russian intelligence but he's called a Russian intelligence officer.

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Speaker 1: That's literally the quote quote a Russian intelligence officer, Constantine Kalimnik.

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Speaker 1: That's in a twenty twenty report by the Senate Intelligence

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Speaker 1: Committee chaired by Marco Rubio. I have not heard anything

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Speaker 1: yet about investigating whether this idiot Durham actually perjured himself,

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Speaker 1: because if you hear this next exchange with Congressman Adam Schiff,

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Speaker 1: you'll probably agree with me. John Durham simply isn't smart

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Speaker 1: enough to have been lying. He's just a moron, he's

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Speaker 1: the comments section come to life. Or he's a Democratic plant.

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Speaker 3: There was a suggestion of a suggestion that the Russians

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Speaker 3: could help a damaging information as to missus Clinton and

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Speaker 3: I releasing.

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Speaker 4: Its monously, right, And that's exactly what happened, isn't it.

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Speaker 3: I don't, I don't.

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Speaker 4: You really don't know.

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Speaker 3: I'm not sure exactly when you say exactly what happened?

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Speaker 4: Well, the Russians released stolen emails through cutouts? Did they not.

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Speaker 3: There were emails?

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Speaker 4: Did they release the information stolen information through cutouts?

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Speaker 1: Yes? Or no?

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Speaker 3: I'm not sure that you really.

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Speaker 4: Don't know the answer to that. The answer is yes,

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Speaker 4: they did who DC leagues. Yes, Well, Moulla's answers yes,

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Speaker 4: more important than mine. Mulla's answer is yes. Now, that information,

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Speaker 4: of course was helpful to the Trump campaign, wasn't it.

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Speaker 1: I don't.

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Speaker 3: I don't think there's any question but that the Russians

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Speaker 3: intruded into I just want to pick into the systems.

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Speaker 3: They released information.

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Speaker 4: And that was helpful the Trump campaign, right.

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Speaker 3: And the conclusion in the ICA and then the Moller

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Speaker 3: investigation was that the Russians intended to answer my.

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Speaker 4: Question, was Durham that was helpful the Trump campaign?

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Speaker 3: Right?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, that's and Trump made use of that, as I said,

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Speaker 4: denied by touting those stolen documents on the campaign trail

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Speaker 4: over one hundred times.

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Speaker 3: I said, I don't really read the newspapers or listen

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Speaker 3: to the news. You're aliable, so I don't know that.

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Speaker 1: Mister.

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Speaker 4: You're totally oblivious to Donald Trump's use of the stolen

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Speaker 4: emails on the campaign trail more than one hundred times.

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Speaker 4: And that's away of your attention.

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Speaker 3: I am not aware of that.

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Speaker 1: Shame on you, Adam Schiff, no fair using facts. We

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Speaker 1: all John Durham brought with him was a beard at

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Speaker 1: dinner time Meanwhile, the House censured Congressman Shift because well,

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Speaker 1: because the Republicans are afraid of him, and the Republicans

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Speaker 1: are afraid of Trump, and Speaker McCarthy is the most gutless, spineless, afraid,

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Speaker 1: terrified politician of this century. So far, the censuring of

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Speaker 1: Shift sure has worked out well for Kevin.

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Speaker 5: On this vote, the a's are two hundred and thirteen

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Speaker 5: and the kna's are two hundred and nine.

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Speaker 2: With six answering present, the resolution adopted without objection.

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Speaker 5: The motion to considers very laid on the table.

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Speaker 2: House will be in order.

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Speaker 1: All day. Come up the House.

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Speaker 5: The House will be an order. Sh The House will

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Speaker 5: be an order. The House has resolved that the House

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Speaker 5: I have all night.

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Speaker 1: You got all night, Kevin? You sure don't you have

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Speaker 1: to ask permission first from Gates and Green your owners?

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Speaker 1: You whore still ahead. I was not one of the

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Speaker 1: founding talent on CNN, but I was interviewed for a

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Speaker 1: job with them before they launched in June nineteen eighty,

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Speaker 1: and I did go to work there at the start

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Speaker 1: of their second year in existence. And so when somebody

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Speaker 1: mentioned Ted Turner's name to me yesterday, I not only

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Speaker 1: had a flashback. I had a series of flashbacks coming

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Speaker 1: up in things I promised not to tell. First, the

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Speaker 1: daily roundup of the miscruits, morons and Dunning Kruger effects

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Speaker 1: specimens who constitute today's worst persons in the world. The

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Speaker 1: Bronze Florida Man Governor Ron DeSantis, the small man in

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Speaker 1: the high heeled shoes. He put out a boastful tweet

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Speaker 1: about unemployment yesterday with a nice graphic diting himself for quote,

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Speaker 1: Florida leeds one year straight of the lowest unemployment rate

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Speaker 1: a moon the ten largest states. A moon, Well, that's

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Speaker 1: what it says, A moon amo un g Apparently it's

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Speaker 1: supposed to be among Also one year straight. What the

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Speaker 1: hell does one year straight mean? That's like saying for

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Speaker 1: one consecutive day. Then again, DeSantis is boasting about unemployment,

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Speaker 1: not you know, education. The runners up Jim Hoff, who

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Speaker 1: is the not quite all there guy who runs the

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Speaker 1: discredited site Gateway Pundit, and Alex bruce Witz, the kid

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Speaker 1: who runs the equivalent of the Lebowski Little Urban Achievers

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Speaker 1: for Trump. And Patrick Byrne, who was the overstocked guy

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Speaker 1: who proved that he was not overstocked when it came

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Speaker 1: to brains. The three of them spent the day boosting

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Speaker 1: a story about how a sixty nine year old grandmother

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Speaker 1: recovering from cancer was given more jail time for illegally

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Speaker 1: entering the Capitol on January sixth than was Hunter Biden

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Speaker 1: for whatever they're pretending he did. Fighting back against them

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Speaker 1: on this charge. The sixty nine year old grandmother herself,

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Speaker 1: Pam Hemphill, did sixty days for January sixth, and she

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Speaker 1: says she has asked the Gateway Pundit site to remove

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Speaker 1: her name from that article because, quote, I'm not a

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Speaker 1: victim of January sixth. I pleaded guilty because I was guilty.

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Speaker 1: I'm ashamed to say I was there on January sixth.

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Speaker 1: A note here, Miss Hemphill has not become some sort

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Speaker 1: of anti GOP socialist activist. She's still behind Marjorie Taylor

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Speaker 1: Green and the like. She just thinks January sixth was

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Speaker 1: what's the word for it. I know the Republicans have

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Speaker 1: never heard this word before. Morally wrong. Yeah, that's what

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Speaker 1: it is. The standard response to her, of course, online

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Speaker 1: is now calling her a quote trader unquote trder. Now

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Speaker 1: she sure is a trader. Moon them isn't she but

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Speaker 1: our winner Austin Reef, who runs a project called Morning Brew,

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Speaker 1: which appears to be a sort of news site or something.

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Speaker 1: I can't quite figure it out. It appears he's young,

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Speaker 1: which might explain this. Plus it does not seem he's

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Speaker 1: particularly bright. But it is the clubhouse leader for the

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Speaker 1: absolutely least well informed political observation of twenty twenty three.

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Speaker 1: This is a doozy quote. The rise of Robert F.

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Speaker 1: Kennedy Junior is fascinating, regardless of your views of him.

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Speaker 1: He has gone from relative obscurity parentheses beyond his last

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Speaker 1: name to one of the most talked about presidential candidates

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Speaker 1: this week by leveraging creators like Rogan, Peterson, Elon, etc. Unquote.

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Speaker 1: Somebody actually wrote that. An adult actually wrote that the

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Speaker 1: people exploiting the damaged RFK Junior are doing so only

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Speaker 1: because his last name is still the most famous name

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Speaker 1: in American politics. Even as the Clintons and the Bushes

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Speaker 1: and the Trumps have come and gone, Kennedy has been

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Speaker 1: at the front of environmental issues and voting security issues,

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Speaker 1: and sadly at the front of what he has deteriorated into.

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Speaker 1: The anti vaccine and conspiracy theory nut issues. But Robert F.

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Speaker 1: Kennedy Junior has been prominent in American politics for the

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Speaker 1: last thirty years. And his father was a US Senator

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Speaker 1: and was Attorney General and was the leading candidate for

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Speaker 1: the Democratic presidential nomination in nineteen sixty eight before he

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Speaker 1: was assassinated. It was in all the papers. His uncle

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Speaker 1: was a senator and president and was assassinated. That was

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Speaker 1: in the papers too, And he remains in all polling

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Speaker 1: as famous or more famous than every other US president.

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Speaker 1: RFK Junior's other uncle was the US Senator from Massachusetts

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Speaker 1: for seventy forty seven years and a candidate for president.

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Speaker 1: RFK Junior's cousin, JFK Junior, has an entire cult built

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Speaker 1: around the hallucination that he's not dead. But you know,

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Speaker 1: go on about how Robert F. Kennedy Junior just rose

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Speaker 1: from relative obscurity last week because he interacted with Joe Rogan,

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Speaker 1: who is a sentient bowling ball who owns some shoes Austin. Hey,

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Speaker 1: I've heard a lot of people talking about this christ guy.

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Speaker 1: He's risen from ob security in the last week. One

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Speaker 1: of the Kardashians mentioned him, Chloe, she said christ Reef.

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Speaker 1: Today's whist Parson and no still Ahead. CNN went on

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Speaker 1: the air forty three years ago this month, and I

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Speaker 1: went to work for them forty two years ago next month.

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Speaker 1: And in those days it happened to all of us

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Speaker 1: sooner or later, Ted Turner would turn up at your

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Speaker 1: desk or on your set, or he would turn up

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Speaker 1: in your story for me. Because he also owned two

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Speaker 1: sports teams and two networks the televised sports. This happened

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Speaker 1: rather a lot Me and Ted in the glory days

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Speaker 1: of CNN coming up next first. In each initiative countdown,

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Speaker 1: we feature a dog in need you can help. Every

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Speaker 1: dog has its day a different kind of element. Today

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Speaker 1: the animal care centers in New York, that's the pound

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Speaker 1: is in chaos, kill lists for dogs in the dozens,

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Speaker 1: illness sweeping the kennels. And it's June board meeting at

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Speaker 1: which somebody needs to be held accountable for the needless

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Speaker 1: death and illness and sadness. There is today open to

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Speaker 1: the public, eastern daylight, Thursday, June twenty two, third floor

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Speaker 1: conference room, City Department of Health in Long Island City.

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Speaker 1: I'll tweet all the deats out. You don't have to

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Speaker 1: go to make a speech, just if you can go

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Speaker 1: there and show up and show that the animals have

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Speaker 1: advocates who want answers as to so why so many

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Speaker 1: are dying. I thank you and New York's dogs, thank

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Speaker 1: you to the number one story on the countdown and

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Speaker 1: my favorite topic, me and things I promised not to

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Speaker 1: tell then before the fortieth anniversary of this event recedes

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Speaker 1: into the forgotten past, I have one more story to

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Speaker 1: tell you about covering the nineteen eighty two National Football

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Speaker 1: League players strike, and this is less about the strike

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Speaker 1: itself and more about the man for whom I covered it,

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Speaker 1: Ted Turner. Ted Turner had put CNN on the air

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Speaker 1: just two years earlier, and his sports guy Bill McPhail

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Speaker 1: had interviewed me for a job as their New York

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Speaker 1: sports reporter even earlier than that May of nineteen eighty

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Speaker 1: And when I did not get it, I was genuinely

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Speaker 1: relieved because I was convinced there was no way they

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Speaker 1: would ever get CNN on the air, no chance ever.

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Speaker 1: Obviously I did not account for Ted Turner's stubbornness. Anyway,

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Speaker 1: I wound up going there freelance in nineteen eighty one

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Speaker 1: as I have related in some detail here when Lou

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Speaker 1: Dobbs and his girlfriend, the New York Sports reporter, had

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Speaker 1: to get out of town fast at the existence of

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Speaker 1: missus Lou Dobbs. Eight months later, as the nineteen eighty

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Speaker 1: two NFL strike loomed, they had made me staff and

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Speaker 1: given me a contract, first, offering me one thousand dollars

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Speaker 1: less a year than they were paying me freelance. Even

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Speaker 1: CNN of nineteen eighty two acknowledged the absurdity of that

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Speaker 1: mathematical proposition. So I was invested already whining about Ted Turner,

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Speaker 1: employee of CNN, when the football players walked out in

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Speaker 1: strike in September nineteen eighty two, and that strike was

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Speaker 1: my beat every day from March to November. A day

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Speaker 1: or so after the strike began, we sent up an

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Speaker 1: interview with the president of CBS Sports, Neil Pills, about

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Speaker 1: the effect that the strike would have on TV sports

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Speaker 1: in general and CBS Sports in particular, And as the

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Speaker 1: camera crew and I filed into his office, Pilson wearily said,

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Speaker 1: nothing against you, guys, but I've done so many interviews

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Speaker 1: already about this strike that if you actually come up

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Speaker 1: with a question, I haven't been asked already. I'll give

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Speaker 1: you well, we all leaned in towards him. Give us

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Speaker 1: what the job? A job interview at least fifty dollars.

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Speaker 1: I'll give you CBS Sports caps man. Not exactly a job,

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Speaker 1: but better than nothing. So we rolled tape and I said, so,

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Speaker 1: mister Pilson, in light of the strike, do you wish

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Speaker 1: CBS Sports did not have the Super Bowl this year?

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Speaker 1: As it does? And he laughed, and he took off

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Speaker 1: his mic, and he went over to his office phone.

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Speaker 1: He buzzed his assistant, bring in three caps, will you?

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Speaker 1: And he sat back down. He said, you guys, did it?

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Speaker 1: Nobody asked me that yet, and it's like the only

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Speaker 1: question that really interests me. You're still rolling. Neil Pilson

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Speaker 1: then proceeded to give a lengthy and thoughtful answer about

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Speaker 1: how as long as the season was not canceled, it

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Speaker 1: was probably better to have the next Super Bowl because

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Speaker 1: people would be so grateful that after the strike they

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Speaker 1: wound up playing in any way. So now a week

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Speaker 1: goes by after that interview, and the bargaining sessions between

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Speaker 1: the players and the owners are taking place in a

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Speaker 1: Manhattan hotel. The Lows on Lexington Avenue, a dump with

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Speaker 1: a nice lobby. All that matters to me is the

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Speaker 1: Lows with the dump and the nice lobby is literally

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Speaker 1: three blocks from my apartment. The players and the owners

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Speaker 1: just march through a long halway into private rooms. That's

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Speaker 1: all we see of them. It is not heavy lifting.

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Speaker 1: There are nice seats at least in that lobby, but

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Speaker 1: it is enlivened one day by news that our boss,

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Speaker 1: Ted Turner has asked the union if he can come

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Speaker 1: in and meet with their twenty odd player negotiating team

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Speaker 1: because he wants to pitch them on something. He was

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Speaker 1: in fact due there yesterday but was unavoidably detained. The

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Speaker 1: rumor the players to me never confirmed was that while

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Speaker 1: changing planes in Chicago, Turner and an air hostess had

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Speaker 1: ensconced themselves in a dumpster or the other version was

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Speaker 1: in a janitor's closet for twelve hours of whoopee, and

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Speaker 1: that's why he was a day late. Anyway, I walk

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Speaker 1: into the Lows that morning, and if somehow I had

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Speaker 1: not been able to recognize my camera crew, sure enough

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Speaker 1: it is the same two guys who had been with

428
00:30:30,555 --> 00:30:33,795
Speaker 1: me at Neil Pilson's office at CBS. When I asked

429
00:30:33,835 --> 00:30:35,875
Speaker 1: him the question, he had not been asked before. Earning

430
00:30:35,955 --> 00:30:39,915
Speaker 1: us free CBS sports caps, and the cameraman and the

431
00:30:39,955 --> 00:30:43,595
Speaker 1: deck operator are, of course wearing their CBS sports caps

432
00:30:43,595 --> 00:30:47,235
Speaker 1: and understand. In nineteen eighty two, CNN was not an upstart.

433
00:30:47,395 --> 00:30:50,035
Speaker 1: It was not the feisty outsider, It was not the

434
00:30:50,075 --> 00:30:55,595
Speaker 1: future of news. We were called pretend TV. It was

435
00:30:55,635 --> 00:31:00,675
Speaker 1: said that CNN stood for Chicken Noodle News. One day,

436
00:31:00,715 --> 00:31:02,955
Speaker 1: I called somebody up and asked for press credentials for

437
00:31:02,995 --> 00:31:06,395
Speaker 1: Cable News Network and the guy said, Cable News Network,

438
00:31:06,515 --> 00:31:10,475
Speaker 1: the ether people own the newsstands downtown. I had no

439
00:31:10,595 --> 00:31:12,315
Speaker 1: idea what he was talking about, so I went to

440
00:31:12,355 --> 00:31:14,035
Speaker 1: one of the newsstands and I asked the guy who

441
00:31:14,115 --> 00:31:16,155
Speaker 1: owns this place? And he pointed to a plaque and

442
00:31:16,155 --> 00:31:21,755
Speaker 1: it said owned by Cabell News Company. The Kabbell News Company,

443
00:31:21,795 --> 00:31:25,475
Speaker 1: owner of downtown newstands, was better known than Cable News Network.

444
00:31:26,315 --> 00:31:30,635
Speaker 1: We got scoffed at in some arenas and venues like

445
00:31:30,715 --> 00:31:33,715
Speaker 1: Madison Square Garden in New York. Our crews were not

446
00:31:33,795 --> 00:31:36,995
Speaker 1: admitted because they were not in the Union. So the

447
00:31:37,035 --> 00:31:40,755
Speaker 1: CBS sports caps were an important albeit borrowed touch of

448
00:31:40,835 --> 00:31:44,835
Speaker 1: legitimacy and dignity, especially for my cameraman and my deck guy.

449
00:31:46,315 --> 00:31:48,915
Speaker 1: So the three of us position ourselves in that long

450
00:31:49,075 --> 00:31:51,955
Speaker 1: haul in the lobby, waiting for my boss, Ted Turner,

451
00:31:52,155 --> 00:31:54,595
Speaker 1: me holding the mic with the big red CNN logo

452
00:31:54,635 --> 00:31:56,875
Speaker 1: on the mic flag, and the crew wearing their gaudy

453
00:31:56,995 --> 00:32:01,195
Speaker 1: CBS sports caps. And in Ted walks emerging from the

454
00:32:01,275 --> 00:32:05,355
Speaker 1: brilliant early autumn sunshine, filtering in from him from the

455
00:32:05,395 --> 00:32:09,275
Speaker 1: street like this was a perfectly lit movie scene. And

456
00:32:09,315 --> 00:32:12,595
Speaker 1: he sees me and recognizes me and smiles and comes

457
00:32:12,595 --> 00:32:15,835
Speaker 1: over and beams hot, damn, it's my CNN crew, And

458
00:32:15,915 --> 00:32:18,075
Speaker 1: he shakes my hand and we roll tape and I

459
00:32:18,075 --> 00:32:20,395
Speaker 1: start to asking my first question, and suddenly the joy

460
00:32:21,035 --> 00:32:24,315
Speaker 1: drains from his face and he stops me. Oh, did

461
00:32:24,995 --> 00:32:28,315
Speaker 1: what they wearing on their heads? He gestures at the

462
00:32:28,315 --> 00:32:30,715
Speaker 1: cameraman and the deck guy, and I explained the Baxter.

463
00:32:30,835 --> 00:32:33,395
Speaker 1: I don't give a damn who gave him them. This

464
00:32:33,475 --> 00:32:35,995
Speaker 1: is the CNN crew. They wearing CBS sports caps. Get

465
00:32:35,995 --> 00:32:38,555
Speaker 1: them off they damn heads. And he pushes me, I

466
00:32:38,595 --> 00:32:43,915
Speaker 1: mean really shoves me, and strides past us. Now even then,

467
00:32:45,235 --> 00:32:48,115
Speaker 1: I'm five six inches taller than Ted Turner and twenty

468
00:32:48,155 --> 00:32:51,315
Speaker 1: five pounds heavier at least. And maybe I can live

469
00:32:51,395 --> 00:32:53,875
Speaker 1: with my employer embarrassing me in public, but I do

470
00:32:53,995 --> 00:32:56,115
Speaker 1: not have to let him shove me in front of

471
00:32:56,155 --> 00:32:59,195
Speaker 1: all the other reporters. So for a second, I think

472
00:33:00,155 --> 00:33:02,715
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna run down the hall and catch him

473
00:33:02,755 --> 00:33:06,795
Speaker 1: and horse collar the bastard from behind. About a year

474
00:33:06,795 --> 00:33:09,315
Speaker 1: into my TV career, I have already accepted that there

475
00:33:09,315 --> 00:33:11,995
Speaker 1: are positives to television, but I've also already learned nearly

476
00:33:12,035 --> 00:33:14,795
Speaker 1: all the negatives. And not three months earlier, I had

477
00:33:14,835 --> 00:33:17,595
Speaker 1: gone over to ABC to interview with them about going

478
00:33:17,675 --> 00:33:21,515
Speaker 1: back to do radio sports. Seems to me, given what

479
00:33:21,555 --> 00:33:23,715
Speaker 1: I know about Ted Turner, dragging him to the ground

480
00:33:23,755 --> 00:33:27,115
Speaker 1: and then quitting TV forever would be a pretty appropriate farewell.

481
00:33:28,435 --> 00:33:38,235
Speaker 1: And then one word popped in my head, Rent Ah, Right, right, Rent,

482
00:33:38,955 --> 00:33:41,675
Speaker 1: So quickly I go to Plan B to be fair

483
00:33:42,675 --> 00:33:44,875
Speaker 1: in thought, if not an action, Ted Turner was right.

484
00:33:45,435 --> 00:33:48,755
Speaker 1: Look pretty silly to have the CNN camera crew wearing

485
00:33:48,835 --> 00:33:52,595
Speaker 1: CBS sports caps while interviewing the founder and owner of CNN, who,

486
00:33:52,635 --> 00:33:54,875
Speaker 1: by the way, was in the newspaper constantly because he

487
00:33:54,955 --> 00:33:58,635
Speaker 1: kept saying he was going to buy CBS. Plus I

488
00:33:58,635 --> 00:34:00,315
Speaker 1: still had a story to do that day, and that

489
00:34:00,395 --> 00:34:01,915
Speaker 1: crew was going to have to go back into the

490
00:34:01,995 --> 00:34:04,395
Speaker 1: room where Turner would be meeting with the players about

491
00:34:04,395 --> 00:34:07,715
Speaker 1: an hour hour later for the proverbial spray shot that

492
00:34:07,755 --> 00:34:10,275
Speaker 1: would give us some video to use of their meeting,

493
00:34:10,955 --> 00:34:14,075
Speaker 1: and simply having my guys take their caps off was

494
00:34:14,075 --> 00:34:17,475
Speaker 1: not going to suffice. So I ran the three blocks

495
00:34:17,515 --> 00:34:19,435
Speaker 1: back to my apartment to grab the only bit of

496
00:34:19,515 --> 00:34:23,115
Speaker 1: merch or swag produced in the first two years of CNN,

497
00:34:23,195 --> 00:34:28,835
Speaker 1: something they had and apparently inexhaustible supply of CNN bumper stickers.

498
00:34:29,475 --> 00:34:30,955
Speaker 1: I must have had one hundred of them in my

499
00:34:31,035 --> 00:34:34,195
Speaker 1: place alone, and there were boxes and cartons and boxes

500
00:34:34,235 --> 00:34:38,035
Speaker 1: and cartons of them in the New York bureau, which

501
00:34:38,115 --> 00:34:39,715
Speaker 1: was funny enough as it was, since I don't think

502
00:34:39,755 --> 00:34:41,875
Speaker 1: all the people who worked at CNN in New York

503
00:34:41,915 --> 00:34:46,595
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty two owned six cars among them. Anyway,

504
00:34:46,835 --> 00:34:49,035
Speaker 1: I trimmed a couple of the stickers down to just

505
00:34:49,115 --> 00:34:52,915
Speaker 1: the CNN logos and raced back to the crappy Low's Hotel,

506
00:34:52,995 --> 00:34:54,835
Speaker 1: and just as they were calling for the crews to

507
00:34:54,915 --> 00:34:57,515
Speaker 1: come in to get the spray shots, of Ted meeting

508
00:34:57,515 --> 00:35:01,475
Speaker 1: with the players. I put those CNN logo stickers over

509
00:35:01,555 --> 00:35:04,995
Speaker 1: the CBS logos on my guys caps, and to my light,

510
00:35:05,075 --> 00:35:08,475
Speaker 1: they stuck in place a little large, but it worked.

511
00:35:09,235 --> 00:35:11,875
Speaker 1: Minutes later, the boys came out of the meeting room

512
00:35:11,955 --> 00:35:15,235
Speaker 1: and the cameraman was in hysterics. He wound the video

513
00:35:15,395 --> 00:35:17,475
Speaker 1: back and had me watch it through the viewfinder of

514
00:35:17,515 --> 00:35:20,355
Speaker 1: the camera. As soon as they had walked in, Turner

515
00:35:20,395 --> 00:35:22,435
Speaker 1: started to give them dirty looks, and then suddenly one

516
00:35:22,475 --> 00:35:25,555
Speaker 1: of the NFL players said, Hey, Ted, there's your crew.

517
00:35:25,915 --> 00:35:30,955
Speaker 1: There's your CNN crew. Hey, CNN over here. Everybody was laughing,

518
00:35:30,995 --> 00:35:34,475
Speaker 1: and now Ted was beaming that them. That's my CNN crew.

519
00:35:34,515 --> 00:35:38,515
Speaker 1: All right, good work boys. When his meeting with the

520
00:35:38,555 --> 00:35:40,715
Speaker 1: players broke up an hour later, I got a message

521
00:35:40,715 --> 00:35:44,155
Speaker 1: from Ted's assistant to wait for him around a corner

522
00:35:44,195 --> 00:35:47,795
Speaker 1: from the main lobby so he could give me give

523
00:35:47,875 --> 00:35:50,955
Speaker 1: CNN exclusive details about what he was trying to sell

524
00:35:50,995 --> 00:35:53,475
Speaker 1: the players on. It was a series of exhibition games

525
00:35:53,795 --> 00:35:55,755
Speaker 1: so the striking players could make a little money on

526
00:35:55,795 --> 00:35:58,995
Speaker 1: the side that he could televise and there would be

527
00:35:58,995 --> 00:36:01,355
Speaker 1: a pitch to the National Labor Relations Board that the

528
00:36:01,395 --> 00:36:04,515
Speaker 1: strike had been forced on the players by the owners,

529
00:36:04,755 --> 00:36:07,475
Speaker 1: which would have meant the players would have all become

530
00:36:07,555 --> 00:36:12,075
Speaker 1: free agents. Ted wanted them, all of them, every player

531
00:36:12,115 --> 00:36:14,955
Speaker 1: in the National Football League to sign instead with him.

532
00:36:15,475 --> 00:36:18,315
Speaker 1: He would create a twenty four team league. He would

533
00:36:18,355 --> 00:36:21,635
Speaker 1: give the Union half ownership of every team, he would

534
00:36:21,635 --> 00:36:24,115
Speaker 1: find backers for the other half, and all he wanted

535
00:36:24,555 --> 00:36:28,355
Speaker 1: was the TV rights. It didn't happen, obviously, but what

536
00:36:28,395 --> 00:36:32,755
Speaker 1: a breathtaking scheme. Anyway. Turner was all smiles when he

537
00:36:32,755 --> 00:36:34,715
Speaker 1: came out of the meeting to tell me before he

538
00:36:34,755 --> 00:36:36,355
Speaker 1: met with the rest of the press, and he said,

539
00:36:36,355 --> 00:36:38,395
Speaker 1: great with the hat, good work, but I have to

540
00:36:38,395 --> 00:36:40,475
Speaker 1: get you guys some real sea and ed Sports has

541
00:36:40,475 --> 00:36:44,235
Speaker 1: for Christmas. Ted stayed another fifteen or twenty minutes doing

542
00:36:44,235 --> 00:36:47,715
Speaker 1: god knows what with god knows whom. I didn't see

543
00:36:47,715 --> 00:36:49,795
Speaker 1: any dumpsters in the hotel, and then he left by

544
00:36:49,835 --> 00:36:51,955
Speaker 1: the main exit as the rest of the camera crews

545
00:36:51,955 --> 00:36:54,795
Speaker 1: and reporters trailed him. I went along just to see

546
00:36:54,835 --> 00:36:56,395
Speaker 1: if there was anything he hadn't told me, And as

547
00:36:56,435 --> 00:36:58,635
Speaker 1: he went out the doors to his car, he said,

548
00:36:58,755 --> 00:37:02,995
Speaker 1: see Oberman, and I said, don't forget the hats, and

549
00:37:03,075 --> 00:37:06,395
Speaker 1: Ted Turner gave me one of the dirtiest looks I

550
00:37:06,435 --> 00:37:12,435
Speaker 1: have ever gotten in my life. Sure Enough, a couple

551
00:37:12,475 --> 00:37:15,115
Speaker 1: of days before Christmas, I get a call from my

552
00:37:15,155 --> 00:37:17,555
Speaker 1: boss in Atlanta. I mean, Jess got a box of

553
00:37:17,555 --> 00:37:21,355
Speaker 1: one hundred CNN Sports Truckers caps from Ted Turner's office.

554
00:37:21,675 --> 00:37:23,155
Speaker 1: I don't know what the hell this is all about,

555
00:37:23,195 --> 00:37:25,795
Speaker 1: but his assistant says, if we wanted to know, we

556
00:37:25,835 --> 00:37:29,155
Speaker 1: should call you. I was very proud of making the

557
00:37:29,155 --> 00:37:32,755
Speaker 1: correct choice between correcting a mistake and getting us all

558
00:37:32,755 --> 00:37:39,235
Speaker 1: hats and dissaulting him. There is one PostScript. Ted talked

559
00:37:39,275 --> 00:37:42,155
Speaker 1: the players into the exhibition games. I mentioned only two

560
00:37:42,155 --> 00:37:44,795
Speaker 1: of them, one at RFK Stadium in Washington, which I

561
00:37:44,835 --> 00:37:50,155
Speaker 1: went to on assignment, seated next to Ted Turner. He

562
00:37:50,275 --> 00:37:53,955
Speaker 1: had two flasks with him. Anyway. The crowd was so

563
00:37:54,035 --> 00:37:56,675
Speaker 1: small at RFK Stadium in Washington that at one point

564
00:37:56,875 --> 00:37:58,995
Speaker 1: they got on the PA system and asked all the

565
00:37:59,075 --> 00:38:02,555
Speaker 1: fans to go sit down behind the player benches so

566
00:38:02,635 --> 00:38:04,915
Speaker 1: the TV shots of the game wouldn't show up all

567
00:38:04,915 --> 00:38:08,635
Speaker 1: those empty seats. The other game was in the Los

568
00:38:08,675 --> 00:38:12,595
Speaker 1: Angeles Coliseum. They drew even less, maybe a thousand fans,

569
00:38:12,675 --> 00:38:15,995
Speaker 1: probably more like five hundred five hundred fans in the

570
00:38:16,155 --> 00:38:20,195
Speaker 1: LA Coliseum. Five hundred fans looks like the raisins and

571
00:38:20,315 --> 00:38:24,515
Speaker 1: rice pudding. But it was the name of his ad

572
00:38:24,555 --> 00:38:27,475
Speaker 1: hoc league with these games in Washington and LA that

573
00:38:27,635 --> 00:38:31,395
Speaker 1: still sticks with me. Forty years later. Ted named it himself.

574
00:38:32,275 --> 00:38:35,675
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure he did this deliberately. I know nobody

575
00:38:35,715 --> 00:38:37,955
Speaker 1: else noticed it until I made a big deal about it.

576
00:38:38,755 --> 00:38:42,875
Speaker 1: Ted Turner called his ill fated venture his Erzatz National

577
00:38:42,875 --> 00:38:49,635
Speaker 1: Football League the quote all Star Season, and I said, perfect.

578
00:38:50,075 --> 00:38:54,155
Speaker 1: The acronym you have built for it is a s S.

579
00:39:08,235 --> 00:39:10,115
Speaker 1: I've done all the damage I can do here. Thank

580
00:39:10,155 --> 00:39:12,115
Speaker 1: you for listening. Here are the credits. Most of the

581
00:39:12,155 --> 00:39:15,155
Speaker 1: music arranged, produced and performed by Brian Ray and John

582
00:39:15,155 --> 00:39:19,155
Speaker 1: Phillips Chanelle. They are the Countdown Musical directors. Guitars, bass

583
00:39:19,195 --> 00:39:22,595
Speaker 1: and drums by Brian Ray, all orchestration and keyboards by

584
00:39:22,635 --> 00:39:26,275
Speaker 1: John Phillip Chanelle, produced by tk O Brothers. Other Beethoven

585
00:39:26,315 --> 00:39:28,595
Speaker 1: selections have been arranged and performed by the group No

586
00:39:28,715 --> 00:39:31,955
Speaker 1: Horns Allowed. The sports music is the Olderman theme from

587
00:39:32,195 --> 00:39:35,275
Speaker 1: ESPN two. It was written by Mitch Warren Davis Curtisy

588
00:39:35,275 --> 00:39:38,675
Speaker 1: of ESPN Inc. Musical comments by Nancy Faust, the best

589
00:39:38,675 --> 00:39:41,875
Speaker 1: baseball stadium organist ever. Our announcer today was my friend

590
00:39:41,955 --> 00:39:45,235
Speaker 1: Richard Lewis, and everything else was pretty much my fault.

591
00:39:45,635 --> 00:39:47,635
Speaker 1: So that's countdown for this, the eight hundred and ninety

592
00:39:47,675 --> 00:39:50,595
Speaker 1: eighth day since Donald Trump's first attempt at coup against

593
00:39:50,595 --> 00:39:53,755
Speaker 1: the democratically elected government of the United States. Arrest him

594
00:39:53,755 --> 00:39:58,075
Speaker 1: again while we still can. The next scheduled countdown is tomorrow.

595
00:39:58,155 --> 00:40:00,875
Speaker 1: Until then, I'm Keith Olberman. Good morning, good afternoon, goodnight,

596
00:40:01,355 --> 00:40:13,795
Speaker 1: and good luck. Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production

597
00:40:13,995 --> 00:40:19,315
Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

598
00:40:19,395 --> 00:40:22,755
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.