Tonight On Countdown With Keith Olbermann

[babsbunny]

Tonight on Countdown
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Karl Rove, President Bush's close friend and chief
political strategist, announced Monday he will leave the
White House at the end of August, joining a
lengthening line of senior officials heading for the exits in
the final 18 months of the administration. On board with
Bush since the beginning of his political career in
Texas, Rove was nicknamed "the architect" and "boy
genius" by the president for designing the strategy that
twice won him the White House. Critics call Rove
"Bush's brain." "Karl Rove is moving on down the road," Bush
said. "We've been friends for a long time and we're
still going to be friends. Bush looked grim, standing
with Rove on the South Lawn. "I would call Karl Rove a
dear friend," Bush said, noting that his own term is
running down. "I'll be on the road behind you here in a
bit." http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20242719/

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NYT Analysis: Karl Rove leaves the White House in
anything but victory. His legendary reputation was
seriously diminished by the Republican defeat in the 2006
midterm elections, and has been eroded almost every day
since then, as President Bush has struggled through
his second term. There probably was no better sign of
how far this White House has fallen than at the Iowa
Straw Poll in Ames this weekend, a gathering of probably
the most committed Republicans in the country. This
was where Mr. Rove displayed his political skills to
the country in 1999, steering Mr. Bush to a victory in
a nonbinding poll that nonetheless cemented his
position as his party's prohibitive favorite. Mr. Bush's
name was barely mentioned in Ames on Saturday, much less
Mr. Rove's. The winner of the contest, Mitt Romney of
Massachusetts, offered a pretty grim verdict on the
last seven years in Washington when he said, "If there
has ever been a time that we needed to see change in
Washington, it is now."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20247762/

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said Sunday that
low turnout and the absence of some notable opponents
shouldn't diminish his win in Iowa's Republican Party
Straw Poll. Romney said the straw poll did just what
it was designed to do: Let candidates demonstrate
support that could propel them to victory in the state's
caucuses this winter. He maintained that the decisions
by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Sen.
John McCain of Arizona to skip the event demonstrated
his campaign's strength.

Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson said Sunday he is
dropping out of the race for the Republican
presidential nomination after finishing sixth in an Iowa straw
poll. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20240192/

Two astronauts began a spacewalk Monday to replace
equipment on the international space station as NASA
worked feverishly to decide whether the shuttle
Endeavour's crew would need to repair a gouge on the ship's
belly later this week. The damage to the thermal tiles on
the shuttle's underbelly is worse than expected and
could delay future shuttle missions needed to complete
construction of the space station. The three-inch gouge
apparently reaches to the shuttle's aluminum skin.
Experts are busy with computer analysis and arc-jet
tests in laboratories and NASA managers will meet this
afternoon to decide how to proceed.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20242321/

Merv Griffin, the big band-era crooner turned
impresario who parlayed his "Jeopardy" and "Wheel of Fortune"
game shows into a multimillion-dollar empire, died
Sunday. He was 82. Griffin died of prostate cancer,
according to a statement from his family.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20236685/

An assistant to Britney Spears was subpoenaed Sunday
to offer a statement in a legal matter over the pop
star and ex-husband Kevin Federline, a lawyer said.
Federline attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan said Alli Sims would
be asked to give a deposition "in connection with the
Britney Spears-Kevin Federline issue."
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/entertainment/5048230.html

-- Carey Fox

Countdown Home: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/

The Daily Links:
A video camera lowered into a coal mine revealed
equipment but not the six missing miners, a federal
official said Sunday. Officials planned to drill yet another
hole in an attempt to locate the men.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20180882/

Divers found another body in the Mississippi River on
Sunday, 11 days after a highway bridge collapsed into
the fast-flowing water, raising the official death
toll to nine. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20199544/

Two women among the 23 South Koreans kidnapped by the
Taliban in mid-July were freed Monday on a rural
Afghan roadside and then driven to a U.S. base, the first
significant breakthrough in a hostage drama now more
than three weeks old.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20243456/

A tropical depression formed in the eastern Atlantic
Ocean, the National Hurricane Center said Monday.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20244316/

Prosecutors on Monday filed three murder charges
against a man accused of opening fire inside of a church on
Sunday. The man is also a suspect in the alleged
sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl a day earlier.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20238693/

Goldman Sachs Group on Monday said a group of
investors that includes Eli Broad and Hank Greenberg will sink
$3 billion into one of its biggest hedge funds that
has seen its value plunge amid market volatility.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20246355/

A leading supplier of toiletries for hotels and
resorts said Monday it was recalling worldwide complimentary
tubes of toothpaste made in China after tests showed
some may contain a potentially toxic chemical.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20247641/

No-kill shelters may be harmful to animals.
Overcrowding can cause suffering, pet welfare advocates say.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20246424/

Voicing your frustrations is a natural way of dealing
with them - but watch out for when a conversation
dissolves into a bitch session. Talking your problems to
death can make you feel even worse. A recent study
found that teenage girls who vented to each other about
their problems, from boy trouble to social slights,
were more likely to develop depression and anxiety .
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20185446/

Tiger wins PGA for 13th major title of career. 'This
one feels so much more special than the other majors,'
star says. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20236540/

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