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Russ Feingold talks to Rachel about the need for Congressional oversight and holding the Bush administration accountable for what they've done regardless of what the Attorney General's office does. Although having an AG's office that will actually prosecute contempt charges definitely would be refreshing to say the least.

Feingold doesn't give much creedance to the statements made by Kit Bond that he got assurances from Eric Holder on torture prosecutions (or the lack thereof). And he discusses his proposal to amend the Constitution to require special elections when there are Senate vacancies. After our recent fiascos I agree with him. If had to name one Senator that I truly had any respect for, Feingold would be the first and one of the few to come to mind and he's earned it, as much as the Bush administration has earned my disrespect.

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Following Dick Armey living up to his first name on Hardball with his sexist remarks to Joan Walsh, Bob Herbert says he owes Joan Walsh and the viewers of Hardball an apology. I agree and if you do as well you can contact the show at hardball@msnbc.com.

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Mike Pence worshiping at the alter of Rush Limbaugh. Wow. Who's next Mike....Sean Hannity?

O’DONNELL: On another matter I do want to ask you about Rush Limbaugh because he said “I hope he fails,” talking about President Obama. Rush Limbaugh also said this. He said, “We are being told that we have to hope Obama succeeds, that we have to bend over, grab the ankles, bend over forward, backward, whichever, because his father was black because this was the first black President.” Do you agree with Rush Limbaugh?

PENCE: Well let me speak specifically to what Rush Limbaugh said about America. I actually heard a little bit of him this afternoon. We all hope America succeeds and in that vein, we hope our President succeeds and I think Rush Limbaugh who I admire, and like millions of Americans, I cherish his voice in the public debate...I think that’s what he was saying.

But, what he was also saying was where Barack Obama is going to, to pursue the implementation of campaign promises, where he’s going to grow government, grow spending, depart from traditional values, or take positions with regard to our national defense that are antithetical to conservative values...

O'DONNELL: No doubt...

Pence:...we certainly hope there will be strong opposition from voices like Rush Limbaugh and from leaders here on Capitol Hill, so we appreciate (crosstalk) I understand what he was saying Norah and we all hope our President succeeds, we all hope America succeeds. But that doesn’t mean we’re always going to agree with what the best solutions are for the country.

O’DONNELL: No doubt you can agree with Rush Limbaugh about that he’s calling this stimulus essentially a sham going on and too full of wasteful spending. On that specific thing, that we have to bend over because this is the first black President, why don’t you feel that you could denounce something like that? Are you so beholden to someone like Rush Limbaugh that you can’t say...

PENCE: Oh gosh, Norah...

O’DONNELL: ...that’s not the type of rhetoric when America is trying to come together and do something for the unemployment rate, in your state of Indiana now 8.2 percent? Is that the type of rhetoric we need?

PENCE: Well look Nora I don’t believe Rush Limbaugh's got a racist bone in his body and if you’re suggesting that his statement had a racist element in it, I would commend you to, you know a greater understanding of the positions he’s taken. He’s a man about opportunity of all Americans, regardless of race, creed, or color and I think that’s why he’s so admired and appreciated all across America.

But look, you know on this stimulus bill I appreciate Rush's voice out there. Nancy Pelosi just said on the House floor, and I respect her greatly, she said after defending all the different spending programs in this bill, a hundred and thirty six billion dollars in program spending she said "We are taking America in a new direction". Well Nora I thought we were trying to pass a stimulus bill that in the short term was temporary and fast acting and would create jobs in America and that's what the Republican's alternative is going to do. Rush is out there championing the kind of stimulus bill that will put Americans back to work. We're grateful for that. We're going to continue to keep fighting for it right here.

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h/t Scarce

Contessa Brewer does a good job of taking RNC Chairman wanna' be Chip Saltsman to task when he attempts to blame the controversy over the CD containing the racist song "Barack the Magic Negro" he distributed, on the media.

Brewer: Chip the analysts though say you can't win an election on white votes alone now. It's impossible to do and you sent RNC members a Christmas CD that included the parody, that song Barack the Magic Negro. I mean how in the world could you lead Republicans in appealing to minority voters when you did something that even Newt Gingrich called so inappropriate it should disqualify any Republican National Committee candidate who would do this?

Saltsman: You know I think it highlighted a couple things. One that we're definitely not playing on a level playing ground with the media on that issue. I mean there was no outrage when the L.A. Times article coined that phrase and I don't remember the national media calling David... (crosstalk)

Brewer: You're blaming the media for bringing attention to it?

Saltsman: Contessa I'm asking you. Were you outraged when you read the article in the L.A. Times a year and a half ago? (crosstalk)

Brewer: I'm asking you what you were thinking when you sent that CD out?

Saltsman: It was a parody Christmas gift and I sent it out without even thinking about what was on it. I've been friends with Paul Shanklin for a lot of years and sent out a lot of his stuff over the years. Obviously when you do something like that you don't want to offend a lot of people when you do. That's something you don't want to do um and you know hopefully we'll move on, talk about the future of the party but this is obviously something that wasn't helpful.

Brewer: Can you understand why?

Saltsman: Sure. Oh absolutely Contessa. Absolutely. Absolutely. But I think we've also got to understand as you look at the media's reaction to it there is no level playing ground because this was a, this was a parody based on a newspaper article...(crosstalk).

Brewer: There's not going to be an opportunity to shoot the messenger. It was an offensive CD to send out and people I think are right to be offended by it.

Saltsman: Well.

Brewer: Alright. Thank you.

Saltsman: I think there's some people that, yeah, I understand that.

Brewer: Good luck in your race for the Chairmanship of the RNC. Thank you for your time.

Saltsman. Good. Thank you. Yes ma'am.

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Keith talks to John Dean about Karl Rove's recent subpeona to appear before the House Judiciary Committee. Dean feels that it's likely Rove will get little help from the Obama administration in supporting his claims of executive privilege. He also cites the ongoing court cases involving Harriet Miers and Josh Bolton and notes that in the past the courts have only protected ex-Presidents and not their advisors when claims of executive privilege have been made. He feels it's likely all of them will eventually end up being forced to testify before Congress and hopes that under the Obama administration we will return to following the rule of law.

I just want a non-Photoshopped version of this if he refuses to show up this time.

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Chris Matthews talks to Pat Buchanan and Heidi Harris about whether Rush Limbaugh has filled a leadership vacuum in the Republican party. Buchanan and Harris both say that by engaging him, President Obama has "elevated" Limbaugh and put him on a level with the President of the United States. They also both think it was a "huge mistake" and go on about how Rush and his gi-normous ego are enjoying all the attention he's getting.

I think that the opposite may be true. If the Republicans want to make Rush Limbaugh the face of their party, good luck to them. They're going to need it.

Rachel reminds the Democrats that they won the election mainly because the public did not trust the Republicans to run the economy and so they should fight against the GOP obstructing the stimulus bill. From Think Progress, it looks like they already caved on the family planning provision in the bill.

Rachel also takes the editorial staff at the Wall Street Journal to task for their article citing the debunked, nonexistent CBO report which the media has cited 81 times in the last six days. Talk about marching in lock step.

Rachel followed with David Sirota, who opined over why the Democrats are so worried about getting bipartisan support for the bill and what the costs are when appeasing Republicans.

Anderson Cooper 360 covering some of Barack Obama's first formal televised interview since being elected President on al-Arabiya. David Gergen and Reza Aslan weigh in and are impressed to say the least.

From Raw Story:

For his first, formal, televised interview as President of the United States, Barack Obama could have gone anywhere. But instead of CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS or any other major American outlet, he's spoken to al-Arabiya, the largest network news provider in the Arab world.

h/t to the HuffPo who has the entire interview transcript available.

MELHEM: Let me take a broader look at the whole region. You are planning to address the Muslim world in your first 100 days from a Muslim capital. And everybody is speculating about the capital. (Laughter.) If you have anything further, that would be great.

How concerned are you -- because, let me tell you, honestly, when I see certain things about America -- in some parts, I don't want to exaggerate -- there is a demonization of America.

THE PRESIDENT: Absolutely.

MELHEM: It's become like a new religion, and like a new religion it has new converts -- like a new religion has its own high priests.

THE PRESIDENT: Right.

MELHEM: It's only a religious text.

THE PRESIDENT: Right.

MELHEM: And in the last -- since 9/11 and because of Iraq, that alienation is wider between the Americans and -- and in generations past, the United States was held high. It was the only Western power with no colonial legacy.

THE PRESIDENT: Right.

MELHEM: How concerned are you and -- because people sense that you have a different political discourse. And I think, judging by (inaudible) and Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden and all these, you know -- a chorus --

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I noticed this. They seem nervous.

MELHEM: They seem very nervous, exactly. Now, tell me why they should be more nervous?

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Jon Stewart takes the Republicans to task for their fear mongering over the closing of Gitmo.

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On Hardball while discussing the aid for family planning included in the stimulus package, Chris Matthews says that government support for family planning "sounds like China" to him. Robert Wexler attempts to reason with him and explains that proper funding and education in this area actually increases people's choices and ultimately reduces medical costs. Rough transcript:

Gingrey:...I mean we're throwing away, gosh I think that there's two hundred million dollars in there for family planning and contraceptives. Now indeed that may stimulate something but I don't think it's going to stimulate the economy.

Matthews: Well Congressman Wexler why isn't it just, why isn't it just what we thought it was going to be...infrastructure, roads, bridges, stuff that everybody agrees on needs to be fixed and creates real jobs for real people that pay decent salaries. Why don't we spend all the money on that stuff that people can see rather than all these odds and ends and cats and dogs? I mean the bill has so much in it you think it's just a shopping list of the Democratic party. That's what it looks like.

Wexler: No. No.

Matthews: Everybody that wants something has something in here.

Wexler: No what the Obama administration is arguing, and I believe they're correct is that three quarters of the money spent in this stimulus package will be out into the economy in eighteen months and I realize it's easy to find one item or this item but even, let's talk about that family planning. Family planning saves if done correctly an enormous sum of money down the road in the health care system. But back to your original point. Most of the money goes to building roads, bridges, infrastructure projects like my friend Mr. Gingrey said. As the states will have designed them and local governments as well will have designated them.

Also in terms of building schools. We desperately need to upgrade our education systems. We have enormous amount of resources devoted towards construction projects and public education as we do in terms of alternative energy sources. We are going to invest enormous sums of money in creating green jobs which have the benefit of employment increases as well as leaving our dependence on foreign oil. This is exactly what the country needs combined with three hundred billion dollars plus of tax cuts which affect ninety five percent positively of the American family base.

Matthews: I don't know. It sounds a little like China. I, Congressman Gingrey I think everybody should have family planning. Everybody believes in birth control as a right. I'm for abortion as a right and all that. It's all right. But why should the federal government have a policy of reducing the number of births? I don't know why the federal government has an interest in that. They have an interest in freedom and people making choices but I just heard a case made by Congressman Wexler that it was in the national interest to have fewer kids. I don't understand that. (crosstalk) What did you mean by that? What did you mean by that? Why is it an economic stimulus...why are we talking about family planning as an economic stimulus program...(crosstalk).

[...]

Wexler: Chris you are right family planning is a personal choice and in order to make personal choices people need to have both education and resources. And when they lack an education or know how or resources in effect then they're choice is negated. And in terms from an economic analysis to give people choices that in some instances based on personal choice will reduce health care costs in the future, that of course then reduces the burden on federal tax payers. This is not a new concept. This is what we run the government on. If we can reduce Medicaid expenditures by giving people more knowledge and choice and resources I think most people regardless of their ideology would say that's a good economic decision.