From Democracy Now: Key Figures in Salt Lake Olympic Bribery Scandal Now Backing Romney’s Presidential Campaign

On the campaign trail, Republican candidate Mitt Romney often touts his stewardship of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Utah, which he took over following a massive bribery scandal. In a series of new articles, longtime investigative reporter Wayne Barrett reveals Romney may have violated the new ethics rules he put in place. Today, Romney continues to accept campaign contributions from many key figures tied to the bribery scandal. Barrett, a Newsweek/Daily Beast contributor and a fellow at The Nation Institute, joins us to discuss his findings. [...]

AMY GOODMAN: Great to have you with us. So, tell us, who are Mitt Romney’s friends, and how do they relate to the Olympics, which is one of the few things on his résumé that he is really touting as his—to show why he would be qualified to be president?

WAYNE BARRETT: When your producer called me yesterday, I said, "Well, with all the gaffes, I think he’s going to give up even this part of his résumé." There are three pillars. He’s given up Massachusetts. Bain has been taken away from him. So the last thing on the résumé is the Salt Lake Olympics. And I thought he embarrassed himself. He got a gold for gaffes in London, and he embarrassed himself so badly, I didn’t think he’d be stressing this. And voilà, a few hours after I talked with your producer, they put up this ad. So, he’s got—he’s got a very weakened résumé.

And let’s give him full credit for what happened in Salt Lake. I think he was a managerial success. I think he overstates what he achieved there, but I think he was a managerial success. The problem is that he was brought in because of the worst Olympic scandal in history, and he befriended and awarded contracts to people deeply involved in the scandal that caused him to be recruited to this rescue operation. And he’s still collecting money from them.

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Jon Stewart took his turn piling on Mitt Romney for his disastrous start to his overseas tour, where he managed to insult everyone and their grandmother from the Olympic committee to politicians on both sides of the aisle in the UK.

I'm guessing he's saving going after Mittens debut in Israel for Tuesday's show.

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It seems the "Brown-Haired Guy Who Isn't Steve Doocy" got his panties in a twist on Fox & Friends this Friday over Mitten's treatment by the press and politicians over in the U.K.: Fox host: Brits shouldn't be so mean to Mitt ... after all, he could be president:

Hahaha, these guys are so deep inside their own bubbles that it never seems to have occurred to Fox and Friends host Brian Kilmeade that maybe Mitt is the one who should have been nicer to the Brits because he might someday become president.

Even Chris Wallace doesn't buy Kilmeade's take, arguing that perhaps it was a mistake for Romney to have "seemed to go out of his way to offend the Brits." Kilmeade dismissed Romney's verbal miscue as nothing more than "a candid response to a security question," adding that he believes "the British press better back off, and so should the officials — this guy could be president."

TPM has more on Romney's bad start to his overseas trip here: Mitt’s British Blunders: How It Played In The UK Press.

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Keith Olbermann dropped in on David Letterman and talked about the Olympics, Tiger Woods, the Tea Baggers and whether John Mellencamp might consider running for the Senate after Evan Bayh announced his retirement.

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November 26, 2009 CBC News

U.S. journalist Amy Goodman said she was stopped at a Canadian border crossing south of Vancouver on Wednesday and questioned for 90 minutes by authorities concerned she was coming to Canada to speak against the Olympics.

Goodman says Canadian Border Services Agency officials ultimately allowed her to enter Canada but returned her passport with a document demanding she leave the country within 48 hours.

Goodman, 52, known for her views opposing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, told CBC News on Thursday that Canadian border agents asked her repeatedly what subjects she would cover at scheduled speaking engagements in Vancouver and Victoria.

Goodman said she told them she planned to speak about the debate over U.S. health care reform and the wars in Asia.

After much questioning, Goodman said the officials finally asked if she would be speaking about the 2010 Olympics.

"He made it clear by saying, 'What about the Olympics?'" said Goodman. "And I said, 'You mean when President Obama went to Copenhagen to push for the Olympics in Chicago?'"

"He said, 'No. I am talking about the Olympics here in 2010.' I said, 'Oh I hadn't thought of that,'" said Goodman.

"He said, 'You're saying you're not talking about the Olympics?'"

"He was clearly incredulous that I wasn't going to be talking about the Olympics. He didn't believe me," Goodman said.

Goodman said her car was searched and the officials demanded to look at her notes and her computer.

From The Daily Show:

Rio de Janeiro claims the 2016 Olympics because of its compelling presentation and its new Double Dome Stadium.

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It looks like Rush Limbaugh's glee over the United States losing the bid for the Olympics was even too much for Joe Scarborough to take.

Scarborough: I would like Rush Limbaugh to tell me Mike Barnicle...who's he helping there other than Rush Limbaugh? Because I would tell you middle Americans--Rush is smarter than that--middle Americans that swing elections see that and "Oh my god, Republicans have gone off the deep end."

I hate to tell you Joe but a lot of people I know realized the Republicans went off the deep end a long time ago. And Katrina Vanden Heuvel is exactly right. The Republicans would have attacked Obama no matter how this went down. If he hadn't gone, they'd have been saying the other heads of state went and he lost it for America. If he'd gone and the U.S. had gotten the bid, they'd be attacking Chicago for their dirty politics. You cannot win when dealing with these people who as Paul Krugman rightly pointed out that you were so dismissive of later in the segment... have "the emotional maturity of a bratty 13-year-old".

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Countdown's Worst Persons segment for Oct. 5, 2009 with winner Rep. Paul Broun. Runners up George Will and Rush Limbaugh.

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Gee George, it's a good thing no one could have ever said that about our last president, isn't it? I can't imagine those words coming out of Will's mouth if he was referring to George Bush or St. Ronnie.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And George, I guess this is the question. I mean, you saw some overheated criticism, perhaps, there of the president. But a real question, was it the right thing to do to put the prestige of the White House on the line? The White House says, “Hey, you never go wrong fighting for your country.”

WILL: Well, they were fighting for a city, and a city divided about whether or not this will be a good thing to have the Olympics there.

What’s alarming is whether it indicates a belief on the part of the president, which is that there’s no problem that will not melt before the sunshine of his charm. And this is evidence again that it’s not so. The president and first lady went to Copenhagen and gave little speeches about themselves. She, Mrs. Obama, used the first person singular pronoun, in some form or other, “I” or “me,” 16 -- 34 times in 16 paragraphs. He used it 23 times in 13 paragraphs It was all about them.

And the danger is, an adjective sooner or later attaches to presidents. Honest Abe, Tricky Dick Nixon. All kind of adjectives. The danger to the president is that vain is going to attach to him.

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Ed Schultz slams the right wing for cheering on Chicago losing out on their bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.