'Countdown with Keith Olbermann' for Dec. 13

Read the transcript to the 8 p.m. ET show
Updated: 10:15 pm, Dec. 14, 2004
Guests: Jason Dearen, Dan Abrams, John Harwood, Howard Fineman, Chuck Hagel, Michael Musto

OLBYWATCH GUIDE: Scott Peterson took over the entire first block, but KO still managed to slip in a little campaigning against Rumsfeld at the commercial break, teasing:

"Donald Rumsfeld under fire from his fellow Republicans now."

It sounds like an uprising in the GOP, but when Keith finally got around to the story, it turned out to be the usual suspects: John McCain and Chuck Hagel. Somehow he missed getting a snipy comment from Richard Lugar; we're not sure how that happened. It just isn't the same unless it's the full McHaGar.

KO, who complained loud and long that there was too much coverage of the Monica Lewinsky matter, spent a nice chunk of time detailing Bernard Kerik's alleged affairs of the heart. Whatever happened to "It's just about sex"?

Because of all this important breaking news, the VoteFraud2004inOhioButNotPennsylvania segment got bumped to the second half-hour.

KO mentioned that John Kerry wants to inspect 92,000 ballots where no Presidential votes were recorded. (That's certainly going to make a huge impact on the results.) Unfortunately Keith had to admit that a protest fizzled when nobody showed up, but he cheered up when reporting about a motion filed by Communist [though not so identified] Cliff Arneback and another publicity stunt by John Conyers.

Much was made of some Green Party claims regarding Xenia County--the Sports Guy rattled off one charge after another, while having to counter each one with the facts as detailed by state and county officials. Most 60-minute newscasts don't have time to report charges that turn out to be false, but to KO this is "hard news". Howard Fineman showed up and humored Keith for a few minutes, salvaging his own credibility by telling a disappointed KO that nobody in the Senate is likely to cosign Conyers's protest against the Ohio delegation.

Keith ended the hour with a rundown of cheesy movie lines and bad Christmas songs, a segment more substantive than much of what preceded it.