SERIES 2 EPISODE 122: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:44) BREAKING: The Democrats have flipped the Kitara Ravache Memorial Special Congressional Election in the New York 3rd. It's not a bellwether. It won't even be the same district a year from now. But Tom Suozzi not only took back the seat lost to "George Santos," he completely overshadowed the WhoreHouse Republicans' performance art impeachment last night of Secretary Mayorkas.

(3:47) SPECIAL COMMENT: For once Politico aptly describes it: "The Biden Age Plot." Disgraced Special Counsel Robert Hur and House Republicans aren't just looking to have Hur testify on a topic about which he has no expertise, but they intend to have "Biden's Age" be the 2024 version of Benghazi: hearings, controversy, press conferences, witnesses, transcripts, subpoenas for weeks or even months. 

It's enraging but it reveals the GOP's terror: it is willing to risk bringing up Trump's age, Trump's bad mental health, and especially Trump's stolen documents - the actually stolen ones for which he will stand trial eventually. There are two possible Democratic responses. The first is for Attorney General Garland to squelch testimony and leave the Republicans with only one note rather than a hatful of phony storylines. The second is for the Democrats to hoist the GOP on its own petard, and to conduct a Senate investigation to whether Hur and the House Republicans conspired for him to write his editorialization about Biden before he submitted his report.

There is a sidebar to the entire "Biden's Age" crap. When you hear 77-year old Chris Wallace or 72-year old Maureen Dowd or even 61-year old Jon Stewart say "he's too old" there is a second half to that sentence that they never say aloud. "HE'S too old, and that proves I'M not." The personal fear and memento mori are a huge component. 

And there IS a response and, happily, the Biden Campaign seems to have just figured it out this week.

B-BLOCK (22:11) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Sean Hannity averaged 1.25 Hunter Biden stories per show last year and now the House has dropped the Hunter Biden performance art. A New York Times reporter explains the internal rationalization for bothsidesism: Biden Hasn't Done A Q&A With Us Recently. And gone but not forgotten: Chris Cillizza and the RFK Jr Super Bowl Commercial.

C-BLOCK (29:20) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: My friend Andrew Blauner needs your help to get his 2-1/2 year old Bernese Mountain Dog Smiles treatment for lymphoma. (31:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It's 44 years ago TODAY when my nascent broadcasting career nearly ended atop a mountain at the 1980 Winter Olympics, all because my bosses had decided to teach me the night before how to drink.

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