(Continued...)

You talk a lot about family and is importance. You were divorced, you were a cokehead and an alcoholic—why should anybody listen to you when it comes to family?
That's for you to decide. Look, I know that the people that make the most impact in my life—the ones that I listen to, that I watch—are not the ones who say, Well let me tell you something, I've got the answers and I'm perfect and everything else. They're the ones who say, Man, I was struggling with this so hard this week. You know what? I got it right now but this thing could spiral out of control in a heartbeat. That person I can learn from. I remember five or six years ago, I was on the air, and I said, "I've got to reverse myself on something." And it was something I made a big deal on. And I said, "I was wrong." And all my producers looked at me and said, "What!?" It was Terri Schiavo. And I said, "I've got to reverse myself."

Which way?
I was on Michael Schiavo's side. Made a big deal out of it. Let her die. What are you doing? It's his right. It's her right. Somebody called me and made a very good case, and I came back the following Monday and said, "I'm wrong." And they said you can't, you won't survive, you've got to be right all the time. What are you thinking? And I said, "Well, then I can't do talk radio." Because I ain't right all the time. I don't have talent on loan from God. I have talent on loan from—maybe—Lindsay Lohan. Maybe. So I got on the air and I reversed myself. It was probably the best thing I've ever done. Because I'm not a perfect guy. I don't have it down.

I'm not going to be your token conservative. I hate politics. It's worthless 90 percent of the timeYet you are very strident when you think you have found the answers. You can be very ...
Blowhardish?

Yeah. It's one thing to say the process involves doubt and consideration of all the views, but then when you have your opinion and it's formed, you can demonize people who disagree with you, make fun of people who disagree with you ...
Well, part of my job is to make fun of people, not just people who disagree with me. I make fun of people who do agree with me. If I make fun of anybody, the person I wreck the hardest, for the longest period of time, is me. I don't take myself seriously, and I don't think others should take themselves so seriously.

But then you pronounce that we're on the brink of World War III ...
There are things that I have researched and researched and researched and spent countless hours on—before I said World War III and before I said they're coming for us on a global scale. I really study. I turn over every stone. I don't want to be right on something like that. I want to be wrong.

Your daughter was born with cerebral palsy, yet it sounds like you're opposed to stem cell research, which could potentially help her.
I am not sure how I feel about stem cell research when it all comes down to such a complex issue. It is such a moral precipice issue for me that I'm not sure. And when in doubt, for me, leave it out. I don't like the idea that we would get involved, as a people, into things that are just so on the very edge. And yet we can't really even see that the ends justify the means at this point. I think caution is a very good thing.

The hardest thing to do is to say, it could help my loved one but I'm not sure it's the right thing for society. It's easy to say, Well, it would help my daughter. Having to look my daughter in the eye and say, This might repair you. And then say, I have to say no, because I don't think it's right to do it. I'm not sure that it's wrong to do it. I'm just not sure it's right. And so as we go and take measured steps, I think technology gets ahead of philosophy sometimes. And I'm leery on taking these giant steps before we've really thought it through.

GLENEMY Olbermann

You were never admitted, you were a non-degree student, and completed one introductory course.
Yeah, I was there for ten minutes.

But you wrote that Lieberman got you into Yale.
He did. You think I got in on my own SAT that I never took?

But you were never admitted to Yale.
I could take as many classes as I wanted. I couldn't get a degree. Joe Lieberman wrote me a letter—a lot of people did. And I had to write an essay. There is an acceptance process. You can ask them. It's not everyone who applies gets in as a special student. I wasn't auditing classes.

Your bio says you spent a semester at Yale studying philosophy and theology. Which to me implies that you took more than one course.
I was going for self-education. And had every intention of taking—in fact I think Joe Lieberman was very disappointed in me when he found out that I wasn't continuing the education. I didn't for financial reasons. I fell asleep the first day of class because the night before, my wife and I had decided to get a divorce. So for myriad reasons I didn't continue.

And I will tell you one of the most humiliating moments of my life was, they had this little cocktail party before the semester started with all of the special students. And we stood around in a circle, and they all said what they did. And one was a brain surgeon from, like, Sweden who was doing this research on whatever. Another guy was somebody from the World Bank. They got to me and said, "What do you do?" I said, "I'm a DJ that plays Britney Spears music. I'm just trying to figure life out." I hope I've never presented myself as some scholar.

I spend a lot of time, especially on vacation, thinking to myself, Uh oh, am I going to have something to say when I go back? But once I start, it unfortunately just won't stop spilling out of my headYou're one of the few people from your ideological side of things that's spent a lot of time high. You and Rush Limbaugh. Is there a crop of younger, less straightlaced conservatives coming down the pike?
No idea. Conservatives are people, too.

But few of them—at least the public talking-head types—have lived your lifestyle. Or admitted it.
I can't answer for anybody else. I just know that for me, the reason why I'm sober, is that I tried to figure life out. And couldn't live on somebody else's answers. I threw everything out. I threw God out, became an atheist for like three days. Threw absolutely everything out. And thought, I'm only putting it back into my drawer if I believe it and I know why I believe it. And for me to be consistent, and be able to put my life together, and my family, hold them together, I found myself on the conservative side. I didn't choose to be a conservative. I just am.