NEW YORK, Feb. 25, 2007
Keith Olbermann Takes On … Everything
MSNBC News Anchor Is Ruffling Conservative Feathers With His Show "Countdown"
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Keith Olbermann, host of the MSNBC news show, "Countdown," has seen his ratings skyrocket after becoming even more outspoken on the air. (CBS)
The nightly audio and video assault includes his pick of "The Worst Person in the World" — frequently his arch enemy, conservative Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly. There is also "Oddball," the day's catch of weird video. Whipsawing to the serious, he ends each show with a reminder of the unpopular war in Iraq, and borrows the somber sign-off of his hero Edward R. Murrow — "Good night and good luck" — and then seems to make fun of the whole exercise when he crumples his notes and throws them at the camera.
"Countdown" was flying beneath the ratings radar for several years until last August when a speech by former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld sent Olbermann into a fury.
"He said, essentially, that anyone who was critical of the war on terror, or the war in Iraq, or, indeed, of the administration's policies, was equivalent to those who appeased Hitler in the '30s," he said. "I'm not a big fan of being called a Nazi appeaser, or even a parallel to a Nazi appeaser. I took that personally."
He was mad as hell and not going to take it any more, he said. And he didn't. He wrote what became the first of his "special comments."
For liberals, desperate for a white hot star to answer cable's popular conservatives, this was a gift. But Olbermann insists he's just saying what a lot of people really think.
"If a Democrat did those things, I would be out there just as ferociously," Olbermann said. "I don't think the Democrats are automatically right. I have many personal conservative views, I have many personal liberal views. I'm concerned about the freedoms that we say that we are protecting."
Not that such weighty concerns ever are allowed to crowd out sports. He continues a daily hour-long radio show on ESPN, and away from the microphones, baseball still rules. Olbermann, who began collecting at four, is one of the country's foremost authorities on baseball cards and is a consultant to the Topps baseball card company. He's got cards that even they have never seen before. His collection dates back to 1863.
But "Countdown"'s popularity has made it the priority today, and Olbermann shows no sign of pulling his punches. Spencer threw out a few names to see how he would react.
Alberto Gonzales:
"I'd really like to see his diploma," Olbermann said.
Laura Bush:
"Very nice lady. In a knife fight, I think she'd get me. I think she'd kill me. She's surprisingly capable," he said.
Paris Hilton:
"If she didn't exist we'd have to make her up," he said.
Hillary Clinton:
"I think she went to — to 'Improve Hillary Clinton' boot camp in the first six weeks of this year," Olbermann said. "I think she's trying real hard"
Dick Cheney:
"He scares the living crap out of me," he said.
Which may be how many people feel about Keith Olbermann.
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Michelle Obama tells how her role as the First Lady has changed her perspective.
I for one love to listen to Keith. He actually makes sense. The Fox crowd makes noise. You can sense the high pitch sound of their voices rising day after day since the election. They do not get it. America woke up to the noise of their rhetoric and judged it as empty. They can not seem to believe that their voice can not drown out reason and thoughtful consideration.
But what seems to drive them crazy is that we are not living in fear as they do. Fear can not set you free. And the day will come when we will be free of their war mongering, hatefilled lies and biased news.
I am sending Keith and Air America money to keep doing what they are doing...
But, hey, considering that some of the richest people own mega-media properties, including the New York Times-Washington Post, the L.A. Times and Gannett, with dozens of newspapers and U.S.A. Today,well, they get a pass because they're secular-progressive and liberal in content.Most of the media owned by the above gave the Clinton's a free pass during their entire monarchy. Cattle futures, no problem. Access to the Lincoln bedroom at the White House , no problem, IRS files in some off-room at the White House, no problem, Vince Foster, no problem, Whitewater, no problem. The list goes on, but I digress.
At least you have the foresight to point out that FOX Network and FOX News Channel are separate entities.
Are you totally whack? The neocons OWN Fox news. A guy like Olbermann is just a small counterweight to that influence.
- by monkfellow February 25, 2007 2:39 PM EST
- So nice of the mainstream media to give a free plug to a goon who has a thimbleful of viewers, especially compared to the e-v-i-l FOX News.
- Reply to this comment
See all 15 CommentsI love it when the MSM gives these characters free publicity,kind of like when those wonderful folks at NBC Today gave a free ride to Air America,and we know what a smashing success THAT'S become (hello, bankruptcy court!)
Olberman is yesterday's sports news,not to mention part of an outfit where the rats are leavin' the sinkin' ship.
May we look forward to a free 7 minute plug for Glenn Beck? I wouldn't ask them to even bother with O'Reilly. He sure doesn't need THEM!