Earlier this morning, Washington Post tribute site Politico reported that teevee’s Keith Olbermann, who works for news channel MSNBC, donated money to three Democratic candidates just four days before the elections on Tuesday. This is something many Americans do, but it is not something MSNBC Americans can do, because it appeared to be a violation of NBC’s news ethics policies. And it seems it is a violation, because the network has suspended Olbermann without pay today. Olbermann will now curse out MSNBC for being evil, mug exasperatedly for a non-existent camera, leave his office, and call up Joe Buck for some therapeutic World Series broadcast criticism. Meanwhile, Fox News and its personalities probably didn’t donate enough to Republicans.
Here’s the guy, the president of MSNBC, who thinks he’s Keith Olbermann’s boss:
I became aware of Keith’s political contributions late last night. Mindful of NBC News policy and standards, I have suspended him indefinitely without pay.”
Whoops.
Of course, basically everyone on Fox donates to Republicans all the time, and the network itself likes to give the party millions directly. But at Fox you are sort of expected to donate to political candidates, whereas at MSNBC you are supposed to pretend to be a journalist with some kind of impartiality. There’s no Politico story about Fox, but whatever. Boring.
Olbermann has yet to respond to why he would think donations made just four days before the election would help these candidates, Raul Grijalva, Gabrielle Giffords, and Jack Conway. [Politico/HuffPo]
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Dumb ass you're suppose to funnel those funds through the "US chamber of commerce" equivalent like…um…the Black Panthers or ACORN?
Maybe Keith just didn't plan ahead? If he'd sent his thousands to SEIU, NAACP, The Homo Agenda PAC, Abortion Industries Association, etc. months ago, would it have been kept secret?
In a world where Fox News is allowed to call themselves journalists does this really make any sense?
The fact that an organization that sued for the right to lie to it's audience, calls itself a news organization doesn't really make any sense either.
No not really, but then Phil Griffin is just pissed he will be unemploeyed at the end of the year when Comcast takes over.
Not one bit.
journalists have ethics? when did this happen?
They still have them. It's just that journalists are much harder to find nowadays.
I hope MSNBC doesn't expect that its ratings will improve because it has "ethics," because ethics don't mean shit.
Fox will give him a contract.
The next Juan Williams
$2million worth, baby!
No they won't. He worked for FOX at one time. He left for whatever reason… sworn to secrecy… all real 007 sneaky. He has BAD feelings for FOX and that is part of why he attackes them so much…
Yep, he was smaking Rupert around quite a bit on his show, so Fox isn't in the works. However, I hear Spitzer is bored already and that Parker Chick is annoying so he you never know.
I feel a great disturbance in the Internets, as if millions of voices of D-Kos readers suddenly cried out in terror…
That's funny, I thought that low rumbling was the buildup of a deep, throbbing Foxgasm.
It only comes once a year as the culmination of a long period of hatred, yeah that sounds about right for them. If only Keith Olbermann were their daughter, that would be even more normal.
So did MSNBC send him to the same undisclosed location where they're hiding David Shuster?
I'm sorry, Mr. NBC President, have you seen Keith Olbermann's show? I don't mean the "Oddball" fluff pieces, I mean the actual show itself? Did you think the man was secretly a John Boehner fanboy but kept it quiet for the cameras?
Liberal media my ass.
NBC News is still run by old-school journalists. Many of them are embarrassed by the partisans on both side of the cable news talking heads war.
Now this here's interesting
http://gawker.com/5682789/msnbc-doesnt-answer-to-...
"MSNBC 'Doesn't Answer' to NBC News Standards"
Oh really now?
Bill O'Reilly is gonna felafel himself to death over this story.
I wish.
Can I watch?
fellafelate.
Bad Keith Olbermann! Go to MY ROOM!
Too bad he doesn't have 1/2 pudding cup as he did in 1987.
Then come to my room. We'll play Big Love.
Soooo..at Faux the "journalists" can actively and openly campaign for wingers and teatards, but Keithie, I'm presuming on his own time, donates to 3 Dem candidates and is suspended by the librul MSNBC? Ethics. Gotcha'.
I don't think Faux News reporters are allowed to campaign for their candidates.
It's more like part of their salary is automatically drafted each pay period and donated to the teabagger of the month. I've been told Faux News does this instead of an IRA (but in a similar manner).
Uh no they are allowes to, in fact Teabagger and Republican groups tout their Fox affiliation when they campaign for them, MMFA did an expose on like 2/3rd's of the network with only Shepard Smith being a holdout. Not to mention their love of giving Republican politicians jobs as contributors including their own god awful shows which act as springboards BACK into politics (Kasich, Huckster, Snowbilly, etc.) which say what you will about MSNBC I've yet to hear of several members of their roster who were election losers jump back into politics and winning AFTER (or in the case of their one token black lady losing and then coming right back as a "journalist" afterwards) using MSNBC to reaquire a base; that's entirely unprecedented.
Sharon Angle also appreciated the fact she could use them for free fundraising opportunities–and on Faux News itself, invited other Teatards to do the same.
So wait… John Stewart gets to dictate policy to Tim Geitner, but Keith Olbermann gets fired for dry humping a poster of Nancy Pelosi with a $100.00 bill in his hand?
by my calculation, Keith couldn't have given more than about 0.6% of what Fox gave to the republicans.
That is only what Foxnews gave, if memory serves Fox stations give a crap load to political causes as well.
Maybe you've been asleep for the last few decades but ethics are for liberals only.
Has anyone at MSNBC ever watched his show? He makes no qualms about where his allegiances lie.
I can hardly wait for all those that vociferously defended Juan Williams to come to Olbermann's aid.
Shit, I can't wait for Rupert Murdoch to hand KO a full-time contract.
Pack a lunch.
Bill Kristol has come to Obie's defense: http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/keep-keith_51...
Then that means the suspension must be doubled.
They've got Keith in a back room right now telling him "See, how this is supposed to work is we say nice things about them and they give money to US."
Donating to a candidate has got to be almost the worst thing a journalist can do, why next thing you know we might find out that Keith actually voted for some candidates! How can he be objective then?
"Some people think that Olbermann can't be on a news network because he might be biased. Others think that he can be on a news network. We may never know.
That's all the time we have to talk about this important issue."
c'mon guys. individuals don't possess the same rights as multi-national corporation-sapiens. i thought we settled this.
Sam Alito is so pissed at you for that comment that he's mouthing the word "wrong" in your direction.
According to the HuffPo article, giving the donations was not a violation of NBC policy; not telling his boss about the donations in advance was the violation. I suppose the idea is that this policy prevents the network from being blindsided by a "bias" charge. (Why do these quaint morals remind me of pasties on a stripper?) Also, it's a pissing match between Keith and his boss.
Hey, we're talking talking about the same network that fired Phil Donahue when he was getting the station's highest ratings for opposing invading Iraq back during the run up to that folly. Sure, they've given us three shows hosted by actual liberals, which is three more than any other non-comedy TV news, but that was after Bush started falling and Obama was elected; now that Republicans are perceived as being resurgent, it's time for the executive cowardice to come back out.
If you're right about executive cowardice, I'll be interested to see if MSNBC's "news reporting" changes now that midterms are over. Their style of political news reporting outside of the obviously liberal commentary shows had become very biased, and they were borrowing a lot of the techniques being used on Fox News to drive a predetermined narrative. Interesting to see if that'll change, yes?
Well, at least that makes a little more sense. Really, though, the pretense of objectivity (which Fox is gradually abandoning, and MSNBC might as well abandon too) pisses me off more than the manipulative nature of biased news reporting.
Pissing match? Urine trouble now, Keith.
When are major news outlets going to stop playing this objectivity game? There's nothing objective about MSNBC. They successfully rebaranded themselves from the useless cable news channel to the liberal answer to Fox. And that's fine *AS LONG AS YOU ACKNOWLEDGE IT* apparently, they are not. Which really *does* make them the Fox News of the left.
There is no such thing as objectivity. Everything we see, hear and learn is filtered through our perception. There is a problem with pretending like you're not coming at it from your already preconceived notion though.
Fox News of the Left, 'cept without all the gold-hawking. Or the fallacious reasoning. Or the trucknutz.
A real Fox News Of The Left would read like Socialst Workers Daily.
Yeah that's true. Fox News is pretty much sold on promoting fear and hysteria and not silly things like facts get in the way of good punditry.
And lasting only three hours a night; now back to two I guess. Well, I've been liking Maddow and O'Donnell more than Olbermann anyway.
You'd need a real Left.
"With the possible exception of things like box scores, race results, and stock market tabulations, there is no such thing as Objective Journalism. The phrase itself is a pompous contradiction in terms." – Hunter S. Thompson
I'm saving that one for future use, thanks.
It's from Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, and it's surprising how relevant a lot of his rants on politicians and the press in it still are today.
Oops! I should've kept reading. I just bitched about the same thing upthread….
Although a truly liberal network wouldn't have Joe Scarborough and Nazi-apologist Pat Buchanan on every morning.
"And that's fine *AS LONG AS YOU ACKNOWLEDGE IT* apparently, they are not."
WTH? You just said they 'rebranded themselves"…is that not acknowledging it somehow? Have you ever watched Countdown? Olberman practically wallows in his admission he's on the Left.
What this episode does is prove MSNBC and Faux News are not opposite sides of the same coin. MSNBC apparently takes it's objectivity so seriously they're willing to suspend one of their own. Fox news of the Left? Lazy analogy, totally lazy.
"WTH? You just said they 'rebranded themselves"…is that not acknowledging it somehow? Have you ever watched Countdown? Olberman practically wallows in his admission he's on the Left. "
Uh, because they just suspended one of their star pundits for donating to Democrats, thus compromising his "objectivity" which the network seems not to care about in the first place, or I thought. Since this would be the Network's way of saying "This is a fair and balanced network that has no use for biased analysts!"
I predict a SPECIAL STATEMENT at the higher-than-previously-believed-possible level of NEAR-APOPLECTIC-POMPOSITY as soon as Keith gets back from detention.
Yes. And it will be awesome indeed. Someone make up a drinking game for it, STAT.
Left out SANCTIMONIOUSNESS, damn it.
"Hubris" = take a shot. "Double standard" = take a shot. "Our modern-day malaise" = take a shot. "At long last, MSNBC …" = eat the worm.
"sir!" = take a … oh forget it, there isn't enough booze in the world.
Awww, gee. It's not like Keith is the worst person in the world or anything.
Look at the calendar, folks. Awesome sweeps month stunt!!
Covering their asses and boosting the ratings for his (eventual) return. Old school.
Synchronicity!
In all fairness, Keith really should go back to sports and stay there. His schtick got tired awhile ago.
well that sort of schtick works for his right-wing counterparts, since the audience are idiots. but it does get a little old for liberals as the lack of substance stretched out to a half-hour or even hour makes for pretty thin viewing.
and if the media were really liberal, wouldn't there be a "This Week With Noam Chomsky" show or something similar somewhere?
Democracy Now plays on my PBS station.
Well, now I can dream a sweet dream at night forever.
The Chomper gets some things wrong by times and his fans piss me off, but if he had a cable show it would be awesome.
"And now a vapid word from whatever region company furnishes me this spot."
That's a little behind the times; remember that NBC has been bought, pending FCC approval, by Kabletown.
I suspect that is why they suspended him, as NBC needs to appear as unbaised as possible during the FCC approval.
My Wonkette home screen is so dark, it's virtually incomprehensible. I was expecting that on Wednesday. What's with the lag Wonkette?
Wow, I bet his liberal, Democratic audience is furious that he would be so partisan in his politcal donations.
Actually, no. Rightwingers seem to need emotional propaganda to sustain them – hence Fox's ratings. Left wingers – not so much. We are much happier with Jon Stewart who is heavily fact driven, than a basically left emotional propaganda person like Olberman – hence his low ratings.
Looks we're going to need a new angry liberal talking head… but who?
Mike Malloy. Oh God, I hope not.
Or Randi Rhodes; with one of those two on TV we can have a counter for Fox's disregard for actual facts and conspiracy theory rumor mongering!
There are two reasons I would watch Randi, Just saying.
It's Friday, ya bastards. She's OK, but gets too many "facts" wrong. Like Thom Hartmann with tits.
Well if she was available, why wasn't she at the Stewart/Colbert rally to play on "Crazy Train"?!
Oh.
Sara Benincasa of course.
Sara K. Smith is available part time, right?
Ken Layne would never allow it. He has a no-compete clause in every contract. She'd have to leave our Wonkette to go to MSNBC.
Y'know, Joey Scar spends three hours of prime time A.M. teevee practically blowing Republicans and has invented and owns the meme; "Both sides do it". You can't tell me Jethro hasn't given buckets 'o cash to Retardlicans.
Per KOS tinfoilers:
SCARBOROUGH, JOE PENSACOLA,FL 32503 MSNBC/HOST 3/31/06 $2,100 Kitts, Derrick (R)
SCARBOROUGH, JOE PENSACOLA,FL 32503 MSNBC/HOST 3/31/06 $2,100 Kitts, Derrick (R)
A spokesperson for NBC, Jeremy Gaines, replied to questions sent to Scarborough. "Yes, he did make a donation to Derrick Kitts. Kitts is an old friend of Joe's. Joe hosts an opinion program and is not a news reporter."
Olbermann is a news reporter?
IOKIYARWP?
What? NBC management is full of shit? It is so difficult to believe that management types would so full of shit.
Is this the new "decided to spend more time with his family"?
If they give Tweety another hour, I will cancel my subscription. I mean it, this time.
If they give Tweety another hour, perhaps the guests will have a chance to talk. What am I saying? It will just be another hour of Tweety leading up to a question.
After calling Bachmann a moron live on air, I'm rethinking my assessment of the bird.
At least he gave to some worthy candidates, unlike Joe Scarborough who probably asked permission first to give to troglodytes.
So per NBC policy, journolists are required to give up their right to support candidates, unless they make sure to let their boss know about it… This NBC place is a SOVIET broadcasting company, right?
I look forward to the great liberal gnashing of teeth and volume of e-mails to come.
Meanwhile, Fox News and its personalities probably didn’t donate enough to Republicans.
No, Fox News personalities ARE republican officials.
There was once a time when journalists, in deference to their role and its power over the public mind, made it a policy to not even vote to avoid conflict of interest. Can I have that 1950s back, Tea Party Overlords?
I think journalists didn't vote out of pure cynicism. Ethics had nothing to do with it except when used as an excuse.
I really think of Keith as the guy who fingerbangs me before Rachel does the business.
Oh Lizzie, you are always refreshingly frank!
Where does that leave Lawrence O'Donnell? Oh, never mind, I'll keep him busy.
Mr O'Donnell is drawing me a nice hot bath.
This tune from my other pretend girlfriend seems perfect for a late-night bath, so enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xlo4oYaF4YE
so the real leftist media outlets have stringent standards; whilst Faux News can just bribe & embezzle to their heart's content?
Well, like someone else posted, I'm sure we will see the same level of outrage on a "Fair and Balanced" organization over this, that was shown over the Juan Williams firing.
Ben Affleck did an excellent Keith Olbermann on Saturday Night Live. It was possibly the only time that I have ever enjoyed Ben Affleck doing anything. MSNBC should hire him on as Bizarro Keith. Of course, Actual Keith already is kind of Bizarro Keith, so that ruins it a bit.
"We have seen this fear before:
In Cambodia, under Pol Pot…
In Russia, under Stalin…
In Massachusetts, under Mitt Romney…
It is a fear, SIR, and a tyranny UP WITH WHICH WE DARE NO LONGER PUT!"
<3 That will never get old for me.
Fuckin' Commie pinko bastards. This Griffen guy actually supports Morning Joe or should I say Morning blow and his milquetoast bullshit. Griifen has issues. Griffen needs to go and get a lobotomy and then he can be Sarah's BFF.
Ah squints and the meat puppet. One more inane than the other. The best part of that show would be Mike Barnacle.
Fah! Barnicle is the worst part — since he's on all morning (otherwise, I would give it to the Politico reporters who pop up). He's also only there to harass Mika Brzezinski.
Morning Joke.
Rachel's better anyway.
I'm actually sorta looking forward to how Fox News covers this…
No, actually, I'm looking forward to how Jon Stewart covers how Fox News covers this.
No, actually. I'm looking forward to how Breitbart covers how John Stewart covers how Foxnews covers this. No, I'm looking forward to how Wonkette covers how Breitbart covers how John Stewart covers how Foxnews covers this. No, that's not right. I'm looking forward to how John Stewart covers how Wonkette covers how Breitbart covers
I got my bathrobe on and a mug of hot cocoa, but no place to go.
Whose dulcet voice is gonna read me my Thurber, dammit.
I have a purple smoking jacket that I only wear when Keith wears his purple tie – it makes me feel closer to him. And pretty. Also.
They shoulda suspended him just for that. Thurber deserves better.
"And that's Countdown, for this, the first day since the MSNBC president declared me suspend…
Keith? What are you doing down there?
MOM?! Jeez, just gimme a minute, okay?
Ahem…I'm Keith Olbermann. Good night, and…
Keith? You get up here RIGHT THIS SECOND! It's time to apply my ointment…
Goddammit, Mom! You know I'm trying to…
"Keith! NOW!
Alright, alright, I'M COMING!
Jesus fucking Christ…
I HEARD THAT!"
Thanks for the great Rupert Pupkin allusion. I hope it was intended.
Indeed it was…and thank you for noticing.
KEITH OLBERMANN: "Well, I'm sorry. I made a mistake."
PHIL GRIFFIN: "So did Hitler."
Well, as KO's mom is dead, I was getting more of a Norman Bates vibe, but still funny.
Rupert Pupkin thought it was funny, too:
"But, like everyone else, I grew up in large part thanks to my mother. If she were only here today, I'd say, 'Hey Ma, what are you doin' here?! You've been dead for nine years!'"
Keith gets sent to the penalty box for donating a minute amount of his own cash to three dems – so they are gonna get Chris Hayes to host the show tonight. That is, if he can take time away from sending me 4 million emails a day, pimping me for money to give to the various liberal causes that the Nation stands for!
They could use a little yelling over at the DNC right now. After all they just took a once in 60 year beating.
If yelling with a vein pulsing on one's temple will solve these problems, why not just reanimate the corpse of Sam Kinison?
Zombies never solved anything.
Phil Griffin.
Zing!
To be fair, Fox News isn't actually a news channel, it's a part of the Republican Party, so donations to GOP candidates can be deducted straight from your paycheck along with your profit sharing and payroll taxes. (TAXESSSS!! AAAARGGHH!!)
Profit sharing? Commie pinkos.
Amazing double standard for the right winger, go figure.
The right winger who just so happened to work for that liberal pussy, Dick Nixon. Political contributions should also measure the amount of bullshit piled on to a certain wing-y figure's legacy every damn minute of the day.
Yep. It's called irony. It's a tool. Olbermann is being a tool.
And fill-in host Chris Hayes donated $500 to dems in '09. At this rate Phil Griffin should just suspend everyone, everywhere. The end.
When they just give up and hire Christine O'Donnell to fill Olberman's slot, followed by Sharron Angle at 9:00 and Larry Summers with Hank Paulson at 10:00, which when you think of it makes a nice lead in to the prison shows.
Probably askeered.
Worst network in the world?
I hear Christine O'Donnell needs a job…
And SO, Mr. NBC President, let me ask you–YOU–how much have YOU given to political candidates over these lo many decades! In your cushy office with your single-malt Scotch. Because it's an outrage–an OUT-RAGE–to be witness this sort of hypocrisy from a network that was once the PRIZE of network news! For shame, shame, SHAME!
[Fourteen minutes of similar text cut for space considerations.]
I think what this means is, MSNBC lets its journalists support specific parties and candidates, but only in their official capacity.
They're going to give his show to Scarborough and bring in Christine O'Donnell to host Morning Witch.
This is good news for John Feingold-McCain?
Gawker is now flagging a story about how this happens a lot at MSNBC according to 'unnamed sources'. I'm sure they'll be writing how some 20 year old once got grossed out by Keith's extremely unkempt pubic hair.
Note to Gawker: While MSNBC should not try to out-fox Fox news, you should not try to out-TMZ, TMZ.
Please, TMZ is much more respectable then Gawker. There's nothing wrong with nonsense and general bullshit in the nonsense and bullshit part of the world. What's dangerous is when children are allowed to pee in the sandbox without reprecussions.
Defense contractor GE is just cleaning house. Now they're going after the lesbo and the blonde guy who probably drinks too much.
It's half 1/2 a pudding cup , baby.
But remember guys, Fox News and MSNBC are totally mirror-images of each other.
oh goodie. another prison show.
Boy I'm looking forward to 30 hour blocks of "lockup". Anyone remember when CNN started, there was actual news on the weekends?
"To Catch A Contributer"
Olbermann/Schuster out of his mom's garage still beats Parker/Spitzer on CNN.
Thanks for mentioning Schuster, my pretend boyfriend because he always says "You're welcome" after being thanked by a guest, rather than playing the "Thank you," "Thank you." "No. Thank You." "No, I insist . . ." game.
The bosses are really fucking up my television watching. Please, I hope I'm not forced to watch reality shows and break my perfect record of having never watched on except for the first season of "Queer Eye."
Dear MSNBC,
You have just removed one of the two reasons (Keith Olbermann and Maddow) I ever bother watch your teevee station. Actually, I would like to say I watch both but when Rachel Maddow comes on my husband usually turns it away to watch World Series of Poker or Pawn Stars. So, Keith is the only reason we watch your teevee station really. Maddow is great when I get to watch her, but I normally don't get to. Literally, if Keith is not on your channel, MSNBC is turned off. So it is TURNED OFF — indefinately — unless Keith Olbermann returns somehow.
Hearts, Bunnies, & Rainbows,
Maven
Once you go DVR, you'll never go back.
Get this. Mr. Maven cannot abide me messing with his DVR in fear we won't have enough room for his World Series Poker. He likes his DVR a certain way. We do share the Netflix queue, but there have been tense moments when certain films just leap in front of his selections.
p.s.
We listen to NPR and BBC for our relatively "unbiased" news for the bulk of our lives, but when we want about an hour to listen to biased commentary we go to MSNBC to see Olbermann rant about something. MSNBC is pretty much Olbermann, Maddow, and real crime teevee on the weekend. I really never pretend that MSNBC is balanced news and that is okay. If my teabaggish 80 year old father can have his yahoos watching FAUX NEWS 80 hours a week, why cant I have mine 1-5 hours a week for MSNBC?
What is it with men and poker world series (what is that?) and pawn stars? Does he watch war documentaries, too? And the Military channel? The old man is a liberal, but he loves that shit. Oh, and surfing porn. Pretty universal among men, I fear.
What happened to the 'money IS speech' definition?
Only Available for Corporations.
Please take your feeble soft human body, with its useless flappy lips smacking together to make noises elsewhere.
O handsome jawed Keith of my dreams, I did that once too. Antagonized my fragile -ego'd boss, then was abrubtly and cruelly fired. Ouch. Have rachel mix you some drinks for a few days, or weeks.
I feel for you, quick get a another job so I can look at your righteous sexy indignation again.
Man, *look* at that pornstashe. Groovy.
"Suspended without pay" Somehow I feel as if this is like saying, Keith, Take a vacation day or two. The man has more money than God….and Sarah Palin…
They're replacing Keith with Kent Brockman in preparation for our new Republican overlords.
Look at that mustache. Olbermann is infinitely more Juan than that Williams impostor. Dude goin' FOX primetime, baby!
Since MSNBC has neither policy nor standards how could anyone violate them?
Wow, well, we just got rid of a major pro-Dem mouthpiece. I'm not in love with him but look, how many friends do the Dems have left on air?
You think the republicans would ever shit can a Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck, even if, I don't know, one of them, in some bizzaro world, was an oxycontin addict, or maybe, not that it would EVER happen, but would suggest that the president hated white people?
What the fuck is wrong with us?
If the republicans don't wake up everyday and vocally and vigorously thank god that they do battle with the most weak-kneed, compromising, self destructive, clown pants, half ass chumps, they really really should be.
"how many friends do the Dems have left on air?
I read somewhere how the entire mainstream media is liberal. So the answer is "all of them".
But, I gotta add, if they were any good at being biased, the Repubicans would have lost the last election. And Bush would never have won. And they wouldn't have dared impeach Clinton. And Reagan would be a footnote instead of Better Than Jesus™. So I guess you're right: the liberal media is a bunch of clown pants chumps.
Geez, Keith is a bone head!
Doesn't he know that artificial human news corporations donate to politicians, not mere real humans.
I heard this news while driving home from Stillwater and nearly passed out. Keith Olberman is a liberal? And a Democrat? Who knew?
Or I might have nearly passed out because I hadn't eaten anything for about 5 hours and was so hungry I gave in to an eggnog latte at Starbucks and a biscotti. (It was only a tall, for chrissakes).
Why does the idiot bossman think I watch MSNBC every week night (I pass on the women behind bars shows)? Because it's the Newshour but with commercials? I watch it because it's the only liberal oasis on teevee news.
The big difference between Keith's viewers and the zombies getting their orders from Faux News is that we understand it's from a liberal bias. Is that so goddam hard to understand?
I love Keith Olbermann for fightin' the good fight, but the things that drive me nuts about him are the things that make Rachel Maddow so much more substantive.
It annoys me that instead of having guests whom he (and we) might actually learn something from, he has the SAME people on night after night, for years and years now, whose function seems to be to say "yes" or "no" to the answers he has embedded in his questions and chuckle at his half-hearted witticisms. (I suspect that Richard Wolfe does not really exist, but is simply a "Funhouse Keith" effect and a phony accent, like when Colbert debates himself.)
Familiarity has made me sick of "Worst Person In The World," and his warbling of the line and the organ music. His "humor" segments have always been embarrassing, beginning with the cringe-worthy Michael Jackson puppet theater thing he used to do years ago.
And I guess it's not fair to knock him on this, since not everybody can get away with having their head in the 'Net all day, but it really feels like the opening line of the show should be, "Which of these stories have you already read about on the Web?" When I have the same research tools as the heads on the TV, they ought to be working a little harder.
And what the hell is that Friday Thurber thing? Should he be dumping handfulls of doggie treats on a stuffed retriever while reading?
I dunno. The notion that liberals have to adopt the same tactics as conservatives to be competitive just rubs me wrong.
I'd rather just be honest and get straight to the shooting war.
Speaking of Howie, I SO want him back heading up the DNC. Tim Kaine was a mistake from the beginning and I said that. But, since Howie wasn't a BFF of Obama, they forced him out and installed some smiling, Virginia-built robot.
Is he also banned from Sunday Nite Football? If not, this will be something to watch on the weekend.
All liberals are pathological liars. Period. Olberdouche repeatedly criticized Fox News as "Fixed News" and the "Republican Channel". Fine. But then don't show your bias this way. Hannity didn't anchor Fox's election night coverage. Olberdouche did for MSNBC. Hannity never said he wasn't a conservative. Olberdouche has said he wasn't a liberal, he's just "right". You Democrats can't figure out why you get repeatedly rejected by the American people after they briefly, and foolishly, give you power? Bald faced hypocricy, lies, arrogance, condescension, and more arrogance. There you go. Now start down dinging my comment and make some hateful replies. Prove my point, you worthless assholes.
Hannity doesn't need to anchor Fox election coverage, because they've got 2 dozen other biased "anchors" to do it. Ever heard of Brit Hume?
Ever hear of Olberdouche, Maddow, Matthews, Crazy Larry, Crazier Ed Schultz? Of course not. You're an unbiased fucking democrat asshole.
If your only point was that MSNBC's election night coverage was terrible, you are not going to get an argument from me.
However, your other point was that not having Hannity on it somehow made Fox's coverage less biased, and you're completely wrong, because they have plenty of other partisan hacks besides him on their payroll that they could (and did) choose from that night (i.e. Brit Hume).
Can we just ignore you instead?
Feel free to ignore me. Starting now. You know, after you replied to my comment, proving that you’re not ignoring me. Fucking idiot.
Feel free to ignore me. Starting now. You know, after you replied to my comment, proving that you're not ignoring me. Fucking idiot.
"All liberals are pathological liars. Period."
You're right! (But I'm a liberal, so my agreement is a lie. (Unless I just lied about being a liberal.))
More seriously, America is one of the most highly educated nations on earth. People have broad access to information in libraries, bookstores, newspapers and — of course — the internet. Events are documented in overwhelming detail – photographs, paper trail, contemporaneous accounts, emails. And yet there are profound disagreements about matters of fact.
Example: 9/11 was an inside job by Bush.
Example: Obama not born in Hawaii.
Example: Sharia Law in U.S.
Example: global warming is a myth or a hoax
We claim Americans are smart, ingenious, wise. We believe our ideas will make people all over the world happier. But in public life we don't trust smart people who have ideas. They're elitists or hucksters or an enemy of some kind.
Rhetorically dismissing "all liberals as liars" presumes that all liberals blithely believe in falsehoods; that all liberals are wrong on the facts; liberals are blind to reality.
In my world, "liberal" and "conservative" is another way of saying "fellow citizen". I sincerely try listen, think and act respectfully. Our bipolar politics won't be cured until we start our thinking from "just the facts ma'am'".
"repeatedly rejected by the American people after they briefly…give you power". Yeah I guess you forget that 50 year span of uninterrupted Democratic control of the House. Let's think about rejection for a minute. A republican hasn't won an election by the margin Obama did since the 1980's. So let's think about rejection. In the last 65 years, Republicans have controlled the house for what, 12 years? So yeah, let's think about rejection. In the last 30 years, only one President has failed to win a second term – a republican.
But really, forget democrat and republican, you're just a complete fucking asshole on a personal level. Now get the fuck off, you aggressive, humorless, pig.
BRING BACK PHIL DONAHUE.
In the immortal words of Randy Newman:
"He may be a fool, but he's our fool."
Here's the dream ticket for 2012:
President: Ketih Olbermann
Vice President: Alvin Greene
Secretary of State: Angelina Jolie
Defense Secretary: Dennis Kucinich
Homeland Security Secretary: Barney Frank
Director of National Intelligence: Rachel Maddow
Labor Secretary: Tony Soprano
Commerce Secretary: Jack Abramoff
Justice's Attorney General: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Education Secretary: Al Franken
Housing and Urban Development: Kwami Kilpatrick
White House Chief of Staff: Mike Bloomberg
Treasury Secretary: Adrian Fenty
It's kind of funny when people try and claim that Olbermann and Maddow are the liberal equivalents of the likes of Beck or O'Reily, because no, they can be angry but actually respect the facts and will admit mistakes if they make them; the real equivalents are Malloy, Rhodes and others like them, who are never let anywhere near the mainstream.
In my experience, Thom Hartmann seldom gets facts wrong, and on the rare occasion he does, he admits it and corrects himself without hesitation. I don't listen every single day, though, so I could be mistaken.
exactly. There is a "Letter to the Editor" in the New Yorker, and the author tries to negate the compare the impact of Beck and O'Reilly by saying that during the Bush admin, the "Left" had 9/11 truthers (which isn't even left-wing phenonm). But while I agree that both are idiots, the author conveniently ignores that fact that the former, ahem…
Have fucking cable news shows every single fucking night.
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