Reprise: On 8 July we published an homage to the Left’s Rottweiller Keith Olbermann, the right went apoplectic as the article had 300,000 hits in 4 hours.
Keith is my kind of guy. Creative, completely unmanageable, he says what he feels in the moment and wears his outrage like his very large heart on his 6’ 3” tall sleeve. Physically imposing, he has spent much of the last year teaching the left that if you’re in a gunfight, you’d better bring along a big one.
My main problem with Air America Radio, Bill Moyers and other left leaning media pundits is that everyone on it is too nice. They are kind-hearted, brilliant people who get regularly mugged by Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly and then cry foul play. Keith’s trademark MO is to fight fire with even more fire. And the team at FOX News and Clear Channel’s $400 million dollar bonus baby Rush Limbaugh don’t quite know how to handle him.
We’re taught in the schoolyard that to beat a bully, you stand and go toe-to-toe to make him back down. As the super-hero Hancock suggested in this weekend’s hit movie suggested, “you kick his wee-wee so far up his a**…” and thus you get the point. While the far-out right unjustly twisted and mugged Michelle Obama for “feeling proud of her country for the fist time in her adult life.” I feel proud of liberal punditry for the first time in mine. When every other left leaning pundit remains gentlemanly and quietly skulks to a corner claiming unfair treatment, Keith stands his ground and fights.
The gang at FOX and Rush (and they are a gang), sit sniping sarcastically and pick on those least able to defend themselves. Like the classic schoolyard bullies knowing they can run behind Clear Channel’s, Roger Ailes’ and Rupert Murdoch’s considerable shields, they have been doing the right’s dirty work since the Gingrich revolution won the Congress in 1994.
Forget Olbermann suffering fools lightly, he won’t suffer fools at all. He’s been fired many times, knows he may be again and just doesn’t care. Unless he can get up each morning, look in the mirror and like/accept what he sees, he won’t play. He’ll sell out to no one, kiss no fanny, fears no one and truly delights in a good sharp knuckled and elbowed intellectual fight.
His ratings also show there are chinks in Bill O’s armour so in true gunfighter fashion he looks to goad Bill O and his puppet-master Rupert Murdoch into stupid fights easily avoided. Their egos fall for his bait every time. While some pundits worry he is a lightning rod, his behaviour tarnishes the NBC News brand and his antics can be as bad in some respects as Bill O’s, he produces a strikingly sincere gravitas, especially when covering and anchoring the desk when his good friend Tim Russert passed away.
Keith truly admires smart people, those who think through situations vs. shoot from the hip and then cover themselves and their stupidity with spin. No one can argue the success he has brought to NBC’s election night coverage this year by asking good and tough questions. NBC News has also brilliantly recognised that their flagship appointment Nightly News television newscast was in trouble and a new paradigm was needed as not every commentator can fit into those 22 minutes of news watched by an average aged audience of 61. So they spread news and commentary across the day sharing anchors, reporters and pundits amongst shows from 7:00 am until late at night: Today, Morning Joe, Hardball, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Verdict with Dan Abrams, Nightly News, Race to the White House and on Sunday, Meet the Press.
Every time Fox fights back, Keith gains curious viewers who stay. The old saying was, “never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel.” But when you’re Keith Olbermann, you have a lot of electronic ink behind you. This coupled with MSNBC.com’s website airing non-stop clips viewed from anywhere in the world at any time, means a competitive advantage and gift that keeps on giving and draws more viewers to all MSNBC news shows.
Now Keith and Dan Patrick will together do a Sunday evening football highlights show together, going back to their ESPN sports roots and re-uniting what was their top sports team, thus giving him even more national exposure in time for the election campaign.
So watch Keith grow at the expense of FOX and Rush. Pretty soon their brand of hate will diminish and disappear as a new voice of vision and hope is allowed to grow and undo 14 years of polarisation. Maybe then knives and guns will disappear from politics forever. Hey, I can dream can’t I?
A reader sent the following e-mail about this post…
Mr. Campbell,
You state, “Hey, I can dream can’t I? Maybe instead of dreaming you might want to wake up for a change. You talk about the “brand of hate.” I don’t even think you listen/watch Countdown to No Ratings. That’s all the show is about is hate. Never does he allow any dissenting view. At least O’Reilly allows two opposing points of view (This is no defense of O’Reilly, just reality). Some times when one becomes as partisan as you, it blinds one to all objectivity. You can cheerlead for Olberman all you want, but he’s his own worst enemy and time will prove that out! “Pretty soon their brand of hate will diminish and disappear as a new voice of vision and hope is allowed to grow and undo 14 years of polarization” Dude, you’ve been living in South Wales too long. Countdown to No Ratings drips with vitriol and disdain. Why is it liberals can’t handle any opposing view?! Eliminate that and you’ll get your utopic new voice of vision and hope.
Sincerely,
Name withheld
My e-mail reply…
Dear _________,
Thanks for the feedback. And there in a nutshell is the problem.
The right can dish it out but cannot take it. If you are suggesting that the O’Reilly Factor, Hannity and the deaf, dumb supposed “liberal” sitting next to him and the smarmy gaggle at Morning “News” are a ‘fair and balanced’ lot, you have indeed been drinking the Gingrich KoolAid for the last 14-years. I write opinion pieces and that’s what they are mate, my opinion of what ails us and why we need folks like Olbermann.
Liberals take it up the backside for 14-years without so much as a tube of Vaseline and finally have someone calling these lame brains who shut off the microphone or shout down and threaten anyone who disagrees, on their behaviour and you can’t stand it that we now have an equally strong voice.
This will also be the year when Republicans can no longer throw someone off the bus because they dissent and I pray the media grow a backbone and solid brass cojones because even Woodward and Bernstein have been corrupted.
And in answer to your question, I wish I could watch Countdown in full, live… but BSkyB is owned by (drum roll, please) Rupert Murdoch. The chances of MSNBC appearing on Sky are slim and none. So I must get clips of about 2/3 of the show on MSNBC.com. Maybe someday Murdoch will realize that dissent and discussion are good, I’m not holding or wasting my breath.
I am posting this e-mail as is, unattributed, on the website and my reply. Please post your reply as a comment on the site. Unlike your heroes at FOX, I welcome debate and discussion and folks who disagree.
Would love to continue this so all can see.
Denis Campbell
Editor-in-Chief
Sir,
You never answered the man about Keiths insanely one-sided show with a parade of the same guests night after night. His brand of show is not any form of journalism but one continuous rant.
I don’t think you are giving enough credit to your anonymous correspondent.
I pulled up one of Olbermann’s commentaries, from 12/6/07, and in just this one segment he described President Bush in the following terms:
“Dishonest,” “transcendently stupid,” “a pathological liar,” “idiot-in-chief” “manifestly unfit to serve,” “the Chicken Little of presidents,” “manipulative, Machiavellian, snake-oil salesman,” “bald-faced liar,” “would that we could let this President off the hook by seeing him only as marionette or moron,” “not only that he has gone out too far on the limb of terror — but there may not even be a tree there,” “legally, it might save you [Bush] from some war crimes trial… but ethically, it is a lie.”
He ended the broadcast by saying “You, sir, have no business… being president.”
What was all this vitriol in reference to? Bush’s statement directed at Iran: “I’ve told people that if you’re interested in avoiding World War Three, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from having the knowledge to make a nuclear weapon.” Olbermann was incensed because he made this “inflammatory” statement after the NIE had concluded that Iran had stopped its nuclear program years earlier.
Now, bear in mind that Obama has pretty much the same policy toward Iran as Bush does: he has said a nuclear-armed Iran is the single biggest threat facing the US today, bigger than global warming, bigger than international financial meltdown, bigger than the fact we’re losing two wars at the same time to third-world countries. Obama would in fact, in contrast to Bush, “get tough with Iran” and “take no options, and I mean no options, off the table” when it comes to dealing with a potentially nuclear-armed Iran.
Obviously, to use Olbermann’s standards, Obama is either an idiot or a liar. There’s no actual evidence that Iran is pursuing a nuclear bomb, and even if they were minutes away from getting one, the only thing nuclear power ever gives to a country is the ability to defend itself from invasion. (There’s a thing they used to teach 6th graders about called Mutually Assured Destruction).
But do you hear Obama described in these terms by O’Reilly and Limbaugh? They call him a callow and manipulative politician, smear him with all kinds of unflattering labels (like liberal and anti-American), and in their less controlled (oxycontinenced) moments wish a kind of abstract violence on him, but Obama poses no threat to any existing order – he even thinks it’s okay for the US government to conduct secret surveillance on your phone and internet use for later extra-judicial use to put you in jail indefinitely without due process of law. As a way to feed listeners enmity toward “liberals,” on the other hand, Obama serves these faux-right wing talk show hosts quite well, which is why they’ve gone out of their way so far to keep their gloves on when talking about him. Obama is a cardboard caricature of the elitist, anti-Christian, anti-Patriotic, Islamofascist-sympathetic, no standards left kind of liberal that millions of Americans have convinced themselves are responsible for the decline of the American empire. And that kind of figure boosts their ratings.
And, just like clockwork, Obama will say in the fall it’s time to end the politics of hate and bring the American empire back. And then we can see how “fair and balanced” Olbermann will be.
Dar Mr. Campbell -
I am sure Mr Overbite wishes you could watch his program in real time too. He needs all the help he can get in the ratings, with his taxes and a host of other “issues”.
The lame brains on the right have indeed been in charge for 14 years and presently. You know why? Because hey have a message that resonates. Overbite and his young son Rachel Maddow, as well as his gal pal Dan Abrams preach to the choir. So Soupy, make sure your hair is combed, ypur robe is om and your hymnal is open to the proper page.
That’s all I have to say on this the 2,745th day, since O’Reilly became #1 in the ratings.
Ray
PS - Come back to the US for any dental or medical needs.
I wrote, you deleted. Typical bravery of the lefr. Just like Keith, you do not dare have opposing viewpoints.
Thanks for the post Larry, Bill, Susan and Ray.
We are a minimum of five hours ahead of you. My apologies that 6:30 am GMT was the first time to moderate the queue after overnight posts. We will look into imrpoving that and, for obvious resons, cannot have an unmoderated queue. My apologies.
For the record the only two posts EVER deleted came from someone with an incest/paedophile e-mail address/website and another filled with language so foul it would fail any decency test. The former was reported to appropriate authorities, the latter binned and given a chance via e-mail to clean up his act. This website is about dialogue so all is welcome as long as we remain civil with and towards each other pretty much anything goes.
To answer your post, I guess it’s because I fail to see how his rant is any different than Hannity, O’Reilly, Limbaugh and company’s. It is a rant and about time there was someone presenting the other side rather than just having the uninterrupted drum-roll of the right for the past 14-years.
Bill, I will never apologise for his emotions. I will never agree with 100% of any pundit’s words. I agree that this President has so disgraced the office that it is difficult to feel patriotic and just swallow the party line. I will say and do things from emotion that I may later regret and will always welcome being called for crossing the line and, upon reflection, we may even fiondmoments where we agree. The right would cynically call that a flip-flop, I think through dialogue we can always refine our positions.
Ray, I have nothing but praise for a medical system that saved my eyesight when my retina detached last year. The system works as designed, acute care rushes to the front of the line, non-acute wait. Despite compaints it is the finest in the world and I have seen healthcare in a dozen countries.
Cheers.
Dear Mr. Campbell,
You state, “I fail to see how his rant is any different than Hannity, O’Reilly, Limbaugh.” This is precisely the problem! Liberals can’t see the difference between challenging someone’s ideas and attacking them personally. I would relish the opportunity to listen to a Rush Limbaugh show with you and challenge verbatim point by point. Unfortunately that’s not practical.
You believe this President has so disgraced the office that it is difficult to feel patriotic and just swallow the party line. I hear these types of declarations made from the left continually and they’re never backed up by any facts. This president has kept this country safe since 9/11. That fact is undisputable. I don’t agree with everything this president has done. But honestly ask yourself. What has this president done different than for instance FDR? History will judge this president far different than the left try to portray.
“The right would cynically call that a flip-flop.” Now this one really cracks me up! Do you not listen to your own pundits? What has been the mantra for months now about John McCain? He’s not the same as in 2000. He’s flip flopped on drilling, etc… I am no John McCain fan, but I can at least be intellectually honest.
Hey Brian,
What’s kept this country safe is two ocean’s distance between the location of the conflicts and a sanitisation of war. We’ve now been asked by the Maliki government to deliver a timetable to leave Iraq.
You may not remember reading about FDR and to compare W to him would undermine and cheapen the efforts of the greatest generation our country has ever produced. He not only rebuilt our country after a devastating war, he helped stabilise the world. The New Deal was something to be proud of and gave millions a chance to get back on their feet.
We’ve lost compassion for our fellow man during this so-called Gingrich revolution. We’ve abandoned doing the right thing for doing what’s right for me. We’ve become greedy, slothful and forgotten our roots.
The Chinese have a saying, “from slippers to slippers in three generations.” The first egenration, circa 1945-70 in our real time example, worked hard to build something that would last and move out of slippers and into leather shoes. The second generation (in our case 1970-1995) saw the sacrifices the 1st generation made and stayed the course. The third, having seen none of the struggle (some would argue our time now) frittered it away and everyone ended up back in slippers by fighitng amongst themselves and living in complete, me first decadence.
It’s time for personal responsibility in both parties. It’s time for backbone and will to make tough vs. politically expedient choices. It’s time for serious discussion vs. cheap sound bytes. It’s time for the USA to come back into the community of nations and earn our way back to the head of the table vs. demand it.
Otherwise nothing will keep us safe mate.
Cheers.
The anonymous writer wrote one last time in reply….
Dear Mr. Campbell,
Thank you for your response! It is appreciated. I drink NO KoolAid and can objectively see both sides of ANY argument. It’s unfortunate that you can’t watch ALL of Countdown, because you would see the same two to three yes men on Olberman’s show every night! Never do we get to at least see “the deaf, dumb supposed conservative.” They make no attempt to be “Fair and Balanced.”
Speaking of Hannity, or Rush for that matter. They allow liberals to call them and engage them with their opinions. I know because I listen from my office every day. As far as portraying me as, “you can’t stand it that we now have an equally strong voice.” That couldn’t be further from the truth! I regularly watch Chris Mathews, although I question his intellectual acumen, he does attempt at honest debate. Something I believe Keith Olberman would be too recreant to do. Make no mistake, his nightly bluster (which is always just him), is just a cover for a cowardly person.
And regarding Fox allowing dissent, you are aware Fox just hired Howard Wolfson? That campaign has stated Fox was the fairest of all of the networks. I wonder if you would have the same opinion of MSNBC if you could see it.
==================================================
My reply…
It will be interesting to watch Howard Wolfson and Karl Rove on the same table. As for the Clinton’s saying FOX was the most fair, I think we saw in the campaign that they would do and say anything to win. You can call Olbermann a lot of things but coward is not one that fits. Opinionated, absolutely. Over-the-top, sometimes. And his points always seem to come home to roost. Time will tell.
Also, MSNBC, Meet the Press, CBS, CNN and ABC pulled no punches with Mrs. Clinton and her strange campaign behaviour. I was a Clinton supporter until Bill pulled the race craziness in South Carolina followed by a string of dumb moves culminating with the RFK reference that made it look like she was hanging around in case the black guy got shot!
Let us please not forget that the oft-stated FOX/Rush/Republican agenda was to get her nominated because they know she is such a lightning rod for their base, it would energise them and stop the Bob Barr siphoning of conservative votes.
118 days to go, it’s going to be a fun ride for us all.
Thanks again…
Dear Mr. Campbell,
“What’s kept this country safe is two ocean’s distance.” In the past this statement proved to be absolutely correct. In this day in age this has proven to be not an adequate defense, as 9/11 regrettably proved that. No longer can we idly stand by and be, “Fortress America.”
Never would I “cheapen” the greatest generation’s efforts. I’m a student of that generation and specifically that war. FDR, whom I have great admiration for, was not alive to rebuild our nation after that devastating war. It was ironically, that war that kick started the American economy that was so successful in the fifties.
That Gingrich revolution is something Bill Clinton actually tries to take credit for. You say we’ve lost compassion for our fellow man. Government is larger than at any point in our history, and all for the compassion of our fellow man. I’m not a rich person by any means. I believe in taking care of myself, and I don’t expect or ask for someone to be burdened by my responsibilities. We live in a time of entitlement mentality.
You speak of the “First generation.” I’m privileged to spend time with some of that generation. They are a different breed indeed. They don’t believe in handouts, or that someone owes them something. Or that it’s their American birthright to have free healthcare.
“It’s time for personal responsibility.” Now you’re talking like a conservative. I like it!
Opinions are like noses…everyone has one and as long as it works for you it is the right one.
Your responses to the unnamed contributor and those that followed about Mr. Olbermann’s thin skinned persona and echo chamber mentality on his show completely misses the point. Whatever else you say about the right wing commentators like Hannity and O’Rielly, at least they will engage in debate with people of opposing view points.
The boorish and pompous Mr. Olbermann only brings on sycophants and rump kissers to validate his bellicosity and histrionics. Rarely - outside of O’Reilly - have I seen the likes of this man who is so in love with himself that he deems comments “Special Comments” before they are even delivered.
He is basically saying “everything I say is gold but this nugget is so extraordinary that I need tell you lest you would be too stupid to understand on your own.”
His over the top delivery, silly voices and laughing stagehand antics – I think you called it his passion - though add to the gravitas of what he has to say and truly show off his intellect.
Only my opinion of course!