Olbermann Watch - MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann: Roid off the Bat

Olbermann Watch, "persecuting" Keith since 2004

March 7, 2006

Roid off the Bat

Tuesday's Countdown might have left some viewers confused: for almost half its length it seemed like Keith Olbermann had transformed the program into his own personal edition of SportsCenter. Barry Bonds, steroids, Kirby Puckett, baseball... Finally, 35 minutes into the show, KO finally got to more substantive news: scandals, but only Republican ones.

The Great Leak Case, of course, Tom Delay, Katherine Harris, and Abramoff. The latter had been headlined by KO as a "chill" sweeping through Washington, because it was "Jack Abramoff threatening to name names" about the ongoing investigation. On The Hour of Spin this was something that had Washington trembling. In truth, Abramoff threatened nothing. His attorney made an argument that this information would come out in the sentencing hearing unless it is postponed. Not nearly as exciting as Olby's version.

Howard Fineman was tonight's designated KO facsimile, reflecting back Olby's speculation and innuendo just the way Keith likes it. Neither one mentioned the bribery and corruption investigation surrounding Congressman William Jefferson. Wrong party.

The #2 story was a taped report from California on a deputy being charged with voluntary manslaughter. Celebrity news followed, and then a segment on the passing of Dana Reeve. But there's always the Media Matters Minute, guaranteed to please old buddy David Brock. This time Olby picked out a Rush Limbaugh comment about Hillary sounding shrill, like an ex-wife...and based on that Keith named Rush "worser"! Huh? It's never been easier to become of the "worst persons in the world": just disapprove of She Who Must Not Be Criticized, and you're in.

If Countdown is to be believed, there was no news today about Iran, the bomb, UN scandals, India, nonproliferation treaties, or Howard Stern. (Oh, wait, Olby isn't likely to grovel before Stern for a while. That ungrateful turncoat went and gave another exclusive interview to those hated Fox people.) Others may waste time on these trivial fluff stories, but they don't have the incisive news judgment of Keith Olbermann.

And that's The Hour of Spin for this, the 20th day of the Keith Olbermann CoverUp.

Posted by johnny dollar | Permalink | Comments (20) | | View blog reactions

20 Comments

By KfK on March 7, 2006 9:41 PM

Interesting synopsis.

Starting off with Bonds and Puckett when most people don't tune in to Countdown for sports news is precious. Of course, the best way to keep ratings down is to confuse your audience. Keep 'em guessing as to which Keith will show up -- Keith the conspiracy monger, Keith the Bush basher, Keith the sports guy or Keith the entertainment reporter! No matter what, the majority of the audience is likely to tune out.

Only Keith would start with sports to alienate all the non-sports-watching lefty Bush haters, then follow with the "Great Leak Case" so the sports people who might have been on board tune out! One day, he might engineer a McEnroe 0.0 if he keeps this up.

By Billy on March 7, 2006 10:32 PM

From what I've seen, KO's interest in sports is limited to baseball only.

By Nonfactor on March 7, 2006 10:54 PM

Keith is mainly a baseball guy if you saw him on SportsCenter, but he knows a lot about all sports.

Anyone else see the irony in the complaints about how the show started with sports, when all the times it starts with updates on the leak cases we see posts here like: "KO started tonight with more spin on the leak story" etc.

Ignore the importance of the leak case all you want, but sorry Republicans, it's not going away. Leaks in the government are important, so are lobbying scandals. Sure, so is the "War on Terror" and the War in Iraq, but I'm sure if he had talked about that you'd find even more things to whine about.

Rename this site to: olbermannwhine.com

By johnny dollar on March 7, 2006 11:22 PM

> irony in the complaints about how the show started with sports

What's your point? That either the show has to devote its first half to sports, or else it has to start with The Great Leak Case? Because, other than sports and Libby, there is no other possible news that is more important?

> Leaks in the government are important

Tell that to Olby, who just 24 hours ago was whining about the fact that they were being investigated.

By eddie kay on March 8, 2006 1:02 AM

From an unabashed liberal here I found this show one of the best examples of KO's insecurity.

1) Did anyone notice his diatribe against Bravos new show "viral videos? Poor Keith he sees it as an affront to his "masterpiece" oddball.After saying he wouldn't mention the corporate fat cat who stole HIS concept,he went right ahead.

2)you could almost hear his anger. Remember this the guy who invented "puppet therte",made a fool of himself on Dave Letterman and didn't realize that Letterman was making fun of his nonsensical concept.THIS

3)Best yet sucking up to Jose Conseco and calling that ratS BOOK a historical document wated to make ne upchuck. According to him,when everyone was knocking the rat,ko according to KO HIS WAS THE

By Trekkie on March 8, 2006 2:23 AM

Well, the Bonds story did break late, and Keith has had something of a running vendetta against him for a while now. But I think either the Senate Intelligence Committee's decision not to hold hearings on the NSA wiretapping (which was spineless kow-towing to the Administration) or the renewal of the PATRIOT Act should have been the lead story.

Tell that to Olby, who just 24 hours ago was whining about the fact that they were being investigated.

I think he was "whining" that only certain leaks were being investigated while others were being ignored...

By KfK on March 8, 2006 8:22 AM

Precious lib-logic from "Nonfactor":

Ignore the importance of the leak case all you want, but sorry Republicans, it's not going away. Leaks in the government are important, so are lobbying scandals. Sure, so is the "War on Terror" and the War in Iraq, but . . .

How could you mention the importance of the leak case in the same sentence with the war and terrorism, much less imply that the Great Leak Case deserves top billing? Nonfactor, why don't you just admit that Olby's biggest story of the day is the one he thinks will hurt Bush or a Republican the most? If Bush tries to get out a locked door and the pictures make him look bad, somehow, amazingly those images make it to the start of Meltdown. Why is that?

With all that is going on in the world and as crazy as you are, you can't expect anyone to believe that the "Great Leak Case"(Tm) is worthy of so much coverage. I know you want to defend Olby, but blindly defending the obviously indefensible just makes you look like an ass.

By Jack on March 8, 2006 9:33 AM

Hmmm. The day before, Olby was blaming the death of Kirby Puckett on a pitch thrown by Dennis Martinez. It seems he's backed off that statement a bit. Why no mention of (killer) Martinez in today's Kirby story, Olby?

By Trekkie on March 8, 2006 9:44 AM

From the transcript:
"The news cut through the baseball training camps here in Florida tonight, when even the professionals began to wonder if an errant pitch thrown 11 seasons ago has caused a tragedy today."

"But his career ended not long after he was hit in the eye by a pitch from Dennis Martinez of Cleveland in 1994."

I see a question of whether the incident contributed to Kirby's death, but I don't see an outright accusation that Martinez caused it like you claim.

By Anonymous on March 8, 2006 9:50 AM

IT'S OLBY CONSPIRACY THEORY #22322

Dennis Martinez killed Kirby Puckett!

By KfK on March 8, 2006 10:00 AM

From
http://www.bmgnri.com/news20021107.htm

Central retinal vein occlusion is the second most common blinding disorder of the retinal blood vessels, after diabetic retinopathy. The condition affects mostly people over 65 years of age. The central retinal vein enters the eye at the back, surrounded by nerve fibers of the optic nerve.

Public awareness of CRVO spiked in 1996 when it was diagnosed in popular Minnesota Twins outfielder Kirby Puckett. The 10-time All-Star, 6-time Gold Glove Award winner, and 5-time Silver Slugger Award winner awoke on the morning of March 28, 1996, with seriously blurred vision. Dr. Glaser was Mr. Puckett's retina surgeon but, to the regret of them both, there was no effective treatment at the time for his CRVO and Mr. Puckett was forced to retire from baseball.

Maybe Martinez beaned Puckett with a pitch in his sleep? By the way, I just saw this -- does anyone know if it is true:

Kirby Puckett sexually assaulted a woman in a restaurant by pulling her into a men's room and fondling her. It was reported weeks later that both his former wife and supposed mistress claimed he was abusive

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2005/11/27/172157.shtml

If it is true, why haven't I heard about it?

By Dave on March 8, 2006 10:25 AM

"The news cut through the baseball training camps here in Florida tonight, when even the professionals began to wonder if an errant pitch thrown 11 seasons ago has caused a tragedy today."

What contributed to Puckett's death was his inability to find the salad bar.

Seriously, hasn't the issue of whether or not the errant pitch help end his career already been settled?

Why is always necessary for some on the left to find excuses or to assign blame to people or incidences rather than hold people responsible for the choices they make?

Journalists are supposed to make reports based on fact.

Keith's style of journalism is to make innuendos based on speculation, regardless of existing facts that completely go against his suggestive narrative.

By Jack on March 8, 2006 10:38 AM

"The news cut through the baseball training camps here in Florida tonight, when even the professionals began to wonder if an errant pitch thrown 11 seasons ago has caused a tragedy today."

Classic Olby. Olby's method of expressing his personal opinion about a story: he quotes "the professionals". Why drag Dennis Martinez' name through the mud... personal grudge, Keith?

It's obvious to most that Mr. Puckett's unhealthy lifestyle most likely contributed to his death... not a pitch thrown 11 years ago. Olby's obsession with accentuating the negative made this an unfortunately ugly story.

By bill on March 8, 2006 12:08 PM

Keith should stick to sports.His strong biases will keep him a second stringer in the news business.

By Anonymous on March 8, 2006 12:33 PM

URGENT PRESS RELEASE FROM KEITH OLBERMANN :

Given the recent tragic death of Kirby Puckett, we at Meltdown are requesting a Special Prosecutor to investigate the intentions of one D. Martinez. The momentum of a baseball travelling at above 90 mph is the equivalent to that of a bullet travelling at 900 mph -- enough to penetrate a kevlar vest. We demand to know:

1. What was D. Martinez thinking?

2. Did he discuss his plans re: Puckett with anyone else e.g. Bob Novak?

3. Was there a cover-up after the incident?

4. Where is Kirby's body? Why no autopsy? Why no open casket?

5. Who was with Puckett the night of his "death"?

6. Why is Major League Baseball silent on these issues?

Until these questions are answered, we at Meltdown reserve the right to speculate on the answers as we see fit. Until our speculations are proven false, we will report them to our loyal viewers. Once they are proven false, we will stop talking about them openly, and only make veiled references to what we believe to be true.

By KfK on March 8, 2006 7:02 PM

When Keith has his final Bush-related stroke, I plan to write his obituary as follows:

Keith Olbermann, former television news host of the ill-fated "Countdown with Keith Olbermann," died today after a massive stroke. The news cut through the leftist training camps here in Moonbatia tonight, when even the professional conspiracists began to wonder if an errant subway car door from long ago has caused a tragedy today.

For those not in the "know", background on Keith and subway car doors from Wikipedia:

[Olbermann has an] inability to drive due to a head injury on a New York City subway car that permanently damaged his depth perception when his head got caught in a door.

What an athlete! Keith may be the only able-bodied adult male to ever get his head caught in a subway door!

By Trekkie on March 8, 2006 7:44 PM

What an athlete! Keith may be the only able-bodied adult male to ever get his head caught in a subway door!

Not that I don't trust Wikipedia, but the more accurate description (from imdb.com) is that he was running to catch a subway train and misjudged the height of the door when he jumped onto the train, thus cracking his head on the top of the car.

By Gloria on March 8, 2006 7:48 PM

You got it right, Bill. I'm sure there is a place on cable TV for Keith in some type of sports program and hopefully, for his sake, it can be successful. Perhaps Countdown can still be saved with more sports and by ridding it of (1) Oddball and that irritating sidekick with the laugh, (2) Worse/Worser/Worst Person in the world (such a stupid negative concept right from the start and (3) Keeping Tabs with KO's ridiculous rant about the producers forcing him to do the cheesy entertainment bits. Yes, his biased opinions with no one at all to counteract his views will continue to keep him the low man on the news totem pole unless some worthwhile dissenting opinions are brought in. I very much doubt, though, that Keith is up to such debate. So, maybe there is still hope. Even though the guy comes off as a real jerk most of the time, I hope that there can be better days ahead for him and whatever viewers he may have left.

By KfK on March 8, 2006 9:34 PM

Trekk,

How did you like my obituary?

By Courtney Gidts on May 19, 2006 2:54 PM

I've managed to save up roughly $82756 in my bank account, but I'm not sure if I should buy a house or not. Do you think the market is stable or do you think that home prices will decrease by a lot?

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20 Comments