Olbermann Watch - MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann: Useful Idiot

Olbermann Watch, "persecuting" Keith since 2004

March 15, 2006

Useful Idiot

Poll results led off the Wednesday Hour of Spin. A new NBC poll shows Bush approval at 37%, with a disapproval rate the highest ever for "Mister" Bush. There's also a new Rasmussen survey that puts the approval rate at 43%. Did Keith Olbermann report those numbers? Does the sun rise in the west? Norm Coleman's comments about the White House staff were elevated to blockbuster status. When was the last time Olby found Coleman's opinions to be so newsworthy? Just asking. Tom de Frank had to put up with Krazy Keith's bizarre run-on questions:

Doing the basic math on just the position of Chief of Staff, obviously the toughest of the jobs in that personal spectrum anyway, Andrew Card is now seven months away from beating the record of Sherman Adams under President Eisenhower for the longest serving Chief of Staff in history, and history majors will remind us that things did not end well for Sherman Adams, is Card in some kind of bullseye here?

Then it was back to Russ Feingold's so-called "censure" motion. Olby talked about the Democratic reluctance to join Russ's crusade, and wondered aloud:

If not now, then when?

To get a balanced perspective on the whole censure idea, KO brought in an unbiased, impartial analyst: the Daily Kos himself. Well, compared to Olby, he might just appear impartial. Does it surprise anyone that Keith would bring on the bluest of the blue bloggers, a guy way out there where the busses don't run? After all, he's brought us Lawrence O'Donnell, Arianna Huffington, and worse. How many un-blue bloggers has KO given a primo interview spot on Countdown? Just asking.

By the way, Kos told KO: "The Daily Kos community loves you". That's our "nonpartisan" Keith, champion of journalistic ethics and implacable foe of conflicts of interest.

In the #4 segment, Olby found another mountain in a molehill, describing it as the government "destroying our freedoms". The crime? The FBI took photographs of an antiwar demonstration. And? And?!? And nothing. A bunch of people were in a public place, and the FBI took pictures, like any person standing in the area has a perfect, 100% right to do. (You don't want your picture taken? Then don't stand around on the public street.) Of course, Keith brought in an ACLU flack to damn the FBI, but didn't allow anyone to speak to the other side of the issue. Is there a rule on The Hour of Spin that Olby can never give both sides of a story? Just asking.

After the second (or was it the third?) "Bill O'Reilly is an idiot" promo came "oddball", that favorite segment for the intelligent, sophisticated Countdown audience. Then the nightly Barry Bonds Bash, followed by another promo for the latest Bill O'Reilly attack. (If anyone's counting, and we are, this will be #70.) Whatever did Mr Bill do this time to raise the ire of Krazy Keith, the man who says the best response is "just to ignore"? No, not yet. This was just another tease to keep the Daily Kos crowd tuned in through the commercial.

Finally, #70 arrived. Keith declared himself an "expert" on Bill O'Reilly, and moved in for his latest salvo. There was a collection of narcissistic clips of Keith (with Steven Colbert) saying stuff like "O'Reilly is an idiot", and another clip of Keith (with his special friend Al Franken) along the same line. This is truly made to order for the sophisticated, intellectual Countdown audience. Those neanderthals who watch the evil Fox channel are mindless ignoramuses. But Countdown viewers? There's nothing they like better than smart, erudite, witty repartee, like "O'Reilly is an idiot". William F Buckley might be taken seriously some day, if only he had Keith's ability to elevate the discourse to such exalted levels.

But what exactly did Mr Bill do? What set off attack #70? Umm, nothing. It was just an opportunity for Olbermann to raise the threat level to orange, and for Krazy Keith to have an Olbgasm watching his hip persona on the plasma screen. And it possibly proved useful in another sense as well. We wonder, is there a nexus between Olby's frenzied personal attacks on Bill O'Reilly and embarrassing articles in major New York newspapers that Krazy Keith would like to avoid talking about? Just asking.

The #1 story was another of Olby's favorite preoccupations: Tom Cruise. Not only that, but with the creepy Michael Musto. The intelligent, well-informed Countdown audience, like KO, must have been in hog heaven. Meanwhile, in the Media Matters Minute, the ball was again in Keith's court, since the Soros site had already put up OlbyVideo of yesterday's Pat Robertson attack. Tonight, Olbermann carefully perused the latest from Media Matters and chose to make Rush Limbaugh "worst person in the world". Is it really credible that no liberal ever says anything that merits this distinction? Just asking.

And that's The Hour of Spin for this, the 28th day of the Keith Olbermann CoverUp.

Posted by johnny dollar | Permalink | Comments (28) | | View blog reactions

28 Comments

By Jill Perry on March 15, 2006 9:42 PM

So? Your point is what? Defending the big giant head?

By Nonfactor on March 15, 2006 9:44 PM

Do you get a kick out of leaving out facts when you're roasting Keith every night?

Keith brought on a very liberal person to discuss why Democrats aren't getting behind Senator Feingold's "so called censure". I don't know why he'd want a Republican or a Conservative on to discuss the matter, but no need to be jealous over another bloggers venture onto a T.V. show.

The reason the protest issue was discussed wasn't because of the pictures, you must've walked away after the opening of this segment, but because the FBI had labeled these pictures and this group (handing out flyers) as something to do with terrorism. The ACLU lawyer brought up a good question - Who defines a terrorist in this NSA spy program? The FBI? If so then anyone who's ever protested a policy the administration doesn't like could be under surveillance if they so wish. You act mad because Keith didn't get someone who represents the FBI on the show - First, Keith doesn't like having two guests on who end up yelling at each other, and secondly, you don't need one when the facts are laid out in a declassified document.

(You mention a nightly Barry Bonds bash as if you're tired of it, but then you proceed to bash Keith Olbermann every single night.. okay..)

Almost 3 years since Mission Accomplished, your little "spin-off" about an Olbermann CoverUp nobody cares about pales in comparison.

By Nonfactor on March 15, 2006 9:46 PM

[Insert daily insult of Countdown's audience]
[Followed by a personal insult on Keith]

[Insert second (or was that the third?) insult of Keith's audience]
[Throw in insinuation that Keith gets all his material from Media Matter for good measure]

Put those comments into the spaces to add context.

By Jim on March 15, 2006 9:49 PM

What?? No Lloyd Grove as Worst Person in the World?? Maybe Keith HAS met his match!!

By johnny dollar on March 15, 2006 10:28 PM

> The FBI had labeled these pictures and this group

So what?

> Keith doesn't like having two guests on who end up yelling at each other

No, Keith doesn't like having one guest on who doesn't agree with his preconceived spin.

> Insert daily insult of Countdown's audience]

What insult? I was just agreeing with the recent posters who bragged about how intelligent and sophisticated his audience is. And I mean, it really is obvious, isn't it, how smart they are? "Bill O'Reilly is an idiot". Only a really intellectual, erudite audience can appreciate such discerning commentary.

By Bluefire on March 15, 2006 10:29 PM

I must say as a liberal I really-really-really do love this site!!!! By the way, speaking of liberal, I've got GREAT news coming out of the liberal world. Katherine Harris told Hannity tonight that she will -NOT- drop out of her current race.The futures so bright, I gotta wear shades!!!!!!!!!!!!

By mitch on March 15, 2006 10:42 PM

You know I wouldn't mine seeing a dem in the White House.( not really) May be then MSNBC will have to cancel Olby because he won't have anything to talk about.

By Scott on March 15, 2006 11:11 PM

Keith loves to reference what he talked about in the "News Hour." But its always rehashed. Feingold and the censure issue for 3 days. Barry Bonds for over a week. And the daily Bill O'Reilly is an idiot story.

My favorite line from tonight's show (paraphrasing because I don't remember the exact wording)"Based on my appearances on the Col-ber Re-por and the Al Franken show, if I could do a 15 minute routine on Ted Baxter, I'd be booked in Vegas every New Year's Eve." Has there EVER been a more egotistical "journalist"? Especially when the Franken clip was Al talking over Keith with his O'Reilly "impression". Actually neither clip had anything to do with Keith being funny;rather the hosts. I guess his ego didn't allow him to realize that the audience wasn't laughing at "O'Reilly is an idiot."

By Gaius Baltar on March 15, 2006 11:32 PM

Nonfactor.
Keith is a loser!
He has beef with the NY Daily News now.
he's a nut job and a Psycho!

By puck on March 16, 2006 1:12 AM

Jill light the pipe......okay now pass it to Non.......Okay now pass it to Blewfire. It's nice to see the little hit and run smear artists at work. Non I gave you more credit then these other loons but I guess with what you keep company, you soon become. Belive me Non I would like nothing better then to see Dailykos show up. How about next... Democraticunderground? Take the ball and run left as far as Keith can go! No conservatives to balance just run farther and farther to the fringe. Hey maybe he can have Randi Rhoades sit in for him next time he takes off. Yeah there you go. In fact lets just start having Marxists show up! Please it's time for Keith to take control of the village idiots!

Okay Fiengold does the censure thing and runs out of the chamber Monday. And come Tuesday when the press asks the other Dem senators about censure. They run for the high ground or behind food carts. Comon' you looney Dems come out and try to impeach the President. Stand up for at least something insted of being the party of NOTHING! Or ducking out side doors!

Keith in Vegas? He would have trouble having flies show up!

Hey Blewfire! Who was Howard on the radio with for two hours Tues. SH....SH....SHAWN HANNITY! Not on tv with you're boy! I know! What you're boy should do is go on Howard's show and have George Taki come on, they could have a Brokeback moment Then maybe Howard would go on Meltdown! TWO HOURS! on Hannity! no wonder why you're boy looked like it was that time of the month......Wait Keith pretty much always looks like he is P.M.S.ing!

Hey how many days do you think it took Jill Perry to think up that line? How many months do you think it would take Jill to come up with a thought?

One last question for The Loons. Whatever that pimp song was that won for best song at the oscars. Ten years from now, who's gona be hummin' that tune?

Gotta go make money so..................

In the words of Michel Kay....SEE YA!

But when it comes to people like Blew,Jill,Trukie,Dopey (somehow I feel theres hope for Non so I'll leave him out.) WOULDN'T WANT TO BE YA!

By Gaius Baltar on March 16, 2006 1:45 AM

Puck knocked all the Olbermann worshippers out!

By KfK on March 16, 2006 3:43 AM

Interesting that Keith ignored the attack from Lloyd Grove. What do all you Olbermaniacs think about that? Let me tell you what I think:

#1. Keith is scared. He tried to go after Katherine Thomson (Grove's assistant) thinking he might get away with a sucker punch. Instead, he got a nice big bolo punch in the face. Not only did Lloyd go after Keith, he aired some dirty little secrets (e.g. Keith hiding under his desk, refusing to talk to co-workers, described as "pathetic" by old bosses etc.) I wonder if Keith has appologized and sent flowers to Grove's team yet?

#2. Keith has something to hide. If the allegations were false, wouldn't Keith come out swinging? If someone accused me of hiding under my desk in print, I would have a few choice words! Yet Keith remains silent. Aren't you surprised Olbermaniacs?

#3. Lloyd has access to someone who knows alot about Keith (Katherine Thomson), and Keith knows this feud will only hurt him.

What a brave man Olby is! "Punching up" at O'Reilly, "punching down" at twenty-something year old assistants, "punching sideways" at people he works with. To know Olby is to be disgusted by Olby.

By Anonymous on March 16, 2006 10:03 AM

Again and again - how does NBC let this future move-on.org board member (or whatever far left group he joins) continutally provide left wing propoganda. He just is NOT credible and is disgracing a news organziation that takes itself pretty seriously. I mean if you want us to believe Russert, that he's unbiased, we have to be skeptical knowing Opie has free nightly reign. Opie affects the credibility of everyone at NBC. Horrible ratings, horrible journalist - and the powers that be at NBC make a decision every day that what he is doing is OK.

By Trekkie on March 16, 2006 10:13 AM

Interesting that Keith ignored the attack from Lloyd Grove. What do all you Olbermaniacs think about that?

Simple - Keith finally remembered that old saying, "Never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel."

By Dave on March 16, 2006 10:56 AM

Don't pick a fight with someone with photon torpedos,gamma rays or whatever the heck they called those blips that were fired off from that plasticy looking thing.

By Gaius Baltar on March 16, 2006 12:01 PM

Trekkie, knocked out yet again!

By Larry the Elder on March 16, 2006 1:45 PM

Trekkie writes:

Simple - Keith finally remembered that old saying, "Never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel."

Not really. He remembered:

"Never pick a fight with someone who knows your massive faults and will tell people what they are."

Once again Trekkie, you are off the mark. O'Reilly is more dangerous than Grove, but he doesn't have the degree of latitude to attack that Grove has.

I'm sure if we look back, Olby launched his first attacks when he though O'Reilly was injured. After he saw that he could get away with it, he upped the ante. Olby is the typical coward. He throws a punch, sees if he will get away with it, and only continues if he feels safe. The degree of disdain he must have for himself is massive -- no wonder he hides under furniture and cries in his office.

I almost feel badly for Olby, but then I remember he is a mean-spirited SOB who tries to hurt other people.

By KfK on March 16, 2006 2:20 PM

Just for laughs, check out TVNewser's lame response to the proud Olbywatch community:

"Several anonymous tipsters have criticized me for "ignoring" yesterday's N.Y. Daily News column by Lloyd Grove. In the piece, Grove attacks "Krazy Keith" Olbermann for naming him the "Worst Person in the World" on Tuesday."

Actually, Grove objected to Olby attacking his assistant, but this arbiter of all things news should not be obligated to get his facts straight. here is what Olby got in trouble for:

Olbermann: "But our winner tonight [for WPITW], Katherine Thompson. She writes the column with Lloyd Grove. Or he‘s her assistant, maybe, I‘m not sure."

The TV news expert then continues:

"on Monday, Grove took Olbermann's C-SPAN statements out of context, concluding that the MSNBC anchor "deeply distrusts the top brass at NBC and its parent company, General Electric.""

Ahh yes! "Out of context!" Well, we don't see the young man taking Olby's side here, do we? He had no problem taking the O'Reilly phone call incident at face value now, did he? We didn't hear the entire call, but that was OK! Holy Olbfuscation Batman!

He continues:

To me, the most interesting thing about Grove's NBC obsession was the fact that his fun and affable assistant, Katherine Thomson, used to work at MSNBC. I thought about pointing this out on the blog, but chose not to.

Gee whiz -- that is exactly what Olby thought too! What are the odds?

Grove responded with some insults on Wednesday. Trying to avoid this story does not make me an "Olbermann sympathizer" or any of the nasty insults tossed my way via e-mail in the last 24 hours.

Oh yes, avoid repeating those grave insults, but don't forget to repeat all of Keith's venemous attacks on targets that you deem acceptable, and parrot the "out of context" mantra! I do appreciate his openly stating that it is a "nasty insult" to be called an "Olbermann sympathizer." At least he gets that right! What a dope.

By jack on March 16, 2006 3:42 PM

The segment with Steven Colbert was horribly unfunny (that is a comedy show, right?). The narcissistic Olby must get off on re-broadcasting his mug on what he considers to be "hip" cable shows. Unfortunately, Olby is even less funny without a script. Olby looked like his head was gonna explode.

By Dave on March 16, 2006 4:05 PM

My co-workers think I'm crazy. The mental image of Keith under his desk in the fetal position elicits spontaneous laughter.

By Blufire on March 16, 2006 6:34 PM

DAVE- DON'T YOU THINK YOU HAVE BEEN WORKING AT BURGER KING A LITTLE TOO LONG NOW????

By Dave on March 16, 2006 7:03 PM

Good things come for those who wait!! I'm up for assistant manager!!

By Dave on March 16, 2006 7:05 PM

Good things come to those who wait!! I'm up for assistant manager!!

By American Nightmare on March 16, 2006 8:01 PM

This blog is crap and you guys are so ignorant it's beyond belief! Why don't you target someone who is filled with lies like O'Reilly or Limbaugh? Oh yeah, you have your tongues so far up Bush's ass and your heads up your own to know what the truth is.

Just keep dragging the country down into the Dictatorship it's becoming and make sure to celebrate when we nuke and slaughter the next "terrorist" country. And uh, don't forget to get that Draft deferment application for you and your kids in on time.

By Gaius Baltar on March 16, 2006 8:16 PM

American Nightmare, go screw yourself!
My little brither is in Iraq.
Why don't you leave the country and move to Iran.
You're a scumbag!

By Gaius Baltar on March 16, 2006 8:16 PM

American Nightmare, go screw yourself!
My little brither is in Iraq.
Why don't you leave the country and move to Iran.
You're a scumbag!

By Anonymous on March 16, 2006 8:35 PM

American Nightmare -- the right name for all the wrong reasons. Oh the tarty sour irony!

By Trekkie on March 17, 2006 4:36 AM

American Nightmare, go screw yourself!
My little brither is in Iraq.

Oh no you don't. You don't get to play that card. You think that because you have a relative in the military that that makes you more patriotic? That it makes you a better American?

I'm tired of people wrapping themselves in the American flag and proclaiming that they are more virtuous for it.

"The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naïve and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair." - Henry Louis Mencken

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