Olbermann Watch - MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

Olbermann Watch, "persecuting" Keith since 2004

April 25, 2006

COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN - APRIL 25, 2006

Host: Keith Olbermann

Topics/Guests:

CIA LEAK POLITICS: Larry Johnson, fmr. CIA officer; Greg Mitchell, editor of Editor & Publisher
GAS PRICES: Rick Klein

"Exhuming McCarthy"

It would take more than the efforts of one humble Olbermann Watcher to catalog all the spin, propaganda, and outrageous drivel that the infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann regurgitated on Tuesday's night's Countdown. From the opening spiel, where he bellowed about scapegoats and "McCarthyism", to his interview guests--including the disreputable radical Larry Johnson--this was an Hour of Spin for the record books. The Man-Tan Man bellowed:

A witchhunt is still a witchhunt, and McCarthyism, whether named for proponent or victim, still sends shivers.

Adding to the surrealism of the world as seen on OlbyPlanet, all this frenzy was over yesterday's news: Mary McCarthy denying, through surrogates, that she was the criminal who leaked classified information. A standard Olby ploy, repeating and rehyping old stories for a disinformational purpose, was in full bloom tonight. He wanted to know how this leak was found so rapidly, when we "still don't know" who leaked Plame's name. KO has already forgotten that the government-appointed prosecutor in fact does know who leaked Plame's name; he just hasn't made it public. Didn't Olby himself discuss that with slippery Shuster just the other day? We realize Keith doesn't know who's in the President's cabinet, but shouldn't he know what's been on his own show?

Then we get to the unsavory Mr Johnson, the ex-CIA genius who told us, two months before 9/11, that we have "little to fear" from terrorists, because all these "fantasies" about a terrorist threat were just "fiction". This impartial "expert" has even delivered the DNC weekly radio address, just the sort of resume line that endears him to Krazy Keith. So again KO trots out a left-wing ideologue to parrot his spin and give exactly one side of the story: she's a "scapegoat", maybe she's being "framed", "political hacks" are trying to "intimidate the press". Johnson, with his great track record of keen analysis, vouched for the fact that the prisons leak did no intelligence damage. A journalist might have asked him to back that up, but a hack like Krazy Keith doesn't know the meaning of "follow-up".

For two nights in a row, Olby has foisted on his viewers ideological cronies of the fired ex-CIA liar, giving zero time to anyone with a different point of view. What leftist will KO drag out tomorrow night to continue his on-air crusade as Chairman of the Mary McCarthy Defense Committee?

There was more spin to come from Greg Mitchell, of Editor and Publisher. This brought a revival of Keith's Konvoluted Konspiracy, and tonight the "expert" guest was more than willing to buy into KO's fevered fantasies. Olby suggested that the administration was trying to "criminalize" reporting, and Greg was exactly the kind of subservient human ditto machine that Keith requires of his favored guests.

KO took a few shots at Tony Snow, but don't get the idea that it was anything clever or original. He just lifted a bunch of quotes, without verifying them, from the far-left Think Progress. As is typical of the "journalism" of Keith Olbermann, he didn't even credit his "source". Then the topic turned to energy and gas prices. Rick Klein, of the far-left Boston Globe was next in the Countdown Chair of Claptrap, but he broke precedent with the two simpletons who preceded him by being relatively sane. After "oddball", The Hour of Spin took its traditional voyage to the bottom of the barrel (which tonight, even more than usual, was a short trip). There followed a parade of "reports" that are certain to be future Peabody nominees: Paris Hilton, Charlie Sheen, internet videos, Cindy Margolis, and standing room areas for airplanes (abruptly cut off by a loss of satellite).

Dogs that didn't bark included the scandal surrounding Paul Mollohan (D), the Zarqawi video, governmental consensus in Iraq, new background checks on port workers, and anything else that doesn't comport with KO's biases. We wouldn't want him getting nauseous now, would we?

And that's The Hour of Spin for this, the 67th day of the Keith Olbermann CoverUp.

Posted by johnny dollar | Permalink | Comments (36) | | View blog reactions

36 Comments

By chris on April 25, 2006 9:53 PM

the disreputable radical Larry Johnson use to be on FOX NEWS. question what did he do to get banished from FOXNEWS??

By Jeravicious on April 25, 2006 10:00 PM

First, JD, great synopsis of tonights program.

Since yesterday's discussion became quite long, I'm gonna offer up a few points...feel free to discuss:

* Regarding the Mary McCarthy/CIA leak story. I point out these comments from Andrea Mitchell's report on KO yesterday

- "She (Mary McCarthy) is acknowledging she did have unauthorized contacts with reporters"

- "that an unidentified officer was fired, and was fired for unauthorized contacts with reporters, with the media. No dispute there, and McCarthy is acknowledging that."

* Regarding the legality of the secret CIA prisons, renditions, etc. Who has declared these illegal? It IS the job of the CIA to operate illegally sometimes in other countries. Spying by a CIA agent while in a foreign country is considered illegal by that country...and yet we do it. With the full knowledge and approval of the President, Congress and the American people.

* Keith once again stated that Fitzgerald was investigating who outed Covert CIA agent Valerie Wilson...and yet Fitzgerald himself has said, "...I am not speaking to whether or not Valerie Wilson was covert."

By spaghettilegs on April 26, 2006 2:27 AM

I was out buying some hooch during the Worst Person in the World tonight. Who got the bronze, silver, and gold?????

By Anonymous on April 26, 2006 2:56 AM

--
It's all over the internet about snow. Go check it out. As to verifying - i think you mean 'cite' or 'credit' - unless you spent the day on the set and know he got the quotes only from think=progress. most of them are from townhall. go look it up. VERIFY for yourself.

Since you gave the gas thing little attention, here's an interesting link. Exxon gives something on the order of 90% of it's political donations to repubs. Guess that kind of money buys you private access to policy meetings. Now you understand why 'libs' want to know who is present at cheney's little energy soirees.

http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/contrib.asp?Ind=E01&Cycle=2004

By KfK on April 26, 2006 8:44 AM

Good God man! This may be a television record for number of lies told in a one hour period.

When will the cable companies allow people to selectively choose channels? I don't want to help pay Olbermann's salary through cable fees. In fact, I want to be the first to call MSLSD and tell them I no longer receive their programming because "Meltdown with Krazy Keith" offends my sensibilities.

By Billy "O" on April 26, 2006 9:06 AM

There once lived a moonbat named Keith
“He’s crazy” his shrink did bequeath
His “news show” is lame
Last in the ratings game
Nancy Grace he falls way beneath

By jack on April 26, 2006 9:28 AM

In the new tv advertisement, Krazy Keith utters (with a straight face) "On Countdown, we refuse to be predictable."

What a hoot.

Evidently, bashing President Bush, FoxNews, O'Reilly, Ann Coulter, Tom Cruise, etc. on a nightly basis isn't predictable in Olbyworld.

By Anonymous on April 26, 2006 9:43 AM

`Exxon gives something on the order of 90% of it`s political donations to repubs. Guess that kind of money buys you private access to policy meetings. Now you understand why `libs` want to know who is present at cheney`s little energy soirees.`

------------

WASHINGTON -- After insisting repeatedly for years that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve should only be used for emergencies, President Bush ordered a temporary halt to Petroleium Reserve deposits.

i guess politicizing the SPR is bad, unless it`s to help the RNC in an election year ... kind of like how leaks are bad, unless they`re from the White House ... and torture is bad, unless it`s U.S. torture.

By Scott on April 26, 2006 10:10 AM

Rick Klein's opening answer went on about how the key in the President's statement was the word "symbol" that this is just a symbolic move, etc. Problem being that the word the President used was "signal." Check the thesaurus Rick, the two words aren't synonyms.

Does it say anything about KO's status in the real world that he had some b-level stand up comedian on as an airline expert and went through a whole segment on an airline design by a French company that was studied and dropped SIX YEARS AGO?

Slow news day, I guess, what with ignoring all those dogs that don't bark.

By Dave Chappelle on April 26, 2006 10:11 AM

On tonight's Meltdown, this comment spilled from the lips of "comedian" Mooney (a black man) regarding the nation's orange alert status:

"I'm on white alert, and I'm not getting off it."
(Keith nervously chuckling in background)

I'm guessing that if a white guy made the same idiotic racial remark about blacks he'd be drawn and quartered.

By Scott on April 26, 2006 10:28 AM

BTW, was the point of the Tony Snow segment that he shouldn't be WH Press Secretary because he hasn't been a Bush syncophant the last 5 years?

On the MSNBC group (MSN) there are some calls for KO to join the Hardball Hotshots and "infiltrate the Neo-Con cocktail party on Friday nights." Can anyone believe he would be willing to subject him self to public disagreement in that role? Expect Bill O on CD before that happens.

By johnny dollar on April 26, 2006 10:38 AM

Given Krazy's admission that listening to dissenting opinions makes him "nauseous", they won't let him anywhere near the Hardball Hot-shots unless they install his own personal barf bag.

By LiarInChief on April 26, 2006 10:43 AM

Bush`s new spokesliar, Tony Snow, should be a perfect fit:

* Falsely claimed that Dems objected to Bush`s warrantless spying because `government should not be able to listen to Al Qaeda`
* Falsely claimed that Carter and Bush both authorized warrantless surveillance of U.S. citizens
* Falsely claimed that the FISA probable cause standard kept the FBI from inspecting Moussaoui`s laptop
* Falsely claimed that 2002 FISA review court opinion allowed for warrantless domestic surveillance
* Falsely claimed that Gitmo was `the most humane prisoner-of-war facility in history`

By Anonymous on April 26, 2006 11:35 AM

I can't beleive that! he worked at fox news, a network that is fair and balanced and would never spin things in favor of Republicans. No! The Bush adminsitration must have hired him because they have a an overwhelming desire to be candid with the American people. This is as you know, an administration that abhors secrecy! This administration believes in being transparent in all they do. How could you possibly insinuate that Fox news is sympathetic to the Bush administration or that the president would hire such a man if he were?

By Patrick on April 26, 2006 11:35 AM

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL declares an intelligence insurgency:

We're as curious as anyone to see how Ms. McCarthy's case unfolds. But this would appear to be only the latest example of the unseemly symbiosis between elements of the press corps and a cabal of partisan bureaucrats at the CIA and elsewhere in the "intelligence community" who have been trying to undermine the Bush Presidency. . . .

The deepest damage from these leak frenzies may yet be to the press itself, both in credibility and its ability to do its job. It was the press that unleashed anti-leak search missions aimed at the White House that have seen Judith Miller jailed and may find Ms. Priest and Mr. Risen facing subpoenas. And it was the press that promoted the probe under the rarely used Espionage Act of "neocon" Defense Department employee Lawrence Franklin, only to find that the same law may now be used against its own "whistleblower" sources. Just recently has the press begun to notice that the use of the same Espionage Act to prosecute two pro-Israel lobbyists for repeating classified information isn't much different from prosecuting someone for what the press does every day--except for a far larger audience.

We've been clear all along that we don't like leak prosecutions, especially when they involve harassing reporters who are just trying to do their job. But then that's part of the reason we didn't join Joe Wilson and the New York Times in demanding Karl Rove's head over the Plame disclosure. As for some of our media colleagues, when they stop being honest chroniclers of events and start getting into bed with bureaucrats looking to take down elected political leaders, they shouldn't be surprised if those leaders treat them like the partisans they have become.

By Missy on April 26, 2006 5:15 PM

Scott,

I can't believe those idiots on the MSNBC board are whining about Rita, Carlson and Scarborough being on the "Hotshot" segment on Friday. Don't they realize MSNBC canned each of their programs every Friday? So big deal; MSNBC lets them show up on Hardball to make a few minutes worth of comments. I can't believe ANYONE (but a lib, I guess) would complain about that.

And how fair is it that during an election year, MSNBC cancels their conservative programming for one night per week, leaving their liberal programming intact? I hope they lose even their lib viewers!!!

By SeattlePatriot on April 26, 2006 5:48 PM

Keith Oberman Rocks. Compared to the PROVEN LIARS like Rush, O'Riley, and the rest. Thank god I can watch the news and see something besides Rovian / Mehlman talking points that have nothing to do with reality. Larry Johnson has "not" been discredited by anyone but other Right Wing liars. What he says is 100% true. Look up the quotes! It is amazing how people criticize people that tell us of the crimes our government is committing in our name, and look the other way when CIA NOC's are outed and front companies are destroyed by the Bushies.

Better figure out which side you are on. There is only one side that is good for America, and it is opposed to every crime the White House commits.

By Philly on April 26, 2006 5:49 PM

I think if egomaniac Keith shows his ancient Boston Market commercial again, he will certainly lose the majority of his viewers. I thought the look on Jerry Della Famina's face was priceless when Olby sprang the ad on him and burdened all of us yet again with the story. Sometimes I feel sorry for Keith, but it fades quickly.

By Scott on April 26, 2006 5:57 PM

Check out that board Missy, they are already losing most of their viewers. Apparently the new MSNBC plan is only 9 hours of live news programs a day (including Imus), and the rest taped replays of news from the other NBC networks.

I guess that plays into the whole 9AM edition of Countdown thing they're doing now.

They are so out of the mainstream from top to bottom on that channel, its amazing they are still around. About half their ads are promos for their own shows (where are the Maury/Connie ads this week?) I can't really believe that Kaplan thinks that CD is "the best show on television." If he is pinning the hopes of his network on that, he has no business running a public access channel.

By katherine harris strategist on April 26, 2006 6:08 PM

the headline says it all ...

ROVE GETS FIFTH CHANCE TO TELL THE TRUTH

By KfK on April 26, 2006 7:05 PM

Which one of these headlines will Olby be talking about today, tomorrow and the day after and the day after and that:

1. Egypt bombings
2. Osama and Zarqawi tapes
3. Ahmadinejad threatening to obliterate the West and Israel
4. Karl Rove testifies again in Plame affair

Hmmmm . . . let me see. . . I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess #4. Will Olby ask, "is this newest appearance an indication that Rove will soon be charged," or "given all of these appearances by Rove before the Grand Jury, is this very bad news for the White House?" Will he state "bad news for the White House and Karl Rove as the President's valued adviser again appeared before a grand jury?"

Who will Krazy have on to discuss the matter? Who will say "yes Keith, this is bad news for the White House," or "yes Keith, Rove is likely to be indicted," or "well, Keith, where there is smoke there is fire?"

Olby owes Fitzgerald big time for all the Olbergasms he has provided.

By Moonbat Dowd on April 26, 2006 7:31 PM

-------

`The Oilmen in the Oval, incompetent in so many ways, have brilliantly achieved one of their main objectives: boosting the fortunes of the oil industry and the people who run it. All those secret meetings the vice president had back in 2001, letting the energy and oil big shots help write our energy policy -- one that urged more oil and gas drilling -- worked like a charm.

The last time W. began wringing his hands about our addiction to oil -- in the State of the Union address -- the vice president was later dismissive about the notion of sacrifice. And the energy secretary clarified the president`s words, saying they shouldn`t be taken literally and that the idea of replacing Middle East oil imports with alternative fuels was `purely an example.` The U.S. could have begun developing alternative fuels 30 years ago if Dick Cheney hadn`t helped scuttle an ambitious plan in the Ford administration.`

By Patrick Fegan on April 26, 2006 8:06 PM

Hey blue baller. Wave that rainbow/latino flag proudly. No gay man in America is in greater need of a dirty sanchez than you, tool. Oh, and nice touch. Calling someone a sodomite and buggerer of other men while being one yourself. Only in the world of you and the object of your wet dreams, Keith Olbermann.

Nicely done, too, exposing that rampant right wing bias over there at Fox News, you know, the network with the top 4 rated news shows on cable. Seriously, Carl Cameron and Jim Angle. I'm extremely dissapointed in you. I'm not sure why I expected anything more from a leftist turd such as yourself.

I guess in your lavender world, David Gregory( besides being one sexy beast) and Helen Thomas ( who even Lincoln referred to as " that old bag from UPI) and Walter Cronkite (" I think Karl Rove might produce Bin Laden come election time") and Dan Rather ( " I maintain that the documents are not forged") and Bryant Gumbel ( " there's fewer blacks at the winter Olympics than a GOP convention) are all just outstanding journalists, correct? So many liberals, so little patience.

Oh, and I'm a proud Heterosexual. I just wanted to encourage all the other heterosexuals out there to be brave and come out of the shadows, too. I guess there's just something about a penis going together with a vagina that seems, well, so right!!!! A penis and a male anus...... not so much.

This has been my response to bluballer's insightful posts concerning myself and others from a couple of days ago. Will his mentioning me make me check the site more often? No. Although I do care desperately what he thinks of me and you guys too. Be gone, leftist tool. You and your little dog Olbermann, too.

By Patrick Fegan on April 26, 2006 8:17 PM

There once was a man (?) name blucaller
Who did nasty things for only a dollar.
He'd watch Keith at 8
And shout " Ain't he great!"
To the T.V. he'd say " YO Yo Keith, holler!"

I look forward to another reference to me in a post of yours. I would advise you to steer clear of any personal attacks. Just looking out for you. Tool.

By Patrick Fegan on April 26, 2006 8:18 PM

There once was a man (?) name blucaller
Who did nasty things for only a dollar.
He'd watch Keith at 8
And shout " Ain't he great!"
To the T.V. he'd say " YO Yo Keith, holler!"

I look forward to another reference to me in a post of yours. I would advise you to steer clear of any personal attacks. Just looking out for you. Tool.

By Patrick Fegan on April 26, 2006 8:20 PM

Sorry about the double posting. I just thought my last limerick was that good!

By hardtargetletter on April 26, 2006 8:31 PM