On Friday, Countdown reported on the latest allegations against George Allen. We noted that they did so by rerunning a report that aired Thursday on Hardball. David Shuster interviewed a woman who said she heard Allen using racial slurs.

But as we revealed exclusively on Olbermann Watch, the Countdown version differed from the original Hardball broadcast in one significant respect. Snipped from the taped piece were a series of questions that revealed the political affiliation of accuser Pat Waring. We will disclose now what Keith Olbermann did not want you to hear.

From the transcript of Thursday's Hardball, this is the exchange that was censored from Friday's night's Hour of Spin:

SHUSTER: You volunteer, you acknowledge you are a registered Democrat.

WARING: I am indeed.

SHUSTER: You volunteer at the local Democratic office?

WARING: I do.

SHUSTER: Once a week?

WARING: Once a week,

SHUSTER: Couple hours?

WARING: Yes.

SHUSTER: What do you do for them?

WARING I sit there and answer the phone and give people signs.

Obviously, MSNBC believed that the partisan bias of the accuser was relevant if viewers were to fairly assess her credibility. Just as obviously, somebody decided that this exchange, roughly 18 seconds long, had to be removed when the piece was shown on Countdown. Result: the accuser's background as a Democrat activist was never disclosed to the audience.

Who ordered that a pre-taped piece should be sent back to the editing bay, just to remove these particular 18 seconds? Was it notorious quote-doctorer Shuster who decided this report should be doctored? If so, why a special, edited version just for Countdown? Or is it more likely that the infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann did not want his viewers to have the whole story, and once again put his thumb on the scales of fairness?

Olberverse...

Newsbusters: Keith Olbermann's "Countdown" took things further downward Friday by deliberately editing a report on the latest Democratic activist accusing Republican George Allen of being a racist...

The Cable Game: ...partisan-identificaion disclaimer was missing from Keith Olbermann's show, which aired just a little while later on the same network. In other words, Olbermann disserved his viewers by depriving them of valuable context as to where the accusing woman was coming from.

Instapundit: AN 18-SECOND GAP. Now where have I heard that before?

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"COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN" (8:00 P.M.-9:00 P.M. ET)

Host: Keith Olbermann

Topics/Guests:

• THE WOODWARD BOOK: Dana Milbank, Washington Post
• THE EVIL ROGER AILES: Craig Crawford

Olbermann Week in Review. Monday: attack Fox News. Tuesday: more attacks on Fox News. Wednesday: still more attacks on Fox News. Thursday: even still more attacks on Fox News. So we come to Friday: yet on top of that even still more attacks on Fox News.

The opening spiel: Bob Woodward's book (covered yesterday), Roger Ailes (yesterday and the day before), Mark Foley (R), George Allen (R), and a supersized oddball. Olby led off by bringing up the NIE report (all week) and the Woodward book (yesterday).

It's a "dysfunctional adminstration", "Mister" Bush didn't want his cabinet to use the word "insurgency", "Mister" Bush's parents had misgivings about Iraq. What's more, Cheney was calling weapons inspectors with locations to look for WMDs. (Sounds like the Veep was himself convinced of their existence, like all those other intelligence agencies around the world.)

Clips from Bob Woodward on CBS being interviewed by Mike Wallace. Hmm. If Chris Wallace is a "monkey", does that mean his dad is just an elderly simian? Keith didn't tell us. Clips of Rumsfeld (R) saying he hasn't read the book (not surprising, since it's not on sale yet) and Tony Snow (R). Clips of Levin (D), Schumer (D), Reed (D).

Olby asked Dana Milbank, shorn of showy regalia, about whom the President is listening to, using one of his trademark leading questions:

Is that credible any more? Do we need to start wondering if the only voices he listens to are the ones inside his own head?

Dana didn't even bat an eye at the irony of Krazy Keith accusing someone else of being delusional. Instead he served his usual human-Xerox purpose, reiterating OlbySpin by citing Abizaid, ex-General Batiste, and John Murtha. It occured to us at this point that much of what appears in this book might contradict the assertions in Tommy Franks's tome. Let's check the wayback machine for all the coverage the Franks book got on Countdown. Um...hold on...it's got to be here somewhere...oh, wait. Never mind.

KO described the whole thing as "the outing of the President's dishonesty", DM talked of circling the wagons, and Olby spoke of the book as a "galvanizing force" for the Democrats. Herr Olbermann has identified a lot of things over the past few months that were going "galvanize" the Democrats. Abramoff, Rove, PlameGate, Scooter Libby, Bill Clinton... He's bound to hit one eventually.

Just in case referencing ex-General Batiste didn't make the case strongly enough, the discredited sports guy announced that Batiste will be the latest in his series of anti-adminstration guests on Monday. After a short bit on Iraq (rumors of a possible military coup), the first commercial break mercifully came into view. But not before a tease for Olby's attack on Roger Ailes.

There followed another tease about Roger Ailes ("the round man" [1]). There would have been another half-dozen except that the infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann bumped his latest attack up to the second (#4) slot. With his copy of "Fat Insults for All Occasions" at the ready, Olby lit into "the rotund refugee from the Ministry of Truth" [2]. He lied that Chris Wallace broke an "agreement" on ground rules, and read a quote that he described as Ailes speaking "between pies" [3].

Then Keith decided to flash back to the elder Bush, and a contentious interview with Dan Rather. KO claimed Ailes had set the whole thing up, and had "scripted" Bush's responses. Of course, Krazy Keith added that when Ailes speaks, "don't get your hands too close to his mouth" [4] and called him a "fat ass" [5].

Cue Craig Crawford, the chortling pundit (aka Olbermann's Brain). Olby said that the "bad publicity" over the interview "galvanized the Democratic party". Again? More galvanizing? There isn't enough zinc on the planet for all this galvanizing. "Monkey" Olbermann claimed that Bush the elder's comeback to Rather was on cue cards, while Clinton just ad-libbed and he "beat Chris Wallace senseless".

Remember that Brain wrote a book "Attack the Messenger", the thesis of which was that politicians demonize reporters for political effect. Brain chorlted about the elder Bush/Rather interview as "deconstructed" in his book as a quintessential example of "attack the media". He said a CBS cameraman (impartial source!) told him Roger Ailes had Bush's "attack" scripted on a cue card.

After all the cackling and sniggering, it boiled down to this. Elder Bush attacking a journalist: bad because he used cue cards. Bill Jefferson Clinton attacking a journalist: good, because he didn't have cue cards. Perhaps in his next book, Olbermann's Brain will explain which reporters it's OK to attack. Or possibly he'll just publish a list of the politicians who have permission to go after journalists of their choosing. Here's a shortcut to that list: all the ones with a (D).

Olby wondered of Fox "why are their ratings down?", leaving out that the ratings of all the cable news channels are down. He added that Ailes "looks a little like Rod Steiger playing Napoleon" [6]. Brain snorted that Fox preaches "to the base" and that makes it harder to branch out. KO added a final shot: "

I'm sure Mr Ailes wishes that personally he could stop broadening out.

Congratulations, Olbermann. You have made fun of a fat man's weight no less than seven times in 10 minutes. [Video!] That's what makes your show so smart and intellectual. You're really quite the man.

#3: The Mark Foley resignation and the George Allen controversies. The latter led to another fascinating personal reminisence by Keith "Man on Fan" Olbermann--something about George's Allen father, the point being that it somehow makes Allen the younger a liar. Then the n-word controversies, and "another" alleged eyewitness account of same. This was a report from David Shuster (covered yesterday on Hardball), rerun for the viewing pleasure of Countdown viewers.

There was a mention of one of the many people who have publicly insisted that Allen never used the n-word. Needless to say, none of those people was interviewed. But there was something different about this report as it aired tonight. Something that was there on Hardball, but not in the version that aired on The Hour of Spin. Are you ready for this? It's a pip.

Slippery's piece included the eyewitness saying how she would have gone after Allen even if he were a Democrat. But there was a context for this. On Hardball, Shuster's report also included the salient fact that the eyewitness he was interviewing, as well as another alleged ear-witness to the n-word, were both Democrat activists. They support, campaign, and work for Democrats. What happened to that part when it ran on Countdown? They cut it out! Why? Because Keith Olbermann doesn't host a newscast. He runs The Hour of Spin.

In a hilarious postscript, Slippery made mention of allegations about James Webb, but refused even to say what they were until he could interview the accuser on camera and give him "scrutiny". Apparently the Washington Post, which reported this business on Thursday, all of a sudden is too unreliable to be the basis for a report on Countdown. This is hilarious because Olby has been reporting the n-word charges about Allen since Day One of the allegations--based on newspaper reports--without interviews or "scrutiny". Hey, it's George Allen. To hell with scrutiny!

After oddball: Virgin's in Space, followed by Anna Nicole Smith, Rosie O'Donnell, and great oddball moments of September. Two politicians made the "worst person" list. Amazingly, both had an (R) after their names. In the ratings race, Olby eeked out a third place finish on Thursday. Krazy Keith's pimping of the book that bears his name was shameless tonight, but it is only #60 on amazon, while Mr Bill's is #8. Curious how KO is not doing those amazon comparisons any more. Tonight's MisterMeter reading: 4 [GUARDED].

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"COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN" (8:00 P.M.-9:00 P.M. ET)

Host: Keith Olbermann

Topics/Guests:

• ELECTION POLITICS: Richard Wolffe, Newsweek; Lawrence O'Donnell, Democrat political analyst
• THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT: Chris Hedges

In the Thursday night spiel, Olbermann thundered about the President:

What's come off now, his wheels?

Keith barked that the Republicans are the "party of Bush and torture", took a shot at Dennis Hastert, and cited as an example of things getting "worse" reports that Bush has received advice from Henry Kissinger. Oooooh, that's scary.

The Hour of Spin proper kicked off with the infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann complaining about the fact that the President has the power to detain non-citizens "forever". Then based on a Bob Woodward tidbit, Olby added:

And the President can now evidently lie about how frequently Americans are attacked in Iraq, and bring in Henry Kissinger...

Summing up the legislative debate, Keith stated:

When Democrats in the House voted to support our history and values instead of the President's expediencies...

Unbiased, impartial Olbermann. He cited Patrick "Leaky" Leahey, who wants to "preserve" the rights of habeas corpus.

Stop the tivo!

It's a prerequisite when preserving anything that it has to be there in the first place. In what war did our prisoners ever have habeas corpus rights (the right to go into civilian courts and demand to be charged or released)? Did our German or Japanese POWs have that right in WWII? Did our VietNam prisoners have that right? How exactly can Olby claim to want to preserve a "right" that has never, in all our history, existed?

Back to the tivo. Herr Olbermann stated this right is needed because what if the government:

...decides you are not the upstanding American you thought you were but a terrorist.

He showed a clip of Leahy (D) arguing that the bill would "eliminate" habeas corpus (shameless disregarding of facts and truth). A clip from the other side of the argument, maybe someone pointing out that prisoners of war have never had habeas corpus rights? Something about how there are more legal protections than in the court martial system that applies to our own troops? Oh, apparently there wasn't time to squeeze any of that in.

Then it was off to relay Bob Woodward's report that things are worse in Iraq than anyone thought. Um, is this the same Bob Woodward that Olby has blasted for his "mistakes"? The same Bob Woodward he has accused of being unethical? Yup. Same guy. He was a villain then, but in the ever-flexible judgments on OlbyPlanet, tonight he's a hero.

KO asked the Wolffe Man about "Mister" Bush and Kissinger, making an immediate parallel to VietNam. Then it was time for Keith's Kampaign Korner, the nightly segment when he telegraphs to the toadies in his party what tack they should take:

Should the Democrats be running this campaign by portraying what the President sees as strength, as instead some kind of dangerous unwillingless to confront the reality of the situation on the ground there?

Herr Olbermann groused about the Dems giving up too much in exchange for a handful of amendments, went after the President for not being nonpartisan (six weeks before an election), and great thanksed Wolffie. There were references to Jack Abramoff, and then--again!--we got the deranged Lawrence ("Liar! Creepy Liar!") O'Donnell for a round of impartial analysis.

Crazy Larry focused on Abramoff as the epitome of scandal in DC. (How quickly they forgot William Jefferson, the most corrupt man in Congress, according to one of Olby's own guests.) He went on to trumpet the brilliance of Bill Jefferson Clinton, and then it was damage control time for Keith Olbermann. When his own expert guest yesterday shot down his latest tin-foilery (the Taliban offered UBL to Bush and he didn't take him) as based on less than nothing, KO had to try again. So he regurgitated it anew with someone who has no anti-terrorism expertise whatsoever: Crazy Larry.

Olby demanded to know why the Democrats aren't running his incriminating tape (an obscure, unknown reporter asking a question at a presser--yes, that is the sum total of the "proof" for Herr Olbermann's premise). Larry yobbled about how the tape is a "reflection" of something or other, and added that no one in the adminstration is talking about it. Aha! More proof!! Keith put his kampaign hat on again:

Why haven't the Democrats jumped on any of those facts?

Crazy Larry said the public isn't interested in whose fault it is, but because it's a "post-Katrina" world "those kinds of statements from Ari Fleischer" have more impact. (The incriminating Fleischer statement was basically: I don't know what you're talking about, but I'll look into it.) Olby great thanksed Crazy Larry, again calling him a "political analyst" and deliberately leaving out his party affiliation. But Olbermann Watch is on to those tricks, and we have updated The List accordingly.

The #4 slot was dedicated to Bad News from Iraq, specifically a taped video rerun from NBC. After oddball, a Monica Novotny report on the flick "Jesus Camp". Krazy Keith's intro equated charismatic Christians with murderous terrorists, which is close to a new low even for Keith Olbermann. Monica's report was far above Countdown standards. But then, anything on the show that doesn't involve Olbermann automatically raises the journalism level.

Olby made reference to the "right-wing Family Research Council" (a favorite label on The Hour of Spin, much more so than the infrequently spoken "left-wing"). Then he mentioned "George Allen of macaca infamy". We expect no less from Keith Olbermann of "monkey" fame. Krazy blasted the Values Voter Summit:

Bishop Wellington Boone, of Wellington Boone Ministries. He got up on stage just about an hour and a half after Mr Snow, spewed vulgar, anti-gay epithets, then suggested that the Anti-Christ is homosexual.

Where is Keith getting all this from? Why naturally, from another left-wing site: the discredited Think Progress. Needless to say, he doesn't credit them for his "research". But what happens when you lift stories from left-wing blogs and don't fact-check them? Bishop Wellington Boone's "vulgar, anti-gay epithets":

Back in the days when I was a kid, and we see guys that don;t stand strong on principle, we call them "faggots." A punk is--and our people, I'm from the ghetto, so sometimes it does come out a little bit.... "You're sissified out!" "You're a sissy!" That means you don't stand up for principles. And I just believe that God hasn't called us to be sissies on a principle level.

And what about the Bishop's statement about the Anti-Christ? Um, there wasn't any. He never said it! Now someone else did, at a different session, much later in the day--at least that's the claim of a left-wing blogger. But it wasn't the Bishop "an hour and a half after Mr Snow". Olbermann gets it wrong again.

KO's impartial expert to analyze the movement was the author of "American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America". Olby described it as "essential". Need we say more? No, but we will. Reverend Olby was ready to preach:

What does, uh, the fact that the spokesman for the leader of, uh, of, uh, the country got up on the same stage with somebody who spouted hate speech about gays tells us about the power this movement has over this administration?

Hate speech? It's easy for Keith "Man on Fan" Olbermann to call it that, especially when he didn't bother to quote what was said. But reading a teleprompter is apparently not so easy for Olby:

White evangelical Christians compromised 23% of the electorate...

Hedges delivered talking points about "the assault on the middle class" and the "Christian totalitarian state". Not a surprise, given his affiliation with The Nation, Democracy Now, and other far-left outfits. Of course, the discredted sports guy completely hid his politics from the viewers. No point in spoiling propaganda with truth.

#2: the Colorado high school tragedy (recycled video from NBC), Naomi Campbell, Roger Ailes (and his "Ministry of Truth")--this last with KO trumpeting how in his specialized "key demo" MSNBC beat Fox and the rest at midnight. Midnight! What key demo was he using, vampires? Left unreported was the fact that his witching hour total audience is still way below that of the competition. #1: fake comedian journalist Borat at the White House.

More pimping of Keith's book the book that bears Keith's name was again the lead-in to the Media Matters Minute. He got in a slam at the New York Post (again), and picked as "worst person" radio talk show host Marc Williams. Why? Because George Soros and David Brock told him to. "Monkey" Olbermann then went on to berate, apparently, Dan Abrams for permitting conservative Williams to appear on his network. He thinks every hour on A-Mess-NBC should be just like The Hour of Spin! Look for the free publicity video of brave, courageous Olby to appear on Media Matters within the next 24 hours.

Given that KO found a way to mention again his white powder scare, while slamming the New York Post for its flippant treatment of same, there was a curious dog that did not bark tonight. Why did Herr Olbermann not report on the suspicious envelope full of white powder sent to the office of Sen John Cornyn? He was certainly vocal about such stunts yesterday. And if the Post handled it all in an unserious fashion, what of the Democratic Underground, where they "joked" that with luck there would be no Cipro to treat the Senator, suggested that it was probably his cocaine, and accused Republicans of setting the whole incident up. Where was Keith Olbermann's righteous indignation about treating a "terroristic threat" with such impudent scorn? He was totally silent on this. And before some Olbypologists asks why KO should speak out on what appears on DU, keep this in mind. He advertises the "worst person" book on just a handful of carefully selected sites, including DailyKos, Talking Points Memo, and...Democratic Underground. "Monkey" Olbermann has decided this is a forum that he is proud to associate himself with. So let's hear it, KO. We're waiting for you to blast them like you blasted the Post. And remove all advertising from their site. Yeah, yeah, it'll be a long wait.

Speaking of his book the book that bears his name, Monkey Man was pimping it again tonight. Yep, it's down to #74 on amazon. Mr Bill's is still in the top ten (#8). And in case you're wondering why the infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann cited Neilsen numbers from the wee small hours of the morning, but not primetime, it may because at 8:00 pm he was back in fourth place again. Even worse, in that same "key demo" he was celebrating, Countdown finished fifth. He even lost to a rerun of Deal or No Deal on CNBC. Yikes! Time to have his writers whip up another special comment for sure. Tonight's MisterMeter reading: 4 [GUARDED].

Olberverse...

Newsbusters: He proceeded to seriously tout as meaningful how, in the 25 to 54 years-old demographic, the midnight EDT repeat airing of Countdown the night before beat FNC's re-run of Brit Hume's show -- by a bare 16,000.

ICN: Olberman Watch has a point. Unless MSNBC wants to only count ratings for repeats (though it was primetime on the West Coast), this amounts to damning with faint praise.

Hot Air: Keith spun the ratings as best he could tonight, to the great amusement of Johnny Dollar and Spruiell, who has video.

186k Per Second: It is absolutely hilarious that Olbermann was beaten by a Howie Mandell - Deal or no Deal re-run!

National Review: Tonight, Keith Olbermann tried desperately to convince his viewers that they are not alone. He had to dig deep to do so, but he managed to find a time slot in which he wasn't completely dominated by Fox News — 12 a.m. ET.

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"COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN" (8:00 P.M.-9:00 P.M. ET)

Host: Keith Olbermann

Topics/Guests:

• N.I.E. POLITICS: EJ Dionne, Washington Post
• THE EIGHT MONTHS LEADING UP TO 9/11: Paul B. Kurtz, Richard Clarke's former right-hand man
• TALIBAN RESURGENCE: Michael Hirsh, Newsweek
• CELEBRITY SEX TAPES HAVE GONE TOO FAR: Paul F. Tompkins, comedian

When Keith began his carnival barker patter to kick off The Hour of Spin, he bellowed about "the old switcheroo", adding:

The National Intelligence Estimate, the President so reluctantly released, the one that says the War in Iraq increased the terror threat, the one for which he is getting pounded, may not be the latest National Intelligence Estimate. Rep Harman says there's a newer one, and the White House is deliberately keeping it under wraps.

Seriously, is Olby off his meds? The NIE is classified. A "newer one" that doesn't even exist yet would also be classified. And Herr Olbermann thinks that keeping classified intelligence "under wraps" is a screaming headline?

The spiel also promised a "special investigation" proving Condi Rice is [think John McLaughlin's voice here] WRONG, and, as a special bonus, an attack on the New York Post.

Launching into the NIE story, KO interestingly read, for the first time, that portion of the NIE that Olbermann Watch specifically upbraided him for not reading yesterday. Another victory for the clear thinkers. Then clips from Schumer (D) and Boehner (R). What's this? He actually ran a balanced set of clips? This must be some sort of Olbermannian trick. Something's coming.

Olby said the "new" NIE is "allegedly only a draft". Then a clip from Harman (D), who wants the "draft" released now, so selected portions can be leaked before the election. Well, she didn't say that last part. Clip of Tony Snow about why the "draft" isn't ready to be released. The House passed a bill regarding detainees, with nonpartisan Keith adding:

A victory at what cost remains to be seen.

"Monkey" Olbermann cited unnamed "international legal scholars" for the proposition that the bill violates the Geneva Conventions. All of this was just a warm-up for Olby's "special investigation" on why Bush let 9/11 happen. The rhetoric was thick and ripe:

Comparing the two Presidents is valid, necessary, to illuminate the capacities of the office.

The latest Olbermann theory is that, while the notion that Clinton had a chance to get UBL is myth, in fact it was "Mister" Bush who offered UBL and declined to take him:

Our goal in this report is to rise to Mr Clinton's challenge and assess the record of Mr Bush's efforts in Al Qaeda in his first eight months in office.

There followed a recitation of events straight out of the Clarke handbook. Krazy Keith amplified it with claims by Bill Jefferson Clinton and admitted liar Sandy Berger, reporting as if these were proven historical facts. A fuzzy clip of Berger referred to the situation as "nothing less than a war". Curious, given that for months Olby has been telling us the threat was exaggerated and the war on terror "so-called". Maybe one of the clear-headed Olbermann Watch readers can identify what website KO lifted this from.

Regarding the USS Cole, KO complained that "Mister" Bush did not take military action even when it was established that Al Qaeda was responsible. Heroic far-seeing Democrats warned that focusing on missile defense was "misplaced" [clip of Levin (D)]. The August 6th PDB gets another plug, even though the intelligence it contained was not exactly fresh. Clips of Condi and Cheney et al talking about they didn't anticipate this kind of a hit. Prescient Diane Feinstein (D) wants to press for more counter-terrorism measures.

This was worse than watching paint dry. It was like sitting in a too-small classroom desk, listening to a stuffy, boring professor reading a press release from a left-wing propaganda site. We don't want to say that it was painful, but it felt like an hour in a dentist's chair. And worst of all, when it was over, it wasn't over. The break served only as a brief respite until the Clarke propagandist was given the floor.

The infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann was very careful to limit the questions to only Bush's eight months, all the better to keep Clarke's doppelganger from expressing any of his frustrations with the previous inhabitant of the White House. Kurtz said the Bush administration wasn't "sitting on its hands", but was playing defensively. They didn't take an immediate liking to Clarke's strategy. Anything that happened was just "residual momentum" from the Clinton years. It was a "bureaucratic issue", said Kurtz.

Olby spun a long tale about this didn't happen until then, so that proves they didn't care about terrorism, yada yada yada. Kurtz mentioned the transition, security clearances, and such, flatly stating that KO's assertion was "an unfair inference". He could have added other things that prevented getting things fully up to speed, like challenges to the electoral vote, Congressional stalling in confirming appointees, etc.

Kurtz was even less accomodating to Herr Olbermann's bizarre theory that the Taliban offered Bin Laden to Bush, a theory KO concocted from one reporter's question at a press conference. Olby's guest dismissed it as so much "noise", like the reports of UBL's death. But he came back again to how they just didn't take Clarke's word for everything and they had to stand in line behind others whose business had greater priority. KO brought up missile defense, asking Kurtz:

Does your blood run cold?

His reply was that we focused on the wrong problem. Interestingly, Kurtz didn't get Great Thanksed from Keith. Just a "thank you for your time". (Take that for not parroting every word of OlbySpin!) As this mind-numbing exercise groaned to its conclusion, we thought back to the promo that had been running all day: Bush's chances to stop Bin Laden before 9/11. The only one we heard was the "offer" from the Taliban that Olby's own expert ridiculed. But don't expect the fact that a Krazy Keith theory is given no credibility by someone in the know will stop KO and the Olbypologists from flaunting it anyhow. It hasn't in the past. Just watch.

Oddball preceded another episode of Attack the Media. It was time to slam the "Rupert Murdoch owned" New York Post. This was all about the scare that was reported today, and the "shocking" way the paper wrote it up. KO gave a self-aggrandizing version of the events, disputing the paper's claim that he insisted a check-up at the hospital. He asserts it was all the doing of the police officers, and he wanted to leave the hospital but they wouldn't let him. Then, in a classic bit of OlbySpin, he slammed the Post for:

...its endorsement of terroristic threats from the radical right.

So KO knows who sent him the suspicious package? He knows it came from the "radical right"? Why doesn't he have the guy arrested? In the Anthrax attacks, despite messages that appeared to emanate from radical Islamists, investigators have been looking elsewhere, because it is not uncommon for such messages to be red herrings. But Swami Olbermann Knows All and Sees All. Maybe he should name the sender as "worst person".

Then Keith "Man on Fan" Olbermann was off on another tear. The paper sides with terrorists, not the FBI. No newspaper should have printed this, despite Murdoch's "radical agenda". Mr Humility wrapped this unbilled "special comment" with:

At this end anyway we are still human beings and Americans. And we would never have any problem choosing whether to support the terrorists or the FBI.

Yeah, Olby always supports law enforcement over the terrorists (NSA surveillance, Patriot Act, sneering at "purported" plots...). Gag. Moving along: Terrell Owens, Anna Nicole Smith, Steve Irwin. #1: The sex tapes of D-list celebrities.

More maniacal pimping of Keith's book the book that bears Keith's name introduced the Media Matters Minute. Let's see who gets named in tonight's "nonpartisan" segment and whether all the necessary slots (Republican, conservative, Fox News) get filled. Runner-up: a candidate for Congress (R). Runner-up: Michael Savage. "Worst person" Roger Ailes, coupled with a criticism from Olby of his weight. Yes, this from the "anchorman" whose desk creeps a little higher every month, and whose cameraman keeps those shots tighter and tighter so as not to show his gut. Roger's crime was defending Chris Wallace, but KO found a way to make another reference (the third) to the "terroristic threats" that he has been receiving. Hey, this is even better than being on an Al Qaeda hit list! (Yup, all three slots filled.)

Maybe Olby thinks trumpeting his victimhood will help get those book sales back into shape. If so, he has a lot of work to do. Amazon shows him sinking again, at #69 as we write. And what of his bete-noir? Bill O'Reilly's "Culture Warrior" is currently ranked at #4. Oh, the humanity! How can this be? Keith "I'm not courting the liberals" Olbermann is running ads on Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, and Crooks & Liars, the bluest blogs on the planet. What's more, the one-day Nielsen blip from his un-American smear of Chris Wallace has already started to dissipate. Tuesday's numbers show "Monkey" Olbermann slipping back into third place. And don't think he's on the way up. Next in store: #4. Looks like his writer is going to have to crank out another SC to keep Keith from ending up in the basement again. Tonight's MisterMeter reading: 11 [DANGER!].

Olberverse Roundup:

Free Market News Network: Was MSNBC's newsman Keith Olbermann's recent "anthrax scare" a warning? Rob Kall, posting at OpEd News, explores this question, as well as the furor raised by a New York Post story that purported to belittle Olbermann for his reaction to the whole incident.

Jossip: Keith Olbermann took the opportunity on Countdown yesterday to express the severity of the envelope full of soap he received. He didn't get a lollipop on his way out, ok guys? This was really, really serious. He got a prescription for Cippro. There was also a federal investigation into the incident, which the FBI asked Olbermann not to report on. For your protection, obviously. We can't have the person who's mass mailing soap to everyone know that the FBI is on to him.

Metroblogging New York City: The calm, yet assertive Olbermann retorts on his show here and wins and even larger place in my heart. Worth watching regardless of your political leanings, as I think we can all agree that the Post is a worthless rag.

ICN: Keith Olbermann responded yesterday to yesterday’s Page Six item on him and deservedly shredded the New York Post for their antics.

Question Everything: The fact that the NY Post may have interfered with a federal investigation is not the most disturbing part. Even worse is the tone in which they reported it.

Crooks and Liars: There is a very serious side to what happened.

fbi hop: Given the condescending tone by the New York Post Page Six staff and the fact that no other media outlet reported directly on the event, I thought that maybe Page Six was making things up.

Done with Mirrors: ...while Page 6's stupid, ill-considered and pettily gleeful little piece inspired this post, I don't want to let the actual instigator off the hook...

Ailes...

ICN: ...trying to compare Roger Ailes’ comment to what happened to him leaves me nonplussed. The two are not related.

ICN: As these insults pile up, Olbermann risks becoming the very thing he apparently despises most about FNC (judging by his previous comments); a loudmouth talking head who takes the low road with the cheap shot instead of making substantive points. Is that really what he wants to be?

Blue Herald: Olbermann smacks Roger Ailes good.

Newsbusters: I actually was surprised when on tonight's show, Keith Olbermann unleashed a string of jibes aimed at Roger Ailes' physique. So surprised that when Olbermann first began his barrage, with a comment about Ailes doing something "between pies," I truly wondered whether I had misheard him or perhaps misunderstood his intent. Fat jokes? Could my fellow Cornellian really be stooping that low?

Hot Air: Olbermann calls Ailes fat eight times in seven minutes; Update: The 18-second gap

Newsbusters Olbermann Insults Ailes Again

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Posted by johnny dollar at 6:17 PM | Comments (364) | View blog reactions

Whichever one of you wise guys sent KO the package of soap powder needs to knock it off. That was NOT cool! According to the New York Post, Keith was NOT amused:

MSNBC loudmouth Keith Olbermann flipped out when he opened his home mail yesterday. The acerbic host of "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" was terrified when he opened a suspicious-looking letter with a California postmark and a batch of white powder poured out. A note inside warned Olbermann, who's a frequent critic of President Bush's policies, that it was payback for some of his on-air shtick...

...The caustic commentator panicked and frantically called 911 at about 12:30 a.m., sources told The Post's Philip Messing. An NYPD HazMat unit rushed to Olbermann's pad on Central Park South, but preliminary tests indicated the substance was harmless soap powder. However, that wasn't enough to satisfy Olbermann, who insisted on a checkup. He asked to be taken to St. Luke's Hospital, where doctors looked him over and sent him home. Whether they gave him a lollipop on the way out isn't known. Olbermann had no comment.

Whatever gripes we have with Keith this is not right - and not funny. Folks at NBC still have vivid memories of the REAL anthrax attack on Tom Brokaw. The last time I checked, Tom's secretary had still not returned to work. I don't think I need to prove anything about my distaste for what KO does with his show but I now find myself in the odd position of defending Keith, agreeing with Editor & Publisher and slamming Page Six. The New York Post went way over the line here in making light of this incident.

UPDATE: The Olberverse weighs in...

Gawker: Fucking pussy. Everyone knows anthrax is no big deal.

Hot Air:

Relevant Torture: Hollywood Reporter columnist Ray Richmond writes about KO's suspicious mail

Star Dog Cafe: did some flunky that works for Rupert Murdoch's organization send that fake anthrax letter to Keith? Was it some ultra-right-wing jack-off who sits around and listens to conservative talk radio all day long? Was the sender of the letter so upset by Keith's recent commentary?

Outside the Betlway: It;s rather amusing, then, to see a pro-Olbermann blogstorm among the latter.

Blue Crab Boulevard: I have never watched Keith Olberman's show, but have seen a few video clips. My opinion of him? He's a jerk on the make. He thinks he can build a name for himself by playing to the left and being more and more extreme in his anti-Bush diatribes. Some share my opinion, some think he's wonderful, some think he's good, some think he's bad. None of which gives anyone the right to send the man a packet of powder in the mail and attempt to terrify him.

The American Mind: It's bad enough for some sick bastard to send Lefty looney toon Keith Olberman an envelope filled with white powder. I hope that creature is soon arrested. To make things worse the NY Post's gossip section, Page Six, mocked Olberman.

The Moderate Voice: Is it going to take a major catastrophe for some folks to see how bitter, venal partisanship which continues to go into areas far behind debate over issues into personal hatred is taking this country down a path Democrats and Republicans would not have dreamed it could ever realistically reach?

Patterico's Pontifications: This New York Post Page Six entry is just plain idiotic.

Right Wing Huthouse: In what, in my opinion, is one the most disgraceful and shocking exhibitions of callous disregard for journalistic standards not to mention human decency, the New York Post gossipy Page Six ran a story describing MSNBC host Keith Olbermann's terrifying experience with a threatening letter that contained a "white powder."

Ed Driscoll: Hugh Hewitt and Ed Morrissey are defending Keith Olbermann--and I agree with them.

The Political Pit Bull: As much as "my ilk" and I can't stand Olbermann and his self-righteous B.S., this is totally screwed-up.

Hugh Hewitt: The Post owes Olbermann an apology, and it needs a new Page Six staff --again

Captain's Quarters: Olbermann is human, and a feigned terrorist attack on him goes waaaaaay beyond the pale. As if that wasn't bad enough, the New York Post's Page Six belittles him for checking with a doctor to be sure.

Hot Air: I wonder if he will bring this up on his show since he attacked O’Reilly for claiming he was on an al-Qaeda death list.

186K per second: Regardless what you think of Olbermann, this is a sick and twisted trick.

Majikthise: sending fake anthrax to journalists is just a harmless prank. You know, like stuffing a deer head into a black family's mailbox.

Newsbusters: Keith Olbermann Terrified by 'Anthrax' Package.

Radio Equalizer: According to the New York Post, the serial O'Reilly basher has also received a substance- filled letter with a Californian postmark. Somehow, the lunatic had Olbermann's home address. It may be similar to the one sent to KSCO, a news - talk station in Santa Cruz, on Monday. That letter was apparently posted from San Jose.

Oliver Willis: The right-wing in America has once again chosen to try and silence that which they disagree with.

Relevant Torture: some nutjob sent fake anthrax to Keith's home in the mail - ostensibly for his outspokenness of late.

ICN: The more I think about it, the more displeased I am with Page Six.

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Posted by RCox at 4:44 PM | Comments (184) | View blog reactions

This post is really just for the regular OlbyWatch readers who might miss me while I am travelling this week and unable to follow either Olbermann or the comment threads.

Right now I am sitting at the Borders/Starbucks overlooking Baltimore's Inner Harbor, not far from Camden Yards where the Orioles play. Ironically, I had tickets for the Orioles v. Yankees in New York last night but could not go. I took my daughter to see two schools today - Towson University and Loyola Maryland. The guy on the tour mentioned that the editor of their school paper was "really famous" because he was a blogger and asked if I knew what blogging was. Hehehe. The paper is actually very good. Brian is Ediitor in Chief. In the current edition he wrote a column contrasting the crime rate at the University of Maryland (one of the worst in the USA) with Towson, relatively safer.

I will be in DC for a conference on Thursday and Friday. I was invited to the conference by Sandra Day O'Connor which she is hosting along with Stephen Bryer. It's kind of a big deal conference with some big names like Newt Gingrich, Tom Daschle, Chief Justice Roberts, AG Alberto Gonzalez and load of ex-Sec States, ex-AGs and ex-FBI directors participating. They kept the whole thing kind of quiet and asked me not to blog about it but last night I saw O'Connor and Breyer on with Charlie Rose talking about it and so I guess its ok now for me to blog about my going. The conference is on a "Fair Judiciary" and is focused on their concern that 40-50% of Americans think that judges are politicians and robes and that this perception of judges is bad for our democracy. Last night they dismissed the notion of "activist judges". Rose said something I had been thinking - that I have never heard of such a conference where supreme court justices are getting so publicly involved on political issues and brining together politicians. If I understood Breyer right, this kind of thing has happened twice in the past 100 years - the last time under Warren Burger in the early 70s - so it IS a pretty unusual event. It was funny at the end because Rose said "Gee, now I really want to go to this conference". I already know this event is invitation only and the way that have managed the event (HomeDef Sec Chertoff's wife is managing it) has been very strict so there was no way Charlie was getting a last minute invite - and sure enough the two of them just sat there stonefaced. Hehehe.

I will try and pop in here on this post and update you all on the event if I can. I am pretty sure Keith Olbermann will not come up but if he does I wll let you know.

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Posted by RCox at 3:48 PM | Comments (14) | View blog reactions

"COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN" (8:00 P.M.-9:00 P.M. ET)

Host: Keith Olbermann

Topics/Guests:

• POLITICS OF NIE; CLINTON FOX INTERVIEW FALLOUT: Howard Fineman, Newsweek; Lawrence O'Donnell, MSNBC analyst

Oh, Keith Olbermann doesn't try to appeal to liberals. He is totally nonpartisan, don't you know? That's why, in tonight's opening spiel, he introduced a clip of Hillary saying:

Now there are two Clintons telling truth to power.

Olby told the "sandbagging" lie again, and in a classic Olbermann moment, played the George Allen "macaca" clip.

Stop the tivo!

We haven't ever yelled "stop the tivo" this early into The Hour of Spin, but we have to now. This is the same Keith Olbermann who just 24 hours ago sneeringly referred to a Jewish journalist at Fox as "a monkey". The same Keith Olbermann who not that long ago was banging on Allen for "macaca", stating this was a term that could refer to "a genus of monkey found mainly in Asia...a derogatory racial reference for African immigrants.".

Well guess what? "Monkey" is a term that refers to monkeys! And it's also a derogatory racial reference for Jews. How can anyone so arrogant be so immensely oblivious?

Back to the tivo. Olby looked orange and curiously sour as he delivered the lead story: another salvo at the President. After a few carefully selected clips from today's presser, and a few even more assiduously cherry-picked quotes from the NIE, it was on to Condi Rice. Her great offense was to say the Bush administration worked just as hard as the previous one during its first eight months. Then clips from Senator Clinton, "telling truth to power". Through all of this Olbermann's verbiage was about as even-handed as a MoveOn internet ad.

Cue Howard Fineman, Pundit for All Occasions. Keith tossed everything from ABC's 9/11 film to the results of last night's football game into a heady stew, lumping them together as the efforts of the "Bush adminstration". He asked if those dumbells in the White House were really so stupid as to think the their aggrieved Democrat victims would not rise up in righteous anger over these despicable smears. OK, we're paraphrasing. But not by much. Howie said this signals "a change in attitude" by the Dems, with a lot more "confidence". Then, with a straight face, Olby talked about, of all things, fact-checking!

...if you can fact-check them and prove them wrong within minutes of a statement being made public...

We know exactly what that's like here at Olbermann Watch. It's what we do. Fineman said Bill Jefferson Clinton "comes off as the more truthful one", the White House is "bailing water", and George Bush "smirks". After crypto-liberal Fineman, KO left all pretense behind to introduce the deranged Lawrence ("Liar! Creepy Liar!") O'Donnell. Olby asked him about the release of the "NIA", and Larry called it "the smoking gun". Krazy Keith, eager to aid his party, suggested what the Democrats should do next (keep pounding on the NIE), while Crazy Larry said they should pound on Iraq.

You would think Iraq was the only topic covered by the "NIA" since it's the only aspect KO even mentioned. One part of the document that Keith never got around to quoting:

Should jihadists leaving Iraq perceive themselves, or be perceived, to have failed, we judge fewer fighters will be inspired to carry on the [terror war].

In one of those amazing synergies of talking points that seem to be commonplace on The Hour of Spin, Larry echoed Howie, talking about how "credible" B.J. Clinton is, and how Bush was "asleep at the wheel". [Note: Time to update The List.] As a special treat, KO promised that tomorrow he would "strip away the politics" to tell the truth about the first eight months of the Bush administration. Blue bloggers, start your engines!

Teasing before the break, "Monkey" Olbermann referenced the well-known "venom" of that poisonous snake, Chris Wallace. But the #4 story was about allegations regarding George Allen. He is said to have used the B-word, so named for its use by Robert Byrd (D), an incident that never got much play on The Hour of Spin. Slippery Shuster delivered a taped report, and the fact that Larry Sabato claims he heard it himself does not help the Senator's case.

NOTE: See important update below.

It was almost surreal when Slippery said "Macaca is a term that can refer to monkeys". That makes it shocking, explosive, headline-worthy news, you know. Actually calling someone a monkey? Hey, no big deal. Olby thanked the tape machine that played Shuster's report.

After oddball, Krazy Keith found an excuse to regurgitate part of his blue dress interview with B.J. Clinton. He preceded it with a clip from the "ambush" (Olbermann lie) and "sandbagging" (Olbermann lie) by Fox News, while gushing anew at the wonder that is B.J. Clinton. Keith "Man on Fan" Olbermann told viewers they could see his entire Clinton one-an-one o