COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN - JANUARY 31, 2007
"COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN" (8:00 P.M.-9:00 P.M. ET)
Host: Keith Olbermann
Topics/Guests:
- 2008 CONTENDERS AND IRAQ: Dana Milbank, Washington Post national political reporter and MSNBC political analyst
- IRAN: Flynt Leverett, fmr. National Security Council director for Middle East affairs and New America Foundation senior fellow
- HOLLYWOOD GOSSIP: Michael Musto, Village Voice
Olby's dulcet tones invoked Jimmy Swaggert as he rattled off his carnival barker patter: John McCain criticizes Iraq policy! Biden announces with foot in mouth. The Great Leak Case. The Boston bomb scare. Harry Potter delivers the full Monty. "Mister" Bush: is he planning to attack the peace-loving nation of Iran? All this and more, on The Hour of Spin.
KO claimed "Mister" Bush has "lost" Sen Richard McCain as an ally, and by talking about the economy, is making "an obvious attempt to change the subject". Anytime someone discusses something that isn't the lead story on Countdown, it's "changing the subject" on OlbyPlanet. "Mister" Bush was "condescending" (clip from Cavuto interview--why does Fox even let Monkeymann use their clips?). Congressional wrangling about the non-binding resolution.
Then it was on to Joe Biden's sterling campaign kickoff. Dana Milbank, minus multicolored mufti, nattered about Biden's bloopers, while KO blamed "the conservative media establishment: Rush Limbaugh, the Drudge thing"--they're all trying to "inflict damage" on a Democrat. (OlbySpeak translation: Biden is the victim, he didn't inflict damage on himself.) After some chit-chat about Richard McCain: Great thanks.
And big, BIG!, news. Al Franken may run for the Senate. Or maybe not. He might, but who knows? It's possible, but then again it's not confirmed. OlbySourcing: even worse than Insight!
The Great Leak Case: another witness "throwing Scooter Libby's memory under the bus" [Ding!]. Another chance for the most disreputable reporter on all of television, Slippery Shuster, to gum up the works. Once again it was all about the Prosecutor's direct examination, this time of Matt Cooper. (See Hounds below for some of what Slippery left out.) Great thanks.
After oddball, "Mister" Bush's language on Iran sounds like "Mister" Bush's language on Iraq. Yawn. He's trying to "convince the world" that Iran aids terrorism. And Oralmann finds any such suggestion intolerable. Leverett pandered to Krazy Keith, parroting the spin about the "rhetoric". How silly of "Mister" Bush to suggest the peace-loving goverment in Tehran could be a nuclear threat. (Something here was left out too, as you will see below.) As to Iran's involvement in the Karbala killing of US troops, Leverett was happy to proclaim the absence of "hard evidence", while Bush orders the "killing or detaining of any Iranian found in Iraq". Great thanks.
Next Herr Olbermann took on the phony bomb scare in Boston, and relayed what sounded like a made up story (complete with comical satire "breaking-news" video) that an arrest had been made. (In fact, an arrest was made, though it's unclear if Olby knew about it yet; if he did, he didn't bother to tell anyone who it was.) Then Miss USA (plug for Today show appearance) and Sidney Sheldon. #1: Harry Potter in the nude (regurgitated NBC report), plus more sickening blather with the creepy Michael Musto.
In the Media Matters Minute: James Imhofe (R) (Blue Blog Source: Think Progress), and Julie Banderas (Fox) (Blue Blog Source: TVNewser). Her crime was misspeaking NBC instead of ABC; otherwise she was arguably correct (Peter Jennings did leave his broadcast before he died, and her reference to "Tom Brokaw's show" makes sense, because she was referring to the ratings when Brokaw was there). Fat Ass even worked in an attack on O'Reilly, and carefully avoided mentioning the incestuous nature of this particular blue blog lift. (A-Mess-NBC flack sends an anti-Fox piece to TVN; TVN runs anti-Fox piece; Keith picks up the TVN piece on The Hour of Spin. Spin indeed; this leak formed a complete circle, ending up where it started, at A-Mess-NBC!) But no matter: KO got both an (R) and a (Fox) in, and so the requisite slots were filled.
Hushed hounds: Consistent with his intent to minimize all terror threats as phony, Monkeymann gave great play to the false alarm in Boston, and completely spiked the real terror plot in the UK. Why do Slippery and Olby only report the Prosecution testimony in The Great Leak Case. Why do they deliberately leave out the cross-examinations? Iran is just a few years from having the bomb, a slight fact unmentioned by KO or his sock puppet guest. The Co-Chairman of the Baker Commission supports sending reinforcements to Iraq, and dissed the idea of passing a "nonbinding resolution". A second, equally shady land deal from Harry Reid. The US economy takes a huge upswing. Hugo Chavez assumes dictatorial powers in Venezuela. NATO troops kill 30 Talibanis. And no retraction or apology for his latest lie about Bill O'Reilly. Finally, in the ongoing scrutiny of Naked Right-Wing Propaganda Masquerading as Entertainment, yesterday The Unit found themselves tracking and apprehending a terrorist threatening an attack in the USA. Keith Olbermann did not rant. The Unit is not on Fox.
Olbermann's book The book that bears Olberman's name stands at #2,781 at amazon.com, while "Culture Warrior" is #158. No doubt the discredited sports guy would explain that by pointing out amazon's nonexistent 2-for-$25 sale. The OlbyTome is #2,718 at Barnes & Noble; O'Reilly's book is #123 there, and is in its 17th week on the New York Times bestsellers list. All the Tuesday Speshul Education Komment hype helped Herr Olbermann manage a distant second place finish, though once again he was creamed by the eeevil O'Reilly, both in total viewers and in the critical, beloved, all-important, coveted "key demo". Tonight's MisterMeter reading: 9 [SEVERE]
COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN - JANUARY 30, 2007
"COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN" (8:00 P.M.-9:00 P.M. ET)
Host: Keith Olbermann
Topics/Guests:
- IRAQ TROOP ESCALATION: Jonathan Alter, Newsweek senior editor and MSNBC political analyst
- EXECUTIVE ORDER ON REGULATORY POLICY: John Dean, fmr. Nixon White House counsel and author of "Conservatives Without Conscience"
Yes, we have to say it: Oralmann bellowed the opening spiel, as he does every show. And tonight was no exception: Who is going to stop the war?!? Congress can do it!! Global Warming!!! The Great Leak Case!!!! Dramatic revelations about executive orders!!!!! Prevented attacks? More lies from "Mister" Bush!!!!!! Whew, it's exhausting just typing such hyperbolic spewer.
Nancy Pelosi (D) opposes the President's plan. Clip of NP. "Even" Adm Fallon warned not to get expectations too high. Clip. Negroponte said violence is increasing. The Judiciary Cmte wants to know how Congress can end a war. Clips of Arlan Specter ("R") saying President is not the sole decider, Dick Durbin (D), Russell Feingold (D), aka "The Statesman". Clips of lawmakers expressing support for sending reinforcements: zero. "Advocacy groups" (unnamed) say White House pressures people to downplay global warming. "A Congressman" (unnamed, and a D) says Negroponte was warned not to use the phrase (Blue Blog Source: Think Progress) based on something he overheard at a party. And KO bashes Insight for thin sourcing! Clip of Henry Waxman (D).
Lefty Alter: "Oil lobbyists" run the White House policy. We're facing a "constitutional struggle" over Iraq. Republicans are unlikely to filibuster a non-binding resolution (we'll see about that one). Great thanks. Then Olby decreed the President "lied" about breaking up terror plots--a plug for his Speshul Education Comment. We can hardly wait.
Next on the propaganda-fest: The Great Leak Case. Judith Miller testifies, and Slippery Shuster gives the "highlights". In ShusterSpeak that means rattle off all the points made by the prosecution, but ignore the cross-examination (where Judith Miller admitted that she herself had forgot about the June 23 meeting when she testified earlier). It's important on OlbyPlanet to slant everything, even sworn testimony in a criminal trial. Great thanks.
After more plugs for you know what, it was on to executive orders and the latest meeting of Olbermann's Criminal Rehabilitation Program. That's right, instead of getting someone involved in the new regulation procedures to explain them, Monkeymann brought in his favorite felon at large, John Dean. The disbarred lawyer was ready to serve up everything his Master ordered. Bush could block a cure for diseases that would cause "millions of people" to die. Olby brought up Nixon [Ding!]. Great thanks.
Stonehedge (regurgitated NBC video), Lindsay Lohan, and the Media Matters Minute. Dick Morris got a nod (Blue Blog Source: Media Matters), because he said he believes the Obama leak came from the Clinton campaign. Of course on OlbyPlanet, that's just a "phony story" because the Clinton campaign denied it. Just like Bill's escapates with Ms Lewinsky were phony because he denied it, saying he "never had sex with that woman"? Why aren't the charges against Scooter Libby "phony"? He denied them. But on OlbyPlanet, denials by an (R) are meaningless, but denials by a (D) become instant gospel. Also noted: Bill "Orally", for comments on the Hornbeck case (Blue Blog Source: NewsHounds), and Bill again for "worst person". According to Olby, if you buy a copy of his book from him "he'll send a free copy" to the troops overseas. Actually that's Another Olbermann Lie. It's not Mr Bill who's doing that, it's the publishers of the book. Somehow this outraged Herr Olbermann, who apparently never heard the phrase "a portion of the proceeds go to charity". But then again, when you're "Man on Fan" Olbermann, charity begins at home.
Finally, the Speshul Education Komment, once again focusing on "Mister" Bush and the attacks he claims to have prevented as part of the war on terror [see APPENDIX] (Blue Blog Source: Let's Try Democracy, from a Kucinich staffer). As usual, all the theatrics were trotted out: "Misters" aplenty, a fistful of "insinSirs", eye rolling, head bobbing, and of course the carefully scripted camera pivots. Factual veracity? Look, it's cribbed from Dennis Kucinich's flack. Does Fat Ass now consider a PR man for the Elf Lord a source for unbiased news? Just take his dismissal of the "Library Tower" matter and remember what a real reporter, Brian Ross, had to say about it.
Muted mongrels: Olby has cited the Fabulous Baker Boys Report over and over, at first to dismiss it as "all things to all people". But as soon as the eeevil "neocons" criticized it, he did a volte face and starting berating "Mister" Bush for not following it. Today the "Baker" in the Baker Commission testified that sending reinforcements to Iraq is a plan he thinks we should try, as he dissed the idea of passing a "nonbinding resolution". We're shocked--shocked!--that Edward R Olbermann spiked this major news. People involved in the Sandy Berger case are strangely being protected and rewarded. A life-sentence charge against Jose Padilla has been reinstated by a Federal appeals court. Venezuela is planning to get into air defense in a major way. An MSM reporter contradicts Ari Fleischer's testimony in The Great Leak Case. And don't forget Hillary Clinton's flip-flop. Finally, in the ongoing scrutiny of Naked Right-Wing Propaganda Masquerading as Entertainment, yesterday another episode of Sleeper Cell aired. Keith Olbermann did not object. Sleeper Cell is not on Fox.
Olbermann's book The book that bears Olberman's name stands at #5,029 at amazon.com, while "Culture Warrior" rose to #111. The OlbyTome is #2,615 at Barnes & Noble; O'Reilly's book is #390 there, and is in its 17th week on the New York Times bestsellers list. On Monday, the infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann lost to Mr Bill O'Reilly by nearly five to one, and narrowly avoided a loss to Paula Zahn to eke out a tenuous second-place finish, both in total viewers and in the critical, beloved, all-important, coveted "key demo". Tonight's MisterMeter reading: 11 []
APPENDIX: Keith's Speshul Education Komment:
West Yorkshire in England has a new chief police constable.
Upon his appointment, Sir Norman Bettison made one of the strangest comments of the year:
"The threat of terrorism," he says, "is lurking out there like ‘Jaws 2.'"
Sir Norman did not exactly mine the richest ore for his analogy of warning. A critic once said of the flopping sequel to the classic film: "You're gonna need a better screenplay."
But this obscure British police official has reminded us that terrorism is still being sold to the public in that country -- and in this -- as if it were a thrilling horror movie and we were the naughty teenagers about to be its victims.
And it underscores the fact that President Bush took this tack, exactly a week ago tonight, in his terror-related passage in the State of the Union.
A passage that was almost lost amid all the talk about Iraq and health care and bipartisanship and the fellow who saved the stranger from an oncoming subway train in New York City.
But a passage ludicrous and deceitful. Frightening in its hollow conviction. Frightening, in that the president who spoke it tried for "Jaws" but got "Jaws 2."
I am indebted to David Swanson, press secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign, who has blogged about the dubious 96 words in Mr. Bush's address this year and who has concluded that of the four counter-terror claims the president made, he went 0-for-4.
[Direction: look downward at imaginary notes]
"We cannot know the full extent of the attacks that we and our allies have prevented," Mr. Bush noted, "but here is some of what we do know: We stopped an al-Qaida plot to fly a hijacked airplane into the tallest building on the West Coast."
[Direction: PIVOT!]
This would, of course, sir, be the purported plot to knock down the 73-story building in Los Angeles, the one once known as the Library Tower -- the one you personally revealed so breathlessly a year ago next month.
It was embarrassing enough that you mistakenly referred to the structure as the "Liberty Tower."
But within hours it was also revealed that authorities in Los Angeles had had no idea you were going to make any of the details -- whether serious or fanciful -- public.
Who terrorized Southern California that day, Mr. Bush?
[Direction: PIVOT!]
A year ago next month, the Los Angeles Times quoted a source --
[Direction: look downward at imaginary notes]
-- identified only by the labyrinthine description "a U.S. official familiar with the operational aspects of the war on terrorism" -- who insisted that the purported "Library Tower plot" was one of many al-Qaida operations that had not gotten very far past the conceptual stage.
The former staff director of counter-terrorism for the National Security Council -- now a news analyst for NBC News and MSNBC -- Roger Cressey, puts it a little more bluntly.
In our conversation, he put the "Library Tower story" into a category he called the "What-Ifs" -- as in the old "Saturday Night Live sketches that tested the range of comic absurdity:
What if ... Superman had worked for the Nazis?
What if ... Spartacus had had a Piper Cub during the battle against the Romans in 70 B.C.?
More ominously, the L.A. Times source who debunked the Library Tower story said that those who could correctly measure the flimsiness of the scheme --
[Direction: look downward at imaginary notes]
--"feared political retaliation for providing a different characterization of the plan than that of the president."
[Direction: PIVOT!]
But Mr. Bush, you're the decider.
And you decided that the Library Tower story should be scored as one for you.
And you continued with a second dubious claim of counter-terror success. "We broke up a Southeast Asian terror cell grooming operatives for attacks inside the United States," you said.
Well, sir, you've apparently stumped the intelligence community completely with this one.
In his article, Mr. Swanson suggests that in the last week there has been no reporting even hinting at what exactly you were talking about.
He hypothesizes that either you were claiming credit for a ring broken up in 1995 or that this was just the Library Tower story "by another name."
Another CIA source suggests to NBC News that since the Southeast Asian cell dreamed of a series of attacks on the same day, you declared the Library Tower one threat thwarted, and all their other ideas, a second threat thwarted.
Our colleague Mr. Cressey sums it up:
This "Southeast Asian cell" was indeed the tale of the Library Tower, simply repeated.
Repeated, Mr. Bush, in consecutive sentences in the State of the Union -- in your constitutionally mandated status report on the condition and safety of the nation.
You showed us the same baby twice and claimed it was twins.
And then you said that was two for you.
Your third claim, sir, read thusly:
[Direction: look downward at imaginary notes]
"We uncovered an al-Qaida cell developing anthrax to be used in attacks against America."
[Direction: PIVOT!]
Again, the professionals in counter-intelligence were startled to hear about this.
Last fall, two Washington Post articles cited sources in the FBI and other governmental agencies who said that hopes by foreign terrorists to use anthrax in this country were fanciful at best, farcical at worst.
And every effort to link the 2001 anthrax mailings in this country to foreign sources has also struck out. The entire investigation is barely still active.
Mr. Cressey goes a little further. Anything that might even resemble an al-Qaida cell "developing anthrax," he says, was in the "dreaming" stages.
He used as a parallel those pathetic arrests outside Miami last year in which a few men wound up getting charged as terrorists because they couldn't tell the difference between an al-Qaida operative and an FBI informant.
Their "ringleader" seemed to be much more interested in getting his "terrorist masters" to buy him a new car than in actually terrorizing anybody.
That's three for you, Mr. Bush.
[Direction: look downward at imaginary notes]
"And just last August," you concluded, "British authorities uncovered a plot to blow up passenger planes bound for America over the Atlantic Ocean."
In a series of dramatic raids, 24 men were arrested.
Turned out, sir, a few of them actually had gone on the Internets to check out some flight schedules. Â
Turned out, sir, only a few of them actually had the passports needed to even get on the planes.
[Direction: PIVOT!]
The plot to which President Bush referred was a plot without bombs.
It was a plot without any indication that the essence of the operation -- the in-flight mixing of volatile chemicals carried on board in sports drink bottles -- was even doable by amateurs or professional chemists.
It was a plot even without sufficient probable cause.
A third of the 24 arrested that day -- exactly 90 days before the American midterm elections -- have since been released.
The British had been watching those men for a year.
Before the week was out, their first statement, that the plot was "ready to go, in days," had been rendered inoperative.
British officials told NBC News of the lack of passports and plans; told us that they had wanted to keep the suspects under surveillance for at least another week.
Even an American official confirmed to NBC's investigative unit that there was "disagreement over the timing."
The British then went further. Sources inside their government told the English newspaper the Guardian that the raids had occurred only because the Pakistanis had arrested a man named Rasheed Raouf.
That Raouf had been arrested by Pakistan only because we had threatened to do it for them.
That the British had acted only because our government was willing -- to quote that newspaper, The Guardian -- to "ride roughshod" over the plans of British intelligence.
Oh, by the way, Mr. Bush, an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan reduced the charges against Mr. Raouf to possession of bomb-making materials and being there without proper documents.
Still, sir -- evidently, that's close enough.
Score four for you!
Your totally black-and-white conclusions in the State of the Union were based on one gray area, and on three palettes on which the experts can't even see smudge, let alone gray.
It would all be laughable, Mr. Bush, were you not the president of the United States.
It would all be political hyperbole, Mr. Bush, if you had not, on this kind of "intelligence," taken us to war, now sought to escalate [Ding!] that war, and are threatening new war in Iran and maybe even elsewhere.
What you gave us a week ago tonight, sir, was not intelligence, but rather a walk-through of how speculation and innuendo, guesswork and paranoia, daydreaming and fear-mongering, combine in your mind and the minds of your government, into proof of your derring-do and your success against the terrorists.
The ones who didn't have anthrax.
The ones who didn't have plane tickets or passports.
The ones who didn't have any clue, let alone any plots.
But they go now into our history books as the four terror schemes you've interrupted since 9/11.
They go into the collective consciousness as firm evidence of your diligence, of the necessity of your ham-handed treatment of our liberties, of the unavoidability of the 3,075 Americans dead in Iraq.
Congratulations, sir.
You are the hero of "Jaws 2."
You have kept the Piper Cub out of the hands of Spartacus.
COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN - JANUARY 29, 2007
"COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN" (8:00 P.M.-9:00 P.M. ET)
Host: Keith Olbermann
Topics/Guests:
- WAR POLITICS: Richard Wolffe, Newsweek chief White House correspondent and MSNBC political analyst
- ANATOMY OF A LIE: "Outfoxed" documentary filmmaker Robert Greenwald
We break from our regular format tonight, to examine a strange case. The discredited sports guy (who was up to something this afternoon as he didn't even show up for his radio gig) had a great plan for a segment tonight. It would bash Fox. It would slime the "right-wing". He might even have been able to work in a shot or two at Bill O'Reilly. Yet somehow, between this afternoon, when the A-Mess-NBC publicity department sent out its notices (replicated above) and the actual airing of The Hour of Spin, that great segment vanished. Poof! Why?
The idea was to flog the Insight/Obama/Fox story yet again. The great auteur Robert Greenwald, whose triumphs include Flatbed Annie & Sweetiepie: Lady Truckers, and his chef d'ouvre, Xanadu, was to be Olby's expert witness sock puppet. It would be "the anatomy of a lie".
Now we might ask, what exactly makes the claim that the Clinton campaign circulated this rumor a "lie"? Because someone at the campaign denied it? If all it takes to make a story a lie is to have someone deny it, then why are we trying Scooter Libby? He denied the charges against him, therefore, using OlbyLogic, the charges are all lies. Herr Olbermann repeatedly played up charges by Kirk Fordham in the Foley matter, all denied by the accused. Yet Olby reported them as fact, even though by his own logic, they were debunked and a "lie". Olbypocrisy? Ya think?
But we digress. This segment would have been a perfect opportunity for Oralmann to reprise his attack on Insight as a "slime machine". But this raises a few problems, and even if "Man on Fan" Olbermann didn't recognize them, it appears somewhat at A-Mess-NBC did. After all, Insight wasn't a "right-wing slime machine" when Keith Olbermann used it as a source on March 16. Or when he relied on Insight as fact to push a story about a Karl Rove enemies list. Or when an article from Insight, that cited only a single anonymous source, was good enough for Krazy Keith to use to slam Karl Rove. And there are five more where those came from.
Such rank hypocrisy has never stopped Krazy Keith before. But today there was a new element: the New York Times. Their article today cited A-Mess-NBC's repeated lifting of stories from Insight (first reported by OlbermannWatch). Every one of these examples, like the ones above, was perpetrated by Rev Olbermoronn, though the Times did not name our hero. And, as the paper pointedly noted, their requests for comment from A-Mess-NBC were refused.
Now if the Times catches Krazy Keith pulling this trick again, Olbypocrisy is dangerously close to leaving the pages of Olbermann Watch and Newsbusters and erupting in the biggest MSM publication of them all. Dan Abrams does not want that to happen to his golden boy. Keith "I answer to no one" Olbermann has to answer to Dan Abrams, even though KO claims Dan only runs daytime programming. And then there's that contract, that apparently hasn't been signed yet. End result: the segment was made to disappear. No doubt there will be some serious moping and soaking in the tub tonight.
As for the rest of The Hour of Spin, it led off with The Great Leak Case (Bush "on trial by proxy"), citing again the "16 words" as a lead-in to another Slippery Shuster recap of the trial. Slippery said today's testimony was "devasating for the defense" (how so, since just Friday he claimed Libby's defense was already dead?). Such brilliant analysis can only be welcomed with Great Thanks, as Keith blathered about "near-Nixonian [Ding!] paranoia". That led to the Wolffe Man's first appearance for this week. The White House is "obsessing" over the trial; "credibility"; Cheney speaks in "dark, apocalyptic terms". Great thanks.
Next on the agenda was the big battle where Iraqi troops killed or captured hundreds of terrorists and insurgents. KO had barely finished his first sentence when he immediately brought up "the timing" [Ding!] and the venue, while the details were left to a taped report from NBC. Then KO, with an eye on ratings (isn't American Idol on tomorrow?), plugged a Tuesday night Speshul Komment. Oh wow.
#3: Hillary Clinton, with generous clips of her criticizing "Mister" Bush. Anne Kornblut of the Washington Post was there to analyze her campaign. Hillary is trying to "imply" that troops should come home by 2009. Olby opined that in 2004 John Kerry was "slammed" for "being too subtle" and for requiring people to think. Great thanks.
Next: A mountain lion attack victim, Barbaro, Brandi (who could end up spending "a year behind jail"), and UFOs, complete with a serious interview with a "ufologist". In the Media Matters Minute, Andrew Sullivan (for criticizing Hillary; Blue Blog Source: Media Matters), Fox (Blue Blog Source: TVNewser), and Fox again (for running an ad, also by coincidence condemned on the Blue Blog Source: TVNewser).
Dogs that did not bark: The DC war protests included spitting at a wounded Iraq war veteran and defacing the steps of Capitol Hill. A suicide bomber kills three in Israel. New developments in the case of the National Guardsmen who retreated rather than face hostile gunfire from illegal aliens. Another state plans to offer tuition price breaks to illegals. Hillary Clinton's flip-flop. And in the ongoing scrutiny of Naked Right-Wing Propaganda Masquerading as Entertainment, an episode of Medical Investigation ran this morning and it dealt with a deadly anthrax attack. Keith Olbermann did not object. Medical Investigation is not on Fox.
Olbermann's book The book that bears Olberman's name stands at #5,294 at amazon.com, while "Culture Warrior" is #159. The OlbyTome is #2,586 at Barnes & Noble; O'Reilly's book is #421 there, and for the 17th week is still on the New York Times bestsellers list. On Friday, the infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann tanked, finishing in a humiliating fourth place--behind Paul Zahn, behind Nancy Grace, and way behind The Factor, both in total viewers and in the critical, beloved, all-important, coveted "key demo". Tonight's MisterMeter reading: 5 [ELEVATED]
COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN - JANUARY 26, 2007
"COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN" (8:00 P.M.-9:00 P.M. ET)
Host: Keith Olbermann
Topics/Guests:
- PRES. BUSH CHALLENGES CONGRESS: Richard Wolffe, Newsweek chief White House correspondent and MSNBC political analyst
- SEN. CHUCK HAGEL (R-NEB.) AND IRAQ: Dana Milbank, Washington Post national political reporter and MSNBC political analyst
- JAMES BROWN AND MICHAEL JACKSON: Paul F. Tompkins, VH-1's "Best Week Ever"
As the infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann bellowed the opening spiel, it conjured up the image of the keynote speaker at a Tourette's convention: "The President still doesn't get it"... his decisions are "disasters"... Will Sen Hagel run for President as an independent?... That man in the White House actually wants to arrest and detain Iranian fighters in Iraq... A Michael Jackson sighting, and James Brown's body--all in puppets! Real journalism, folks.
After a clip from a Bush photo-op, KO "reported" that "Mister" Bush was just "blowing smoke"; Dem plans have ranged from "non-escalation [Ding!]" to "de-escalation [Ding!]"; he's engaging in "political manipulation". Clip of Hagel opposing the plan. The Wolffe Man said it's all "astonishing"--Bush even has the Presidential seal on his mountain bike. My stars, will the outrages never cease? Oralmann: Bush is "cynical". Wolffie: he's "playing politics". Oralmann: nobody in Congress advocates "failure in Iraq". Wolffie: most people think it's already a failure.
Then breaking news: an op-ed on a website excoriates Bush. "Hot Soup" suddenly becomes an important, authoritative voice, kind of like how Insight Magazine is a reliable OlbySource, until someone at Fox uses it. Cue Keith's Favorite Felon, John Dean. There followed a surreal conversation about credibility between America's most dangerous demagogue and a disbarred lawyer. Felon: Bush did it to himself. Olbermoronn: did "Mister" Bush lose his credibility with Katrina? Felon: Nah, that happened when he was elected. Olbermoronn: Is there any way "Mister" Bush can regain credibility? Felon: Sure, abandon principle and move to the "center". Olbermoronn: Who will "slap 'Mister' Bush around before it's too late"? Felon: He's got to do it on his own. Great thanks.
Next, subpoenas for Rove and Bartlett to testify for the defense in The Great Leak Case. Michael Isikoff called in on a terrible line to give details. Olby claimed they were "likely to testify", but Isikoff said something a bit different: "whether they're going to be called or not is not entirely clear". He went on to say Rove might help Libby, but in doing so Rove would have to admit what he told Matt Cooper. Not clear why that would make any difference since he already admitted it in Grand Jury testimony, but who are we to question Isikoff? Great thanks.
#3 was a paean to the wonderful surge opponent, Chuck Hagel, even replaying the same clip he ran the other day to make sure the propaganda is hammered home. Dana Milbank, without weird wardrobe, was asked, assuming the "escalation" [Ding!] fails, where does that leave Hagel? DM: It helps him. Krazy Keith: Might he, could he, please, please, please, run as an independent? DM: It's a "fantasy". KK: He "sounds like me" on civil liberties, views ascribed "these days" as "liberal attributes". (Wow, the infamous, deplorable one came this close to admitting he's a slovenly partisan hack!) Stupid Question Alert: In The Great Leak Case, won't Rove have to throw himself "under the bus" [Ding!], or Libby "under the bus" [Ding!], and isn't this just as bad as an indictment? DM: It's a window into how the White House tries to "control news" and "distort". KK: "It's a metaphor" [Ding!] Great thanks.
An OlbyUpdate: Mike Huckabee to file papers for a Presidential run. KO falsely claims this news broke while he was talking to Dana. No it didn't.
"Mister" Bush says Iranian fighters are fair game in Iraq. Whew, sez KO, because Bush's first comments were "widely interpreted" as a plan to launch a military attack on Iran. Hey Fat Ass, maybe they were "widely interpreted" in that way on OlbyPlanet, but here on Earth only moronic propagandists were claiming that to be fact. Bizarre OlbyLogic Point of the Day: the President's claim that he has a right to kill the enemy during a war has people "worried".
Then Obama, Steven Spielberg, Hillary, Liz Taylor, Lindsay Lohan (here KO read a made-up report that said she was visiting a liquor store; he later admitted it was made up), Nicole Kidman, Bruce Willis, James Brown, and Michael Jackson (complete with puppets), with a last-minute recap of the "breaking" Leak Case news (featuring the nonsensical point that Rove might have to testify to something he's already testified to on multiple occasions.)
In the Media Matters Minute, Fox for planning to run a deleted scene from the 9/11 movie on Sunday night (Blue Blog Source: Media Matters.) Olbermann Lies here include the claim that the producer is a "right-wing nut job" who believes "it was all Bill Clinton's fault. Of course Herr Olbermann left out of his diatribe the fact that the man who created and ran the CIA's Bin Laden Unit (Michael Scheuer) will be on the program to analyze the accuracy of this deleted scene. But why spoil a good smear with facts? "Worst person" was, of course, you-know-who (Blue Blog Source: Media Matters. The mother of all Olbsessions.
Taciturn terriers: There's a whole pack of 'em today. Jimmy Carter objecting that there were too many Jews on the Holocuast council. Iran's nuke development continues apace with the installation of thousands of centrifuges. A top Taliban leader and many of his deputies are killed by airstrikes in Afgahnistan. Hugo Chavez threatens to expel the US ambassador. The Secretary of Defense warns that people like Olbermoronn are going to embolden the enemy. Hillary Clinton's deadbeat brother is in trouble again. The South Dakota Senate recommends censure for one of their members (D) who groped a male page. There are still calls for Sandy Berger to complete the terms of his plea agreement and take a polygraph test, but the media (especially Herr Olbermann) avoid the story. And this was KO's last change to apologize for lying about Simon Cowell, and to explain why he is entitled to report stories from Insight magazine, even reviving the meme of one of them again last night, but when someone at Fox does it they become "worst person".
Olbermann's book The book that bears Olberman's name stands at #5,487 at amazon.com, while "Culture Warrior" rose to #132. The OlbyTome is #2,641 at Barnes & Noble; O'Reilly's book is #341 there, as well as being one of 2006's top ten best sellers. Poor Keith; our favorite demagogue finished in third place--behind Nancy Grace and way behind The Factor, both in total viewers and in the critical, beloved, all-important, coveted "key demo". Tonight's MisterMeter reading: 7 [HIGH]
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