Keith Olbermann will be the featured speaker tonight at the ACLU of Massachusetts "Bill of Rights Dinner".
Any loyal Olbermann Watch readers out there who can make their way over to the Boston Park Plaza Hotel with a camera, video camera or audio recorder and capture the events? The Reception is at 6:00pm with Dinner at 6:45pm.
Joe Scarborough Rips Keith Olbermann over Al Gore "man love" interview
Last night on Scarborough Country and again this morning on WFAN radio, after his Imus replacement show was no longer airing on MSNBC, Joe Scarborough went after Keith Olbermann for his embarrassingly obsequious interview. We are currently efforting the video from Scarborough Country which we are optimistic that we can get. The radio clip from this morning will be a bit tougher.
I did not see the comments on TV but was listening to WFAN this morning when Scarborough began slamming Keith, describing the Gore interview as "man love". Joe brought on "Al Gore" (it may have been Darrell Hammond) to talk about his interview with Keith.
It's been a few weeks since a mainstream media article appeared about Herr Olbermann. Hey KO--Did you forget to pay your publicist? Enter the Boston Globe to fill the KO newsvoid. This isn't a full-on profile of Olbermann, it's a Q&A session with his opinions on key questions (half of which are sports-related). But it does contain a nugget of interesting information. Guess who is the Keynote Speaker at the ACLU-Massachusetts Banquet in Boston tonight? Yes, that's right, the unbiased Keith Olbermann.
Best president?
"Lincoln. Can't argue with turning the catastrophe of civil war into the emancipation of the slaves. Although I think James Polk is terribly underrated -- took the chance on California, managed to enrage the leaders of all the political parties.''
What????? A Republican that Olbermann actually likes? Oh, that's right, Olbermann only likes Republicans who have been dead for over a century.
Best member of the Red Sox?
"Current: Terry Francona. Sitting in the dugout with him during an exhibition game this year taught me about 25 percent more baseball than I knew, and his light touch running the club was a delight to watch."
Wow--Olbermann actually admits he doesn't know everything about everything-that's got to be a first for him. He must have been in an unusually humble mood.
Best of all time? Johnny Pesky. Anybody who could still be working for the same organization 43 years after losing the manager's job is doing something right. Plus 10 years ago he ended an interview with me by giving a very warm handshake, which he promptly turned into a 'soul shake.' I am still in awe.
There goes KO again with the man-love for baseball players. He's probably still prefer a soul kiss from A-Rod though.
Best US foreign intervention?
"Afghanistan. One can argue that World War I qualifies -- only our shipping was attacked, not the nation per se. But for pure justified bona fide 'world's policeman' work, going after the Taliban was inarguable. And incomplete."
Ah, Olbylogic. It's okay to go into Afghanistan to hunt down the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden but those terrorists in Iraq? Oh no, they should be left alone to kill us.
Best recent movie or book?
"I loved 'The Echoing Green' by Josh Prager. A microscopic workup of the 1951 National League pennant race. 'Gettysburg Gospel' by Gabor Boritt is the same kind of writing: A specific event, researched to death, so detailed as to transport you to the time and place. Great written history should approach time travel; these do."
To show he's a real "intellectual", Olby has to mention books no one else has ever read or even heard of. Gee, do you think he shares his reading list with his oh-so-very-young live-in girlfriend, Katy Tur? Is she actually old enough to read yet?
Best guess right now on the Democratic and Republican nominees in 2008?
"Al Gore and Mitt Romney. I think the far right will eventually recoil from Giuliani and pick Romney because he looks like a president and sounds like a Bing Crosby record. And I think Gore can have the nomination for the asking."
There you go. Olbermann has spoken: Al Gore will throw his hat into the ring any day now because Olbermann wants him to!
Bonus question: Odds that Gore wins the Nobel Peace Prize?
"3:1 -- and the odds are that he'll actually win it, but the odds it will go to somebody else on a recount are 3:2."
Yeah, it's always those pesky recounts that do Democrats in isn't it Olby?
Keith Olbermann Interview of Al Gore: Analysis by Gibson
On his radio program today, John Gibson scrutinized Keith Olbermann's blue dress interview with Al Gore. Gibby's detailed deconstruction of this repellent media spectacle should make him an odds-on favorite for the next round of WPitW nominations. We have the audio for your listening pleasure:
"COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN" (8:00 P.M.-9:00 P.M. ET)
Guest Host: Alison Stewart
Topics/Guests:
POLITICS: Dana Milbank, Washington Post national political reporter
CELEBRITY CHEATERS: Mo Rocca, TV personality
This is very odd because last night Keith promoted the rest of his interview with Al Gore which was scheduled to air tonight. So, this is either an unexpected mid-week absence or the plan was to fill the front end of the show with the lovely Alison introducing KO on tape with Gore. So, for now consider this an open thread unless KO appears through the magic of video tape at which point I will recap the balance of the KO-Gore love fest.
"COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN" (8:00 P.M.-9:00 P.M. ET)
Host: Keith Olbermann
Topics/Guests:
IRAQ & THE MEDIA: One-on-One Interview with Al Gore, Former Vice President, Presidential candidate and Author "The Assault on Reason." The big question tonight: whether Keith plans to do this interview bent over or on his knees. Tune in tonight to find out.
COUNTDOWN TO 2008: Chris Cillizza, Washingtonpost.com
#5) Al Gore joins Keith to pimp his new book. If anyone knows about the "Assault on Reason" it would be Al Gore.
OlbyPocrisy Alert - Keith's first question is to get to the bottom of America's obsession with trivialities like "American Idol". Strangely, Keith neglects to mention that on 40% of Keith's shows since January the #1 story feature on Countdown has been...American Idol!.
So far Al Gore is doing a great job offering tendentious answers to simple questions which goes along way towards suggesting that Gore is, in fact, running.
Gore says he wants to put Presidential debates on "prime time" so people can get minute-to-minute and second-to-second updates on what is happening during the debates. Strange because as best I can tell
Ha! Now Gore is saying that 70% of the American public believed that the primary reason for invading Iraq was because Saddam was behind 9/11 and that this is an indictment of...the national conversation. In other words, American people's are basically idiots. I guess it sounds better when Gore says it!
Going in the break, Keith says "good news for Obama" in the polls. Funny because the latest poll from American Research said Obama was running THIRD in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Maybe the good news is that he is ahead of Bill Richardson.
#4) More Gore! Keith wonders whether Al Gore can do more for the country from the White House than that best seller list...something Keith would know nothing about since the book that bears his name never made it onto the best seller list.
SAY WHAT? Gore says "I don't think I'm necessarily very good at politics".
WOW...a rare REVERSE GREAT THANKS. Gore closes the interview by THANKING KEITH:
"Thanks for your passionate involvement for trying to address these issues".
Of course, Keith is a journalist so I've got no idea what Gore means by Keith's "passionate involvement" in "these issues". Unless perhaps Gore believes that Keith is a political partisan POSING as a news anchor.
Oddball - Spreading vile lies about Honest Abe. Miss Universe falls, Brits chasing a cheese wheel, women racing in bikinis on a horse track
Top 3 Newsmakers - a strange elephant, criminal falls asleep while robbing a house, a robber asks a victim for a date.
#3) 2008 Race - the good news is that in a THEORETICAL match up Obama does better
More social conservatives are willing to "sacrifice" principle for power. They support Guiliani just because he think he is the best chance for the GOP to win in 2008
Chris Cillizza continues to be baffled that even as Guiliani gets to be MORE KNOW by "social conservatives" (read evangelicals) the more the support him. When you've got people like Olbermann hoping Guiliani will fail to win the nomination that tells you one thing - VOTE FOR RUDY!
Keith is convinced that he got a real scoop tonight in the Gore interview because Gore did not categorically rule out running for President in 2008. Except that this is what he has been saying since the second of week of November in 2004.
WARNING...TRUTH ALERT...Chris Cillizza speculates that maybe the reason Gore will not rule out running is because he is selling a book and can get more attention by playing Hamlet. Ya think?
#2) Canned report on TB Scare
Keeping Tabs - Rosie, Britney Spears
WPIW - Paul Wolfowitz defends himself in an interview with the BBC, Bay Buchanan criticizes Hillary Clinton, Sean Hannity makes fun of John Edwards. [Ed will be providing blue blog sources for the Media Matters Minute later]
#1) Lindsay Lohan. Let me get this straight. After getting all serious with Al Gore on how the media is spending too much time covering trivialities Keith replaces the usual American Idol segment with a hard-htting story about Lindsay Lohan getting drunk and ending up in rehab. This followed by stories about Britney Spears come back, Miss USA falling down, Rosie videoblogging about The View, British people chasing cheese wheels.
Paul F Thompkins adds a dash of that "hilarious" VH1 humor. Yawn.
END NOTE: I wanted to get right to Al Gore so I held back Keith's shot at Peter Pace and his credibility (gotta love when Keith goes after someone else about their credibility). Keith lifted this one from Raw Story. I seriously doubt the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs does not know casualty figures for Central Command so most likely Pace is using an actual number such as combat-related deaths and Raw Story is using a large number such death in theater or something like that. Any readers care to chase this down?
Well the votes are in and the first five members of the "Great Thanks" Hall of Fame have been selected by the Olbermann Watch Writers Committee.
We will be taking the Memorial Day Weekend off but hope readers will take a few moments this weekend to propose additional nominees in the following categories:
On his Sunday night program, Matt Drudge again mentioned the infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann. Calling his act "phony", Drudge dismissed Olby and his overheated Special Education Komments as nothing but "camp", and we have the audio clip for your listening pleasure:
UPDATE: You can also listen to part of this audio on the Center for American Progress blog, Think Progress, which has seen fit to lift the clip from OW without attribution. The comments are amusing as you can witness the limits of liberal tolerance towards homosexuals. We all know, libs are very tolerant of all those people who agree with them. Just ask self-professed "attention whore", Cindy Sheehan, who has "quit" the anti-war movement after waking up to the fact that she was being used by the Democrats.
It is, at least, one small wish come true for yours truly. I've been waiting for the time, waiting for the opportunity, for Keith Olbermann to prove me right. All it took was one silly little vote in Congress. Something about money. And the war. But, man, did it give KO the chance to turn on the Democrats. Yup, he turned on them big time. I, for one, was glad to see it. Not so much because they deserve it (and they do), but because I've always thought that he'd take on a failing Democratic administration just as ardently as he does the Bush Administration.
Granted, he did throw in a bit of Bush-Bashing, just for good measure. I thoroughly enjoyed reading through the comments after Robert posted the "Special Comment" summary, although my eyes do begin to glass over after watching certain people attack each other, rather than debate the issue. Thus is the simultaneous joy and despair of jumping into an online debate.
There was (in the comments) some criticism of Keith BECAUSE he nailed the Democrats, a move perceived as just "going along" with all of the liberal bloggers who were also upset. That, to me, is quite similar to criticising Bill O'Reilly for siding with the John Boehners of the world, who consistently champion the Iraq Occupation. I don't see much of that going on.
If the Dems live up to the chatter from their corner today, KO will be back beating on Bush before you know it. Then, all will be right with the world. You'll once again have your daily ration of fresh meat to devour. As for me, I'll continue to watch the debate, quietly shaking my head at all the ruckus, and waiting for the next chance for Keith to prove me right. If the Dems do get back on their predicted track, I may have to wait until 2009 to see if he lives up to my predictions on an ongoing basis.
I think he can do it. In the meantime, my next "milestone" will be when his first segment appears on NBC Nightly News. Will we see the "Special Comment" persona? Or a more demure KO for the parent network? I predict we'll see the first of those in the next month or so. The new Executive Producer has the segments on her "crazy person list". My vote? They'll let him have pretty much free reign, but I don't think he'll be allowed to hit the "bug-eyed" point that he's famous for. No, check that. I think he's smart enough to tone it down a bit. A BIT. But, they want him for the "edge" he can provide. Goodness knows, they need a bump right now. Something more than a new "World Headquarters" at 30 Rock can provide.
Keith Olbermann OlbyLies to excuse Rosie O'Donnell calling U.S. troops in Iraq terrorists
First, I want to thank the Anonymous Commenter who encouraged me to go back and look at Keith's comments on Wednesday. I only wish I had looked sooner. My bad. The good news is Anon was Spot On...
Watch as Keith Olbermann flat out lies in order to excuse Rosie O'Donnell calling U.S. troops in Iraq terrorists then twists HIS lie into a slap at Fox News for CORRECTLY reporting what O'Donnell said.
To review:
First, the OlbyLie...
OLBERMANN: Last week Miss O'Donnell said, quote, 650,000 people have died in Iraq. Who's the terrorists? It seems like an obvious reference to President Bush, but not on Fox noise, which decided she meant American troops.
What was actually said...
O'DONNELL: I haven't -- I just want to say something. 655,000 Iraqi civilians are dead. Who are the terrorists?
HASSELBECK: Who are the terrorists?
O'DONNELL: 655,000 Iraqis -- I'm saying you have to look, we invaded --
HASSELBECK: Wait, who are you calling terrorists now? Americans?
O'DONNELL: I'm saying if you were in Iraq, and the other country, the United States, the richest in the world, invaded your country and killed 655,000 of your citizens, what would you call us?
HASSELBECK: Are we killing their citizens or are their people also killing their citizens?
O'DONNELL: We're invading a sovereign nation, occupying a country against the U.N.
"COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN" (8:00 P.M.-9:00 P.M. ET)
Host: Keith Olbermann
Topics/Guests:
SUPPLEMENTAL WAR BILL: Jonathan Alter, Newsweek senior editor and MSNBC political analyst; Craig Crawford, Congressional Quarterly and MSNBC political analyst;
CIA PRE-WAR INTELLIGENCE REPORT: PJ Crowley, former Pentagon spokesman and Center for American Progress Senior Fellow.
#5 Iraq War Funding Bill - Keith actually touches on one of the most significant aspect of the bill - it passed despite opposition from the Speaker of the House, the Senate Majority Leader and a majority in both the House and Senate that opposed the bill. But as quick as it came the moment is gone as Keith explains John Boehner's comments during the debate on the supplemental as somehow a lack of concern about the troops in Iraq. Funny how Keith is all upset about how people are "twisting" Rosie O'Donnell's words (when she actually said what has been reported) but has no problem claiming that Boehner said something that he did not say and which is has nothing to do with the clip he ran. Keith managed to find a New York Times poll that says things he likes. Surprise!
Jonathon Alter stops by and immediately demonstrates why he was recently anointed one of Olbermann's "First Five" inducted into the Great Thanks Hall of Fame - saying Bush "knows that he is signing the death warrants of young men and women".
For those who have never been to OlbyPlanet, one of the coolest things about it is the "wayback machine". Anyone on OlbyPlanet is able to step into a television studio and be magically transported back in time so they can turn their own failed predictions into accurate ones. Alter took a brief trip tonight, so that he and other OlbyPundits always knew it was "unavoidable" that Bush would get his way because Democrats "never had the votes". Funny how this is the first time since the 2006 election that we've ever heard that on Countdown.
Alter reveals that his colleagues...whoops...the Democratic leadership...inform him that the Democrats have another trick up their sleeve that WILL success - cutting funding to Gitmo this coming July. I think I actually saw Alter noting the time he said it so he knows exactly how far back to go in the Wayback Machine come July when Bush argues that the Dems want to let the terrorists go free so they can harm innocent Americans - and the Dems cave again. No word from Keith or Alter on where the prisoners at Gitmo will be going once that facility is shut down.
Alter is, however, hopeful that the politics of Iraq will change over the summer so the Democrats can get their way in the fall. Hmmmm. How might the politics change? Hmmmm. Maybe if there are lots and lots of deaths in Iraq? Maybe that things get worse in Iraq? Now you know why Alter was a shoo-in on the first ballot for the Great Thanks Hall of Fame.
Whoops, Alter obviously strayed from the OlbyScript:
"remember, the brigades that were part of this surge, it takes them a while to deploy in country so after the all arrive at the beginning of the summer it will no longer be the excuse that "hey, the surge hasn't been implemented yet"
Wait? Check the tape! Haven't we been hearing how the surge is not working? But Alter says the troops have not even all arrived yet and even after they arrive it will take some time to deploy them in Iraq. Fortunately, it's Friday night on Memorial Day weekend and the OlbyLoons are far too stoned to sort out THAT contradiction.
Craig Crawford is definitely NOT a reliable OlbyPundit and it is questionable whether he will ever be on the ballot for the Great Thanks Hall of Fame. Sure enough, Crawford notes that Hillary has opened herself up to the Kerry Flip-Flop Charge.
Sure enough, only a mumbled, half-hearted "great thanks" for Crawford.
#4 - Spintel - Hold the presses, elements at the CIA did not support the war in Iraq! And there a report that said bad things might happen in Iraq if we invaded (duh!)
P.J. Crowley politely agrees with all of Keith's "questions".
My mind was wondering as Keith spent about 40 seconds asking an OlbyQuestion...whatever happened to that Chalabi guy? Last I heard he was accumulating all sorts of power in Iraq. I don't think I've heard an ominous report about that guy since the fall of 2006.
Oooh! A classic OlbyQuestion surfaces:
"The occasion of the Memorial Day Weekend is especially a somber one even to ask this question but 'is there a way to estimate how many lives were lost, just how many American families suffered because these CIA forecasts were ignored by the President and the warmongers who were around him?'"
I love this question because not only do you have the actual content of the question but you have to suspend disbelief long enough to ignore the reality that when George Tenet's book came out he was slamming the CIA pretty much every day for about two weeks for their pre-war "forecasts" (intelligence estimates).
Lindsay Nelson bought a suit in Hong Kong made of drapes.
Oddball - a thief on a motorized scooter, a stage dive to nowhere,
Top 3 Newsmakers - Jim Ruternberg does not have kids but Bush thought he did, stupid crook, a cop trades sex for favors
#3 - Canned report from NBC Dateline - Ann Curry slobbers all over Angelina Jolie as she promoted her movie with the fullest of cooperation of NBC "News"
#2 - Rosie leaving The View. Keith runs the clips of Elizabeth Hasselbeck of cleaning Rosie's clock but nothing about what Rosie ACTUALLY SAID.
Keeping Tabs - Star Wars convention, Paul Newman retiring from acting
WPIW - John McCain misses votes while campaigning, Fred Thompson says there are terrorists who want to kill Americans (gasp!), Doug Feith made a typo in a report several years ago.
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