I think Luke Russert took his father MTP seat home with him for this very reason.

At the risk sounding callous,, was it just me that found Keity"s five hours of sobbing and trembling lip, maybe a little contrived? I mean, after every other commentator on the sad subject had bucked up and reported and reminisced straight faced,, Olberman seemingly decided to keep the contorted angiush face on. Then I hear he's straight to the kossacks to get his affirmation. And remember this?,,""Tim said good quetion kieth""he stated it three times and then,, he brings out the video to prove it.!! Yeah, it was about you keith. .sad.

sorry for the mispellings! i can spell i just cant see!

I wonder how he felt a a couple days later when Russert's final words on KO contradicted him...

"Keith and I have each carved out our roles in this vast information spectrum." He continued, "What cable emphasizes, more and more, is opinion, or even advocacy. Whether it's Bill O'Reilly or Keith Olbermann or Lou Dobbs, that's what that particular platform or venue does. It's not what I do. What I do is different. I try very, very hard not to come up and say to people, 'This is what I believe,' or 'This is good,' or 'This is bad.' But, rather, 'This is what I'm learning in my reporting,' or 'This is what my analysis shows based on my reporting.' And as long as I can do that I'm very, very comfortable. And nobody has asked me to do anything but that."

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/nbc/remembering_russert_our_roles_in_this_vast_information_spectrum_87152.asp

Keith is well known in the industry for his obituaries. He has always shown a remarkable ability to write a script for an obit in such a way that made you feel that Keith really cared about the person - a standard Keith obit contains a variation on the line "the world will be a worse place without [insert name of deceased here]". Invariably, Keith will include some personal reference about he once met the person or how he always admired the person or was the person's biggest fan or whatever. At the end of the obit, the story of the death is invariably told through a Keith-centric prism, and how the death impact Keith. In other words, the story is really about Keith. And, from everything I have been told by those who have worked with him, the reality is that Keith cares about one thing and one thing only - Keith. Why should Russert's death be any different.

Interesting that Olbermann would admit that his "style" would hurt NBC or Russert's in particular.

[I posted this on the other "kos kids for MTP HOSTED BY OLBY" thread]

I for one doubt Tim Russert was really worried about his own "style" hurting COUNTDOWN. He was a nice man and perhaps he threw Olbermann a bone.

The same goes for Russert being an NBC NEWS team player and appearing on MSNBC election night coverage. Also, Russert LOVED politics and I doubt even Olbermann sitting in the anchor chair could keep him away from covering and analyzing the big political stories of our day.

Once again, for Keith Olbermann, it is all about him.

Rush just slammed KO and Matthews in the 2nd hour of today's program.

He, like me, was pretty insulted over Matthews comments about what Russert told him in private and was incensed that Matthews found a way (during all the grieving) to Blame Bush for ther war.

Spear...

If Keith was creaming in his pants over Russert saying "That's a great question Keith".....(note he played that tape over and over again to prop up his ego)

than....

Imagine how he shit in his pants when he heard the venerable Tom Brokaw say...."I think that's unfair, Keith,"

The Brokaw comment was first spotted on Olbermannwatch and made it all the way to this magazine article.

The funeral ought to be interesting. Straight out of Godfather 1.

Where will Olby be seated?

At this very sad time for the Russert family, there is no doubt that people are playing politics and jockeying for position as to where they will be sitting in the pews.

I can only imagine the infighting going on at NBC News.
There is probably a journalistic holy war going on.

I found it difficult to believe that Russert was supportive of the KO's ranting style. And when Keith talked about some kind words Russert had for him, I can only believe that Tim Russert was a kind and decent man who had kind words for everyone.

But I have to believe that deep down Russert was truly embarrassed by Keith's ranting and raving style of "reporting". And Russert had to crinch whenever he thought about how KO was tarnishing the reputation of NBC News with his crazy "Special Comments".

Two points: NBC is in a real bind for replace Russert on MTP. Anyone would be better than KO - even David Gregory. The problem for NBC is that Russert's death has left a vacume that might be filled by KO's staffers.

That would be the end of NBC News as a journalistic enterprise.

Finally, McCain should make it clear that he will not accept any debate format that features KO as a moderator.

Russert always tried to be fair. KO doesn't even care about being fair.

The fact that Olbermann blogs on Daily Kos at all speaks to the level of corruption at MSNBC. That said, for Keith to make Tim Russert into one of his great supporters posthumously is unforgivable.

Russert went out of his way not to be a Keith Olbermann. The fact that Keith was anchoring coverage of Russert's death was itself an insult to his memory.

Just the fact that Olbermann would interject himself in the tragic passing of Russert shows there is no limit to the depths that Olbermann is willing to sink himself in order to feed his narcissism.

I can hear Olbermann as he pounds out his dailykos postings and comments while smearing lipstick uncontrollably all over himself shouting in the mirror "i am pretty"!!!!

This guy is a whack.

A logical question on the subject of this thread....Anyone with the knowledge please answer.....

Was Tim Russert ever on COUNTDOWN?

Russert on countdown? If so, about as much as a republican pol.

I posted this at the Kos Kidz thread too. It really belongs here:

If KO is a legitimate journalist, as he and his followers keep insisting, why was KO so accepting of Russert's refusing/abstaining from making his favorable "position" re KO "public(ly) on this for obvious reasons,"?

Assuming, and that's a huge assumption, that this conversation took place what was it about Russert's "style" that KO could see as "hurting" his " broadcast, or the whole organization"?

What a pompous conceited twit KO is!

OOHH! 186 your comment made me do a spit take ""im pretty"!!!!!!!!!

"Russert went out of his way not to be a Keith Olbermann. The fact that Keith was anchoring coverage of Russert's death was itself an insult to his memory."
Indeed. Just as his sign does to Edward R. Murrow. He's not fit to shine their shoes. He has no concept of how small he looks when sitting next to people like Brokaw, Russert and Williams. He's even appears small when sitting next to Mitchell and Gregory. I didn't see him included in any of the panels that MSNBC held this weekend. Did anyone else?

QUADS,,, Yeah, ole lockjaw has pretty much given keithy little chance for spouting the ""brokaw supports me"" sh!t,, like he did when russert had no chance to rebuke him.

Russert being a polite, descent human being towards all people, including the most vocal ideologues on the right, impeded Olbermann's crusade to make NBC NEWS the launching pad for progressive (radical left) reform and renewal of our great land!

Hatred is what drives Olbermann.

spear

I'm pretty sure that Brokaw is a secret admirer of KO.

Of course he has to be dead first.

Brokaw very much cares about the brand. This reminds me of when Gumbel went postal on Willard Scott and his idiotic antics....

Stakes are much higher toward. Broadcast news is at a crossroads...
the blogosphere has changed the game which is pretty amazing.

KO must be licking his knuckles now that NBC is desperate to get a anchor in that slot lest they see a further erosion of viewers of the timeslot.

KO seems to be the IT boy now, so it makes sense for them but from a equitable political perspective it spells disaster.

If KO gets his way, there will be a mass exodus at NBC news.
In a years time, KO will be yelling "my kingdon for a horse"

Let's see how much love KO has for Russert.

It's no secret that Russert disliked (I'm being nice) Arianna Huffington. She bashed him in her book and even set up a "Russert Watch" on her hate site. Rumor has it, though I think it's true, that Russert kept Huffington off all NBC shows to promote her book.

Anybody want to guess when she'll be on CountDung?

I serious doubt that Russert was that impressed with anything that KO did as a "Newsman"..but the Man isn't here to defend himself so KO will use him to puff up his own phony career to help claim the MTP chair. New Murrow indeed.

Olbermann always claims people are his friends. He even stated Tony Snow and him emailed each other about Baseball. It was a lie since Snow hated him. Olbermann needs reall help. He's delusional.

Keith is widely reviled in the television industry and so desperate from friends that when Tony Snow, who like Russert is well-regarded as one of the nicest guys in Washington, and who once famously said on-air of Keith that he could fit all of his friends in a phone booth, replies to an email Keith tries to paint Tony as a pal. Oh and did I mention Keith's apparent distaste for the Bush administration for which Tony was the spokesman?

Anyone recall this one?

MSNBC President Goes Ballistic on Olbermann over Peter Jennings incident
http://tinyurl.com/5e7b34

The trouble with Keith is that he believes his own lies.

I think Russert was probably supportive of Olbermann professionally. Russert, like Brokaw, saw the media changes exemplified in the boundary crossing of cable news, as some new universe coming into being, where no one was sure of the physical laws, etc (to carry on Brokaw's analogy).... I think Olbermann appalled Russert at times, like he does Brokaw, but I'm sure he saw Olbermann's big talent and potential (both grievously hampered by his personality). Most importantly, they saw ratings. They do matter.

There was one time when it seemed that Russert was courting conservatives in some way-- he was doing the talks with Hannity and Limbaugh. MSNBC was exploring different programming too, trying to catch the FNC success with Savage (ick!) and Alan Keyes. Of course Olbermann's show has been give more time to catch-on more than other show, including Donahue's show.

However, to understand Brokaw and Russert's delight potential here, consider that Limbaugh is every bit as talented and off-beat witty as Olbermann. But imagine a popular show hosted by Limbaugh on MSNBC. That network would pay an extremely high cost in media elite credibility with such a show, especially if popular.

Can you imagine a Howard Kurtz or a Tom Shales musing the hair and pinching the cheek of Limbaugh, after he yelled at Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid to shut the hell up? After he called Al Gore "liar"?

Russert (and Brokaw) HAD to be delighted by the potential of success by pulling a whole new and young and LIBERAL audience, even as Olbermann made him cringe, and in Brokaw's case-- make excruciatingly bad analogies like his "big bang" one.

They both felt/feel that delight even as their minds nag them about some hidden and vast cost they may be paying instead.

I read this comment at Kos and felt my jaw drop. As if there was any way in the world Russert's style could hurt Olbermann's broadcast. He's just padding out the actual nugget of truth there..that Russet was worried Olbermann's style(strident awfullness)would hurt the reputation of Russert's broadcast and NBC in genertal.

I'm still not over the repulsion I felt watching Olbermann anchor the Russert coverage on Friday. It was such an insult to Russert to have Olbermann, the symbol of everything that is soulless and wrong at NBC/MSNBC, speaking about objectivity in the wake of Russert's death. It was truly vomit inducing.

Spearrule-there's nothing callous about not buying Keith's tears. This is a man who engages in manufactured emoting on a regular basis. It's a central part of his schtick. In this case, though, it was particularly grotesque. Olberman wasn't close to Russert. Olbermann wasn't a friend. They were barely colleagues. Christ knows he wasn't a peer. But, Olby wasn't about to let the occasion pass without hijacking it for his own selfish self-absorbed reasons. It was literally that scene from Broadcast News when William Hurt does some onair cry-acting to boost the drama for a news piece.

Reminding us again..it's all about HIM.

Keith just used Tim's death to beat up on Fox news. I watched Fox all weekend and they did nothing but praise Russert, but Overbite managed to find someway to convey the message that Fox trampled on Russert's memory. This is the lowest human being on the planet and anyone who follows him is just as low.

Robert Cox: "I will leave it to Olbermann Watchers to comment on the appropriateness of Olbermann going onto Daily Kos to claim, hours after Russert's death, that Russert was secretly one of Olbermann's biggest supporters."

One word....INAPPROPRIATE!

You have to give olby props...how many times can one man prove what an empty vessel he is?

Zona, I think it's both. I think Russert did give him the same pep talks and emails that he gave others (while Russert still had the cringe factor doubts that I mention above) AND Olbermann used the occasion of Russert's death to try to validate himself.

What was his, cough, evidence? I saw much of Fox's coverage and it was excellent. Hannity, unlike Olbermann, was able to offer up touching personal stories and said he considered Russert a friend.

Olby is just hate filled when it comes to FOX, Stephen.

And FOX had a ligitimate question they posed.

On Monday.

Three days after Russert's death.

Olby makes me sick as to the level he'll stoop to soothe his delusions.

Keith is a loose marble on a warped floor.
He is pimping out the deceased Russert in WPITW.
NBC news is al jazeera @ 30 rock.

Typical Olbermann. He Uses Russerts death to self-aggrandize. Keith is a sociopath.

This is the lowest human being on the planet and anyone who follows him is just as low.

by stephen

Agreed. Where's mikeh to defend his orange hero? Hiding!

Cee,,, i think your comment says it all