On Tonight's Hour of Spin:

• It's tax cuts for millionaires! Oralmann explains why the more you're taxed, the better you'll like it. With renowned economics expert Ezra the K.
• More of the above with lefty Heather McGee.
• WikiLeaks, right up Olby's alley no doubt. Squishy ex-advisor to Colin Powell will spin.
• Far-left Larry Korb returns again to attack Repubs.
• Attack on Bristol Palin. Yes, on OlbyPlanet the children of the famous are fair game, as long as it's Olby who's doing the attacking. After all, it's not like he has any children of his own, or ever will.

Herr Olbermahn's cheap shots are so repellent that even his liberal friends are taking him to task. What line will he cross tonight? Here's a preview of Tuesday's Hour of Spin:

• The Prez better not compromise on increasing taxes! The Great and Powerful Olb has spoken! And so will a (D) rep and HuffPo hack Howard Not-So-Fineman.
• Riding the Don't Ask Don't Tell bandwagon again, with another sympathetic parrot
• Attack on Gov Jan Brewer (R) for her 'death panels'! It's only a lie when Palin (R) sez it!
• Secession? Treasonous! Constitutional authority Clarence Page will natter.
• Attack on Michele Bachmann (R).

No Wednesday preview. Olby's been twitter-silent for almost 24 hours. Will he even appear tonight? Cross your fingers...

Comments are open!

At least we won't have to put up with the infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann for five days. That alone is something to be thankful for.

On tonight's Hour of Spin:

• Olby continues to ride the TSA pat-down story. Who says he can't get behind stories from Fox News? A week behind, that is. An in-house 'expert' and at Atlantic talking head will try to bring relevance to Olby's late-to-the-party meanderings.
• Attack on John Kyl (R) with far-left hack Lawrence Korb of the soros-funded CAP, though you can bet money Oralmann won't mention Soros and will instead describe Korb as a former Reagan assistant secretary of defense. That works every time; the dupes never question what the Great and Powerful Olb says.
• The biggest ego on OlbyPlanet welcomes a return visit from the supersized idiot: Michael Moore.
• Attacks on Glenn Beck (Fox) and Newt Gingrich (R).

Tuesday's Hour of Spin:

• More Olby trying to be like Fox News by pounding the TSA story. Does Olby even fly? So he doesn't drive, he won't fly...what does he do? Oh that's right. The bestest baseball card collection on the block.
• Expert advice on how to handle North Korea from a ex-official of the...Clinton administration! Because they did such a good job.
• David Children of the Corn will rail against corporate profits. No justice, no peace!
• Republicans want the credit card companies to screw you! You want proof? Oralmann will serve up Ezra the K.
• Attack on Fox and the all-time #1 Olbsession, Mr Bill.
• Attack on Jan Brewer (R) of Arizona. Looks like this is going to be another Olbsession. At least for this week anyhow.

Wednesday's Hour of Spin (let's face it, Oralmann's drivel isn't worth a new post):

• No tax cuts for the rich!! A left Econ 101 perfessor will be Olby's human talking points, along with The Wolffe Man.
• Attack on Sen Kyl (R); what a great topic for Discredited Dave.
• TSA opt-out day flops, but Monkeymann will find a way to make something out of it.
• Attack on Tom Delay (R).
• Attack on Sarah Palin (R)...oh, sorry, make that Sister Sarah (R), because you know it just gets that much funnier the 89th time he says it.

Comments are open!

Olby back after a 4-day long weekend with pay, Worst Persons reinstated right on schedule, so OlbyPlanet is back to abnormal. What's on the docket for tonight? Watching Bones. But if you're stuck with Oralmann, this is what you will be suffering through:

• Attack on Republicans for not extending unemployment insurance out to 326 weeks. Olby will dig up an 'average citizen' to exploit.
• To pile on: HuffPo hack Howard Not-So-Fineman.
• More attacks on (R)s with a double-R: Robert Reiccccchhhhh.
• Attack on John Boehner (R) with extremist Matt Taibbi.
• Attack on Roger Ailes (Fox) for use of the term 'Nazi' (which is much much worse than doing a Nazi salute while holding up a Bill O'Reilly mask).

Friday's Hour of Spin:

• Attack on Jan Brewer (R), with innocent victims of her evil ways and Maddow's little sister Chris.
• Olby continues to run with TSA story days after the rest of the media was on to the story.
• The Great and Powerful Mayor of London wants to arrest GW Bush (R). It's another fun episode of Olby and the Perfessor.
• Ith another thuberb inthallment of Thurber thpecialties. Do not listen while driving a vehicle. (No danger for Keith there. He can't drive a car.)

Comments are open!

The latest installment in Keith Olbermann's ongoing attempts to resuscitate his ratings comes tonight, as he is dragged, kicking and screaming, into reluctantly reinstating the Worst Persons in the World segment, the one he previously claimed he was suspending 'probably' for good. But as Olbermann Watch reported a week ago, the plan all along was to resurrect it. The 'viewer poll' was carefully positioned to give the results he wanted, and just yesterday we told you what the results would be before they were broadcast. If Oralmann's machinations were any more transparent they would be day-old Neutrogena.

We also told you yesterday that the infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann would lie about the Fox video he ran--and sure enough he did, claiming it was Fox reporters who didn't know they were being recorded. Simply a flat-out lie. Not only do the people in that clip know they are being recorded, and will be posted on the internet, but the program host Jon Scott tells viewers every week that they can see the commercial break discussions online. But never mind all of that. Herr Olbermahn would rather just lie about it.

What lies will Monkeymann tell tonight? You might get an idea from this:

• What's Soros up to? He lost the election. Oh noes, don't tell us he might abandon Obama? Far-lefty Sam Stein to serve up the OlbyPlanet party line.
• Another attack on Rep Harris (R) with another lefty OlbyParrot.
• Attack on Michele Bachmann (R), attack on Steve King (R). EZra Klein delivers the talking points
• Olby finally discovers TSA issue. That's right, he's now picking up stories Glenn Beck led with days ago.
• And [roll of drums, sound of trumpets] The (Not Really) Worst Persons in the World. Whatever the hell that's supposed to be.

It's another must-miss edition of The Hour of Spin. Comments are open!

On tonight's Hour of Spin:

• Oh look, there's GOP 'infighting'! (But never Dem infighting, at least not on OlbyPlanet!) It's Rep Weiner (D) and Discredited Dave to 'analyze'!
• Prez/Congress relations, with a Soros-funded hack.
• Attacks on all things (R) with Bill Maher.
• Attacks on newly elected Rep (here's a shocker--he's an R).
• Attack on Fox for attacking Sarah Palin (R)?!?
• The most unmysterious reveal ever: gee, what did our WPitW poll say?

We might as well dismiss one of those things in advance, and see how badly Oralmann twists the facts. To quote him:

• TWITTERMANN: Surprising outtakes as Fox Newsers TRASH @SarahPalinUSA

Let's see...
1. They're not outtakes, they're conversations that take place during a commercial break. Outtakes are parts of a show that are cut before it's broadcast.
B. Actually nobody in the clip is trashing Palin at all. They are quoting published reviews of Palin's Alaska special that appeared in the papers ahead of its premiere.
III. In fact, they couldn't have been trashing Palin's program, since at the time this discussion was taking place, it hadn't aired yet! The newspapers saw advance copies, the panelists didn't.
d. Just in case Monkeymann tries to suggest this is some sort of secret footage, or leaked video somebody 'revealed', the discussions during commercial breaks on Fox News Watch are posted every week. By Fox. On their own website. In this case, right here.

Yeah, Oralmann will have fun misrepresenting this one. But because you read Olbermann Watch, you have a heads up about his spin and lies.

Comments are open!

Howard Kurtz of the Daily Beast: Vicious Infighting at NBC News

MSNBC's president vowed to fire Keith Olbermann after he threatened to take his case to other networks. Howard Kurtz on the civil war that has NBC brass - and his own staff - fuming.

OlbermannWatch was launched in 2004 as a warning that Keith Olbermann was bringing on a series of left-wing kooks with all manner of conspiracy-theorists spinning fantasies about how President George W. Bush and his minions rigged the election to beat Sen. John Kerry. At the time we borrowed a line from Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan that Olbermann was defining deviancy down and setting in motion the destruction of the NBC News brand. Sources at NBC News dismissed what they perceived to be hyperbole and fear-mongering pointing out that Chris Matthews was the face of MSNBC and that the focus in the news division of NBC was Tom Brokaw turning over the anchor chair to Brian Williams.
Flash forward to 2010, with the irreparable damage now done, the old-guard has finally woken up only to find it is too late.
"We are at war," Phil Griffin declared in a phone conversation with Olbermann's agent in the midst of the flare up over the disclosure that Keith Olbermann made political donations to Democratic candidates in the 2010 election cycle. Griffin, a senior vice president at NBC with oversight responsibility for MSNBC, is a long-time Olbermann apologist.
Kurtz:

If so, it was a war that had spread beyond the principal combatants to many of the journalists who work at NBC and MSNBC. From the moment Olbermann was found to have donated money to three Democratic candidates, there has been a deepening sense of anger and frustration among his colleagues, according to interviews with eight knowledgeable sources. These sources, who declined to be quoted by name because of the sensitivity of the situation, say that several of NBC's front-line stars, including Tom Brokaw, have expressed concern to management that Olbermann has badly damaged MSNBC's reputation for independence...Network staffers use phrases like "scorched-earth policy" and "totally narcissistic response" to describe how Olbermann has dealt with criticism of his political donations. A recurring theme is that he has made it impossible for MSNBC to argue that it is journalistically different from Fox News...

Kurtz' article is a must read and includes other nuggets such as the disclosure that Olbermann requires his own staff to leave notes outside his door rather than speaking to him, that the indefinite suspension without pay turned into a 2 day suspension WITH PAY, that Olbermann threatened to go on Good Morning America, Larry King Live and David Letterman, that Griffin threatened to fire Keith if he went on the talk shows, Olbermann has alienated everyone at the network and "has no major allies left at 30 Rock". With Jeff Zucker leaving, Comcast set to take over and one-time protege Rachel Maddow overshadowing Keith, Olbermann's days may be numbered.
If the anxiety, confusion, anger and turmoil sounds familiar, long-time Keith-followers will recall that this is how Keith has left just about every job he had held going back to ESPN where he says he did not just burn bridges he napalmed them, along the way driving one female colleague to tears on a regular basis with his gratuitous insults and grandstanding. At MSNBC in 1998, he did his best to insult everyone at the network on the way out the door with a speech at the Cornell University Farm College and Fox Sports Network where Keith acted so badly he was paid but removed from the air for months until his contract expired and he was shown the door.

UPDATE [from J$]: On tonight's Hour of Spin:

• Attack on Bush (R) tax rates with lefty Ezra and Howard Not-So-Fineman, HuffPo hack
• Shameless plug for The Wolffe Man's near-insivible book with, of course, The Wolffe Man
• Some three-week old story about the space program Olby's just getting around to now
• Hey, here's an idea. Let's try to squelch the filibuster! With Chris 'Winner of the Rachel Maddow Look-Alike Contest' Hayes
• Attack on Ted Koppel for daring to criticize the Great and Powerful Olb

As an FYI regarding filibusters, here is what Olby said about them when the Democrats were in the minority:

The filibuster stretches back not merely to Jimmy Stewart in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," but to the presidential administration of Franklin Pierce 152 years ago. And, as a last measure of the defense of the minority, it has had many supporters over the years...Does nobody in politics at all ever worry any longer about being called a flat-out hypocritical fraud?

Needless to say, the GOP move to eliminate the filibuster for judicial nominees was forestalled, and Olbermann went on the air to exult that 'The filibuster is safe', before tossing it to Chris Matthews for a one-hour special on how the Republicans failed to do away with the filibuster. What will Olby say tonight about the filibuster? Something that will reveal him as a flat-out hypocritical fraud? Comments are open!

UPDATE UPDATE: Listen to the Special Education Komment without having to put up with Olby histrionics. Courtesy of MikeC, here's the SEK delivered by the OlbyRobot.

Oh yes, he had all those high-minded reasons for reading Thurber on Fridays, but for the infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann a chance to level new attacks on George Bush is like dangling catnip before Miss Precious Perfect.

So tonight, Thurber is out the window, and ridicule of an ex-President is in. The gory details:

• Attack on Bush's (R) tax rates, with that paragon of American political insight, The Wolffe Man. And of course, Robert Reiccchhhh (D).
• Attack on John McCain (R) using his wife as the pawn. Lt Dan Choi, who proclaimed he'd boycott MSNBC until Oralmann came back on the air, gets his reward tonight.
• Attack on Glenn Beck (Fox) and Sarah Palin (R)...a twofer! Watch for David Bwock of Media Manipulations to appear in person this time (instead of just writing half the show). Bwock agreed to show up because Keith promised he'd provide the lotion.
• Instead of thilly Thurber, we get Olbermahn ridiculing Bush's book, Decision Points. In case you are unfamiliar with it, it's the book that's #1 on Amazon, as compared with the book that bears Olbermann's name which has zoomed all the way up to...#1,069. No wonder Olbermoronn is upset. Expect dramatic readings, obligatory charges of plagiarism, and the usual OlbyPlanet detritus.

Comments are open!

First, poor Joe, doing his best to make sure everyone knows he's not a partisan political hack like the infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann:

On tonight's Hour of Spin:

• Attack on Bush's (R) tax rates, with Stan Greenberg (D, of course) and the winner of the Rachel Maddow Look-Alike Contest, Chris Hayes (Democratic donor)
• Attacks on DeMint (R) and Inhofe (R) with Geno Robinson
• Keith slobbers over VoteVets lefty, who runs ads without disclosing who his contributors are. Olbypocrisy much?
• Attack on Justice Alito, with a little impeachment talk thrown in?
• Attack on Sarah Palin (R)
• A special Oralmann viewer poll...

That last one is the beginning of the end for the Worst Persons 'suspension'. Oh please, Keith will implore, let me know if you think we should bring back Worst Persons. After all, it's been--what--less than two weeks since he did away with it?

News flash: that was another publicity stunt. A way to piggy-back on Jon Stewart's silly comedy show with some false high-toned 'responsibility'. Whoever had 'under a month' in the How-Long-Until-WPitW-Comes Back pool is looking pretty good now.

Comments are open!

According to Jed Eckert, who has sources inside the halls of MSNBC, the spat with the infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann was not resolved until just minutes before broadcast:

• The stand-off between Keith and MSNBC execs lasted much longer than anyone on the outside knew. As of 7:30pm on Tuesday night, bitter recriminations were still flying back and forth. Keith was still demanding that the network apologize to him before he would take the anchor chair.
• MSNBC, on the other hand, made it clear that a refusal to host the show would result in an even longer, more serious suspension.
• One source has told us that the network even had another host ready to go in case Olbie stormed off to his bathtub. Does anyone know where Thomas Roberts was last night? Because we're told he was in an MSNBC greenroom.

Eckert also ticks off some of the key indicators that suggest Oralmann and MSNBC may be heading for divorce court. Among these, Bathtub Boy's new agents (ICM) who are reportedly trying to convince CNN that an Hour of Spin would be just the tonic to revive their moribund ratings.

Make of it what you will, but remember things are rarely what they seem on OlbyPlanet.

Tonight's Hour of Spin:

• Attack on debt reduction with big spender The Weiner (D) and Howard Not-So-Fineman
• Attack on Republicans with Soros Monkey from CAP
• Attack on Demint (R), McConnell (R), Imhofe (R), West (R), and any other (R)s Fat Ass can squeeze in w/ David "Children of the" Corn
• Attack on Glenn Beck for speaking ill of Soros (whose name is the same backwards and forwards--try and claim that isn't sinister!)
• Two lefty talking heads about newsmen and campaign donations--once again, Olby makes it all about 'me me me me me'

Comments are open!

The infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann will return to the airwaves tonight, and at least in his own mind he returns as a victor. As Jeff Bercovici noted, when you get past all the flowery prose and pseudo-intellectual posturing of Keith's 'apology', it all translates to two words: 'I won'.

But maybe people aren't reading Oralmann's words closely enough. The detritus that Keith bangs out on his laptop has more to tell us than the fact that he's an egotist (like who didn't know that already?). Perusing his screed, there were several items that caught our eye.

I was suspended without a hearing...

Wow. Somehow that lack of a hearing didn't bother him when he was chortling over the firing of Juan Williams.

You should also know that I did not attempt to keep any of these political contributions secret; I knew they would be known to you and the rest of the public.

When would that be? He covered the entire election cycle, including election night himself, without mentioning his donations. When was he going to make this public? Next year? He only admitted the donations after he'd been caught, after a website had dug out the information for themselves.

You should know that I mistakenly violated an inconsistently applied rule - which I previously knew nothing about

Here's where it gets interesting. Remember this?

No actual news organization would permit its people, even its commentators, to assume such purely partisan political fund-raising roles. This organization, rightly, would not even let me address an ordinary non-fund-raising gathering of some Democratic senators. Those are the news rules. And if Mr. Ailes does no honor them nor obey them, as he never has, he should be relieved of any news responsibilities, or his employer should admit that he is purely a political operative.

Wait just a second here. Keith claims that he isn't aware of NBC's rules, but just a few months ago he was quoting them chapter and verse to attack Roger Ailes? If you believe Herr Olbermahn, then we have some lovely oceanfront property in Colorado to sell you. Note also that Olby insists because Ailes broke the 'news rules' (i.e. NBC's rules), he should be 'relieved of any news responsibilities'. Does he still hold with that standard?

You should know that I mistakenly violated an inconsistently applied rule...

Inconsistently applied? That would mean there are others at MSNC who also made secret donations? So Keith is not the only person to donate to candidates without permission or disclosure to NBC? Who are the others? Name the names, in the interest of full disclosure. Hey Keith, are you protecting more secrets donors who just haven't been caught yet? Or is your claim merely Another Olbermann Lie?

We know that Keith is not the only person shilling for Democrats on A-Mess-NBC. While we wait for him to name the other secret donors he's protecting, how about someone explaining how an MSNBC host can get away with this?

The Broomfield Democrats invite you to the Carter Dinner. This is the largest annual fundraising event for the party and this year's keynote will be given by MSNBC's Ed Schultz!

How can this be? When he was attacking Fox Edward R Olbermann used this exact example of something NBC would never permit! And it seems they permitted it all along. Hey Olby, did Ed Schultz break the 'news rules'? Should he be immediately relieved of all duties at MSNBC?

And what an exciting event that Ed Schultz fundraiser must have been, given the huge spotlight focus shining directly on one of MSNBC's on-air hosts:

• Keynote Speaker: ED SCHULTZ of the Ed Show nationally on MSNBC
• Host Committee seating: $100
• Host Committee reception includes hors d'oeuvre, cocktail, and opportunity to mingle with distinguished guests and Ed Schultz

That's delightful the way they phrase that: 'distinguished guests'...and Ed Schultz too.

Olbermann citing NBC rules to attack Fox, then claiming ignorance of NBC rules to make excuses for himself. Olbermann claiming that he's been singled out unfairly, while refusing to give any information whatsoever about the other alleged infringers. Does anyone over the age of ten really believe anything this serial liar says?

The fabrications, spin, and outright lies spewing forth from Olbypologists like Rachel Maddow have been stunning. If you haven't already, read the truth about the Phony 'Journalism' of Rachel Maddow. It will give you just the context you need for the following video. Then settle down for an excrutiating Hour of Spin.

On tonight's hour of spin:

• ObamaVision defense of POTUS 'jihad' remarks w/Heather Hurlburt, rabid progressive and HuffPo hack
• Attack on GW Bush (R) autobiography with--tada!--Michael Moore
• Attack on Michelle Bachmann (R)
• Attack on Rand Paul (R)
• A huge, honking, interminable monologue of ego, self-puffery, onanism, hypocrisy, and outright lies. Yes, Edward R Olbermann addresses his suspension. Alert the media!

Comments are open!

Keith Olbermann, MSNBC news anchor and host of Countdown' show, who was suspended without pay 'indefinitely' last week for making political donations to several Democratic candidates will be back on the air Tuesday night.

Statement from Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC: After several days of deliberation and discussion, I have determined that suspending Keith through and including Monday night's program is an appropriate punishment for his violation of our policy. We look forward to having him back on the air Tuesday night.

Rob Shuter at Popeater is reporting that Keith Olbermann took on MSNBC executive over the political contributions policy at NBC News and won:

"Keith is furious about the way this has all been handled and insisted that MSNBC bosses apologize to him before he would agree to return," a network insider tells me. "Keith sees himself as the star of MSNBC, the person who put them on the map and discovered fellow network anchors Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O'Donnell. To be treated like this by the network he helped shape, he considers disgusting." Until today MSNBC employees had to follow ethics guidelines clearly barring them from making political contributions. After Olbermann's "indefinite suspension without pay," it appears those rules may see some revision. "In addition to an apology, Keith is demanding that the rules be changed," an executive tells me. "Keith thinks it's unfair that FOX News anchors can make contributions and support candidates and he can't. It's his money that he has earned, he should be allowed to do whatever he wants with it. What sort of country do we live in where an actor can trash a hotel room with an escort and drugs and Keith can't donate money to people running for office he believes in? It makes no sense. If they think they can slap Keith's wrist and have him to return a few days later like nothing happened they are wrong. They picked the wrong guy...Keith clearly won this battle. Not only has he got the bosses to say sorry but he's also got the company to review its ethic rules," a friend of Keith's tells me. "You watch -- his rating on Tuesday when he returns will be bigger than ever, giving him even more power at MSNBC."

Expect a triumphal Special Commentary tomorrow night.

Reports from Mediaite, TVNewser, Yahoo News. Insiders say KO 'won't be back'. Olby flashback: 'Phil Griffin thinks he's my boss'. More in the post below.

Comments are open!

UPDATE: Olby will be back on Tuesday. That was one tough suspension Phil Griffin handed out. He really threw the pamphlet at Keith.

With MSNBC sinking, Countdown ratings falling and Fox News and Bill O'Reilly in the midst of a decade long run at the top of the cable news mountaintop, the train wreck that Keith Olbermann has always been finally jumped the rails. Simmi Aujla of Politico has reported that Keith Olbermann contributed to three Democrats. He has since been suspended indefinitely without pay by MSNBC for violating the news divisions's ethics policy.

MSNBC host Keith Olbermann has been suspended indefinitely without pay after POLITICO reported that he made three campaign contributions to Democratic candidates. MSNBC President Phil Griffin said in a statement Friday: “I became aware of Keith's political contributions late last night. Mindful of NBC News policy and standards, I have suspended him indefinitely without pay."

Why this should be a shock is anyone's guess, Olbermann Watch first reported on Olbermann using his position at MSNBC to raise money for political causes back in November, 2004: OLBERMANN USES BLOG TO PROMOTE FUNDRAISING FOR VOTER RECOUNT Regardless, at this moment it is most appropriate to recall the prophetic words of Irina Briganti, a spokesperson for Fox News, uttered four years ago. In a New York Times profile of Keith Olbermann back in July 2006, Briganti issued a statement responding to attacks by Olbermann against Fox News which will go down as a classic in the annals of the cable wars of the early 21st century.

Because of his personal demons, Keith has imploded everywhere he's worked. From lashing out at co-workers to personally attacking Bill O'Reilly and all things Fox, it's obvious Keith is a train wreck waiting to happen. And like all train wrecks, people might tune in out of morbid curiosity, but they eventually tune out, as evidenced by Keith's recent ratings decline. In the meantime, we hope he enjoys his paranoid view from the bottom of the ratings ladder and wish him well on his inevitable trip to oblivion.

An indefinite suspension without pay sure sounds like he was fired which, of course, raises all sorts of questions about the future of Olbermann Watch. While it remains to be seen what the future holds of Olbermann and Olbermann Watch, today is a good time to look back to the post from the old The National Debate blog which led to the creation of the Olbermann Watch site six years ago this month.

MSNBC DEFINES DEVIANCY DOWN AS KEITH OLBERMANN'S INTERNET-FUELED JIHAD ON JOURNALISTIC ETHICS CONTINUES The only Countdown worth watching at MSNBC is "Days Remaining Until Keith Olbermann's Head Explodes."

No one has ever accused Keith Olbermann of being a journalist even though his current boss, Rick Kaplan, describes KO as a "news anchor." For sure, no one in the NBC News organization is confusing Olbermann with Huntley and Brinkley - or Lauer and Couric for that matter. The notoriously hot-tempered Olbermann is a sports guy who has bounced from network to network alienating supporters and burning bridges as he ravages the cable broadcast countryside. This Attila of the CableNets has grown increasingly erratic as his ratings nosedive has begun to approach terminal velocity. Over the past couple of months Olbermann has descended into a jouralistic netherworld where fringe web sites are news sources and fact-checking is no longer "cool" enough for the ultra-hip word stylist.

A few examples of Keith's free-fall,

On September 7th, Olbermann reported on an Indiana University study that found parents lose 12 to 20 IQ points after having children and quoted a Dr. Hosung Lee saying the report "explains why every parent thinks their child is the smartest kid in the class or the best athlete... even if that child is as dumb as a box of rocks or needs a calendar to time their 40-yard dash." And this was not just any story is was Countdown's "number one story of the day". Olbermann would have done well to trust the instincts of his next guest, Carl Reiner, who, when asked "Do you buy any of this?", replied "Not at all."

Countdown viewers may be forgiven for believing that Olbermann had read or even skimmed the study he was reporting on, or given Dr. Lee a jingle on the telephone, since he did not cite any source for his information. Despite presenting the news as original reporting, Olbermann had, in fact, pilfered the story from a single, unattributed source. For those of you who made it through high school this is sometimes referred to as "plagiarizing." And what was this single, unimpeachable source that formed the bedrock for Keith's MSNBC news report? The New York Times? The Associated Press? The New England Journal of Medicine? How about the online edition of The Hoosier Gazette?

Now every journalist worth their salt knows that it's a big time no-no to lift material from another source and pass it off as your own. People get fired for that in newsrooms all the time (see Blair, Jayson) as do their bosses (see Raines, Howell). In this case, Olbermann not only failed to credit his source but failed to verify that his source was even real.

You see, there is no such thing as The Hoosier Gazette - the online "version" is a satirical web site that features fake news from in and around Indiana. Had Olbermann even looked he might have wondered about articles such as "Indiana UFO sightings up 25% over last year" and "Jacko sells Neverland Valley, returning to Gary." Apparently, Olbermann's reporting was so lazy and sloppy that he didn't even bothered to visit the web site himself. Olbermann later admitted that he never contacted Indiana University or tried to track down Dr. Lee or a copy of the report.

Undeterred, Olbermann was back at it a few weeks later, this time slamming the host of the show which routinely trounces Countdown. On November 8th, Bill O'Reilly was named the number one "newsmaker of the day". In announcing the selection, KO said "Bill O'Reilly...told his audience that, on election night, at this hour, nine times as many Americans were watching Fox News Channel as were watching MSNBC. Actually, they had 7-1/2 million viewers at 8:00 Eastern last Tuesday. We have we had 2.6. That wouldn't be nine time as many. That would be less than three time as many. It's too bad Billy isn't as good with a calculator or a brain as he is with a loofah."

One problem. O'Reilly never said it. On Thursday, November 4th, during an interview with Bernard Goldberg - a little irony here as Goldberg has authored two books which sum up KO nicely - "Bias" and "Arrogance" - O'Reilly said "last night, on the Fox News Channel, at this hour, eight o'clock, the Factor time, nine times as many Americans watched us as MSNBC". In other words, O'Reilly was referring to Wednesday, November 3rd not election night, Tuesday, November 2nd. O'Reilly was right; Olbermann got it wrong. Too paraphrase, too bad Keith isn't as good with a transcript or a brain as he is with making up the news.

So, how did Olbermann get it wrong again? KO thinks of the internet as a sort of a virtual Burger King where, if you look hard enough, you can always "have it your way". This time, Olbermann pulled his "quote" off TVNewser, a blog web site run by a teenager in Maryland. In yet another dash of irony, the young blogger was taking a shot at O'Reilly for calling Olbermann arrogant:

...and because no day is complete without a quote from Bill O'Reilly: On election night, "nine times as many Americans watched us than MSNBC," O'Reilly said late last week. "That plurality has never been seen before in the history in network news...With respect to our colleages at that other place, they're as arrogant as they get.

Again, Olbermann failed to credit his source and, as usual, failed to fact-check a blog source. Even worse, Olbermann was just plain sloppy. The post on the blog site put the words "on election night" outside of the quotes so even TVNewser was not, technically, quoting O'Reilly. In the blogger's case, he merely got the date wrong, and the central point of TVN's jibe had nothing to do with when the comment was made. In Olbermann's case he conflated bogus information with an inaccurate, partial quote, put it in on their air with fact-checking it and compounded his errors by attempting to rip O'Reilly for getting his facts wrong. And yet Olbermann is baffled that his show runs last in the ratings week in and week out.

Earlier this week, Olbermann aired yet another e-canard, this time a supposedly mysterious outcome in five "democratic" counties in Florida which went for Bush by large margins despite a large edge in registered Democrats. KO interviewd Erica Solvig, a reporter for the Cinncinati Enquirer. Viewers were told that in "Baker County, Florida, on the Georgia border for instance. 69 percent of voter registered Democrats. 24 percent Republicans. Yet President Bush got 7,738. And Senator Kerry, just 2,180. In Holmes County, in the panhandle, seven Democrats for every two Republicans in the district. Bush beat Kerry 6,410 to 1,810. In Dixie County, 77.5 percent registered Democrats, Bush 4,433, Kerry 1,959. Lafayette County, 83 percent Democratic, Bush, 2,460. Kerry, 845. In Liberty County, Bristol, Florida, 88 percent of registered voters there are Democrat. 8 percent Republican. Bush, 1,927. Kerry, 1,070."

To appreciate the art in this "Olbermann" you have to note that the story KO is discussing, initially, is a report out of Warren County which is Erica Solvig's beat in Ohio. He introduces her by pointedly describing the Cinncinati Enquirer as a "mainstream newspaper." With KO that's code for "check your wallet" you are about to be had. Solvig talks about a story she broke in Ohio. This makes sense, her paper is from Ohio and Warren County politics is her beat. Out of the blue, Solvig pivots and starts in about Florida as if she were a native. How did Solvig suddenly become an "expert" on voting returns in obscure Florida counties? That's never explained. Nor is Solvig's source. But Keith knows.

Olbermann has once again allowed MSNBC to serve as headquarters for the Cloud Koo-Koo-land brigade. In this case, the unnamed source is a fringe-fringe web site in Utah (fringe-fringe sites are sites so fringe that fringe web sites point them to show why they are "mainstream"). A "numbers expert" from outside Salt Lake City named Kathy Dopp concocted an "analyis" that purported to show inexplicable voting patterns in counties that used electronic voting and "proved" that Bush stole the election. This on site that a week ago was getting less than 50 visitors a day. It should come as no surprise that there are more than a few problems with the analysis not the least of which is that Dopp didn't bother to examine any historical voting data. If either Dopp, Solvig or Olbermann had bothered to check, they would have seen a long history of registered Democrats living in the Florida panhandle who vote Republican in presidential elections. They are often referred to as "Southern Democrats." How is that Olbermann, who actually participated in MSNBC's election night coverage was unaware that Florida's panhandle is dominated Zell Miller voters.

Last night, another blogger, Bob Fertik at Democrats.com, put up a post announcing some "political dynamite" as "the collective efforts of progressive Internet activists reached a critical mass" and sent it over to MSNBC. The news? Two fringe candidates (David Cobb of the Green party and Michael Badnarik of the Libertarian party) were trying to raise $110,000 to pay for a recount in Ohio.

Are you detecting a pattern here?

Sure enough, old Keith bit and bit hard, leading his broadcast with a breathless update of the "voter fraud" story that he alone is now "covering" - and featuring the news that Cobb and Badnarik were raising money on their web sites (hint, hint) to pay for a recount.

For quite some time Olbermann has had the luxury of getting away with using his show to monger rumors of the web because no one watches his show (he gets about a .7 rating, or slighly better than the now cancelled McEnroe show on CNBC). But word is starting to get around that Olbermann is embracing the lunatic fringe, apparently determined to take the reputation of NBC News down with him.

Ann Coulter recently ripped Olbermann on the Florida Panhandle mystery - "...I guess we can add "math" to Keith's growing "I Don't Do" file, along with "Reading the Congressional Almanac," "Basic Show Prep," "Getting My Attitude in Line With My IQ"

The New York Times, hardly a bastion of the GOP, traced the origin of Olbermann's panhandle story in an article entitled "Vote Fraud Theories, Spread by Blogs, Are Quickly Buried"

Dean Esmay of Dean's World notes that John Gibson has come pretty close to accusing Olbermann of fanning terrorism in Iraq.

Kevin Aylward at Wizbang blog points to Johnny Dollar's Place where another blogger traces the origin of another Olbermann reported baked fresh in the blogosphere. JDP even has the video of The Factor - Goldberg debate that Olbermann twisted as a pretext for slamming Bill O'Reilly.

Henry Hanks at Crooow Blog finds nothing new in Olbermann creating a pretext to slam O'Reilly.

Tom Biro at The Media Drop is wondering whether KO-Gate spells a big problem for Olbermann and MSNBC.

NOTE: If you want to visit some of Keith's favorite web sites check out the nut-jobs at www.CommonDreams.org, BlackBoxVoting.org, www.ustogether.org.

From Politico:

MSNBC host Keith Olbermann made campaign contributions to two Arizona members of Congress and failed Kentucky Senate candidate Jack Conway ahead of Tuesday's election -- a potential violation of NBC ethics policies.

From Mediaite:

Whether Olbermann told his bosses about the donation before it happened will be key, but regardless, this act should evaporate any final appearance of objectivity by the MSNBC host.

From David Zurawik:

And this is the guy, Olbermann, who was on Twitter yesterday blasting away at me because I was critical of MSNBC's outrageous behavior on election night....If management of NBC News won't step and say something about the kind of behavior that took place on MSNBC on election night, maybe it will now enforce one of the most basic standards of journalistic independence and not let Olbermann skate on this egregious violation of policy.

What will NBC do?

• Fire Olbermann?
• Suspend Olbermann w/o pay?
• Let Keith take a few bathtub days?
• Ignore the story and hope it goes away?

UPDATE! Mediaite: Keith Olbermann suspended indefinitely! Developing...

Comments are open!

It was on Monday when the infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann smeared Brian Kilmeade, claiming Kilmeade said 'All Muslims are terrorists'. Of course Kilmeade said the exact opposite. Yet even though Edward R Olbermann had a chance to correct his smear and apologize on Wednesday's Hour of Spin, he did not do so. We are now at Day 4 of this ongoing lie, and Oralmann is sticking by his smear. Remember, this is the same Olby who famously stated:

I have never knowingly reported anything false and we correct our mistakes.

He corrects his mistakes? He doesn't even correct his lies! Where were the corrections and apologies for these slanders?

• Olbermann lied about O'Reilly's ratings.
• Olbermann lied about a Brit Hume quote that he applied to an entirely different incident than the one Hume was discussing.
• Olbermann lied about O'Reilly's Haiti coverage.
• Olbermann made up a nonexistent Patrick Fitzgerald statement.
• Olbermann lied, rewriting Palin's words to fit his smear.
• Olbermann lied to protect Martha Coakley.
• Olbermann lied about Roger Ailes, and touched off a feud with FNC.
• Olbermann lied about flyers being distributed by Fox, that weren't.
• Olbermann lied about Scott McClellan and Bill O'Reilly.
• Olbermann lied repeatedly about a leak to Fox News that never happened.
• Olbermann lied about lying.
• Olbermann caught on tape lying about Major Garrett.
• Olbermann smeared Albert Pujols and Chris Mihlfeld.
• Olbermann lied that Scott Brown 'never disassociated himself' from a shouted statement.

Those are just a small sampling of the many uncorrected slanders spouted by Herr Olbermahn. They remain uncorrected because he has structured Countdown to insulate himself from anyone who might even raise an eyebrow at the worst Keith kalumnies. But don't take our word for it. Check out this statistically documented study. The bottom line:

"The O'Reilly Factor" welcomed 20 guests from the right, 11 from the left and seven who were neutral. Left and neutral voices combined almost equaled those from the right. "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" had 20 guests from the left, two neutral and not a single voice from the right. Zero voices of dissent.

So, if you never want to hear anyone challenge liberal views, lock in on Olbermann. While progressives disdain Fox's claim of being "fair and balanced," "The O'Reilly Factor" does present opposing views. O'Reilly will cut them off in midsentence, true, but he even does that to people who agree with him. (Shock therapy might help.) Olbermann seems unable to even listen to anything other than progressive orthodoxy.

If the tea party wants a "theocracy for white males," as he said, Olbermann could be an imam. He offered a paltry four women among his 22 talking heads, 18 percent. (Wasn't Joy Behar available?) Only two African Americans got face time. O'Reilly had three African Americans and scattered 18 women among his 38 guests, for 47 percent. (Don't expect NOW to give him an award.) O'Reilly had three Hispanic-surnamed guests; Olbermann had two.

When it comes to their sources of news, too many Americans live in "silos," protected from contrary views. We'd do better, learn a bit more, by listening to some opposing ideas. You get that from Fox's O'Reilly, not MSNBC's Olbermann.

You can expect more echo chamber 'journalism' tonight:

• Attack on DeMint (R) with lefty Matt Taibi
• Attack on tea party candidates with lefty David 'Children of the' Corn
• Attack on Mitch McConnell (R) w/ HuffPo hack Howard Not-So-Fineman
• Attack on George W Bush (R)
• Attack on Sarah Palin (R) with washed-up ex-comedian Lewis Black

Comments are open!

Keith Olbermann has been running loose on Twitter again. Oh my, hide your children, he's on another tear. About the dismal ratings of A-Mess-NBC's election night:

• 800 billion of you flies can't be wrong
• Yes,once again, it shows 800 billion flies can't be wrong
• 800 billion flies are never wrong

It's almost like he was hypnotized, giving the same answer over and over. And are you ready for some ridicule? Here is Edward R Olbermann on Boehner's acceptance speech. Now if you should think that this must be a high school kid playing on his blackberry, we can assure you this is Oralmann himself:

• You guys underperformed, blew the Senate, and your "Speaker" slurred and wept. Nice start!
• You guys blew the Senate, Boehner came across like a buffoon, and you have to make hated cuts.
• This just in: Speaker-Presumptive Boehner cried today remembering a day inn 1970 when he had trouble getting his car to start.
• This Just In: Glenn Beck sues Speaker-Presumptive Boehner: "Crying? Quit working my side of the street!"
• He cries at Supermarket openings. We're gonna have a lot of fun with him.
• This Just In: Boehner drafts legislation to change Congressional leadership title to "Weeper Of The House."
• You must have only watched Boehner's weep-a-thon.
• This Just In: Weeper Of The House Boehner just remembered when his Moeller High FB team lost Coach Gerry Faust to Notre Dame; He cried.
• replaced by the Weeper. "I lost (bluh-huh) my pencil (bhbhbhbhbh)!"

Are these the words of a grown man? Would a sane adult actually spend hours on such juvenile sniping? We know that there are certain aspects of Keith's psyche that show signs of what might be called arrested development. He's still trying to assemble the bestest baseball card collection on the block. He obsesses over a series of children's fantasy stories. And now this odd reversion to schoolyard inanities?

Make of all this what you will, but here's liberal critic David Zurawik, who summed up Oralmann's performance last night with pluperfect clarity:

• I would not debase the word "anchor" by putting it in front of a desk that includes folks offering this kind of analysis.
• I really would like to hear the folks who tell me MSNBC is a real news channel explain this kind of analysis. I can see Jon Stewart's speech has really made a difference at MSNBC.
• With the journalistically debased performance on MSNBC last night, I rest my case. I do have to wonder how Olbermann, the cartoon, Bizarro-Planet version of Edward R. Murrow, will try to spin this.

Ouch! We suspect Herr Olbermahn is already regretting doing away with the Worst Person in the Worrrrrld. Because you know he's itching for some sort of payback against Mr Z. Will he sneak it in anyhow?

Comments are open!

While he was announcing his new-found quest for civility, and engaging in mutual onanism with Jonathan Alter about how you won't find MSNBC telling lies, smearing people, and misquoting them, the infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann does what? Reading from prepared text on his teleprompter, Edward R Olbermann smears Brian Kilmeade by lying about what Kilmeade said!

Enjoy:

Comments are open!

Here is the infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann, sniping at someone who dared question the attitude of MSNBC hacks toward Gov Chris Christie:

• TWITTERMANN: I have never even mentioned Gov. Christie on the air. I don't know what you're talking about. Nor do you.

Attn Olby: a lie is still a lie, even if you think it doesn't count because you said it on Twitter. You've never even mentioned Gov Christie on the air? Hey Keithy, permit us to introduce you to...your own words:

• Apr 20, 2010: The bronze [WPiTW] goes to Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey.
• Apr 23, 2010: Christie's staff is taking home 440,000 dollars more.
• Aug 2, 2010: Governor Chris Christie now has another problem at the Jersey Shore.
• Oct 12, 2010: Can you explain that briefly to Governor Christie who doesn't seem to get it?

Well, no wonder you thought you never mentioned Christie. After all, that last mention was all of three weeks ago! Apparently it's asking too much to expect renowned journalist Edward R Olbermann to tell the truth about his own words, even words way, way long ago in the deep, dark, distant past of...October.

Comments are open!