WTF MSNBC?!
After being suspended for two whole shows, KO is back! MSNBC’s Phil Griffin announced that Keith would return to the air on Tuesday. MSNBC suspended Keith last week after Griffin discovered that Olbermann had made a whopping 7.5K in political contributions without seeking prior approval. Many in Blogistan have wondered why the hell one would have to seek approval. Was such approval ever denied? And if it was, isn’t that, like, some sort of violation of something? Like common fucking sense? I can’t imagine that a company can pick and choose for its employees what political donations are or are not permissible. It’s basically the “Whatevah! I do what I want!” rule. Otherwise, MSNBC should have enacted a policy preventing all its employees from donating to anything at all. Full stop.
Well, whatever. It doesn’t matter anymore because he’s back! And you know the Malkinites and Teatwits are all pissed off, and that alone makes me alive with pleasure:
A network spokesman released the following statement via email:
STATEMENT REGARDING KEITH OLBERMANN – SUNDAY, NOV. 7
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.
Hey MSNBC? That egg? How does it feel all over your face?
gbear
Cleanup to aisle ‘T’, please.
Steve L.
So he gets a 4 day weekend? I need to work for MSNBC.
Delia
egg . . . extra protein. Just hope it’s salmonella free. I’ve been busy lately when KO is on. I’ll have to make sure I catch the show. Get all those rating numbers up for him.
Martin
Business makes a business decision thinking it’s good for business. Business reverses the business decision realizing it was bad for business.
Why do we treat it any differently than McDonald’s on-again/off-again relationship with the McRib?
Allan
But the penalty! The penalty! He was suspended without pay for 2 days! That comes to… 5 shows a week… about six weeks off… um, how much is 1/115 of eleventy-gazillion?
RinaX
I care fuck all about Keith Olbermann, so my pleasure is derived primarily from pissing off the Malkinites and the Teawits, as you described them.
priscianus jr
I think for a moment there Mr Griffin had the mistaken idea that the Democrats had been finished off by last week’s elections. Typical overreaching republican asshole.
General Stuck
Oh, that’s nothin”
The big news
Bout fucking time, him being dead as Caesar and all. And for a conviction for taking a whiz on stage, IN THE SIXTIES for christ sake.
A blow struck for the hippies. The real hippies. RIP Jimbo.
The End
Ash Can
Either Phil Griffin got threatened with his job (or worse) over the weekend, or this was all just a shameless publicity stunt.
Mako
I saw that guy on tv once, he’s really not worth getting worked up about. He’s just a guy who yells about stuff on your hotel television. Kinda like the short muscular guy with the blonde ponytail who is always yelling about exercise.
Martin
@Steve L.: 2 days were unpaid, which means Olbermann lost the equivalent of your annual salary. Possibly x2. He makes $37,500 per on-air day.
RinaX
@priscianus jr:
I think Mr Griffin unintentionally gave a lot of the netroots a rallying point that was desperately needed that seemed to halt (for the moment) the disintegration into finger-pointing over the elections. Now, it would be nice if a lot of this cohesion could carry over the next two years, and not just happen in September of 2012.
mapaghimagsik
This whole escapade was totally worth it, if only because MSNBC tears taste so creamy and sweet.
The Dangerman
@Ash Can:
This.
Jane2
@Mako: Word. “Free Keith” sentiments and “emergency” petitions were laughable. And Keith will exploit his martyrdom to the fullest and the smarmiest and the most obnoxious way he can.
My employer can dictate terms of my political activity and my choice is to follow them or get fired. Sucks to be me.
The Raven
Some actual liberal anger. About damn time.
…the revolution is televised?
Croak!
fasteddie9318
@Martin:
Nah, that’s more like how Disney keeps putting movies “in the vault” to artificially drive up demand for them. McDonald’s knows that you can eat only so many mystery meat fake rib sandwiches before the human body begins to reject the toxin, so they play games with its availability to keep it in demand.
This, on the other hand, is fucking stoopid. Either Griffin was nobly willing to sacrifice viewers for the sake of the network’s journalistic integrity, or he has a personal beef with Olbermann and wanted to put him in his place. Instead, either the principle got tossed out the window after two days or Griffin just showed everybody who’s really boss, and it ain’t him. Heckuva job, Phillie!
arguingwithsignposts
I’m stealing that, ABL.
Cacti
If anything, I think this will make leftier-than-thou Keith even more insufferable.
I’m fully expecting comparisons to the civil rights marchers.
jharp
Well then.
Let’s see how big of a sack Olbermamn has.
If it was me, Tuesday would be my last night. And I’ve never had near the latitude to tell a company to shove it up their ass.
arguingwithsignposts
BTW, KO was suspended on the Friday news dump day. He’s back Tuesday. Is that not suspicious?
fasteddie9318
@jharp:
It would be tempting, but he comes out the clear winner in whatever this was, so quitting would probably be overkill.
arguingwithsignposts
@Jane2:
Yep. Join a union.
jeffreyw
Snack time.
RinaX
@Cacti:
If anything, this does give him the big boost he needed as Jon Stewart has been stealing all of his thunder.
LindaH
Totally off topic, but Sully has printed a letter that he agrees with that says that agnostics make nice neighbors, but
I’m not sure a simple agnosticism ever can really be sustained. Im not sure why, apart from a kind of existential self-positing, and thereby probably delusional willfulness, it does not turn to cynical despair. I’m not sure it is ever non-parasitic on more robust forms of faith
So before all I was was a fifth columnist who should have been put up against the wall and shot without trial because I thought that going to war in Iraq was a really, really bad idea. And now I’m willfully delusional, cynically despairing and a parasite on every form of faith, who is too stupid to sustain my own faith.
What a douchebag!
Ross Hershberger
If someone on the right pulled the over the top stunts that Keith sometimes does I’d consider him an insufferable ‘winger prick. KO, on the other hand, is OUR insufferable prick.
asiangrrlMN
@jeffreyw: Want. Keith–eh. I’m neutral about him.
Mako
@Jane2:
“My employer can dictate terms of my political activity and my choice is to follow them or get fired. Sucks to be me.”
Yikes. Ever considered being self employed? Xmas is coming up, there’s a market for wreathes. You can make them yourself out of fir branches and pine cones, sell them door to door…
burnspbesq
Olbermann is well known to be an ass. He wore out his welcome at ESPN and at Channel 2 in Los Angeles. MSNBC has sent a message that he can wear out his welcome there, too. Normal service will now be restored.
Jane2
@The Raven: Liberal anger about a blowhard cable news host? I’d prefer it be about something that actually affects people’s lives.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: Kinda sorta where I am about this honestly. Glad he’s working again but the whole thing smacked of tempest in a teapot to me.
jharp
@fasteddie9318:
I don’t believe quitting is the answer.
I’ve always believed in truth telling. Call out the fucking cowards on the air.
And that would be Olbermann’s boss. And Olbermann’s bosses boss.
me
I’m thinking it is something like “We need to throw a bone to the Outraged Teabaggers who are upset about Keith’s donations but we can show we are more ethical than Fox and give Keith 4 day weekend. It’s win-win-win!”
Jane2
@Mako: I work for a provincial government. The conditions aren’t that onerous: I can’t undertake any political activity during work hours. I can contribute to political parties (at my peril if the ‘wrong” party wins the election!).
Keith’s conditions were to inform his employer beforehand re contributions. Also not that onerous. He didn’t and watching him, that was deliberate so that he could deliberately create his martyrdom and cash in on it. Thank heavens my home is a cable news-free zone.
Ross Hershberger
So if $75K is 2 days’ pay for KO and he got in trouble for donating 1/10 of that to a candidate, that would be like a typical American donating 50 bucks. What a cheapskate.
fasteddie9318
@Ross Hershberger:
“If”?
arguingwithsignposts
@burnspbesq:
Okay, ESPN is not home of the angels and sparkle unicorns, man. If he wore out his welcome there, it was because he wasn’t enough of a shithead, from what I’ve read/heard.
Mako
@jeffreyw:
No offense, but that brown mustardy stuff looks a lot like the dog barf I just saw eaten off my carpet. I’m sure it was delicious and everything, but … oh man, fucking dog farts! jeezus okay go the fuck outside gaddamnit…
Ross Hershberger
Pardon me, $36 bucks is 1/10 of an average American males’ 2 days’ pay.
Dee Loralei
Ya know, Keith is an egotistical, bombastic, bloviating, blowhard, and I still love him. I’d occasionally watch him when I didn’t have anything better to do. During Katrina I kept flipping between MSNBC and CNN and one night in the midst of it he went on a tear and basically kicked George Bush, Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld and the FEMA guy ( Michael whoever) oh and Chertoff too, in the groins. And he kept kicking them for their failures. He was saying everything I was feeling and he was saying it on tv. And I kept watching his show, ( making an attempt to schedule one of his broadcasts into my day) even after the immediate crisis had passed. And then he started blasting Rumsfeld and his war leading, I don’t remember the context, it was something idiotic Rummy said, and Keith gave a very impassioned speech with historically accurate facts that totally lambasted Rummy. Those were his first two special comments, long before he called them that.
So whatever my irks are with Keith, I’ll never ever forget he was the one voice on tv that was fighting the good fight, before Nov 2006. (About that time, other “beltway insiders” started saying publicly something was wrong with Bush, Republicans and the Iraq war. But they needed the winds of the voters to tell them it was ok to actually state the truth, before then they had all kowtowed to the Bush maladministration.
And yea, Keith does irk me, his attacks on this admin from the left tick me off. But I will continue to be a viewing fan of his, because I will always remember those dark, bleak days during Bush’s term.
And I’m gonna start dvr-ing his show. Since I’m not a Neilson family, that’s the only way those fucktards at MSNBC will know that I’m a member of Keith Nation. And seriously, the guy raised millions for health care clinics. No one at FOX or at any other news org can say that they and their fans did as much singular good as Keith did for so many people. If only those FOX folks did half as much with their bigger audience for the common good instead of raising money for political cronies.
So, if Keith makes 37K a show, and he misses two, that means he’s out more than 10x the money he donated. Keith, next time, start one of those secret PACs like Crossroads GPS and no one will ever know!
frosty
@LindaH: He’s saying that like cynical despair is a bad thing!
It’s been my modus operandi for about all my sentient life. Anyone who can look at the world and think otherwise is living in a fantasy.
Oops, sorry to step on yer faith and all, Sully. My bad.
Mako
@Jane2:
“I work for a provincial government.”
Sounds, uhm, canadian. Is Olberman another one of those eskimos taking our jobs?
Omnes Omnibus
@Mako: Unless you are DougJ trolling, fuck off. If you are DougJ trolling, this is not a particularly good effort.
Ross Hershberger
Rude sarcasm seems to be the rhetorical brand of the Left these days. Just as victimhood outrage is on the right. Keith is the exemplar of our style. It’s often unattractive but it’s one way to get the job done.
scarshapedstar
OT, but is anyone else getting the sinking feeling that DADT will not be repealed anytime this decade?
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Ross Hershberger: I believe there has been enough evidence of Righties giving contributions.
fasteddie9318
@scarshapedstar:
I think when the leading Republican on the issue says that he’ll think long and hard on the subject if the military brass says they want it repealed and then, when the military brass tells him that they want it repealed, tells them all to fuck off and lets them know how horribly they’ve disappointed him, you can’t expect much of anything to happen. If the DOJ gets beaten on its appeal, maybe the courts will take care of it.
arguingwithsignposts
@Omnes Omnibus:
Hey, I said the same thing in a thread yesterday (re: DougJ trolling)
Allan
@Ross Hershberger: Sadly, Mr. Olbermann is merely a human being, and not a corporate person like GE or the Chamber of Commerce. Therefore, his donations to political candidates and campaigns are actually 1) public record and 2) limited by law to the amounts that cause you to so classlessly call him a “cheapskate.”
MikeJ
@Ross Hershberger:
Our? Bullshit. Maybe your. He wanted Americans to die because the HCR bill wasn’t perfect. He preferred dead people to imperfect legislation. He’s one of yours.
Don’t get me wrong. I still don’t like MSNBC violating NY State law.
Mako
@Omnes Omnibus
What’s your problem, dude? Dogbarf humor offends you somehow?
Ravenwind
Dee Loralei. Well said. Keith taking on the Bush crowd in those dark days was often the only voice that kept me from permanent despair.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mako: You are a less than entertaining trollish commenter. That is my problem.
Angry Black Lady
@Ross Hershberger: the difference between keith and rush is that keith doesn’t make shit up, and he doesn’t have the cult following that rush has. from god’s mouth to rush’s ear to his listeners’ pea brains. most people i know who enjoy KO don’t think that he is the word of God. we like his smarminess. i think he’s very aware of his smarminess and hams it up. but when he has a dead on special comment, there’s no one finer, IMO. and, when KO goes over the top, his fans call him on it. rush lives for going over the top. he doesn’t know what under the top is. and his listeners lap it up and then spew it as truth.
that’s the difference between keith and rush. keith doesn’t lie. keith isn’t some quasi-jim jones character.
Mako
@arguingwithsignposts:
Yeah. It sounded kinda silly when you said it too.
SteveinSC
@Mako: Oh dear, Jane2 joins the other exquisite prigs all superior and shit to Olbermann. I watch and support Olbermann for some of the same reasons I came to this blog during the broadcast and print hosannahs and hallelujahs to bush’s outrageous wars: Trying to hold on to my sanity. (I went away from here when I got wind of Cole’s earlier brain fades and came back to find he finally saw what the fuck was really going on.) I started to watch Olbermann when I realized he was an antidote to the warmongering of the rest of the TV media, including that spitting, tongue-bather, Matthews. Olbermann gets the fucking message out, so all you “intellectuals” who can’t stand his personality, shove it up your fucking tight asses.
arguingwithsignposts
@Mako:
Although it sounds more prescient the more shit you post.
General Stuck
Actually, tweety was pretty much against the Iraq war from the beginning. He is not a warmonger, though does have other problems.
Mako
@Omnes Omnibus:
You are a less than entertaining trollish commenter. That is my problem.
That is wonderful. Thanks for sharing. I find your comments less than inspiring. So, you could just ignore me, or you could do whatever it is that someone like you does in these situations.
Judas Escargot
@LindaH:
now I’m willfully delusional, cynically despairing and a parasite on every form of faith, who is too stupid to sustain my own faith.
I read the SoulPancake interview and Sullivan’s reader’s comment back to back.
Why is it that talking about religion/faith using the exact same tone Jean Genet used to write about the scent of his own farts seems to be the new fashion?
JenJen
Ha! My dad sure called that one. (long story)
arguingwithsignposts
@Mako:
It’s Pie, Mako. And after weeks of not enabling the PF in Chrome, I am seriously considering it.
Mako
@arguingwithsignposts:
Well it is all about the page views. And if I can troll you and that guy with the pompous nym into refreshing another dozen times…
General Stuck
@Mako:
It’s kind of hard to ignore frequent steaming piles of pathos.
arguingwithsignposts
@Mako:
Can’t be DougJ. He’d a) troll better, and b) know more Internet traditions.
eemom
imo some GE lawyer heads iz gonna roll over this one — unless whoever made the decision to suspend him didn’t check with the lawyers first.
Because the only explanation for this denouement is that somebody finally figured out they couldn’t get away with it without breaching Keith-O’s contract and awakening tomorrow morning to the tune of a NY court clerk stamping FILED on a big fat Complaint and the clickety-click of a thousand giggling Fox news cameras.
General Stuck
Though cable news is dead to me, and I would rather suffer an all night dentist than watch it these days, I think Olbermann is an important counter weight to the wingnut media advantage. And can, or did when I watched him, deliver some bullseye commentary from time to time. When he goes firebagger though, he is pretty much worthless.
Mako
@arguingwithsignposts:
heh, that’s one.
And Another Thing...
@JenJen: Yes he did.
Ross Hershberger
To summarize:
I called him a cheapskate as a joke because the donation was equivalent to $36 out of Joe Sixpack’s pocket. Pointing out that he’d gotten in trouble for a contribution that wasn’t actually a significant expense to him personally.
@ABL; I take it for granted that everything coming out of Rush’s mouth is false, including the conjunctions. Being (more) rational people, we hold KO to a higher standard than the Right does Glenn & Rush.
What I find irksome, and really my only complaint, is KO’s occasionally overheated style. The bluster and sarcasm come off as bullying, and bullying is a real touchy area for me. That’s why I called him OUR insufferable prick.
And Another Thing...
@eemom: Or maybe NBC Universal wants to use their phones tomorrow or has realized that they have pissed off a lot of viewers.
Yutsano
@eemom: Of course his reinstatement doesn’t automatically heal the breach and Keith could still most certainly sue. The ball will be in his court as far as how far he decides to pursue that matter. Most folks would call it water under the bridge, but will Keith? Keep ye popcorn handy folks, this one may not be over yet!
Admiral_Komack
yawn
scarshapedstar
@General Stuck:
Is this sarcasm?
Cue Tweety’s shameful, semen-streaked archives from Flightsuit Day:
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006/04/happy-codpiece-day-everyone-by-digby-it.html
MATTHEWS: Well, you know what, it was like throwing that strike in Yankee Stadium a while back after 9/11. It’s not a stunt if it works and it’s real. And I felt the faces of those guys–I thought most of our guys were looking up like they were looking at Bob Hope and John Wayne combined on that ship.
MATTHEWS: Fareed, you’re watching that from–say you were over in the Middle East watching the president of the United States on this humongous aircraft carrier. It looks like it could take down Syria just one boat, right, and the president of the United States is pointing a finger and saying, `You people with the weapons of mass destruction, you people backing terrorism, look out. We’re coming.’ Do you think that picture mattered over there?
MATTHEWS: Do you think this role, and I want to talk politically , the president deserves everything he’s doing tonight in terms of his leadership. He won the war. He was an effective commander. Everybody recognizes that, I believe, except a few critics. Do you think he is defining the office of the presidency, at least for this time, as basically that of commander in chief? That if you’re going to run against him, you’d better be ready to take away from him.
Martin
I’m going to predict an Issa House investigation over this.
1) Marxist nobama gives GE $3.5B in TARP money.
2) Olbermann gives money to Democrats after an unpublicized conversation with Rahm in the 30 Rock gym shower.
3) GE demands Olbermann be fired for acting as an agent of Democrats and using taxpayer money, funneled through TARP and GE to fund Democrats.
4) Obama calls the head of GE over the weekend after learning about Keith’s suspension on Friday and tells them that if they don’t reinstate Olbermann that Obama will kill the India/GE deal that he went to India to finalize.
daveinboca
@Angry Black Lady:
How would someone with a pea-sized brain like yourself understand Rush. Even a Journolist maven likeSteve Toobin says Rush is the ultimate zinger on talk radio and he’s right nine out of ten times, unlike KO, who strikes out almost every program.
JenJen
@And Another Thing…: Thanks for noticing. :-) He always gets it right, don’t know why I don’t listen to him more.
General Stuck
@scarshapedstar:
I figured someone would post his remarks when Bush flew onto the air craft carrier. He is a flake and can and does say some really dumb shit. But I watched him daily in the run up to Iraq, and he was not a war drum thumper and about every night questioned frequently a lot of bs coming from the Bushies and media.
DPirate
KO: Can I have a 2 week vavation?
NBC: Sure. Hmmm, wonder if we can spin this into higher ratings?
Yutsano
@daveinboca: Speaking of popcorn…this thread just got a whole helluva lot more interesting. Who wants a batch?
@Ross Hershberger: In the end…there can be only one.
(Apologies to any Highlander fans.)
Ross Hershberger
@daveinboca:
Rush is the last one? There will be no more after him? Thank you for this ray of hope.
burnspbesq
@Yutsano:
You and E are both assuming a lot. Is Olbermann’s contract a matter of public record? You may be right, or not.
P.S. LA 2-1 Seattle (3-1 agg.). Thanks for stopping by tonight, Sounders. Got tee times reserved for tomorrow?
Mako
@daveinboca:
Dave. right on. I recently saw an article about how flouride in the water was causing problems in Boca Raton, any truth to that?
Larkspur
@daveinboca: Really, you shouldn’t believe everything that a journolist maven tells you. They’re notorious.
And Another Thing...
@daveinboca: Whoa, you’re kidding right? Rush is right 9 times out of 10? hahahahahahahahaha
Yea, he’s right wing. How about this week’s whopper, the $200 million per day Far East trip.
He’s a racist, sexist, lying, hate peddling SOB.
Yutsano
@burnspbesq: I think we’re both just speculating at this point. However the reversal and the timing on all this does seem rather bizarre. But truth is always just a wee bit weirder than fiction.
And at least our city comes out for our soccer matches. Green and blue all over the damn place for a Sounders home game. It’s hella cool.
Omnes Omnibus
OT: For those of you who care, Green Bay beat the Cowboys, 45-7.
Martin
@General Stuck: I think Olbermann just gives the right credibility to air Glenn Beck.
I think it’s odd that a blog where we get 3 posts a day about media bias and the lack of journalistic standards would so strongly defend Olbermann here. Do we want to get rid of crappy journalism or don’t we?
burnspbesq
@Yutsano:
Sellout tonight at Victoria Street (yes, the Home Depot Center is actually on Victoria Street). Will be a sellout next Sunday night for the semifinal against Dallas (which, alas, I will be watching in a hotel room in Baltimore).
The best thing about the Galaxy’s performance tonight? Watching Mr. International Megastar bust his ass all night getting back on defense, like he was a rookie trying to hold onto his spot in the starting eleven. Fantastic stuff. And the two ridiculous crosses to set up the two LA goals were nice, too.
Three-nineteen
@Omnes Omnibus: I care. Clay Matthews needs to work on his Lambeau leap – I have a feeling he’ll be doing the pick 6 a lot.
Mako
@Martin:
I think it’s odd that a blog where we get 3 posts a day about media bias and the lack of journalistic standards would so strongly defend Olbermann…
Someone explained it upthread, he’s our guy so it’s alright.
Three-nineteen
@Martin: I don’t watch Olbermann, so you’ll have to explain how he is exemplary of crappy journalism.
Yutsano
@burnspbesq:
If that humiliation were to happen with Alex Rodriguez, I could die a very happy duck.
Nellcote
It seems MSNBC handled KO similar to the way they did Richard Wolff. A conflict of interest story breaks in Politico and they suspend teevee privileges until they figure out what’s going on. Conflict resolved, KO/RW goes back on the air. The difference is that people care about KO (even if he is just a distraction from the results of the election) and cause a very public stink causing MSNBC to bumble and stumble around before getting their story together.
Omnes Omnibus
@Three-nineteen: It wasn’t the best Leap ever, that is true.
Omnes Omnibus
@Martin: Olbermann is bombastic, but fact based. It makes a difference.
General Stuck
@Martin:
That’s pretty much a non sequitor I think. Glenn Beck and all the other wingnut commentators would air whether Olbermann or any else does or not.
Not really journalism we are talking about, we are talking about opinion punditry, not true journalists, where I would agree that matching the journalists at Fox with bias from left leaning journos would be wrong. As a counterweight, or for any other reason.
But I admit, I have discarded most of my former principles concerning politics and punditry, in favor of turn about is fair play, and I see Beck and Olbermann in that of arena of partisan pol punditry with an emphasis on entertainment. Though Keith is mostly honest about any facts he bases his opinions on, where Beck and Rush, et al are pathological liars.
I would like to see it all disappear, and everything be fact based with integrity. But there is no chance of that happening, so as long as Olbermann doesn’t make claims of being a serious journalist, then fighting fire with fire is my current position. Because left unchallenged, the bullshit the wingnuts put on the air would more easily and faster become urban legends in the national pol dialogue.
I do want actual news journalists to remain neutral and present all the facts without bias, and I want the actual acts of governance to be strictly lawful and follow rules. The rest of it, about anything goes when fighting the right imo.
JenJen
@arguingwithsignposts: Exactly! Also, it doesn’t matter. The short list of media figures from Keith Olbermann’s era who have “worn out their welcome” while employed in television or radio broadcast positions includes Howard Stern, Don Imus, and yes, Glenn Beck.
I just don’t get this “well, I’ve heard that he’s an asshole, so” line of defense when it comes to MSNBC’s completely stupid position. So what, and what does that have to do with anything? The talent is the talent, and sometimes, they’re assholes, and sometimes, they push back against their bosses, because they’re in a position of power in the workplace. It’s not the same for everybody, obviously.
Atta boy Keith.
JenJen
@Dee Loralei: If we had a “Like” feature on this board, I’d make up multiple screennames just so I could “like” your comment over and over.
@SteveinSC: Same goes for this comment.
Hypothetically speaking, of course.
burnspbesq
@Yutsano:
Don’t hold your breath. The only time you’ll see A-Rod bust it down the line on a routine ground ball is if he’s trying to get a serious baseball fan to sleep with him.
Mark S.
@daveinboca:
Oh, if Steve Toobin said that it must be right.
Who the fuck is Steve Toobin?
General Stuck
@daveinboca:
gut buster funny
Yutsano
@burnspbesq: I can always dream right? And yeah he still gets booed when the Yankees play Seattle. Apparently we do grudges quite well up here.
JenJen
@Mark S.: I’m thinking Steve Toobin must be his next door neighbor, because otherwise, I’m coming up with who-the-fuck.
Mako
@SteveinSC:
Missed your comment before, Steve. Sorry. Was dealing with dogbarf. Good rant, you should start a blog.
Martin
@Omnes Omnibus: He was fact based when he went on his kill-the-bill tirade?
Olberman is often fact-based, but he is not uncommonly not fact based. And I don’t see why Olbermann’s opinion punditry is any better than David Brooks’ or Ross Douthat’s. They all suck dick.
chaseyourtail
@Cacti:
Count on it.
JenJen
@Mako: I know you live for, OK, get a kick out of, insults and attention, so allow me to make your day: the “you should start a blog” thing is tired. New material, you need it.
Mike Kay
olbermann?
wasabi gasp
Not understanding all the Keith hate. If your tiny TV screen is getting all bent out of shape from his big fat head, that’s your problem. Get a bigger picture or click on over to the peabrain channel and see if that fits.
chaseyourtail
How does Griffin’s decision equate to egg on his face? I guess the assumption here is that mass liberal outrage forced Griffin to sheepishly reinstate Olbermann. That may be the case but there is nothing in Griffin’s quote to indicate that.
Martin
@wasabi gasp: I don’t hate him. I just don’t see him any different than the usual group of opinion douchebags that we make fun of here. But somehow he’s different because he says douchebaggy things that we like.
I just don’t need my viewpoint validated by people on TV. Facts I care about, but he doesn’t provide many of those, and some he gets flat-out wrong.
R. Johnston
@Allan:
Doubtful. He probably got back pay for Friday and agreed not to talk about it. You’ll note that the recent message doesn’t indicate that Monday’s a day without pay.
Given how MSNBC admitted that their policy doesn’t apply to opinion people, how arbitrarily the policy is applied, and how illegal it is for them to require approval of political donations in the first place, Keith had an iron-clad slam-dunk breach of contract suit that he’d win if MSNBC didn’t cave. He’s taking an extra night off with pay and a gold watch so that MSNBC can save some face.
Phil Griffin’s balls were cut off by MSNBC legal. Expect him to quietly resign once this story is out of the spotlight and he can do so without churning the waters.
Paula
I’ve been watching olbermen for some time now. I think this is his way of showing people the difference between msnbc and fox.
I remember him stating in his program some time ago that he didn’t vote because he didn’t want to give the appearance of conflict of interest. I remember that clearly because I thought it was ridiculous given that it was apparent that he is a liberal. My husband and I got a good chuckle.
So why would he do this? Clearly to show that “journalist” are suppose to be use certain “standards” and that fox doesn’t have them and msnbc does. I have heard a lot of commentors note the donations of Hannity and his ilk, and pundits actually raising money for republicans, and not to mention the several on screen personalities that did, are, or will run for office.
But people don’t care anymore about getting the truth, they just want to feel good about their opinions or have them reinforced. It is really sad.
Where do you get your information? Do you trust your source? Does your source have monetary interests?
Mako
@JenJen:
Meh. Some people enjoy blog comments where everyone agrees. I don’t. I’d really like to have SteveinSC and Daveinboca contributing here. That would be cool. And maybe funny. And just think of the pageviews. Or we could just talk about your dog or whatever.
Mark S.
I go over to memeorandum to see what the right wingers have to say and the American Spectator blog actually has an intelligent piece on this. And the Corner wasn’t bad either (on this issue, there was plenty of stupidity to scroll past first).
Goddammit, someone go read Malkin and tell me what she says.
Mike Kay
Major liberal says Steny Hoyer is not evil.
Wow.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/darcy-burner/the-progressive-case-for_b_779979.html
Unfortunately, like many bloggers, she buries the meat of the post, so scroll down to the bottom 3 paragraphs.
Ross Hershberger
I get that in the face of overwhelming douchebaggery on the Right, KO’s occasional obnoxiousness fights fire with fire, but is more fire really what we want? I’m not so sure.
Mike Kay
@wasabi gasp:
no one hates him. but no one like dogma either.
Mark S.
@Mako:
Yeah, daveinboca as a front pager, that would be awesome. Maybe John could invite Makewi as well so none of us would ever read this blog again.
And we need threaded comments. And we could rate them! That would be awesome as well.
JenJen
@Mako: Yes, some people do enjoy comments sections where everyone agrees, and if that’s the case, they probably don’t like it here very much.
Of course, none of that has a rip to do with my suggestion that you could really use some new gags. I’ll bet you disagree. See how that works?
Yutsano
@JenJen: Sigh. The troll-fu has really slipped around this place. You would think we would get better ones especially after Tuesday but no such luck there.
Angry Black Lady
@Dee Loralei: i want to get this comment drunk and potentially make out with it.
+3
Yutsano
@Angry Black Lady:
HAWT!! I demand pictures of this blessed event.
wasabi gasp
Blog commenter condemns dogma. Rain clouds part. Flowers bloom. Bear eats Palin. Socks wash themselves.
JenJen
@Angry Black Lady: I already climaxed.
@Yutsano: At least BOB put in some effort to keep it fresh, back in the day. Lazy trolls are dullsville.
chaseyourtail
@Martin:
True. I remember he had Harry Shearer on Countdown a month or so after the oil spill. Shearer was claiming (and complaining about) Obama not visiting the region yet. This was entirely untrue because Obama had gone there immediately after it happened. Olbermann did not correct Shearer when he made this false claim. After the segment ended and after a commercial break, Keith made the correction but he let Shearer get away with his nonsense.
Olbermann was all about hammering the President for everything to do with the oil spill. The worst was when the entire media (led by KO) trashed Obama’s oil spill response speech. There was nothing wrong with that speech. The President promised the gusher would get plugged and he was true to his word. Olbermann looked like a petty jerk that night.
handy
Somewhere out there, a former comedian and all the analysts in his head have just clutched their pearls.
suzanne
@Ross Hershberger:
Yes. Passion is a good thing. And fuck being polite to people who think my life isn’t worth as much as theirs.
Angry Black Lady
@daveinboca:
Yourself has a pea-sized brain? I hope it’s not a disease or something. Yourself should go get that checked out.
Tell me more about the other stuff you were saying.
Mnemosyne
@JenJen:
The magic Google is also saying, “Who the fuck is Steve Toobin?”
Yutsano
@suzanne: I half-expected you to orgasm over the Sagrada Familia thread, considering how Gaudi is revered in some architectural circles. Then again he might be too stylized, you could be more of the I. M. Pei school of semi-minimalism. My personal opinion is if you have influence over a whole city u r doing something right.
@Angry Black Lady: If I say, “OH SNAP!!” is that too cliche?
chaseyourtail
@Angry Black Lady: Lol, ABL. I commend Dave for providing an accurate description of his tiny brain.
El Cid
@Dee Loralei: Exactly. Olbermann was among a handful of people who called bullshit on the warmongering, thieving, torturing, bullying hawks and right wing ass-holes when everybody else shut up or happily went along.
In my book, that alone has earned my respect forever.
People can say how weak it was or destined to fail, or how truly awfully it was run, but likewise, when loudly calling out the government and its cheering liars as the bastards they were, I could tune into Air America every damned day and hear sanity and an alternative from the Stalinist-lite propaganda system under which we lived.
It not only introduced Rachel Maddow to a national audience, and really spread awareness of Al Franken’s political knowledge and decency around further; back during the national worship-fest which was being sung around Reagan’s passing and funeral, Marc Maron was the only source I turned to which absolutely rejected the lionizing of Reagan, and instead went on 2 or 3 days of retelling who the hell Reagan was and what he did to this country and the world, on a program which first they called “Dead Reagan Monday”.
And obviously Stewart and Colbert. Hell, Colbert’s speech at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner alone will go down in history as not only one of the greatest moments ever of political satire, but the most prominent Emperor Has No Clothes event during the entire Bush Jr. administration — including the journalists and media figures who had been content or happy with sniffing the Emperor’s dirty underwear.
And this is just counting those with more or less mainstream broadcast presence.
Mako
@Mark S.:
Blog comments do suck for conversation, always have. Because its about the page views, we are free content. So enjoy. Or ignore. HTH HAND.
Mark S.
@Mnemosyne:
He could be Jeffrey Toobin’s brother. Who really likes Rush Limbaugh. But he’s probably daveinboca’s neighbor.
burnspbesq
@R. Johnston:
Say what? Por favor, please cite specific Federal or state legislation, regulations, or case law that supports this contention. Assume that New York law applies to his employment agreement.
burnspbesq
@Angry Black Lady:
That comment is a diabetic Mormon. It doesn’t drink. If you want to get its pants off, you’ll have to try something else.
Mark S.
@Mako:
Okay. I like how you’ve been here for two weeks and have pretty much annoyed everyone already. You’re efficient.
Maybe you can ask ABL more questions about Soul Train. Because that wasn’t awkward at all.
Mnemosyne
@Mark S.:
If I were daveinboca’s neighbor and had to listen to his crazy rants all the time, I’d probably start screwing with his mind, too.
“Yes, that’s right, dave, everyone on Journolist secretly worships Rush Limbaugh. I know because I’m a member, even though I’m a software engineer.”
JenJen
@Mako: HTH HAND? I’ll bet your act just slays the other kids in tech support (if it were 2007). LOL WTFBBQ!
Yutsano
@JenJen: Waitaminute…you actually UNDERSTOOD that gibberish? Teach me your ways oh wise sensei!
Mako
@Mark S.:
2 weeks? Not even. Pretty sure ABL and I are cool, but I could be wrong.
JenJen
@Yutsano: Fear does not exist in this dojo!! Aaaaaaand that’s all I got.
Mark S.
@JenJen:
That’s what it means?
Mako
@JenJen:
heh, you figured it out, I am DougJ.
Mark S.
@Mnemosyne:
[shiver]
JenJen
@Mark S.: C’mon now guys. I’m a bartender, I just speak nerd, that’s all. I maintain a keen interest in anthropology.
Sly
@Martin:
1) The right would air Glenn Beck regardless of whomever else was on the TV. They live in an echo chamber.
2) We need to stop thinking about what does and what does not confer credibility on the right. It’s a fool’s errand. The right always finds away to justify its actions, whether it has to invent those justifications out of whole cloth or not.
Nellcote
@Yutsano:
More Gaudi, less I.M. Pei please.
El Cid
In its article on MSNBC’s un-suspension of Olbermann, the New York Times actually quotes a hugely significant section of what Maddow said on Friday:
I’m not sure that the effort or attention will be put into this, but I could easily see a right wing and centrist pissy pants moaning match about how could the NYT dare quote some liberal extremist suggesting that Fox News is something other than a perfectly legitimate news source.
Mako
@Mark S.:
Maybe you can ask ABL more questions about Soul Train. Because that wasn’t awkward at all.
Wait, you think it’s awkward to ask a black person about Soul Train? Why?
R. Johnston
@burnspbesq:
Telling your employees whom they can and can’t donate to, without very explicit nonpartisan standards in place–you can’t donate to people you’ve interviewed, you can’t donate in national races, etc.–is almost certainly going to amount to voter intimidation by economic threat, not to mention that without explicit guidelines you’re going to have a very hard time avoiding arguments that employees are being coerced to donate to favored candidates. Even if it doesn’t rise to the level of criminality, at the very least there is absolutely no way that such an employer policy would ever be enforced by a court as legitimate grounds for a suspension, making the suspension a breach of contract.
Uncle Clarence Thomas
.
.
I don’t understand why MSNBC would so cravenly succumb to Jane Hamsher/firebagger pressure with such alacrity.
.
.
Mike Kay
@El Cid: Stephen Colbert wasn’t funny.
Mike Kay
@Uncle Clarence Thomas: I don’t think the firetards like Olbermann because he supported HCR. Plus many firetards (like her holiness) started out as PUMAs and they loath Olbermann because he bashed the shit outta Hillary, even accusing her of wanting to assassinate Obama (see here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24797758/).
kansi
Once again, Mike Allen gets it wrong:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/07/msnbc-keith-olbermann-apology_n_780064.html
And Dee Loralei, 1000 times THIS!
tesslibrarian
I don’t watch Olbermann much anymore because the constant griping was depressing. Katrina, and calling out the Bushites for painting all opposition as unpatriotic was satisfying, but I started to dvr his show in November, 2004, because he was the only person reporting about election irregularities in Ohio–at least the only one putting those stories on television. If it meant dealing with updates on the Michael Jackson trial every night, so be it.
The true, long-term value of Olbermann was that he made a path for Rachel Maddow on television. By having her as a guest, then guest host, when her only other gig was the flailing Air America, he rewarded intellect and talent, and we are all the better for it. I just wish Democratic politicians watched her show instead of Fox.
stuckinred
@tesslibrarian: Please
pablo
A little egg on their face?
brantl
Nope, both inform them and get their permisssion. Which is bullshit, either disallow all donations, or MYOFB.
He made the maximum legally-allowed donation, dumbass.
Ross Hershberger
@brantl:
Clarified way, way up there. If you can’t keep up, take notes.
debit
I have embraced the way of the pie. Thank you, cleek.
JAHILL10
This thread may be long past dead, but I was a big Olbermann fan for the reasons stated by many above, especially during the dark Bush years, but then he did something that burned me permanently and I haven’t been able to watch him since.
He came on one night and announced he was going to stop mentioning Bill O’Reilly on his show anymore because he would just be adding fuel to O’Reilly’s fire or whatever. The best thing to do was to ignore him.
Then come to find out that Olbermann’s boss had ORDERED him to stop picking on O’Reilly on his show and Keith had made up this bullshit rationale for his viewers to cover his “pure” liberal behind.
I could have done a special comment about that one: There was probably no way to get around doing what your boss tells you to do without quitting and I wouldn’t demand that anyone to do that, but to betray the trust you’ve built with your viewership like that was low. Edward R. Murrow, you are not, sir!
Lihtox
Meh. They have a policy about donations, Olbermann broke it, they had to punish him, so they give him a wrist-slap. Proportionate, I’d say. The real question is: are there other people at MSNBC violating the policy? And if it’s okay because they’re on opinion shows, then label Countdown an opinion show– because it sure as heck is.
(Olbermann does get on my nerves sometimes but if he’s the worst of the liberal pundits then I say we’re doing pretty good.)
fasteddie9318
On the downside, I’m sure Somerby haz a sad now.
Mike Kay (Team America)
@fasteddie9318: oh, does he hate olbermann?