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Tag(s): Debate; Establishment; Keith Olbermann; Liberalism; Other; Other
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June 16, 2008 at 02:50:46

Jealous Liberal Journalists Attack Keith Olbermann

by Dean Powers Page 1 of 2 page(s)

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Lookout Keith Olbermann: now that you are more popular than Bill O'Reilly in the cable news Neilson ratings, you must confront an even bigger monster, an even more tenacious adversary, an egomaniacally superior life-species: establishment liberal journalists.

Strong is establishment liberal journalists. Mind what you have learned. Save you it can. Use the force, Olbermann.

The liberal attacks all began about the time when Olbermann tied the charming, self-effacing Fox News “O’Reilly Factor” host in the Neilson ratings. Jealous establishment liberal journalists everywhere threw a fit. Time columnist James Poniewozik got up on his high ponie and trotted out a stinging critique of Olbermann, calling him "just another of the cable gasbags he used to be a corrective to." (How dare you end a sentence with a preposition? You brute.)

The internecine attacks continued this week when The New Yorker, an almost required-reading-for-liberals magazine, published an article about Olbermann entitled, "One Angry Man." Peter J. Boyer pulled the hit job, alternately belittling, mocking and demonizing the man:

Olbermann’s tenure at ESPN was characteristically contentious. One of his co-anchors, Suzy Kolber, has said that Olbermann was sometimes so overbearing that she would lock herself in the bathroom and cry. Another colleague, Mike Soltys, has said that when Olbermann left the network, in 1997, "he didn’t burn bridges here—he napalmed them." (emphasis mine)

Boyer also paints Olbermann as a quack: released from CNN, left ESPN, fired from Fox, fired from his first gig as a baseball sportscaster. "At the age of twenty-five, he moved back home, a flameout, with few prospects," Boyer writes, betraying a personal opinion of Olbermann that colors the entire hit job. Never mind that media personalities not infrequently clash with supervisors before they move from one news network to the next.

Boyer goes to great lengths to portray Olbermann as mentally ill, a sensitive subject and a reckless characterization.

In two back-to-back paragraphs, Boyer quoted the word "crazy," as attributed to Olbermann.

Once again, Olbermann left a job unhappily, returning to sportscasting at Fox Sports. He was subsequently fired, and the remainder of his contract was paid off. (“I fired him,” Rupert Murdoch said recently. “He’s crazy.”)

Seven sentences later, he used a quote from Phil Griffin, a producer for MSNBC: "I mean, the guy is crazy."

Boyer reinforces this characterization throughout and exposes his own condescending attitude toward the readers of Daily Kos in a telling paragraph:

The jeremiad against Bush [for swearing off golf in solidarity with US troops and their families] was a signature Olbermann effort, the sort of stylized, mocking tirade that has lately made him a cable-news sensation, the Edward R. Murrow of the Angry Left…

“Angry Left!” It’s just “crazy” Olbermann and his crazy fringe followers. Apparently Boyer hasn’t filled up his 16-gallon pickup truck with $3.89/gallon gas lately. Perhaps Boyer doesn’t have to choose between food and medicine. Maybe Boyer doesn’t live in a world where each new emergency is seized upon by Republicans as an opportunity to ram through another gutting of the Clean Air Act, or tax break for the oil companies.

You see, Boyer doesn’t understand “anger” except as an O'Reilly cliche about "liberals" because to Boyer, politics is an intellectual argument. None of the consequences of the Bush Administration really matter when you live an upscale life dispatching your brilliant articles to The New Yorker between one coffee shop and the next, while your mutual fund grows merrily by the day.

…Olbermann was pleased with the script, and the next day, before going on the air with it, he posted excerpts on the liberal blog Daily Kos, which is a fairly good representation of the Olbermann fan base. The Kossacks wholly approved. (“You excoriated the bloodyhanded, warmongering imbecile.” “This country cannot survive without you.” “Dude, you’ve got a pair of steel ones!” “I’m gonna print it out, hang it up and memorize it.”)

Can you hear the sneer in Boyer's tone as he wrote this paragraph? Boyer and My Little Poniewozik are the epitome of upper-crust intellectuals who despise common Americans. They fail to grasp the difference between formal debate, as taught in colleges with judges and assigned "affirmative" and "negative" positions on a given issue and pugilistic debate, which is taught in high school parking lots and bar room brawls. In one case, facts matter. In the other case toughness and, yes, “anger” matters.

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13 comments

Just an ordinary nobody who's glad he took typing in 9th grade.
Alan WilliamsJust an ordinary nobody who's glad he took typing in 9th grade.

Unfair advantage for K.O.

Not that I'm a big B.O. fan, but the article is a little misleading as to the ratings. The week in question was a weird primary week, which of course means more democrat viewers, and B.O. was on vacation Friday. They did exclude Tuesday in their calcs, but they need to understand that interest was high among democrats the day before and the day after the Tuesday primary. And they should have excluded Friday, obviously. It was actually silly to try to use that week at all to make any kind of reliable statement as to K.O.'s strength vs. B.O's.

And not mentioned is the fact that K.O. regularly gets only roughly half of B.O.'s audience number when taking into account total viewers. Here we're only talking about one age bracket, 25-54, which is an important one, admittedly. There must be a lot of folks over 54 watching B.O., and maybe a fair amount of under 25ers as well.

But I didn't realize K.O. was such a jerk behind the scenes, until now. B.O. may be too, for all I know.

by Alan Williams (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 582 comments) on Monday, June 16, 2008 at 5:43:58 AM

Rob Kall is executive editor and publisher of OpEdNews.com, President of Futurehealth, Inc, inventor . He is also published regularly on the Huffingtonpost.com. He is a frequent Speaker on Politics, Impeachment, The art, science and power of story, heroes and the hero's journey, Positive Psychology, Stress, Biofeedback and a wide range of subjects. He is a campaign consultant specializing in tapping the power of stories for issue positioning, stump speeches and debates. He recently retired as o...

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Rob KallRob Kall is executive editor and publisher of OpEdNews.com, President of Futurehealth, Inc, inventor . He is also published regularly on the Huffingtonpost.com. He is a frequent Speaker on Politics, Impeachment, The art, science and power of story, heroes and the hero's journey, Positive Psychology, Stress, Biofeedback and a wide range of subjects. He is a campaign consultant specializing in tapping the power of stories for issue positioning, stump speeches and debates. He recently retired as o...

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"B.O "MAY" be a jerk?"

I smell right wing b.o.

BO takes the word jerk and extends the meeting of it to new, lower levels.

As far as Olbermann, I'm sure that the Britsh called George Washington and Thomas Jefferson jerks too.

by Rob Kall (761 articles, 3850 quicklinks, 320 diaries, 1642 comments) on Monday, June 16, 2008 at 8:10:41 AM

Just an ordinary nobody who's glad he took typing in 9th grade.
Alan WilliamsJust an ordinary nobody who's glad he took typing in 9th grade.

It's O.K. for him

Looks like it's O.K. with you for Keith to be a jerk, (his liberal critic's contention, not mine) because you agree with him, but not for Bill. That's just human nature, I guess.

I value these two and (mostly) all the many voices on radio and TV. A person simply can't get a complete accurate picture only listening to and watching Stephanie Miller and Keith Olberman, or only Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly.

Perhaps Olberman should listen to his liberal critics. He may get some beneficial insight that he can't by just hearing himself all the time.

by Alan Williams (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 582 comments) on Monday, June 16, 2008 at 12:25:28 PM

Have submitted work to OpEdNews and others. Administer the website NotSee America and am writing a book on the take-over of America.
Dennis KaiserHave submitted work to OpEdNews and others. Administer the website NotSee America and am writing a book on the take-over of America.

"Crazy"? Or True Patriot?

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Let the slimsters begin their assault on one who attempts to tell the people how it really is. They have eliminated the likes of Phil Donahue, Dan Rather, Bill Maher, and a host of others who have attempted to go against the corporate desires of not informing the people, but to give the people the “news” as they make it up. An uninformed public is one that is controlled and controlling the masses is the job of the media propagandists.

One of the initial phases of the corporate, nay fascist, attacks is that of character assassination. This is not a new action thought up by the likes of Karl Rove, but one that was used masterfully by the likes of Goebbels way back in the 30's. It has been successful against the likes of Ross Perot, Al Gore, John Kerry, Dennis Kucinich, to name a few. It will be successful against Barack Obama, and Olbermann as well. After all, those things coming to us out of Olbermann's mouth are nothing but the rantings of a crazy person. A normal person could never see the likes of Dick Cheney, George w Bush, Kinda Sleazy Rice, and others as having malicious motivations behind their actions and “mis-speaks”, could they?

Another thing that will soon be mentioned is that Olbermann is not a true “patriot”, after all he doesn't even wear a lapel flag, the symbol of patriotism, as devised by those in charge. Remember how they attacked Obama for not wearing one? Unfortunately, he fell lockstep in and is doing so now. It might be mentioned that symbolism is one of the 14 Points of Fascism as mentioned by Dr. Britt.

A word of wisdom to the wise, Keith – fall in step, or step aside. The road ahead is going to be bumpy to say the least. But while you are on that road keep in mind you have the true patriots behind you. The ones who long to get our nation back are embracing what you have to tell us. The crazy ones are those who are so power drunk they have no compunction of stomping on human life in order to get what their messed up minds want. As long as the people have someone who is willing to put it on the line by telling us how it really is, we have hope. Hitler's plan of 1000 years were cut short because straight thinkers prevailed. Karl Rove's plan of 100 years can also run short as long as we have straight thinkers like Olbermann informing the people.

by Dennis Kaiser (13 articles, 0 quicklinks, 6 diaries, 212 comments) on Monday, June 16, 2008 at 8:38:14 AM

A retired sales ad marketing trainer, escapee from the automobile business, who reads vorciously and writes whenever possible. The rest of the available time is spent doing woodworking or cooking. Lives in central TX, where the weather is great and politics are dubious. Usually logical and sensible but can be very cranky when assaulted by anybody leaning too far to the right and doesn't know it.
Ivan HentschelA retired sales ad marketing trainer, escapee from the automobile business, who reads vorciously and writes whenever possible. The rest of the available time is spent doing woodworking or cooking. Lives in central TX, where the weather is great and politics are dubious. Usually logical and sensible but can be very cranky when assaulted by anybody leaning too far to the right and doesn't know it.

Saw that one coming

K.O. is more "different" and "forthright" than "liberal", "left", or anything else. And that anti-establishment stance makes people nervous. And though alarmingly correct and painfully brutal in his special comments most of the time, he does get carried away occasionally. But then so do the rest of us. 'Tis such a pity we all have flaws. We would all do well to "get over it", on occasion. At least the K.O. transmission is clear, un-fuzzy and leaves little room for mis-interpretation. Oh yes: BLUNT, that's the word.

B.O., on the other hand, could stand to get "carried back" once in awhile. K.O. speaks from planet earth; B.O. left the planet long ago and apparently telcommutes from a galaxy far, far away. His gaffes are not flaws, but serious defects in his basic circuitry. More excessive static in the Fox Noise broadcast. Not blunt, DULL.

I read the whole New Yorker article. Good points and bad, both reporting and speculation. But if any source deserves that moniker, "elitist" certainly applies here. And I have come to expect nothing less from that publication, which is revered for having a stiff upper nose, which has trouble sniffing the common air the rest of us breathe. If the efforts of K.O. were not unsettling to those Manhattanites, I'd be forced to say the sky was falling.

by Ivan Hentschel (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 162 comments) on Monday, June 16, 2008 at 8:57:50 AM

James R. Brett, Ph.D. taught Russian History in several universities before becoming an academic administrator in curriculum and faculty research administration. His academic interests have been in the history of science and the history of ideas, particularly Marxism and classical liberalism, but also psychology and consciousness studies. He is a frequent contributor to liberal and progressive blogs and is the founder and publisher of The American Liberalism Proj...

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James BrettJames R. Brett, Ph.D. taught Russian History in several universities before becoming an academic administrator in curriculum and faculty research administration. His academic interests have been in the history of science and the history of ideas, particularly Marxism and classical liberalism, but also psychology and consciousness studies. He is a frequent contributor to liberal and progressive blogs and is the founder and publisher of The American Liberalism Proj...

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Boyer?

Never heard of him. What do I care then, if the man is a non-entity his assault on Keith Olbermann is irrelevant. If he has a following, then he represents a group that now finds itself painted into a prissy corner.

Olbermann is not perfect and his producers are not very brave when it comes to the Countdown formula, but at least we are getting less of the Britney Spears and more of the struggles inside the media.

K.O. is the epitome of the struggle inside the media, a man who is willing to tell the liberal side for $$ for G.E. He also has a certain amount of courage built into his Special Comments, which are manifestos for the liberal masses, not for seminars at Oberlin or Amherst. Some of it is overly-brash, but that is nothing compared to Cialis or BudLite ads.

Do you know where K.O. is coming from? Cornell and Fox ... one he seems to have taken full advantage of and brings a liberal education to his show, and the other, like some Biblical character he survived and now knows to be the very essence of all that is putrid in American society.

by James Brett (80 articles, 95 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 82 comments) on Monday, June 16, 2008 at 11:27:02 AM

Yep.

Nicely done. Thanks.

by Ivan Hentschel (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 162 comments) on Monday, June 16, 2008 at 11:46:46 AM

My career in journalism began as a stringer at the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner before making my way east to write at the Washington Star. I toiled for more than a decade as a columnist for Gannett, the world's largest newspaper chain.

As executive-producer and host of "Dusty Nathan's Winner's Circle," heard on a Philadelphia 50,000-watt radio station, and a CBS affiliate, I covered the worlds of sports and entertainment. I was proud to have several exclusives - most notably,...

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Dusty NathanMy career in journalism began as a stringer at the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner before making my way east to write at the Washington Star. I toiled for more than a decade as a columnist for Gannett, the world's largest newspaper chain.

As executive-producer and host of "Dusty Nathan's Winner's Circle," heard on a Philadelphia 50,000-watt radio station, and a CBS affiliate, I covered the worlds of sports and entertainment. I was proud to have several exclusives - most notably,...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Olbermann

KO is making knock-out money now - unless $6 million a year isn't good money anymore. They show him continually on MSNBC - with the live show at 8 p.m. (M-F) and repeat it all evening and then overnight.

He is the ONLY MAN of substance on national TV (that I know of) who has consistently taken on the bush president and veep.

-dusty

by Dusty Nathan (16 articles, 0 quicklinks, 8 diaries, 51 comments) on Monday, June 16, 2008 at 11:40:01 AM

New England native-moved to Florida and thence to Virginia and finally Minnesota. Former Constitutional analyst and radio talk show host. Former Founder and Director of People For Sovereignty and Restoration-legislative analyst. I am non party and was on the periphery of politics for over forty years-was drawn back into things after this primary season because , well, who wouldn't be. Worked with Jim and Ken Collier on voting issues in Florida-worked for paper ballots. Worked with Marlon Brando ...

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Raffie AzarielNew England native-moved to Florida and thence to Virginia and finally Minnesota. Former Constitutional analyst and radio talk show host. Former Founder and Director of People For Sovereignty and Restoration-legislative analyst. I am non party and was on the periphery of politics for over forty years-was drawn back into things after this primary season because , well, who wouldn't be. Worked with Jim and Ken Collier on voting issues in Florida-worked for paper ballots. Worked with Marlon Brando ...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Only serves to make me love him more

Keith is my barometer. I choose to steer by him and I have no allegiance to anything except the complete erradication of the neocons. I thought the article was interesting and so they choose to put out his iindividualist tendancies-who cares. These underhand assaults are going nowhere because his real fans are not going to let him go. Edward R. Murrow, indeed. Angry! I love it-he gets angry for all of us.

I was just in one doozie of a sword fight on another site when someone attacked Keith-and we all landed on him. Then Russert passed and the attack stopped in midair-was neutralized on the spot. The antagonistic article had all been done in bad taste.

They have to get Keith-not just the jealous liberals but the other guys...the shapeshifting gang that can't talk straight. Keith is tearing McCain apart-humiliating and just evicerating him.

I don't think Keith is too concerned. He seems to be above it all...and he has an agenda that supercedes everything that everyone expects. He is by far not done surprising us yet. He is the voice in the wilderness for all of us and the rage that accompanies it.

I have no voice-my voice is in my sword.

by Raffie Azariel (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 23 comments) on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at 3:46:33 AM

Christian tired of republican lies and smear campaigns.
lucydavisChristian tired of republican lies and smear campaigns.

Hooray for Keith - Keith Rules!!!

There's only two truth-sayers! Keith Olbermann and Jack Cafferty. The rest of the claptrappers all have republican chips embedded in their tiny brains.

by lucydavis (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 90 comments) on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at 8:51:14 AM

The reader is a 56 y.o. American male Army vet (no "chickenhawk" name-calling please)living in the New York City area.
Jim O'SullivanThe reader is a 56 y.o. American male Army vet (no "chickenhawk" name-calling please)living in the New York City area.

More popular that O'Reilly!!!

Oh really! O'Reilly was off last week. They used guest hosts. Other than that, your statement is right on the mark!!!

by Jim O'Sullivan (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 2 comments) on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at 10:45:49 AM

Just an ordinary nobody who's glad he took typing in 9th grade.
Alan WilliamsJust an ordinary nobody who's glad he took typing in 9th grade.

Journalist or liberal provocateur? Select one and only one.

"..and he has an agenda that supercedes everything that everyone expects. He is by far not done surprising us yet. He is the voice in the wilderness for all of us and the rage that accompanies it."

Yes, he certainly does have an agenda, and that's fine. The problem lots of people have, including his liberal journalist colleagues, is his being placed in roles that are inappropriate for someone with such an intense disdain for one side of the political spectrum; roughly half the nation.

Even the show he has is kind of presented as a news show, and his left bias is not really admitted to or properly identified. I guess it's pretty obvious to people who understand such things, but many folks might just assume that "that's the way it is".

by Alan Williams (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 582 comments) on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at 12:24:55 PM

ANSWER

TRUTHTELLER!

by Raffie Azariel (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 23 comments) on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at 3:18:01 PM

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