During Tuesday's coverage of the Democratic primaries in Indiana and North Carolina on MSNBC, co-anchor Keith Olbermann dismissed the importance of the finding that approximately half of primary voters considered Barack Obama's pastor Jeremiah Wright was an important factor in their decision, including some who apparently admired the way Obama reacted to the story. And, without naming Fox News, the MSNBC host seemed to accuse FNC of having "done nothing but broadcast this story since it first broke, with the wildest exaggerations and the broadest of interpretations possible." He further expressed relief that, in his view, Wright had not been a strong factor against Obama in the election: "It really does, thank goodness, prove, I think, some of the limitations of the media and of negative campaigning."
Below is a transcript of the relevant comments from Olbermann, which aired about 9:37 p.m. on Tuesday May 6 on MSNBC:
And yet, with the saturation, including one television operation that has done almost nothing but broadcast this story since it first broke, with the wildest exaggerations and the broadest of interpretations possible, with this thing being hammered again and again in all kinds of different outlets, the exit polling today was, it was about a 50-50 split, whether it made any registration at all with these voters in these two states. And that included not just those with whom it made a negative registration, but also those who might have thought he did a good job separating himself from Reverend Wright after the last set of, sort of, goofy comments. So the whole thing about how big an issue this was, and not just how big a negative issue, it really does, thank goodness, prove, I think, some of the limitations of the media and of negative campaigning.
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
"...sort of, goofy comments"
May 7, 2008 - 06:31 ET by Mr. TerryAll the 50-50 split shows is that Dimokratic voters don't care about the "Rev." wright issue.
In the general election it may be quite a different story indeed and should be exploited by the Republican candidate if necessary.
"Sort of goofy
May 7, 2008 - 06:35 ET by motherbelt"Sort of goofy comments"?????
Oh, is that what they were?
That Rev. Wright! He's such a hoot!!
→ Hey Brad
May 7, 2008 - 06:38 ET by Cool ArrowHasn't Roseanne Barr overtaken Olbaboon in importance on the "Who Cares Index"?
Besides, it's a sad subject. I miss Baghdad Bob, and everytime I see Oldbaboon, well, it brings back sad memories.
♣ a seal
Funny isn't it how when
May 7, 2008 - 07:00 ET by expatriotFunny isn't it how when the Rev Wrong gets the same amount of media attention as Larry Craig or Mark Foley it is wrong. If you put the amount of interest into a Dhimocrat as you do a Republican it is saturation. I can't believe this moron is still on the air.
I believe it's called the News "Business" for a reason...
May 7, 2008 - 07:11 ET by Army BratThose stories that interest the public are the ones that get coverage. This translates into more viewers hence more revenue to those networks that have figured this out.
Happy Trails...
overcovering
May 7, 2008 - 07:24 ET by billbHe's either too young or too stupid to remember MACACA!
He is certainly not too young.
May 7, 2008 - 07:38 ET by Pete WilsonThat leaves only one choice.
My question is why does anyone care what this buffoon says about anything? I even stopped watching Sunday night football when he was on.
BATH-TUB-BOY...
May 7, 2008 - 08:25 ET by danybhoyPW,
He is the biggest gun on MSNBC, he is the biggest loose cannon on MSNBC, & he is the most polarizing figure on MSNBC. What he does is more or less a low brow version of a kid acting out to get attention. BathTubBoy is the man there, I would love to see what he makes, considering that I've heard that Mathews is paid $5million a year, Keith would have to make more, he does have more viewers.
As for his Sunday Night Football gig, I can grab a bite to eat when he's on, I will watch the games, but I don't need to see him. But like I have said here before, GE products are off my list. They are paying this idiot & keeping MSNBC on the air for no good reason that I can tell. Their ratings suck & they always lose money, nice buisiness model.
"Some of us are wise, some of us are otherwise" Mark Levin
What a hero
May 7, 2008 - 07:36 ET by allahallahoxenfreeThis guy is a cartoon. His personality shouldn't even exist in real life! Either a shameless liar or a complete idiot. Gotta love the plastic hair though
CONGRESSIONAL TERM LIMITS!!!
Sadly
May 7, 2008 - 08:01 ET by docbObber-uber is right --Fox hits it hard every chance they get.
→ Obber-ubber
May 7, 2008 - 08:08 ET by Cool ArrowWhy is that sad?
Are you having trouble finding a station that will ignore Obama's $27,500 in donations to an admittedly racist organization last year.
Try ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and their affiliates. Ignorance is freely doled out at these outlets.
Enjoy the pablum.
♣ a seal
SADLY???
May 7, 2008 - 08:32 ET by danybhoydocb,
Sorry, you are who you roll with. Obama has been hanging out with too many bad people for way too long. People with marxist connections, terrorists, crooks, bigots, & people who hate America are not the sorts of people who should be friends of anyone who stands a good chance of being elected President.
The media has done a piss-poor job of looking into him, & Rev.J.Wright should just be the begining. Mrs.Obama needs to be looked at, & I gotta feeling that his new Rev, Otis Moss III, will be looked at soon. Fox should just keep pounding away, too many want to wish these stories away, good luck.
"Some of us are wise, some of us are otherwise" Mark Levin
Sadly???
May 7, 2008 - 08:50 ET by LCT688As the great Bard said. If you lay down with dogs, you get up with fleas. Only a self deluded liberal could think that the Rev. Wright issue is just goig to fade away. If der Oberfurher thinks it's been over covered up to now he "ain't seen nothin' yet!"
"A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master and deserves one."
Alexander Hamilton
In the near future, we will
May 7, 2008 - 09:38 ET by BDIn the near future, we will find out that BHO is actually what can be termed a "1968 Liberal".
Well at least Olberman admits it...
May 7, 2008 - 08:22 ET by c5thenAt least he is admiting that many of the stories run on the Main Stream Media are poorly disguised campaigning. I bet he didn't mean to let that slip. His real problem is he doesn't like the campaign-stories about candidates he doesn't like.
The Wright scandle is far more valid than the National Guard fiasco that was perpetrated upon G.W. Bush by Mary Mapes and Dan Rather.
The day that "politician" became a career choice is the day we started losing the Republic. Let's get it back! Alan Keyes '08.
KKK of America
May 7, 2008 - 08:25 ET by Sam"with the wildest exaggerations and the broadest of interpretations possible"
And what ass clown needs to exaggerate or broadly interpret "KKK of America" or "God damn America" or "911 was America's chickens coming home to roost" or "the US government created aids as a form of genocide against black people"? Like Wright, Olbermann isn't smart enough to think these comments should or would offend people. That's outrageous - not the fact that Fox or anyone else is "overcovering" it.
Olberman
May 7, 2008 - 08:54 ET by NKurucI'm now going on record as accusing MSNBC, and the pompous jerks that it counts as it's professors of politics as overhyping everything about the Democratic Party including "empty suit Obama".
These people spend so much time massaging and praising each other that they have truly lost touch with the electorate.
Rest assured that when the real campaign begins, and comes down to a vote that sanity will prevail over this crap.
Does Olbermann realize the
May 7, 2008 - 08:55 ET by Free ThinkerDoes Olbermann realize the general election has not even started? Wright and Obama's other radical associations will be a huge issue and will utlimately doom him with the center/moderate voters that will decide the elction. To suggest that Wright is not a story or important issue shows how shallow Olbermann is.
Olbermann. That name
May 7, 2008 - 08:57 ET by spiderdanOlbermann.
That name will soon become synonomous with abject failure -- in any number of career pursuits.
If the manager of the local donut shop goes off the deep end, rants about Starbucks or McDonald's daily, accuses rival donut shops of a conspiracy, etc., etc., his customers will leave in droves, forcing the store owner to declare: "Ol' Bob's gone Olbermann on us...he's got to go."
Olbermann.
A man arrested during a public tirade on a city bus. Charged with first degree Olbermann conduct and aggravated Olbermann impersonation. Sentence: padded cell with 23 hours of daily MSNBC programming at Led Zeppelin volumes.
And...we thought Noreiga had it bad. Torture -- pure, unrefined, unrelenting.
Queff us just mad
May 7, 2008 - 09:01 ET by charlietexasQueff us just mad ..................cuzzzzzz no one watches his stupid show.......loser.
mom
This guy makes his living
May 7, 2008 - 09:12 ET by mattmThis guy makes his living criticizing his betters.
Does anyone think if John
May 7, 2008 - 09:28 ET by Hunter12Does anyone think if John McCain came out and stated he'd decided to stop attending the KKK meetings he'd been going to for the last twenty years because the Grand Dragon had made some disparaging remarks about blacks to the press that this would be considered enough separation to abandon questions about either his judgement or our perceptions? Maybe Keith could explain to us how 20 years at Trinity is different. I love how Liberals get a pass for any past activities as long as they say they're sorry once they get caught. "I didn't know 'God Damn America' was a bad thing to say or allow to stand, once I heard it." Sounds like clueless, gutless, or consenting to me.
"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last." - Sir Winston Churchill
→ Not McCain
May 7, 2008 - 09:32 ET by Cool ArrowBut I'm sure Robert Byrd could get away with it.
♣ a seal
And blaming Bush for
May 7, 2008 - 09:33 ET by wiwfAnd blaming Bush for everything ISN'T getting old, Keith?
The Rocky Mountain Collegian: Illustrating Idiocy
Mark Levin should...
May 7, 2008 - 09:47 ET by AgentAmerican...challenge him to a duel!
"Hey Overbite! Come out and fight like a girl, pervert!"
Drill ANWAR
After all is said and done
May 7, 2008 - 10:56 ET by HumblepieI find it comical that as much as they condemn FNC for continuing the Wright stuff, they themselves continue to broadcast the issue. They daily remind the Dims that past connections to Obambi are still an issue with the public.
During this time with political correctness at its zenith, I reserve the right to let you know you're an idiot.
Let it Go!
May 7, 2008 - 11:32 ET by Hootie HaysThis guy annoys me to no end. Has he ever smiled on screen? He looks like he's been holding in the same fart since he was 13!
Gravitas
May 7, 2008 - 14:56 ET by MassConservProbably where he got the look, but he thought it gave him gravitas so he stuck with it.
Thank you dim bulb for
May 7, 2008 - 12:03 ET by expatriotThank you dim bulb for keeping the Wright story going. As has been stated here previously the dip stick does not realize that he is pushing the story as much as Fox by editorializing it every time that he does.
"The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities."
Olbamamann...
May 7, 2008 - 12:29 ET by Eileen Right"Don't tell me words don't matter! “US of KKK' Just words. “America's chickens coming home to roost.” Just words. “US government created aids.” Just words! "God damn America" Just words, just speeches!"
"wildest exaggerations and
May 7, 2008 - 13:06 ET by Richard Romano"wildest exaggerations and the broadest of interpretations"
Tu quoque!
What the heck is going on
May 7, 2008 - 15:06 ET by Chris NormanWhat the heck is going on here? Did MSNBC buy up all the "Pretty In Pink" makeup at Sally Beauty Supply?
The real test of Keiths comments
May 7, 2008 - 15:27 ET by IamTinmanwill come during the general election, because there still have not been any substantive explanations of why the Obamas would tolerate the racist antiamerican comments of Jeremiah Wright for 20 years.
THINK ABOUT IT...
May 7, 2008 - 20:24 ET by danybhoyIf you people think that the MSM, & for the sake of this thread, MSNBC & BathTubBoy, are biased in their reporting on of Obama, wait untill he's the nominee(assuming he get it). They will be worse then they have ever been, & that's saying something.
BathTubBoy will be the worst of a bad group who will be pushing the story of Obama rather then covering the story that is Obama. This is why he thinks the Wright story should go away, not that the story has merit, which it does.
"Some of us are wise, some of us are otherwise" Mark Levin