Olbermann Hypes Al Qaeda Threat But Scoffed at JFK, Fort Dix, London Plots

July 18th, 2007 2:41 PM

If you're Keith Olbermann (file photo at right), these two contradictory notions are equally true.

The terrorist threat against America amounts to a bunch of hopeless nincompoops who are nothing more than armchair wannabe jihadists.

AND

George Bush is a massive failure at protecting this country from terrorist attacks.

Just take a look at items from his "The News Hole" blog from the past few months (emphasis mine).

From July 17's "Blogging the Countdown" entry:

Original Al Qaeda Returns: Nearly six years after the 9-11 attacks...After four long years of war in Iraq...And after the many billions of dollars that have been spent on the war on terror...A new intelligence report, the work of all sixteen U-S spy agencies, warns that Al Qaeda is gaining strength... and is still determined to attack the U-S. Our fifth story on the Countdown: How is that even possible?

Yet back in April, Olbermann said that presidential aspirant Rudy Giuliani (R-N.Y.) was trying to scare the electorate with fears of terrorism:

They Hate Us For Our Freedom : A survivor of 9/11 threatens voters with a new 9/11 if they dare to vote for anyone but him. Why is Giuliani trying to terrorize the electorate?

 More from the "oh my God we're all going to die and it's Bush's fault" category:

July 18:

Some excellent day two analysis of the National Intelligence Estimate – a startling look at how thoroughly the Bush administration has failed in its war on terrorism... One that the White House is going to find difficult to sweep under the rug. The New York Times says for all intents and purposes it might as well be the summer of 2001 again (the NIE with the recycled title “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.”).

July 11:

The Unsuccessful War on Terror: If, as the Bush administration claims, we are fighting in Iraq so we do not have to face the threat of another terror attack here in the U-S...Why is it that Al Qaeda has been able to regain its strength to a level it has not enjoyed since just before the 9-11 attacks? Our fifth story on the Countdown: U-S Intelligence analysts... reaching a devastating conclusion about the state of the war on terror. Meanwhile, two more Republican senators reaching a conclusion that it is time to get out of the conflict that many believe is distracting us from that fight... the war in Iraq. 

Now for the "I can't believe anyone takes this war on terror stuff seriously" file:

June 29:

Picadilly Bomb Scare: The London bomb scare. The intent was clearly the real thing. But what these people put together and left parked, and, authorities say, twice failed to "go off"...Did it even constitute a bomb or would it have been at worst, a car fire? The former State Department deputy head of counter-terrorism has his doubts...

June 6:

The Plot Continues to Thin: Our third story on the Countdown: Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York astonishing some of his critics and comforting some of his friends, by not only not joining the stampede after the revelation of the technically impossible "JFK Pipeline Plot"... but actually encouraging New Yorkers to remember how unlikely terrorism truly is.

June 4:

The Plot Thins: The JFK Terror plot... heavy on the hysteria... short on the "plot"... We'll ask an expert about the real impact of the possible attack.

I hope the MSNBC health plan covers clinical schizophrenia.