Keith Olbermann seems to be suffering from a bad case of foot-in-mouth disease during the Democrat convention coverage. As noted earlier by NewsBusters' Mark Finkelstein, Olbermann, after commenting ecstatically about Michelle Obama's speech declared that he was "beginning to sound borderline sycophantic."
Also last night, an open mic caught Olbermann dissing fellow MSNBC team member, Joe Scarborough using profanity to describe his apparent disgust with Scarborough's analysis that Barack Obama has been falling behind in the polls.
"Jesus, Joe, why don't you get a shovel?" Olbermann snorted. Watch the video to the right or read the partial transcript below:
JOHN GIBSON: I've got to tell you, we have news here tonight! We have the first open mic catastropic debacle of the convention.
VOICE: Sure do, John.
GIBSON: It was over at MSNBC featuring first Chris Matthews and Joe Scarborough and then the voice of bathtub boy, Keith Olbermann, pipes up and it's clear his microphone was supposed be off. This is not pretty. They are supposed to be colleagues. And everyone around NBC except Tom Brokaw is afraid of Olbermann because of the way he got Dan Abrams fired and then bragged about it. Listen to this.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Now the host of MSNBC's Morning Joe Show, Joe Scarborough who's down on the floor of the Pepsi Center, part of the Pepsi generation, and he's been talking to both campaigns...Joe.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Hey, thanks so much, Chris. I've got to tell you, there's such a contrast between what these campaigns are saying now and what they were telling me off the record two weeks ago perhaps because of Steve Schmidt's new leadership in the McCain campaign. The fact that the McCain campaign has been leaning forward with one message and their...
KEITH OLBERMANN (interrupting): Jesus, Joe, why don't you get a shovel?!
SCARBOROUGH: According to some McCain people...a a shovel?
OLBERMANN: I mean seriously, Joe. The man just lost. ..I did. The man just lost seven points in the likely voter poll. McCain did from last month's USA Today's Likely Voter poll. The higher level one. The supposedly more sophisticated one. It was 49-45 McCain last month. It's 48-45 Obama. Back up what they're saying with what you're saying.
SCARBOROUGH: Well, I mean, get a shovel, Keith. My God. If you look where John McCain's been over the past three, four months, this is a guy that's been losing state by state. As Chuck Todd and Pat Buchanan were saying a few weeks ago...
GIBSON: And this is how that little contretemps shortly ended.
SCARBOROUGH: Both campaigns believe for the first time it may be a fight.
MATTHEWS: Well, are we done?
(Crosstalk)
SCARBOROUGH: Would you like me to get another shovel?
MATTHEWS: No, I thought it was great. It went shovel to shovel. Thank you very much Joe Scarborough.
SCARBOROUGH: Alright. Thank you.
GIBSON: Wow! Is Joe Scarborough going to be standing in the unemployment lines with Dan Abrams.
VOICE: Get that resume ready, Joe.
H/T: Olbermann Watch
