Olbermann and HuffPo Editor Square Off on Couric and Anti-Hillary Bias

Photo of Noel Sheppard.
  • Bookmark and Share

It seems not everyone in the liberal blogosphere is smitten with MSNBC's Keith Olbermann.

Take for example Huffington Post editor Rachel Sklar who on Thursday called out the insufferably arrogant and pompous "Countdown" host for naming CBS's Katie Couric his "Worst Person in the World" previously reported by NewsBuster Brad Wilmouth:

Olbermann accused Couric of taking out of "context" comments by NBC correspondent Lee Cowan, who, as he covers the Barack Obama campaign, has said he finds it "hard to be objective," as she, not naming him, suggested he "find another line of work." Olbermann, who has attacked Hillary Clinton on several occasions while being softer on Obama, declared Cowan's reporting to be "utterly objective and accurate," and castigated Couric for "her own promulgation of the nonsense that Senator Clinton was a victim of sexism."

Sklar deliciously objected (h/t TVNewser):

Story Continues Below Ad ↓

I find it a bit rich that Keith Olbermann would chastise anyone on the subject of "separating the hype from the news" or "the nonsense that Senator Clinton was a victim of pronounced sexism." And yet he did just that last night in naming Katie Couric his "Worst Person in the World" for speaking out about the sexism evidenced in some of the media coverage of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. Nonsense? Really? It took a while but geez, even Howard Dean has figured it out. To sit there on MSNBC and say that it's nonsense is a bit rich, considering that some of the higher-profile episodes of embarrassing sexist-or-perceived-as-sexist commentary has come from that network (cf. Tucker Carlson's crossed legs, Mike Barnicle's ex-wife at a probate court, David Shuster's big pimpin', Chris Matthews' comment about why, exactly, Clinton had been a success or wondering if a guy would find it hard to debate a woman or even Olbermann himself, musing about a possible way to "convince" Hillary Clinton to exit the race (over a month before it was actually over, by the way). I mean, not only was there a petition protesting sexism at the network, there was an actual real-live protest against MSNBC in Washington. So what's that about "nonsense" there, Keith? [...]

[I]f Olbermann is going to chide Couric for her poor research skills, perhaps he might try a little bit of the Google himself.

Olbermann struck back Thursday in the comments section of a Daily Kos blog:

Don't know what to think about Ms. Sklar (40+ / 0-) Actually, I'm mildly alarmed, but not because of the criticism.

She - let me phrase this gently - attended the Countdown 5th Anniversary Party in April, even though she had been denied an invitation and was not accompanying a guest.

As to everything else, everybody has my humble thanks. That was a very tough one to read tonight.

"If you're going through hell - keep going!" -- Winston Churchill

by Keith Olbermann on Thu Jun 12, 2008 at 07:16:04 PM PDT

It seems Olbermann was -- as typical!!! -- playing loose with the facts:

But Sklar tells TVNewser, "Keith is mistaken. I'm sorry he was alarmed, but I was not at the event."

You know, if more people on the ultra-left would recognize -- as Sklar clearly has -- just how often Keith Olbermann makes stuff up in order to promote his agenda, maybe he'd be kicked out of NBC's news division and relegated to covering sports.

Hmmm.

—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters. Follow him at Facebook and Twitter.


Comments Policy

All comments are owned by whoever posted them and are subject to our terms of use. They should not be assumed to represent the views of NewsBusters.

Viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

Chaos is

Chaos is spreading...

___________________________________ 

If you can read this, thank a teacher. If it is in English, thank a Soldier. - My barber

LMAO! This is

LMAO!

This is delicious....

Doncha' just love the leftists?

Entertaining at times...

I hope Olbie does his own-self in...by the LEFT!

The right complaining would not and does not matter...

You go Bath-Tub boy...You Go!

"Never murder your opponent when he is committing suicide." ~ W. Wilson

"Face In The Crowd"

"Face In The Crowd." 

Just watched that movie on TCM.   Griffiths out of control, power hungry and self serving antics remind me of Olbermann, and the execs at NBC will feel the repercussions of keeping an ignoramus like him on the air.  With Keith Olbermann the quote " A little knowledge is dangerous " applies in spades.  Really, take a look at this guy, his picture is in the dictionary next to the words "loose cannon".  His head will probably explode when they don't give him Meet The Press.  But I'm sure knowing the decision making over at NBC they will come up with a great replacement, like....

Chris Matthews.

"Don't let the bastards grind you down."

Red

KO's the Man

You've gotta give KO some credit. Everyone he picks on, has better ratings than he does.  Hell, if you used ratings as approval ratings, even the President and Congress have better ratings than KO. Perhaps, secretly, that's the criteria for his worst person award, they have to have better ratings than he does.  I guess that puts him in the same category as a bisexual that has a better chance of getting a date. 

I'd like to know who's picture KO has that he's blackmailing to keep him on the air.  He's certainly not on the air because of any journalistic skill or his ratings.  

Democrats: Stuck on Stupid since 2000.

Tried to read the column

But reading the liberal post was a bit like hearing country music for the martians in Mars Attacks - it made my head want to explode.

Responsibility is the price of freedom. - Elbert Hubbard

»→ Couric

It's hilarious that her perkiness, Ms Couric, can say the media is sexist when she can get away with making jokes about castration on National TV.

She never apologized for her comment, so it's still fair game.

  • LYDSEXICS UNTIE

Awesome! You managed to get

Awesome! You managed to get delicious in again...


"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it." - George Bernard Shaw

 

"...her own promulgation of

"...her own promulgation of the nonsense that Senator Clinton was a victim of sexism."

Olbermann actually said this?  I just can't believe that I would find myself in agreement with him.