Is Keith Olbermann Trying to Banish Tom Brokaw From MSNBC?

It appears that Keith Olbermann might be vying for the title of Most Obnoxious Anchor On Television. First we had Olbermann dissing Joe Scarborough during a live broadcast on Monday from the Democrat convention. Then a day later, Olbermann managed to enrage Chris Matthews during another broadcast. And now it looks like Olbermann is going for broke in the insult department by pushing to have Tom Brokaw banned from appearing on MSNBC as reported in Page Six of today's New York Post:

At a forum on Sunday, when Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell called MSNBC "the official network of the Obama campaign," Brokaw said, "I think Keith has gone too far. I think Chris has gone too far."

Insiders say Olbermann is pushing to have Brokaw banned from the network and is also refusing to have centrist Time magazine columnist Mike Murphy on his show.

This could be payback by Olbermann not only for what Tom Brokaw said at a forum on Sunday but also for Brokaw's criticism of him back in June. Here is a partial transcript of the June 3 MSNBC Democrat primary interchange between Brokaw and Olbermann (emphasis mine):

TOM BROKAW: So all those experiences have formed him, and he does come from what I think is a kind of post-60s family background. His father came from Africa. His mother came from the Great Plains. He lived around the world. And as we get ready for the 21st century, those are very strong credentials. On the John McCain side, 5 1/2 years in the Hanoi Hilton, from a long, distinguished military family. His life has been about service to his country. He was a wild child, by his own admission, as well, and then got into the United States Senate, married Cindy, and six months ago, we were saying he had no shot at this nomination, and won, too. So we have two remarkable stories taking shape here tonight, it seems to me.

KEITH OLBERMANN: And a third one trying to shoe-horn her way into those, the coverage of the first two.

BROKAW: Well, I think that's unfair, Keith. I don't think she shoe-horned her way in. When you look at the states that she won and the popular vote that she piled up, and the number of delegates that she has on her side, she's got real bargaining power in all of this. You'll remember it was on that New Hampshire primary night when people were saying she can't survive the next 24 hours after just Iowa, and here we are at the end of the calendar. And she looks very strong in one of these states tonight, and will have some real bargaining power, and has people, which I think we ought not to overlook, there are a lot of poeple who voted for her who might have been denied that if she'd dropped out -- blue-collar workers and especially women, and it's a delicate time for Barack Obama as he now deals with her because he does not want to disenfranchise them come the fall.

What's amazing here is how many prominent people Olbermann thinks he can get away with insulting at NBC. Does Keith have some blackmail material on someone high up in the NBC organization that gives him the confidence that he won't be fired for his hyperactive hubris?