...but not by name.

Keith Olbermann’s tired hour-long rehashing of liberal talking points on “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” are legion and often unremarkable in and of themselves. Same noise, different night. But it is noteworthy when a fellow MSNBC host has had enough and calls out Olbermann. That is exactly what happened when “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough rebuked the “Countdown” host for a misplaced attack on Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) during the opening of Olbermann’s July 22 “Countdown.”

Olbermann began his show by ridiculing McCain for claiming that the surge was responsible for the success of the Anbar Awakening. Olbermann opined:

Tonight has proven that he [Senator McCain] does not understand one of the fundamental facts about the surge. In an interview with the CBS Evening News, earlier today, the presumptive Republican nominee, getting the basic time line and history of the surge completely wrong.

The basis of Olbermann’s attack on McCain was that the Senator was trying to connect the success of the Anbar awakening with the success of the surge. Olbermann inferred that such a connection could not be possible because the Anbar awakening happened months before the surge started:

The military commander he mentioned, general Shawn McFarlane, then a colonel, briefed the media on the Anbar awakening on September 29th, 2006, at least two months before rumors of the mere possibility of a surge of U.S. troops in Iraq and it is Senator McCain in portions of the interview that CBS did choose to air who insisted that Obama does not understand what is happening and what has happened Iraq.

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Fellow MSNBC host, Joe Scarborough admonished Olbermann this morning and argued he’s missing the point. Even liberal co-host Harold Ford Jr agreed with Scarborough that the surge enabled the success of the Sunni awakening to continue long-term:

The bottom line is, it started in the fall of 2006. And I can't believe that I'm having to explain this. But hopefully some of the talk shows hosts that were so shocked and stunned and deeply saddened last night -- about the CBS, whatever that was. Maybe they can follow me here, slowly. The Anbar awakening started in the fall of 2006. World war2 started in December of 1941. That battle continued. The invasion of Normandy happened three years later.

 

Good things happen. The surge happened six months later. And That's when things started getting better in Anbar province. In fact, got a Washington Post article here right now that talks about how it continued -- that it continued forward from that point. So its, to say it started and the surge didn't help it out is ridiculous.

While Scarborough never mentioned Olbermann by name, the “Morning Joe” host discreetly implicated the “Countdown” host:

Let me tell you, and I know a couple of hosts ran this last night, made a huge deal because a liberal blogger picked it up, I will guarantee the hosts that ran it waving their arms had no idea whether the Suni awakening or the surge began at the same time.

With Olbermann’s vitriolic liberal bias escalated during campaign season, MSNBC needs more “Morning Joe” to balance out Olbermann’s nightly venom. The transcript follows:

KEITH OLBERMANN: Senator John McCain now staking his candidacy entirely on the surge in Iraq, Entirely on his claim that he believed in the need for a surge of U.S. forces in Iraq, even before President Bush did. Tonight has proven that he [Senator McCain] does not understand one of the fundamental facts about the surge. In an interview with the CBS evening news, earlier today, the presumptive Republican nominee, getting the basic time line and history of the surge completely wrong. We can not play that portion of the interview for you because CBS curiously to say the least it on the edit room floor. It aired Katie Couric’s question but in response it inserted part of McCain’s answer to another question instead.

And how do we know this? We consulted a transcript of the entire original interview which was available on the CBS News website. Reading from the interview as it actually transpired, Couric asking “ Senator Obama says while the increased number of U.S. troops contributed to increased security in Iraq, he also credits the Sunni awaking and the Shiite government going after militias. And says that there might have been improved security even without the surge. What’s your response to that?

Sen. McCAIN answering: I don’t know how you respond to something that is such a false depiction of something that actually happened, Colonel McFarlane was contacted by one of the major Sunni Sheiks because of the surge we were able to go out and protect that Sheik and others. And it began the Anbar awaking. I mean, that’s just a matter of history.

OLBERMANN: Senator McCain is either wrong or lying. The military commander he mentioned, General Shawn McFarlane, then a colonel, briefed the media on the Anbar awakening on September 29th, 2006, at least two months before rumors of the mere possibility of a surge of U.S. troops in Iraq and it is Senator McCain in portions of the interview that CBS did choose to air who insisted that Obama does not understand what is happening and what has happened Iraq.

JOE SCARBOROUGH: Let me tell you, and I know a couple of hosts ran this last night, made a huge deal because a liberal blogger picked it up, I will guarantee the hosts that ran it waving their arms had no idea whether the Suni awakening or the surge began at the same time. They also -- anybody that would argue that the Suni awakening would have survived in Al Anbar province without the surge, anybody that would make that argument is so ignorant on the facts on the ground in Western Iraq, Alanbar province and what the Sunni sheiks were doing throughout 2007 that they are too stupid to be on tv. So I hope they don't carry that argument much longer because it is laughable...

SCARBOROUGH: The bottom line is, it started in the fall of 2006. And I can't believe that I'm having to explain this. But hopefully some of the talk shows hosts that were so shocked and stunned and deeply saddened last night -- about the CBS, whatever that was. Maybe they can follow me here, slowly. The anbar awakening started in the fall of 2006. World war ii started in December of 1941. That battle continued. The invasion of Normandy happened three years later. Good things happen. The surge happened six months later. And That's when things started getting better in anbar province. In fact, got a "Washington Post"article here right now that talks about how it continued -- that it continued forward from that point. So its, to say it started and the surge didn't help it out is ridiculous.