Olbermann Whiffs on Tanning, Fineman Says Media Should 'Grow A Pair' on Palin

Now, an update on the Palin tanning-bed "scandal." On Countdown on Monday night, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann tried to sound the alarm of elitism on the Governor's personal tanning bed – it's like an expensive John Edwards haircut, he claimed – but Newsweek's Howard Fineman played the wet blanket, telling Olbermann that in Alaska, "everybody goes to tanning beds all the time." Fineman did agree with the host that it's wrong to find sexism in the Tina Fey Palin impersonation on Saturday Night Live. Fineman said the media needs to adopt the Amy Poehler/Hillary character's motto about the media's need to get tough on the alleged media darling Palin: "Grow a pair, or I'll lend you mine." Fineman said, "That should be the advice we all follow." To the transcript:

OLBERMANN: Like it or not, the country responded to the elitist angle they were playing on Obama, and the $400 haircut on John Edwards. That stuck. What self-respecting hockey mom governator wants to get caught within 100 miles of her own tanning bed?

FINEMAN: Well, in defense of Alaska, I will say, there's a lot of night up there, and I know from spending a fair amount of time up there that everybody goes to tanning beds all the time. But not everybody has one in their own home. So It's not quite as crazy as it sounds, you could argue that she could go, like everybody else to the strip mall to the tanning bed.

OLBERMANN: But no, how about just a sun lamp, or extra lights in the house? This is a tanning bed in your own house!

FINEMAN [laughing]: As I said, tanning beds are common. Everybody goes, whether you should have one in your house at public – whether or not it's at public expense -- is another legitimate question.

OLBERMANN: Apparently, it was not [at public expense].

Keith then concluded:

OLBERMANN: Carly Fiorina used the word ‘sexism' about the Tina Fey cameo on Saturday Night Live. How much more line do they have in the reel before the fishing rod breaks off in their hands?

FINEMAN: I think it's been enough. I think Saturday Night Live has been the accidental arbiter of the media, and media coverage and I think the character of Amy Poehler playing Hillary Clinton had a pretty good line to the media. ‘Grow a pair or I'll lend you mine.' That should be the advice we all follow as we frantically try to figure out who Sarah Palin really is before Election Day.