Olbermann Backs Down From 'Over the Top' O'Reilly Parental Abuse Attack

August 20th, 2010 5:50 PM

Let it never again be said that no line of attack is too low for Keith Olbermann.

On Tuesday, the MSNBC libtalker distanced himself from comments made the week prior about Fox News host Bill O'Reilly. Olbermann attributed O'Reilly's condemnation of comments about motherhood by actress Jennifer Aniston to the abuse O'Reilly supposedly took as a child.

OIbermann didn't actually say what he was backing away from, but until Tuesday it seemed that almost no line of attack would be too cheap or personal for "Countdown." Some comment must have been really bad for him to actually back away from it, and label it "over the top" on air. The parental abuse line is the only one that seems to fit the mold.

Video via Mediaite:


Last night on his program, Bill O'Reilly went after MSNBC's parent company, GE, for something that even O'Reilly acknowledged was ‘hard to get outraged about.' It was not news, but appears to have come in response to some over-the-top remarks made here about O'Reilly.  

Olbermann's comments were a preface to a bit attacking Fox's parent company News Corp. Olbermann apparently did not want anyone to think that he was reigniting his infamous feud with O'Reilly.

In any case, mark down Tuesday, August 17 as the day a line of attack was too low even for Keith OIbermann. Not that he apologized for it to O'Reilly or to Countdown's remaining viewers or anything.