Olbermann’s Disgraceful 9/11 Anniversary Rant Helped His Ratings

September 14th, 2006 10:08 AM

By now, many of you likely heard about the embarrassing and utterly disgraceful comments made by MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann on the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks as reported here and here. Judging from ratings figures the following evening, Olbermann’s vitriol was a hit with his viewers.

As reported Wednesday by TVNewser, Olbermann’s ratings skyrocketed on Tuesday. His showing was good enough to put him ahead of CNN’s Paula Zahn and CNN Headline News’s Nancy Grace in the 8PM EST time slot, a feat that KO rarely achieves. His estimated 695,000 viewers was 34 percent more than the 518,000 that actually watched this atrocity Monday evening – which was also, as typical, fewer viewers than watched Paula Zahn and Nancy Grace. This was also 75 percent more than the 397,000 viewers KO had on Friday, September 8.

Sadly, Olbermann appears to be getting rewarded for his atrocious behavior by his viewers, which, of course, tells us a lot about them, doesn’t it? After all, rather than share the opinion that this solemn occasion was not the time to soliloquize such vitriol, left-wing blogs and publications applauded KO’s performance.

Take for example this piece at the Huffington Post: “Everyone should thank Keith Olbermann, and watch his show, because he has the courage to do what the entire press should be doing.”

Or, this op-ed from The Nation: “Keith Olbermann is without a doubt the best news anchor on television today.” And, “Tonight, broadcasting live from above a desolate and still demolished Ground Zero, Olbermann delivered a stirring eight minute commentary indicting the Bush Administration's shameful and tragic response to 9/11.”

I guess to attract this segment of Americans, all one needs do is speak incredibly ill of the president on a day of national mourning and reverence.

Isn’t that special?

*****Update: Our friend at Olbermann Watch published a great post on this subject: "Once again MSNBC is teaming up with the radical left in a pathetic attempt to boost Olbermann's anemic ratings. This time its the tin-foil hat crowd over at the Democratic Underground taking the 'unprecedented action' of calling on its members to spread the word about Olbermann fact-challenged 'special comment' via a 'special private message'."