Los Angeles Times media reporter Matea Gold is the latest journalist to push Keith Olbermann as a hot commodity now that he's boldly captured about one-fifth as many viewers as Bill O'Reilly. True, his left-wing howling at the moon may match the incoming Democrat committee leaders like John Conyers, but he's still denying he has an identifiable political agenda. The other unintentionally hilarious moment is his dismissal of Rush Limbaugh as a fabricator. When Robert Cox of Olbermann Watch suggested to the Times that Olbermann is as demagogic as his nemesis O'Reilly, Keith responded:
"I'm not trying to whip up a political frenzy," he said. "If I was out there every night beating people over the head with this, I would become a Rush Limbaugh. That's not my goal. I don't make the facts up to fit the political viewpoint that happens to parallel what it is I'm trying to express."
Gold laid out Olbermann's improbably argument that he has no identifiable political agenda and has made no attempt to pander, pander, pander to the MoveOn/Daily Kosmonaut wing of the Democrats by describing Bush as the vilest of dictators and the Republican Party as the nation's leading terrorist group. (Of course, Gold doesn't actually offer the reader much of Olbermann's progressive patois.) The no-agenda-here claim unfolded like this:
The longtime sportscaster, who doesn't vote and eschews any political identity — "I may be a Whig, possibly a Free-Soiler," he quipped — has nevertheless become an unexpected folk hero for the frustrated left. One woman approached him in a New York restaurant recently and burst into tears as she thanked him.
"People just think, 'He speaks for me,' " said Jane Hamsher, a Mill Valley, Calif., author who runs a liberal blog at firedoglake.com. "There was no resonance within the media for their perspective, and suddenly Keith came on the scene and gave voice to these long-simmering feelings of disgust with the war."
Olbermann said he never set out to court disaffected liberals.
"But there's a time when what you're covering ceases to look like news and begins to look like history," he said. "And you say, well, it doesn't matter how people might brand me or respond to this — I feel as if something very important is not being said."
In this story, MSNBC boss Dan Abrams somehow failed to get quoted as seeing Olbermann as a "role model" for future newscasts, but he did suggest, on a positive note, that MSNBC is NBC's petulant younger sibling:
Abrams said MSNBC is finally finding its identity, which he described as "NBC News' younger brother or sister."
"It doesn't mean the older sibling is more intelligent or better at what they do," he added. "It just means they've been doing it longer. We may be a little brasher, a little more petulant, but we are one family."
—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center.
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
For more on Odormann, check o
November 27, 2006 - 11:53 ET by TEFor more on Odormann, check out the December 2006 "interview" in GQ of Odormann by one of GQ's dingbats. The attention shown to Odormann by the same useful idiots is approaching the attention shown to the bankrupt Air (anti) America.
Olbermann
November 27, 2006 - 11:59 ET by iveseenitallOlberman, a major player in the MSM Freak Show.
NEVER,NEVER trust a liberal
You know , I commend you for
November 27, 2006 - 12:02 ET by Quidnunc SavantYou know , I commend you for your intestinal fortitude in having to watch this dirtbag's program , but I can't help but think it may becoming an obsession.
You may be bringing him more attention than he deserves.
Keith has no viewers...why bother
November 27, 2006 - 12:34 ET by kwI agree, Wacko Lefty KO has no viewers. I would not know who he was but for this website.
I bet Keith hasn't even act
November 27, 2006 - 12:18 ET by Uncle JohnI bet Keith hasn't even actually listened to Rush's program and is relying on those out of context snippets of what Rush says that the left offers up as some sort of proof of something. Your ignorance is showing, Keith.
Like Noel Sheppard said on another topic yesterday "you should try it some time -- actually finding what somebody really said as opposed to what a journalist reported".
It's pretty easy to slap down the straw man, eh Keith?
Keith you dork
November 27, 2006 - 12:27 ET by SamShut your cakehole Keith you dork
The article said Keith does
November 27, 2006 - 12:56 ET by Squalls BladeThe article said Keith doesn't vote, but he flat out said on election night that he voted.
Democracy is not enough. If the culture dies, the country dies. - Pat Buchanan
Remember that, for a libera
November 27, 2006 - 16:56 ET by Tom1969caRemember that, for a liberal, the truth is whatever answer is most convenient for the current circumstance. On election night, it's important to convey that he "did his part"; in an interview, it's important to "prove" that he's not politically-active.
I've always believed that the greatest threat to the Democrat Party is Lexis/Nexis...
~~~
"Government should only do what only government can do."
-- Prime Minister Kim Campbell, 1993
For Keith Olbermann to claim
November 27, 2006 - 12:59 ET by Dave RFor Keith Olbermann to claim he has no agenda is the biggest lie since the Social Security farce was implemented. In reality, his head is so far up the DNC's posterior that he hasn't seen daylight in years.
What a joke he has become.
Never help
November 27, 2006 - 13:51 ET by reelman46I never ever watch the biased (angry secular socialist a.s.s.) TV media... join the common sense boycott, just stop... no help, no kidding... you can read about the rants and distortions online... why would anyone frustrate themselves and increase viewership of these dangerous distorters??
KO Democraps Knight in smelly armor.
November 27, 2006 - 13:53 ET by CT" ...I feel as if something very important is not being said..."
Could that be SHUT THE F*** UP Keith???
"I don't make up the f
November 27, 2006 - 14:07 ET by JDW"I don't make up the facts..."
Listen to Rush or read an internet site review this pinheads' "facts" and realize the truth.
In many ways it has been a blessing that the dems have two years at this point in time. Show us the facts.
JDW
Kerry: "You know, education, if you make the most of it ... you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."
I don't always agree with Rus
November 27, 2006 - 14:19 ET by MikeBI don't always agree with Rush's opinions (usually, but not always), but I have yet to hear Rush make up any facts. I do know that on the occasions he has misreported, he issued a correction at the earliest opportunity, frequently during the same segment of the show that he made his error, giving it as much prominence (or, more) as his original error. How many newspapers or network news broadcasts or local news broadcasts can claim the same?
So, apparently, Odiousman lies about his voting, lies about his competition, lies about not lying, and is also lousy in the sack, according to reports seen on NB. I'm no pshrink, but is seems the Odorous one is compensating for something?
"A communist is someone who reads Marx. An anti-communist is someone who understands Marx." Ronald Reagan
What Olbermental can't figure
November 27, 2006 - 14:33 ET by mattmWhat Olbermental can't figure out is that you can't make up "facts". Facts are what they are, you interpret them within the framework of your own knowledge and experience which is everchanging, and you can either accept them or not.
Limbaugh admits his conservative bent. He is up-front that he is giving his opinion based on the facts as he interprets them. He is also honest enough to admit that his goal is to amass the largest audience he can so as to charge confiscatory advertising rates.
Olbermental tries to pass himself off as an objective reporter and commentator. It is this facade of objectivity that makes him biased, whereas Rush is actually objective, in effect, because the audience knows he's giving the conservative view on things.
I don't know if Libs know this but refuse to admit it because they'll have to allow conservatives a say on the issues, or if they're just a bunch of ignorant morons.
"The essence of bias is the pretense of objectivity" - Me
Olbie is hot... now, that's funny
November 27, 2006 - 15:18 ET by PlaceboThe fact that there are morons who believe Olbie is “hot”, only confirms there are more idiots than naught out there.
there was some chick who had a blog dedicated to her one night s
November 27, 2006 - 15:23 ET by terrigThere was some chick who had this forthisigivemuchthanks.com blog that yacked about her one night stand with him at some hotel. I couldn't believe it when I read it. Not sure if it's still up but it was hilarious that this poor woman had no life.
Item: When a memo that was cr
November 27, 2006 - 16:36 ET by SMGalbraithItem: When a memo that was critical of Bush from an ABC executive was leaked to Drudge, Olbermann claimed that it was provided by the White House as part of the Administration's war against the media.
The next day it was revealed that a disgruntled former ABC employee had given it to Drudge.
Item: When Chris Wallace had his run-in with former President Clinton, Olbermann claimed that Wallace was part of the White House's orchestrated effort to divert attention from their failures in preventing 9/11.
Right. Wallace was working with Rove?
But KO doesn't make stuff up. Nah.
SMG
Remember the lefty MSM going
November 27, 2006 - 20:40 ET by nicksmith112Remember the lefty MSM going nuts for Jon Stewart as if he had 10,000,000.
Now they're going crazy for Krazy Keith.
A guy that can't even win his time slot when ratings King Bill O. is on vacation.
Olberdone doesn't even sell many books either.
Moonbat Olbermann has how man
November 27, 2006 - 20:52 ET by InfomanOhioMoonbat Olbermann has how many viewers on a good night? 200,000? And Rush Limbaugh has how many listeners? 20,000,000 or more? Enough said, I think. It's kind of funny, actually, that most of Rush's critics almost never listen to him. Just like almost nobody watches moonbat Olbermann.
There was no way the report
November 29, 2006 - 06:52 ET by MyKindaSpamThere was no way the reporter could have quoted any of Krazy Keith's rantings because it would completely invalidate the "populist, nonpartisan, voice of the average American" angle of the story. If they had included more than a few cherry-picked quotations of his, then it would be obvious to the reader that the story's premise is incorrect.