As my colleague Brad Wilmouth reported, Olbermann on Wednesday's "Countdown" "accused the President of 'panoramic and murderous deceit,' and of 'creating' an America that 'includes cold-blooded killers who will kill people to achieve their political objectives.'"
This didn't sit well with Levin who on Friday gave Olbermann the tongue-lashing his employers at MSNBC would give him if they possessed any shred of decency or common sense (audio available here thanks to our friend Johnny Dollar):
Let me tell you, this guy is really the scum of the earth...Hey Olbermann, I said you're the scum of the earth. And you know damn well what I'm talking about. [...]
This is the highest rated guy on MSNBC because he's taken up a radical position which one of his girlfriends wrote me and said he doesn't even believe, but does it, and he does it for ratings, because he knows there are nutjobs out there who will tune him in. But this is over the line. [...]
I'm calling on MSNBC to suspend Keith Olbermann because in the middle of a war, I don't think a phony journalist should be able to use his position to give aid and comfort to the enemy, and worse than that even, to smear the American GI. [...]
"Cold-blooded killers who will kill people to achieve their political objectives." That's how you view the uniform? You're a disgrace. Why are on you on MSNBC? I ask General Electric, "What is this man doing on your network?" [...]
I believe in firing his ass! Why have boycotts and censorship? Fire his ass! And yet, I'm compassionate. I said, "At least, suspend him. Let's meet halfway on this." And I'll tell you why. If in World War II, Tokyo Rose were given a format like MSNBC night after night to undermine the American GI, to give aid and comfort to the terrorists, to pander to the worst elements of American society, to become a propagandist for the enemy, it would not have been tolerated. It's not as if Keith Olbermann brings anything to the table. He's a very dumb guy. He's not qualified to be a newscaster. He's not qualified to hold serious opinions, and that's why he relies on the Daily Kos, a Media Matters, leftwing Democrat operatives for his talking points each and every night. But for MSNBC, and NBC, and GE to prop this guy up and give him a soapbox, I'm sorry. He is the anti-soldier. This isn't an academic matter where we're debating some issue of import, but not an issue of life and death, but he is the mouthpiece, the prominent mouthpiece for our enemy. If you're going to call our soldiers cold-blooded killers who kill people to achieve their political objectives, then you're excrement. You're absolute excrement.[...]
Spitting on the American soldier. You think that's a good thing? You think that's entertainment? You think that's great for this country? I don't expect you to suppot the President. Great. But I do expect you to treat the troops with respect That's correct. [...]
How is it that only the liberals can make issues out of things they want to make issues out of when they're offended? Here we have a guy smearing hundreds of thousands of American soldiers, calling them cold-blooded killers who kill people to achieve their political objectives. I mean, what is this? [...]
NBC clings to this bitter, little know-nothing because he gets ratings from the far left in this country. The hate America, commie-left. They tell everybody, "Watch Olbermann, watch Olbermann." And so he plays to them, he panders to them. I see the hair-splitting going on. The fact is, if he were to compare any American to al Qaeda terrorists, it's so over the top. And yet to do it in the context of the United States military. I know what he's talking about. I'm not going to have the spin fly here, I can tell you that. It is so grotesque. And I am demanding that MSNBC say something about this, do something about this because Keith Olbermann is basically Tokyo Rose in a suit.
Bravo, Mark. Bravo.
