In the "Worst Person in the World" segment on Tuesday night's Countdown, Keith Olbermann poked fun at FOX News' spokeswoman Irena Briganti in an altered image that portrayed her as female version of host Bill O'Reilly. (Video link to Expose the Left to follow)
In a NY Times fluff piece on Olbermann, noted earlier on Newsbusters, Briganti called the MSNBC host a "train wreck waiting to happen" and commented on Countdown's declining ratings. It was clear Olbermann was furious at her remarks and decided to respond to her charge of Countdown's ratings by doing what he is best at, distorting the truth.
Johnny Dollar at Olbermann Watch, who painfully watches the show every night, notes Keith's lies and then replaces it with the truth:
In the "worst person" segment, Olby complained about a Fox spokesman quoted in the puff-piece Times article. After all, this spokesman used the same line ("train wreck") she used in May 2004. Then comes the Keith Olbermann Lie of the Night:Since about that time our ratings are up about 26%, and Bill O'Reilly's are down 45%.
It's time for another Olbermann Reality Check. But it won't be easy. For some reason, the TVNewser archive of the May 2004 ratings cannot be found anywhere on his site. Maybe KO thought with that information not at hand he could get away with this latest falsehood. But we poked around and found the numbers Keith Olbermann doesn't want you to see:
May 2004 ratings: The O'Reilly Factor: 1,894,000 viewers Countdown: 319,000 viewers
June 2006 ratings: The O'Reilly Factor: 2,141,000 viewers Countdown: 286,000 viewers
For the OlbyPologists who refuse to admit his many lies, we'll make it perfectly clear:
O'Reilly (May 2004-June 2006): Olbermann claimed: Down 45% The truth: Up 13%
Olbermann (May 2004-June 2006): Olbermann claimed: Up 26% The truth: Down 10%
