Keith Olbermann Democrats, check in!

[derby378]

Did you see tonight's "Special Comments" episode of Countdown? Wow.

Howard Dean turned me into a Democrat. Keith Olbermann made sure that I stayed that way.

[Bright Eyes]

1. Here here! NT

[Donnachaidh]

2. yo ho!

:bounce:

[originalpckelly]

3. I'm going to suggest that he's biased like a Fox News nut, only to the left.

It's inappropriate for a journalist to include their own opinions along with the news as if they are fact. I think it's pretty clear that we're being propagandized by MSNBC, and I want to know why that is. With it being owned by a big corporation like GE, I think there's something very sinister going on here.

[johnnydrama]

4. you mean

Keith Olbermann Americans. I see no evidence he's a Democrat.

[originalpckelly]

9. He's said repeatedly that he's not a Democrat, but any honest observer would conclude...

that at the very least he is biased to the left, and he is in particular friendly to the Democratic party.

Just like few liberals watch Fox News, I bet few conservatives watch MSNBC. Why is it then that they are propagandizing the people on their own side?

If it is simply catering to what we want to hear, then it is not news. News has to be fact, and the facts of this world are often terrible and sometimes they aren't facts we want to hear.

I, however, suspect this propagandizing of our side doesn't merely stop with a business decision to cater to the left, I feel it is probably oriented at moving GE products. GE has re-branded itself a green company in the last few years. Unfortunately, while many of its products are indeed green, some are very dangerous to the environment. Nuclear reactors are the best example, and there is evidence to show that MSNBC has pushed these:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16457080/

Nuclear reactors produce nuclear waste, most of which is not recyclable. I remember there being commercials for this on MSNBC earlier this year.

[Doctor_J]

18. Yes, MSRNC is stacked with left wingers like Fucker Carlson, Joe Scarborough,

Tweety Matthews, Tim Russert. In airing Keith's 5 minutes per day of left-of-center/populist OPINION, they do position themselves to the left of ConNN and Faux "News" though.

:eyes:

[originalpckelly]

21. Two of the people you named actually have worked for lots of Democrats:

Chris Mathews:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Mathews#Political_career

Tim Russert:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Russert#Career

Since joining MSNBC Fucker has basically been deballed, he used to be a fairly nasty MoFo on Crossfire and Scarborough was once a total freaking nut, but now he's moved way to the center, though of course, he's still a Republican.

You forgot Pat Buchanan, Cliff May, Tony Blankley and a few other conutters they throw in, but they are few and far between. Many programs feature the 2 to 1 liberal to conservative ratio, mimicking Fox News only in reverse. Others are 2 to 1 conservatives to liberals, as Tucker's program usually is. But that's not very long. And really, bias is bias. Even if they had equal time for both sides, it would still be wrong for a news network to feature commentary.

[Doctor_J]

33. Russert wears Bush campaign buttons during election season

Tweety openly lusts for Bush, Rudy, and most recently Fred.

Pray do list the "many" shows which have 2 liberals to every con. I can't wait for this. How did you make it to 1000 posts???

[Toots]

45. He states very plainly that what he says is opinion and I have NEVER witnessed

actual News blended with opinion. Maybe you could state a time he did that.

[Postman]

5. Are you for real?

It's a "Special Comment". Clearly stated, out in the open, separated from "news". As opposed to Fox News where the lines are deliberately blurred for the goal of propagandizing.

It's amazing. The country has been moved soo far to the right that anything resembling the truth is viewed as being "left"...

It's not "the left", its actually "the middle".

The "left" is the American Communist Party.

[originalpckelly]

10. It's not just the Special Comments, which by themselves are inappropriate...

it's the list of guests, the consistent blurring of the line between fact and opinion. He's really no more than a left-wing O'Reilly, ironically he has become his nemesis.

[Postman]

14. Left-wing my ass.

it's the MIDDLE.

He's giving you facts and you think it's opinion.

[originalpckelly]

16. You don't think it's a little odd that the commentators he features in the first 30 minutes...

are all of one particular side of the political spectrum? Air America is by no means a middle of the road station, they're liberal and that's cool, but they're not unbiased. Hosts from that network are routinely featured as the only commentators on the news. Even though Fox is biased to the right and usually have two conservatives, at least they usually feature one liberal.

Of course, most major networks, including CNN, which feature any pundits or commentators are really not broadcasting news, but opinion. News is not the opinions of major personalities, news is what happened today in the world.

[Postman]

19. The truth is biased. The facts are biased.

The difference between commentators on the "right" vs. the "left" (which really is the the "Middle") is that you get the truth from those on the left versus BS and corporate propaganda from the "right"

Case in point. The latest NIE on Iran.

[originalpckelly]

23. You may need to review the definitions of truth and bias to understand...

how little sense your statement makes.
Truth:
http://www.google.com/search?q=define%3A%20truth
Bias:
http://www.google.com/search?q=define%3A%20bias

[Postman]

26. Yeah. I'm the one that's fucked up. Okay.

Have you been breathing the last 8 years?

[originalpckelly]

28. I didn't suggest you're "the one that's fucked up."

I said your statement did not make sense. I'm sorry that you cannot express yourself in a more understandable manner. I'm quite certain that I'm breathing right now, as I believe it's biologically impossible to hold one's breath for 8 years and remain alive.

[Middle finga]

13. Good point.

[derby378]

6. May I ask what your take is on Edward R. Murrow?

If Olbermann was the anchor on the evening news program for CBS, NBC, or ABC, I'd say you had a point. But Olbermann's show is a bit different.

[originalpckelly]

11. Mr. Olbermann is no Ed Murrow.

There is a difference between a real journalist spending years covering serious issues, and a man who was up until the late 90s a sportscaster. Edward R. Murrow was on the rooftops of London buildings listening to German planes fly overhead, watching spotlights shoot up to find them in WWII. He covered the first revelations of the Holocaust.

Show me one story that Mr. Olbermann has ever covered that comes even close to that.

Mr. Olbermann has fashioned himself a neo-Murrow, and we're only too happy to go along with it because he's saying what we want to hear.

[immoderate]

38. OTH, what did Keith say that wasn't true?

I believe he is talking about reality.

--IMM

[Berry Cool]

44. "Mr. Olbermann," as you insist on calling him,

reported from Ground Zero for forty days.

I don't suppose that counts at all.

You're obviously not a fan, but why do you feel the need to piss on people who are?

I didn't start watching him because he was saying what I wanted to hear, I started watching him because he had something to say besides White House propaganda and talking points.

And you have a very, very confused idea of what news is. I'm not gong to argue with you about it, because it would be a waste of time. But anyone who thinks that just "saying what happened" without any attempt to interpret its meaning for the public (which will inevitably make one look biased to some) is news must also be a person who thinks that sports journalism consists of nothing but reporting a list of game scores.

[mzmolly]

7. Keith Olbermann is pulling ratings, that's why he can say what he does.

Though, I missed the special comment, I'm going to look for it tonight or on youtube.

[Middle finga]

15. He didn't make any new special comments, it consisted of some of

his 2007 Special comments with narratives in between. It was good though.

[Sperk]

12. I'm gonna suggest that there is a difference between making sh*t up (fox pundits) and

stating facts (olbermann).
:-)

[HughMoran]

17. KO is a sinister propagandist?

...and I thought he was simply stating facts that the other right-tilted corporate networks don't want to hear. One of his special comments of the 4 suggested that Reid and Pelosi should be replaced if they could not (or would not) do what they were sent there to do (stop the war).

[originalpckelly]

24. Have you felt that way, do you consider yourself a Democrat?

:shrug:

Sometimes you can oppose people in your own party without being a traitor to the party, especially if the people being opposed have done something wrong.

[HughMoran]

29. So that "Special Comment" was fair criticism then?

I used that as an example to demonstrate that his does criticize the left when it is warranted. Whether I agree with his opinion or not is irrelevant.

[originalpckelly]

32. I was merely suggesting that people on our own side have criticized them too...

and have suggested the same exact things. You seem to suggest that that criticism makes it impossible for Mr. Olbermann to be a Democrat. I'm trying to prove that it is possible to criticize one's party and still be a member of one's party.

I would, however, like to point out that a journalist is not charged with analyzing news, but reporting the facts of what happened on a given day.

[HughMoran]

37. Gotcha

Your post was not clear to me - I tried my best to interpret your meaning. Of course Dems should criticize Dems, I was just pointing out that he was not pro "our party" only like Faux News.

BTW, KO has always been a show about "countdown" of a few of the top stories of the day with abundant amounts of "jocular commentary". He has always had an "Entertainment Tonight" like segment so it was never intended to be an all "serious news" hour. He has enhanced it with some of the same elements that make "The Daily Show" so successful - it's my favorite source for political news - I never, ever miss his show.

[DearAbby]

40. Well I guess I have seen it all

Now truth has a natural liberal bias...have to balance this shit out, with lies and halftruths. Truthiness

[BootinUp]

22. Good grief. nt

[VenusRising]

31. Did you watch Olbermann's interview on Journal w/ Bill Moyers?

I would highly recommend it.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/12142007/watch.html

[EFerrari]

35. Olbermann is not a journalist. He's a commentator.

Jeezus. You're tarring him for doing his job.

[AlCzervik]

41. his show is an "opinion" one so he's allowed, it's not a newscast.

[mzmolly]

8. Both Howard and Keith have inspired me, and yep I'm a Democrat.

:hi:

[gaiilonfong]

20. Keith O. is a voice for progressives

Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez y'all!
He is the ONLY one who will take the THUGS to the shed, and there are people dissing him.

[johnnydrama]

25. huh?

Richard Wolfe, Dana Milbank, Howard Fineman & Craig Crawford are of one political spectrum? Which one?

[originalpckelly]

27. Craig Crawford:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Crawford#Early_life

The other three people do not have any easy signs that they'd be biased to the left, but those signs may exist in less readily available resources.

[Doctor_J]

36. Your time here is running out, pc

Fineman, Milbank have been two of the biggest cheerleaders for the trillion-dollar debacle in Iraq and every other crime committed by the White House over the last 7 years.

[originalpckelly]

39. Are we going to have a post count measuring contest?

:P

[proud patriot]

30. My son was being quite distracting at the time

I'm going to catch the repeat

[AnnieBW]

34. Present and accounted for!

KO makes me hot!

[B Calm]

42. Even though I had seen all the Special Comments, airing them

as they did tonight was extremely powerful. I hope a lot of people across the country was able to see it!

[GreenTea]

43. Cheers to both Howard Dean & Keith Olbermann!

[Clinton Crusader]

46. Addicted to KO, this week has been like weening off heroin, can't WAIT for him to come back. n/t

[frogmarch]

47. Keith speaks the truth

and lets the chips fall where they may. Anyone who watched his Special Comments roundup last evening would know that.

I suspect there's a fungus among us.

[UTUSN]

48. Has Keith actually accepted the Dem label? I think he will be just as hard on a Dem prez n/t