Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Keith Olbermann-burnishing the myth.

Keith Olbermann, MSNBC's born-again truth teller, is profiled in the current ROLLING STONE.  Here's the link: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/13559914/the_most_honest_man_in_news

My wife and I watch the show.  But I have a long memory and I can remember two things: 1. Keith stomped away from the NBC cable empire years ago grumbling about being forced to keep covering Monica Lewinsky.  Now, COUNTDOWN routinely includes celeb/tabloid coverage and, on some nights, the Anna Nicole story will make Number One--whether it's relevant or not.  2.  Phil Donahue was 86ed by NBC by the beginning of the Iraq War in 2003 (CNBC was, I believe, the network he was on) for fear that he would say something antiwar and/or have antiwar guests, thereby "undermining" the war effort to topple Saddam and find the WMD we were then led to believe existed in Iraq.

Let's face it: Keith Olbermann is entertaining and sometimes incisive.  But he's not  Phil Donahue or the Smothers Brothers at CBS circa 1968-69 or Bill Maher post 9/11 on POLITICALLY INCORRECT--people who dared to be unpopular and speak truth when it was unfashionable.

Olbermann's a newsertainer who's being allowed by NBCUniversal to criticize the Bush Administration and the war because it's now safe to do so.

Keep that in mind when you read the ROLLING STONE article.

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