Some of you reading this entry probably watched or read tonight's Keith Olbermann COUNTDOWN opinion piece where he opined mightily on a recent George Butch Jr. interview where Butch Jr. defended his record in the Oval Office. Olbermann built his rebuttal to a have-you-no-shame-sir crescendo where he lambasted Butch Jr. for giving up golf as a way to display empathy with the families of the troops being sent to war (and apparently fabricating a Karen Hughes-esque "better than truth" story that claimed that Butch Jr. gave up golf at a certain point in 2003--unfortunately there exists a Getty Images photo of the Commander In Chief on the links later that year).
If you haven't seen or heard it, here's the link to the text:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24632990/
Not that I completely disagree with Olbermann's opinions, but here's a link below to a wet kiss that SLATE columnist Jack Shafer gave Keith in 2003 that proves an old thesis of mine: Olbermann is basically following the herd at MSNBC in that it's safe safe safe to go after an unpopular President. But during Gulf War II, KO apparently went along with the pro-war herd at a time when that was safe safe safe at the network (keep in mind NBC dropkicked Phil Donahue earlier that year for not being sufficiently prowar). And this punches a hole in KO's self-mythologizing about being a fearless truth-teller.
http://www.slate.com/id/2082193/
And here are passages of Shafer's article that made me shake my head in dismay:
As coalition troops began their rout of Baghdad in early April, Olbermann returned to form, blending his shtick into the mix as he's always done.
On April 7, as he rolled tape of an Army Humvee battering down a mahogany door at a Saddam palace, Olbermann gave Countdown his SportsCenter best: "And, ding-dong! Avon calling!" Following Iraqi Minister of Information Mohammed Saeed Al-Sahhaf's denials that U.S. troops were in Baghdad, Olbermann deadpanned a shot at his former employers at Fox: "Mr. al-Sahhaf added that he thought his assessment of the military situation was 'fair and balanced.' "
Other great bits of collected Olbermann Countdown shtick:
Good evening. Well, they wanted Saddam Hussein dead or alive, and now they have gotten him exactly that way—dead or alive. …
When they won't fight, the war tends to be over. …
Tough time … to be French and German—as I am.
We are sorry Saddam Hussein can't come to the war right now; please leave a message after the beep. …
The old Europe meets the "axis of evil"; making matters more intriguing, they're talking Shiite.
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