Keith Calls for Mass Protests

Last night's special comment:

Never Change, Keith

Somebody teach Current how to embed videos longer than five minutes. Otherwise, it's just like we remember: Keith raking a president over the coals for betraying the American people.

Part One



Part Two

Keith!

Yes, I will be watching Keith - NOT Lawrence - at 8 p.m on Current, and switching back to MSNBC to watch Rachel at 9 p.m.

The NYT:

Keith Olbermann formally announced the start date and the name for his new program on Current TV Tuesday – and it sounds a lot like the old program on MSNBC.

At least the title and the location on the prime-time schedule do. In a presentation on his Web site, FOK News Channel, Mr. Olbermann declared, with some fanfare, that the new show will be called “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” just as his previous show on MSNBC was, and it will begin on June 20 at his old time of 8 p.m. eastern.
If expropriating the title was not enough of a tweak to his former employers at MSNBC, in the video of his announcement on the Web site (FOK stands for “Friends of Keith” but is also an obvious play on his old rivalry with the Fox News Channel,) Mr. Olbermann also declared that this show, which he several times labeled a “newscast,” will be a place where “journalistic integrity and analytical honesty would never be compromised by corporate synergy.”

An MSNBC spokesman said the network would not comment on Mr. Olbermann’s decision to import the “Countdown” title.

Mr. Olbermann was once suspended by MSNBC for making contributions to Democratic candidates, and found himself embroiled in a corporate stand-off between the then-owners of MSNBC, the General Electric Company, and the owner of the Fox News Channel, News Corporation. Executives on both sides sought to tamp down the often vitriolic commentary back and forth between Mr. Olbermann and the Fox News host, Bill O’Reilly.

In his announcement, Mr. Olbermann also all but disdained the notion of journalistic balance, saying that on his new show “no one would proclaim the ultimate dishonesty that balancing a lie for every truth was somehow fair.”
Current TV has a much lower audience base that MSNBC. The channel averages fewer than 25,000 viewers in prime time; at MSNBC Mr. Olbermann often commanded audiences exceeding 1 million.

The channel’s executives have called Mr. Olbermann the best investment they have ever made. (His salary has not been disclosed, but he was granted an equity stake in Current, along with a management role.)

Mr. Olbermann emphasized how central he will be to the future of the channel, noting that the new “Countdown” will be shown three times a night, at 8, 11 and 2 a.m. Eastern Time.

Keith's First Post-Comcast Special Comment

And it's a good one. h/t heather at crooks and liars.

Stop Making Things Worse, Lawrence

I've never cared for Lawrence O'Donnell. His despicable sabotaging of Hillarycare while he was a Senate staffer was enough to sour me on him forever, but his condescending, Villager insistence that radical conservatism is "centrist" is unforgivable. I couldn't stomach his performance when he substituted for Keith; now that he has Keith's timeslot I can't bear to watch.

Nicole Belle of Crooks and Liars takes O'Donnell to task.

Dear Lawrence O'Donnell,

The cable news industry has fundamentally changed the way Americans get their news, and not necessarily for the better. News has now morphed into an uncomfortable amalgam of entertainment, opinion and information. It has created media stars out of pundits unafraid to say the shocking thing, which makes "good" television, though not necessarily informational television. And all the while, you're competing for as much market share as possible against your rivals.

I relate this to you only to show you that I am aware of the situation you find yourself. Given the time slot formerly held by Keith Olbermann, a polarizing figure to be sure, but also one whose understanding of the above enabled him to build a considerable audience and following for MSNBC, you've got big shoes to fill. You've admitted as such yourself.

So I have to ask the question: what the hell was Ann Coulter doing on my television screen last night? She adds nothing to the conversation. Seriously, who gives a flying fig about who she "loves" and who she thinks should have the Republican nomination in 2012? It would be one thing if you had used the opportunity to show how consistently and constantly she is wrong--maybe show video of her praising McCain who she so disdains now. But the "Aryan from Darien" has an open invitation to Hannity's show to spout her fact-free opinions unchallenged. She does not need one from you too.

And here's the thing, Lawrence (Can I call you Lawrence? After all, you follow me and C&L on Twitter, so you obviously want to know what we're talking about): there is absolutely no dearth of platforms for conservatives to add to the national dialog. They have a fairly well-trafficked (and corporately funded) choice of blogs, publications, radio, television and cable. Take a look at the Sunday shows. How many Democrats do you see on them? Now, quick, how many liberals or progressives do you see on them? It's the same with talk radio and other television outlets.

That's the real tragedy of booking Coulter, Lawrence. I really think most Americans see the world as I --and you-- do. We believe in equal rights, in the freedom to love, worship, live, and learn as we want, as long as it doesn't hurt others. We believe that government serves a purpose by providing safety nets to ensure that we don't fall through the cracks. We believe that justice should be equally and fairly applied. We believe that people should not be less important than corporations. The percentage of people who don't believe in those truisms is small, but yet they get an overwhelming percentage of airtime to push the dialog far to the right, edging us out of a seat at the table. And that's what you did by booking Coulter. Once again, her narrow-minded, hate-filled (did you catch her insulting you, saying that obviously Hannity is smarter than you, since you're a registered Democrat? Classy.) and marginal intelligence is given legitimacy and liberals are not. That's why people don't realize how truly liberal their beliefs are. It's never represented to them.

I suspect that you and your producers justified bringing Coulter on by thinking it proved you're not afraid to have on opposing viewpoints. Honestly, I'm not all that impressed, as that seems to be the same simplistic binary thinking that "balance" means bringing on a Democrat and a Republican. There are not always two equally valid viewpoints. In Coulter's case, there's a history of viewpoints that I'd say should invalidate any further platforms.

Please, Lawrence, leave Coulter to Fox News. Won't you please be a platform to bring liberal voices and viewpoints to cable news? Won't you consider being the vehicle by which we can shift the dialog back from the right?

Nicole Belle

Rachel Maddow is too nice to the freaks, and Ed Shultz yells too much. Keith's shoes remains unfilled.

Where is the next unapologetic, brilliant, passionate voice for liberalism, and is MSNBC even interested in finding one?

The Goodness of Their Black Coal Hearts

Arnold - godDAMN! He is talking about the oil companies trying to destroy California, but it works just as well if you subsitute "coal" for "oil" and name Massey Energy, Peabody and the rest. It's the same game, the same con, the same crime.



Full transcript here. (Scroll half-way down.)

"Not Health, Not Care, Not Reform"

I still say Don't Ever Do What the Repugs Want, but if you didn't see it last night, watch Keith Olbermann's Special Comment:

Part One:



Part Two:

"Declare Victory and Get Out"

Keith Olbermann's Special Comment last night:

So, much of the change for which you were elected, Sir, has thus far been understandably, if begrudgingly, tabled, delayed, made more open-ended. But patience ebbs, Mr. President. And while the first one thousand key decisions of your presidency were already made about the economy, the first public, easy-to-discern, mouse-or-elephant kind of decision comes tomorrow night at West Point at eight o'clock.

Full transcript here.

"Cross us all at your peril"

It's been everywhere last night and today, but in case you haven't seen Keith Olbermann's Special Comment on health care reform, it is not to be missed.

Here's his conclusion, and it's not even the best part - that's how good the whole thing is.

You were elected to serve the people. And if you fail to pass or support this legislation, the full wrath of the progressive and the moderate movements in this country will come down on your heads. Explain yourselves not to me, but to them. They elected you, and in the blink of an eye, they will replace you.

If you will behave as if you are Republicans — as if you are the prostitutes of our system —you will be judged as such. And you will lose not merely our respect. You will lose your jobs!

Every poll, every analysis, every vote, every region of this country supports health care reform, and the essential great leveling agent of a government-funded alternative to the unchecked duopoly of profiteering private insurance corporations. Cross us all at your peril.

Because, Rep. Ross, you are not the Representative from Blue Cross.

And Mr. Baucus, you are not the Senator from Schering-Plough Global Health Care even if they have already given you $76,000 towards your re-election. And Ms. Lincoln, you are not the Senator from DaVita Dialysis.

Because, ladies and gentlemen, President Lincoln did not promise that this nation shall have a new death of freedom, and that government of the corporation, by the corporation, for the corporation, shall not perish from this earth.

Good night and good luck.

Click here for the full transcript.

Countdown Alert: Guest Host Howard Dean

Rejoice, Deaniacs! Our very own Howard is going to guest-host Countdown on MSNBC this Tuesday and Wednesday at 8 p.m.

Granted, Howard Dean does not have the world's most melifluous voice, but he doesn't have to do much to improve on Richard "I don't speak American" Wolffe, who guest-hosted Countdown on Friday and if there's any justice buried his TV career for good.

Keith Olbermann kept me going through the Smirky/Darth Interregnum, and I will always worship him for that. If it were up to me, he'd never be allowed to take a vacation or a sick day, especially now that Rachel has her own show and can't guest-host for him.

But if I can't have Keith, I'll take Howard.

Cancel your dinner plans, turn off the phone, shut the kids in the basement with the dog, and for good measure set the DVR. It's a whole, entire hour of Howard - two nights in a row.

Cross-posted at They Gave Us A Republic ....

Bush Legacy: Eight Years in Eight Minutes

Friday night, Keith Olbermann covered the Bush Legacy as only Keith can.

Keith Gets McCain Wrong

I worship Keith Olbermann. For the last two years of the Smirky-Darth maladministration, Countdown is the only thing that's kept me marginally sane.

But in his Special Comment Monday night, Keith got one thing wrong. Dead wrong.

Senator, of all the things I don't like about you or your campaign I have never thought you a racist. As imperfect as was your moment with the Minnesota woman, mumbling about Arabs, I thought it was the finest moment of your campaign.

I believe that you feel as I do – that racial hatred and prejudice have no place in this campaign, or in this country.

I hope that Olbermann said that just as a complimentary introduction to his plea to McCain to condemn the Ashley Todd racist hoax. I hope Keith, of all people, knows how cruelly false is the persistent myth in the media that McShame is this sweet old man whose loving heart is just broken by the hateful, vicious racism of his campaign.

No. Nameless nasty "others" have not hijacked McCain's planned campaign of respect and issues; the filth and obscenities are of McShame's making and McShame's approval.

McShame is not saying those vicious, hateful, racist things just because he's stressed out. He's saying those vicious, hateful, racist things because he can't believe he's getting beat and beat bad by that uppity ni**er.

Stress doesn't cause people to do or say things out of character; stress causes people to reveal their true personality.

When I'm stressed, I freak out and scream obscenities. That's because my basic personality is obscenity-screaming freak.

When John McCain is stressed, he spews vicious, racist attacks. That's because John McCain's basic personality is vicious, racist thug.

John McCain is a vicious, racist thug. His campaign proves it.

Cross-posted at BlueGrassRoots.