Olbermann NAILS IT on ABC w/George Stephanopoulos this morning:

[BrendaBrick]

Here's the video: (about 25 minutes)

http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/video/roundtable-week-politics-16689079

My favorite part: (between 16:30 - 17:30)

Olbermann: "...And it speaks to something fundamental about the nature of any government, we all agree - conservative, liberal, everybody in between that the primary function of any government is to protect its citizens. We usually think about this in terms of the Department of Defense, it now becomes, as the world situation becomes in many respects, more secure., the primary part of that is what happens in hospitals. If you've ever spent time a lot of time in hospitals with people and talked to people in waiting times as I did when my dad was sick for seven months in a surgical ICU, I saw everybody in that hospital. I saw patients, I saw families trying to decide whether or not they could afford the same care that my dad as a vet got for $800.00 and anything that moves the ball towards this primary role of our government: protecting its citizens, will be viewed in a generic sense or general sense as a positive thing and those who stand against it will probably suffer, if not in the short term then in the long term."

Keith absolutely hits this one out of the park!!!!

[HopeHoops]

1. Good call. Good call.

[Logical]

2. Keith needs to do two things......

1. Get his Ego in check, see a counselor or something.
2. Get his ass back on the air! I miss the guy!!!!

[KeepItReal]

3. +1

I miss that dude.

Thank goodness there's alot more voices on the air and on the 'net now telling truth.

[davidwparker]

9. +1

[whathehell]

10. Agreed. I miss him too!...n/t

[nolabear]

11. +1 a whole lot.

I don't know what is keeping Keith from being able to work with people but he's needed and I hope this is a sign he's coming back.

[dionysus]

31. +1 brilliant people often have big flaws...

[BrendaBrick]

32. Comes with the territory,

I suppose. The whole unfiltered, undiluted spectrum. Though flaws are a matter of opinion.

[awoke_in_2003]

33. I love Keith...

and totally agree

[heaven05]

44. back

okay, so he has a large overblown ego. well it should be large because his one ego has to match o'reillys, becks, hannitys, limurgers et al; No one is kicking those male divas off the air. we need a liberal with a large ego. watched him everyday. i hope he finds a niche.

[GoCubsGo]

45. +1/2

I see nothing about his Ego that needs to get "in check". Next to the ever-pretentious George Will, he seems downright humble.

[Logical]

53. He has trouble with all his employers, something is wrong!

[GoCubsGo]

54. No. He did not have trouble with "all" of his employers.

He did not have "trouble" with CNN, for starters. Nor, did he have "trouble" with MSNBC the first time he was employed by them. And, in several cases, the Comcast-owned MSNBC and Current TV being the most recent examples, the "trouble" with his employers was due to his employers, not him.

[marble falls]

59. Why isn't he back on the air? We need him for the fall campaign!

[malaise]

4. Thanks for this

I miss Keith big time

[russspeakeasy]

5. Damn, I miss the guy.

[calimary]

38. Damn, I miss him too. We NEED his voice!

Now in particular, but just any damn time, anyway!

[TeamPooka]

6. If "they" are not going to give KO his own show...

then ABC should have him on every week as a liberal counterbalance to that gasbag G Will.

[BrendaBrick]

8. Excellent Idea!!!! n/t

[tex-wyo-dem]

46. G Will is one of those...

"Conservative intellectuals" who has a very high opinion of himself as an intellectual, but in reality is just a hack.

In any case, good idea! KO would mop him up and expose him for the shallow thinker truly he is.

[pacalo]

7. K&R!

[JI7]

12. i miss him on MSNBC

he might have a huge ego but at least he offers something that people want.

[bbgrunt]

13. great to see him-- a little grayer and sitting like a giant redwood amid ornamental potted plants.

[calimary]

39. Very nice way to describe it, bbgrunt!

Olbermann on the panel on ABC, Sunday morning: "...sitting like a giant redwood amid ornamental potted plants."

[WillyT]

14. HUGE K & R !!!

[demwing]

15. Damn I can't stand to listen to Artur Davis

he has that oily "now, now son, let the adults figure this out" politician's voice

makes me feel punchy

[liberalmike27]

48. Worst Thing

After losing in a run for the democratic candidate for governor, he changes to Republican. I can't really blame him, because here in Alabama you can't get elected. But it was his own fault, as I would have probably voted for him, over whoever was the democrat, that I can't even remember at this point. But the guy comes out against Obama's health care program??? WTF???

After that, he was history to me. Then, duly rejected for his idiot choice to go against Obama, he swaps to republican.

Sorry Artur, you're history in my book.

[ailsagirl]

16. Dammit, I miss him too

I wonder what he's been up to.

[grasswire]

21. baseball n/t

[ailsagirl]

36. Of course!

How dumb of me. I'd forgotten his passion for it.

[PatrynXX]

17. love George Will claiming doesn't matter any of this but who's more likeable.

uh Mitt's negatives are thru the roof. Obama's main approval ratings are thru the roof. who's more likeable? Obama, but a large margin

[LoisB]

18. Too bad we can't have a Keith Olbermann Channel. He may not play well with others but he

sure connects to those of us who think he's the greatest since Edward R. Murrow.

[BrendaBrick]

19. The greatest since Edward R. Murrow...

You got that right!

[12AngryBorneoWildmen]

51. I give that comparison to Rachel as well.

In my book it's RM and KO, #1 & #2 respectively. I would really miss her.

[BrendaBrick]

55. Here's a "Real Time Moment" from Bill Maher with Rachel

from January 21, 2011 that was re-aired at the beginning of one of his shows about a week or so ago:

Goosebumps when she REFUSES to back down after the constant interruptions!!!

[pam4water]

22. Thanks for posting. Had to turn off the sound when others then Keith were talking. n/t

[BrendaBrick]

23. I do believe he was primed to say even more...

but got cut off, as you too probably noticed ~

[pam4water]

60. Yeah the right side of the table seem to get more camera time. :( n/t

[freshwest]

24. Said it perfectly. And why the injustice he cited should continue, is not answered by the GOP.

Thanks for bring this here, BrendaBrick.

[BrendaBrick]

25. Well...

It was just too good of a laser-sharped focus comment that is so rarely heard these days (outside of satire) that I thought it worth the effort to transcribe it. I'm glad I did! And that just goes to show ya that his voice is needed more than ever right now!

I sincerely hope and wish that his voice reaches a far-reaching, wide-range national audience - now and in the near future...through any means necessary.

edited for punctuation.

[freshwest]

27. I'd like to see him again, too. We seem to losing more media, not less.

And I figured you'd transcribed it and thank you very much for doing so.

It's not always possible to get transcripts and what you gave us is the most meaningful part. It combined policy and personal in a way that can move the country forward in healing the rift.

[BrendaBrick]

29. Yes.

He IS a force to be reckoned with. (Probably explains why he doesn't quite subscribe to the norms inherent is this now small, yet powerful conglomerate of the media trance/empire.)

All I can say is that...cream always rises to the top.

[Madmiddle]

26. Obermann is the best.

Three cheers. Now get him back on the air...

[Marie Marie]

28. Who do we want back on the air? Keith.

When do we want him? Now!

[cynatnite]

30. Excellent!

If Keith doesn't get on TV, he should get on the radio. He'd be a hit on either one.

[rks306]

41. Not as a much pay

Maybe he could get a place on free speech TV. Join with Tom Hartman.

[Mopar151]

34. Oprah?

How about a show for Keith? Like a Dr. Phil for government....... Comb through a lot of the right-wing mem'es, show how the e-mail " legends are used to muddy the waters, interview the Mekkelsens (Snopes founders)

[Iwillnevergiveup]

35. The ass-kissing by Georgie toward Will is unbearable to watch

and when Will put his hands on Ms. Brazille, she had a similar reaction to Angela Merkle when Bush came up from behind and grabbed her in a fake bake rub.

Keith was indeed a bright spot, but that panel was too large, so we didn't get enough of him. He did look like a giant sitting next to that little putz. The pontificating that goes on is incredible.

[demwing]

50. Yea, giant Keith Olbermann and his enormous head!

They sat him nest to that little man on purpose

[reigs61]

37. will

George Will is a piece of shit,Olbermann rocks.

[rks306]

40. Great

Healthcare should be a right for every one. Let's begin a push for single-payer. One day we might get there. The rest of the world is waiting.

[Daphne08]

42. I still miss Keith Olbermann

every night!

[Catherine Tarry]

43. Spam deleted by Violet_Crumble (MIR Team)

[90-percent]

47. Whadayah mean "Keith's EGO", Kimosabe?

I think Keith has supreme confidence in his mind. He's got the same gene my hero Frank Zappa had in that respect. Utter and complete faith in what they think, because the clarity of their thinking is so superb.

Very little self doubt and second guessing when you have such a mind. No need for it cuz you generally get things right and with clarity THE FIRST TIME.

Big ego implies a superiority complex, and Keith seems too humble for that. I do think he has strong justification to be very self assured.

HOWEVER, Keith has had an unfortunate knack for inheriting bosses he doesn't see eye to eye with. But, he has the core principals in his life to resign under such circumstances.

BIG EGO connotes he's got a Leona Helmsley thing going on in his life. I don't see much superiority complex going on with Keith. He seems pretty compassionate to "the little people", as did Frank. "I've always had an affinity for creeps" - F. Zappa

I hope he finds his way back to a substantial media outlet of some sort. America needs him now more than ever. Please DU buds give him some recognition for being the only beacon of hope, truth and justice during the GW Bush dark ages. He was the only big media figure out there SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER during those dark times.

The one bright spot in Keith leaving Current TV is that I know longer have to concoct a way to get a Cable Service that offers CHANNEL ONE MILLION!

-90% Jimmy

[liberalmike27]

49. I was with him

Until he burned the bridge at Current. I get it, his video room missed a cue once and a while, it wasn't widescreen, it had problems. But he needed desperately to remember, he'd already left a string of burned bridges behind him.

All he had to do was stick it out there for a year or two, and he'd have made the network, his crew would have slowly improved, and his ratings would have been upped. He was the root of the nighttime shows, and now they've got two sort of uninteresting (to me) shows. I watch Fugelsang when he sits in, but I don't regularly watch the others. Stephanie Miller, and Bill Press (for those up at insane, and stupid O'Clock) are fantastic additions to the morning line up.

I'm a fan of Keiths, I'll watch him again--but Al Gore didn't deserve that. Keith even chose the building they were in, then complained about it later. I don't mind him having an ego, but he needs to understand that not everyone, in fact very few are going to work up to his level. He should have stuck it out. I can't blame Gore, as Keith had gotten to where when he did show up to work, which was rare (I watched every night, was so happy when he rarely showed), he had taken to directly insulting the network on air. When the production room made an error, missed a clip he'd make some snippy retort on air. I used to play in a band, and the first thing you learn is, when you make a mistake, don't announce it, you don't act embarrassed and frustrated, you just keep on singing, talking, or dancing, and smooth it out.

Not many more bridges are going to be behind him--maybe he should occupy a little chunk of the web for a while, until he stabilizes. He could probably do that with a few employees he can hire himself, from anywhere he wants.

[chervilant]

52. Sounds like

you assimilated all the media hype about what "actually" transpired on Current. However, I wonder if we got an accurate assessment, given the tendency of the M$M to distort and misrepresent.

Beyond a shadow of a doubt, I know I miss Olbermann. I fervently hope he gets a venue soon.

[AlbertCat]

56. Aya ya! The round table discussion...

.... I can't stand it! The Repugs are calmly sitting there, calmly talking about how the Supremes upholding something they have been wanting and doing loop-dee-loops to kill since it was 1st mentioned is "a victory for us! A help to Romney!"... over and over. Sandwiched inbetween are the sane people trying to point out how absurd they sound. And no one gets anywhere for 25 minutes.

[indepat]

57. Keith, the sad truth is our government now serves mostly to protect the wealthy and

large corporations as evidenced by its works in aggregate.

[Blanks]

58. I never cared much for Keith.

Regardless of what the main stream media reported; what Keith always represented to me was that he was the liberal blow hard to counteract all of conservative blow hards.

He talked so fast and got winded and I thought: this is not how the liberals should respond to the conservative blow hards.

Don't get me wrong. He made good points, it really was the drama associated with what he was saying that I disapprove of. I'd rather he calmly and concisely made his points. I expect it is this overreacting that has him on the outs right now.

I'd like to see him come back and behave calmly while on air. I think if he did that; he'd gain a large audience of independents. The way he behaved even before he was switching around jobs made him to easy a target for right wing ridicule.

He needs to get his ego in check so he isn't compared to Charlie Sheen.