Keith Olbermann: GREAT commentator, or the GREATEST commentator?

[Sparkly]

[orpupilofnature57]

1. After that retrospect show tonight ,I had to vote greatest.

[cspanlovr]

2. Hearing all his Special Commentaries in a row made me see, even more,

that he is the ONE AND ONLY person on television that says anything like this. How can that be?

[babylonsister]

3. Just 'wow'. Four of them together; I want a DVD of that! nt

[jgraz]

4. Love K.O., but he wouldn't be doing this if it weren't for Murrow

Now if you said "greatest LIVING commentator", you'd have a strong case.

[Berry Cool]

5. But he's already done more comments like this than Murrow ever did

at least when he was on TV.

I say, you don't have to be first to be greatest. All you have to do is build on and improve what went before you.

[jgraz]

6. Good points, but I'm sticking with Murrow (for now)

I hardly think Keith will mind being rated a close second...

[AtomicKitten]

12. I believe he would consider it an honor.

[NovaNardis]

7. I like him a lot

But to an extent he comes off as being too superficially Murrow. Like being intentionally hip sometimes still is but it just feels... off. Ya know?

I still this he's the best on right now. I think Colbert might be the greatest commentator ever, though.

[Berry Cool]

8. Well, I differ. I give Colbert all due credit for couching seriousness in a comic vein

but my preference is for Keith.

[Sparkly]

10. Colbert

You can tell from the poll that I LOVE Colbert!!!! :loveya:

[stillcool]

9. not just a pretty face...

that is one smart dude.

[jwirr]

11. I voted Greatest because while there have been other great

commentators, this one is speaking truth to power in an era when it is dangerous to speak out - Gitmo.

[fujiyama]

13. Most impressive news personality on TV

He really is direct in a way no one else is. Colbert and Stewart are satirists and do a great job with humor but don't confront things quite in the direct manner Olberman does.

[barb162]

14. he's darned good, that's for sure

[Azathoth]

15. Olbermann is starting to become a liberal version of the Faux "news analysts"

Edward R. Murrow was a straight-up reporter who altered the course of American history when he veered briefly into biting editorial commentary and called out one of the most dangerous demagogues America had ever seen. The impact of what Murrow did was immediate and far-reaching; he didn't need to go on air week after week after week to rant against McCarthy. Olbermann's Special Comments, while commendable, haven't had had anywhere near the same impact on the American public. I know that MSNBC is encouraging him to do more commentary segments because they boost his ratings, but making such segments commonplace in his broadcasts risks turning them into little more than liberal, eloquently-worded versions of O'Reilly's talking points memo.

Bottom line: Olbermann is an admirable commentator who speaks the truth as best he sees it, but he ain't no Edward R. Murrow.

[Berry Cool]

18. First of all, I don't suppose KO had any effect on where Rumsfeld is now?

Second, I don't suppose he could have had any effect on the outcome of the election?

Just a couple of thoughts. I mean, I can't prove he had an effect, but can you prove he didn't?

Third, Olbermann has been a straight-up reporter, first of sports and then of news, for years.

Fourth, there are those who say McCarthy was already on the ropes when Murrow went on the air against him and that all Murrow did was help deliver the coup de grace. I don't know whether or not that's so, but it does imply that some people minimize his role in changing history as much as you are Olbermann's.

Fifth, Olbermann is well aware, perhaps more than anyone else, of the potential for diluting the power of his Special Comments by doing too many. That's why his response to MSNBC's encouragement to "do more of them for ratings" has been to resist, and to save them only for when he truly feels he must make one. They have not yet become "commonplace" in his broadcasts precisely because he does not want them to be.

I suspect you may be seeing Murrow through the rosy haze of the past, much like some people who imply he never would have stooped so low as to have segments on his show discussing celebrity gossip like Olbermann does, when he actually hosted an entire show devoted to visiting celebrities in their homes. I'm not saying Murrow wasn't great; I'm just saying, let's not put him up so high on a pedestal that we don't see his role in history for what it really was and make it impossible to compare anyone else to him. He had his role; Olbermann has his. Right now, they're looking much the same to me.

[talk hard]

16. KO definitely rocks

[Disturbed]

17. Greatest on TV now.

:thumbsup: