I Think I Know How to Bring Countdown With Keith Olbermann Back Through the Looking Glass

[McCamy Taylor]

I. Richard Wolffe in Sheep’s Clothing

Richard Wolffe is one of the sharper pundits at MSNBC. Richard Wolffe has also been spending a lot of time with the Obama campaign, as Keith Olbermann inadvertently revealed in a recent show. I realized this myself, when I went back to read some of the Countdown transcripts starting in January this year. Unfortunately, in the last couple of days, MSNBC cleaned out a lot of the old transcripts, but I have some cut and paste I did a while back.

I was trying to find out when KO caught Hillary Hatred, the disease that makes men’s eyes bug out of their heads and gives their faces that purplish flush that clashes with their ties. He did not have it yet around the first of the year, but Richard Wolffe was already spreading the anti-Hillary rhetoric way back then.

Wolffe is a smooth operator. With his gentle smile, his nerdy glasses and his international voice, nothing that he says gives offense---until you read it on the page. Then, the words of reasons become the words of political propaganda.

Richard Wolffe wears sheep’s clothing.

Today, when the good old boys of MSNBC were up to their usual tricks—pretending to help out the Democrats, not by praising Obama but by tearing down Hillary (what a fun and easy way to help John McCain while pretending not to be as biased as Fox News. Divide and Conquer is the RNC’s number one weapon against Democrats. I wonder if anyone every told Keith this while he was memorizing baseball stats?)---KO was on his best behavior. No more snark aimed at the possible Democratic VP nominee and definite general election campaigner. His guests were all on their best behavior, too. All except Richard Wolffe. He has it bad. That is what happens when you get embedded. Spend a lot of time with people who talk anti-Hillary the way that you and I breathe air, and you start thinking anti-Hillary. In the few minutes he was on the show, he said:

“I think there is going to be some blood”

“attacking”

That Hillary is thinking “’We want to be there when the guy flames out as he will.’”

“Obama company has trodden into this minefield before”

Hillary " played the victim card before”

Was Wolffe listening when his candidate gave his unity talk last night?


II. Tales from the Crypt

Jan4. Immediately after Iowa win, heading to New Hampshire at a time when Hillary had a tremendous double digit lead in the national polls.

OLBERMANN: And to that point, I saw an Obama staffer quoted on “Politico” today saying they‘re bracing for some kind of attack ad from Clinton in the next couple of days, before the vote in New Hampshire on Tuesday. Is that likely? Is it smart?

WOLFFE: You know, there is no pretty way to really come back for the Clinton campaign now. You know, the smart question is about where do they make their stand and what the tone is of this attack. You know, it‘s very difficult balance.

Since he all know from the “John Edwards is a loser” episode that KO does not keep up with the political news, I am going to make a wild guess and suggest that Wolffe made sure that KO read that issue of “Politico” in addition to his usual fare of the sports pages.

Jan 15 Remember the “Race Memo” Jan 12? The news media storm it precipitated lasted for several days. KO got caught up in that tsunami, too, thanks to you know who.

OLBERMANN: Congressman Rangel, was this all just an unfortunate timing issue? He was going on New York on about the same time that Senator Clinton had released her statement agreeing to the truce. Or might the Clinton campaign have a problem on its hands here if supporters and surrogates continue not to comply?
WOLFFE: Well, certainly unfortunate. I mean, at best, this is a huge blunder than treads all over the campaign‘s written message. But you know, you have to start wondering, if there is if not something concerted about this line of attack on Obama. At least something in the air, something in the conversations going around the Clinton campaign because you just have to look at the tone, the difference in tone between the statements coming out of the Clinton campaign and what we just heard from Senator Obama who went out of his way as you pointed out to praise the Clintons for their record on civil rights. Congressman Rangel talked about Obama behaving in a stupid and dumb fashion. And then Senator Clinton herself talk about her personal emotion. Well, I never heard Barack Obama say, I am personally hurt by this. So, you know, you have to kind of look at the differences here and I think it does say something about the way the campaigns are conducting themselves.

Very disingenuous of Wolffe who knew all about “The Race Memo” and about how Rep. Clyburn, Donna Brazile and media sources including CBS, Bob Herbert and MSNBC had been printing and airing things straight out of it for days, despite the Obama camp’s very quiet disavowal of its contents. He says, in effect, But Obama has always said only good things about the Clintons on race. Why are they saying such mean things about him? and now, at the tail end of the crisis, Wolffe gets KO caught up in the middle of it.

For anyone who missed the two seconds of MSM coverage of the “Race Memo” here it is. It was a misstep by someone in the Obama camp (which is allowed to have missteps like any other political campaign). However, if we are going to have unity, we need to come together and admit that the Clintons are not racists and the MSM is a liar, so that the GOP can not exploit this as a wedge issue in the GE.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/McCamy%20Taylor/203

Could the feud with the Clintons have started here? Did Keith get blamed for taking a “position” that he did not know that he was taking? Did he get an angry response from Clinton supporters and decide that they are all crazy?

III. “Battle Not With Monsters Lest You Become One”

Since all the January and February shows are gone from the website, I will fast forward to...

March 5

KO:Senator Clinton is showing signs of staying in the race until Denver is the new Miami Beach, Circa 1972

OMG! KO actually knows about the 1972 election and CREEP and Pat Buchanan’s dirty tricks in which they divided and conquered the Democratic Party by playing tricks against one Democrat which were attributed to another in order to make Democrats hate each other. And he still thinks he is doing the Democrats a favor trying to make Democrats hate on another Democrat who has a very devoted following within the Democratic Party? He knows that Clinton is the designated Humphrey and that he is the designated Hunter S. Thompson whose job is to make her look like “a shallow, contemptible and hopelessly dishonest old hack”? And since he is always quoting history, he knows what happened to Humphrey’s alliance of working class and African-American supporters in 1972? They stayed home in the fall or voted for Nixon, because they were so fed up with the way that McGovern and his surrogates (and CREEP) slimed their man.

No way! The transcriptionist at MSNBC must have made a mistake. I’ll bet in 1972, KO was following sports. And later, somebody told him a little bit about 1972 and left out all the best parts.

WOLFFE: “attacks”, “tactical” not “strategic”, “sabotage” (note that the Obama camp’s “communications operation really dropped the ball” on NAFTA by way of comparison of his word choices. It is war for Hillary but just fun and games for Obama.)

March 7 Someone said “Monster” and the press acted like it was a big fucking deal. You know what is a big fucking deal? When your president lies about the reasons for invading a country and then tortures its citizens. And your Congress ignores it so thirty years later it happens again. Give Ms. Powers her job back please.

Oh man, I have to relive this in a transcript. I think I need a drink.

KO: “Battle not with monsters,” warned the dark philosopher Nietzsche, “lest you become one.”

Does Keith know what this means? Someone who knows him want to tell him? I write these things about him and not about the O’Reillys of the world because KO is a good guy and he does good work, and I hope that someone will persuade him to take a few deep breaths and relax. Maybe investigate the Church of the Subgenius. I know he isn’t ever in a million years going to read something like this. The stuff I do is intended to help media consumers develop an ear and an eye for the tricks the MSM uses to suck us into their narrative—the fiction they call reality. When he quotes a line like that and yet acts the way he does, I have to assume there is a big disconnect that someone who is on his wavelength could fix.

Wolffe:” here you have a situation where is really looking like “Alice in Wonderland” politics.” “no pretense to running a positive effort”, “I lost count of the number of times she‘s done this and her allies and surrogates have done this” “this is an attempt to undercut him, to undercut Obama” “I think my head is about to explode on this story” “Here they are, actually, laying out the groundwork for the Republican attack machines.”

I think I’m going to cry over the death of American journalism.

IV. Things I Believe

Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

You can go to the prisons of Georgia, and I don't know, it may be that poor people are the only ones who commit crimes, but I do know that they are the only ones who serve prison sentences. When Ellis MacDougall first went to Reidsville, he found people that had been in solitary confinement for 10 years. We now have 500 misdemeanants in the Georgia prison system.
Well, I don't know the theory of law, but there is one other point I want to make, just for your own consideration. I think we've made great progress in the Pardons and Paroles Board since I've been in office and since we've reorganized the government. We have five very enlightened people there now. And on occasion they go out to the prison system to interview the inmates,to decide whether or not they are worthy to be released after they serve one third of their sentence. I think most jurors and most judges feel that, when they give the sentence, they know that after a third of the sentence has gone by, they will be eligible for careful consideration. Just think for a moment about your own son or your own father or your own daughter being in prison, having served 7 years of a lifetime term and being considered for a release. Don't you think that they ought to be examined and that the Pardons and Paroles Board ought to look them in the eye and ask them a question and, if they are turned down, ought to give them some substantive reason why they are not released and what they can do to correct their defect?
I do.
Jimmy Carter Law Day Address

John Kerry believes in America. And he knows that it’s not enough for just some of us to prosper -- for alongside our famous individualism, there’s another ingredient in the American saga, a belief that we’re all connected as one people. If there is a child on the south side of Chicago who can’t read, that matters to me, even if it’s not my child. If there is a senior citizen somewhere who can’t pay for their prescription drugs, and having to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it’s not my grandparent. If there’s an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties.
It is that fundamental belief -- It is that fundamental belief: I am my brother’s keeper. I am my sister’s keeper that makes this country work. It’s what allows us to pursue our individual dreams and yet still come together as one American family.
Barack Obama 2004 Democratic National Convention

I know that Hillary Clinton is the keeper of her brother Keith Olbermann. Is Keith Olbermann the keeper of his sister Hillary Clinton? If he is not, what forces conspired to drive him, a decent man, into a position that is so opposed to his basic nature?

There is a companion phrase to the one from which this thread draws its title.

And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.

If Keith Olbermann took a little holiday from both Richard Wolffe and Pat Buchanan, he would be a much happier person. And the Democratic Party would be more united.

Namaste

[Lucinda]

1. Good point. But KO has a case of the Dennis Miller's.

He's on the record now, and wouldn't be able to backtrack easily, even if he wanted to. So he's stuck with what he's wrought.

Plus he plays to the KOS crowd.

[NewHampshireDem]

3. "Plus he plays to the KOS crowd"

You mean Democrats?

[Lucinda]

5. The mindset at KOS doesn't represent the entire party.

I'll assume you already knew that.

[NewHampshireDem]

11. No, I didn't, so please explain

Which parts of the Kos 'mindset' don't represent the democratic party?

[Mezzo]

7. I'm a democrat, and not a part of the kos crowd.

Ever since he lied about Paul Hackett. I don't like people saying one thing, and doing another.

[MrRobotsHolyOrders]

9. Can we impeach Markos?

He's like Justice Alito and eating a thumbtack, all at once.

[femrap]

30. What lie about Hackett?

Could you explain, please?

[Mezzo]

86. when Paul Hackett had said he was running for US Senate,

Sherrod Brown said he would not run if Hackett ran. Sherrod Brown did an about face, and decided to run anyway. Instead of saying, "Sorry Paul, I changed my mind", he DENIED ever having said it. kos denied it to, even though he had blogged about it. It was like a bizzarre reality, and they had just decided on a do-over. The worst part about it is, he could have smoothed this over without telling an outright lie like that.

No, I am not kidding.

[femrap]

106. Oh...I remember that mess.

A few months ago I went to hear Connie Schultz (Sherrod's wife) speak and she said that the mess was her fault. Sherrod thought she wouldn't want him to run when she actually thought it was a good idea. Anyway, that's what she said.

I lived in Cincy at the time...and had met Hackett. What a temper and ego...and when he got pissed, he insulted people in a very cruel way. I think Harry Reid and Schummer saw this and asked him to back out gracefully...but he was pissed.

I am really glad to have Sherrod Brown as my Senator. Ohio had been such an embarrassment...finally a True Blue Progressive representing us.

I don't read kos anymore. He has issues. And so do I...one being, I'm not very trusting of people who were once firm Republicans or Raygun Dems....and that is Kos and Hackett.

Thx for the reply.

[StClone]

8. Familiarity does breed contempt

I wish KO were more like Rush Limbaugh then we'd all be happy.

[Lucinda]

10. I wish he were a journalist instead of a performer.

Neither of us will get our wishes.

[McCamy Taylor]

21. Sure we can. Human beings have limitless potential. That was why I read through

those transcripts (luckily before they yanked them off line). I discovered that the anti-Hillary snark always showed up when Richard Wolffe showed up. And he showed up with the Race Memos and the Tea Party Memos. He is almost certainly the one who has been filling KOs head with lies. I would be willing to bet that Wolffe has told him some top secret that KO is not supposed to divulge to anyone. Since KO takes a very personal interest in NYC and 9/11, the perfect story to tell him to get him to hate the Clintons would be something like "Bill contributed to 9/11 after all" or "When I was working the WH, I learned for a fact that when Bill was buddy-buddy with Poppy he promised that when Hillary was elected, she would not prosecute anyone in the Bush administration for war crimes."

Some bs like that. Since Wolffe worked the WH, it would sound plausible. And there would be no way to check out a story like that. Everyone knows that KO hates injustice so he would be just furious and go on a one man crusade.

[Lucinda]

51. It's interesting because I DID notice a dramatic shift with KO and

I wondered what triggered it at the time, but I never tried to connect the dots. It occurred again when Maddow joined MSNBC. There was a noticable shift in the tone of her comments, almost overnight.

So, your assessment regarding Wolffe makes a lot of sense to me. I always assumed there was "something" but at the point KO started ranting and twisting what was happening, he lost credibility with me and I stopped watching.

[StClone]

110. KO is a freak'n genius

He went to Cornell at age 16 and has journalistic training. But, his show is edgy commentary and junk his producers force him to do. He speaks truth (you know backed by facts) with flair and he knows his stuff. If you don't like his "act" go for a walk.

I would vote for Hillary if she'd win. Would you vote for Obama? See that's where we have a problem.

[XtraProudDem]

91. Don't even...

Don't you fucking dare compare Keith Olbermann to Dennis Miller.

Keith Olbermann is an opinion journalist. Dennis Miller is a COMEDIAN.

You are truly delusional.

[Lucinda]

109. LOL

Sure I am....

[AtomicKitten]

2. Keith Olbermann is a purveyor of truth that is tough for some to digest.

[The Wielding Truth]

37. Brava!

[NorthCarolina]

81. Agreed n/t

[calimary]

112. Sounds pretty spot-on to me. AND he's an opinion journalist.

I just happen to appreciate his opinions. I'm a little biased myself. :P

[AtomicKitten]

114. Did you see him bang on McCain tonight? Slammed him on his pastor "problems."

It was beautiful. I think we have all pivoted and turned to the general election. Can you believe we've waited seven long years for this moment? Thank gawd for people like Olbermann, Stewart, and Colbert who will bring it to the bastards!

[McCamy Taylor]

116. KO is probably incompetent for the job he was given. His fund of knowledge is too low.

Tonight, he said "Democrats lose white votes in the presidential elections" "it is Black votes that got Bill Clinton elected". He does not even know what political strategists mean when they use the (pejorative) term Reagan Democrats. He does not know how Bill Clinton won in 1992.

If KO thinks that he is going to charm the SDs by calling mention of the working class white Democrats "race baiting", then he is a fool. Appeals to working class white Democrats are just like appeals to African-Americans and Latinos and gays and unions---this is one more viable ethnic group in the melting pot of the Democratic Party. This group is not afraid to vote for an African-American. This group refuses to vote for Kerry, Gore, Bush Sr or anyone else that it perceives of as being out of touch with the problems of the working American who is slipping quickly into poverty.

The ugly rhetoric was back tonight. "bitter" "racially divisive" (that was what KO was doing) "self destructive" (he is the one trying to divide and conquer the Dems) "Richard Nixon" "lame duck" "grossness" "sadness".

Then he called Mark Penn "shot on knowledge."

I give up on KO. I thought he might be the next Walter Cronkite. He is the next Bill O'Reilly.

Someone get Dan Rather a network TV job again, please . We need a serious anchor. Dan Rather may not be a charismatic as KO, but he has brains and integrity. Americans trust him.

[skyounkin]

KO

is just as sick as the rest of us with queen hillary- she cannot win- she is damaging the party and the only reason why she is still in this race is because she is hillary clinton. It long ago became about her ego and not about the nomination.

Have her go away and I think ALOT of people will be willing go "back through the looking glass".

"Gomama?......Yes....just go away".

[xchrom]

4. recommend

[MrRobotsHolyOrders]

6. Olbermann is becoming a ratings goliath

You post insane rants on the internet.

OLBERMANN FTW.

[McCamy Taylor]

13. Ratings? I don't give rats ass about ratings. Internet porn makes money.

I am talking about journalistic integrity. The right wing wants to compromise KO so that when he is needed to speak out against some government corruption, people will look at him squint eyed and ask themselves "Is this a ploy to benefit Obama?"

Obama has millions of dollars to buy public relations. There was only one voice on cable television news that we knew was absolutely incorruptible. Now, a big chunk of the population---say 75%--- will have to ask itself "Is he trying to sell us something?"

[ProSense]

17. "I am talking about journalistic integrity." Then stop making jokes. n/t

[MrRobotsHolyOrders]

20. I think you're wasting your time

If my first disdainful reply didn't really drive the point home: I think your point is dumb, and that you need to take up a more rewarding hobby.

But seriously, if only your post was read by every person in America, Olbermann would be on trial for war crimes by now.

[McCamy Taylor]

24. That is dualistic thinking. And also silly.

[MrRobotsHolyOrders]

26. You used 'dualistic' in a sentence.

Therefore, you win, and Keith Olbermann is worse than Pol Pot.

[McCamy Taylor]

39. So did you. Give yourself a pat on the back.

[Jim Sagle]

36. But Taylor is an angel of truth, and KO is a piece of shit. Which would you rather be?

[McCamy Taylor]

41. There goes the black and white thinking again. "Zaphod's just this guy, you know?"

[Lilith Velkor]

99. Subgenius *and* Hitchhiker's guide?

:yourock:

:loveya:

[McCamy Taylor]

115. Praise BOB!

The Subgenius must have slack!

[mod mom]

84. Really I hope he continues to speak his mind and DOESN'T CAVE IN TO THE CORPORATE CROWD!

[The_Casual_Observer]

12. Ever since he channeled Edward R Murrow instead of Bob & Ray

it's gotten stupid. Goodnight & good luck.

[scheming daemons]

14. Olbermann doesn't need to "come back" from anywhere. He's been an unabashed truth-teller.

That's the best policy.

[WA98296]

89. Exactly! Couldn't agree more.

[ProSense]

15. KO is not responsible for Hillary's crappy campaign. He had nothing to do with her debt. n/t

[roseBudd]

18. It is not anyone in the media's fault that HRC screwed up, got behind and never caught up

[McCamy Taylor]

43. Actually, the press has been all over this Dem primary. The same as Al Gore and John Kerry.

They shot down Edwards. Never gave Kucinich a chance. Set up Hillary as a bitch last year. Have been setting up Obama as scary, unAmerican, Muslim since last year in preparation for the general election. It is all in my other media journals.

The corporate media uses their news outlets to distribute propaganda that helps their companies.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Herman%20/Manufac_Consent_Prop_Model.html

[ProSense]

44. John Kerry and Al Gore didn't lie about their experiences and use race to divide Democrats.

Your spin is BS!

[roseBudd]

83. And? People are voting for Obama because he has charisma. HRC & BO are not equal.

If you thought Kucinich had a chance ever, I want what you are smoking.

Call me cynical. I call it pragmatic. Since the days of television the gut reaction that people have to a particular candidate shapes their votes.

Primary dem voters who don't understand this, nominate people that the majority will not elect. McGovern gets it. He made a statement to that effect months ago. Barack is a gift the likes of which the Democratic party has not seen in decades.

[XtraProudDem]

92. The press

The press is not out to get your candidates. They are out to get ratings.

It's not that hard. Stop taking it so personal.

[The Wizard]

105. must be the Zeitgeist

Something inspired me to write this very early in the morning:
Our major media outlets are propaganda mills whose function is to skew thinking and distort facts to suit their agendas. Objective reporting is not what they do. They have been able to consolidate and boost the bottom line through the legislative process, and their falling advertising rates haven't been enough to keep them out of the political process. Legislation that favors their corporate bottom line outstrips losses incurred associated with a shrinking viewer base. As a member of the Bush cartel once stated, "We make our own reality." That's double speak for we manufacture our version of the facts, and as long as a majority believes it true the rest of you are inconsequential. When the majority of the population knows the news they're getting is propaganda the system will falter as it did in the Soviet Union. As History will attest, totalitarians have a limited shelf life.
What was that John Edwards said a few months back? "It's time for the media to stop picking our candidates." Anyone who witnessed the farce that was sold as debates in the run up to the Clinton/Obama slugfest knows how the corporate media marginalized John Edwards as they saw him as a threat to their monopoly and undue influence on the political process.
The polls showed Edwards beating any Republican, yet those who were viewed as losers to any Republican wound up as our finalists for the Democratic nomination. As for the best qualified candidates, they were essentially ignored.
http://makethemaccountable.com/coverup/Part_04.htm

[IsItJustMe]

16. You have convinced me of one thing in your post and that is this:

This Richard Wolffe guy is a fricken prophet or at very least, a very smart political analysts to be sure. He seemed to have predicted all of Hillary's slimy moves. WOW. Just wow.

[McCamy Taylor]

22. One man's prophet is another man's snake oil salesman.

[bridgit]

19. Great Idea! But I do think he spends plenty of time on this side preening his *media* so as to say

KO is a M$M tool

[McCamy Taylor]

23. Yes, but he has heart and soul. He can be salvaged. You can not fake what he does.

[ShortnFiery]

25. KO is one of the few remaining liberal voices. Just keep it tuned to FOX - Colmes is your guy.

:eyes:

[bridgit]

29. Oh yeah, it can be faked; my major was theater arts & admin; and if not faked...

it can be risen to, even when you don't per se believe it. Especially with a gaggle of entertainment lawyers, makeup, cross-over newbie/would-be M$Mer's looking for face time in front of your camera & broadcast folks all milling about with handfuls of your fresh Nielsen's. Hear you on the 'heart & soul' thing as well, sadly however...seen them both go down for little more than the ego' that are too often seen driving it all forward :(

[Tatiana]

27. You have a problem with Richard Wolffe? Seriously?

I don't think we're watching the same program.

It's obvious Keith is over the Clintons. That is clearly the case. However, Wolffe has been one of the most gracious, most rational, most sane, most intellectually honest of the pundits on cable television. You say that Keith "inadvertently revealed on a recent show" that Wolffe covers the Obama camp. Obviously you don't watch Countdown regularly or you would know (as I have known since JANUARY) that Wolffe clearly has been with the Obama campaign, as Andrea Mitchell has been with the Clinton campaign. Keith has always said this. Did you just miss it?

I've watched Keith fired up over many of the Clinton attacks and seen Wolffe calmly, but FIRMLY talk Keith down. "Hey, this is politics," is one response I remember him giving Keith. He's always been respectful towards Clinton, but honest when her approach appears to cross the line.

You are clearly intelligent and a very good writer. But, with all due respect, this post is a tortured piece of delusional writing.

[McCamy Taylor]

31. That is why I suggest that everyone read the transcripts. Wolffe has great delivery

but when you read the words, they tell a different story. I wish MSNBC had not taken down the stuff from January and February in the last couple of days, If anyone knows a link where they still have transcripts for these months up let us know, so that the skeptics can read them. You will see that Wolffe's language is highly inflammatory when talking about the Clinton camp. And it started way back in January. He was the Countdown point man for the Obama camp all the way back then.

Be aware that there are great actors out there. Reagan was one. W. is a good liar. So is Karl Rove. You have to pay attention to what they are actually saying.

[TexanDem]

28. Hillary can stir up a hate that no one believed to be possible. Keith & Wollfe are just human.

[McCamy Taylor]

32. Blame the victim is never cool. Not about lynch mobs or witch hunts

or media atrocities. Are you going to tell me Gore would have won in 2000 if he had been nicer to the press corp? Maybe given head to the right reporters?

[TexanDem]

50. I blame Hillary herself for her lack of character and integrity. Gore didn't lose. It was stolen.

[bvar22]

33. It is clear you spent a lot of time and effort in this post.

To what purpose?

Get a life.

[McCamy Taylor]

35. Because the Democratic Party is divided and will be conquered if we do not repair it.

No one will do it for us. We have to mend each chink ourselves.

[bvar22]

53. And you are "mending chinks" by attacking Olbermann?

Have fun mending chinks with Fox News!
:hi:

[McCamy Taylor]

66. Here is a quote from William Blake "Opposition is true friendship"

One day GE is going to find his politics not to their liking. And GE makes a hell of a lot more than money than MSNBC. NBC exists only to dispense propaganda for GE and its contractors like the Pentagon. When that day comes, if he is Dan Rather, he will survive. If his journalistic ethics are full of holes, it will be back to sports for him for the rest of his life.

[bvar22]

113. You do know.....

....that William Blake was an untreated schizophrenic, and a thoroughly miserable human being ?



I love Blake, but take my advice....NOT a good mentor, and NOT a good source for quotes to justify your behavior.

[XtraProudDem]

93. Red state/blue state

A Clinton nomination will guarantee us at least eight more years of 50/50, red state/blue state elections.

I've had enough of those. Do you really think Clinton can "repair" it?

[Lord Helmet]

34. you are a sore loser

[McCamy Taylor]

38. I am a Democrat. If I lose that means we all lose. I support the party nominee.Obama is a great

candidate. Last night he gave a fabulous unity talk. Why are so many people who claim to support him trying to sabotage his message? Why is MSNBC trying to keep up the Divide and Conquer? Why is Richard Wolffe still at it. A slow, gentle continued Dem primary through Oregon mobilizes voters in two key fall battle ground states, WV and Oregon so that the Dems will wrap them up for this fall. It allows the DNC to settle Mi and Fl so that the Dems will wrap them up for this fall. It gives the SDs time to settle on Obama and Clinton time to bow out gracefully, so that her supporters will not feel let down---or angry.

Are all you people that are trying to set Democrats against Democrats really Obama supporters? McCain is the one who benefits this fall from a divided Democratic Party. That is why Obama is trying to pull the party together. That is why I am trying to get KO off this stupid Hillary bashing routine.

[Lord Helmet]

40. if you consider telling the truth bashing you've got serious problems

maybe you need to face up to the actual truth not your twisted version of how you think things should be

[ProSense]

42. "That is why I am trying to get KO off this stupid Hillary bashing routine."

Delusional!

Hillary came off her crushing defeat last night and hit the trail race baiting. She is despicable.

[McCamy Taylor]

45. I'm taking a bath. You tell us all exactly how Hillary race baited and please provide links.

[ProSense]

46. Here you go

Hillary is despicable

[ProSense]

47. Here

more

[ProSense]

49. Forgot this:

what can you say

[McCamy Taylor]

55. I can say that is a crock. DUer frequently say that only Obama can turn out African-American

votes this fall. That is not race baiting when his people do it. They are talking voting demographics. There is nothing dirty about people of European ancestry and there is nothing sanctified about those of African-American ancestry. A vote is a vote. You do not "pander" for the former or "court" the latter. You "win" both by being upbeat and talking about solutions for our problems. Last night, Obama was talking like a winner. Clinton is talking like a VP candidate.

Is that what has people so spooked around here?


I enjoyed my bath. I was reading Studs Turkel's Hard Times a book about what we will all face if we do not get our act together and get behind Obama and start supporting him and stop bashing other Democratic candidates and alienating their voters by suggesting that anyone who votes for that candidate is a closet KKKer.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

88. DUers are not "his people". They are not part of his campaign.

Clinton's campaign and Clinton herself are the ones pushing the "only I can bring the whites" meme.

[grantcart]

61. you realize that you are arguing with a person who has swallow Clintonianism whole.

She is the Clinton's Minnie Me.


The narcissistic ego centric force of the Clinton's is that they identify the Democratic Party as an extension of themselves. It is a reincarnation of the Chinese Dynastic principle that wherever the Emperor goes so goes the center of the universe. And so the prospects of the Democratic Party are necessarily tied to the person hood of the leader. It now devolves in an ontological fashion to the 'Minnie Me' Clinton of DU. Where the Clinton's go so goes the center of the Democratic Party. They go up and the party goes up and they go down the party goes down.

This narcissistic ego has been passed in psuedo-intellectual form to the 'Minnie Me':

quote
I am a Democrat. If I lose that means we all lose
unquote.

Does that mean if Obama wins she expects a time share at the White House.?

[McCamy Taylor]

65. Hi, grantcart! Aren't you excited about Obama's unity speech?

:applause:

Once the whole is divided, the parts need names.
There are already enough names.
One must know when to stop.
Knowing when to stop averts trouble.
Tao in the world is like a river flowing home to the sea.

Lao Tsu

[grantcart]

97. no need for unity when the party is personifiied into a single persona

which you now carry - as goes McCamy Taylor so goes the Democratic Party.


The real assault on unity is the cult of personality which the Clintons have established and to which you adhere and whose alter you light your candles.

The stark reality which no Clinton supporter ever addresses is that exactly one year ago Senator Clinton entered the campaign with 38%. Before Iowa that number was 42%. Through all of this campaign Senator Clinton has not been able to move her numbers at all. She has flatlined for the entire race and is always hovering between 42-47%.

In a 3 (or 8) person race a 42% level of support is a commanding lead. In a 2 person race it is a loss.

This primary cycle has had two over arching themes: the ascendency of Senator Obama and the rejection of the Clinton brand for the future of the Democratic Party. She did not pick up any of the other candidates for Presidency and she didn't pick up any of their supporters.

And here is the supreme irony. She was good enough and she should have had it. A few times the real Hillary Clinton slippped through, and no the tearful wispy cry in New Hampshire was not one of them. I saw her on Nightline. Fantastic. No packaging no spin. A smart relaxed funny confident woman. The kind of woman I want my daughters to be.

But Hillary the Great was put away. The Clinton team knew better they had won it before (but actually they hadn't they had won the 3 candidate race before and never in fact had won a 2 party national election and sadly poor Ross Perot declined to run again) and resorted to the Selling of Senator Clinton, the 'New and Improved Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton'.

Had Hillary done what McCain had done and shucked the idiots that became her entourage and gone to town halls by herself and exhausted every question rather than planting them then she would be the nominee and the ticket would be Clinton/Obama. She is that good. But she would have had to walk into the den and made herself vulnerable and shown people she isn't the demon that she has been charachterized as. But she didn't.

And the whole sad affair can be boiled down to Bosnia snipers. The truth was good. The truth was fantastic. The truth proved her point that she has been around and knows where the problem areas were and because she saw how prudent and careful her husband had been that even in a war zone, a war zone that had not one single combat death, the first lady was safe enough not only to go but to take her daughter and get a poem right out on the tarmac - no need to worry or run from snipers.

But just as she feels that Hillary the Great is not good enough the story of First Lady safely arriving in a War Zone was not good enough. It raises the question why doesn't she just be herself and get rid of all of the packaging.

The party has gone another path. It is not simply a different candidate it is a different strategy. The umbilical cord to the corporate universe has been severed and a mass base has been replaced. The plucky community organizer who added 400,000 Democrats to the polling rolls in Chicago has added 3 million in the primaries. This summer they will add another 10 or 20 million people. That is where the real campaign is heading. One candidate will be doing fundraisers and one will be changing the landscape with a completely new and reformed Democratic Party. Stronger and united.

Some who fell in love with Hillary the Great and can't understand the rejection of 'New and Improved Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton' cling to her candidacy and insist she absolutely must be on the ticket. If we could undue the marketing and some how find Hillary the Great that would have been possible. Some of these supporters are the best that the party has. Some have been longtime and substantial supporters and some are fantastic writers. The party is not going back. We could no more go back than Europe could have pretended that Columbus hadn't taken a trip somewhere. It's not that we found a messianic candidate its that Senator Obama has shown us the new world of the Democratic Party and we like it.

Hopefully everyone will want to come. Sadly some are too bitter to make the trip. Maybe they will take some time and join latter. The party is not however, going to accept their intransigence as the obstacle to unity. Its up to them. They are welcome to come aboard. I have to apologize for not reading your post and only reading the outline and the replies. I don't read posts I read all of the links they link to in order to make sure that they have captured the context (its that old Seminary training that showed me how texts are manipulated in polemics). I just don't have the time to go though all of your links. Some of the previous posts I was able to get through were very good. I hope to see you in the new Democratic Party that is being formed.

Peace

By letting it go it all gets done.
The world is won by those who let it go.
But when you try and try.
The world is beyond the winning.
Lao Tzu

[Tatiana]

69. How can such smart people be so deluded? I don't understand. n/t

[phrigndumass]

108. LMAO! Clinton's "Mini Me"

I couldn't have described it better. Platinum!

McCamy, dear, please don't bite the kitty's ear. Love the kitty. When Senator Clinton concedes, you should concede too!

:rofl:

[XtraProudDem]

95. It IS over.

KO will stop when she suspends her train wreck of a campaign. I think he's already stopped, for the most part.

[SayitAintSo]

48. I really appreciate your analysis - on target

I have long been a strong KO fan, since reading his commencement speech at his alma mater (it's a keeper). You have deftly explained a rational for something that has puzzled me as I have watched him over recent months. I haven't always been a big HRC fan but I have been very disappointed in her treatment by some pundits and KO was the LAST one I would expect to get unfairly biased against her. I have gone from never missing his show to not really being able to stand him now because of this, and you are right - it's always with Richard Wolfe. I hope KO can recover from the taint of his bias. He's no Murrow....

[kooth]

52. Right On!

Great post! I hope that KO does come back to his senses!

[LowerManhattanite]

54. McCamy...

You're a damned fine writer, and you have a good sense of humor—both evidenced in this OP.

However, I think your assignment of blame for Keith's “going over to the dark side” ( a common epithet hurled at him these days by certain disappointed folks) to his association with and influence from his guests misses what really went down with him.

He was pretty down-the-middle with Obama and Clinton until Senator Clinton pushed a big, red button on him that seems wired directly into the pain centers of his central nervous system.

That “big, red button” was the “fear” card. When Sen. Clinton started playing some of the terror/fear verbal games (albeit without the same bared teeth zeal) as the hated Rudy Giuliani, it set Olbermann off. Now that may not be fair, but it IS a known raw nerve for him. He's made MSNBC a resurgent force in cable news in large part due to his indignation over Bush, Cheney and their flunkies on the right side of the aisle's playing that card so often that it's paper-cut their fingers down to the bone. The “fear” card is Keith's http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WIQ67vRg6c&feature=related">“Susquehanna Hat Company” trigger (an old vaudeville routine where a seemingly mild-mannered fella goes ballistic at the mention of the hat company). I personally don't have a problem with that being a lever that flips him—it's a legitimate issue that should set most people off. It certainly did with Giuliani, as it even turned New Yorkers—the people most directly affected by 9-11 against him, and that's saying something, considering how Rudy was lionized for his “handling” of things on that fateful day.

“America's Mayor” wound up a pariah in his own city for his naked over-pandering. It set people against him in a bad way. People who were celebrating him mere months before.

I remember Olbermann's almost trembling with rage when Sen. Clinton went there. His whole vibe was “how could you?”, and he hasn't gotten over it. It seemed to be a deal-breaker for him and he's been at best, skeptical of her and her candidacy ever since. I believe it was January of this year when it went down—just before New Hampshire's primary. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BB4Vvgn_4k">Here's a YouTube link from around the time it all blew up. People at the time remarked on how upset and angry he seemed over this. I noticed it too. It wasn't guests turning him with crafty power-of-suggestion verbal undernotes. The “fear card” moment was a corner he turned with her and he hasn't looked back since.

And while I can semi-understand her “going there” to blunt the GOP's domination of that spur of the discussion, going “there” is the one thing that everybody knows gets Olbermann fired up like few other bits of political gamesmanship. He'd spent the last two years roasting Cheney and Bush every time they pulled that and it seemed to genuinely shake him when the senator from NY supped at that table too.

You could hear the camel's back snap like a dry twig that week.

Wolffe? Buchanan? Good as they are, they ain't Svengalis. She (Sen. Clinton) pushed the wrong button on the wrong pundit/journalist and she's paid for it ever since.

[McCamy Taylor]

58. Thanks for the video. This explains a lot. There is Obama oppo in there.

That LBJ-MLK quote that KO read---it is the misquote that the Obama camp was circulating in its "Race Memo" that I link above. This is the earliest televised coverage of the Big Lie that Hillary compared herself to LBJ and said that LBJ was better than MLK Jr that I have seen anywhere---which must make KO some kind of hero to purveyors of anti-Hillary propaganda.

I actually had this stuff copied from the transcripts and decided not to use it, but since you linked the video here is the transcript:

“KO: On a day in which she‘d already tear up at one moment and then attacked Barack Obama the next, on a day on which she had already invoked Martin Luther King and President Johnson in a dubious analogy to herself and Senator Obama. Senator Hillary Clinton this afternoon played the al Qaeda card.
snip
Alas, wait, there‘s more, as if having drawn inspiration from the Karl Rove playbook were not bad enough, Senator Clinton making an another analogy in which she appears to be President Lyndon Johnson and Senator Obama seems to be Dr. Martin Luther King in not a good way quoting her, “Doctor King‘s dream began to be realized when President Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act. It took a president to get it done.
Snip
OLBERMANN: When she was asked today whether her campaign was in panic, Senator Clinton responded well, I‘m not. When you are invoking Dr. King against the African-American candidate, let alone the Democrat who seems to have Karl Rove as a campaign advisor as evidence by her invoking the al Qaeda reference there, is it not fair to say that, you indeed, are panicking?

Note that Media Matters which has corrected everybody under the sun for lying about what Clinton said (in the full quote she is making a comparison of Obama to JFK and herself to LBJ) gave Olbermann a free pass. This is a sign of media bias, Media Matters.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200801130004

I would point to the fact that Dr. King's dream began to be realized when President Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, when he was able to get through Congress something that President Kennedy was hopeful to do, the president before had not even tried, but it took a president to get it done. That dream became a reality. The power of that dream became real in people's lives because we had a president who said, "We are going to do it," and actually got it accomplished.

What does this suggest to me? He could have read about it at Politico, which seems to have been the first place to get it wrong

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0108/Clinton_and_Obama_Johnson_and_King.html

And repeated the misquote. But if he was a regular reader of Politico, then he would have noticed that the column was amended and Ben Smith corrected it the same day

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0108/Clinton_Kennedy_King.html

So, KO being the ethical person that he is would have corrected himself on the next show---assuming that he got the story from Politico himself.

I do not have the transcripts any more but I do not remember a correction. If there was a correction on the next show, would someone please send a link? It is too bad that MSNBC took down the transcripts.

Since he is a busy person, I think it is more likely he got the story from another reporter at MSNBC, maybe Wolffe. Keep in mind that the Fox interview with the full quote was available for anyone to check that day.

Now, a second point. It is hard to remember all the way back to January, but when all those networks played Hillary tearing up on the eve of New Hampshire, they did not say Oh, Hillary, you look so adorable crying! No, they all smiled like a bunch of hyenas and rubbed their hands in glee and talked about Ed Muskie. They thought her campaign was over. That is why the visibly fuming KO lead with that footage and not with the Hillary the Hawk scene.

But you probably have a point. This could easily be what he was given by someone to turn him off Clinton. Along with the MLK-LBJ lie. And the Hillary tears up. A nice package deal to sink Clinton the hawk and seal it up for Obama.

Only they miscalculated.

[Tatiana]

63. You are willfully ignoring the point.

Watch this interview Olbermann did with Hillary Clinton:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iw9zWE7huTg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH2tuL89Pdg&feature=related

I'm going to quote a bit of Hillary Clinton from that interview.

"Well, Keith, think about why these people on the right and the Republicans whom they support are doing this. It's because they don't want the changes that middle class Americans need and deserve. I was APPALLED at the way this young man and his family were treated and I said last night in Boston, you know, as someone who has been pretty used to taking the incoming fire from the right... I'm willing to take it... I'm big enough, I can keep going and not worry too much about it as I've proven over the years. But to turn on this young man and to impugn him and his family for telling their true story, that there are millions of hard-working families in America, we're not talking about poor families who are eligible for Medicaid. We're talking about families who work. Whose employers don't help them buy insurance. We're talking about families who can't go into the so-called individual market and afford the average $12,000/yr family policy and they are left without help unless we have a program like the Childrens Health Insurance Program which I helped to start 10 years ago. And what we did on a bipartisan basis, was to extend that coverage to more middle-class families and to get them the relief they need to take care of their children when illness or injury strikes. And I just... you know I never cease to be amazed at the mean-spritedness that you can find on the right but think carefully about this because what's happening here is that there are COMMERCIAL, PARTISAN, POLITICAL, AND IDEOLOGICAL POINTS that are being scored at the expense of this young man. Why don't we work together and solve the health care problem and get beyond all of this mean-spirited partisan bickering? That's what I'm trying to do. But when it happens I'm going to call them out on it just like I have for 15 years."

Keith never interrupts her. Not one time. They even share a chuckle when Keith mentions that her name seemed to come up more than anything else at the Republican debate. Hillary's friend told her that at their age "it's kind of nice to have all these men obsessed with you."

Hillary also has another killer comment with "The era of cowboy diplomacy is over."

By the way, if you watch the entire interview, you get the idea that the Democratic primary is all but done and Hillary will be the nominee. And you know what? Keith doesn't seem to have a problem with it. He loves her because she's saying all the RIGHT THINGS. And if this was the candidate I was presented with in February, I would have voted for her. Unfortunately, that's not what we got.

Stop denying the obvious. Hillary's implosion is not Keith Olbermann's fault or Richard Wolffe's fault.

It's her own.

[McCamy Taylor]

70. The only thing that is KO's fault is his own implosion. Obama has won and Clinton has lost.

That is just the way that the campaign works. I do not bear any hard feelings towards anyone on either side for stuff they do in a hard fought political primary. I have seen a bunch of primaries that were much worse than this one. As long as we all kiss and make up, we are going to be fine.

However, the good old boys at MSNBC that I saw tonight did not want any kissing and making up. They were still all over Hillary, even though Obama showed excellent judgment last night. That kind of behavior is not good. It makes Obama look ineffectual. It makes the Democrats look chaotic. It makes Olbermann look like a bully with a personal vendetta.

It makes MSNBC appear to be on the side of McCain, whatever side KO may think that he is on.

I still believe that the RNC is trying to divide and conquer the Democratic Party and they are trying to make it look like Obama supporters and Hillary supporters---such as people here at DU---are the ones doing it.

Just by way of contrast, I switched to CNN last night, and they had nothing but praise for Obama, whom they assumed was the winner, and they said nothing but good things about Clinton. And they kept running these great anti-McCain ads during the commercials. That is what I miss at MSNBC. There is lots of Clinton bashing but where is the Obama praise?

[Shakespeare]

102. Excellent post. n/t

[Tatiana]

60. Wish I could rec this response. You completely nailed it.

And given Olbermann's previous deference to both Bill and Hillary (both of whom he gave a platform on his show... Hillary right after she first announced her candidacy), his change in tone towards the Clinton candidacy feels more like someone who has been betrayed rather than someone who is over the moon for Obama.

Keith defended Hillary early on in her candidacy (and still does at time when the hypocrisy is particularly outrageous). You say middle of the road, I say he leaned Clinton. And even though I never supported Clinton, I never had a problem with it because he didn't lie... he only pointed out the facts.

That's a great video link. You're absolutely right. The fearmongering is what set him off. Have we all forgotten his FIRST special comment?

[McCamy Taylor]

62. Except that she was not fearmongering. She was showing she had cojones.

Any woman running for president in the US has to prove that she is tough, just as any African-American male running for president in the US has to prove that he is not scary. That is because a large number of voters start out with certain prejudices.

A voter who sees a woman as weak will look at Clinton talking tough and it will all equal "I guess she will do ok".

A voter who is not prejudiced will see her as a flaming hawk. Had Hillary started out courting the left rather than the center,she would not have had the problem with the left perceiving her as so hawkish. She was trying to prevent the GOP from framing her as unfit to lead the country because of her gender in advance of the general election (all that MSM coverage about her cleavage is just an example of the way that they were trying to turn her into the Barbie Doll candidate, Bill's Little Lady).

I do not take Clinton's posturing on military toughness any more seriously than I take Obama's posturing on Wright. Obama had to say that he never knew what his pastor of 16 years was saying and that he rejects his words, because he wants to be president and he can not afford to be scary. That is the politically expedient thing to do. He has to reject Louis Farrakhan, because it is the politically expedient thing to do. If I thought that he really rejected Farrakhan or denounced Wright's words I would say Screw him . If I thought that Hillary really was half as tough as she acts, I would say Screw her . But this is just the show they put on when they are running for the job of president which includes the role of Actor President as described by Gore Vidal in Duluth

So KO thinks that he is going to stamp out fear mongering by putting his boot down on the neck of Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Kill the devil, become the devil.

[Tatiana]

64. The 3 AM ad was FEARMONGERING. Plain and simple.

You, like Hillary, are clearly misreading the mood of the electorate.

We had someone with so-called "cojones." Some call him Dubya. Americans are sick of that.

They want competence and intelligence and realness, not some faux bravado. Why did Hillary bounce back in NH? It wasn't because of cojones. It was because voters saw her in a vulnerable moment. They caught a glimpse of the real Hillary and they empathized.

I saw Clinton "talking tough" and was completely repulsed.

[McCamy Taylor]

67. They saw her cry because the MSM was trying to sink her campaign.

The press showed that clip to hurt her, not to help her. That is the irony. And that contributed to their outrage and all the weird theories about how racists must have come out of the closet to vote for Hillary or someone had hacked the vote for Hillary. Everyone--including the Obama camp--was sure that she had blown it with those tears. Except for the women I know. They were telling me that the dogpile during the debate had caused them to switch to Hillary. And the tears made them like her.

The press chooses which videos to show. I do not think people understand this. Each candidate goes through the day with cameras rolling constantly. And then the press selects what they want you to see and pretends that they are showing you the unfiltered truth.

"Where is that footage that makes Hillary look calculating?"

"This clip?"

"No, she's nodding while that woman tells a story. That's no good."

"Oh, you mean this one, where the sun is in her eyes."

"Yeah, let's go with that one. There's a bank in the background."

"Hillary. Corporations. Nice."

Tonight on Countdown we saw Fineman pull some film out of his ass to show Hillary wearing a high collar---so she would look like a queen to go with his "Coronation" theme. Well guess what? Hillary did not always wear a high collar last year. And Obama did not always appear in rolled up sleeves in a factory looking like a working Joe. That was a MSM narrative. I could have done the same narrative about Obama the boy prince from Africa and found Hillary the working girl with her sleeves rolled up to contrast with Obama in a suit with his head back lit by golden lights.

These guys do this all the time. They create mini-movies and we buy the fiction they sell. It is why political campaigns suck. People are more willing to believe silly footage that gets looped over and over than written policy statements.

Everyone should watch "Wag the Dog" again.

[Tatiana]

68. The 3 AM ad was FEARMONGERING. Voters were sick of it.

That's point one.

Point two is that "they" aren't to blame for everything. "They" didn't hire Mark Penn. "They" didn't choose the strategy Hillary decided to utilize in her attempt to win the nomination. Hillary did that.

Hillary killed her own chances.

Hillary.

Stop blaming others for what Hillary Clinton needs to take responsibility for.

[McCamy Taylor]

72. This thread is about KO. Why are you so determined to make it about Clinton?

I have already said that Clinton has lost the campaign.

Now I am talking about why KO has lost the respect of some of the people who used to watch him regularly. He has replaced them with people who enjoy the Hillary bashing, but his reputation has suffered and that is his fault, not mine and not Clinton's.

[Tatiana]

73. I do not enjoy Hillary bashing. It makes us all look bad.

But then, if I had a TV show, I'd probably be making similar comments such as Keith has in the wake of Clinton's conduct.

Let's see what the coverage is like when she concedes. Keith has already disagreed with Rachel Maddow (and continues to disagree). Rachel thinks Hillary is going to pursue the "scorched earth" policy and continue to be divisive. Keith has rejected this firmly and believes Hillary will show grace and dignity.

So I'm not seeing continued bashing on his part. As she returns to a more positive message, he becomes more complimentary towards her.

[dbmk]

77. It is this. The disconnect.

You simply do not see it do you?

You simply _refuse_ to consider whether KO going after Hillary was warranted. All you focus on is that he did. And that must be wrong.

You cite Wolffe making predictions that turned out to be true - yet you paint them as being biased.

The reason we are making it about Clinton is that it IS about Clinton.
Keith Olbermann didn't decide to go after her on a whim or based on some preference for Obama.

She needed going after. She started playing the exact same game he had been bashing for years. He had no choice if he was supposed to have some integrity.

[Tatiana]

85. I'll raise you one. She started morphing into the very thing Keith had been bashing for years:

A Republican.

"As far as I know" sounds strikingly similar to the "some people say" Faux Noise construct.

It is no coincidence that Clinton began to align herself with John McCain. Hillary made a conscious decision to do that.

Hillary has experience, McCain has experience, Obama has a speech.

Both McCain and Hillary are qualified to be President. Obama, not so much.

"Obliteration" and similar foreign policy stances as McCain.

The gas tax holiday idea.

Grantcart makes a great point above. This is Clintonianism; where these supporters see the party AS the Clintons rather than the Clintons being a part of the party. If you look at things from that perspective, the Clintons are never wrong because they are the party and we have to mold (triangulate) our values to fit with theirs to be Democrats.

Keith was trying to pull Clinton back from her right-ward drift. That's what his criticism was all about.

[CakeGrrl]

71. You're whitewashing Hillary's own complicity in fearmongering as having "cojones"

The irony in this statement

Any woman running for president in the US has to prove that she is tough, just as any African-American male running for president in the US has to prove that he is not scary. That is because a large number of voters start out with certain prejudices.

is that Hillary is well aware of these caveats, and she and her campaign have exploited the prejudices that challenge Barack Obama in an attempt to influence the voters and superdelegates. HRC: "He is not a Muslim...as far as I know." HRC to Bill Richardson: "He can't win." To the Superdelegates: "He's unelectable." Campaign operative Ferraro: The only reason Obama is "a problem for Hillary" is because he's black. The Clinton campaign after NC: She did better among white people, and that's the argument we're going to make to the SDs (another way of saying "He's unelectable"). Bill Clinton writing off SC: "Jesse Jackson won here."

[McCamy Taylor]

74. Did you watch the unity speech? Or were you too busy reading Drudge?

Please look up CREEP, Segretti, 1972. I am tired of explaining this.

[CakeGrrl]

78. Do you mean Obama's race speech?

If you've already explained it, just link to one of your posts if you don't mind. Not sure why you think I might have been reading Drudge versus listening to a 'Unity Speech'.

I didn't make up any of the examples I referenced.

I think my point stands on its own that Hillary is not some hapless victim in this campaign suddenly set upon by KO for no good reason - I'm trying to respond to what I think was the gist of your original assertion that he has somehow gone 'through the looking glass' in attacking her.

KO has been very supportive of the Clintons as he vehemently pointed out during the Ferraro flap, but, as has happened with a number of people, KO has been confronted with and has reacted to the unpleasant turns her campaign has taken and her direct participation in or tacit approval of what's transpired.

The problem is that unlike 1972, the actions of Hillary's campaign are what is driving the wedge between the Democrats - not the Republican machine. She's actually getting a perverse assist from the Fox crew, though it's not out of magnanimity or any interest in her long-term success.

[LowerManhattanite]

96. And in my comment I said...

“And while I can semi-understand her “going there” to blunt the GOP's domination of that spur of the discussion, going “there” is the one thing that everybody knows gets Olbermann fired up like few other bits of political gamesmanship. He'd spent the last two years roasting Cheney and Bush every time they pulled that and it seemed to genuinely shake him when the senator from NY supped at that table too.”

The need to show “cojones” as it were may well have been a necessary but superficial evil in a sexist environment. But as you note, the way she went about it was to crib from the same playbook as Bush, Cheney and the hated Giuliani.

And going to that playbook is radioactive for Olbermann. Anybody who's watched him for the last three years knows that. He's gutted Lieberman for it—even before the '06 election where he became a true “DINO” and he's ripped the Democratic congress' spinelessness and pandering in enabling Bush's draconian, fear-card/“war on terra” policies. Seeing the then Dem front-runner go there so nakedly and over-the-top was a deal-breaker. And the irony of all this is that you would think Senator Clinton would have learned a valuable lesson about “showing cojones” four years ago when she signed off on the IWR. She'd been ripped for that practically non-stop since '05 and she less-than-smartly went to the “cojones” well again.

All this conjecture about a cabal of people handing him oppo research that turned him against her is just that—conjecture. The facts at hand, and knowing Olbermann's long historical record of pet peeves and bugaboos explain his tack much clearer.

That may be a problem for people to digest, but having watched him for years, his reaction didn't surprise me in the least.

And he went off about the “fear card” thing for several shows thereafter, including his primary coverage with the execrable “Tweety”.

It was a “red flag before a bull”...and he gored her badly.

[Political Heretic]

76. You COMPLETELY NAILED IT.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

87. BINGO! Thanks.

[bridgit]

90. Hahahahaha, so glad he wasn't wearing *that* hat, better you didn't link KO to The Banana Man

if vaudeville is where we're really heading here: A. Robins, The Banana Man. That 'Part 1 -1/7/08' tube was also right around the time KO became fueled by the sound of his own voice bouncing off the set behind which continues to grow, somehow, ever more routine, histrionic & verbose

[truedelphi]

104. Hi there LM, I think you nailed it. KO hates fear.

Especially fear as a political card to maneuver the unwashed masses into accepting this, that or the attack on Iran.

I think also that word-lover Keith "heard" how the words out of Clinton's mouths were "I" as in "I" will work hard for you," "I" will get things done," and even "I will lead if you will follow."

The nation has had enough of "following" someone. Especially someone with the fear card in her hands.

Obama was smart enough to use the words "We," and "us"

Maybe he doesn't mean that, but I thknk he does.

I was only supporting Obama because I couldn't rally around Clinton - but after O addressed the nation on the racial situation and as Jon Stewart put it, "At 11 Am on a Tuesday morning, a politician finally talked to the people of this nation about the issue of race, as though they were adults," I began supporting Obama with almost a full heart.

[SoCalDem]

56. A+ on formatting

:)

[democracy1st]

57. So this is all about men I see

"I was trying to find out when KO caught Hillary Hatred, the disease that makes men’s eyes bug out of their heads and gives their faces that purplish flush that clashes with their ties. He did not have it yet around the first of the year, but Richard Wolffe was already spreading the anti-Hillary rhetoric way back then."

[McCamy Taylor]

59. In women the disease shows different signs. See Arianna Huffington.

[Political Heretic]

75. Keith just tells inconvenient truth.

No one has yet pointed to anything Keith has said that has been untrue - they just don't like his commentary, i.e. interpretation of the facts.

Tough.

[Perry Logan]

79. Medic! The Clinton-bashing sections of Keith's show are whiny and unwatchable.

[DeeDeeNY]

80. Huh? You are seeing things that aren't there.

Richard Wolffe is the Newsweek correspondent assigned to the Obama campaign. Keith didn't "inadvertently" reveal he was spending a lot of time with them. That is his job!! Wolffe has actually been fairly critical of Obama throughout the campaign, as he had been critical of all the candidates all along. In the beginning, Keith appeared to favor Edwards and Hillary. Obama was the only candidate he never had an interview with, and he rarely spoke about him. Then Edwards dropped out and Obama won the 11 primaries in a row. In fact, the whole MSNBC crew appeared fine with Hillary until the mathematics showed she could not win.

[Tatiana]

82. Chris Matthews admits that his bosses favor Hillary.

Wolffe is one of the decent pundits. I really like his coverage. It has been very balanced and critical of Obama when warranted.

This poster really is seeing things that aren't there.

[truebrit71]

94. You Hilliots just crack me up....

...before the campaign's started he was the best thing since sliced bread...but as soon as he started holding your Queen to the same standard that he held ALL the other politician's that he has eviscerated to, you lot go batshit crazy...

Give it a rest. It just makes you look stupid.

[Texas Hill Country]

98. brilliant post.

[garybeck]

100. This is a SEXIST post. I call BULLSHIT.

I don't dislike Hillary because she's a woman. I dislike her for her policies and her campaign tactics. I suspect KO and Wolfe feel the same way.

You blew your cover in the second paragraph when you said:

"Hillary Hatred, the disease that makes men’s eyes bug out of their heads"

I'll tell you what, I know plenty of women who don't like Hillary just as much as I.

So take your sexist bullcrap somewhere else...

[Limelight]

101. I'm so tired of this KO bashing crap

Keith was the first progressive voice on tv in a long time and now, because he doesn't back who you want him to back, he's some sort of traitor to the cause? Two words...

BULL... SH*T...

This party and frankly this entire country, owes Keith Olbermann a debt of gratitude for finally reinjecting some sanity back into the political discourse of this country and all you whiners that can't stand that Keith calls your candidate on her race baiting bullsh*t and other various low road tactics need suck it up, sit down and shut up.

Flame this all you want, my signature line is my response to all who disagree. That said, if the sig isn't there as it seems to be often lately...

The Truth doesn't have to be liked or believed to still be The Truth.

[GalleryGod]

103. I agree.

Just like.."Joe Andrews doesn't live in Indianna




Another Calif- Super Delegate flips for Obama!




Senator Bill MacKay!














Se yo'al in DENVER!

[Clark2008]

107. Or it could be that Hillary is acting like a spoiled child and he's

calling her out for it.

:shrug:

[calimary]

111. Richard Wolffe is one of my least favorite of his on-air contributors.

LEAST favorite.

A simpering sycophant if ever there was one. I even saw him described in some other mainstream print outlet as one of the most obsequious interviewers of george w bush. Until it just became WAY too obvious that bush was for shit, there came Richard Wolffe, who nauseatingly clung to the "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" school of White House reportage. Almost EVERY SINGLE ONE of his reports on bush or his administration inevitably finished with "... but the public still seems to be of the opinion that he's doing the best he can."

What an asswipe. My husband can tell you I have - for YEARS - torn my hair and gnashed my teeth over his powder-puff-and-presidential-knee-pads coverage of the bush White House. The most simpering of toadies - that ever walked the earth.

You will NEVER get any sort of meaningful reporting or expose about these bastards from him. EVER. He's far too busy fawning even to notice in the first place.