Many have correctly pointed out that we don't really know all the details of just why Keith Olberman

[Atticus]

no longer has a job with MSNBC, but that does not mean that it is too early to be angry and disgusted.

What we do know is that Keith Olberman was, and is, our friend. Keith was there with us through some of the darkest days of the Bush administration. He was, for a time, the solitary flickering candle in that darkness and was, for many of us, the only daily evidence that we were not alone in our despair for our beautiful country.

Keith was wicked smart, but was able to communicate his view of things without the slightest hint of condescension. As diverse as we, his viewers, were, he was "one of us". And, like most of us, he treated politics as a vital concern, not a game where the object was simply scoring points.

Keith had his rough edges, like we all do. That comes with being genuine. He did not get "perturbed" or "vexed", but he did occasionally get pissed. And, when Keith got pissed, he swatted down gnats like O'Reilly and Limbaugh and Palin. And, this, as much as anything, in my view, is why Keith had to go.

Regardless of the terms of his departure, whether he was fired or he resigned or whatever, it is clear that Keith Olberman could not become the "team player" that corporate America demands. He was not programmed to simply smile and nod and read the telemprompter on cue. He talked to us, not at us and he told us something that the self-styled Masters of the Universe didn't want us to hear:

the truth.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. He will land somewhere, don't know when or how

[glinda]

3. And we will be there to catch him.

[Ninga]

4. I hope so....but somehow I'm not seeing the possibility. stupid stupid NBC.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Not the first time, that he walks out that is

He may have quit, they may have put the axe on him, most likely a lovely combo...

But this is the media consolidation stupid as well.

[glinda]

2. Yea. Unlike those that lie when they want to take someone down. KO was a gentleman.

[virgogal]

5. He may not have been a team player,but he joined the team,and

accepted a very hefty salary to be part of the team.

Sorry to see him leave but he'll be back,somwhere,sometime.

[travelingtypist]

7. And we all want to know the real story.

I have a feeling we never will.

I am going to miss him. I'll latch onto Rachel as a lifeline, but Ed and Lawrence are wanting substitutes.

[Fridays Child]

8. Maybe he's going to be Obama's next press secretary.

Wouldn't that be something?

[cascadiance]

14. I was thinking just the same thing!...

Though the way Obama's administration has been lately, he might even have more of a problem "smiling" while speaking for them than he had with MSNBC...

Also, on thinking on this some more, I'm not sure Keith would want to work for the administration that let the Comcast/NBC merger go through, which arguably put him in to the predicament he is in now.

[snot]

9. I do hope we learn more details.

[robinlynne]

10. I think we do. As soon as we heard COmcast was allowed to buy MSNBC, we

all knew exactly what would happen. He didn't resign. He wouldn't resign.

[Overseas]

11. K&R ! //nt

[ElboRuum]

12. It is too early.

Anger and disgust with whom, precisely, and about what, precisely? Let's just wait for some information before we decide to indulge emotions which have already been exercised to the point of addiction, shall we? Your speculation as to the cause may well be correct, but it is just that, speculation.

[Kablooie]

13. You don't have to use, 'has' and 'was'. 'is' and 'will' sounds a lot better.