Olbermann joins the movement…
As advertised, Keith Olbermann responded to the O’Reilly petition drive and it was as brutal as I thought it would be. Keith said he couldn’t recall exactly why Bill might be upset and then ran about a two minute long retrospective of the “worst” of O’Reilly on Countdown. Then he signed the petition. He then said he had the full backing of everyone at MSNBC and while he was talking they cut to a whole mess of people signing the “Fire Keith” petition including but not limited to…
Tucker Carlson
Dan Abrams
And this person who Keith said was the producer of Rita’s show…
…yeah I know who it was too…
Crooks & Liars has the video…
Update: I want to make something clear here. I’m not taking Olbermann’s side in this. I’m not taking any side in this. Olbermann has his opinion of O’Reilly and that’s it. I accept it for what it is, his opinion. That said, I don’t think O’Reilly can win this feud because every time he does respond it just elevates Olbermann’s rhetoric. And I think it’s a mistake for him to continue to respond, particularly when he circuitously tries to respond by blasting MSNBC while trying not to specifically mention Olbermann by name. Admittedly O’Reilly is in a tough spot here. He’s damned if he responds because it gives Olbermann fresh ammunition and he’s damned if he doesn’t respond because Olbermann continues to take shots at him (especially now that it’s patently obvious to anyone that he’s gotten under O’Reilly’s skin). But I think O’Reilly is better off by not responding than by responding.
Keith had the full backing of everyone at MSNBC? Well that’s not saying much. If he’s referring to his boss Rick Kaplan, wasnt’ Kaplan the guy who let Steve Capus yell at Keith recently while he looked the other way?
This guy is a monster joke.
Comment by Tricia — February 24, 2006 @ 11:39 pm
It makes for good TV. For both KO & BO (gee, KO vs. BO… knockout versus, well… whatever it is that BO usually stands for) it adds a bit of entertainment value.
Some people who watch Keith do so, in part, because they don’t like Bill. You have three options at 8 ET: News that tilts right, News that tilts left… and whatever it is that Paula Zahn does these days. Bill & Keith aren’t fighting for each other’s viewers. Look, MSNBC isn’t going to get rid of Keith’s show for several reasons. 1) It’s performing well right now, 2) It brings in a young audience 3) It is an established program (quite a feat for MS).
And Trishy, Keith is no more a monster joke than Bill. Throwaway comments like that do very little to convince anyone of anything.
One last note — at least we know what Tucker and Rita do on Friday now.
Comment by WestCoastBlogger — February 25, 2006 @ 12:43 am
Keith’s Bill-bashing segment and greatest-hits retrospective last night was some of the best television ever. Spud is right on the money. When is Bill going to realize he is never going to win in a battle of wits because he has no weapons to fight with? (The chief one being a sense of humor!) Keith is just making Bill look like an idiot now. Not that that’s terribly hard to do, but it’s as if Keith has baited an Idiot Trap and Bill just keeps walking right into it every time.
Hey Bill: the defintion of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and thinking that each time you’ll get different results!
Comment by tanne — February 25, 2006 @ 10:32 am
“Spud is right on the money. When is Bill going to realize he is never going to win in a battle of wits because he has no weapons to fight with? (The chief one being a sense of humor!)”
If that’s your takeaway from what I said then you didn’t understand what I said because I didn’t say that…
Comment by Spud — February 25, 2006 @ 10:39 am
I wonder if KO applied to win a chance to be part of the BO segment called “Bloviate With Bill”? That might decide once and for all….who’s yer daddy.
Comment by Roger C. — February 25, 2006 @ 11:55 am
I think both men are embarassing. They have both sunk to each other’s levels, and I have no respect for either one of them. For O’Reilly to even respond to Olbermann’s digs is beneath him. The ratings difference alone give Bill leverage, but the way he continually engages with Olbermann only makes Bill look bad.
Comment by Christine — February 25, 2006 @ 12:01 pm
Love Keith……he makes the news fun…………helps me forget for a few minutes just how terrible the world has become in the last couple of years!
As for the feud……….good for a laugh!
Comment by jan — February 25, 2006 @ 12:28 pm
Spud you really seem to be afraid of offending the right-wingnuts on this website. It’s really interesting to watch you try to finese your way around them to avoid upsetting them. Is it because they predominate here? What if the situation were reversed? What exactly would you be saying then? Whatever.
The segment was hilarious. And as long as O’Reilly continues on with his nonsense, Olbermann will use it to his advantage which is why O’Reilly should have the good sense to stop but that would actually require him having some intelligence and it’s pretty apparent from just casually viewing he’s show he’s utterly devoid of it.
Oh, and I’m pretty sure that Rita is in fact, an executive producer for her show so KO was technically correct. I wonder whose idea it was to put her in a Keith Olbermann mask?
Comment by JaneDoh — February 25, 2006 @ 3:30 pm
“Spud you really seem to be afraid of offending the right-wingnuts on this website.”
This isn’t about ideology. Anyone who reads this blog knows how I love to tee off on Olbermannwatch, Media Matters for America, Newshounds, and the MRC.
This is about who is right and who is wrong. But as this is about opinion (e.g. Olbermann thinks O’Reilly is a blowhard egomaniac/O’Reilly thinks Olbermann is a cheap shot artist with no morals and no ratings) you can’t really say who is right and who is wrong because it’s subjective.
And I don’t see how you can say I’m afraid of offending O’Reilly’s camp when I clearly state and feel that O’Reilly’s antics in this feud won’t help him any…
Comment by Spud — February 25, 2006 @ 3:38 pm
I think they’re both silly men. One is just the king of cable news with the most viewers, and the other is the joker.
Comment by audrey — February 25, 2006 @ 11:04 pm
In the past week alone, O’Reilly has: 1.Called for Eric Burns of FOX News Watch to fire Neal Gabler, 2.Called on the FCC to investigate Al Franken and Air America, and 3.Called on NBC to fire Olbermann. I would say that there is no “even-handed” view of who’s lost his mind and who’s the real journalist here.
Comment by museglet — February 26, 2006 @ 4:55 am
O’Reilly’s huge ego has certainly gotten the better of him once again.
He only acts as Olbermann’s publicist when he does this.
Olbermann has used his show to endlessly axe grind against a professional adversary in a manner never seen before.
O’Reilly would do well to sit back and allow that to be Olbermann’s legacy.
Comment by Cecelia — February 26, 2006 @ 5:55 pm
Spud, I was trying to say that I agree with you that all Bill the Idiot is doing in all this is giving Keith free publicity. The rest is my own opinion. And I totally disagree with you about anything being subjective here. As for Cecelia, Olbermann does what he does because O’Reilly is a bully to be called on for what he does. He is the first one to stand up against Bill and say “No more. I will call a spade a spade, and you, sir, are a spade.” Thank God for it.
Comment by tanne — February 26, 2006 @ 10:10 pm