Factor Fiction returns to MSNBC…
Last night I asked the question “If mentioning Olbermann by name gives him more publicity then doesn’t talking about not mentioning him by name do the same thing?” It seems I wasn’t the only one wondering about that as evidenced by this commercial break tease Keith Olbermann gave ahead of Countdown’s Thursday night edition of “Factor Fiction”…
Bill O’Reilly insists he wants to call out the “cable smear merchants” but not by name because that would give them too much publicity. Bill’s elevator doesn’t go to his top floor anymore, does it? We’ll take that free publicity ride next on another edition of Countdown’s “Factor Fiction”
Olbermann started off the segment with the following…
(UPDATE: Crooks and Liars has the video)
Once again from the world of Bill O’Reilly we have what the nuclear plant engineers call “an event”. He’s attacked me and this network again without provocation, without a cohesive line of thought without any justification what…
(Olbermann is handed a piece of paper)
Oh yeah…there was the Malmedy salute thing…but…
(Olbermann is handed another piece of paper)
That’s right…I did say that if Mel Gibson went on Bill O’s show at least Mel could claim he was drunk. That not withstanding…
(Olbermann is handed yet another piece of paper)
True…true…I did read Publisher’s Weekly’s review of his new book with…which described the book as kvetching and paranoia and battle fatigue…
OKAY! It’s shooting fish in a barrel! But they’re evil un-American sharks with freaking laser beams on their heads fish!
Thus began another edition of Factor Fiction. Olbermann began doing his shtick of mockingly quoting O’Reilly and Geraldo Rivera’s banter last night on The Factor. At one point Olbermann quipped…
Does Geraldo Rivera realize he’s been reduced to being Bill O’s sidekick? “I agree…Agree…I agree with you”…We get it! Bill’s done something wrong and you agree! Let us continue…
Quoting Rivera, Olbermann fired back at him…
“What do I give a damn about these cable people who talk about you or me or Mel Gibson?”
Nothing obviously except when Rivera complained publicly in 1997 that NBC was advertising my old MSNBC show instead of advertising his old CNBC show even more than it already was - or the blog he wrote about me in 2003 after I pointed out he had given away our troop positions at the start of the Iraq War.
“They can’t even get a rating”
I can’t even get a rating? You can’t even get a prime time show!
He then played tape of Rivera and O’Reilly disagreeing about whether to use Olbermann’s name on the air and O’Reilly saying that doing so gives “them” more publicity.
Heeeeeeeeere kitty, kitty, kitty…
That statement didn’t even make sense to Rivera. There’ve been three million articles about this feud. There was one this morning! How much worse could you make it by using my name Bill O? What are they going to do? Build a statue of me? You’re so confident in your success that you have to keep my name and show a secret from your viewers? Or all your viewers will leave you in one night?
It went on from there but you get the picture…
Zzzzzzzz. Zzzzzzzzz. Zzzzzzzz. Old and tired.
Comment by Goldfish — August 3, 2006 @ 9:28 pm
Like bill in all his years at FOX has never covered a story about a celeb in trouble :P
Comment by IceMan — August 3, 2006 @ 10:00 pm
So, aside from Keith claiming that Bill was defending Mel Gibson, where exactly were the “lies” and the “fiction”?
Comment by johnny dollar — August 3, 2006 @ 10:06 pm
I often here criticism of O’Reilly for how he has been dealing with Olbermann. But, why is it O’Reilly’s responsibility? Journalist on the air and in their columns should be pointing out how unprofessional and despicable these tactics are and put pressure on NBC to deal with it. I think we all know why there are no journalist who will.
Comment by BG — August 3, 2006 @ 11:22 pm
So, aside from Keith claiming that Bill was defending Mel Gibson, where exactly were the “lies” and the “fiction”?
We all knew what O’Reilly said last night, if we watched it or not; and we knew there was going to be a new attack on Countdown tonight. If Olbermann had been on vacation, he would have come back for it. But this time, I had no urge to watch it. Maybe some newbies did, but to most of us, it’s getting old. 15 minutes of my life wasted on an old joke? No way. Better things to do. There’s real news going on.
And JD is right. There were no lies or fiction involved. Just a vendetta.
Comment by erljr — August 4, 2006 @ 12:08 am
So, aside from Keith claiming that Bill was defending Mel Gibson, where exactly were the “lies” and the “fiction”?
I don’t know. I think he scored some points on Rivera acting like he didn’t care what was said about him.
Comment by Spud — August 4, 2006 @ 1:11 am
LOVED IT. LOVED IT. LOVED IT. And even better, I know it hit its target because so many of Olbermann’s enemies claimed it was boring and ineffective. LOL!
Comment by tanne — August 4, 2006 @ 7:03 am
Of course you loved it tanne. You loved the Hitler salute; you’d love Keith shoplifting, abusing an animal, whatever. Keith can do no wrong!!!
Comment by Missy — August 4, 2006 @ 9:34 am
The same people that complain about not seeing enough hard news love this Olbermann stuff. They are the same people who are taking over the Democratic party.
A joke can be funny the first time you hear it, even the second time, but after a while it gets old and boring.
Consider also, this is a very cheap segment to put together, as most of the stuff has been seen before. Countdown repeats other things as well; sometimes the exact same thing, sometimes a small change to update the story. And they’ll put the rerun as the top #1 story!
As far as Geraldo Rivera is concerned, he’s fair game. John Gibson too. But the O’Reilly thing is old and boring.
Comment by erljr — August 4, 2006 @ 11:21 am
What I don’t understand is why O’Reilly can’t leave it alone. It’s like a scab he just has to keep picking at, and he’s playing right into Olbermann’s hands every time he does. Unless it’s all a deep-laid plot between the two of them, as has been suggested here before?
Comment by Arthur — August 4, 2006 @ 1:00 pm
Which hand is O’Reilly playing into? Olbermann’s right hand, which Olbermann used to salute the Nazis?
Comment by Jack — August 4, 2006 @ 2:59 pm
What exactly would be the benefit to O’Reilly of this alleged plot?
KO is like poison ivy. You know if you scratch its just going to get worse and worse. But dammit, after so much you just have to scratch.
Comment by Scott — August 4, 2006 @ 3:00 pm
For me, watching Olbermann bitch-slap the crap out of the guys on Fox with his superior intelligence and sense of humor never gets old. Especially because smart people know that he never “saluted the Nazis”–on the contrary, he pointed out Bill O’Reilly’s continued support of Nazis.
And Scott is right–those idiots on Fox just can’t resist scratchin’. So Keith will never go away. Thank goodness!
Comment by tanne — August 4, 2006 @ 7:32 pm
Tanne, Tanne, Tanne, I so look forward to your posts. They are always logical, fair and balanced and totally reasonable.
That being the case i am sure you can backup this comment:
“saluted the Nazis”–on the contrary, he pointed out Bill O’Reilly’s continued support of Nazis.”
And just when did BOR support the Nazis exactly? Please provide ONE example if you can. Dont make it the Malmady masssacre since that has been de-bunked by Robert Cox….
I cant wait for your reply……
Comment by JR — August 5, 2006 @ 2:48 pm