Olbermann on Lawrence O’Donnell…
Keith Olbermann blogs on Daily Kos about Lawrence O’Donnell regarding the latter’s Huffington Post blog entry “John Edwards is a loser”…
I don’t read every blog, nor everything written by my guests. I often don’t know until an hour beforehand who will be a guest on a given show (if it matters to you, these scheduling nightmares tend to come in waves for some reason, and last night was a Nor’easter). Also, to announce, on-air, each guest’s preferences, prejudices, shillings and shiv jobs, would reduce the rest of the show to “Good Evening. Call Me Ishmael. My Boat Sank. The End. Good Night.” And Lawrence O’Donnell’s insight is almost always perceptive, relevant, and enlightened.
But even with these caveats, the point about this appearance, especially in the wake of such a freshly-written piece, is well-taken and I’m very sorry.
It will be addressed tonight on the show.
This just keeps getting stranger and stranger. Is Olbermann’s job on KOS to be a blogger, or an apologist?
I know he’s only had two posts so far, but they’ve both been explaining things about the show, and offering apologies or defenses.
This, however, does continue to make one thing perfectly clear… Olbermann’s ear is to the KOS, he reacts to what they’re saying, and their influence is very VERY strong. To all those who’ve denied this in the past (here on this website and elsewhere), how do you explain this?
Comment by ImNotBlue — January 18, 2008 @ 6:51 pm
Why is KO apologizing: for having Lawrence O’Donnell on his show after Larry criticized a fellow Democrat? Unbelievable.
Comment by Goldfish — January 18, 2008 @ 7:01 pm
What? A spat between the two “O”s? Who to root for if there’s no “good” guy?
Comment by Missy — January 18, 2008 @ 7:02 pm
“This just keeps getting stranger and stranger. Is Olbermann’s job on KOS to be a blogger, or an apologist?”
Is that a trick question?
More seriously, this reflects the extremely dangerous symbiotic relationship between news organizations and bloggers. And Olbermann and Countdown are the worst practioners of this trend.
Bloggers and blogging can be a useful complement to hard news. But they, in their current incarnation, cannot replace hard news. News organizations that rely on blogs for hard news need to be extra cautious when disseminating the information.
Olbmerann and the crew at MSNBC throw caution to the wind. They do no hard or original reporting on allegations made by bloggers. They don’t check on the stories, they don’t contact the subjects being discussed to get their side of the story and they never credit the blog as being the source of the story.
I’m not sure what that is; but journalism it ain’t.
Comment by EricH — January 18, 2008 @ 7:18 pm
First Chrissy grovels to St.Hill and now KO apologizing for Lawrence O’Donnell remarks about the Silky Pony….MSNBC is more and more showing how much their controlled by the Nutroots leftest Blogs like Kos,Clinton’s Media Matters and the DNC.
Comment by mlong — January 18, 2008 @ 8:11 pm
“His HuffPo piece was news to me.” - Keith Olbermann
People have been criticizing his news sources for years.
Comment by Jim — January 18, 2008 @ 9:23 pm
I saw one of Olbermann’s diaries at Kos. It seemed primarly a vehicle for him to get effusive praise and adoration from his groupies. And oh yes, to share with us the news that his girlfriend was knitting while he was blogging. The man’s ego needs to be fed and the kos blogging does that for him, while ruining every single iota of credibility he might once have had.
Comment by Alison — January 18, 2008 @ 9:45 pm
Keith waxes with Bill Moyers about the good old days when journalist did Journalism but he uses Blogger stories almost exclusively in his show. Now, they’re his editors and he goes to their office when he screws up. He personfies everything Moyers, Rather complain about. This is pathetic.
Comment by PLuke — January 19, 2008 @ 11:51 am
I think Mr. Olbermann has an enormous ego that enjoys being fed by the bloggers at the Daily Kos. 1500 comments and counting, all very glowing. Really, who wouldn’t want to be told how terrific they are. I think Olbermann was taken aback when Lawrance O’Donnell did not agree with him. Since Olbermann is really not a political person, it makes sense he did not see the Huffington Post piece by O’Donnell. (That fact that his staff didn’t see it either says a lot). He should have NEVER apologized, especially to a far left wing blog. He did it twice! He seems to spend more time reading the Daily Kos than his OWN blog. He sure doesn’t post anything there, except fantasy baseball. At least baseball season is just aroung the corner. BTW: Why would you tell bloggers your girlfriend knits?
Comment by untitled — January 19, 2008 @ 12:54 pm
As someone so immersed in “fantasy” pastimes, he feels the need to remind everyone he has a girlfriend.
Comment by Jim — January 19, 2008 @ 3:02 pm
The olny people who watch this nut are the KOS idiots. So of course he cares about them. If they leave he has no show.
Comment by Tom P — January 19, 2008 @ 4:08 pm
He’s not a “political person”???????? That’s all he is.
Comment by PLuke — January 19, 2008 @ 8:49 pm
He’s not a political person in the sense that he’s not very well informed about politics.
Comment by Alison — January 19, 2008 @ 9:16 pm
“He’s not a political person in the sense that he’s not very well informed about politics. ”
Yeah, but he knows what Fred Merkle hit in 1907.
And who the third base coach for the Reds in 1950 was.
And he writes so well! He’s funny too.
That’s good enough to anchor a news program nowadays.
Comment by EricH — January 19, 2008 @ 9:39 pm
I don’t understand why he did not post the information at his own site rather than Kos. Writing a diary at a partisan blog is dangerous territory, and doing it several times and also commenting on other writers’ diaries is proof that he had thought through the consequences, tossing credibility aside. Not a great move, in my opinion.
Comment by Char — January 19, 2008 @ 9:47 pm
He has contempt for Conservatives. Why? Because they were the Athletes and he was the nerdy guy talking about them. He’s held that hatred his entire life.
Comment by PLuke — January 19, 2008 @ 10:12 pm
No, he has contempt for conservatives because it’s profitable.
Look, the conservative market is pretty heavy with pundits already… and to break into that market would be pretty tough. So, he jumped on the liberal bandwagon, because there’s more room right now.
I don’t for a minute believe he actually believes (or understand) what he’s saying. But he knows it’s how he can get a little popularity, a little fame… and perhaps in 30 year people will remember his name.
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