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07 Nov 2010 21:27

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Politics: Keith Olbermann breaks silence via Twitter; happy for support

  • Atta boy Keith. We don’t think what you did was particularly smart, but we think MSNBC overreacted. Glad to see you keeping up your spirits. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Nov 2010 14:13

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Politics: Defend Olbermann, go viral: How @ericfadden got 2,500 retweets

  • Before you know it my iPhone can’t turn it’s screen off because I’m getting near constant push notifications of retweets.
  • Twitter user (and SFB reader) Eric Fadden • Explaining how he became something of a Twitter celebrity yesterday after a key point that he made in the Keith Olbermann saga received 2,500 retweets. The tweet? “Gotta love the new campaign contribution rules. Keith Olbermann donates as a citizen and gets suspended. A corp can give & remain nameless.” Fadden says that around 90 percent of the tweeters agreed him, but the other ten percent were very critical. To that, he says: “Has the polarization gotten that bad where we would mock one of our own as their rights are trampled by their employer…nay, even worse, when that employer enjoys more protection than those it employs?” Good point, Eric. It’s good to point out that the game is a little different for journalists, but Olbermann is biased and should not be held to the standard of a reporter. Meanwhile, General Electric can anonymously influence the electoral process as they choose. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Nov 2010 00:23

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Politics: Rachel Maddow: “We should have Keith back hosting ‘Countdown'”

  • Leave it to Rachel Maddow to put a useful period on the end of that sentence.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Nov 2010 20:14

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Politics: Why MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann decision was a really bad idea

  • Keith Olbermann stepped in it when he donated to a political candidate. What happened next, though, was a really bad precedent for MSNBC that’ll prove more controversial than Olbermann’s original move was. While we don’t think Keith should’ve been donating to candidates immediately after talking to them on TV, we also think the punishment doesn’t fit the crime. It also opens NBC Universal up to double standards, especially if Gawker’s right, and MSNBC doesn’t actually have the standards that NBC News does. Some other points to come out of this whole mess:
  • one Even William Kristol, a conservative commentator who has no reason to support the ideologically opposed Olbermann, had his back, which was really nice of him.
  • two Salon offers up another relevant point: If CNBC were held to the same standards as Olbermann, most of their staff would have to be suspended. Oy vey. source
  • » Correction: An earlier version of this post noted The Nation’s Washington Editor, Chris L. Hayes, no longer doing a replacement MSNBC show because of campaign contributions of his own. This was based on a still-online Wall Street Journal article. Hayes himself denied the allegations: “OK: I’m not filling in on Countdown tonight because I didn’t feel comfortable doing it given the circumstances. My not hosting tonight has *nothing* to do with several donations I made to two friends *before* I ever signed an MSNBC contract.” Thanks to Ilya Gerner and Susan Pruden for tipping us off to this. (And for reading!)
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Nov 2010 14:01

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Politics: MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann suspended for campaign donations

  • I became aware of Keith’s political contributions late last night. Mindful of NBC News policy and standards, I have suspended him indefinitely without pay.
  • MSNBC President Phil Griffin • Announcing that Keith Olbermann has been suspended for donating to three political campaigns, one of which happened immediately after he interviewed the candidate (Raul Grijalva of Arizona) on the show. While Olbermann noted that he “did not privately or publicly encourage anyone else to donate to these campaigns, nor to any others in this election or any previous ones, nor have I previously donated to any political campaign at any level,” clearly that wasn’t enough for MSNBC. On Tumblr, me and Mark Coatney (formerly of Newsweek, now of Tumblr) had a little bit of a debate on all this, and while I didn’t come on Keith’s side here for ethical reasons, I honestly thought he was untouchable (and that it wasn’t bad enough to force MSNBC’s hand). Guess not. The mighty fall, too. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Nov 2010 22:44

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Politics: Keith Olbermann stops “Worst Person in the World” segment (for now)

  • Well, that was unexpected. While criticizing the “Rally To Restore Sanity,” Keith Olbermann actually bent to it a little bit. He’s taking a break from the most well-known segment of “Countdown,” the “Worst Person in the World” segment, which (hilariously enough) was created in an attempt to defend Tucker “mining Journolist for traffic” Carlson. Is this temporary? Is it a pre-election stunt? Does it matter? Who cares! It’s Keith, admitting Jon Stewart’s rally got to him while at the same time saying it didn’t really get to him. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Aug 2010 00:42

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Politics: WTF: Keith Olbermann vs. Glenn Beck on “Ground Zero Mosque”

  • Not-so Kool Keith vents Keith Olbermann was very much in Edward R. Murrow mode for his “Ground Zero Mosque” special statement on Monday night, and while it was largely over-the-top, he made some good points, and an entertaining “This is America, dammit!” pitch for religious freedom.
  • Glenn guffaws, and then some Apparently, the only part of the entire twelve-minute statement Beck heard was the “This is America, Dammit!” part, because he kept replaying it over and over, and didn’t tackle the argument at all. He chose, instead, to ridicule Olbermann, saying nobody watches his show.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink
 

09 Aug 2010 00:19

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Politics: Max Headroom: Ted Olson has all the answers on gay marriage


  • Ted Olson just gets itChris Wallace is having trouble keeping up with the former Solicitor General, whose handiwork in the suit ensured that it would pass muster. Chris Wallace throws talking points, and Olson just swats them away like they were softballs.

  • John Boehner’s fake tan Dude, did you seriously do the whole spray-on thang? Whether or not Boehner got a fake tan, the lighting during his conversation about birthright citizenship makes him look like he got on the air after a long night of drinking.
  • Olbermann’s new gameIt is a slightly sad time for Keith Olbermann, who won’t be featured on NBC’s “Football Night In America” anymore. But that’s OK; he has another game. The game? Making Sharron Angle look like a freaking idiot. LOL.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Jul 2010 10:58

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Politics: KeithOlbermnann.com: The latest part of the MSNBC Web vortex

  • KeithOlbermann.com, named for MSNBC’s most-well-known personality, was just bought by the folks at The Daily Caller, a site run by former MSNBC guy Tucker Carlson. It plans to write commentary specifically about Keith Olbermann. To top it all off, we found out about this story on Mediaite, a site owned by former MSNBC personality (and current NBC News personality) Dan Abrams. It’s like inside baseball on inside baseball – which is even more ironic because Keith Olbermann’s a huge baseball fan. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Jun 2010 22:34

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Politics: Max Headroom: Damn, we wish Sophie B. Hawkins would stop singing


  • Meet Alvin Greene Keith Olbermann is perhaps the perfect guy to question Democratic Senate candidate Alvin Greene, who folds no matter what question you ask him. Olbermann questions him as if he was talking to a child – a child who stumbled into an embarrassingly adult situation.

  • On that obscenity chargeOK, we all know how Alvin Greene inexplicably won a South Carolina primary. But we don’t know very much about the obscenity charge. Fortunately, the reported victim (and her mom!) told Shepard Smith exactly what happened. Hey, that’s not a picture of a football!

  • Good message, bad idea Remember Sophie B. Hawkins? The singer-songwriter who became famous for singing about wanting to be your lover? Well, now she has a song about the oil spill. And it’s awful. Oh boy. Yes, you should donate. No, you shouldn’t listen to this terrible, terrible song.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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