Frugal Café Blog Zone

Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on January 22, 2011

Graphic credit: Olbermann Watch

While my birthday was on Thursday and the firing of Keith “Reagan Was a Lousy President” Olbermann from MSNBC happened on Friday, permit me to bask a bit in the warmth of this lovely, belated birthday gift.

The obligatory, catch-all “creative differences” are cited as the reason for Olbermann’s canning, as in the “I don’t care if my ratings are in the toilet, I love to crazily malign conservatives while earning $7 million a year” kind of creative differences.

Olbermann was a clownish cartoon, a hypocritical, blowhard millionaire who denounced conservative values and principles and all those who embrace them. He was driven by hate and put on the ugliest face imaginable, helping to turn NBC’s news into a farce, a far-left loony bin that reliably throws monkey poop at the majority of Americans.

His December tweet to his fanbase, calling Rush Limbaugh “pigeonsh!t” of all things, was jaw-droppingly childish and bizarre.

I am worried about the fate of my beloved Olbermann Watch site… hope the plug isn’t pulled, but it sounds like it will be. Read the entire post by Robert Cox — here’s a snippet:

Having grown up in a household where when the news was on TV it was always Huntley, Brinkley, and later Chancellor and where mornings always began with Barbara Walters and later Tom Brokaw and Jane Pauley on the Today Show, I was alarmed at the sudden lurch to the left on Countdown. OlbermannWatch was launched, then, as a reaction to that and something of a warning to fans of NBC News like me and to the executives at the network that Keith was taking his show hard left and appeared to determined to take the rest of the network with him, down into the rabbit hole of Olbermann conspiracy theories. The result, I predicted long and loud would be the destruction of the reputation of NBC News built up over decades and exemplified by the men that Olbermann professed to honor and respect (Keith never mentioned women in his various paeans to broadcast journalism).

Today, for the first time since 2003, Keith Olbermann no longer has a TV show. He is no longer considered a News Anchor at NBC. For NBC News, however, it is too late. The reputation of the news division is left in tatters. MSNBC is nothing but a far-left outpost for the lunatic fringe. The broadcast news operation a fading shadow on a fourth place network — fifth if you consider the nights when Fox News beats NBC News coverage of special events like the State of the Union Address or the national political conventions.

And in that sense, Keith won. He wanted to turn NBC News into [a] liberal alternative to Fox News. He succeeded.

From Big Journalism, Conservatives React Quietly to Keith Olbermann Departure:

Forgive the political right while it gloats over Keith Olbermann’s reign coming to a close at MSNBC. After all, with a few exceptions, they’re being rather civil about Friday’s surprising news.

At Glenn Beck’s TheBlaze.com, for example, there’s a straight story and video about Olbermann’s departure, with opinion left to those who take the time to post comments, and they were into the hundreds within a few hours.

“See…. There is a God,” one responder wrote. “Now that’s the kind of Hope and Change I like,” wrote another.

Ditto over at BigJournalism.com, run by conservative rabble-rouser Andrew Breitbart. There was a just-the-facts story with a link to the New York Times, and lots of readers weighing in, some of them rather clever in their disparagement of Olbermann.

“Keith will land on his feet. Maybe Al-Jazeera is hiring,” said one. “Is KO gonna be the new White House Press Secretary?” said another.

Breitbart himself didn’t weigh in via the Internet beyond a few mild tweets, though he told The Hollywood Reporter that he has “long been an open supporter of Keith Olbermann.” MSNBC and its Countdown host, in fact, was one catalyst for creating BigJournalism, which operates under the assumption that the news media is biased and untrustworthy.

From Pam Geller at Atlas Shrugs, who was attacked by Olby more than once… Keith Olbermann Fired!:

Don’t let the door hit cha in the ace, Keefy. Olbermann is fired after Comcast takes over MSNBC.

Looks like I will have to be satisfied with only four “worst person in the world” awards from the undershtupper himself (here and here and here and here) Keith Olbermann is out and off the air.

In a statement, MSNBC said : “MSNBC and Keith Olbermann have ended their contract. The last broadcast of ‘Countdown with Keith Olbermann’ will be this evening. MSNBC thanks Keith for his integral role in MSNBC’s success and we wish him well in his future endeavors.”

Keith Olbermann has announced that his show has been canceled and his contract terminated. heh

Doug Powers, who guest blogs at Michelle Malkin’s fabulous site, weighs in — we all know how Olby LOVED *cough, cough* Michelle, especially when he called her a “big mashed up bag of meat with lipstick”… MSNBC Leans Forward, Pushes Olbermann Out the Door:

Friday night was Keith Olbermann’s last day doing “Countdown” on MSNBC, and it would appear that most of America found out about it at around the same time Olbermann did.

NBC Universal’s statement about Keith’s seemingly sudden departure is here. The media blogosphere lit up like Olbermann’s face when discussing arresting Cheney for war crimes when the news of his exit from MSNBC was announced.

There’s no reason for concern over at MSNBC though — somebody there will probably be more than happy to pick up the slack when it comes to misogynistic bomb throwing.

Hot Air has lots of Olbermann updates for those keeping score at home.

Mediaite is reporting that MSNBC got rid of Olbermann for the same reason that proctologists retire: They got tired of dealing with… nevermind.

Daily Kos readers are freaking out, threatening to boycott MSNBC. What they don’t realize is that now that KO is gone, more conservatives may start watching the network. Hand-wringing hilarity ensues.

Noel Sheppard at NewsBusters has an intriguing piece on why he thinks Olby should work at FOX News –

…The left would have to actually tune their television to Fox News to find Olbermann. And the right would have to suffer through all those promos for his show – like sizzle reel Kryptonite – before settling in on Bill O’Reilly. A nation heals.

And, seriously, who wouldn’t want to watch O’Reilly and Olbermann toss to each other every night? It would be a sneer and snark fest for the ages.

Although this wouldn’t surprise me, I’d be very sad to see it happen.

In my view as a media analyst, Keith Olbermann represents all that is wrong in journalism today. He makes a hobby out of distorting the truth, and when that’s not good enough to further his agenda, he just flat out lies.

Him battling with folks like Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, and Greta Van Susteren would be fabulous theater as it drove Fox’s ratings, but it would also drag down that network’s credibility.

MSNBC is a laughing stock because of this arrogant, egotistical blowhard, and has become more so as a result of similarly vitriolic additions to its prime time lineup.

From Deadline Hollywood:

The statement… about Keith Olbermann’s exit came without warning. The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell will move to 8 PM weekdays on MSNBC, and The Rachel Maddow Show remaining at 9 PM, with The Ed Show starring Ed Schultz moving to 10 PM. Cenk Uyger of the liberal “Young Turks” will be taking over Ed’s 6 PM slot. The moves are simultaneous with new owner Comcast starting to show its hand over the broadcast network and cable NBCU after receiving FCC approval. “He’s been very problematic,” an NBCU source told Deadline about Comcast’s attitude to Olbermann. Officially, the Comcast takeover is next week. But word has been circulating for months now that the new owners have wanted to “tinker” with MSNBC and had many changes in store, including a right turn for the left-wing cable channel so that it represents both political points of view more evenly.

[...]

Olbermann hosts the highest-rated program on MSNBC, which isn’t saying much since that channel’s ratings lag those of Fox News by a big margin. His Countdown averaged 1 million viewers, down a modest 10% from 2009. However, he’s known as a very polarizing figure and a loose cannon, and became more and more of a liability for MSNBC. In November, he was briefly suspended for making Democratic campaign contributions — and then reinstated.

Those who aren’t crying over Olbermann’s exit… here’s a handful of the scorching readers’ comments from Deadline Hollywood readers. Check out the site for hundreds more just like these:

Comment from Nate:

WAHHH!

Keith is the WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD. He’s a jerk.

Maybe now MSNBC will actually have an audience. Imagine that?

From TrickyPapa:

You are partially correct. Olberman is the worst political commentator in the world. As a sports reporter, however, I thought he was pretty good. Too bad he lost his way and went into the political field for which he was totally unprepared.

From RayJay:

He destroyed Footbal Night in America. Both Bob Costas and co-host Cris Collinsworth couldn’t wait for him to leave. Where is that show now!

From JGurn:

A SPORTSCASTER, my butt! His condescending, arrogant, incessant blabber incites one to “channel-search” for calmness in presentation sandwiched between real Sports Knowledge…not hyperbolic bullsh–. It’s time for Sir Olberman to be introduced to HUMILITY on the un-employment-line collecting the pittance of his worth. Finally, good job MSNBC..KEEP THE BROOM SWEEPING and you’ll see your rating arrow go up.

From Jack:

Those of you who are encouraging Olbermann to return to sports are probably not old enough or remember, or are unaware, that, when Olbermann’s ESPN contract ended 13 years ago, he was essentially “drummed out” of the sports world. Either Sports Illustrated or The Sporting News reported that Olbermann was the “most detested man” in sports broadcasting.

Two years ago, Olbermann began showing up on NBC’s Sunday night football broadcast, but then suddenly disappeared and did not appear at all this year. Why? Because his appearance caused millions of viewers to switch channels and a lot of them did not switch back. You know the sponsors must have loved that.

So, before you decide that Olbermann is going to be the next Bob Costas, etc., remember that he is reviled by millions of American men who watch NFL football and voted for Reagan, and who is anathema among the sports broadcasting fraternity.

Olbermann is finished. He wrote his own epitaph.

From Ed:

The reason you didn’t like Oberman is because he told the truth.

From Steven:

yea its because he told the truth. your truth. just because someone says something you want to hear doesnt make it true. he never backed any of his nonsensical remarks up with any fact. just his straight up bias. if he spoke that much truth then he would have had more than the 3 people watching him every night.

From Frank Piano:

The “truth” issue is not a problem with commentators. It’s their job to offer opinion shaded in their own experience. Olbermann was simply an ass; an arrogant dunderhead when it came to discussing politics. In that regard, his “truth” was to simply paint those he disliked with a bucketful of lies.

The issue of “truth” is more problematic with their reporters like Andrea Mitchell. She is full of bunk and that hurts the NBC News brand more than Olbermann ever did. Credibility is all you have as a news org and when Mitchell or any of the other left-wing nuts inject their feeling into news stories, that’s the issue.

From Lee Beacham:

Ed,
In the famous words of “Queen” Pelosi: “Are you serious, are you serious?”

Take another gulp of the Kool-Aid; you’re body-temperature challenged.

From Rich:

Ed-do you remember last November’s elections? The People spoke and they were not you. Enough said.

From Carlos:

K.O., or KOed. by now, never said anything that was original. He just stole others’ comments and twisted them. Did ever criticize Ed for wanting Chaney to die? Did he complain when someone wanted Rush to die in his vomit? I sometimes would try to listen to him but was turned off by his hate, lack of originality and constant bashing. Did he criticize NPR for the firing of Juan Williams? Keith, sell some of your sport memorabilia. Nobody was to see you again.

From B.E. Smith:

The reason I didn’t like his show (I won’t say I didn’t like him, as I’ve never met him and got to know him) is the socialist views he espoused. I think he is completely wrong on about 95% of his views when it comes to politics, the economy, forein affairs, etc. etc. I’m glad he’s off the air as I think his anti American rhetoric and hateful attitude toward anyone who didn’t agree with his warped sense of reality, did no good for either MSNBC or for the public in general. I hope Comcast will make some more changes in the near future and get MSNBC to have a more balanced point of view in the future. There are still plenty of leftist networks out there. There are none that are truly balanced though. FOX NEWS has a large majority of conservative hosts, but to their credit, they do have some liberals and they always have folks from both parties on their shows to debate the issues. This is why FOX NEWS blows the competition out of the water in viewership. MSNBC has never learned the lesson that you can’t be just completely one sided and never have real conservatives represented. Their one supposed conservative show “Morning Joe” has one former republican, who’s a complete leftist, surrounded by a bunch of liberal Democrat commentators. I believe Comcast will do what it takes to make this network into a money maker. Profit is not an evil thing. If no one made profits, no one would work and there would be no one to take taxes from for the government and they would be more broke than they already are. Comcast has made the logical first step in the firing of Kieth Olberman to start the process of making the network into a profitable enterprise and also to restore some trust and faith into the NBC name. Smart move Comcast! When I here of more such promising actions I may actually tune in to MSNBC and see if they have become a network worthy of my time to watch.

From mqg45:

Like Keithy boy did it for the “truth.” When it came to the money greed took over and his “truth” be dammed.It’s amazing that this guy was the stalwart of freedom when Bush Jr. was taking our rights away but as soon as Obama became President he turned into another fascist shill who told us that questioning authority was bad and those who do speak out against this President his acts are racist and hatemongers. “Truth,” you don’t say?

From JJ:

The reason Olbermann failed is the same reason “Air America” failed:
…Hate
…Lies
…Distortions
…Declining audience over time

MSNBC as a left-leaning organization has had a decade to survive. GE and its Progressive lackey, Jeffrey Immelt allowed this division to go without accountability for way too long. The new Comcast owners will make decisions on the basis of improving ratings and its P&L.

In order for the Progressive message to survive requires state-owned and tax payer subsidized stations. Their message can’t compete in an open field of ideas that survive with what the majority wants. People recognize unfairness and will choose accordingly. Now it’s time to de-fund PBS and NPR and allow them to compete under the same free-market conditions.

From harley2002:

Yea- right. He always told the truth…ask him where he went to school.

Brahahahhahhahahhahha Have another cup of Kool Aid…

One more reader comment — this one from PoconoJoe is priceless, posted at AoSHQ:

I heard that keith’s followers are planning an online petition to have him back on MSNBC as they think “this will be epic”.

Same thing happened when “Bozo the Clown” went off the air. See how well that worked?

As Voting American succinctly put it, “Thank you MSNBC, it’s a start.”

Adiós and DLTDHYOTWO, Olby. Or “Bathtub Boy,” as he’s not-so-affectionately called at No Sheeples Here and at Nice Deb.

Leftist hack Keith Olbermann lied again... said there was no prominent Hispanics on AZ Diamondbacks team when he decried Arizona's illegal immigration law - deliberately ignored many Hispanic players on the team, including the amazing Miguel Montero... guess he thought baseball fans wouldn't notice his blatant lie

A few previous posts on Olbermann:
Baseball, Illegal Immigration, & Liar Olbermann: Krazy Keith Snubs Miguel Montero & Other Hispanic AZ Diamondbacks to Falsely Claim There Are No Prominent Hispanic D-Backs Players

Olbermann Watch: Keith Olbermann Said Joe Lieberman Should Kill Himself Because of His Health Care Stance, and Other Scary Left-Wing Hate (audio/video)

Categories: Conservatism, Entertainment, Celebrities, Government, Social and Political Climate
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