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Ken Starr Reminds MSNBC's NEWEST HOST(Keith Olbermann) of Heinrich Himmler
MRC ^ | Monday, March 31, 2003 10:02:36 | BrentBaker

Posted on 03/31/2003 7:45:05 AM PST by fight_truth_decay

MSNBC's replacement, starting today, for Phil Donahue: A man who, in a previous stint with MSNBC, opined that "the person Ken Starr has reminded me of facially all this time was Heinrich Himmler" and wondered that if Starr continued to pursue President Clinton, "would not there be some sort of comparison to a persecutor as opposed to a prosecutor for Mr. Starr?"

That man is Keith Olbermann, a frequent occupier of the 5pm EST slot in recent weeks filling in for Jerry Nachman. Tonight, he will debut as host of his own show, in the 8pm EST hour until recently held by Phil Donahue, Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

As host of the Big Show with Keith Olbermann in the very same time slot on the very same network on August 18, 1998, Olbermann "asked" then-Chicago Tribune Washington Bureau Chief James Warren shortly after President Clinton's non-apology apology speech: "Can Ken Starr ignore the apparent breadth of the sympathetic response to the President's speech? Facially, it finally dawned on me that the person Ken Starr has reminded me of facially all this time was Heinrich Himmler, including the glasses. If he now pursues the President of the United States, who, however flawed his apology was, came out and invoked God, family, his daughter, a political conspiracy and everything but the kitchen sink, would not there be some sort of comparison to a persecutor as opposed to a prosecutor for Mr. Starr?"

That won the "I'm a Compassionate Liberal But I Wish You Were All Dead Award (for media hatred of conservatives)" in the MRC's very first DisHonors Awards. See a RealPlayer clip of it: http://www.mrc.org/notablequotables/dishonor1999/welcomeaward6.asp

On Saturday, the Washington Post's Lisa de Moraes provided a humorous recapping of Olbermann's job instability. An excerpt:

My head hurts trying to keep track of Keith Olbermann's career. Yesterday, MSNBC announced it had rehired Olbermann to anchor a nightly show in the very same 8 p.m. time slot he used to have on the cable network.

Olbermann quit MSNBC five years ago, saying its obsession with the Monica Lewinsky story gave him "the dry heaves."

Yesterday's MSNBC news comes about 15 months after Olbermann announced he had returned to CNN, where he had worked in the '80s. "It's wonderful to be home," Olbermann said then.

He stayed home less than a year. His second stint at CNN had been announced about eight months after his job at Fox Sports Net collapsed.

This marks the third time Olbermann has worked for MSNBC President Erik Sorenson. That includes Olbermann's tenure at MSNBC starting in summer '97, not long after he walked out of ESPN, prompting one ESPN official to comment, "He didn't burn the bridges here, he napalmed them."

Before ESPN, Olbermann worked as a sportscaster at KCBS in Los Angeles for then-general manager Erik Sorenson. You may have heard the story about Olbermann breaking a bathroom door there to illustrate his unhappiness about a substandard promo segment.

"He's edgy, he's got attitude, he's hip, he's clever, he's a good writer," Sorenson said yesterday.

Nineteen months ago he called Olbermann "the Gary Sheffield of broadcasting" -- a reference to the talented, much-traded slugger who is considered clubhouse poison. Of course, Sorenson said that during one of those periods when Olbermann wasn't actually working for him.

All things considered, MSNBC and Olbermann are a match made in heaven; the network changes strategies about as often as he changes jobs.

Olbermann said he isn't concerned about MSNBC's ever-changing game plan, because parent NBC has already announced he will host the cable network's Summer Olympics coverage in '04. NBC will telecast about 800 hours of Summer Games, 600 of which will be brought to you on MSNBC and CNBC. It would be pretty embarrassing for MSNBC to sack him this year and have to bring him back for the Games, Olbermann joked....

CNN considered giving Olbermann the 8 p.m. time period during his last, brief stint there. The network went with Connie Chung instead; it canceled her show last week.

END of Excerpt

For the article in full: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45118-2003Mar28.html

For MSNBC's page for the new program, with a picture of Olbermann: http://www.msnbc.com/news/892155.asp

Can anyone list all the occupiers of MSNBC's 8pm EST time slot since the network debuted in July of 1996?

Remember "InterNight" hosted on a rotating basis by Tom Brokaw, Bryant Gumbel, Bill Moyers and Ed Gordon?

Neither do I.

-- Brent Baker

When posted, this CyberAlert will be readable at: http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2003/cyb20030331.asp ####


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: heinrichhimmler; keitholbermann; kennethstarr; kenstarr; msnbc; olbermann
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the network changes strategies about as often as he changes jobs

Anyone seen Michael Savage-MSNBC's The Savage Nation lately?

1 posted on 03/31/2003 7:45:05 AM PST by fight_truth_decay
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To: Landru
PING!!!
2 posted on 03/31/2003 7:49:37 AM PST by nicmarlo
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To: fight_truth_decay
Keith Olbermann, Peter Arnett what hell's the difference!
3 posted on 03/31/2003 7:50:10 AM PST by Nagual
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To: fight_truth_decay
Another dictate from the Hitlery corps to the MSNBC lapdogs. Idiots. This Clintonoid will sink just like the bizzarro Donnahue did.
4 posted on 03/31/2003 7:50:30 AM PST by Freedom'sWorthIt
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To: fight_truth_decay
Olbermann is a strange dude who inexplicably keeps getting work.
5 posted on 03/31/2003 7:53:14 AM PST by PBRSTREETGANG
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To: fight_truth_decay
Olbermann is poison to me.....I wouldn't watch that creep for a Million Dollars!!! He;s AWFUL!

Memo to MSNBC: Keep sending out the Losers. You should have gotten smart and put Joe Scarborough in that time slot...IDIOT Olbermann....HAHAHAHAHA

6 posted on 03/31/2003 7:53:24 AM PST by Ann Archy
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To: fight_truth_decay
Im suprised MSNBC rehired Olbermann. I seem the recall the 1st leaving was nasty.......on Olbermann's part.
7 posted on 03/31/2003 7:58:30 AM PST by stylin19a (oh to die peacefully in my sleep like my uncle-not screaming in terror like his taxi passengers)
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To: fight_truth_decay
What's the over/under on which happens first: the war ends, pMSNBC is out of business.
8 posted on 03/31/2003 8:02:21 AM PST by clintonh8r (You can have no better friend and no worse enemy than a U.S. Marine.)
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To: fight_truth_decay
Keith Olbermann, Salon.Com columnist: "Thus stand this odd trio of my creation: Pete Rose, his hair ever more absurdly tinted and his self-defense ever more absurdly obscure; Ann Coulter, bellowing without pause so she can't hear even her own conscience if it somehow elects to whisper "j'accuse" at her; and Bill Buckner, leaning on a batting cage at Shea Stadium, for a time still literally stuck within that hundred-foot radius of where it all happened, smiling at the irony and receiving back what he emits, a gentle Zen-like acceptance." ...07/31/02

9 posted on 03/31/2003 8:10:27 AM PST by fight_truth_decay
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To: Ann Archy
You're closer to the truth than you realize...NBC is stuck paying Keith..whether he works or not..and they aren't gonna get an audience opposite O'reilly..so Keith baby is being sent out on a kamikaze mission....
10 posted on 03/31/2003 8:21:11 AM PST by ken5050
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To: Ann Archy
I've watched Joe Scarborough - he is pretty good - But I guess with the war on it would be silly to ask for ratings. I don't think any of them reflect reality nowadays, with all the pre-empting for war coverage.
11 posted on 03/31/2003 8:29:13 AM PST by I still care (All evil needs to prosper is that good men do nothing)
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To: fight_truth_decay
Keith's last show was a real loser, and he was relegated back to covering sports. Don't worry......history will repeat itself with this smug leftist.
12 posted on 03/31/2003 8:30:55 AM PST by RooRoobird14 ("Save the whales. Spear Helen Thomas instead.")
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To: PBRSTREETGANG
He's handicapped and it's not politically correct to cast him off to the junk heap of insignificance.
13 posted on 03/31/2003 8:32:13 AM PST by bigfootbob
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To: bigfootbob
What handicap does Olbermann have?

I read the book that he and Dan Patrick wrote about their time together on SportCenter for ESPN, and it was pretty good. Olbermann was a Clintonoid for sure, but he detests some of the same things in sports that most of the members of FR reject as unsportsmanlike.

14 posted on 03/31/2003 8:50:24 AM PST by mumbo
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To: mumbo
Believe it or not, he's legally blind. This is supposedly why he quit ESPN years ago.
15 posted on 03/31/2003 8:57:20 AM PST by bigfootbob
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To: fight_truth_decay
Using the President's vernacular, Olbermann is a Major League Asshole.

Anyone care to quote the Veep?
16 posted on 03/31/2003 9:56:09 AM PST by Yankee
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To: fight_truth_decay
As long as Olbermann sticks to being a snarky sportscaster, he's fine. Pairing him with Dan Patrick was lightning in a bottle, the two of them just clicked together.

As a solo act and political commentator, he comes off as nothing but oily and smug. He just makes you want to reach through the TV and pimp-slap him.

}:-)4
17 posted on 03/31/2003 9:57:17 AM PST by Moose4 (MEW HAVOC AND LET LOOSE THE KITTENS OF ZOT!)
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To: fight_truth_decay
Anyone seen Michael Savage-MSNBC's The Savage Nation lately?

He doesn't look anything like what I pictured.

He also doesn't make any more sense on TV than he does on radio.

What's the attraction?

He's a loud-mouthed boor, with the intellect of a retarded chimp.

18 posted on 03/31/2003 9:59:59 AM PST by Yankee
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NBC shooting for the rainbow niche market...
19 posted on 03/31/2003 10:00:33 AM PST by Diddle E. Squat
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To: nicmarlo; bert
HA!!
>Ping< indeed. {g}

Let us have a look at "The Record" concerning this miserable Liberal-Socialist sleeze bag; and, let us further speculate on why -- like a bad penny -- It keeps coming back.

"This marks the third time Olbermann has worked for MSNBC [said] President Erik Sorenson."

Here's the root of the problem, nic.
Behind every Danny Rather, Tom Brokejaw, or Petah Jennin's there's an Eric Sorenson floating about; although, there's still one or more *layers* above these clowns.
The real people behind this Liberal-Socialism one will never see. Ever.

Still?
If the nation's to ever be rid of the shameless shilling sycophants the Liberal-Socialist braintrust have picked & continue to -- in spite of repeated rejection(s) -- shove down our throats?
Than it's the "Eric Sorenson"s at the nets -- cable or otherwise -- where such an effort must start.
Getting rid of this Liberal-Socialist blight must become the primary focus of any organised effort to bring sanity back to television journalism; assuming, there ever were any.

"That includes Olbermann's tenure at MSNBC starting in summer '97, not long after he walked out of ESPN, prompting one ESPN official to comment, 'He didn't burn the bridges here, he napalmed them.'"

Whadda ya wanna guess Obermann attempted to bring his *brand* of Liberal-Socialist 'Rat politics into the arena of sports broadcasting; &, he was told - in no uncertain terms -- to cease & desist.

"Before ESPN, Olbermann worked as a sportscaster at KCBS in Los Angeles for then-general manager Erik Sorenson."

See how this clown's influnce works?
Sounds like a "Socialist's Boys Club," for chrissakes.

"'He's edgy, he's got attitude, he's hip, he's clever, he's a good writer,' Sorenson said yesterday."

Obermann's a nuerotic boor of the 1st order.
Keith Obermann's a *virtual* "Frankenstein" monster who has been proven to either scare away viewers OR cause 'em to drift into a very, deep sleep.
What's more, Keith Obermann seems to cause sponsors to disappear as if he were some kind of a Houdini, run amok.

"Nineteen months ago he (Sorenson) called Olbermann 'the Gary Sheffield of broadcasting' -- a reference to the talented, much-traded slugger who is considered clubhouse poison. Of course, Sorenson said that during one of those periods when Olbermann wasn't actually working for him."

But then here Obermann shows up once again, eh?
This in light of the much publisized "Come To Jesus'" [read: threat(s) to turn it around, or else] the Sorenson character's recieved from PMSNBC brass??
This sot's *thick*, alright.
Am I the only one who gets the feeling there're debts being repaid within the Liberal-Socialist entertainment industry for the loyalty these *personalities* have shown by going out on the limb -- career-wise -- for the "Big" Liberal-Socialists who're behind the scenes, calling the shots?
Sure has that kind of smell to me, alright.

"All things considered, MSNBC and Olbermann are a match made in heaven; the network changes strategies about as often as he changes jobs."

Nonesense!!
As long as Eric Sorenson remained at this pathetic sewer, nothing has "changed" -- fundementally or otherwise -- & it ain't gonna.

"Olbermann said he isn't concerned about MSNBC's ever-changing game plan, because parent NBC has already announced he [read: Obermann] will host the cable network's Summer Olympics coverage in '04. NBC will telecast about 800 hours of Summer Games, 600 of which will be brought to you on MSNBC and CNBC. It would be pretty embarrassing for MSNBC to sack him this year and have to bring him back for the Games, Olbermann joked..."

Keep joking, Laughing Boy.

"CNN considered giving Olbermann the 8 p.m. time period during his last, brief stint there. The network went with Connie Chung instead; it canceled her show last week."

Imagine that?
Being passed over for the *likes* of Connie Chung.

...or is it more *likely* that's what CNN said was their reason?

20 posted on 03/31/2003 12:28:05 PM PST by Landru
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