Posted on 09/03/2003 12:41:41 PM PDT by fight_truth_decay
MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, who once said that Ken Starr reminded him of the Nazi Heinrich Himmler, on Tuesday night, during a session with left-wing ranter Al Franken, denigrated the Fox News Channel as a bunch of "demagogues." Recalling how past demagogues like Joe McCarthy have "self-destructed," Olbermann raised the unsuccessful lawsuit against Franken for using the "fair and balanced" phrase and queried Franken: "Did you get some kind of comfort from this laughable lawsuit that maybe the latest set of demagogues are starting to fray at the edges and maybe headed towards self-destruction?"
Olbermann wrapped up the September 2 Countdown segment by gleefully holding up a mock T-shirt with "FAUX NEWS" in the a design matching the actual Fox News Channel logo, and below the graphic this play on FNC's "we report, you decide" slogan: "We Distort. You Comply."
(Not enough people watch MSNBC for anyone to bother to make T- shirts mocking it.)
Olbermann set up the segment with Franken, author of the new book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, which MRC analyst Brad Wilmouth caught: "Back with the Countdown, and the number two story on it, and joining us now is a veteran of three overseas tours with the USO, a frequent speaker before conservative corporations, and a man whose latest book of political analysis has become America's best- selling work of non-fiction thanks mostly to the efforts of the Fox News Channel. And if that introduction doesn't show you how a little truth and a little selectivity can mislead somebody, Al Franken, I don't know what could."
Olbermann's first question: "I must ask you the same question that I asked your attorney, Floyd Abrams, when he was on with me on the Today show. Are you disappointed that Fox's lawsuit against your book was dismissed so quickly so you couldn't get even more free publicity from them?" Franken talked about how the lawsuit was literally, not figuratively laughed out of court.
Olbermann impugned FNC: "And that's something else besides simply a court victory to have it, as you say, literally as opposed to figuratively. On the same score, I was thinking as I read the book about the long history of political demagoguery in this country on the right and on the left, and it occurs to me that every one of the demagogues, or every set of demagogues, from like Aaron Byrd [?] or Father Coughlin to Joe McCarthy, have at some point self-destructed. Did you get some kind of comfort from this laughable lawsuit that maybe the latest set of demagogues are starting to fray at the edges and maybe headed towards self- destruction?"
Olbermann soon opined: "We have a plug we need to get in, by the way. If you want to read part of Al's book, the introduction, in fact, is posted on our MSNBC Web site. It is a tremendous introduction, mentions Samuel Tilden, the one and only Ann Coulter -- we hope, the one and only Ann Coulter -- hot Asian teens, and God -- in fact, it mentions God 28 times, in fact. We counted. And we have one thing, if you want to look at the monitor, we have something for you for coming on the program, a lovely parting gift from our friends at agitproperties, who were also sued by Fox News because they printed this T-shirt reading 'Faux News,'so we've never given out a thank you present to a gift, but for you, Al Franken, we wanted to, we're going to send you-"
Franken quipped: "Well, how did that suit go?"
Olbermann: "They're still in court, apparently. But we may have -- just show it again, we'll give them a little bit more free publicity. There we go. And they also have one about 'O'Reilly Youth.' We can send you one of those, too. Al, thanks very much for your time, congratulations, and may the next book get same kind of out-of-the-blue bolt-of-lightning kind of publicity from some other moron."
Olbermann should be able to identify demagogues. In a previous stint with MSNBC Olbermann 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?"
As host of the Big Show with Keith Olbermann in the very same time slot as Countdown with Keith Olbermann (8pm EDT) 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. To watch a RealPlayer clip of it:
http://www.mrc.org/notablequotables/dishonor1999/welcomeaward6.asp
Remember during the IMPEACHMENT, Obermann was so annoyed because he was forced to talk about semen stains on blue dresses? Overall MSNBC has bad ratings; even their beloved Chris Matthews doesn't do well.
Remember this quote?
"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.
On MSNBC, "Scarborough Country" was flat at 10 p.m. with 254,000 viewers as it benefited from generous comparisons with the low-rated "Ashleigh Banfield" a year ago. At 7 p.m., "Hardball" inched up 2% as the Chris Matthews-hosted show drew 276,000 viewers. Keith Olbermann's "Countdown" show averaged 230,000 viewers, 39% fewer than "Donahue," and "The Abrams Report" at 9 p.m. had 41% fewer viewers than "Hardball" had in the time slot. But MSNBC had heavily promoted its primetime lineup a year ago and did little or no marketing this summer.
Olbermann- shameless, clueless or both? The worst ratings on the lowest rated news channel and he is critiquing Fox. Cancellation can't be far off. Hope he has Franken on his farewell show.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.