Posted on 04/25/2008 8:21:20 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
This is getting ridiculous. On Wednesday night’s Countdown, Keith Olbermann and Howard Fineman, discussing Hillary Clinton’s continued presence in the Democratic nominating contest, conducted the following exchange:
Fineman: What this is going to require…is some adults somewhere in the Democratic party to step in and stop this thing, like a referee in a fight that could go on for thirty rounds. That’s what’s going on. Those are the super, super, super delegates who are going to have to really decide this.
Olbermann: Right. Somebody who can take her into a room and only he comes out.
You can watch the exchange here: [Video at link]
There’s been an outcry (though not, tellingly, in the mainstream press) against Olbermann’s comments, most of it crying sexism. Which could be right, to be sure—but I’m not completely convinced. (You could certainly build a case for sexism based on the many other inappropriate things Keith Olbermann has said about Hillary Clinton; in this instance, however, the Olbermannian impropriety seems rooted in its wink-wink suggestion of violence, rather than the fact that that suggestion was directed at a woman.)
Regardless. There’s really no getting around the core problem here: that a prominent newsman suggested, on national television, that a candidate for the presidency of the United States should be beaten up (or worse). Even being generous and leaving aside the sexism/violence stuff…it was a stupid thing for Olbermann to say. Not “stupid” as in “inappropriate”—although it’s that, too—but “stupid” as in “intellectually vapid” and “insipid” and “a waste of everyone’s time.” There’s so much that the press, reporters and commentators alike, could be talking about right now when it comes to the campaign—and when it comes to everything else that’s going on in the world. Instead, here’s one of the most powerful men in the media, a man who can boast an audience of nearly a million viewers each night, vocally amusing himself at the image of the Democratic superdelegates “deciding” the nomination by beating up the second-place candidate. It’s frustrating. It’s insulting. It’s baffling.
Olbermann uses Edward R. Murrow’s famous words—“Good night, and good luck”—as a sign-off in his own Countdown broadcast. That never made sense to me; why call attention to greatness when you yourself are so far from it? But today, the day that would have been Murrow’s 100th birthday, the comparison seems especially ironic. And especially sad.
Update: Per a wonderfully thoughtful piece from Salon’s Joan Walsh: looks like Olbermann has apologized—sort of—for the remark.
“It is a metaphor. I apologize: the generic ‘he’ gender could imply something untoward,” Olbermann said, in a statement MSNBC spokesperson Alana Russo forwarded me a few minutes ago. “It should’ve been ‘only the other comes out — from a political point of view.’”
Isn’t the election process still going on?
Hussein can’t get enough delegates to win this thing, either. Not sure why Hillary should quit.
I think they should have a duel.
whats really funny about this is that hellary would eat this loon’s lunch in a new york minute.
That's what they get for having a jackass as their party "leader"
And Olberman????.....What's to say??
To call him a jackass is to disparage well spoken donkeys everywhere.
Sounds more like a job for the Secret Service .
Keith, you’ve got to be kidding. There’s not a man in that party mean enough to kick Hillary’s ass. Bubba definitely included.
Someone oughta veil her, double in case the first on tears.
Owl_Eagle
”You know, I'm going to start thanking
the woman who cleans the restroom in
the building I work in. I'm going to start
thinking of her as a human being”-Hillary Clinton
(Yes, she really said that
Peggy Noonan
The Case Against Hillary Clinton, pg 55)
There is no adult in the Dem party.
“that a prominent newsman suggested”
Newsman? Give me break. He is nothing but a nasty sissy boy.
Even as much as I DON’T like her, and can’t stand her husband; that is a HORRIBLE thing to say about her. Keith O is an awful, awful person.
I'm waiting for the Super-Super-Duper-Duper-Super Delegates to get this thing hashed out and over and done with ... until then, please pass the Popcorn
Maybe he should threaten civil unrest in Denver.
At least Keith is consistent in his vapidity. This fits right in with his "chicken and waffles" comment regarding a black man and his guacamole comment regarding hispanic Bill Richardson.
The thing is....the clintons are just like him. I’d say worse if all the dead FOB stories are true.
The woods, parks and byways of America are strewn with the bodies of those that have made threats against the Klintons. Be afraid, Keith, be very afraid. ;-)
If it’s based on who’s is bigger my money is on Hillary
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