Rolling Stone: Keith Olbermann, TRUTH TELLER

A god among sportscasters, Keith Olbermann had never quite proved his mettle as a big-league news anchor. But that changed in five minutes on Labor Day 2005, when the MSNBC Countdown host confronted Katrina's compound disasters -- one natural, the other government-made -- in a Hall of Fame rant. It all started when Olbermann heard Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff declare to reporters that "Louisiana is a city that is largely underwater."

A city? Louisiana is a city? For Olbermann, something snapped. "This was no longer a political question to me," he says. "It was, 'I am a citizen. You are the government. And you keep screwing up.'" Olbermann fired up his computer. "This was one of those moments when it felt like the words were just coming out my fingers," he recalls. "I didn't have very much to do with them."

On that night's broadcast, after playing a clip of Chertoff's city/state confusion, Olbermann let fly: "If ever a slip of the tongue defined a government's response to a crisis, this was it." And the gloves truly came off when he took aim at the president -- "a twenty-first-century Marie Antoinette . . . This is the Law and Order and Terror government . . . And it has just proved that it cannot save its citizens from a biological weapon called standing water."

(More at link.)

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/8957321?rnd=1135742842062&has-player=true&version=6.0.12.1212

Those of us on the Countdown/KO group are well familiar with it, but it does deserve more publicity.

Tonight was a classic example of a night Keith had the bullets, so he brought out the gun!

"Olbermann...from waaay downtown...BAAANG!"

:)

In a good way. He does his own thing, which luckily happens to be a good and often funny thing.

Plus, he's not afraid to second-guess the almighty government. :hippie:

even if I disagreed with the particulars, is like a fresh breeze.

And I really do forgive that "She Bangs" guy. Mr. Hung. :)

I was getting to the point where, if I had to hear about "Mr. Hung" but once more on that show, I was going to incite violence. :scared:

Edit to add: Ditto for that Jackson wreck.

Think of it as promoting self starters.

No, don't. Just forget it if you can :scared:

but I think I'm gonna make it.

I just pray, PRAY I tell you, that when the whole Anna Nicole thing hits he doesn't turn it into the story du jour...for thousands of du jours.

Please, Mr. Olbermann, please please restrain yourself when the time comes! :scared:

Thanks, Keith. Many nights, your show as the only one we could watch without a b bag. What a relief.

I forgive you for the Nameless She Bangs One.

:toast:

Apparently if he's not frothing at the mouth every night, he's just another shill. I couldn't disagree more. I think KO is one of the greatest things going. I'm one of the old SportsCenter junkies who knew this guys was something special 10 years ago.

Keith doesn't do froth. He does informed understated ironic outrage: IUIO.

lol

But I :loveya: Keith Olbermann.

The only news anchor worth watching!!

(I love it when Faux goes on about ratings - never mentioning that MSNBC isn't in nearly as many markts as they are.)

about the markets at least. We just got MSNBC a couple of months ago. Before then the only place I got to see him was online. Now I get to see him at least twice daily. I've also been turning my friends on to him and his show. They love him too.

watch only because they see him as an entertainer. If his ratings were lower, his network would be more susceptible to what must be pressure from the Administration to get him off the air.

(And I hope you know this mini-explanation isn't meant for YOU, Clark2008 - we KOEBers all understand already! :toast: )

It seems sooner or later everyone gets written off by someone here at DU. It's comical sometimes.

When he was the cool sports guy on KNX in Los Angeles, CA. I was so sad when he left for ESPN...then I got cable!!! This guy has been great for a very long time!!!!

This *guy* has a wit that doesn't quit and I hope he stays on the air forever.

It's not very often you get the combo plate so finely done. :)

in New Jersey. She said he was a tall skinny kid who you KNEW was going to the top. he had star quality. she's trying to find a picture of her birthday, when he was there at the party. he was
the sportscaster and a great guy I might add.

If you find it, will ya? PM me!


Cher

a copy of it for me! ITS GOOD TO BE ME! (Today) :)

i don't listen to knx anymore, though, only Air America

nt

...I'm very glad to be proven wrong!

a severely autistic child hopped up on CRACK???

Troll spottings everywhere, I tells ya!
I'm expecting the remake of "Three Days of the Condor" very soon.
;-)

contingency of lefties in "the real world" who think that blind, unwavering cynicism and negativity toward anything having to do with politics is an easy shortcut to intellectual street cred. And while that may play well in your freshman dorm it's tiresome to hear it from anyone over the drinking age. These may be discouraging times, but when you adopt the idea that you can't make a difference, that no one can make a difference, you're playing into the thugs' hands. Actually, it's not just a problem with lefties. I've heard the same cop-out from guys who wanted an excuse for how they could obsess over sports every waking hour of the day but had not the slightest interest in politics because "it doesn't affect me personally." Or should that be 'effect'? I was a psych major...we had whole units on that....

(This may not have anything to do with the thoughts of the member to whom the above poster was referring; no offense was meant and I certainly don't claim any ability to know his or her intentions. I just had to go off on the idea raised by amitten.)

n/t

edit: never mind found the link

had turned off the MSM, tuned out really. I come to DU and my interest is piqued and so I turn him on, now I listen, so far I like what I hear.

I began to really like and respect Keith Olbermann back when he was doing the 50 Greatest Athletes of the 20th Century at the turn of the millennium. He was very up-front about not including O.J. Simpson and why he wouldn't. Talk about integrity!

:applause:

It's a great day for me when I can catch "Countdown", and tonight, he sounds like he was on FIRE.

Julie
honorary member of the KOEB; still president for life of the PFEB

:hi:

:)

role again, for the most part, KO also did the impossible - he roused the anemic, sleepwalking partisan talking head force to something that, for a couple of weeks, actually resembled the fourth estate. Of all the gasping crap on msnbc his show is the only one with any inkling of reality and ethics.
I am pleased that his overlords have enough good sense and guts to realize that, strangely enough, the big market opportunity is in acting like a news person. Go K O!

Olbermann is committed to keeping his punditry in reserve. "It's not going to be talking points and 'bad guys' and 'good guys' and all of that TV nonsense," he says, in a shot at Bill O'Reilly. Olbermann compares himself instead to a judicious sniper. "When I've got the bullets," he says, "I get to bring out the gun."

Not to be the DU grammer gestapo, but you know the rest.

Well than don't be.

lol

I watch everyday. And he is the only one I watch.

Which one of these stories will you be talking about :)

O'really may be boosting about his ratings being better than KO's, but sorry O'really - it's just a matter of time.
KO is gonna kick your fallafel butt. People like the truth, people don't like to be told what to think.

K&R for KO!

Thanks, Keith.

:patriot:

you need.

KO's post-Katrina spiel was spot on.

Recommended

Redstone

Maybe we can get lobby for an archive somehow.

:)

<>

Have I said lately what an effen RELIEF it is to listen to someone talk who has a BRAIN and a sense of HUMOR and who is willing to hold out for FACTS?

"She Bangs" -- no so much. :)

Please! No more panda mating segments! And that includes Tom Cruise!

lol

into the waste basket or falling into a snoring fit in the middle of reading them. :)

:kick:

:loveya: He deserves all the publicity.

we'll have our tv nights and then wait after the daily show to catch up on olbermann...LOVE LOVE him. can't tell you how many college age kids watch his show, the worst person in the world segment is something we never miss, ahah. oh makes my night happy.

Stuck juniors.

lol

:)

God bless 'im. And what little estrogen circulates through my male body is on full parade for him each weeknight.

He was great again tonight. In reference to O'Liely carrying on about
how many more viewers his "show" had in comparison to Olbermann's,
Keith's response was, "Well, 800 billion flies can't be wrong".

:eyes:

He beat Gibson down tonight. O'Reilly too but He called for Gibson to leave the journalism fiels. There is a clip on C&L if you missed it...

and he did nail Gibson, saying he didn't even deserve to be on the air anymore and should resign. Nice to see him not back down and use facts and humor to back up his stances.

This is the Law and Order and Terror government . . . And it has just proved that it cannot save its citizens from a biological weapon called standing water."

Best 'smack down' I've ever seen, I'll never forget it. :patriot:

KO - :loveya:

:yourock:


:kick:

"a twenty-first-century Marie Antoinette . . . This is the Law and Order and Terror government . . . And it has just proved that it cannot save its citizens from a biological weapon called standing water."

gotta love Keith Olbermann.:yourock:

Remember when this brave soul enlightened TV audiences about the Ohio voting fraud scandal (not that freepers or mainstream murka cared)? I dont remember ANY other news show pushing this. Kudos Keith!

by the way last night was another great KO programme. Dean sure pulled no punches re Bush's violation of the law.

Go Keith!!!

Happy New Year to you and yours

:loveya: :loveya: :loveya:

....rather immodestly, perhaps....that I am partly responsible for MSNBC giving him this gig. I wrote to the network execs and begged, begged, begged them to do so. I told them to give him a penthouse, a fortune, whatever it took to get him to sign with them. Keith wrote back to me a few weeks later and thanked me. He said they didn't give him a penthouse, but that if his ratings numbers were good, he would have control over the content.

One of my favorite KO moments goes back to Clinton impeachment days, when he created a "Hollywood Squares" type grid with a pundit in each of the squares, all yapping away at full speed. Barbara Olsen, Ann Coulter, and all the others. It was brilliant.

KO because I couldn't stand the 24/7 smearing. We didn't watch television at all except old movies and Betty Boop cartoons.

How Olbermann has managed to put together a consistently good show in this political climate -- it's just amazing, really.

:)

I have always thought he was a bastion of truth in the sea of talking heads and spinmeisters one usually sees on TV.

The best newsperson on TV today.

It's the only thing left to 'put the icing on (Marie Antoinette Bush's) cake' !

CAPT. IAN FISHBACK
THE SOLDIER
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/8957325

CINDY SHEEHAN
MAVERICK of the YEAR
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/8957186

GEORGE CLOONEY
RENEGADE of the YEAR
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/8957203

Remember his reaction to "ob/gyns can't practice their love of women all over this country"? Classic. How about when O'Reilly was the #1 Worst person of the week and the #2 worst person of the week?

He's also the only news guy who mentioned the possibility that the 2004 election was stolen.

I'm only sorry KO is too young for me. Maybe he'd make an exception. :loveya:

I love it on nights that O'Lielly hits the trifecta as Worse, Worser, and Worst Person in the World!!
:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

I'm just sorry I didn't know about him until last summer leading up to the election. My hubby actually turned me on to him and now I never miss him and am proud to be a member of the KOEB. More of you should join us over there every night during the show. For those of you who don't know, it's the Countdown with Keith Olbermann group. All are welcome.

Linkie?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=315

Keith
Olberman
Estrogen
Brigade
:loveya: :loveya: :loveya:

It's a group and you have to have a star to post. You can lurk, though.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=315

Each night's thread for the show has the date in it and usually says KOEB somewhere in the title of the opening post.

Welcome to DU, momster. We look forward to having you join us.

Thanks, Sharon and Annabanana.

My dh starting watching KO first and then said, you've got to see this! Now I'm hooked!

We're very, very lucky to have him, no doubt. Thanks Keith! :toast: :thumbsup: :kick: :loveya:

...the only guy that consistently tells the story, and lets your brain do the rest...

how he annihilated John Gibson last night. With Gibson's own words. The Faux News guys are hacks and liars. And Olbermann exposes them. Faux doesn't have the guts to force Gibson to retract his erroneous statements. He lied. Openly. And Olbermann put it out there for America to see.

Isn't that right next to San Fransisco? You know, the state where Arnuld is governor?:sarcasm:

He's an antidote to the bluster and bombast of right wingers constantly polluting the airwaves. He's articulate and eloquent, and not afraid to tell the truth. God bless Keith!

Don't miss this powerful, emotionally searing blast of TRUTH if you haven't yet seen it. These links are to DU posts with links to VIDEOS, Keith's BLOG on the show (must-read), and the complete SHOW TRANSCRIPT:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4600287&mesg_id=4657376

this one has a link to the show transcript:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4652755&mesg_id=4672930

So good to see Keith Olbermann's passionate, dead-on reporting and clear moral outrage get wider appreciation. He dares to tell the truth, night after night, though he is very well aware of the dangers of doing so in this criminal government. His integrity, intelligence and devastating wit combine to produce the most consistently powerful voice we have on the networks.

:patriot: :loveya:

:loveya: :yourock: :applause: :toast:

:kick:

some friendly encouragement and wholehearted appreciation sometimes. He walks a lonely road, the only anchor to actively seek out the truth and tell it despite the danger to his career and even to his life.

Keith's email:
KOlbermann@msnbc.com

Tell him what you think and how much it means to you. He needs all the support he can get, because you can bet the freepers and the Bushies attack him unceasingly. And we all know how depressing it is to be up against such a powerful and criminal enemy. How much more it must be for him, since he is in the spotlight night after night, daring to do the FORBIDDEN: telling the TRUTH.

:toast:

Hopefully we can make KO a ratings success so we have more truthtellers in the vein of John Stewart and KO.

:blush:

Oh, Yeah! The thinking woman's hottie!
:loveya:

Smart and cute, I love it! :bounce:

Then you'll have a REAL show....with real reporting....real truth.
It could actually beat 60 minutes in its heyday because of KO's talent.
I am so tired of Tim Russert's patented questioning which attempts to look like he's in someone's face...aka.... pantload Chris Matthews....the quintessential whimp.

Like my wife always says when confronted with such pathetic sellouts....
"They just don't make real men anymore"

It's the subject of this thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5702579

Well, they ARE the experts on "twisted and sick"!

..is our only hope ! I must say :)