Olbermann and Sanford…and Scarborough
Last night on Countdown, Keith Olbermann talked about the Sanford affair in a way that has rubbed some people the wrong way (video here and here). It started on Daily Kos with first one and then a second posting being devoted to the subject. This morning Joe Scarborough weighed in hard. Via Chickaboomer…
MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Scarborough” 6:43a today: “I was embarrassed by some cable news hosts, some frankly on this network… Unbridled glee.”
“Some of these people judging last night. You could call them the Jim and Tammy Bakker of cable news.”
Update: NewsBusters has video of Scarborough’s complaint…
June 25, 2009 at 6:51 am
Setting aside the specifics for a second, Scarborough’s done this – expressed criticism at unnamed hosts – before without singling out by name who he is critiquing. That’s unfair to the other hosts who are tarred with his brush.
Give us the names and details, Joe. The ‘some cable hosts’ line isn’t working anymore.
As to Olbermann and Schultz – as with Limbaugh – these are zealots who don’t care about anything except expessing what is going on inside their twisted heads. All they see is good and evil – good liberals or conservatives versus bad liberals or conservatives or neocons.
June 25, 2009 at 7:00 am
Steve, I think when he says “cable news hosts, some frankly on this network”, everyone knows who he means. If they’re one of the few who actually watch MSDNC, they know who Olbermann is.
It’s not the same as when O’Reilly says “elements at NBC”. A lot of those viewers have no idea who Olbermann is.
The Kos kids slam was very interesting. Apparently Olby’s act is getting old with everyone:
“Yeah, you heard what I said and I will scream it at the top of my lungs. Keith Olbermann…….has just garnered the prize from me for the biggest piece of crap in the world.”
My only question is, what took you so long to figure this out?
June 25, 2009 at 7:07 am
‘I think when he says “cable news hosts, some frankly on this network”, everyone knows who he means. If they’re one of the few who actually watch MSDNC, they know who Olbermann is.’
Well, did he mean Olbermann AND Schultz or just Olbermann? Or both? Or…..?
I guess my point is that he’s reluctant to openly challenge Olbermann’s appalling behavior. It seems to me at this point he needs to do so or otherwise stop the ‘other hosts’ charge.
Especially if he wants to sell books and lecture the Republicans about their harsh language – a point that is fair in my view.
June 25, 2009 at 7:39 am
He’s mentioned KO before, during his special comment on Hillary last year. However, KO has never criticized anybody working at his network (besides Imus) on his show. He just doesnt do that. I think Joe should do the same.
June 25, 2009 at 7:39 am
Steve makes a good point. Schultz and KO both came out strongly against Sanford, but KO went much further. Ed stayed with his far-left-wing line of singling out the hypocrisy of a “family values” guy who thought Clinton should resign getting caught in infidelity, and clearly only confessing and apologizing because he got caught. It was a less than sympathetic approach, but it stayed within the politics of the story.
KO, on the other hand, was a complete buffoon with the dramatized reading of the e-mails…the kind of giggling high-school-boy silliness Joe should be familiar with.
Maddow, Schultz and Olbermann all reported the story on very different levels – with Maddow the only one to single out the idiot laughing in the background – and if Joe is going to criticize “some hosts” on his network, he needs to specify what he has a problem with.
June 25, 2009 at 7:58 am
I, like a lot of ppl like watching prime time opinion news shows. I watch different shows for different points of view. I thought Olbermann last night was a buffon, and made himself look ridiculous. I can barely get through his show any longer. I also don’t remember if he mocked John Edwards over his affair. The double standard is so blatant. Frankly, I am fed up with ALL politicians at this point!
June 25, 2009 at 8:12 am
Kathi, KO didn’t have any E-mails to make fun of, but, yes, he grilled John Edwards pretty good.
June 25, 2009 at 8:15 am
I really don’t understand what news value The State saw in releasing the e-mails now. If they weren’t going to use them to expose Sanford the last 6 months, why bother after he spilled the beans? Is The State a newspaper or The Enquireror?
June 25, 2009 at 9:08 am
They couldn’t verify the authenticity of the emails until Sanford’s press conference. That’s why they didn’t release them.
June 25, 2009 at 9:21 am
I don’t remember the over the top theatrical flare aimed at Edwards, that went on last night for Sanford ,Joe. Emails or not, it was tasteless, and I think it’s the last straw for me. He mocks and ridicules Rush for the EXACT same things he does every night.
June 25, 2009 at 9:35 am
“hnmnf Says:
June 25, 2009 at 7:39 am
He’s mentioned KO before, during his special comment on Hillary last year. However, KO has never criticized anybody working at his network (besides Imus) on his show. He just doesnt do that. I think Joe should do the same.”
hnmnf, didn’t Keith go after Dan Abrams and Scarborough during the democrat convention last year? Maybe my timing is off. But I know he’s been after those two before, and Tucker Carlson, too, I believe.
June 25, 2009 at 9:35 am
And Rita Cosby!!!!!
June 25, 2009 at 9:44 am
You are right Missy. I remember that!
June 25, 2009 at 9:46 am
Kathi, I was just answering your question about Edwards. As I’ve already stated, KO was an idiot last night. His inner stupid jock really shows at times like this.
Red, I understand why The State was not able to use them before yesterday, I just don’t see the news value once Sanford had already exposed the same thing the e-mails would have. There isn’t even any value in the level of affection they show him to have for Argentina Girl. He made it heartrendingly clear in the press conference that he is helplessly besotted, including apologizing to HER first.
The news media has the affair and should focus on possible misuse of taxpayer funds. Private e-mails that add nothing new to the story should be deep sixed, which, by the way, Norah O’ Donnell did this morning. She mentioned them being on the front page of The State, then said they weren’t appropriate to read on air. Atta girl.
Word for the day, placed here because we don’t have a new Free For All: SCHEME. Eric Cantor used it several times during an interview with Norah about Cap and Trade or something (wasn’t paying much attention). It’s a “scheme.” Look for it from Repubs in the next couple days.
RIP: Miss Farrah.
June 25, 2009 at 9:50 am
Rita Cosby had it coming. That was the WORST show.
June 25, 2009 at 9:50 am
“He just doesnt do that.”…. except for Abrams, Scarborough, Cosby….and his own network, during the RNC convention.
hmnmf, that kinda destroys your argument.
I’m not a big Scarborough fan, but I respect him for taking a stand when his colleagues go too far. Not good for job security, but it’s the right thing to do.
June 25, 2009 at 10:02 am
Joe, you’re dumber than a box of rocks.
You had it coming. That was the WORST post.
June 25, 2009 at 10:27 am
hnmnf Says:
June 25, 2009 at 7:39 am
HNMNF’s argument is destroyed by Olbermann’s comment a few years back that sometimes it’s necessary to attack and criticize one’s own network… and that he’d be willing and able to do that. He said this in an interview… and has never done it, or at least hasn’t done it until after the person is fired or first publically reprimanded by someone else. Olbermann Watch made a big deal of that quote, and I’m sure they have the specifics if you want to check.
So the bottom line appears to be Olbermann say’s attacks on the network are acceptable (despite being too scared to do it himself)… so by that logic, Joe can do whatever he feels is right.
June 25, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Scarborough should use names, like KO did.
Joe, you’re dumber than a box of rocks.
I prefer bag of hammers.
June 25, 2009 at 12:29 pm
I couldn’t watch Rita Crosby on FNC or MSNBC. I have no idea why.
I don’t think leaked personal emails should ever be publicised except in situations where a crime was committed, such as using public monies to carry out an affair. It’s basically no different than opening US Mail addressed to somebody else. Perhaps Congress should make publishing someone’s personal emails a felony.
June 25, 2009 at 12:52 pm
I admit that I have never liked Olbermann. Always thought of him as a big mouth coward. But he really should be embarassed how foolish he looked.
June 25, 2009 at 1:12 pm
It seems to me that if Olbermann really wants to take on the “regressive forces” in the land as he said in the response to the critic on the DKos, he could start with one Patrick J. Buchanan.
Some of the stuff Pat says is just ridiculous. Ugly & ridiculous.
Buchanan is really a strange person. He seems quite personable, the type of public figure you could have a beer and watch a ballgame with (to use the standard). But he’s clearly a bigot – no other word for it – and his policy views (his thoughts on WWII for example) are just absurd.
Sure, Matthews has him on to go after the dreaded “neocons” but with the Democrats running things, that “need” is long gone.
June 25, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Maybe some of Olbermann’s critics should read some of Olbermann’s emails from his late night groupies…
June 25, 2009 at 2:27 pm
I caught this while getting ready for work this morning.
I think part of what led Scarborough to lash out was that he is friends with Sanford and his wife.
I wouldn’t fault Scarborough for holding a grudge against Olbermann for what happened during the Democratic Convention last year.