Olbermann To Bush: "This War Is Not About You...Shut The Hell Up!"

Tonight, Keith Olbermann unleashed what may well have been his angriest, most blistering Special Comment yet, aimed squarely at his favorite target: President Bush. Olbermann was responding to Bush's claim that he had given up golf in honor of the Iraq war — and his assertion that a Democratic president withdrawing from Iraq would "eventually lead to another attack on the United States" — a statement Olbermann called "ludicrous, infuriating, holier-than-thou and most importantly bone-headedly wrong." Olbermann continued in that vein for a full 12 minutes (or 2,000 words), frequently raising his voice and spitting out his words in disgust.

Olbermann turned Bush's reference to "cold-blooded killers who will kill people to achieve their political objectives" around and threw it back at him, saying that such killers were "those in -- or formerly in -- your employ, who may yet be charged some day with war crimes." It didn't get any milder — saying that, to Bush, "freedom is just a brand name," and pointing out that al Qaeda in Iraq was a result of the invasion: "Terrorism inside Iraq is your creation, Mr. Bush!" Olbermann also criticized Bush's statement that he was "told by people" that there were WMDs in Iraq: "People? What people?... Mr. Bush, you destroyed the evidence that contradicted the resolution you jammed down the Congress's throat, the way you jammed it down the nation's throat."

Olbermann saved his most vicious scorn for Bush's no-golf pledge. "Golf, sir? Golf sends the wrong signal to the grieving families of our men and women butchered in Iraq?...You, Mr. Bush, let their sons and daughters be killed. Sir, to show your solidarity with them you gave up golf?" He then went on to lambaste Bush for failing to keep to that pledge — ostensibly made in August 2003 — and showing photos of Bush playing golf in October 2003. "Mr. Bush, I hate to break it to you 6 1/2 years after you yoked this nation and your place in history to the wrong war, in the wrong place, against the wrong people," said Olbermann (using slightly odd math), "But the war in Iraq is not about you....It is not, Mr. Bush, about your grief when American after American comes home in a box." The directive to "Shut the hell up!" came soon after.

Watch the video below; the full transcript is available here.

Mr. President, the war isn't about you -- or golf [MSNBC]

Related:
Bush Warns of Iraq Disaster [Politico]

Comments

[Forest]

Olbermann has a gift for presenting clarification to the Bush machine's robotic mangling of facts. I wish he would reveal, stage-by-stage, the way the Bush 43 administration and its maniacal advisors took the American people for flag waving, sloganeering fools.

[robotfog]

Wouldn't it be more meaning full to dedicate an entire show to the failures and successes of Bush's smelly presidency? I don't think there are any successes, but my point is that the whole broadcast would have more heft if it were done as an in depth news report/documentary type thing.
I'd like to smash Bush in the face as much as anyone, but it is better to just relate facts about the administration and let the pee-heads who voted for that creature see how stupid they were.

Quiet simple truth garnished with facts is all we need.

[AMilitaryMan3687]

as a huge fan of keith olbermann, i thought this was the best SC he has ever done. it was scathing, it was dead-on, it was angry, it was perfect.

i am a member of the Army, and i know that one day i might be called to go to iraq. while i find no joy in the prospect, i understand it, as my wife and family do. the problem i have, as a left-leaning person, is all the faux-patriotism i see from people that haven't served in jack!



remember, it was bush that made jokes about WMDs in a film shown at a dinner.

it was bush that wanted more money for "war efforts", even though most of it went to the pockets of haliburton and KBR and blackwater (all of whom gave him campaign contrubutions)

it was rumsfeld who wouldn't give armor to the troops of armor for the humvees.


to sf94127, the facts aren't spinnable. bush gives up golf because of the war. there's no left-right to that.

to MikeW213, i thank you as a fellow soldier for your service, but in this regard you and i disagree. no left-right to it. you went over, and for that you are a hero.

to mr. olbermann, you have my eternal thank you and my eternal admiration, for saying what i have yelled at my tv any time GWB came on it since jan 2001

[DoninJoisey]

I served in our previous fiasco war - in the Marines in Vietnam from 4/68 - 8/69 and I particularly despise Cheney, who dares to question other's patriotism, but is a coward who got FIVE draft deferments rather than serve his country.
How dare those slimes wave the American flag? They are war criminals.
They claim to be Christian, swore an oath to defend the constitution and have violated that oath by trampling on some of our basic rights.

I share Olbermann's rage, and don't comprehend those who don't.

Enough of the old divide and conquer politics that brought us these weasels. NO to Clinton and McCain.

[Pammy1151]

I don't understan why you peole that don't like Keith O apparently watch and then come here and complain. I don't watch FOX because I know they are idiots. So I just don't watch!!! Get it!!! We won't miss you if you don't watch. Gee you all need a head doctor or need to get a life and something more important to complain about.

[siri2k]

LOL!
Perfect, Pammy!!!

[Redrover666]

You don't watch FOX because you know they are idiots?

Perhaps that's the reason that you just can't understand these crazy conservatives. They actually watched Olbermann first, then made up their own minds and expressed their opinion.

As you point out in your comment... you, were much too smart to waste your time forming an opinion of your own.

[brabra]

kEITH OLBERMANN FOR VICE PRESIDENT!!!!!! OBAMA /OLBERMANN 08'

[All4One08]

I can’t wait to hear what Keith has to say about Bush’s appeaser comment!!!

Hopefully he will devote the entire show to unloading on the failures of George W Bush and the Republican Party!!!

[TuppenceWorth]

Here is a partial list of the criteria identified by the World Health Organization in diagnosing Dissocial Personality Disorder (a sociopathological condition that mental health professionals consider untreatable):

• Callous unconcern for the feelings of others and
lack of the capacity for empathy.

• Gross and persistent attitude of irresponsibility
and disregard for social norms, rules, and obligations.

• Incapacity to experience guilt and to profit from
experience, particularly punishment.

• Marked proneness to blame others or to offer plausible
rationalizations for the behavior bringing the subject into conflict.

No mental health professional worthy of his/her credentials can fail to recognize that George Bush exhibits behaviors that meet these criteria, and so I renew my challenge to the American Psychiatric Association to come forward as a unified body and demand that Bush undergo diagnostic testing to determine whether (or not) he is mentally able to responsibly discharge the duties of the office of the President.

p.s. Thank you, Keith Olbermann, for another bloody great Howard Beale moment. You have well-earned the right to use Edward R. Murrow's sign-off.

[Discipulus04]

Keith O is gospel....keep telling the truth sir

[The 13 Colonies]

RIGHT ON KEITH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[monique]

Despite the disdain so many of us hold for Bush, and as angry as most of us are about the waste of the past eight years -- Olbermann and his self-righteous indignation and his overinflated sense of self-importance have become unbearable.

You get the sense when he is about to deliver a "Special Comment" that he feels he is treating us to this delicious, indulgent treat for which we have all been salivating. He just doesn't get it that he has become the fool, as so many puffed-up peacocks on television have.

The journalist who has some humility, or exercises self-restraint is rare. There are not many like Brokaw, Charlie Gibson, Andrea Mitchell, or Craig Crawford who seem grounded with integrity intact. Next to Olbermann, Tucker Carlson, Scarborough, and Pat Buchanan look like models of self-restraint and dignity.

How ironic that Olbermann's over-the-top and tiresome attacks on O'Reilly have made Keith the fool.

When Chris Matthews attacked that right-wing talk show host on "Hardball" this week, I was more embarrassed for Matthews than the conservative. It was apparent in 30 seconds that the republican gasbag was full of BS, but Chris couldn't exercise any self-control. His overindulgence was juvenile and cringe-worthy. But, not surprisingly, he was so proud of himself.

Why no one reins these egos in is beyond me. Just give me the news and intelligent commentary. Please check the egos at the door -- or go into acting.

[syllepsis]

People had had it with Bush. it is not surprising that a few of them are in the journalistic profession.
People have had it. I mean really had it. Republicanism..... is about to be a thing of yesteryear.

[Pammy1151]

If that is the news you want watch the nightly news and leave Olberman alone. No one makes you watch him.

[DoninJoisey]

Disagree about Chris Matthews. That blowhard Kevin James deserved to shown as the senseless, Ignorant, vacuous tool he is. Matthews asked a question - that I learned the answer to in High school.

What I hate are the ones like Hannity or O'Liely that shout down people they don't agree with.

There is very little real discussion in this country any more - argument isn't discussion.

Our 2-party system stinks - a democrat says something is black, so a republican has to say it is white, when the reality is that it is gray.

[realpolitic]

I find Olbermann's over-the-top and tiresome attacks on O'Reilly to be very entertaining and edifying. His parodies show what a pompous, blowhard O'Reilly is. O'Reilly has nothing but disdain for the truth and for journalism.

[Blutus]

Beyond bizarre.

The whole left-wing schtick is that this is indeed Dopey's war. HIS war, HIS doing. And we need to keep pounding on it.

George W Bush. His war........

[robotfog]

George War Bush

[srtjsrtj]

THANK YOU MR. OBERMAN THE VERY BEST THAT MSNBC HAS IN ITS LINEUP. KEITH CAN ALWAYS BE COUNTED ON TO TELL THE TRUTH WHICH IS WHAT MANY IN THIS COUNTRY OVER THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS RECOGNIZE AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

MSNBC GIVE KEITH A RAISE.............................................................

WATCHED IT AS WE DO EVERY NIGHT LOVED IT....................................

[pizzmoe]

Another classic, Mr. Olbermann. Keep it up!

[MGhamma]

Go Keith!!

[Jazzcomedian]

While I'm sympathetic to the center left political stance of Olberman, I find his smug self-righteousness and constant high vlume indignation very off-putting. Like with O'Reilly, Hannity, and Limbaugh on the right, I feel that I am being assailed and told what to think. Olberman, and Matthews, along with the conservative trilogy above are always yelling and beating you over the head with their opinions. I don't like being preached to by either the left or the right. I've been aware of Olberman since he was a sportscaster, and I've always found his manner too bombastic. I prefer it when Rachel Maddow hosts his show.

[arspar183]

The difference between Olberman and us on the Left is that we deal with the truth, not lies not those on the right, (limpbaughs, Insanity, et.al.) And if you are not angry, in fact livid, after 8 years of all the crap Bush has given us, then you must be a zombie. They should strap bush in a chair and make him watchg every one of Olbeman's special comments.
Olberman rules!!!!

[sf94127]

Olbermann is another left wing disgrace. He is unwatchable because his show his so baised.
Hannity gets a bad rap for bias but Olbermann is worse. Fair, unbiased reporting is nearly dead.

[orle8050]

What don't you agree with?

[tomcat27834]

Regardless of party affiliation, viewers are receptive of Olbermann (regardless of your preconceived notion of bias) because he uses the pulpit to expose what the last two-terms of GWBush and his minions have done to our great country. People want the unfiltered truth and they get that from Olbermann not, from the likes of a Hannity.

[arspar183]

How can the Truth be biased? How can delivery of the facts be biased? If the truth hurts, and the facts get in the way of your conservative views then I guess you'd call it being biased. Let's take Olberman's reporting of the gonzalez' justice department abuses for example. Everything Olberman reported was truthful, and you may call it biased, but there is NO justification for using the Justice Dept as a hack tool for the republican party.

[EnuffsEnuffAlready]

I too am just riddled with bias. I'm biased against an illegal war. I'm biased against torture. I'm biased against the government snooping through my entire personal life. I'm biased against the violation/destruction of the Geneva Accords and the writ of Habeas Corpus. I'm biased against $4 a gallon gas, while the pres kneels before Big Oil and the Wealthiest 1 percent. I'm biased against spending a trillion on an unjust war while vetoing help for hungry children. I'm biased against warmongers and liars running the country.

Yup. I'm utterly biased.

[dhinds]

I'm truly impressed. THAT is "saying it like it is". (I don't get MSNBC in my location -just CNN & CBS- and was unaware that the mainstream mass media includes commentators that incisive and accurate).

Olbermann not only demonstrates a deep and comprehensive understanding of the nature and meaning of the Iraq war, he's correctly judged the Presidential character flaws that have done more to destroy the moral fabric, credibility, economic reserves, human resources and constitutional foundations of the USA than any previous national leader.

Olbermann's presence in the mass media helps reinforce my hope that a majority of Americans will have enough sense to vote for a change of course in November.

(I intended to add my comment as an independent statement rather than a reply, but couldn't get the "Post a Comment" button to fúnction).