Keith Olbermann Slams Page Six, Denies Interest In "Meet The Press" Job, Admits He's Not Qualified

Keith Olbermann preempted Page Six's attack on Thursday's "Countdown" by previewing the gossip column's report, which ran Friday morning, that both he and Chris Matthews were jockeying for the "Meet the Press" moderator's chair (the report alleges that Olbermann has threatened to quit if he doesn't get the job and that Matthews was overheard, at Russert's memorial service, plotting his pitch to NBC executives).

Olbermann smacked down the Post report, explaining that Matthews was talking to "a Pennsylvania acquaintance" about a speech he was to give in Gettysburg, that Matthews does not want to be on any list of possible Russert successors, and that Olbermann "[doesn't] even consider [himself] qualified" for the position.

Watch (full comments below):

Keith Olbermann's full response to the Page Six item:

As we mourned Tim Russert yesterday in Washington, a Pennsylvania acquaintance of Chris' came up to him and said, 'You should be on the list to succeed him.' Chris said he didn't want to be on any such list. He changed the topic immediately. He asked this Pennsylvania man, who is not his agent — no agent would be crass enough to bring up such a topic now or there — for advice on a speech Chris is to give at Gettysburg, PA next week. What he should say. How he should approach it. The speech.

As for myself, not only have I never threatened to quit if I don't get Tim Russert's job. Not only have I not vied for it. Not only has the subject not even come up between me and anybody who will be involved in this sad task. Not only did the Post make this up. Not only is the very subject of Tim Russert's job not appropriate now, as anyone with a shadow of a heart would understand, but I don't even consider myself qualified for it.

Comments

[Melizzy]

I love Keith Olbermann. He channels the anger I have been fuming with over the past seven years so well. I have long wondered why the left didn't have an answer to O'Reilly, Hannity, Coulter and Limbaugh. How those gasbags have any fans just leaves me dumbfounded. I first tuned into Keith a few weeks ago, when he had his Special Comment on George Bush's "giving up golf for the troops." And I was lovestruck. This man sings my innermost anger and frustration and I love it! Of course he's biased. But he's biased in the same way I am!! No, he shouldn't host MTP. That would be ridiculous. I love him right where he is on Countdown. He's my daily cartharsis now. :)

[BeSpoke]

I would like to see someone from The Lehrer Report fill the position--possibly a woman.

[demfriend]

I am in total support of Keith O for speaking out againest page six and Rupert the fool Murdoch's "reporters". Anyone who would use the death of Tim Russert to hype their lies should be called out and told what they are for lying about such ugliness at this time. No one has been even floated as potential seat fillers for any of Tim's many jobs and positions at NBC. Keith O would not enjoy nor is e the right guy and we all know it. Tim brought something to his MTP that will take a special person to fill the seat. I only hope they decide on someone we can live with. after seing what another network did with Katie we can only hope there is someone we can accept in the place of Tim. Love keith O even with his sometime over the top stuff.

[deedrdo]

notice he didn't say he wouldn't take it if offered.

[DRaymond]

Keith is wise. Interviewing is not commentating. Now over on fox Bill-O and somt of the others use an interview as a platform to parade their own views but that is not what a good interviewer is about.

[Redrover666]

No. Keith would never offer a partisan opinion. Goodness no!

[Strywever]

Did you even read the comment you responded to? No one suggested Keith isn't partisan. In fact, the comment was about the fact that he *is* partisan, and as such is wise enough to know that MTP would not be an appropriate forum for him to lead.

[iblis]

Keith is right for the first time in his life! Neither he nor Chris Matthews are the equal of even the grains of sand on the soles of Tim Russert's shoes. Tim Russerts was an unbiased interviewer, as opposed to these two hacks who wear their political biases on their sleeves.

[Melizzy]

Ummm. That's what they are paid to do.

[clevelandtocali]

Yes, and as American citizens they are required to keep their opinions to themselves at ALL TIMES. Especially on their own shows where they are COMMENTING on political news.

Idiot.

[MAUIMONKEY]

How much do you want to bet that this donkey watches Rush, Hannity, and O'Reilly?

[BaileyWo]

With all due respect, I'm not sure I'd go that far even during this time of morning and eulogy that protocol requests of us. "Unbiased interviewer"? I am Tim's age. I hope my peers will be as nice to me. But by my saints, I doubt they will lie on my behalf.

[sbgypsy]

Tim Russert was Cheney's boy.

[SouthernBlueBelle]

Glad to see I wasn't the only one who got that from the Libby trial. They have gone WAY overboard on this. Russert was a good guy but they have him ready for sainthood.

[GeorgeKaplan]

Pure Rubbish!

[adrienseybert]

This two clowns bring new meaning to the word "tacky." Jesus. Gwen Ifill has the broadcast and print chops. Plus, our nation is browning. It's about time the makeup of network TV types reflected that. There are enough white men on TV to begin with.

[dooleynoted]

KO and Mathews were right about not invading Iraq, while Russert was an enabler and was complicit in the Plame affair.

[uhappytoo]

The rumor mill is that NBC is being pressed hard to hire a woman for the show. Especially now, following all those angry women's claims that misogyny in the Democratic primary reporting killed Clinton's nomination.

[MissKaren]

The problem with Iflll, as with Moyers, is that PBS is a better niche for them. Ifill is superb as moderator of Washington Week in Review and on the NewsHour. PBS gives her (and Moyers) the freedom to express views that would not be there on MTP.

[Bobzmcishl]

K.O. is my favorite commentator but he makes no attempt at being unbiased. Russert was a Democrat but hid his bias well. This will be a hard choice for NBC since the candidates who have Russert's temperment are further down the hierarchy. They will probably split "Meet the Press" and Bureau News Chief into two separate jobs. Maybe they can pull Bill Moyers away from PBS. He is very likeable except by Bill O'Reilly.

[HBeachbum]

Keithy is not qualified for much of anything, yet he has a job spewing his nonsense. Go figure.

[GrandpaMcCain]

Pot, meet crackpot.

[djh1]

Olbermann is right where he is needed and where he is best: as a news commentator, particularly one who calls the right on its bull****. I don't want one of the sharpest, wittiest voices on the air today to become the neutral presence that being the host of Meet the Press requires.

I will miss Tim Russert's steady voice on my Sunday mornings. God bless him and keep him, and may perpetual light shine upon him.

[neoprimordial]

As much as I love Keith Olbermann, I have to agree with him that he wouldn't really be the one to fill the position on "Meet the Press"--at least not with regard to the manner in which Tim Russert filled it. I can't think of anyone who is who isn't retired or dead, that's how good Tim Russert was, and how lacking the industry is these days. My guess is that whoever NBC picks for the permanent position will be an unknown up-and-comer, kind of like Russert himself was when he took the position.

[doofmann02]

Just looked up what News Corp. owns as far as newspapers, source http://www.cjr.org/resources/:

United States
New York Post
United Kingdom
News International
News of the World
The Sun
The Sunday Times
The Times
Australia
Daily Telegraph
Fiji Times
Gold Coast Bulletin
Herald Sun
Newsphotos
Newspix
Newstext
NT News
Post-Courier
Sunday Herald Sun
Sunday Mail
Sunday Tasmanian
Sunday Territorian
Sunday Times
The Advertiser
The Australian
The Courier-Mail
The Mercury
The Sunday Telegraph
Weekly Times

[hoopesaz]

And...your point?

[bascombe]

monopoly?

[uhappytoo]

I took the point to be that print and broadcast media are too heavily concentrated, offering limited and biased coverage, not only in this country but throughout the world.

That seemed obvious. What did you take from it?

[pilgrim7]

One point would be that Murdoch, the global news giant, has almost unlimited power to sway public opinion.

News Corporation, owned by Murdock himself, is a media giant with an audience of 1B people. Those people get their news filtered through the lens of types like Bill O’Reilly. What baffles me is why those kinds of people flock to Huffpo, when there are so many "better" choices they could be making. Speaks volumes about Huffpo’s drawing power.

“News Corporation is the globe’s leading publisher of English-language newspapers, with operations in the U.K., the United States, Australia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and across Europe and Asia. The Newspaper and Information Services segment includes News International, which publishes four national newspapers in the U.K.; News Limited, which publishes more than 110 national, capital city and suburban newspapers in Australia; the New York Post in the U.S.; The Wall Street Journal in the U.S., Europe and Asia; and Dow Jones.” http://www.newscorp.com/

[pilgrim7]

I meant to write "News Corporation...is a media empire."

[joetalarico]

Keith is right, he is not qualified, and that is not a bad thing. Keith is so partisan that he could never serve in such a role and be considered credible. His job is to be partisan, and he does it very well. More importantly, while he occasionally goes overboard (not very often) his commentary is one of the few things that maintains some semblance of balance in news as a whole, considering the monopolization of the "librul" media by corporate interests.

[AnotherHuddy]

hehe, Sunday Tasmanian.
~s~

[eden4barack08]

You left out: The Wall Street Journal

[way out left in san francisco]

2) Where and when were the follow up questions by Tim Russert? During the course of public mourning last weekend they played hours of Tim's best moments. However among these there were none that held the Bush administration accountable for a long list of crimes. Reviewing the film about about Tim's life he great great up until the Bush years. After 9/1/1 on 9/2/1 the Bush administration invited him to talks at the White House on how to proceed. Tim helped them sell the Iraq War. after hearing that I started to think real hard about how we got to where we are right now. I realized that he has been quite soft on the Bush administration - it started with the election in 2000 when Russert helped calm the nation so we would accept the Bush team even though they stole the election. Rove/Cheney/Bush logically should be in jail if the press had asked the hard questions - however none of the film footage from Meet The Press showed any questions which held this administration accountable. Though I couldn't help but love Tim the man - after digesting his eulogies I realized he was a Bush-Democrat. That really bitch slapped me.

[way out left in san francisco]

1) Tim Russert has become a paradox to me last week while watching hours of film footage and reassessing his life. Tim was lovable like Yogi the Bear - you couldn't help but love him. His exuberance and affable personality made him easy to watch. I always watched Meet The Press and MSNBC and all the debates he moderated. I enjoyed the respectful political discourse he carried with politician and the way he took complex concepts and explained them to the American public. I like the more liberal people he recruited for MSNBC like Keith Olberman. However while rethinking the BUSH years and reading the Huffington Post - a lot of the most egregious lies by Cheney happened on Meet The Press. The Bush administration artfully used Meet The Press as a vehicle to spread their propaganda and contrived self made news stories by quoting sources on the New York Times and The Washington Post with which they had peppered with false stores to quote. One example is the outing of Valerie Plame by Vice President Cheney who quoted embedded news source Rovert Novak.

[darthdarcy]

Stupid me here's Keith on Enron Loophole watch this and then tell me he's not the best qualified replacement for Tim Russert..

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#25252591

Tell me Tim Russert could have done this report...