Olbermann "More Like His Fox Counterpart Than He Would Care To Admit": Variety

Variety:

Whichever side you're on, there's surely plenty of narcissism to go around here -- and it raises a few troubling issues for both.

Critics have long muttered about Murdoch -- more than any other mogul -- openly using his corporate assets to buttress each other and lash out at his foes. Even if it's not an orchestrated campaign -- as opposed to like-minded foot soldiers simply knowing what the boss wants -- the collaboration by Fox News and the Post in this particular endeavor has a bilious odor and doesn't provide much comfort to nervous journalists seeking reassurance that Murdoch won't lead his newest toy, the Wall Street Journal, stumbling down a similar credibility-sapping path.

NBC News, meanwhile, risks allowing its talk-driven personalities -- the mother's milk of cable, where loud and inexpensive is the formula -- to eclipse what little solid journalism the news division still generates. And while it was initially amusing watching Olbermann playfully try to nudge O'Reilly off the deep end, there's a significant difference between that and self-indulgently using his forum as a pulpit to bash enemies, which actually makes him more like his Fox counterpart than he would care to admit.

To borrow a phrase from his sports days, there really is such a thing as too "inside baseball."

Read the whole story: Variety

Comments

[Ides]

We need at least one person on the Left willing to say, "This is fact. This is real. This is how the world works." Michael Moore annoys Republicans, but not because he lies. He annoys them because he shines a bright hot light on them.

Republicans win in the margins -- on the "theory" of evolution, on "known unknowns." Someone has to sit back and spit out facts all day long in as adversarial a way as possible. When CNN and MSNBC refuse to acknowledge FACTS that their own reporters have at hand, then someone has to pull a card or two. The last thing I want is MSNBC trying to tell Olbermann what is or is not news because then we'd never get anything but manipulated poll numbers and BS.

I would hardly want all discourse to degrade to this, but when an entire network has 8 hours of adversarial programming, one left-leaning show across the entire cable network spectrum is not a threat, that is par for the course. Could you imagine how much better off we would be if MSNBC had not thrown Donahue to the sharks? How many hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives could have been saved?

No. Someone has to fight for some semblance of truth, regardless of whether or not opinion is expressed in the process.

[LibRS]

Correction: Michael Moore annoys us because: It is frustrating to see someone with such stupidty actually have air time. The guy is a complete idiot but he does have access to the liberal media.

[Andman0121]

orrrrr you Republicans hate having those facts shoved in your face REGARDLESS of who is doing it.

[demdan07]

Olbermann saying something is fact, real, and how the world works doesn't make it true. He is not God. He is much closer to O"Reilly than God. They both think anything they spew is the absolute truth. The problem is that there are a lot of people out there that agree with them and follow them blindly. THAT is frightening.

[bookon]

Too many people see BIllo's problem as a matter of wrong ideas. This is WAY too easy a mark and not the main a problem he has. He is free to think anyway he wants, so the comparison between the two should NOT be thought of in ideological terms as many posts are doing.

His problem is megalomania and narcissism. He genuinely believes that disagreeing with him makes you a bad person and less of an American than him. There are plenty on the left who fall into the same trap. Look at Michael Moore. Keith needs to be wary of this and allow more dissent on his show.

Reinforcing world views is a good way to get ratings, but a lousy way to make advance the public discord on important issues.
For the record I watch every night and love show, but I am not blind enough to miss the ways he can improve and the dangers he faces.

[hoopesaz]

The point is simply that KO is the liberal answer to Rush, Orielly, etc. Being "the answer", it takes a great deal of self deception to not see that in virtually every way he is similar to those he tries to take on. He uses the same tone, the same anger, the same hate. He appeals to the same type character of folks who enjoy the right's hate machine so much.

If you love Keith, then you should be sympathetic to those who love O'Rielly and Rush. You're looking for the same type of angry, ranting dialog, you just want someone promoting your position in that fashion.

[protagonia]

Both are on cable news.
Both do commentary.
Both can be seen on TV.

Beyond that - only morons, INCAPABLE of absorbing details at all would believe there is a similarity.

[heal57]

I like KO. I hope he doesn't get too pompous like Billo-O. He's nearing the edge, but I like the refreshing point of view pro Obama; we don't get it anywhere else.


Independent for Obama '08
Joy Hussein M.

[patmancando]

He already is........­........so­on his head might burst! But not to worry, there are plenty of others to shill for O.

[Ides]

The difference: Olbermann lacks O'Reilly's hysterical combativeness. He is gracious to people who disagree even while expressing his point (as seen when he interviewed Markos on his show and counterposited), he never resorts to shouting matches, and he listens.

Granted, this is because everyone on the show generally agrees with his political sentiment up to a point, but it is hard to say that his show is an example of degraded discourse.

If you hold the opinion that all adversarial positions on the Left are mirrored to the Right, then of course it will seem that Keith Olbermann's special comments are just reflective­/reflexive to a Limbaugh or Gibson.

Unfortunately, this delusion is all too prevalent in the public sphere. Gay-bashing is thus equated to gay marriage. Race-baiting is equated to a fight for civil rights. If one opposes the other they are treated as two sides of the same coin.

WRONG. Liberals are forced to dance in the little box while Conservatives spear it with rapier points. Our media is defanged over decades while the Right declares that discourse itself is dangerous. Now people go on Huffington Post to attack Keith Olbermann for refusing?

Let people hate. Many have good reason. If you pretend they do not, then victims let the perpetrators walk and prey bends its neck to the predator. RAGE is not the problem with O'Reilly, it's DISHONESTY. I could care less how angry he is if he is honestly angry about something.

[hoopesaz]

So, you're saying that by every outward appearance they are the same. It's only when one focuses on the most nuanced details does one see that they are nothing alike?

I agree.

[rwe]

Olbermann will never measure UP to Bill o until he sheds his cowardice and actually does an intrview with any to the right of John Kerry.....Like Algore , he has nver had the courage to converse with any of a different opinion..Oh and thanks to the likes of a prograssive rant, who uses and toss words like racism and bigotry and sexism around at every turn they will start to lose their significance... Sorry , Bill (and Rush and Hannity) have less a record of racism than the followers of Obama.

[vejzagic]

I couldn't care less what O'Rally is doing or saying, that's why my favorite episodes of The Countdown have become the ones with the Rachel Maddow.

[CallMeDeaconBlues]

What was missed here is that BillO has never referred to KO on his show in name. KO on the other hand has an obsession.

[steamboat]

Its called JEALOUSY..­.........A­nyway, fact is, Olbermann is a mean-spirited human being. When he talked about Hillary being put in a room and beat-up I stopped watching him.

[patmancando]

We should form a no KO club, there are many of us....Pompous arse.

[patmancando]

He doesn't realize he is dependent upon audience share ratings, and Billo is still trouncing him except for those days when Billo is on vacation.

[blindjester]

Fox and right-wing radio doesn't simply put bad information out there that can be easily disinfected just by hearing the truth. They stir up anger and resentment through unrelenting emotional appeals (painting political figures as liars, flip-floppers, America-haters, elitists, conspiracy theorist-tin-hat wearers who are weak, indecisive and timid) aimed at bigots and idiots who absorb the message without encountering a single fact.

It isn't enough to have someone just put the news out there. We need somebody like KO who points out who's lying, and who's a hypocrite, and who is keeping us from getting the truth. And use some emotion! Some people know the truth when they hear it, but some people need to feel it.

[LibRS]

well KO needs to point the finger directly at himself. most people realize he is a lying s_o_b.

[MikeDu]

There is a partial similarity. If you were to closely inspect Olbermann's person you'd find that he possesses an a**hole. O'Reilly, by coincidence, is one entirely.

[CallMeDeaconBlues]

Well then KO just hasn't pulled his pants down far enough for you then.

KO is in Dobbs territory.

[Darsan54]

It's interesting that the Left gets angry about expressing a sympathetic viewpoint, while the Right celebrates it as "objective". Keith uses facts within a context to develop his opinions, while Bill just pulls his out of the .... ummm.... "air". I don't mind having a news/opinion show with a viewpoint sympathetic to mine. And it seems to be a requirement of success of any medium that you have a supreme amount of self confidence, bordering on (often crossing over to) arrogance. Again, doesn't bother me that much until they start lying.

[RoboA2008]

There is no comparison. Keith does his homework and will admit mistakes. BillO is a racist blow hard who often gets his facts wrong. Bill is a tabloid journalist. That is all he is. He is a punk and a bully. Keith is passionate and tough. Something the left needs.

[steamboat]

Give us exact examples of OReilly's racism?

[hoopesaz]

Well researched and well articulated. You make a very compelling argument.

[patmancando]

I haven't heard him apologize to GF yet............or to Hillary. Shame on him! At least Billo gave Hillary a fair chance, and she faced him well prepared, scored points and even had a sense of humor. ..I'm still waiting for O. to take him on as he promised. Personally I think O is afraid, Billo does come well prepared and Faux wouldn't allow teleprompters for guests.

[bayside]

When fox propaganda network and fellow republicans started buying up all the airwaves, on TV O Rielly etc. and radio with rush, hannity, savage, beck, ann , the hate coming from them was astonishing and destroying america..We saw what there thinking has done to us and we said no more..Enter sane Keith. I do not believe the KKK would get a platform to spout hate but right wingers do..We have seen what ignoring these creeps do ...We cannot let their hate infiltrate our america anymore..If you think Keith gets mad to much, then know many are just as mad as he is ..We are not going to sit back and let them destroy our america anymore so if we get upset, its necessary and its important..

[pilgrim7]

I concur, Bayside. Well put.

[Smirk]

I like KO and appreciate and mostly admire his "Special Comments." Nonetheless, he often borders on becoming what he mocks. I hope he never crosses the line completely.

[enoughalready13]

Well stated. He is bordering on a parody of himself, versus a journalist to be taken somewhat seriously. He should stop the rage-filled tones and report the news.

[Lion24]

You fight fire with ... fire. You don't dance and dart around the issues -- hoping something will change. See: Inept, do-nothing Congressional Democrats.

Olbermann is the only one out there taking on all of them, head on. Not pretty, is it? Too bad.