Keith Olbermann Apologizes For RNC's Graphic 9/11 Tribute (VIDEO)

A visibly upset Keith Olbermann apologized to viewers Thursday night for the graphic 9/11 tribute played in the lead-up to John McCain's acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention.

Olbermann said of the video:

"If at this late date, any television network had, of its own accord, shown that much video tape and that much graphic video tape of 9/11...it, we, would be rightly eviscerated at all quarters, perhaps by the Republican Party itself, for exploiting the memories of the dead, and perhaps even for trying to evoke that pain again. If you reacted to that video tape the way I did, I apologize. It is a subject of great pain, for many of us still, and it was probably not appropriate to be shown."

Watch Olbermann's reaction:

The graphic video in question (WARNING: MAY BE DIFFICULT TO WATCH):

Comments

[ailbhe]

There was nothing in that video that has never been on tv. There were no graphic or disturbing images. I can't imagine how anybody could be hurt by it. Only angered, perhaps by the Republican's continued hijacking of 911 for political/corporate ends.

The Republican's may be exploiting 911 for political gain, that may be offensive and you can attack them on that, but Keith comes across as looking for an excuse to be offended by anything Republican. I was expecting to see dead bodies everywhere from his exaggerated description.

Is that not offensive also?

911 should not be used as a political football.

With all the REAL problems in the Republican party, why do journalists have to posture and hysterically glaze sinister intentions over relatively minor foibles, scream bad behaviour which seems not so bad when compared with the much exaggerated charges WHEN they could focus on genuinely sinister elements and connections, real corruption and truly evil actions being perpetrated by those who seem to be above the law.

This may appeal to the already converted but it leads many people to conclude that ' well if that is the best they can come up with....'

I guess if they focused on the true takeover of the US by corporate interests they would have to accept that fascism is a bipartisan affair.

The talking heads on both sides condemn in others what they applaud/ignore in themselves.

They are two sides of the same problem.

[4obamabiden2008-16]

4GIVE KEITHO HE PROBABLY GOT CARRIED AWAY BY THE HORRIFIC MEMORY OF 911. WE ALL RESPOND DIFFERENTLY TO THINGS...K­EITH POSSIBLY FEELS LIKE ME...ANYTH­ING VISUAL PERTAINING TO 911 STILL GIVES ME CHILLS...A­ND MUST SAY THAT I HAVE NEVER 4GOTTEN WHAT HAPPENED ON THAT FATEFUL DAY...GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!! WE ALL RESPOND DIFFERENTLY TO INCIDENTS THROUGHOUT OUR LIFETIME..­.

[DLB]

God forbid we Americans should be reminded of who our emenies are. Especially at a political event, of all places.

Keith,

As a conservative independent who feels quite comfortable voting for McCain/Palin, I can honestly say that if the democrats had shown that video, I'd have been surprised. But they certainly would have been entitled. Reminding ourselves that there are people in the world who hate America, and will destroy us if we don't guard against them, is equivalent to putting - literally - our heads in the sand. And the one major thing that stood out to me about the democrats at the Democrat Convention, was that they had, and still have, their heads in the sand.

DLB

[StillIRise]

According to Bush and the Republicans, we are fighting our enemies in Iraq. Yet, oddly, Iraq had nothing to do with 911, and instead of staying focused on Afghanistan where our enemies and the real war were, we created a war in Iraq where our enemies from 911 were not. Those who flew the planes on 911 were Saudis and those who took credit for the attack were the Taliban. Saudi Arabia has remained a ally and business partner with our country since the attack, and the Taliban has re-emerged, stronger than they were before the attack. So exactly what enemies did the video remind us of? Al-Queda in Iraq? We brought them there! The Iraqi insurgents? We are occupying their homeland. Osama Bin Laden? Bush said he's not important anymore.

The Democrats understand the threat to our nation as well as the Republicans do. The difference is that they aren't lying about the connection between 911 and Iraq, and they chose not to use video of 911 to exploit it for political gain. A political convention was not the time or place to remind us of something most Americans will never forget.

[DLB]

Just how narrow minded can a person be? Al-Queda is not our sole enemy. We are fighting middle-east terrorists. Last I checked, the middle-east is made up of many countries. And they've infested just about every middle-eastern country. But that doesn't make the country they infest our enemy. Iraq was attacked for reasons laid out in House Joint Resolution 114 that President Bush signed giving him the authorization to use force. Read it.

[Rjmartinelli]

Right, because trying to tie Iran in that video to Al-Qaeda was really "reminding us of our enemies" and not "telling us who to believe our enemies are".

[DLB]

The case has already been made that Iran is arming the insurgency in Iraq. Iran is arming al-qaeda.

[herronsmith]

People in the world don't hate Americans. They hate American politics and if you can't draw a conclusion who they are referencing, it doesn't much matter if you are a conservative independent or a liberal independent.

[clearlythinking]

We lost a relative on 9/11. He was a fireman who has still never come home. I think that it is sick and twisted for the RNC to use such a tribute as propaganda at this convention. Again trying to scare us all into voting Republican. Had it been the Dems I'm sure we would have heard how disgraceful it was to be used for political gain. Hypocrites!

[BottomLine2008]

The video's legitimate.

Too many Democrats take this too lightly.

[pinkyboo]

I am a democrat and I DO NOT take 9-11 "lightly" In fact one of the many reasons I despise GWB is his incompetence in the whole matter - how about the time they asked him about Bin Laden and he said - I don't think about him- He's the one who does not care about 9-11 , other than using it as a scare tactic so he could go to IRAQ- he has no shame and neither does the RNC - they are DESPICABLE­!!!!!!!!!!­!

[4obamabiden2008-16]

NEITHER DEMOCRATS NOR REPUBLICANS TAKE 911 LIGHTLY...­INDIVIDUAL­S WHO SAY THAT ARE DIVISIVE. IF YOU REALLY KNOW WHAT TOOK PLACE ON THAT DAY...DEMO­CRATS, REPUBLICANS, INDEPENDENTS, NON-PARTY AFFILIATES ALL PERISHED..­.DEATH UPON OUR PEOPLE SHOULD NEVER BE USED TO DIVIDE OR DISCRIMINATE AMERICANS.­..

[neurologymatters]

Nobody takes "this" to lightly. "This" was an attack on our Country. The name is 9/11, not "this".

[Coinyer101]

GOP using 9/11 as a poster child , to try and get re-elected, so they can keep us in iraq long-term. how low will they go? it gets deeper every day.please vote for obama/biden

[Truth2Dour]

"...it was probably not appropriate to be shown." That's chilling. More dispasionate news reporting by KO. It's not apporpriate for you to belch your personal feelings and political perspective during an alleged news report.

[4obamabiden2008-16]

MOST REPORTERS NOWADAYS EXPRESS THEIR OPINION THAN REPORT NEWS OR ALLOW THE VIEWER/ LISTENER REASON FOR THEMSELVES­...THIS IS JOURNALISM 21ST CENTURY!

[StillIRise]

"It's not appropriate for you to belch your personal feelings and political perspective during an alleged news report."

The I guess Fox is long overdue to be taken off the airwaves.

[Rjmartinelli]

There was a very distinct reason Keith made it a point to separate himself from both the ongoing report and the other MSNBC personalities when he made those statements.

[nerakami]

Well, I think the real insult is that the GOP honest to God, thinks that the American people are really stupid and totally ignorant.

completely out of touch... they don't know, that we know...

[JamesWisdom]

Every American regardless of if you belong to either party or not should be outraged at this video, it comes a time when politics must be set aside and address wrong when it stands in your face. This was wrong on so many levels and I change any supporter of this video to debate me on it merits!

[MissingAmerica]

This is not only insensitive and cruel, but fearmongering at its most disgusting. Thank you, Keith, for your apology.

As to the content, we attacked Iraq without provocation, yet still invoke 9/11. One had nothing to do with the other. This video talks about Muslims killing us in the name of Allah; this GOP party talks about killing Muslims in the name of God. This video talks about Gihadists' frightening hatred against us; this GOP party is evangelicals spouting frightening hatred against Muslims, gays, women, etc. Basically, like the radical Muslims, the evangelicals are against anyone who doesn't believe as they do, and they are out to make us believe as they do. This video shows the extent to which they are willing to go to do that.

Be afraid -- of the GOP! They're the ones posing the biggest threat to us right now!

[boomerman]

I'm sorry but your're and idiot. Do you know what Muslims opinion is of gays, women etc. Kill the gays subjugate the women and any other groups that doesn't agree with Islam. Only a fool could defend Isalm in a discussiona about freedom. As for Keith Olbermann, I remember when he did sports on the local station in LA. He needs to go back to sports if he gets so emotional about the truth.

[rollybrook]

As always, Keith is right! The showing was in very bad taste.

It used to be said that Rudy only spoke a sentence with noun+verb+9/11

Now it's McSame's turn to make it noun+verb+­prisoner-o­f-war.

[InLosAngeles]

I know this opinion is unpopular with the extremists in our party, but Keith Olberman and Chris Matthews have together filled the empty tanks on the McCain rocket and shot him and his poll numbers to the moon. I agree with Bill Maher, it was like those two wanted to have sex w/ Obama. I find KO informative & entertaining, but for NBC to make him an anchor did us no favors. KO & CM's kind of contempt of Palin right out of the box was the straw that broke the small town America's back. That's a fight we did not want to pick. If Fox had Billo & Hannity anchor the Fox broadcast, most of us would be up in arms. The growing backlash against the media is unbelievable, even here in Los Angeles. The media was booed in Wisconsin at the most recent McCain-Palin rally. The NBC was booed at the RNC. You can pretend all you want that this is not an issue, but the media has been shoved back on their heels. The repubs have effectively put the media in the pillory in the public square , and the masses have come running with baskets of tomatos. I hope NBC keeps those two away from the anchor chairs at the debates. I assure you that independent minded voters see very few parallels between Edward R. Murrow and Keith Olberman. Keith and Rush, perhaps...­.

[nonconformist2]

Should a party that nominated a religious z ealot as a VP really be doing a video about religious z ealotry?

[nonconformist2]

Dear America:

We were so appalled by the events of 9 / 11 that we promised ourselves that we would NEVER let it happen again.

So after we invaded Afghanistan, instead of finishing the job, we turned our single minded focus to a country with buckets of oil! And pretended that that it had something to do with 9 / 11. And we fought so hard, spending 1 trillion of your tax dollars trying to get that oil for Exon-Mobil, er, I mean America!

No thanks necessary!

P.S. Did I mention that Iran also has buckets of oil? I'm sure I must have!

Sincerely,
The Republican Party

[TruthStar9]

Correction to previous post:

His "ability" to understand. . .

[TruthStar9]

I absolutely love Keith Olberman. I am a 50 year old African-American woman, and I would love to meet him and "hug him with all of my might".

My eyes are welling up with tears and my heart with tenderness at the compassion in this man's heart, at the passion in his heart, as his inability to understand what has and is happening to this country. This man is incredibly brave, courageous, and he is one of my heroes.

I have tried and tried to send him a personal message at MSNBC, but have been unsuccessful.

He says what so many of us who love this country and aspire for It to become and to Be the idea/ideal of Itself, say to our friends and family. He thinks as we think. Patriot describes this man. Is he perfect? Of course not.

Were we 1/10th as brave, as courageous. To say the right thing within the right context and within the correct moment. To call-out the liars, beggars and thieves of this country, those who have led this Nation down the road of slavery, the KKK (homegrown terrorism); Jim Crow; women not have the right to vote; the mistreatment and abuse of those from other shores for "The Promise". Keith Olbermann speaks for those of us who dream "The Dream".

If you dream "The Dream", please support what is Right, Correct, Just, Kind; please support the idea/ideal of this Nation becoming and Being "the Dream"

[JKZANG]

Keith, I used to be an admirer of yours and Chris Matthews. I'm a Decomcrat who no longer listens to either of you as you are both so biased, it's ridiculous. I love my country as much as anyone else but refuse to vote for Obama who has absolutely no national experience­.....he speaks exceptionally well, yes, but what exactly has he accomplish­ed.? When he was a community activist, Rezco's tenaments were not provided heat by him in the same winter that Obama was receiving thousands of dollars from Tony for his campaign. People were freezing but Obama did notning! This is not fictuion, it is documented FACT. My ticket will be split comes November!

[Rjmartinelli]

"but refuse to vote for Obama who has absolutely no inter*national experience­...."

Ironically, though you make that claim it was Obama's call for a timetable for the removal of troops in Iraq that was echo'd by the Iraqis.

Your attacks on his integrity pale in comparison to John McCain, whose foreign policy adviser is a lobbyist for the nation of Georgia.

And while you complain about Obama's experience, at least he had the judgement to pick a VP who would be able to help him govern, instead of a former beauty queen with even less experience, chosen simply to get McCain votes.