Keith Olbermann Reacts To "SNL" Sketch, Proves Palin Altered "SNL" Script

Keith Olbermann reacted to the "SNL" sketch in which Ben Affleck portrayed him as a cat-loving pompous freak Monday night, and also to a report that the McCain campaign was "tickled" by the sketch.

He had previously told Time's Ana Marie Cox, "Honestly, everybody deserves a laugh but if on the weekend before the presidential election they spent more than seven seconds bothering with ME, the campaign staff has even less of a clue than I thought." He had also blogged at DailyKos about the incident, saying:

In terms of my whole career I really haven't been doing this that long (1997-98, 2002-date) but don't presidential campaigns have more to worry about on the day before the election than me?

Am I misunderstanding? Aren't two breaths spent on a sketch done on Saturday Night Live, two breaths not spent calumnying Obama?

Monday night, Olbermann continued with this "Who, me?" line of attack, but also brought evidence — in the form of cue cards — that Sarah Palin was scripted to compliment Tina Fey for her impression when she appeared on SNL but ad-libbed and left the line out.

Watch:

Comments

[radarcat]

Keith is a cat person? I (we) like him even better than catnnip! Radarcat (and Trager and Jessie and Rachael).

[GrkAm]

Satire done right is excellent, and one of my favorite forms of entertainment. Done wrong, it sucks! This was done wrong, and it fell flat in my mind.

Keith Olbermann is one of my "most favorite persons in the world", and watch his commentary program each time I get. It's his intelligence and wit that make his program stand out.

Keep on keepin' on Keith!

[ebanks84]

I didn't think the satire went over very well either. It wasn't funny at all.

[JJ30]

I love Keith and I'm glad that he had fun with the sketch as well.

[fedupwithignorance]

I watched it last night. I didn't really think it was a good impression and it wasn't really very funny. Honestly Keith gets on my nerves sometimes (my wife and I are in love with Rachel though) but I didn't find the Affleck piece all that enlightening or entertaining.

[joeterwal]

Keith is a tough act to follow, whatever they may think. Extremely intelligent individual, the reason it would be difficult for ordinary folk to imitate. But then again , the America we live in, what else can one expect.

[SuperBowlXX]

Look, I'm a liberal person, voting for Obama, I generally agree with Olbermann on a lot of things (though I agree with Maddow more), and normally I'm not a Ben Affleck fan....but I thought the sketch was hilarious. Affleck did a spot-on impersonation that had me cracking up.

[ConcernedAboutRFuture]

Keith, you're so handsome! But it is your brain that makes you TRULY attractive! I very much enjoy your show!!

[ProfessorDuh]

Keep fighting the good fight, Keith. They hated Murrow, too.

[Doofus]

I like 'pompous' KO & 'chirpy' (chipper?) RM & even
'forever-wired' CM, but I do fear for their ratings after
today. What will they do? What WILL they do?

[BluebirdofUnhappiness]

KO is entertaining w/out all politics all the time. Michael Jackson Puppet theater wasgreat. However, he really spends too much time on OLiely and American Idol. But that's okay, plenty of good stuff inbetween.

[mairs]

What will they do? They'll report on the Right's sleazy and concerted efforts to make Obama look illegitimate. That's what they'll do.

[frustratedinohio]

Don't fear for Keith. He's the master of making a story out of nothing. Mountains out of Molehills is what his show should be called. I love RM and CM and even the Race for the Whitehouse, but I can't handle KO. His melodrama gets on my last nerve.

[c0171]

Kudos Keith!!

Obama/Biden '08...... GET THE VOITE OUT!!!!!

[night owl]

I never miss "Countdown," and I really didn't think that spoof of Keith was very good. They got the shifting cameras right, and the hair and makeup were fine, but the character was way off. More smirking, less scowling would have helped. Keith, above all, infuses humor into most of his reportage/commentary; that's what makes the earnest umbrage in the special comments all the more salient. The guy doing Richard Wolffe missed by a mile. They could have had much more fun lampooning the cartoonish Craig Crawford, for example.

As for the Palin cue card -- could it be that that cue card was worked up after the fact? I'm not saying Keith did anything wrong, only that there's no time stamp on something like that. Maybe whoever at SNL provided that card got "creative." In a he said/she said argument, such unverifiable "evidence" begs a bit of skepticism. I'm no fan of Palin, but we need to maintain some objectivity in cases like this.

[demobydefault]

good comment--fair and balanced

[night owl]

Thanks. Twenty-eight years in journalism sharpen one's eye, regardless of personal politics.

Hey, remember when "fair and balanced" actually MEANT fair and balanced?

[sawdustinhershoes]

I think Keith and Rachel are GREAT! They have added a whole new dimension of partisan news and gossip that was sorely needed to counter balance Fox. Let's face it, prior to Keith, the only news programs worth watching were, BBC, Jim Lehrer, Bill Moyer and David Branchicco (sp?). Now, don't get me wrong, these guys are wonderful and were the ONLY voices in the wilderness for a while. It's just that Keith and Rachel added some fun and were unabashedly against Bush and Gang.

I admit it, I like to watch broadcasts that are slanted in my direction, it gave me relief. I needed it.

Thank you Keith and Rachel and Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert for easing the fear and for helping to usher in a new pro-American era.

Once Obama wins, it'll be their job to make sure that they ridicule Bush and Cheney and Rove and Addington and all the neocons until they are too embarrassed to live in the country anymore.

[ConcernedAboutRFuture]

Good comment!!!!

[syl1969]

I agree completely. It was these 2 who got me through this long, long campaign, keeping my sense of humor through it all. Don't know what I would have done without them!

[bennettkw]

Here, here!

[libratine]

LOL I still think McCain should have been scripted to say "my fellow prisoners."

[Esot3ric]

Bringing the cue card (to prove that the McCain campaign lied about the original script) was CLASSIC.

[wideawakenow]

Thankfully for McCain it seems most of his 'volunteers' are being paid from a temp agency.