Keith Olbermann Defends Michael Moore, Calls Out Ed Schultz (VIDEO)

Keith Olbermann defended Michael Moore's comments about the killing of Osama bin Laden--and criticized former MSNBC colleague Ed Schultz--in an online "Special Comment" posted to Olbermann's website on Thursday.

Moore has received a boatload of criticism for his comments on CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight" about bin Laden's death. He said that the killing showed that "we've lost something of our soul here in this country...something that separates us from other parts, other countries where we say everybody has their day in court."

One of Moore's critics was MSNBC's Ed Schultz, who earlier this week devoted a segment to the filmmaker's comments, and said, "the intellectual liberal hand-wringing needs to stop in this country."

In his "Special Comment," Olbermann said that he also disagreed with Moore (who was just named as a contributor to his upcoming Current TV show), and supported the killing.

"What I object to is those who want to silence those who disagree with me," he said. "Michael's points are right-on...I believe, with great regret, that the pragmatic circumstances of keeping bin Laden alive outweighed, very narrowly, what Michael is addressing. But for him to then be accused of 'intellectual liberal hand-wringing' by a supposedly liberal commentator on a supposedly liberal television network, is outrageous."

Olbermann compared the reaction to Moore's bin Laden comments to the atmosphere in the wake of 9/11 and in the run-up to the Iraq War.

"Do we want to go back to the way the media was in this country eight years and four days ago?" he said. "That to question the honesty of those in power is to find oneself painted as unpatriotically questioning the troops? Because that is where Michael Moore's critics would lead us. I want hand-wringing over exactly who a President gets to kill. I want liberals to question other liberals. If the official story deviates at all from the facts, I want the official story questioned."

WATCH:

Comments

[chucknchar]

09:24 AM on 05/22/2011

We don't validate anything the conservatives do, they are all wrong, the proof is before us.

[greenriverkate]

09:56 PM on 05/20/2011

I respect all three, Olbermann, Schultz, and Moore. Let's just say we took him alive. His people would INVADE us in droves to get revenge and make news. And WHERE would we lock him up? NIMNys come to mine so you want him at Gitmo so he can stir up the others. Or WHO would be paying for all the costs to keep him, represent him, sentence him? US! And half the country would howl about it. Then we would fight over WHO prosecutes him or which court etc etc etc. No one would be happy except OBL as the martyr he wanted to be. God, do any of you actually THINK about things? Doesn't matter cause it would still be wrong no matter what we did or what Obama did or what the damn republicans would say. It is over and done with, regardless of our Christian ideas or moral beliefs. It is finally DONE. NO, I did NOT celebrate his death as I though of his family and children, same as on 9/11. All three men are right. It just depends on your own views.

[jsmith9005]

10:05 PM on 05/19/2011

Someone tell Whoopi to whip out the race card. Michael Moore must be racist - he was criticizing Obama

[Ankhorite]

10:50 PM on 05/25/2011

Dated and boring.

Also sounds like knee-jerk racism on YOUR part, JSmith.

[7dr361]

07:34 PM on 06/02/2011

Moore is not racist...not at all......guess you don't know him

[Elizabeth Berry]

04:21 AM on 05/19/2011

Yes, I agree with Michael on this one. In fact, I wrote a post yesterday on this very topic of having lost our souls in response to the responses to a HuffPost article regarding a murder in Riverside that involved a 10 year old son shooting his father Jeff Hall, a white supremacist.The story is horrific–a 10 year old child murders his own father. He will never mentally or emotionally recover from this event. How hideous and tragic. But the reader’s responses I found were equally horrific as most of them were very harsh, judgmental and totally devoid of compassion for the little boy. Most cheered him on for his tragic act of violence.

What do you use to measure the distance between righteous anger and hatred? It is increasingly difficult to know where to stand. The center, the truth, the heart of so many of the stories seems to have been removed, leaving us only with our guesses and no true compass. How does one keep from becoming one of the people that one despises? If a ten year old boy is capable of going the full circle of hatred, then what is to stop us? Only ourselves and the realization that we are all from the same source.

Lines from Yeats poem, the Second Coming seem appropriate here: "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold. . . . The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity. , ,"

[Jerry Leonard]

08:25 AM on 05/18/2011

Ubermann wasn't good at sports commentary so they let him talk about politics. put the idiot down.

[Kimberlee Sullivan]

02:05 AM on 05/17/2011

No insult from me. I am/was a fan of KO, not sure which one anymore. He is acting out like a spoiled brat. The "your welcome" thing to CNN for their ratings was really quite obnoxious. I more often than not agree with KO, but I am relatively sickened by his snide remarks about his old network. With friends like him, who needs enemies. I think that I am beginning to really see the mega ego that I have heard so much about, and it is not attractive.

I also used to like Michael Moore, but now I can't stomach the man and I will not be able to watch the show when he is on. When he said that we lost part of our soul, I just wanted to scream that most of it was lost on September 11, 2001! I also found it quite ironic that Keith was doing the very thing that he was accusing Ed of doing! BTW, I never heard Ed say that MM had no right to question the situation, but I will go on the record as saying that MM's ass was not on the line in Pakistan that night and the SEALS are quite well trained in assessing a person's willingness to surrender, which OBL promised that he would NEVER be taken alive!

[kjohns7900]

01:25 AM on 05/17/2011

Just read Michael Moore's "Some Final Thoughts on Death of Osama bin Laden" on his website. In it he justifies his thoughts on capturing bin laden alive based on the surrender of Japan, arrest of Hideki Tojo after an attempted suicide, then followed by Tojo's subsequent trial by an International Military Tribunal made up of China, the U.S., the U.K., the French and the Netherlands.

How nice and convenient it would be if the Taliban and al Qaida surrendered and Pakistan kindly allowed the US Military Police arrest bin Laden only after he tried to kill himself first. The fairy tail way Michael Moore perceives how bin Laden should be treated in reality could only exist in an alternate universe.

I'm still with President Obama on this when he said on 60 Minutes, "Anyone who thinks bin Laden didn't deserve what he got needs to have his head examined."

Michael Moore needs to have his head examined.

[tacevad]

08:47 PM on 05/16/2011

looking forward to Keith's cable return here.

[Athelstane]

03:05 PM on 05/16/2011

Has Olby acknowledged that he was against assasination squads (Bush/Cheney) before he was for them (Obama)?

[Kimberlee Sullivan]

01:50 AM on 05/17/2011

There were two teams on standby, one incase they did mange to capture him alive had translators, lawyers, etc.., the other to bury him. OBL said that he would NEVER be taken alive and, well, I guess that he meant that!

[Consequence]

02:30 PM on 05/16/2011

Heard Keith is headed for Current TV.


DOZENS of people are anxiously awaiting his return to TV.

[not one of the sheep]

08:16 PM on 05/16/2011

Losermann couldn't even make it on BSNBC. I think the DOZENS is exaggerating greatly. Maybe his family, well, then again, maybe not.

[Thisguy1313]

01:02 AM on 05/17/2011

I have to ask: Do either of you know how many are in a dozen? Can you COUNT that high?? LOL

[Monday Morning]

02:22 PM on 05/16/2011

Lawrence O’Donnell Explains To Playboy How Keith Olbermann Created MSNBC!

In an interview with Playboy, Lawrence O’Donnell explains how Keith Olbermann transformed MSNBC from a Fox News clone to Lean Forward.

Playboy asked O’Donnell is MSNBC was in reality the left’s answer to Fox News. He answered, “Not originally. At first MSNBC was trying to be Fox, doing a pathetic imitation of it. In show business you follow the leader, and Fox was the leader. If you have Desperate Housewives, then we’re going to get a housewives show. Fox was this incredible success, just amazing all of us, and MSNBC was trying to imitate it in whatever ways it could, pulling in whatever Republicans it could. The only liberal it hired at that time was named Ron Reagan, and his father used to be president.”

http://www.politicususa.com/en/odonnell-keith-olbermann

[oldwarhorse]

11:53 AM on 05/16/2011

AHHH the 3 stooges have spoken... N'yuk, N'yuk Knuckleheads.

[Damien Black 1]

10:31 AM on 05/16/2011

If we are taken score, OBL is still leading in points. 9/11 , two wars , trillions spent that was what he wanted. I don't get the celebration of his death , I don't think death was a big deal for OBL , his faith helped him embrace the after life. As far as I am concern we didn't win anything or learned anything because we will always arm and train thugs who will later turn their attention on us. When we learn lessons from our mistakes and change our policies so we don't have to deal with people like OBL , Saddam and Taliban that's when we should celebration. If we all about "Justice" , how about some "Justice" for the dead Iraqis , it's time to bring Bush to "Justice".

[johngary66]

04:39 AM on 05/19/2011

I couldn't agree more Damien, unfortunately when Obama decided he wanted to be Bush III, that option disapeared. Then he decided to go even further by putting American Citizens on CIA hit lists. Even Bush didn't do that, at least not to our knowledge. So what that little power grab means is that Obama has decided, as President he can have anyone he suspects may be involved in a criminal action against the United States be murdered with out proof. Hell, obviously without even a trial. So much for Habeas Corpus. So all you quiet Obama supporters think you can overlook this one little thing as though it's not important as long as it isn't a Republican doing it. Bet you would quake in your boots if President Bachmann had that same power. You can only hide your head in the sand so long before you suffocate you know.

[singout]

10:02 AM on 05/16/2011

Oh ... is this a foreshadowing of what we're to expect from Olberman's new show? A doubling down of the pointless and petulant cross-network bloviator (and former co-worker) feuds that so marred and eventually made his last show so expendable? Yuk.

I'm sure I'll get some insult for that comment from the KO-zombies that populate HP, but I'm *not* a KO hater, and I *did* often agree with and enjoy Countdown ... but complaining about Ed Schultz or Bill O'Brien or Fox News, etc., simply doesn't serve any real value ... and runs counter to serving the public good. I sure wish he'd focus his commentaries and insight on news and newsmakers, rather than other talking heads.

[evajande]

12:37 PM on 05/16/2011

I watched Oberman while on MSNBC and had a great deal of respect for his show. I also thought a lot of Michael Moore in the begining till I saw a turn that this man much like many was simply turning a buck. At the same time to blast people simply for voicing their attitudes is wrong on all of your parts and certainly does no favors for this country or its people, The public is a bit tired at all of you that keep the controversy among you in nothing more that a competition for ratings and money. Apparently truth and doing the right thing for this country no longer matters and all our News Channels are biased one way or another and the truth is twisted to suit their purpose.

[Stageman]

03:28 PM on 05/16/2011

Holy shiznits, finally somebody who gets it. Its basically all gossip, no news. People who are too scared of the personal involvement in a fight and just yell at each other. Real intellectuals can sit down and debate. Keith cannot even be in the same room with someone that disagrees with him.

[RDWidner]

08:21 AM on 05/16/2011

While you question the official story keep in mind that the news as you know it is being heavily influenced by one man;

When liberal investor George Soros gave $1.8 million to National Public Radio , it became part of the firestorm of controversy that jeopardized NPR’s federal funding. But that gift only hints at the widespread influence the controversial billionaire has on the mainstream media. Soros, who spent $27 million trying to defeat President Bush in 2004, has ties to more than 30 mainstream news outlets – including The New York Times, Washington Post, the Associated Press, NBC and ABC.

Prominent journalists like ABC’s Christiane Amanpour and former Washington Post editor and now Vice President Len Downie serve on boards of operations that take Soros cash. This despite the Society of Professional Journalists' ethical code stating: “avoid all conflicts real or perceived.”

[johnr49]

09:46 AM on 05/16/2011

Yet another on the right attempting to perpetuate the myth of the "liberal media bias" - yeah and Fox is really the only news outlet that's "fair and balanced", isn't it?

[RDWidner]

10:15 AM on 05/16/2011

Yet another on the left that cannot refute the facts. The fact is that at least thirty news organizations are influenced by George Soros money.

[stacknef]

03:43 PM on 05/16/2011

So?

[tacevad]

08:48 PM on 05/16/2011

love that mini bio :)

[RDWidner]

08:02 AM on 05/17/2011

Liberal Media Bias is not a myth!