Countdown With Keith Olbermann Over

When Keith Olbermann signed off his show on Friday, he made reference to Network, the powerful 1976 network news film. Even if you haven't seen the film, you know the classic line.

With the latest casualty in the struggle for progressive thought "mysteriously" leaving, the thinking world must again stand by the cartoon pomposity that the right often depends upon.

Whatever the circumstances and fallout of Keith's departure, NBC News faces this contradiction of how to run a middle-of-the road news network and a partisan cable channel.

It was Olbermann's principled outrage at the Bush administration that established his "brand" -- but the fact that Olbermann was a "brand" in the first place points to the intrinsic limitations of corporate media.

I didn't always agree with Keith Olbermann, but I'd fight to the death for his right to be one smart man and compelling wiseass.

Rachel Maddow was on "Real Time With Bill Maher" when the news broke that Keith Olbermann and MSNBC had decided to part ways, and she and Maher both h...

UPDATE: The New York Times' Bill Carter reports that Keith Olbermann's exit from MSNBC was "weeks in the making." According to Carter, Olbermann and M...