Our Condolences, To The Olbermann Family

Tough weekend, in the Death Business.

We just discovered that Theodore Olbermann, father of MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, passed away today, after an extended illness, following what had been successful colon surgery.

My father died, in the city of his birth, New York, at 3:50 EST this afternoon

He was my inspiration, and will always remain so. His bravery these last six months cannot be measured. He is as much my hero now, as he was when I was five years old.

Early in The Garlic's history, we often featured Olbermann's rants, his "Special Comments", unique at that time, as he sought to bring to the attention of the American Public the lies, crimes and misdemeanors, of the Court Appointed President.

More recently, he used his pulpit, to shake his fist at the spineless Congress, and the Right Wing Freak Show, using his father's situation, to highlight the need for comprehensive healthcare reform;

Drew Grant: Keith Olbermann Discusses Father, “Life Panels”

Ron Chusid: An American Cry For Help

Our condolences, to the Olbermann Family

Doc Bloc Death Knock? ... MSNBC Climbs Into the Big Yellow Taxi

Okay, "Sticks nix hick pix" it isn't, but it appears MSNBC is looking to get out of the rerun business

MSNBC Wants to Add a 3rd Prime-Time Show

Building on the momentum of its prime-time hours, MSNBC is developing a 10 p.m. program that would complement its left-leaning evening lineup, the cable news channel’s president said this week.

[Snip]

Unlike most major networks, MSNBC’s original programming ends at 10 each weeknight. The 8 p.m. program “Countdown With Keith Olbermann” is rerun at 10 p.m., where it usually ranks third.

[Snip]

But at 10 p.m., MSNBC replaced live programming with documentaries and repeats in 2006. It moved the reruns of “Countdown” there in March to capitalize on the political year. Reverting to tape at 10 p.m. puts the network at a disadvantage, especially on busy news nights. Meanwhile, CNN and Fox News are battling for first place in the hour. Last year, “Anderson Cooper 360” on CNN outperformed “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren” on Fox News among younger viewers, but the Fox program averaged a higher number of total viewers.

Hmmm ...

We once joked, at the height of the Missing White Woman bonanza, that MSNBC was going to launch a 24/7 Rita Cosby Channel, and, apparently, they are reluctant to plaster a Keith Olbermann Doc Bloc of sorts, endlessly replaying his Countdown program on the channel.

And, now, they want to cash in on their "left-leaning evening lineup" ...

Something seems to come to mind about that;

Dont it always seem to go
That you dont know what youve got
Till its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Perhaps this is an opportunity to make amends, for their boneheaded cowardness, for their capitulation to the Right Wing Freak Show, and the Bush Grindhouse, when they dumped Anti-War proponent Phil Donahue from their line-up.

Exit Phil Donahue

Phil Donahue on his 2003 MSNBC firing: "We had to have two conservatives on for every liberal. I was counted as two liberals."

MSNBC Sabotages Donahue

Then again, we haven't seen Rita Cosby pop up anywhere.

From this view, it would be nice if they came up with a second "progressive" program, and stop subjecting us to the Tweety rerun at 7:00PM.

And don't you dare put Morning Joke back in Prime Time!


Bonus MSNBC Riffs

MSNBC's Matthews Uninjured Pulling Head Out Of Judy Miller's Ass ... Hardball Host Fawns Over Former White House Stenographer; Stays Away From Tough Questions

Top Ten Cloves: Things Joe Scarborough Likes To Eat and Wear When Sitting At Computer

Developing Story - MSNBC Making Pitches To Become Eulogy Channel

Rachel Maddow: Hillary Apologist and Obama Basher


Bonus Bonus

Joni Mitchell Big Yellow Taxi

Is Keith Olbermann Reading The Garlic?

Hmmm ...

We have been, for some time, a fan of Keith Olbermann's 'Countdown' program.

When he started doing his Special Comments, we featured them, in our "Minced Garlic' posts.

Now, these things have happened a few times, hearing some pundit on the tube, or seeing in another's column, something eerily and striking similar to something we put up on The Garlic.

I suppose you can chalk that up to hot news, common, or obvious deductions.

Back on Monday, 24 November, 2008, we posted;

"Breaking ... Mukasey Fainting Due To Deep Introspection; In Middle of Speech, Attorney General Suddenly Realized He Was Part of Bush Administration"

Mukasey, just before passing out, started remembering how he defend Vice President Cheney on Executive Privilege, as well as telcom immunity.

"He had particular inner grief that he was vague on waterboarding."

"Backing the President on wiretapping, and not enforcing court subpoenas was the last thing he said he could remember, before passing out."

Okay, there were numerous snarky riffs on the Crony General droppin' like a sack of potatoes, and The Garlic just happened to be one of them

But then, this past Wednesday, December 3, 2008, during Olbermann's "Bushed" segment of the program (You can watch it HERE);

Number one, our attorney general is not rational-gate. Mr. Mukasey met with reporters today for the first time since he blacked out while giving a speech defending enhanced interrogation and Gitmo and the whole post-traumatic stress bag of tricks two weeks ago.

He told the correspondents that if a military commission were to impose a short sentence on a Gitmo detainee considered to be a dangerous terrorist, it would be suicidal to release the individual even after the individual's sentence had been served. Mr. Mukasey was asked, is that justice? He answered yes.

They still don't know why the attorney general passed out during that speech two weeks ago. Apparently they found nothing medically wrong with him. I don't mean to sound crass but those with psychiatric training would probably suggest that he be examined to rule out the possibility that he collapsed under the weight of all that paranoia, delusions, revenge fantasies and hypocrisy.

Hmmm ...

"He collapsed under the weight of all that paranoia, delusions, revenge fantasies and hypocrisy"

You don't suppose ... No, I'm sure it was just a case of commonality, the obvious, satire and snark that was just begging for it.

Then again, times are tough ...

Maybe I should contact that Mayor in Turkey, see if he can help, or refer a good lawyer to me.

John Cleese on Olbermann

If you happened to be watching 'Countdown' last evening, you were rewarded with a little treat.

John Cleese, live, in-studio.

For the final segment, Olbermann had the Monty Python veteran in for a chat on Joe The Dumber, and a new poem (Cleese, last month, wrote a poem, slamming Sean Hannity, that Olbermann read on the program), bashing Olbermann's obsessive target, Bill O'Reilly.

The best of it was Cleese riffing on "If Karl Rove worked for the Democrats" ... It's hysterical!

Check it out here;

Countdown: John Cleese on Joe the Prop Oct. 31, 2008




Extra Bonus!

It appears, if it survives the writing and run-through process, a parody of Olbermann on Saturday Night Live this evening.

MSNBC Waves The Right Flag

MSNBC Removes Olbermann & Matthews From Election Anchor Duties

Well, what can you expect?

This is from the same nitwits, the stuffed shirts and suits in the upper echelons of NBC, MSNBC, General Electric (or some combination of, maybe all), that fired Phil Donohue and hired Rita Cosby.

Rita Cosby, for heavens sake!

The public (very public) dumping, demotion, spanking, and/or otherwise, stiff slap-to-the-face of Keith Olbermann and Chris "Tweety" Matthews by Phil Griffin, the president of MSNBC was/is meant to embarrass them.

(And dig how the NYT helped with the slapping - MSNBC Takes Incendiary Hosts From Anchor Seat)

Whatever it was about their chores as anchors of political events (debates, primaries, conventions), could have been handled internally, without public fanfare, a subtle shift that may, or may not, have gone unnoticed.

Ratings, maybe, likely were the biggest reason, however, with the various outcries from the Right Wing, most recently by Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain's camp, it certainly gives the appearance the Griffin is caving in to the Freak Show crowd.

And, perhaps, the three-martini-voiced Tom Brokaw.

From Atrios;

I'll just add, for the hundredth time, that Keith Olbermann's expressed "liberalism" is almost entirely limited to a dislike and distrust of the Bush administration, a view shared by 70% of the public, and a concern for civil liberties and executive power abuse. On top of that he has a somewhat liberal "sensibility," but his show covers little of the broader "liberal agenda." But he makes Tom Brokaw uncomfortable so, you know.

And guess what ...

They're plugging in Karl Rove's dancing partner, the dreadful David Gregory to man the Captain's chair for future political events.

Yeah, that oughta send the ratings skyrocketing ...

With Tweety, it could be nothing more that him being Tweety that pushes him off the main stage.

But Olbermann, this is what is going to give this story legs.

To get the full scope of this, Glenn Greenwald has a excellent breakdown of it, with his "The right dictates MSNBC's programming decisions", and he says this;

The irrefutable fact is that nothing attracts ratings for MSNBC -- and nothing has attracted ratings in the entire history of that channel -- the way that Olbermann does. Yet here is MSNBC removing him from the anchor position, reducing his role in its political coverage, and clearly diminishing his stature (and implicitly criticizing his coverage). That is extraordinary for a media company to publicly embarrass, diminish and tarnish its own principal asset. It is plainly doing so for ideological, not ratings-based, reasons: namely, it fears doing anything to anger the White House, the McCain campaign and the Right in this country.

The most recent item that, likely, drew ire, was Olbermann pissing in the tea of the Republican's cup, rightly calling them out on the propaganda 9-11 Tribute video they ran at the convention last week.

Check it out.

The 9-11 Tribute at the RNC - And Olbermann's Reaction

"This "tribute" which served to only throw fear into the political discourse and frighten voters was shown at the 2008 Republican National Convention. Keith Olbermann spoke for many of us at the sickening images used for political gain"



A classic, if anything, to show who's pulling Stumblin' Bumblin' Johnny's strings, with his Rovian campaign.

Leni Riefenstahl would have been most proud of them.

Because the video narrator assured us, this won't happen again, as in "This is a war American will win, because we'll have a President that knows how".

Knows "how to" what - make propaganda films?

Start wars on lies and false information?

Torture people, obstruct justice and stomp on the Constitution?

Inferring McCain will be the "President that knows how"?

Please ....

(We should note, as, no doubt, you heard, how the GOP, in their video shows, used stock images of African Americans, and, more hideously, of a soldiers' funeral, and the infamous McCain Green Screen, in which they screwed up showing Walter Reed Hospital, instead, displaying a school in Southern California has been much-discussed.

The only thing missing from this video was, at the end of it, a 'Sponsored by Walmart' and voiceover from Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain, telling the RNC crowd that he wants to thank them for going shopping after September 11th).

Olbermann wasn't the only one to notice.

The Jed Report asked "Did they just cross the line on 9/11?", Creature, on State of Day, simply labeld it Exploiting the dead, while Hilzoy, over on Obsidian Wings, was "Angry";

I didn't want to write about that. It's still pretty close to the bone. But I have never thought that I had a monopoly on honor and decency and love for my country. I wish more prominent Republicans would stop assuming that they do.

Sasha Issenberg, in The Boston Globe, penned an obit, "The death of a taboo";

ST. PAUL -- One of the most enduring taboos in American politics, the airing of graphic images from the September 11 attacks in a partisan context, died today. It was nearly seven years old.

The informal prohibition, which had been occasionally threatened by political ads in recent years, was pronounced dead at approximately 7:40 CST, when a video aired before delegates at the Republican National Convention included slow-motion footage of a plane striking the World Trade Center, the towers' subsequent collapse, and smoke emerging from the Pentagon.

The September 11 precedent was one of the few surviving campaign-season taboos. It is survived by direct comparisons of one's opponents to Hitler.

It was intimated that Olbermann may do a "Special Comment" on this 9-11 Tribute Video, and with this naked, public rebuke, by his own bosses, it should, possibly, make for some good fireworks.

Then again, Olbermann, if he really wants to push the envelope, rock the boat, and risk being fired, he can always have Phil Griffin be the "Worst Person in the World" tonight (though, he may want to do a Special Edition of it, and label Griffin the "Biggest Asshole in the World!").

Also worth watching, aside from it being the debut, is to see if Golden Girl Rachel Maddow weighs into it at all.

Holy Neilsen Ratings Batman!

Stay tuned ...


Bonus MSNBC Cave-in Riffs

MahaBlog: So Much for Freedom of the Press

Steve Benen: MSNBC FEELS THE HEAT...

Joe Gandelman: Quote of the Day: On NBC Axing NBC Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews As MSNBC Anchors

Bob Cesca: Keith And Chris

Oliver Willis: MSNBC Caves In To Right Wing Bellyaching Again

Brilliant at Breakfast: MSNBC capitulates to Karl Rove and the Republican Party

John Aravosis : You can turn off NBC and MSNBC during the debates and elections

Digby: The Refs Begin To Tremble

Was Tweety Covering Morning Jokes' Back?

What's in the water over there at MSNBC?

Is it the long, tedious hours of covering the Dog-and-Pony Show in Denver, or is word leaking in the corridors of Rockefeller Center that Keith Olbermann is King Cock there now, much to the chagrin of Morning Joke and Tweety.

Just the other day, Olbermann smacked down Morning Joke Scarborough.

And, last night, Olbermann and Tweety butted heads.

Now to set this up, virtually the entire day, cable news (and MSNBC, which I had on most of the time) had the Froth-O-Meter turned on "High", badgering each and every colleague, guest or passerby, if they had seen or read the "Hillary Speech" and then, with said colleague, guest or passerby, spend the next 15-minutes blabbering about what "Hillary should say" or "What should be in the speech.

(As a sidenote, it seemed I had bad timing, for just about each time I switched over to CNN, Wolf Blitzer was yelling for Jessica Yellin; He's in a closed set, and with a microphone, so why does he have to shout all time? And why are people always yelling at her?)

So, after Tweety gave a rather long prattle about Hillary, and the speech, Olbermann starts to go to guest Stenchy Hoyer, and in doing so, references Tweety's long-windedness with a "going off at the mouth here", including making a hand gesture, denoting talking too much.

As Hoyer begins to speak, you hear Tweety pull back his wings and start flapping them at Olbermann.

"You make that sound, Keith ... I could say the same thing about you"

Hoyer, noting the barb, got off a good one, saying "The good news is I am sitting by, and not standing by".

Matthews Gets Testy With Olbermann During




Hmmm ... Tweety playing Morning Jokes' wingman?

And, speaking of Morning Joke, he must still be a little touchy after the Olbermann slap down, for he got all puffed up, playing out the Charles Atlas-Kicking-Sand-In-Your-Face advertisement, jumping all over David Shuster, for Shuster challenging him to criticize "his party" and Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain over the Iraq Pullout Timetable, you know, the one that The Commander Guy, everyone in the Bush Grindhouse, the Right Wing Freak Show labeled anyone who called for it a traitor, or appeaser, someone who wanted to lose the war.

It's here, and it runs about 10-minutes, but it's fun to see Morning Joke get all huffy.

Shuster vs Scarborough! Man Love in the Morning!

Get A Shovel! ... Olbermann Disses Scarborough, On-Air

We definitely want more Convention coverage like this!

This would make watching much, much more interesting ... Probably a ratings bonanza, as well ...

Oh God, this is hysterical.

Yesterday, at the Democratic Convention in Denver, Morning Joke, babbling on-and-on, how great Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain is doing, when Keith Olbermann, on-air (via an open mic), drops him with;

"Jesus Joe, why don't you get a shovel ..."

OMG!

How refreshing!

It took Morning Joke a few seconds to put on the lip brakes, with a stunned "Excuse Me" look in his eyes.

This has to be a stake-in-the-ground, for all television host, anchors, moderators, et all.

Whenever they have a guest talking head on, and they start spouting out garbage, their erroneous talking points, said host needs to lean back, squint the eyes a bit, and dismissively, or with exasperation, jab "Jesus (fill in the name), why don't you get a shovel ..."

Challenge'em, don't just let the junk go unfiltered.

Just imagine, Wolf Blitzer, in his Curtis-Mathesesque-showroom-of-a-set, The Situation Room, suddenly interrupting one of his talking head guests with a "Excuse me, but put a sock in it ... "

Olbermann's live reaction and comment could herald in a new era.

Who woulda' thunk it - Morning Joke Scarborough could be part of changing the face of television coverage ...

Check it out ...

Olbermann: Jesus, Joe, Why Don't You Get a Shovel?




Bonus Convention and Morning Joke Riffs

Top Ten Cloves: Things Joe Scarborough Likes To Eat and Wear When Sitting At Computer

SilentPatriot: Does Scarborough Leave The Set After Rachel Maddow Hurts His Feelings?

John Amato: David Shuster smacks The Scar over his trying to pump “Bush’s foreign policy” as successful

Josh Marshall: Have Mercy, Have Mercy!

In The "Holy Cow" Dept; Denver Homeless Getting The Noonan "Full Detroit"

Take Me Out To The Electoral College

There was a good, interesting segment on Countdown with Keith Olbermann on Friday evening.

Baseball statistician turned political pollster Nate Silver, founder of the website FiveThirtyEight (named for the count of the Electoral College) was on and, no doubt, the Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain campaign must want to do a Juan Marichal to Silver.

Crunching the numbers, Silver prognosticates that Barack Obama will beat Stumblin' Bumblin' McCain, 294.7 to 243.3.

Essentially, a blowout.

And, least you think Olbermann was just promoting one of his Fantasy Baseball buddies, you'd be benched, for the man who has been on-the-money more than anyone during this election season, Al Giordano, weighs in;

Nate Silver - whose statistical approach to forecasting the primary results this spring hung bad pollsters out to dry and has sent good pollsters into a long overdue stampede to reexamine the technical bases of how they do their work - was on Countdown with Keith Olbermann last night. It's a sign of the times that the new rising star of political analysis doesn't come from inside a campaign staff (a la Pat Caddell in '76, Roger Ailes in '80, James Carville in '92 or Karl Rove in '00) but from the outside.

In a few short months Nate has gone from being one of thousands of bloggers on Daily Kos (he used the pseud Poblano there) to launching his own website, which in addition to the addictive numbers-crunching, charts and graphs, features excellent commentary (and really good writing).

"At this point there’s a pretty big margin of error. Once we have the conventions, especially the first debate, Obama will be vetted by voters… The movement comes after labor day and after the conventions…."

Here's the 411

Baseball stats star gets in the politics game

Aug. 8: Nate Silver's Web site, FiveThirtyEight.com, applies his widely admired statistical prediction technique to political polling to generate electoral map forecasts that have captured the attention of political strategists. Silver joins Keith Olbermann to explain how his process applies to both baseball and politics.

Go visit (and bookmark) FiveThirtyEight.Com

Bad Day At Black Rock

We got a little movie theme going today with our titles, so, no, this isn't about the tremendous Spencer Tracy movie.

It's about Wal-Mart.

You know them - The mega-enormous company that had a certain Presidential Candidate as a board member (H/T to Barry Crimmins)

They're going to have to shelve that annoying little, flying, yellow smiling face for awhile.

Yesterday was a bummer for them.

First, they lost in court;

Judge blesses "Wal-Qaeda," "Walocaust" anti-Wal-Mart Web sites

Fortunately a federal judge in Atlanta had sense enough to strike down the suit. "The fact that the real Wal-Mart name and marks are strong and recognizable makes it unlikely that a parody -- particularly one that calls to mind the genocide of millions of people, another that evokes the name of a notorious terrorist organization ... will be confused with Wal-Mart's real products," wrote U.S. District Judge Timothy C. Batten Sr.

As the AP points out, the judge also noted that very few people were even interested in Smith's charming work: He has only sold 62 T-shirts, 15 of them to Wal-Mart's law firms.

Who knew they didn't have a sense-of-humor?

So, as the wallowed in their sorrows, trudging back from the court, who drops another, well-earned, bucket of you-know-what on them?

Keith Olbermann.

Wal-Mart - emphatically - earned the title of 'Worst Person in the World' last evening

Wal-Mart sues disabled former employee

March 26: Worst: A Wal-Mart employee got into a truck accident – then sued and won. But now, wheelchair-bound and brain damaged, she’s being sued by her employer. It turns out there’s fine print in the company health plan.

Oh yeah, Olbermann later added this this poor woman got the news last week (if she could understand it) that her son was killed, while serving in Iraq.

Olbermann let them off easy.

Asking that "may your stores melt in the hot sun" wasn't enough

Something like this should have gotten them Worst Persons of the Year

Update ...Update

Olbermann whacked them again this evening.

He bestowed Lee Scott, Wal-Mart CEO with a "Worst Person" award, adding at the end of it "Wal-Mart ... Always low prices ... Always low humanity ..."


Bonus Wal-Mart Riffs

Wal-Mart Watch

Robert Greenwald's 'Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price'

Breaking News - White House Launches “Save The Ports, Save Claude” mission; White House Sought Deal With Target To Let Bush Aide Off; Coleman Played Point Man; Offered “Halliburton-Sized Contracts” and Would “Shut Down Wal-Mart”

Wal-Mart To Appeal $172M California Fine; Workers Will Have To Continue To Go Without Meals While Case Stays In Courts

With New War Room, Bush Calls On Wal-Mart To Join Coalition Forces; Retail Giant 'Could Outfit Millions of Troops"; Military Will Limit Benefits and Consider Waiver For Illegal Workers

Minced Garlic - New Keith Olbermann Special Comment: To Bush - "You're A Fascist! ... You're A Liar"

Another strong - even very animated - Special Comment last evening from MSNBC Countdown host, Keith Olbermann, which had him leaning into the camera to call The Commander Guy a "Fascist" and "A Liar".




Olbermann also presented this Special Comment in a slightly different format.









Rather than his customary last segment of the program, Olbermann segued from the #3 story on 'Countdown', "On FISA and telecom immunity", introducing the recent Bush Grindhouse's efforts to play the Fear Card, and of, perhaps the most startling event of the day - The House Democrats showing a stiff spine and the House Republicans showing they care more about politics than the their own chamber, not to mention the rule-of-law, the Constitution, et all.

Rather than bring up the FISA Bill and give The Bush Grindhouse their most cherished Telcom Immunity (about the only reason they're - once again - beefing up the FISA Bill ... The Protect America Act really should be retitled to Protect The Telecommunication Companies Act ... Read Glenn Greenwald's FISA 101 for an excellent overview of it).

Instead, the House Leadership decided to remind its' members that two of the Bush Henchmen and Henchwoman have thumbed their noses at Congress, so the matter of declaring Harriet Meirs and Josh Bolten in Contempt of Congress was on the agenda, so John "Cry Baby" Boehner led a walkout of the Republicans (this after they busted the Dem's balls, by playing procedural games, interrupting a memorial service for Rep. Tom Lantos, who passed away earlier this week).

The Contempt measures were passed and, as of midnight tomorrow evening, the FISA Bill extension will expire, which has lead the Bush Grindhouse to go to great lengths this past week, to browbeat the Congress into giving the Telcom Immunity, otherwise, the intelligence-gathering program comes to a halt (it doesn’t) and that the dreaded terrorist will soon be invading our country to kill us all.

So, in essence, other than the new component of the Telcom Immunity, it has been business-as-usual for the Bush Grindhouse and the Republicans.

Play the Fear Card, overstate and outright lie about the threats and then turn around and label anyone that questions them as traitors, terrorist appeasers and people who would rather see the terrorists win.

Much like many of us, we had enough of this, and Olbermann teed off on it in his Special Comment.

"You have subjected us, your citizens, to that greater danger! This, Mr. Bush, is simple enough for even you to understand.

For the moment, at least, thanks to some true patriots in the House, and your own stubbornness, you have tabled telecom immunity, and the FISA act.

You. By your own terms and your definitions, you have just sided with the terrorists. You’ve got to have this law, or we’re all going to die. But, practically speaking, you vetoed this law.

It is bad enough, sir, that you were demanding an ex post facto law that could still clear the AT&Ts and the Verizons from responsibility for their systematic, aggressive and blatant collaboration with your illegal and unjustified spying on Americans under this flimsy guise of looking for any terrorists who are stupid enough to make a collect call or send a mass e-mail.

But when you demanded it again during the State of the Union address, you wouldn’t even confirm that they actually did anything for which they deserved to be cleared.

“The Congress must pass liability protection for companies believed to have assisted in the efforts to defend America.”

Believed? Don’t you know? Don’t you even have the guts Dick Cheney showed in admitting they did collaborate with you? Does this endless presidency of loopholes and fine print extend even here? If you believe in the seamless mutuality of government and big business, come out and say it! There is a dictionary definition, one word that describes that toxic blend.

You’re a fascist — get them to print you a T-shirt with fascist on it! What else is this but fascism? ..."

And before a strong, flourishing finish, Olbermann laid these down;

"And if there’s one thing we know about Big Brother, Mr. Bush, it is that he is — you are — a liar."

"This is crap. And you sling it with an audacity and a speed unrivaled by even the greatest political felons of our history."

"You are a liar, Mr. Bush. And after showing some skill at it, you have ceased to even be a very good liar."

Check out and read Keith Olbermann's Special Comment "A veto of the FISA bill endangers Americans"

Watch The Video of it Here


Bonus Links

dday at Hullabaloo: Wahhhh, Wahhhh, Wahhhh

Atrios: They Write Letters - Congressman Reyes writes to President Bush

Scarecrow at Firedoglake: We Need a Constitutional Democratic Party

FISA Update #4 - Don't Let the Fat Lady - Or The Fat Corporate Cats - Sing!

Minced Garlic: New Keith Olbermann Special Comment ... Bush put telecoms ahead of citizens

Sorry we're late with our usual highlighting of, yet another stellar, Keith Olbermann Special Comment, fumed and ranted Thursday evening (For one, The Garlic has been working at half-speed the past few days, a bit under-the-weather and, MSNBC was a bit slow in posting the transcript).

Olbermann tackled the FISA fiasco, and was particularly steamed throughout the special comment.

The Garlic already had its' rant on this last Monday, offering the Democrats in Congress two reasons not to cave in on this issue.

For The Commander Guy, his henchmen (and the entire Republican Freakshow echo machine) has done purple-in-the-face, demanding Congress give The Commander Guy HIS FISA Bill, his Orwellian 'Protect America Act', for if they don't, terrorists are going to immediately invade the country and kill us all.

Being the current law works just fine (assuming, the people working it are honest and law-abiding), and it's been crystal clear this fevered push for The Commander Guy's PAA is about giving immunity to the telecommunications companies that broke the law with them.

With every dam, there comes a crack;

Which is why the Vice President probably shouldn't have phoned in to the Rush Limbaugh Propaganda-Festival yesterday.

Sixth sentence out of Mr. Cheney's mouth.

The FYCA bill is about, quote, "retroactive liability protection for the companies that have worked with us and helped us prevent further attacks against the United States."

Oops.

Mr. Cheney is something of a loose cannon, of course.

But he kind of let the wrong cat out of the bag there.

Because Mr. Bush and the corporations he values more than people didn't want anybody to verify what Mark Klein says.

Mark Klein is the AT&T Whistleblower who appeared on this newscast last November... who explained, in the placid, dull terms of your local neighborhood IT desk, how he personally attached all of AT&T's circuits, everything carrying every phone call, every e-mail, every bit of web browsing into a secure room — Room Number 641-A, at the Folsom Street facility in San Francisco, where it was all copied so the government could look at it.

Not some of it; not just the international part of it; certainly not just the stuff some truly patriotic and telepathic spy might be able to divine had been sent or spoken by or to a terrorist.

Everything.

Every time you looked at a naked picture, every time you bid on eBay, every time you phoned-in a donation to a Democrat.

"My thought was 'George Orwell's 1984,'" Mr. Klein told me, reflecting back, "and here I am, being forced to connect the Big Brother machine."

And there was this chewy morsel of a caveat;

There's yet another level to this, and here we move from Big Brother to Sleazy Son.

Mr. Bush's new Attorney General, Mr. Mukasey, the one who has already taken four different positions on water-boarding, and who may yet tie that record on this subject of telecom immunity, he has a very personal stake in this.

There happens to be a partner in the law firm of Bracewell and Giuliani, named Marc Mukasey. And Bracewell and Giuliani and the Attorney General's son Marc, just happen to represent Verizon.

You know, Verizon — Telecom Giant.

And all of a sudden this is no longer just a farce in which "protecting the Telecoms" is dressed up for us as, "protecting us from terrorist conference calls."

Now it begins to look like the bureaucrats of the Third Reich trying to protect the Krupp Family industrial giants by literally re-writing the laws for their benefit.

And we know how that turned out: Alfried Krupp and eleven of his directors were convicted of War Crimes at Nuremburg.

Hmmm ... The new Crony General has a personal stake in this ... Very interesting ...That is, of course, the Crony General admits to having son ...

Why, just the other day, the Crony General displayed his prowess;

From Glenn Greenwalds' "Mukasey's radical worldview is now the norm";

While Mukasey may be marginally more straightforward than Alberto Gonzales was -- more willing to conform to the procedural formalities of independence -- he is, ideologically, a clone of John Yoo and David Addington and is as much of a loyal adherent to the Bush/Cheney extremist worldview as Gonzales ever was.

Mukasey explicitly embraces the most extreme theories of presidential omnipotence and lawlessness and displays as much Cheney-ite contempt for the notion of Congressional oversight as the Vice President himself. He repeatedly endorsed patently illegal behavior -- including torture -- and refused even to pretend that he cared what the Senate thought about any of it. He even told Republican Senators that they have no right to pass a whistleblower law allowing federal employees who learn of lawbreaking to inform Congress about it, because such a law would infringe on the President's constitutional powers. In Mukasey's worldview, the President has unlimited power and Congress has none.

And Dahlia Lithwick, over on Slate, from her "Thank You. Now Go to Hell.Mukasey stonewalls Senate Democrats on water-boarding, and practically everything else.";

Over the course of a long, maddening day, it's quickly manifest that Mukasey's legal opinions have a 30-second shelf life. He won't opine on what's happened in the past and he won't opine on anything that might happen in the future. When Sen. Arlen Specter—concerned about seven years of vast new claims of executive authority—asks Mukasey whether, in his view, the president "can break any law he pleases because he's the president—including, say, statutes banning torture," as well as FISA and the National Security Act, Mukasey replies, "I can't contemplate any situation in which this president would assert Article II authority to do something that the law forbids."

"Well, he did just that when he violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act," Specter shoots back. Mukasey's response? "Both of those issues have been brought within statutes."

Specter is flabbergasted: "But he acted in violation of statutes, didn't he?"

"I don't know," Mukasey replies. But does is really matter? What's past is past.

And Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., tries to get Mukasey to explain why the Justice Department is investigating the destruction of the CIA torture tapes, but not investigating the underlying torture itself.

Mukasey's reply, "I don't start investigations out of curiosity," speaks for itself. When Whitehouse tries to get Mukasey to agree that they both know enough classified information to have a very concrete, nonspeculative legal discussion about whether what happened on those tapes is legal, Mukasey again insists that whether or not what happened on those tapes is legal is about which "certifications were given" and "who permissibly relied on it." Whitehouse calls this the "Nuremberg defense. ... I had authorization and therefore I'm immune from prosecution."

Any doubt that Crony General will go after those undertaking the illegal wiretapping?

Me thinks pigs will fly before that ever happens


Read Keith Olbermann's Special Comment "Bush put telecoms ahead of citizens; Pres. Bush demands a law which would clear phone giants from responsibility for government's unjustified spying on Americans"

Watch The Special Comment Video

Conservative Journalist, Unaware of Google, Wikipedia, Earns Olbermann's 'Worst Person in the Word!

File this under "dumb-as-a-doorknob".

Man, maybe they gotta start bumping up the pay, over there on Townhall.Com.

Either hire competent people, with the ability to have cognitive thought, or, trainers, to teach them how to use Google Search, and Wikipedia.

For Townhall.Com, that bastion of rightwing freakshowers ("Townhall.com is designed to amplify conservative voices in America’s political debates just as the 2006 and 2008 election cycles begin to heat up ... By uniting the nations’ top conservative radio hosts with their millions of listeners, Townhall.com breaks down the barriers between news and opinion, journalism and political participation -- and enables conservatives to participate in the political process with unprecedented ease."), has a managing editor, for who, apparently, both tools are a complete mystery to her.

Appearing on CNN's Reliable Sources this past weekend ... Well, let me show you how Crooks and Liars put it;

"I’m not sure how the Reliable Sources crew let this ignorant statement by Mary Katharine Ham, blogger and managing editor of Townhall.Com get by."

And what gleaming medallion of ignorance did Mary Katharine Hamm show off?

"HAM: Well, I think Clinton has a duality. You know, he’s the charming guy, he’s the nice guy, but he’s also a guy who’s prone to eruptions and some falsehoods.

You know, he’s like The Incredible Hulk, except he turns sort of purple and blotchy instead of green. But, you know, I think he’s sort of a victim of the - or not a victim, but he’s getting used to the 24-hour news cycle. When he was president, he was not subjected to quite as much scrutiny, and I think he got a lot of passes, and now he’s mad he’s not getting them anymore."

As C&L followed - "Was she even a little bit conscious during his presidency? Apparently not"

Either she is extremely gullible, as in her co-workers pulled a "Yeah, this is how it went down, go with that" prank on her, or she is just tremendously vapid.

"Not subjected to quite as much scrutiny" ... "I think he got a lot of passes" ...

Egads!

Roughly eight-years since he left office and they're still pounding-the-shit out of him!

This, rightly so, caught the eye of MSNBC Countdown host, Keith Olbermann, and, fit quite perfectly into his "Worst Person in the World" segment.

Naturally, Ham took top honors last evening.

"(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

OLBERMANN: Coming up to the last State of the Union address by the 43rd president of the United States, George Walker Bush. Chris Matthews joins me. And the president breaks some kind of record by devoting a large part of his speech to the subject of Iraq for the seventh consecutive State of the Union. That‘s next.

But first time for COUNTDOWN‘s worst persons in the world. The bronze shared by the well-publicized Choate Prep School in Connecticut and Karl Rove, who had to cancel Mr. Rove‘s scheduled appearance as commencement speaker this year. He will come to campus and give an address next month instead.

But the mind boggling part of it, Choate‘s director of strategic marketing and communications Mary Verselli said Mr. Rove had been invited to talk about broader issues, not deliver a political speech. What in God‘s name made you think Karl Rove has ever thought about broader issues?

Our runner-up, Glenn Beck. On TV last Friday after somebody referenced the is Obama black enough nonsense. He says, can you imagine a white commentator saying that? Can you imagine if I had said, is Barack Obama black enough? I mean, I don‘t see that man as black.

On February 12 of 2007 on the radio he said, Barack Obama is quote, “very white in many ways. He is colorless. As a white guy you don‘t notice he is black. So he might as well be white. Do you know what I mean?”

Yes. Sometimes it is not just the dumb, it is the hypocritical.

But our winner, Mary Katharine Ham, the managing editor of the Web site Townhall.com. So lost in radicalism that its headline today insists Senator Joe McCarthy was really great and he got slandered in everything. She was on CNN over the weekend saying former President Clinton‘s controversial role in the campaign owes to the fact that is just quote, “getting used to the 24-hour news cycle. When he was president, he wasn‘t subjected to quite as much scrutiny. I think he got a lot of passes.”

Now Miss Ham, I understand that you were 15 the day that MSNBC was announced and 16 when FOX Noise signed on. But the next time you are going to say something quite this moronic, please ask somebody first. FOX did the Clinton/Lewinsky story from hot and cold running taps, 24 hours a day for two years. We did it about 22 hours a day. And CNN and all the broadcast networks and radio and Republicans washed it through Matt Drudge seven days a week. And we even the Internet back then. It ran on steam and a pass. He got a pass. He got impeached. Like Bret Baier saying Abraham Lincoln left office. He got a pass. He was impeached for less than the new guy does on your average Thursday morning. A pass! Mary Katharine Ham, tonight‘s worst person—a pass—in the world!"

Seeing it in transcript form doesn't quite convey the animation and incredulousness in which Olbermann bestowed "Worst Person in the World" on Ham.

So, let's go to the videotape ...

Olbermann names Mary Katharine Ham worst person




Maybe, on her HamNation thingy, instead of dumping on Barack Obama, she can play a round of "Know Your Presidents", with herself as the sole contestant.

Considering who she works, maybe, she'll get one right.

Keith Olbermann ... Setting The Standard That, Almost Guaranteed, Will Not Be Followed

Yes, I'm going a bit late to this (in part, waiting, and waiting, for MSNBC to publish the damn transcript) but it is a story that has gone vastly under-reported.

A major news anchor made an error, a mistake and then, didn't gloss over it, didn't blame anyone else ... And, in both print, and on-air, brought attention to his mistake, accepted the responsibility for it, and apologized for it ...

Yes, the man, Keith Olbermann, host of MSNBC's Countdown, called himself out.

The issue stemmed from an interview Olbermann conducted with Lawrence O'Donnell, on Thursday, 17 January, in which there was no mention or reference to O'Donnell's lowdown smear of John Edwards, in a post he wrote on Huffington Post, the week before.

At some point, between the end of Countdown on Thursday evening, and before 11AM the next day, Olbermann did get hip to it and posted an admission of his error on the Daily Kos, announcing at the very end that "It will be addressed tonight on the show."

Addressed indeed.

Just before the first commercial break, on the Friday 18 January broadcast of Countdown;

"And a note about last night‘s COUNTDOWN and the discussion of Barack Obama‘s evoking of the name Ronald Reagan as a president of change. Lawrence O‘Donnell of Huffingtonpost.com was our guest in the 6th sentence of his first answer, Lawrence dismissed criticism of Obama about for the Reagan reference by John Edwards and that said, Edwards, quote, “Is not a factor in these races coming up except possibly Nevada.” He was entitled to say that but I should have pointed out to you that a week ago, Mr. O‘Donnell wrote a piece for “Huffington” in which he called Edwards, a quote, “Loser,” who, quote, “Might in the end become nothing other than the southern white man who stood in the way of the black man.” I would have pointed out to you if he had pointed that out to us. We can‘t do on air vetting (ph) of everything, every analyst has ever written, the newscast would then consist of 58 minutes of that plus the theme music. But when it is relevant and it‘s pointed at recent it should happen, my apologies that in this case it did not."

Jeez, take just MSNBC, and NBC, let alone the rest of the MSM (The NYT would have to publish months of editions to cover Michael Gordon's stenography), if they applied this standard to Little Timmy Russert, and Tweety Chris Matthews, they'd have to launch another channel (and Tweety was recently forced to apologize, on-air)

Top Ten Cloves: Other Things Bill O'Reilly Will Do To Get Interview With Barack Obama

News Item: Bill O’Reilly Shoves Obama Staffer

10. Date Oprah Winfrey

9. Make substantial donations to MoveOn.org, Media Matters and DailyKos

8. Will give up his crush on Matt Damon, in favor of Denzel Washington or Samuel L. Jackson, or whoever is Obama's favorite

7. Get Fox to change it's slogan the day he comes on show to "Fair and Obama"

6. Create new, nasty culture war of Obama's choosing

5. Will go to any restaurant with Obama, and not be surprised

4. Let Obama write forward of new book: The O'Reilly Factor for Black Kids

3. Create line of loofahs and donate all profits to his campaign

2. Say Keith Olbermann's name, on-air, as much as Obama wants

1. Will dress up as Dumbledore for the interview


Bonus Bill-O Links

Crooks and Liars: Video of O’Reilly calling Obama staffer an “SOB” and “low class”

Chicago SunTimes: Sweet: Fox's Bill O'Reilly in confrontation with Obama staffer at rally. UPDATE

Bill O'Reilly - Amy Polumbo Lecherous Interview

Pundit Watch: 'Pinhead' 16-Year-Old Schools O'Reilly

Breaking News! O'Reilly, Al-Qaeda In Heated Argument Over SF Targets; Strike Date, Debut of 'Muslim Factor' In Jeopardy Over Dispute