KEITH OLBERMANN. A NEW LOW FOR THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA.

Recently, many on the left have gravitated towards a guy named Keith Olbermann for their daily dose of punditry.

The staunch critic of the Bush Administration grabs about half-a-million viewers a night with his show, Countdown,and is most often seen through the mainstream media lens as the Left's answer to Bill O'Reilly, whose show competes with Olbermann's in the 8pm time slot.

Well, perhaps "compete" is not the right word. O'Reilly trounces Olbermann nightly, getting roughly three times his viewership and leaving Olbermann (much like MSNBC) mired in third place.

Politically, Olbermann's rhetoric is pretty standard for today's Far Left bomb thrower.

"Bush-lied, our freedoms are being taken away, America is just as bad as the terrorists, Fox News is right wing propaganda," you know, standard liberal bunk.

Olbermann is a sports guy and always has been. His entire broadcast career has been dedicated to ESPN, Fox Sports Net, and calling baseball games, and his specialty shows when he starts talking politics.

Like most on the far left, he plays loose with the facts, molding the issues to fit his interpretation of them. The most notable example of this were his misleading statements concerning the Military Commissions Act, which he falsely characterized as allowing the federal government to arrest anyone, at any time and without any reason.

His followers freaked out over this and screamed bloody murder, but that ended abruptly, once folks realized that he was grossly misinterpreting that particular piece of bipartisan legislation.

To his credit, Olbermann is an eloquent speaker, a tremendous writer and a very handsome gentleman. He was named "Sexiest Newsman" by Playgirl magazine a couple years ago for whatever that's worth.

He could have great potential as a pundit or social commentator if he knew what he was talking about.

Unfortunately, like so many on the Far Left he is not only devoid of important factual information, but also of any common decency.

He would be right at home moderating a live debate between Rosie O'Donnell and Donald Trump. It would go down is his language. A language filled with personal attacks, name-calling and childish, unprofessional behavior.

Olbermann has become a bit of a household name, even to conservatives and non-sports fans, due to his constant personal attacks on Mr. O'Reilly.

Olbermann celebrated O'Reilly's personal troubles, when the FNC commentator was accused of sexual harassment.

Although the case was eventually settled, Olbermann publicly reveled in his competitors personal troubles, and gleefully began a pledge drive to make the tapes between O'Reilly and his alleged victim public.

Yes folks, these are the actions of a top personality on what is billed as a serious news network.



I'm not going to defend O'Reilly. Maybe he did sexually harass some chick. Who knows? But to take joy in the problems of others, simply because you disagree with them politically, is low-class. It's like cheering when the quarterback of the opposing team gets injured and is taken out for the season.

His immaturity continued, as did his personal crusade against O'Reilly when at an event for the Television Critics Association, he donned an O'Reilly mask and gave the Nazi salute to the audience.

Implying that those with conservative values are akin to Nazis, is, of course, standard fare for the modern liberal movement. But when an individual who is billed, by some, as being a serious voice in important times does something like that, essentially calling his competition a Nazi, can you really take anything that guy says seriously anymore? Is his perception of the world and those who inhabit it so screwed up that he actually thinks that Bill O'Reilly is a Nazi sympathizer, likes Nazis or has political beliefs that in anyway mirror the horrifying ideology of The Third Reich?



Olbermann has called O'Reilly a "moron" and "this generation's Joe McCarthy."

Perhaps if McCarthy had sold Red Scare "gear", and then given the proceeds to charity, he could have secured a more positive legacy for himself.

He also referred to FNC's Chris Wallace as "a monkey posing as a newscaster" after Wallace asked former President Bill Clinton a simple question as to why he did nothing about terrorism during his eight years in office.

And yet, these immature and mindless attacks, coupled with pretty words attached to a pretty face, have lead the far left in this nation to embrace this guy and use You Tube clips of his nightly rants, in their crusade to destroy the Bush presidency and give up in Iraq.

He is to themwhat O'Reilly is to people who have traditional values and who care about things like child molesters going to jail and political correctness run amok: a hero.

And how appropriate it is.

This kind of gutter politics has been the weapon of choice for liberals in this country ever since President Bush took office. So it is only fitting that their new hero behave in the same fashion as those who have preceded him. In fact, he must, in order to gain their admiration and support.

His attacks on O'Reilly have succeeded in achieving for Olbermann what was likely his main goal: higher ratings.

When you act like a buffoon, people like to watch, and once word gets out, those who are also buffoons will join in the fun. Once again, I point to the recent ratings surge on The View as proof.

Olbermann is a perfect example of the type of person that the traditional left-wing media needs to avoid in order to continue to be taken seriously in the public arena.

Just as the Left's delusions of Republican's stealing elections, could potentially lead those leftists using the delusion to justify cheating in order to gain what they feel is rightfully theirs, the deluded Left has gravitated towards Olbermann's hateful rhetoric and behavior. They have done so as a reaction to what they have been duped into believing is similar behavior coming from guys like O'Reilly and other conservatives and Republicans. Thank inaccurate and dumbed-down hit pieces such as Robert Greenwald's Outfoxed for that mindset.

This opening, and it's acceptance by Olbermann's fans and supporters has the potential to make his style of low-brow news programming commonplace on our television sets and in our newspapers.

O'Reilly has been the bigger man through all of this and has pretty much ignored Olbermann's low-blows, but in my view, he shouldn't.

O'Reilly should take on Olbermann, exposing his behavior and explaining why it not only reflects poorly on everyone in the media, but how it also lowers the level of civil and political discourse further, in a nation which can not afford to visit these depths at this crucial point in our history.

So if you're looking for an O'Reilly alternative, skip the mean-spirited Olbermann, go to Comedy Central, and watch the funnier and more cerebral Stephen Colbert.

Colbert may also make a living by trashing conservatives, but unlike Olbermann, he has made a name for himself without trying to destroy his competition on a personal level.

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