Even Keith Olbermann is Bought and Paid For
by Michael Sternberg
I watched with dismay Wednesday night (Oct 10, 2007) as Keith Olbermann of MSNBC’s Countdown omitted pertinent facts and made false statements in his story about Mitt Romney's infamous response in the CNBC/Wall Street Journal GOP debate.
In his introduction, Olbermann states, "In Dearborn, all eight contenders weighing in on executive authority vs. congressional authority..." However, nine candidates participated in the debate, and Olbermann's misstatement was made even more bizarre by the video coverage he was showing while making it. The video (below) clearly showed 9 debaters on stage.
Olbermann then shows a clip of four of the candidates’ responses, including Romney's, and goes on to ask his guest whether or not Mitt, with the exception of lawyers, lost everyone with that response. The video showed Thompson, Giuliani, and McCain giving alternative yet similar answers, and while querying Chris Cilizza (washingtonpost.com) on the validity of Mitt Romney's perspective, Olbermann made no mention of the major dissenting view, which was expressed emotionally by Ron Paul during the debate.
Keith Olbermann consistently slams the Bush administration and other major media for fact fudging, propaganda peddling, or incompetence (as he should). So, what is this an example of, Keith? Are you guilty of manipulation or incompetence? Or is there another possibility I am not seeing?
In any case, this compels me to pose the following question to Countdown, to all major media, and to their advertisers: If I have to do a research project to learn or verify the basic facts of every story you produce, then why should I continue to pay any attention to you?
Michael Sternberg
The video segment of Countdown with Keith Olbermann:
Keith Olberman is in the denouncement game
Keith Olberman is in the denouncement game, not the promotion game. He's the guy who throws the BS flag. Being ignored by Olberman is a de facto endorsement.
Try to think about something nice he's ever said.
Agreed.
Damn straight. Don't waste your time flooding Olbermans inbox (staffer has to deal with it, so do so if you wish) lol. Spend that time making a flyer for Ron Paul, and put it up at work. Stick it in the elevator, around cubicles, in the foyer. Send out a network message with a link to his best videos. Get awareness out to those that are too busy at work, to follow debates etc.
Send him an email
countdown@msnbc.com
hey wait
I keep getting error messages from the mailer daemon. Did they cancel Olbermann's address?
This is what I wrote:
Subj: All eight contenders, eh?
Dear Mr Olbermann:
You reported on the latest GOP debate with incredible sangfroid. While keeping a straight face, you removed the sole good man, the sole anti-neocan dissenter, the sole Constitutionalist, from the universe. All eight men, you say, are bloodthirsty, fear-mongering scoundrels. And indeed, eight of the men onstage were bloodthirsty, fear-mongering scoundrels. But for you, Ron Paul does not exist. You deliberately omitted Paul's passionate denunciation of Romney's "Let's let the lawyers handle it"...how interesting! You show Romney's ludicrous comment and then completely omit the response which came soon after it. And even though Paul was the only one to stand for Constitutional law on money (Article I, Section 10), Constitutional law on war (Article 1, Section 8), etc., he was one of your "all eight contenders"--even though your video of the debate shows nine men of stage. Furthermore, you just flat out omitted every comment and response of Paul's even though his opinions are completely incongruous with the rest of the neocons. Well done, Keith. Lump 'em all together. You are an honest reporter, a man of supreme integrity, and are in no way guilty of your own sententious "on lying" segments against Bush.
A former fan of yours,
Ben Hodges
You mean 'especially' Keith Olbermann!
Keith, as well know, is nothing but a cheerleader for the Democrats and a basher of all Republicans. Thus, it would look bad for him and his handlers if he gave Ron any credit.
Therefore he must not mention him at all.
So, he is especially suspect.
Access to Power v. Truth
As has been pointed out here many times before.... Most of the journalists and "news" organizations are more about ratings than anything else.... Also, The journalists that ask the hard questions that might embarass or otherwise put someone on the spot probably won't get invited to the next event or will be systematically ignored during the press conferences... as such, I think the vast majority of them are willing to trade what used to be known as journalistic integrity for access to those in power. Fourth estate indeed. My screen name continues to say it all.... Agog!
Alex Plewniak
Bonita, CA
If it was really a ratings game
they'd have Ron Paul on more often.
Know where we stand
They will never acknowledge Dr. Paul any news people who were to openly support Ron Paul would likely find themselves looking for work. It is up to Ron's volunteer army to get his message out to the masses. Come election day everyman woman and child will know Ron Paul and his quest to preserve the Constitution and the Republic of the United States of America.
Point taken, yet.
Jack Cafferty : http://www.youtube.com/wa...
Tucker Carlson : http://www.youtube.com/wa... (*He actually voted for him in 1988)
Bill Maher (deals with news): http://www.youtube.com/wa...
enjoy.
Weird yes, but normal Human behavior
Michael--- Now you know... Keith Olberman is the opposite of ORielly and Hanity. Two sides of the same bad coin.
You watch, if Hillary is President, does the EXACT same things as Bush, he will not mention them and will change his tune and find other things to talk about. You saw this with the Republicans who were AGAINST Bill Clinton invading Bosnia, but suddenly it was ok to attack Iraq.
Its all about "Team politics". It is all about the "R's and D's".
Its very HUMAN. Yes, I am always amazed by it. The baseball Diamondbacks can switch out ALL its players --get the whole Yankee roster, and the FAN BASE STAYS Loyal to the Diamondbacks. Same is true for the Yankee fans. Now think about that for a second. Its strange and yet it is a very psychological component of the Human condition. It goes back into our social evolutionary history.
In the world of Politics, IDEAS are the same as Players. So, Dems can become Free TRADERS, and Reps can be WarHawks. Reps can become unionists, and Dems can go for privatization. But once a D or R, you stay a D or R. Its the all too Human way.
This is why some of us on "small L" side are very weary of even the Libertarian Party, Constitutionalist Party, and the Green Party. It only takes a generation. Then those children "raised" libertarian will be loyal Libertarians. Like Ron Paul, you could suddenly forget the evils of the INS.
Many make hey about immigration over precious "sovereignty" as one reason to be against "illegal aliens". Well lets look at it. A nation's sovereignty is not threatened by people or goods traveling over LEGAL jurisdictions. Legal lines in the sand. Its just the same if you went from Texas to California, neither state sovereignty is threatened by YOUR movement, so it is just the same with 12 million Mexicans Moving into USA sovereignty here, no, they are under USA laws here, not under Mexican laws. Thus the "illegal" part comes AGAIN from Federal govt NOT recognizing people.... The Federal Government is the Cause of this illegal crises,...just like they are the cause of the illegal drug crises. When I and my family go to Cancun or Rocky Point, we are under Mexican laws and so in no way threaten Mexican sovereignty. Sovereignty is threatened when Nations MOVE (not you and me move) their legal jurisdiction lines INTO that of another. Mexican government is doing no such thing.
Its strange and fun watching our illogical Human brothers and sisters. I love them all though. Treg
Of course he is
Olbermann is no different than O'Reilly except for the side he's on.
Although he is very anti-Bush, that is not going to be enough for him to support an anti-Establishment Statesman like Ron Paul. Olberman is simply from the Democratic wing of the Establishment.
.
.
Rachel Maddow did the exact same thing yesterday
On her show. She started off brilliantly by citing a piece with Bush stating how america's job was to shine light on oppression over the whole world in his 2004 innagural and then about how he denounced the measure to condemn Turkey for the armenian slaughter in 1915 by cauling it "historic mass killings" becaus it would hurt us with Turkey and the Iraq effort. I was like YEAH you go Rachel. THEN she went on to the debates and stated that EVERY candidate 'this' and ALL the republicans 'that' and I'm waiting for her to say EXCEPT this man - Ron Paul!!! But NO she did the EXACT SAME THING!!! I got pretty upset frankly and her credibility is shot with me now. It's like, okay, I can understand if you don't like his anti-abortion views or his views on guns but at least be honest and don't let personal bias affect your journalisitic credability! Pathetic!
Rachel & Keith
As partisan Democrats, fear Ron Paul. They know we can win if we appear to exist, so they work to marginalize us by any means they can. All this bias is no-surprise.
JMR
Hopefully he was omitting...
Fred Thompson because the other eight are actually contending. What FT is doing is arguably nothing, which can't be considered 'contending'.
-Phil Hemingway III
some good will come of this
looks like the Olberman fans among us are waking up! The whole news media is corrupt, the left/right divide is mostly an illusion to keep us divided into 2 controllable groups, loyal to one of the two approved political parties.
Look up "hegelian dialectic".
http://nord.twu.net/acl/d...
Maybe Olbermann
Wasn't counting Sam Brownback? LOL
Calm down...
All this post is gonna do is have hundreds of people send angry e-mails to Countdown making us look like rabid spastic fanatics. Just calm down. Olbermann is reasonable. Just send a message reasonably pointing out his oversight. We need to talk to the MSM in their language and understand that they care about one thing: ratings. They don't have a sinister agenda, they're just ignorant.
virtues
Soi,
The rino-media (reporters in name only) are NOT "just ignorant." You are dismissing at least two more important characteristics of the media (and of humans in general), they are also lazy and stupid. They're not going to do any more research or analysis than they have to, and they can get away with it, because when it comes to ignorance and sloth, the media are well matched by their compliant and complacent viewership.
Remember, if it's not bleeding or on fire, it ain't news.
Fox News!
Because Peace... is... Boring!
Viva Agora!
LehrBoy
www.citizenduquesne.org
in the position they are in...
is "ignorance" excusable?
I think it's more than that, but time will tell. This campaign is going to help sort a lot of things out.
Ron Paul is an American hero!
I don't think mine is TOO
I don't think mine is TOO rabid or spastic... eh, maybe it is...
email
I sent the show an email:
Subject: Coverage of the Michigan GOP Debate
Mr. Olberman:
Why did you fail to mention Ron Paul's response to Mitt Romney's lawyer statement? How could you fail to mention Ron Paul's name at all. There were nine "contenders" participating in the debate, not eight. I deeply enjoy your endless ripping of the Bush Administration, and I especially enjoy your abuse of Fox and Bill-O's extreme bias, but, sadly, I think you have left Ron Paul out of your commentary to create the illusion that ALL Republican candidates think alike and offer no solutions, no change. You are no better than Bill O'Reilly, Mr. Olberman. Ron Paul is the solution to most of this country's problems; Ron Paul is, by far, the best candidate for President from any side. Get it together Mr. Olberman. Speak with integrity; speak the truth. Regain my admiration and respect. Cover Ron Paul.
Daniel Ramsay
Outrageous Olbermann
I'm almost at a loss for words over this guy. I am gonna hate disliking Olbermann.
This is outrageous. His show has dropped to tabloid level with this.
This is an out and out lie!
I am getting more and more of an education about corporate media than I would ever have thought. Sickening.
McCains wad of chew
after watching mccain again in that video & many,many other times,have to wonder if he will ever spit out that wad of tobacco in the left side of his piehole..any one else notice that McCain always has that big dip of chew in left cheek? wonder if he carries a spit cup with him on stage?
That's harsh
The big lump on McCain's left side is an injury from when he was a POW in Vietnam.
THATS WRONG!! Its from when
THATS WRONG!!
Its from when he had SKIN CANCER about 3-4 yrs ago...
Here is a question for him (based on a lot of precedent from past elections!!)... WILL YOU DIE IF YOU GET ELECTED McCain... God help you that you DON'T have a re-currence cause you WILL get addicted to opiates... seeings how ya don't mind em arresting STATE LEGAL medical cannabis patients u'd never use it..
McCains chew
Since were doing presidential candidate jabs here....
Has anyone else noticed how Fred Thompson always looks like he's right on the verge of a big ol' beer belch? His handlers need keep some Maloxx on hand.
C'mon Fred, quit swigging down those orange sodies before you go out in public.
===================
To be fair though, I think JM's jaw is a war wound from the POW camp he spent 5 years in. You can see his limited use of his arms too, where they broke both of his arms. I have the greatest admiration for John McCain as a Viet Nam vet. He indeed had it very rough and could have came home early, but would not leave the prison without ALL of the other prisoners.
Not Chew, Cancer
McCain had melanoma, and his cheek was left that way after the surgery. I'm not convinced it is all permanently gone, because sometimes his cheek and neck seem bigger than at other times.
As cruel as it seems, little things like cancer on your cheek, funny names like Kucinich or Huckabee, or being Mormon can kill your chances nationally of being President.
The Countdown email addy kicks back...
I guess they've shut down that part for now so KO doesn't get his
feelings hurt. My short note did seem to go through at the viewerservices@msnbc.com addy. The note follows:
Countdown. You do it every night, right? 10,9,8,7....and so on.
Apparently the counting is getting out of hand.
Speaking about the previous night's Republican debate you state, "...in Dearborn, all eight contenders...", as the camera shows
all nine candidates on stage. You then completely ignore the participation of Rep. Ron Paul. Not a word?
That's it, sir.
You've lost me.
Your advertisers have lost me.
I'll nominate you for Wednesday's "Worst 'Reporter' in the World"
Good day
it worked...
thanks for the e........it went through!
blessings,
sunny
I had to send mine there,
I had to send mine there, too. Thanks for the address. I asked them to redirect it to Olberman; I am skeptical.
Bombard him with emails. Make him cover Ron Paul.
Email Olbermann
I don't know about you, but I'm emailing Olbermann right away about this 'mixup'.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
I'm glad you posted this
I'm glad you posted this comment... when I saw that episode I THOUGHT THE VERY SAME THING...
I have admired Keith's support for liberties and his exposing of Bush corruption... BUT IT IS ONLY WORDS..
When the OBVIOUS choice for ALL of these problems is Dr. Ron Paul.. he SPEAKS to the issues Keith has raised.... and then Keith IGNORES him and never even mentions that he is SPEAKING TO THESE ISSUES... much less that Dr. Paul had THE BEST news making comment TOWARDS THE ROMNEY GAFF!! and THEY DIDN'T USE IT???
Keith Olberman is a JOKE a BIG JOKE.. who "may" be no different than Oreilly..(other than the opposite side of the spectrum) either way he has not done anything on his own to FURTHER the movement he espouses!
SHAME ON YOU OLBERMAN- I"m "Counting down" to not watchin you anymore.
Keith
You'tre Fired.
We used to think maybe you had integrity.
You Don't.
Number 1 worst person in the world is Keith Olbermann.