Gawker
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gawker never forgets
Surprise! Mancow Wasn't Telling the Truth When He Blamed Cops for His Waterboarding Hoax
One of the strangest explanations Chicago shock jock Erich "Mancow" Muller gave for why his publicist had called his waterboarding "a hoax" was that he risked arrest if she said otherwise. For real? Like Mancow's original stunt, that's a fabrication. More »
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By John CookComment by 7states: Why does Gawker still care about this story? No one else on the planet does. Waterboarding is torture. This stunt,... 4 Responses | Other threads
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Matrices
The Political Empathy Matrix
How to determine your Political-Empathy quotient: On one axis find your political ideology somewhere between the two poles of Conservative and Liberal. On the other axis we have "Us"(inclusive) vs. "Them"(exclusive). Yes. More »
7,287
By T.A.N.Comment by rizzuto: Wait, what? Sorry, I really just don't understand this at all. 1 Responses | Other threads
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feuds
Oh, Keith
Keith Olbermann devoted a good deal of time on his show tonight to our reporting on Erich "Mancow" Muller's fake waterboarding escapade. He says we're conspiracy theorists. We never said anybody conspired with anybody to do anything, but his puzzling, false, and hysterically paranoid response makes us wonder.
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25,540
By John CookComment by Tremonius: I am not convinced at anything by this "report" other than the weird vendetta of Gawker againt Olbermann, weirder still... 9 Responses | Other threads
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fakes
Mancow Responds, Again
Erich "Mancow" Muller pushed back against our reporting on the fake-ness of his waterboarding hoax on his radio show today. He invited the Marine who poured water on his face—who told us today that he "knows nothing about waterboarding"—to testify as to the realness of the charade. More »
4,898
By John CookComment by econdave: Who cares? You still haven't given us a reason as to why, if Mancow faked it, he would claim it... 4 Responses | Other threads
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investigations
Did Erich 'Mancow' Muller Fake His Waterboarding for Publicity?
Yesterday we showed you video of Erich "Mancow" Muller, a Chicago-based right-wing shockjock, appearing as a guest on Keith Olbermann's show to discuss his being waterboarded. He claimed it led to an ideological conversion! But now a tipster has provided information that suggests the whole thing may be a hoax. More »
48,195
Comment by czecher: One of the great things about waterboarding is there are many different variations. It's true that it's much harder to... 7 Responses | Other threads
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conversions
Waterboarding Works! Conservative Recants After Being Tortured
Erich Muller, a rightwing Chicago shockjock known as "Mancow," recently agreed to be waterboarded to prove to all the big liberals that it's totally harmless and lasted all of six seconds. He appeared on Keith Olbermann's show to discuss how horribly misguided his views on waterboarding were previously.
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tv news
Keith Olbermann's Ego Trumps the Truth
Oh man, Keith Olbermann took to his nightly airwaves to try and shame CityFile, Wonkette and us for raising questions about his unexplained vacation last April. We're not sorry. More »
20,970
Comment by jkinatl2: Seriously? When my dad died, I turned out to be the strong one in the family, and I was a... 11 Responses | Other threads
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feuds
Olbermann vs. Maddow: It's On!
Did Keith Olbermann create a monster when he got Rachel Maddow her own show on MSNBC? More »
11,327
By John CookComment by Tremonius: Something happens to the sound during the toss. Always has. Audio is more subdued somehow for Rachel. You notice that?... 7 Responses | Other threads
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feuds
Was Keith Olbermann Jealous of Rachel Maddow's Ben Affleck Booking?
Keith Olbermann is denying a report from CityFile that he threw a hissyfit last month and called in sick for three days because Rachel Maddow booked Ben Affleck, and Olbermann wanted him all to himself. More »
5,587
By John CookComment by Pope John Peeps II: "Many sad logistics" = "I had to finish that huge bowl of potato salad that was part of the spread... 3 Responses | Other threads
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takedowns
Keith Olbermann Eviscerates, Makes Us Sorry for Carrie Prejean
Today Carrie Prejean spoke to America and America responded by gritting its teeth and punching itself repeatedly in the genitals. And tonight Keith Olbermann debuted a new segment, which he promptly used to destroy her.
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27,882
Comment by lms11: I am so so sick of her. So she's a bigot. Has no one ever been to the midwest?! 27 Responses | Other threads
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gossip roundup
Carrie Prejean Just Can't Keep Her Top On
More Carrie Prejean topless photos have emerged, real topless photos, Bob Barker and Betty White are about to kill each other over an elephant, and Nick Cannon is sick of Eminem talking about Mariah. More »
63,890
Comment by tudobem: Ok. All joking aside, am I the ONLY woman under 35 without topless pics floating around? I don't get it!... 10 Responses | Other threads
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reconciliations
Chris Matthews Savages Arlen Specter for His 'Bro' Keith Olbermann
If Chris Matthews had run for senate he would have become a pandering "toady" like Arlen Specter, so he would like to obsequiously thank former nemesis Keith Olbermann for welcoming him back to MSNBC. More »
5,804
By Ryan TateComment by BxgrlJeri: Specter has already jumped party lines and now jumped back. He's just a "Whose in power? I'm with THEM." kinda... 6 Responses | Other threads
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feuds
Alec Baldwin Picks Fight with AOL for Saying He Picked a Fight
Today in his Huffington Post column, Alec Baldwin delivered an important lecture about how to practice good, proper journalism. First lesson: Don't mess with Alec Baldwin. More »
3,649
By Ryan TateComment by belltolls: AOL will not die until the last old person with dial-up passes on: that should be soon. 6 Responses | Other threads
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shouting heads
Bill O'Reilly Not So Big on 'Facts'
Bill O'Reilly's in the midst of his big media tour to remind the world he's the number one hollering cable show guy in the history of television! But is he? More »
6,421
Comment by fugit: As much as I dislike Bill-O, I care even less for cable news infighting. Adn that Bill-o voice is almost as... 4 Responses | Other threads
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Shut Up, Twitter
Everyone's Real Fake on Twitter
How do you know all those tweet-happy celebrities are the real deal? 50 Cent, Keith Olbermann, Christopher Walken, and Britney Spears are just a few of those with questionable Twitter identities. More »
21,858
By Owen ThomasComment by smecktacular: No one actually lives their life 140 characters at a time. This is probably the most profound statement I've ever... 2 Responses | Other threads
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dirty tricks
How It Feels When Bill O'Reilly Stalks You
Being repeatedly exposed as factually incorrect or as a hypocrite doesn't seem to have hurt Bill O'Reilly's ratings. But a few more descriptions of him as a creepy stalker might do the trick. More »
10,629
By Ryan TateComment by EmersonErmine: This includes a clip of the "stalking"... 12 Responses | Other threads
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gaffes
Barack Obama Doesn't Do Gaffes
You can't win, White House press corps. Your frantic and stupid attempts—motivated by a misplaced sense of fair play—to pin down Barack Obama as a gaffe-prone president won't work. Here's why. More »
32,504
By John CookComment by friend_of_a_friend: If GWB or (in an alternative universe) President McCain went on the Tonight show during the apex of an economic... 26 Responses | Other threads
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pundits
Laughing At Keith Olbermann's Head, With David Letterman And Rachel Maddow
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow has been on a tour of late-night shows, where the Rhodes Scholar explains the massive flaws in our political and economic systems. Another common duty: Answering questions about Keith Olbermann. More »
12,727
By Ryan TateComment by ChillbearLatrigue: I just remember Olbermann and Matthews mooning over the possibility that the murderer, Ted Kennedy, might make an appearance at... 22 Responses | Other threads
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shut up, college
Keith Olbermann Now Just Andy From The Office
Which I guess makes Ann Coulter... Angela? See, here he is pointing to his Cornell Diploma in order to settle some ridiculous argument. So this is what he'll do without George Bush to kick around!
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21,445
By PareeneComment by PrettyNotPretty: Wait, people actually frame their diplomas? I thought that was just something doctors did so you can make sure they... 15 Responses | Other threads
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top ten
The Top Ten Feuds of 2008
Nothing says Christmas like two people screaming at each other. Gawker video guru Richard Blakeley compiled and ranked the ten very best of this contentious year. -
animals
Martha Displeased With Sarah Palin's Turkey Massacre
So the other day, Alaska Senator Sarah Palin staged her traditional "pardoning a turkey" photo-op standing directly in front of a man engaged in slaughtering turkeys, because, hey, a team of mavericks won't always agree on where to hold the easiest photo-op of any politician's career. Maybe she can stage the ribbon-cutting of an orphanage at an abortion clinic next time? (Haha as if Alaska had any of those.) Then, because life isn't bizarre enough these days, shouty MSNBC political pundit Keith Olbermann discussed the issue with daytime TV's soft-spoken criminal mastermind Martha Stewart. Martha was not happy. "That was an especially gruesome scene back there," she says. More »
15,359
By PareeneComment by JinxyMcDeath: Agreed - Sarah Palin pardoning a turkey while gleefully standing in front of some bizarre guillotine while turkeys are beheaded...was... 6 Responses | Other threads
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rachel maddow
Is Keith Olbermann Happy For Rachel Maddow?
The unabashed love for MSNBC normal-person liberal Rachel Maddow has spread from the liberal blogosphere to the mainstream blogosphere and now into the mainstream media. Maddowmania infection alert, America! Click to watch a clip of her telling Conan O'Brien that straight men send her fan mail, despite the fact that that makes them gay. Newsweek has a mythmaking (but good!) profile of Maddow out today that actually quotes her boss calling her "magic." And Marketwatch media person Jon Friedman says that he was in a restaurant when Maddow walked in—and everybody turned to look! "That is star quality at work." Instead of getting to work engineering the inevitable Maddow backlash—the internet's main job—we'll simply ask: How does Keith Olbermann feel about all this? More »
9,238
Comment by Spirit Fingers: Can she lose her sense of smell, but gain an increase in her sense of taste? I always wondered what... 5 Responses | Other threads
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katie couric
Keith Olbermann Obnoxious, Couric And Letterman Agree
Katie Couric is on the Late Show again tonight, to try and convince David Letterman that she didn't purposely steal John McCain for her CBS Evening News that night the Republican presidential nominee infamously flaked on Letterman. Of course this is a lie, assuming Couric is as ruthlessly competitive as any network news anchor must be in order to succeed. But her exchange with Letterman is worth watching if only for all the fun bashing of Keith Olbermann, the MSNBC shouting head who filled in for McCain. Click the video icon to watch.
6,054
By Ryan TateComment by Baroness: I'm just trying to figure what Cold War lab came up with Katie Couric, and why her career is of... 15 Responses | Other threads
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keith olbermann
Olbermann Smacks You Down In Very Special Comment
It turns out that the best person to make fun of MSNBC's scolding father Keith Olbermann isn't a little kid ala Lil' O'Reilly or an observant impersonator like YouTube's Olbermann Complains To Subway guy but rather Keith Olbermann himself. Humor site 23/6 has heroically sifted countless hours of Countdown footage to bring you the attached video of Olbermann telling off You, SIR, and mocking his own overblown style in the process. We identified with the pundit's anger in the depths of the Bush presidency, but now an Obama utopia is on the way so let's all laugh at the insane angry liberal!
2,149
By Ryan TateComment by Hey_mikey: The times might be a changin' but man, there were some nights that Keith O, Stoli and cranberry juice were... 2 Responses | Other threads
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shouting heads
Olbermann Cashes In Just In Time
Keith Olbermann, MSNBC's loudest, angriest, not-votingest, network-controllingest personality, just signed a sweet new deal. It's a four-year extension of his Countdown show, with two NBC specials and occasional nightly news "essays." It's also worth $30 million! Good work Keith! It was bound to happen, as MSNBC's ratings were way up this election cycle, and Olbermann's show is now a vital part of the network's brand. But it was also brilliant of Olbermann to get the deal now, because there's a good chance he's peaked. More »
3,215
By PareeneComment by Larry Fine: Oddly enough, the motto for Gingrich/Palin '12 is "Renegotiating the Contract with America and Hump" 4 Responses | Other threads
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vote or die
Keith Olbermann Enrages 'View' Ladies By Not Voting
What? Why... why is this happening? What is Keith Olbermann doing on The View? Look, there he is, looking weird and uncomfortable. He told them all he doesn't vote (!), and they all yelled at him. All of them! Even stupid Elisabeth Hasselbeck yelled at him, for this not voting, and she is actually totally in the right. More »
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By PareeneComment by TheHonJudgeSmails: I will only take Keith Olbermann seriously when he is discussing professional sports. And even then, it will only... 5 Responses | Other threads
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cable wars
Olbermann Launches Preemptive Campbell Brown Strike
Oh no, Keith Olbermann, The Left's Old Favorite Cable Person, is attacking Campbell Brown, The Lady Who Yelled At Tucker Bounds! They share a timeslot on competing networks so it was certain to happen. Clip below. More »
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By PareeneComment by Elizabeth Bathory was Framed!!!: Rachel Maddow pretty much cut off Olbermann's baby dick and stuck it on a stick and marched around the MSNBC... 6 Responses | Other threads
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saturday night live
Is Ben Affleck's 'Countdown' Reason Enough to Prolong Election Season?
We look forward to that time less than 48 hours from now, when we can finally frame the entirety of the 2008 election season in our smudged rearview mirror and watch it shrink as we head toward the country's other essential round of cutthroat campaigning. But for all the misbegotten PSA's, infomercial filibusters and other punishing effluvia, we admit we'll miss the bits of election-related freakery that arrive with oxygen just in time to save us. And of course, the more unexpected, the better — like Ben Affleck bellowing about his cat after the jump. More » -
campaigns
McCain Heads Into Final Stretch Feuding With Sportscaster Over Comedy Show
Did you watch Saturday Night Live? Ben Affleck was lame. John McCain was funny. Cindy McCain was the funniest(!). The ending was strangely awkward. But you know what wasn't as funny as it should've been? The Keith Olbermann sketch. Ben Affleck's "Keith Olbermann" impression was basically his "Alec Baldwin" except louder. The sketch lasted forever and wasn't funny until the "special comment" at the end, which should've been the sum total of the bit (watch the whole thing after the jump, kids!). But apparently John McCain thought it was the best! The McCain campaign was delighted with the absurd bit, and said it was "about time" that SNL mocked MSNBC's most indignant anchoir. So of course Ana Marie Cox emailed Olbermann himself for his response to the McCain camp's response to his getting made fun of on a tee-vee show. He responded faux-good-naturedly and also had some secret sexy news about Sarah Palin going rogue! More »
8,164
By PareeneComment by JinxyMcDeath: I'm sorry, but the GIRAFFES! sketch made me laugh so hard I woke up my roommate. Then I made her... 6 Responses | Other threads
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rachel maddow
Predecessor On Maddow: 'What The Fuck?'
New York magazine expanded on the legend of MSNBC hotshot Rachel Maddow, revealing her further as a sharp scholar ("I still send students to [her] thesis as a model," says a Stanford professor), unabashed bleeding heart (spending nights "worrying about nuclear proliferation and the Fourth Amendment ") and refreshingly down-to-earth television personality ("There is nothing funnier than a fart"). It also broke the news that the Rachel Maddow Show host now, at long last, owns a television! But then the profile reminded us Maddow got her slot at the expense of a guy in a long-running feud with her advocate Keith Olbermann: More »
9,447
By Ryan TateComment by American Dreamer: I thought Rachel Maddow would just be another talking clown but I came away deeply impressed. She really puts to shame... 2 Responses | Other threads
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keith olbermann
Olbermann Special Comments Now Regular... Comments
The last days of the presidential campaign were about to make Keith Olbermann's head explode, what with the racism and Islamophobia and calls for death and so forth, so the MSNBC Countdown host is suspending the specialness of his special comments and just doing them every night until he feels like stopping. He knows he "frequently insisted he would never" do this, and he's sorry, but "I suspect this will be the first of nightly pieces, most shorter than this one, until further notice." In other words, the special comments will be regular for a special period, until they go back to being special, as they regularly are. (Olbermann explains in a video after the jump.) More »
2,308
By Ryan TateComment by rono3849: Keith Olbermann is another TV talking big-head who thinks his own opinion means something. Actually, he's an arrogant turd. Fuck you... 3 Responses | Other threads
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david letterman
Letterman Pummels McCain
Somehow, YouTube already has a copy of David Letterman tonight lacerating John McCain for skipping the Late Show and suspending his campaign in the midst of the Wall Street meltdown. As reported earlier by Drudge, Letterman became especially upset when he caught the Republican presidential nominee in a live feed from New York being interviewed by his own network's Katie Couric. McCain had personally told Letterman he was canceling because he was headed back to the capital to handle the financial crisis. Whoops. More »
75,615
By Ryan TateComment by Peoplefamiliarwith: It wouldn't be appropriate to do a late-night interview on the day you suspend your presidential campaign in order to... 16 Responses | Other threads
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rupert murdoch
Rupert Murdoch, Bleeding Heart
If you're even remotely curious about oft-vilified media mogul Rupert Murdoch or his News Corporation empire, there are plenty of gems to pluck from Esquire's lengthy interview with the mogul. There is, for example, Murdoch's baldfaced assertion that Fox News Channel is "very, very fair;" his wild accusation that Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger tried to bar the hiring of white males for five years; and the mild rebuke that Fox host Bill O'Reilly "shouldn't be so sensitive" to Keith Olbermann's attacks. The biggest takeaway, though, is that Murdoch is softening in his old age, despite a punishing work regimen. The quotes in the Esquire piece reinforce the idea, floated by Michael Wolff in Vanity Fair earlier this month, of this change in Murdoch toward the "magnanimous" and "further nuanced:" More »
1,534
By Ryan TateComment by TheHonJudgeSmails: Murdoch is no fool. I don't think he's partisan, either. He wants to be, and remain, a kingmaker. Let's... 2 Responses | Other threads
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bias
New MSNBC Strategy: "Be Boring"
As we more or less said, before, MSNBC's switch from all-crazy-pundit all-the-time (their two most unbalanced talking heads anchoring convention coverage? what can possibly go wrong!) to the more traditional "boring old guy who'll accept your bullshit with a smile" approach is a cowardly retreat by MSNBC president Phil Griffin, giving in to the outdated old methods of NBC News head Stave Capus and NBC head Jeff Zucker. It's a return to the "beat CNN at their game" idea, only that "game" is boring and they'll never beat them at it. Today's Observer explores the decision to kick Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews back down to their pundit kids table. It's a victory for the "serious" journalists of Washington, DC, and a terrible defeat for people who enjoy television. More »
1,704
By PareeneComment by KarenUhOh: How long have I been hearing that the MSNBC engine's been thriving on the measured, stentorian hysteria of KO (say.... 3 Responses | Other threads
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chris matthews
Chris Matthews "Thrown Under The Bus" After Shareholder Complaints
Keith Olbermann may have been pushed out of his gig anchoring MSNBC's election coverage, but the Countdown host actually made out pretty well, with the cable news network widely reported to be in the process of extending his contract. Far sadder is the case of Olbermann's fellow shouting head Chris Matthews, also ejected from the election team over his on-air feuds. Matthews' contract is up in 2009, two years sooner than Olbermann's, and yet no one is talking about buttering him up! That's probably because lantern-jawed Olbermann, by far the more overtly partisan of the two, has done more to gin up ratings. But apparently it's also because parent company GE's shareholders — that is, people primarily concerned with making money off a sprawling multinational corporation and with no expertise in running media operations — were unhappy with the network's convention coverage. Report the MSNBC haters at the Post: More »
5,445
By Ryan TateComment by BlinkyMcChuck: It's good that you put "Thrown Under The Bus" in quotes, because isn't it almost time for us to never... 13 Responses | Other threads
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desperate plea
Why MSNBC Should Stay Crazy
So MSNBC going back to more "traditional" election coverage? Looks like that David Gregory ascendancy everyone predicted back before the Rachel Maddow ascendancy is finally happening! All because Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams are embarrassed by those loud shouty people and Jeff Zucker's in serious trouble with the rest of the Illuminati. Well it's a stupid, stupid idea, for many reasons. Reasons which we'll explain below. More »
5,692
By PareeneComment by SinisterRouge: Hackery from any side is disgusting and does nothing to actually push the issues you want pushed. It just makes... 14 Responses | Other threads
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keith olbermann
MSNBC Kneecaps Olbermann To Fake Neutrality
It was unthinkable that MSNBC could come out of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions without a major, public shakeup of its political news team. The incessant fighting between the cable network's most opinionated anchors — Keith Olbermann, Joe Scarborough and Chris Matthews — marred the chance to retain all those new young viewers Olbermann has attracted over the past year or two. But now that the other shoe has dropped, with the anchor team of Olbermann and Matthews being replaced by comparatively neutral White House correspondent David Gregory, it would be a mistake to think MSNBC has undergone some sort of deep existential crisis that will pull it back from the brink of becoming the Fox News Channel of the left. The network's ratings growth, driven by Olbermann, has been too good and too long coming, and the lefty anchor (according to the Times) is about to re-up his plush contract, which in any case has three of four yeas left on it. And MSNBC will have done plenty if it simply gets its big-name blowhards acting at a high school level of maturity rather than yelling at one another like a bunch of kindergartners. Network executives appear to appreciate this! From the Times: More »
3,454
By Ryan TateComment by Aaron Altman: When I first read the Times story online at 3am EST, they had banner ads atop... for MSNBC. "Your... 3 Responses | Other threads
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keith olbermann
Known Liberal Wants To Fire You
MSNBC's Rachel "Maddow tried to replace all the staffers who work on the 9 p.m. time slot, which she takes over on Monday, but management refused... 'She is Olbermann's protégé and is behaving like he does.'" [Post]
2,463
By Ryan TateComment by MsMuffinMcGuffin: We who work in show business just LOVE "talent" like Rachel. *snorts* As if. 6 Responses | Other threads
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media
Olbermann Stays Home From Work
Lovable MSNBC blowhard Keith Olbermann was reportedly not thrilled about attending the Republican National Convention. Last week, Page Six claimed Keith wanted "a more secure location" before attending the proceedings, because, they giggled, he's afraid someone will assassinate him. Ha ha ha what a baby! When the RNC started, Keith was in New York still, covering Gustav, their main story all day Monday. That made sense. But Gustav passed and today it was made official: Keith won't be making it to St. Paul for any RNC coverage. Which, lucky him. Because we think what was meant by "a more secure location" was actually "a fucking indoor studio like Fox and CNN got." Because Denver coverage was marred not just by infighting and bitchery but also by idiot 9/11 truthers drowning out the hosts with bullhorns. Uninterrupted! For like an hour straight! It was embarrassing (and also hilarious). Honestly we would not put up with that shit again if we had Keith's authority at the station. Anyway. Keith Olbermann: coward! [The Cable Game]
2,876
By PareeneComment by TheologicalSong: honestly, Pareene, I dig your incisive political sense and your canny witticisms, and, obviously, drowning people out with bullhorns isn't... 20 Responses | Other threads
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keith olbermann
Keith Olbermann, Weatherman
"Keith Olbermann was pulled from [the Republican convention] to anchor MSNBC's storm coverage from New York, with his seat beside Chris Matthews filled by David Gregory. Capus said political considerations had nothing to do with that move; Olbermann has been sharply critical of the GOP." [AP via Crooks and Liars]
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By Ryan TateComment by KittyKat57: What is wrong with MSNBC? Keith Olbermann is the best you got on your cable news, next to Chris Matthews... more » | Other threads
keith olbermann
New York, 11:43 AM
Sat Jul 11
36 posts in the last 24 hours
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