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This is a Doberman. It Rhymes with Olbermann
Last night, I joined the thousands of TV viewers around the country who watch Keith Olbermann's "Countdown" on MSNBC. Krazy Keith's show is consistently an hour of angrily bashing President Bush, Republicans and conservatives in general. His guests and correspondents are routinely liberal. There are no debates, no disagreements, just KKO and his pals, people like Richard Wolffe, Rachel Maddow (Air America)and Jonathan Alter. Last night, Keith outdid himself and reached a new low.
While announcing the death of conservative icon William F Buckley, Olbermann took the opportunity to inform his viewers that:
Buckley's opinions were "indefensibly and gloriously wrong".
As a student, Buckley had opposed World War Two.
He had defended Sen. Joe McCarthy.
He once suggested that AIDS patients be tattooed.
He once "ruminated" about denying the vote to the uneducated.
Keith, that was completely "klassless". Why didn't you raise a glass to cheer the death of Buckley while you were at it? Not that I was surprised. I am used to the far left making those kinds of comments about conservatives who have just died. I remember when Reagan died, and many on the left were celebrating the "fact that Reagan was burning in Hell". Just recently, it was reported that Nancy Reagan had suffered a fall in her home. Adriana Huffington's blog, "The Huffington Post", was filled with entries from her readership insulting the former First Lady and wishing her nothing but the worst.
But that's not all. Toward the end of the show, KKO presented his "Worst Persons in the World". (Surprisingly, Bill O'Reilly wasn't among the finalists last night.) Who got the Gold Medal? John McCain. Why? Because, in the wake of the Bill Cunningham rant in Cincinnati, McCain had stated that he didn't know Cunningham, nor had he ever met him. Cunningham has stated that he met McCain on a couple of occasions at political events. At that, the McCain campaign backtracked, stating that it was possible that the two had met at some time. So for that, John McCain was the Worst Person in the World? I think it is fair to say that when a major political figure attends political events, he/she shakes hands with a lot of people that they never see again. The person who shakes hands with the pol will remember the meeting. The pol forgets it.
As a conservative, there are a lot of things about McCain that I don't care for. He is not the person I had hoped would win the nomination. As a presidential candidate, he has to accept the barbs, just as I have pointed out for Sen Clinton. But just to nitpick, I would like to suggest that before Olbermann calls someone like McCain (whose shoes he couldn't shine) the "Worst Person in the World", he might want to accumulate a resume similar to McCain's in the service of his country. I don't need to repeat the senator's military record; it is known to all. On the other hand, Mr Olbermann's military record is not known to all-because he doesn't have one.
Buckley's opinions were "indefensibly and gloriously wrong".
ReplyDeleteAs a student, Buckley had opposed World War Two.
He had defended Sen. Joe McCarthy.
He once suggested that AIDS patients be tattooed.
He once "ruminated" about denying the vote to the uneducated.
OK, but are you saying that any of the above Buckley positions are not "wrong"? For example, see http://www.nationalreview.com/buckley/wfb200502191155.asp, for the AIDS tatoo.
Dear Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteYour question is valid. The statements by Olbermann represented the first time I had heard of these ideas associated with Buckley.
What Olbermann did not add was when Buckley expressed these views. For example, when did he defend McCarthy and in what context. (Let's be honest, there was some communist influence in America during that era.)
What did Olbermann mean when he said that Buckley "ruminated' about denying the vote to the uneducated.
When (what year) was Buckley, as a college student, opposed to America getting into WW2- 1939?, 1942? There is a big difference in those years.
When he "suggested' that AIDS patients be tattooed, what exactly did he say?
What I mean here is that there is no context nor additional details offered by Mr Olbermann. You, at least offer a source document for the tattoo piece, which I will look into to.
I think that the McCain criticism sounds over-the-top, as though Olbermann was trying to desperately criticize SOMETHING. As for Buckley though, it's pretty tough to imagine a context where one could suggest that AIDS patients be tatooed and not have it be evil.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I find it more offensive when we make saints out of somebody (like they did with Ford) just because they died.
Just watched last night's Colbert Report and Colbert was actually praising Buckley for having a genuine and real debate format on his show.
ReplyDeleteOf course, he wasn't praising, he was complaining, saying that debates should be done in seven-second soundbites, but Colbert means the opposite of everything he says, naturally.
Maybe we need an hour-long debate show where one topic is debated throughout. I doubt it would get decent ratings though - people like their easily-digested soundbites.