This is quite an enjoyable interview!
The video is available in full here.
Here’re some highlights:
BILL MOYERS: One of my closest friends always watched your nightly sportscast. And he remembers to this day, just got a word from him this morning, he remembers your saying about hockey is the most boring sport he’s ever seen. And you went on to say, “Nevertheless, here without further comment are the game results for whatever they’re worth.” But you don’t do that with politics. You don’t– you don’t just give the scores. You have some strong things to say about politics.
KEITH OLBERMANN: It became necessary.
BILL MOYERS: Why?
KEITH OLBERMANN: I was sitting on a plane in Los Angeles reading in August of 2006 about Don Rumsfeld talking to the veterans and talking about how every– everyone who was in opposition to the Iraq War policy, the so-called war on terror, even to some degree the Bush administration, was the equivalent in his mind to the Nazi appeasers of the 1930s. And he went on at length about how, you know, here’s the– we’re doing the Churchillian role. And I thought, you know, sir, I took history classes. Your group is not Churchill. Your group is Neville Chamberlain because Neville Chamberlain minimized and marginalized anybody who disagreed with him. Reading this ridiculous remark and waiting to see somebody respond to it. And no one did. I’m thinking, well, you know, somebody with a platform ought to be talking about this. Somebody with a– with an avenue to respond should be– oh, yeah, I have a platform.
And…
BILL MOYERS: You were angry.
KEITH OLBERMANN: I was. I was very angry. I was angry for a period of two days. After that first commentary, when I didn’t know whether it was going to be greeted, I had support from management at MSNBC for that one. They– I didn’t surprise them. I said, “Look, I want to do this.” And they went, “Yeah, you should.” I didn’t know what their reaction was going to be. I didn’t know if I was going to be gunned down as I came out of the building or put in a black car or, you know, or lauded or whatever. People, for the most part, were ecstatic about this. And our ratings went up immediately. And the reaction from management was– “Can you do one every night?” And I said, “No, I can’t do one every night. I don’t want to turn into that either.” I don’t want to be silent here. But I don’t want to turn this into a manufactured thing. And they said, “Well, how ’bout once a week?” And I said, “No, you’re not following me. It has to be organic.” When I get angry on the air, it’s because I’m angry about that particular subject and because of the revision of this country that has been done under our noses for the last seven years against the will of the people. And when something happens that touches into that general anger combined with the specific anger for the actual event that we’re talking about, it swells up and I feel like, all right, here comes another one.
and on walking out again…
BILL MOYERS: Would you do it again?
KEITH OLBERMANN: I think probably it won’t happen. But I would say that there were circum– there were circumstances in this show, there was one occasion where I was prepared to go out the door an hour before one of the shows because we had one of those conflicting moments. This is very early on again. This is 2003. When we were all still in that kind of, “Gee, should we suspend our disbelief? What if he’s– what if George Bush is right and this is the kind of threat that he portrays?” He– it’s probably exaggerated because he’s a politician, number one. But number two, what if he’s right? I think a lot of us were saying, “Well, okay, let’s just tread gently.” MSNBC hired a guy named Michael Savage. And he came on and did– not only did he do a show once a week that was basically just spattering invective on people he didn’t like and these people change from week to week, but it was terribly produced. I mean, it was an awful show. And he was– he looked like he was standing in front of a chalkboard somewhere in somebody’s basement with a camera. One night I walk in, my boss is out of town. And the guy actually running the show at the point said, at countdown, said– “We’re going to run a Michael Savage commentary. I’ve got to go now.” And he ran away. And I said, “We’re not running a Michael Savage commentary. That’s in the”– and he was gone. I called my agent. Now, I’d just gotten back to MSNBC. I left, as you said, under the Lewinsky circumstances. A lot of bridges were burned. Came back. Everybody hugged. It’s three or four months in. I’m enjoying it. I think I’m making a difference. I’m getting that little sort of skeptical thing back. And here we’re going to have a Michael Savage commentary in the middle of it. So I finally got a hold of my agent. And I said, “I have to walk out, don’t I?” She said, “Yep, you do.” And I said, “Yeah, I guess so. Well, it was a nice career.” I’m going to try to get a hold of my boss in Washington. And I called him and I said, “I can’t”– he said, “Can you find some reason not to run it that doesn’t pertain to the politics?” I said, “Are you saying to me if I go and look at it and it doesn’t meet production standards we don’t have to run it?” “I might be saying that, yes. Just give me something to work with.” And I went in and looked at it and the guy repeated himself nine times. So I called the guy back and said– “It’s very badly produced. He’s repeating himself. I don’t think you should run it.” “Okay, good enough.” But those things still happen, and I’m sure they’ll still happen.
Here’s a shortened version from YouTube:
Moyers seems to be having fun during this intereview, and Keith’s just fabulous!
