TV often gets a bad rap amongst liberals. It’s derided as the “boob tube”, blamed for everything from autism to dumbing down politics to a 60-second sound bite.
Well, tonight’s “Countdown” shows what TV can be, if the corporate suits give it a chance.
The show begins with the shit that’s been hitting the media fan; John Kerry Is Not A Stand-Up Comedian. But instead of rehashing the old “Did Kerry really insult our fine men and women of the military?”, there was a discussion of what the foofraw has kept us from focusing on: the increasing sectarian violence in Iraq, Laura Bush taking Michael J. Fox to task for playing with people’s emotions, and George Allen’s security assaulting Mike Stark.
The next story was about the upcoming elections, with a report that the Republicans are definitely concerned that they will lose the House, and control of the Senate could come down to three key states: Tennessee, Missouri, and Virginia.
After the light-hearted “Oddball”, the next story was an interview with Mike Stark about the attack. Mike acquitted himself well — IIRC, Keith had interviewed him before in conjunction with Bill O’Reilly putting “Fox Security” on his tail. Mike also mentioned that Allen’s campaign is considering pressing charges against him — might want to consider passing a few leftover pennies to a legal defense fund…
The next story was a brief taped feature on Ken Mehlman and Rahm Emmanuel, the heads of their campaign committees. Despite it not being FOX News, it was pretty fair and balanced. 😉
Then, after a report that Ann Coulter is being investigated for possible voter fraud, came the “Special Comment” for which Olbermann has become famous. The transcript and video are available on Crooks and Liars. No one escaped the righteous Wrath of Olbermann — from the “inflated” Tony Snow to the “shameless” John McCain, and even Saint Laura Bush. But the harshest words were reserved for George Bush, whom Keith continually calls “Mr. Bush” when you know he probably has other choice terms that cannot be used on the public airwaves (not even on cable). If undecided voters in key states heard this comment, we just might wake up Wednesday morning to a new “Morning in America” for checks and balances.
If you can, please watch the repeat showing (midnight Eastern, 9pm Pacific, check your local cable listings). If you can’t watch the whole thing, at least watch the video and read the transcript, then go to the MSNBC web site and rate the transcript as high as possible.
In a world where truth and honesty can be as hard to find as a cheap tank of gas, we need to praise it and encourage more whenever we can. You also might want to send emails to counteract the expected deluge from the right-wing assholes that will read “traitor” in Olbermann’s words:
KOlbermann@msnbc.com — Keith’s address
DAbrams@msnbc.com — Dan Abrams (Keith’s boss) deserves some thanks as well
Sorry if I’ve been rambling a bit — this comment was probably the most powerful of all the special comments, and I hope and pray that it will hurt the Republicans where it counts…at the ballot box on Tuesday.
