but originally, i'd had the same view of o'reilly and olbermann as jazz recounts:

>”Wow!” I thought, “There's a news guy who's really fired up about something and >really stepping outside of the normally neutral tone of news coverage.” But it >quickly became obvious that this wasn't a “normal news guy” having a brief >moment of outrage.

but i quickly got over it. both play the same part on Opinion TV: loud-mouthed, megalomaniacal, fawningly partisan, and practically blind/deaf to any “facts” that don't reflect their own views (i think that last one is kind of the same as megalomaniacal, but i'll let it stay).

Olbermann, on the other hand, is a disgrace to any organization that even pretends to be a legitimate news agency.

This is a man who held an O'Reilly mask in front of his face and his arm up in a clear Nazi fascist salute. He admitted his intention for having done so on the Jay Leno show, and suggested that Brian Williams was somehow responsible by asking him to do “something creative”. Then when the Anti-Defamation League objected to his shennanigans, he had the nerve to suggest that he was “only waving to a friend”.

Olberman then had the unmitigated gall to “apologize” for the Republican Party after the RNC aired a video tribute to 9/11 with the following:

““We would be rightly eviscerated at all quarters, perhaps by the Republican Party itself, for exploiting the memories of the dead, and perhaps even for trying to evoke that pain again. If you reacted to that videotape the way I did, I apologize.”

This is not some “subtle crossing over the line.” This man has no sense of civility, respect, propriety, responsibility, and no common sense. He also has no credibility or legitimacy.

Brian Williams now makes the hollow gesture of removing Olbermann (and Matthews) from the MSNBC political anchor desk. Well the horse has left the barn. Olbermann has “stunk up” MSNBC so badly, it is going to take a very long time for the air to clear. And if Olbermann is too biased, irresponsible, and inappropriate to report on political events, what news is a man with his lack credibility and responsibility fit to report on?

As for FNC, Hannity makes me puke. O'Reilly is another story. There's no doubt in my mind that he leans right, and can often be a prick, but he's said a lot of things that've left me shocked. He's not a far-right-winger, that's for sure. And not all conservatives like him. Just look over at Michelle Malkin's blog, and her post about the Obama interview on the Factor. Most of the commenters were disparaging O'Reilly, calling him “in the tank” for Obama.

And if that makes me a nutcase, then I guess I'm a nutcase.

Their ratings are high for the same reason Rush Limbaugh's radio show gets 10-20 million listeners—conservatives love to stay in a bubble– where we are winning the war on terror, the Bush economy is not in recession, Cheney is our greatest patriot and national treasure, the Democrats are driving the country into the ground, and global warming and evolution don't really exist–they are still just lefty theories.

Colmes may be ok on the radio, and he makes some good points, but he is not a strong enough voice to counter the belligerent Hannity. He very obviously is just on the show so that they can claim that they entertain opposing viewpoints. He never sets the agenda– as that show virtually ignored many of the Bush and GOP scandals that were covered on other channels. Yes, I would prefer a more boisterous, vigorous lefty– like Maddow or Schultz- someone of that ilk.

Although I didn’t mention Fox, their rating success might be due to the fact that they always make a provision for opposing views.

Bahahahahaha!

At the time the Hannity show started, Colmes was one of the most successful left wing radio talk show hosts in the country.

Should they boot him and try to find someone better?

O’Reily always seems to have people that advocate the other side as guests, always giving them the “last word”.

These two Fox shows have always been opinion shows and they are promoted as such. Olberman’s show was promoted as a “news” show.

To allow someone who displays signs of being clinically unbalanced with a socialist worldview to present “news” or anchor conventions or elections is so far out there that even NBC couldn’t continue.

There's a reason that conservatives have made that channel number one in cable news ratings– and its not because its 'fair and balanced'. Why do you think Dick Cheney always requests that hotels turn the channel to Fox when he travels?

that aside, i think many of us — including, ahem, some of us here — are guilty of selective accusation, all too ready to jump on attempts at even-handed critiques when the particular commentator picks on “our side”.

Somehow I don't envision Rachel Maddow presenting anything like that on her new show on MSNBC (a network show).

And she's the only one I've heard who's unafraid to say it: “I am a liberal.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/st...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/di...

MSNBC's extra-leftward shift is likely to appeal in large numbers to _whom_? Why, the young, those who have been deserting the networks more than anyone else.

And as Chomsky's money-making cottage industry of radical drivel illustrates, there's a new crop of naive, reachable-with-farther-left-viewpoints young people every year.

Maybe one or more of the major (print) newspapers needs to think about this.