On Monday night’s Countdown, host Keith Olbermann gave Rep. Allen West (R-FL) top honors in his “Worst Persons” segment, ostensibly for “admitting” (and even “bragging”) that he was a member of a white supremacist motorcycle gang, after denying any connection to such a gang for the past year or so.

While West’s courtship of motorcycle clubs like The Outlaws is still worthy of scrutiny, the fact is that he made no such admission.

On Wednesday Night’s Countdown on Current, Keith Olbermann named Congressman Brad Drake as one of his “Worst Persons In The World” for sponsoring legislation to replace lethal injection as a execution method with electrocution or a firing squad. Drake had said if it was up to him, he would “throw them off the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and be done with it.” Olbermann responded, “You first, asshole!”

During his “worst Persons” segment Tuesday night, Countdown host Keith Olbermann addressed Paul Krugman‘s brief, controversial 9/11 column with the kind of full-throated agreement that would make Dizzy Gillespie envious. Olbermann concluded the segment by saying that, “between 2002 and 2009, the leading terrorist groups in this country were the Republican Party, and the presidential administration of George W. Bush.”

In his patented “Worst Persons” segment Monday night, Countdown‘s Keith Olbermann reserved the top spot for ex-Fox News superstar Glenn Beck, whose GBTV show debuted last night with 230,000 subscribers. Rather than jump on anything crazy that Beck said,though (there must have been something), Olbermann went after Beck over the size of his audience, which, on day one, far exceeds the audience that Olbermann has taken months to build at CurrentTV.

In a possible preview of tonight’s “Worst Persons” segment, Countdown host Keith Olbermann took to his Baseball Nerd blog to blast Major League Baseball over its decision not to allow the New York Mets to wear caps honoring NYPD, FDNY, and other first responders on the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. This is probably a rare instance in which even the polarizing pundit’s fiercest detractors will have difficulty disagreeing with him, although I’m not sure New York icon Joe Torre deserves a total pass for delivering the bad news.

Countdown host Keith Olbermann weighed in on the controversy surrounding the Tea Party Zombies video game during his “Worst Persons” segment, specifically denouncing the game’s anti-Fox News content, and even urged a boycott of the game’s distributor, Starving Eyes Advergaming. He did take a good-natured swipe at his cable news nemeses, but even Olbermann’s detractors ought to credit him for such a full-throated denunciation of the game, even if it is so far over the line that the line needs extra postage to send the game a letter.

As far as President Obama’s popularity has fallen, it is mostly a given that there are strong Democratic elements that would never abandon him. While this likely remains true based on the candidates running in 2012 alone, last night Keith Olbermann echoed the views of some on the left who feel abandoned by the President. For Olbermann, the last straw was a push to not implement EPA corporate smog regulations until 2013. In an extensive rant against the President, Olbermann reduced the reasons to support him to “What are you going to do, vote for Rick Perry?”

CNN host Piers Morgan and Countdown’s Keith Olbermann, each well-known for their propensity to feud, squared off on Twitter last week when Olbermann used the occasion of Christine O’Donnell’s walk-off to take a shot at Morgan. In response, Morgan mocked the size of Olbermann’s audience, called him a “coward,” and issued a challenge for the liberal firebreather to debate him on Piers Morgan Tonight. So far, Olbermann has ducked the gauntlet by claiming that Morgan banned him “for life.”

While introducing his segment with departed MSNBC host Cenk Uygur Thursday night, Countdown host Keith Olbermann trashed MSNBC’s reported hiring of Rev. Al Sharpton to replace Uygur, and even suggested a quid pro quo between MSNBC and Sharpton’s National Action Network.

With the door at 30 Rock shut firmly behind him, ex-MSNBC host Cenk Uygur‘s version of events–that he refused to “tone down” his show in the face of political pressure–is getting sharply rejected by network bosses. “Cenk’s claims are completely baseless,” an MSNBC spokesperson told Mediaite. “It’s unfortunate that he’s decided to depart in such a negative fashion.” Uygur, host of the web talk show The Young Turks, had been hosting the 6 p.m. hour for MSNBC for nearly six months on a trial basis.

As you may have heard once or twice before, it’s a marathon, not a sprint (unless, of course, you’re talking about a sprint, then it’s a sprint, not a marathon). But we digress. Mark Rosenthal, CEO of Current TV, uses the sports metaphor to express his lack of concern over the second-week ratings drop for Keith Olbermann‘s Countdown. The show saw its ratings drop by nearly a third during the week of June 27, averaging 93,000 viewers in the key 25-54 demographic. “Numbers are going to go up and they’re going to go down,” Rosenthal told Adweek‘s D. M. Levine. “It’s a marathon for us. And the show will build over time as more and more people continue to find Current, or continue to demand Current and cable operators continue to add it.”

New and former Countdown host Keith Olbermann displayed the comedic chops of a fifth-grader Monday night when he ad-libbed a line about newly-minted GOP candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), and delivered a mocking impression of Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren. Of Bachmann, Olbermann said “Yes, you do smell ham burning, there’s a fire in her,” whereas Van Susteren was treated to The Last Line of Defense‘s trademark mockery of speech tics. Biff Tannen would be proud.

On Sunday morning’s Reliable Sources, host Howard Kurtz and panel discussed the debut of Keith Olbermann‘s Countdown II: The Wrath of KO, and former Mediaite-er Glynnis MacNicol made a great observation about Olbermann’s ostensible olive branch to former colleague Rachel Maddow. She noted that Olbermann’s strategic demonization of MSNBC (noted here awhile back) doesn’t seem to be working, and that his decision not to overlap with Maddow’s show could represent a step away from that strategy.

Keith Olbermann rallied the troops on Twitter, gave a flurry of high profile interviews, and his new bosses at Current TV backed him with their best efforts at promoting their new franchise. The reality check came Tuesday, from Nielsen. According to ratings data released by Current, the Monday night debut of Countdown with Keith Olbermann had 179,000 viewers in the advertiser-coveted–and critical–demographic of viewers 25-54. The network declined to say what the show’s total viewing audience was. “It’s one night. We’ll need a couple of weeks to know where we’re starting,” Olbermann said in a statement released by the network.

Keith Olbermann opened the latest chapter in his itinerant broadcasting career last night, and introduced as a contributing guest Markos Moulitsas, founder of DailyKos, to his new program. Moulitsas was on to ostensibly explain why he stopped appearing on MSNBC roughly a year ago, but ended up using the reclaimed platform of a broadcast medium to antagonize his former allies at MSNBC, especially Morning Joe Host Joe Scarborough, to whom he referred as a “loser.” #Newtone.

On the Monday night premiere of his Current TV show, host Keith Olbermann informed viewers that this version of Countdown would be “a newscast of contextualization,” presented with the point of view that the “weakest citizen in this country is more important than the strongest corporation” and that “the nation is losing its independence through the malfeasance of one political party and the timidity of another.”

During an appearance on NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Keith Olbermann casually amplified completely unsubstantiated rumors about House Speaker John Boehner, rumors which have thus far avoided repetition by most reputable news organizations. During a conference call Friday morning to discuss the unveiling of Countdown II: Electric Boogaloo, Olbermann talked about the benefits of freedom from a corporate behemoth, saying that when preparing for the new show, he had to “stop myself from stopping myself.”

“I missed it so much,” newly-crowned Current TV executive Keith Olbermann told a pants-less Stephen Colbert in his return to television tonight in anticipation of the new Countdown. Colbert spent the interview relentlessly mocking Olbermann for his follies at MSNBC, calling him “insane,” and insisting he admit that he “lost to Bill O’Reilly.” Olbermann, of course, did nothing of the sort.

Writing for the paper’s magazine, The New York Times‘ David Carr has today given us an in-depth look into the rise and… we’ll say side-step, not fall… and possible rise once again of everyone’s favorite liberal talking head, Keith Olbermann.

The profile, titled “America’s Favorite Talking Hot Head,,” colorfully reiterates a lot of what we’ve already known about Olbermann: He loves to be on camera. He has something of a temper. And he firmly believes his own hype.

The ex-MSNBC host Keith Olbermann was on David Letterman‘s Late Show Wednesday night, explaining his departure from Countdown (the MSNBC version–his new Current show carries the same name): “Some people have said I did not burn the bridges, I have napalmed them. My argument was I did not burn the bridges, I burned the rivers.”

While having a newspaper refer to you as a “hobbling gasbag” might be cause for concern for most news anchors or broadcast journalists, we’re sure that there are several political pundits out there – namely, former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann – who would view the “infotainment” possibilities that stem from having a publication that serves as your ideological opposite call you names as all too welcome.

In a post titled just that – solely and simply “Hobbling Gasbag” – The New York Post offers a rather biting look at Olbermann’s supposed struggle to gather a staff together for his upcoming show on Current TV.

In a non-campaign stop for the 2012 presidential race, former NY Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R-9/11) lashed out at President Obama for “dithering” (or engineering a UN-led no-fly zone over Libya, instead of overcommitting the US military to another Middle East quagmire. Tomato, tomahto.), and mocked the President’s manner of speech with a stuttering impression.

We couldn’t help but be delighted by Greta Van Susteren‘s recent blog post – “OMG…this IS a bit silly …can we stop the hand wringing over Keith Olbermann?” – weighing in on this whole Keith Olbermann kerfuffle. (Hadn’t you heard? He found out he had a long-lost half-sister in Milwaukee.) (JK.)

The mood during the 8PM hour on MSNBC tonight– occupied by a show other than Countdown for the first time in eight years– was somber and respectful, as host Lawrence O’Donnell took some time to thank his predecessor Keith Olbermann for building the program before him, and for what he “invented and taught us to do: op-ed TV.”

Earlier tonight, now-former Countdown host Keith Olbermann sent his first tweet since his departure from MSNBC’s airwaves Friday. The subject? To announce that he would be sending his first post-Countdown tweet at 8pm Eastern time. The strange announcement is probably a humorous tweak at the speculation that ensued following an innocuous update to his Twitter profile on Saturday.

Find out what Olbermann had to say in his (technically second) post-Countdown tweet after the jump.