Here's an interesting peek into the mind of a man who's been getting a lot of attention lately. Andrew Breitbart is the latest subject of a fun series the Atlantic Wire is running called 'What I Read.' So what feeds the mind of the man responsible for the 'Big' online media empire; someone Wired just described as having made the "journalism industry his bitch"? Well it's not Gawker. He is, however, apparently pursuing the Keith Olbermann path to fame and infamy, except in the opposite direction. (more...)

video Sad news: MSNBC's Keith Olbermann's father, Theodore Olbermann, passed away earlier this afternoon at age 81. Olbermann Senior had been battling after complications from colon surgery last year. Olbermann had taken a leave of absence from Countdown for the past week to tend to his ailing father. He also used his program to discuss the personal matter of his father's sickness and the role health care played in his treatment. (more...)

Keith Olbermann hasn't appeared on MSNBC since March 1 (and hasn't anchored Countdown since February 24) while he cares for his ailing father. But that doesn't mean he's disappeared from the web, where he's been feuding with ESPN's Bill Simmons, and last night took time to explain, in great detail, the history of some former MSNBC anchors. (more...)

Despite the absurdity of the Liz Cheney/Keep America Safe "Al Qaeda 7" ad, and the fact that Cheney's group sounds like its mascot ought to be a pee-pants version of Woodsy Owl, the spot has been generating a lot of heat. Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and frequent Countdown contributor Eugene Robinson wrote a scathing op-ed yesterday attacking the fallacy behind the ad, but it could have easily been directed at his friend and colleague, Keith Olbermann. (more...)

exclusive After Friday's new media showdown between MSNBC's Keith Olbermann (via his MLB blog) and ESPN's Bill Simmons (via his Twitter feed), all was quiet over the weekend. Then yesterday afternoon, Olbermann fired back, and Simmons' editor responded to Mediaite. (more...)

You know hell has frozen over when Keith Olbermann and Ken Starr agree on something, and that sentiment was expressed in so many words on tonight's Countdown episode. Starr had some harsh words for Liz Cheney's Keep America Safe ads from last week, which accused the lawyers for Guantanamo Bay detainees to be terrorists themselves. Though Olbermann wasn't there (Lawrence O'Donnell has been subbing in while Olbermann is dealing with his father's illness), he had commented earlier to say "That's how serious we both take this, that even we agree on it." (more...)

It's been an interesting 24 hours for MSNBC's Keith Olbermann. He let his sense of humor see the light of day on last night's Daily Show Chatroulette satire, and now he's already got another notch in the belt of being more down to earth than evidence sometimes suggests. The target this time is ESPN's Bill Simmons - a.k.a. The Sports Guy - and his far-reaching Tiger-Woods's-Comeback-is-Like-Muhammed-Ali's column that went up on Wednesday on ESPN.com. Update: Simmons responds! (more...)

MSNBC political analyst Craig Crawford has left the network - in a very public way. Writing on his blog at CQPolitics.com, Crawford says he has found the network "unrewarding for me," - and expands on his reason for leaving in a comment to Mediaite. (more...)

What do Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, Brian Williams and Keith Olbermann have in common with a masturbating Jason Jones? They all appeared on tonight's hilarious Chatroulette segment on the Daily Show. Scoring an impressive Big Three hat trick, Jon Stewart took his viewers through a Chatroulette sessio — plus Olbermann, Liz Claman, some incognito Daily Show staffers and plenty of pixellated male nudity. Major props to the anchors, who all turned in hilarious moments (and biggest props to Sawyer, who was the least hammy and the most out of her element, but still gamely participated) — but the best and funniest moment belonged to Olbermann, whose pseudo-Special Comment was perfectly timed, right up to "I think one of us is supposed to take our pants off now." Well done, sir. (more...)

video On last night's Countdown, Keith Olbermann made a special appearance to update his viewers on his father's medical condition, and to respond to critics of his "Life Panels" Special Comment from last week, singling out Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. As is often the case, much of the criticism has been focused on how the message was delivered, rather than the substance of it. Keith gave his critics more credit than they deserved, and took on what little substance they offered. (more...)

Did Fox News try to hire Keith Olbermann in the late 90s? That's what the MSNBC host is saying in a Daily Kos comment left last night. He's hinted at it before, but this time, he gets specific. (more...)

video While certain conservative media figures of late have been using the health of Keith Olbermann's father as a way to further their talking points on these supposed liberal "death panels," you have to admit that it works both ways. As in Keith Olbermann using an entire 9-minute segment tonight to talk about the decisions he made with his father's doctor, and how under the proposed health care bill these discussions would be able to be billed to insurance companies. (more...)

audio Keith Olbermann is going through some tough times: his father is dying, and his father wanted to die. It was a powerful statement Wednesday, replete with details and emotion and just the right amount of political grandstanding that makes Olbermann one of the most powerful left-wing talents on cable news. Most were driven to compassion. Glenn Beck was mostly disgusted. (more...)

video Keith Olbermann shot back at Mediaite again, alleging that we were simply "parroting" the message of a Dallas Tea Party organization who put forth a video that made Olbermann look, well, rather foolish. This time we earned bronze in a newly christened "Hall of Shame" segment, ostensibly for not rolling over to his previous assessment that we were "gullible" for posting the story. The whole scenario reminds one of an aged stand-up comedian who hasn't updated his material in years, but is still somehow content playing to a half-filled room at the West Topeka Chuckle Hut. At some point it's no longer funny, nor even fun. It's just sorta sad. (more...)

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In the same show in which he attacked Mediaite by taking a shot at this site's founder, and the day after an even cheaper shot at Sarah Palin, Countdown's Keith Olbermann also displayed a return to form with a Special Comment that was about as riveting a 13 minutes of television as you are likely to see.

"Last Friday night, my father asked me to kill him," he began. (more...)

Much has already been written about the current era of opinion media, and how consumers now often get their news from the media outlets that reaffirm their pre-existing opinions. In fact, part of the reason that Mediaite exists is because there are so few unbiased arbiters in what has recently deteriorated into the toxic and puerile sport of "am not!" and "are too!" So yesterday was an interesting day for us - our commentary and reporting received criticism from stalwarts on both the right AND the left. People often ask us "whose side are you on?" Well, whoever said that we had to be on a side? (more...)

I know, you're probably thinking what I was, "He's not actually calling her a tool, is he?" In a tease to commercial on last night's Countdown, Keith Olbermann did a short meditation on how "Former Half-Governor Sarah Palin" could end up being a tool for Republicans, a tool for Tea Partiers, and a tool for Democrats in the midterms. Had he left it at that, he would have completed a did-he-or-didn't-he, deniable slam on Palin. Instead, much like his Carrie Prejean self-love slam, he just couldn't resist hanging a lantern on it. (more...)

video On Countdown tonight, host Keith Olbermann called Mediaite "gullible" for posting a video clip critical of his evaluation of the Tea Party movement - most notably the apparent lack of diversity amongst their ranks. The low-budget clip (made by the Dallas Tea Party movement) invited Olbermann to visit their Tea Party convention, and more pointedly, criticized the MSNBC talent line-up for lacking their own diversity. Somehow pointing this out makes us "gullible." Then again - some people will believe anything. (more...)

You know, in hindsight, it is sort of stunning that no one has done anything like this sooner. Responding to recent criticisms made by Countdown host Keith Olbermann that the Tea Party movement effectively had no diversity amongst its ranks, the Dallas Tea Party organization has produced a remarkably effective video response. Not only does the video feature a number of men and women of color, but it also highlights the remarkable lack of diversity on MSNBC's line-up. Judge not, lest ye be judged? (more...)

video "A mind may be a terrible thing to waste, but if you waste 15 million of them, apparently you get Texas." That was Keith Olbermann tonight, doing his best to collectively piss off the biggest state in the contiguous U.S. after a recent poll showed that 60 percent of those polled in the cowboy state believe that humans and dinosaurs existed at the same time, or weren't sure. (more...)

Last week Rachel Maddow visited the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and came away with a rather shocking revelation: conservatives hold Maddow in the highest esteem. In today's age of bitter partisan media, it's a pretty stunning development that a liberal icon such as Maddow, can be so well received "behind enemy lines." To be fully appreciated, one need only imagine the reception that fellow MSNBC cohort Keith Olbermann would have received in the same venue. Perhaps its time to officially recognize the fact that Rachel Maddow is now officially more respected and influential than Olbermann. And she's just getting started. (more...)

video Keith Olbermann has been swinging back and forth on the stridency spectrum lately, but on last night's show, I think the pendulum came loose and crashed through the wall. In a "clever" change-up, Keith did his "Not Worst Persons" list, topping it with Ann Coulter. I've seen Keith go pretty far off the rails, but the culmination of his Coulter rant literally made my jaw drop. Here's the segment:
As it happens, Ann is here at CPAC, so I thought I'd try to get a reaction from her. I asked her handler to see if she'd respond to Olbermann's crack. Here he is asking her about it:
Well, I tried. This has nothing to do with your feelings about Ann Coulter as a human being. What Olbermann did was homophobia and transphobia at their most insidious. He claims to be a liberal, yet he uses transgender status to slur Ann Coulter? Did he learn nothing from "Retard-gate?" I've seen this kind of crap peddled by anonymous blog trolls, and shaken my head. Transpeople have, perhaps, a harder time than anyone  in the LGBT community. Transphobia kills, most famously a transman named Brandon Teena. Keith Olbermann should apologize for this remark, and he should do it tonight. Then, he can get some lessons on how to be nice from MSNBC class act Rachel Maddow. Ironically, he might even learn from some of the CPAC crowd, too.

video On Wednesday night's Countdown, Keith Olbermann called out several conservative blogs for responding to his Special Comment about the Tea Party's lack of diversity (without addressing similar charges leveled at his own network). One of the blogs he called out was Hot Air, so I thought I would give Ed Morrissey the chance to respond to Olbermann. (Video below.) (more...)

After releasing a pretty inclusive list of the Top 25 Right-Wing Journalists in America, Daily Beast columnist Tunku Varadarajan took on the other half of the aisle, putting together a list of the most powerful and influential American liberals. In many ways, The Top 25 Left-Wing Journalists list is much more eclectic than it's conservative counterpart, and includes a much larger number of personalities that toe the line between entertainers/commentators and journalists-- many, in fact, that are solidly in the entertainment or commentary camp. (more...)

video During an appearance with Jonathan Karl, temporary host of This Week, former Vice President Dick Cheney claimed "I was a big supporter for waterboarding...I was a big supporter of enhanced interrogation techniques." If you believe water boarding to be a war crime, then Cheney just admitted to being a war criminal on national television. Which is essentially the claim made by Keith Olbermann on last night's Countdown. (more...)

video Keith Olbermann's Special Comment last night on his MSNBC show was about the undertones of racism within the Tea Party movement, and like he often does, he posted a portion on his Daily Kos blog. Well that set off a series of back-and-forth comments between Olbermann and others about the diversity on the MSNBC airwaves. (more...)

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At today's briefing, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs joined the ranks of comedy legends like Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Keith Olbermann, and Andrea Mitchell when he did his own version of Sarah Palin's "helping hand." Is the Palin Hand Jive the new "I'ma let you finish?" (more...)

I've been getting pretty frustrated with the usually reliable Keith Olbermann's inability to nail Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin on Limbaugh's use of the term "retard." Sure, he has posited Palin as a hypocrite, but several times he has repeated Rush's and Palin's dueling assertions that he was "quoting" Rahm Emanuel, or that he was being "satirical," without really challenging it. Luckily, Stephen Colbert actually knows what the word "satire" means, and deployed a pile of it on Palin and Rush last night. (more...)

Hyperbole must be over. How else does one explain the extremely disappointing bits that Jon Stewart and Keith Olbermann did on Sarah Palin last night? Handed (thank you, I'm here all week) 3 days of Palin material that rivaled anything George W. Bush ever gave them, Olbermann could barely manage a molecule of spittle, let alone a lather, and Stewart deployed his seldom-used Nerf™ jokes.

Have these Sovereigns of Smackdown gone soft? Are these Sultans of Snark running scared? How is any of this supposed to result in an outraged rebuttal on Palin's Facebook page? (more...)

There's a neat symmetry to the fact that, the day after Keith Olbermann responded to gleeful rumors of his own demise, he posits the end of the line for Sarah Palin. Emboldened by the release of thousands of Palin emails, the inauspiciously racist kickoff to the Palin-headlined "Tea Party Convention," and Palin's truckling response to Rush Limbaugh's cowardly "retard" litany, Keith asks if the countdown is on to the end of Palin's political career. (more...)

Yes, this is another "Retard-gate" post. Why? Because while I agree that Palin is right to condemn Rahm Emanuel's use of the term "retarded," and I agree that Sarah Palin's failure to call out Rush Limbaugh is hypocritical, I still think everybody is dropping the ball on this.

With very few exceptions, nobody has standing to feign outrage over this, not Palin, not Rush, and not Keith Olbermann. In fact, I think Limbaugh almost has a leg to stand on. (more...)

As I reported yesterday, the media sharks are circling Countdown, hoping for a quick meal. Since then, Newsbusters and the NY Post joined the dogpile, prompting another rebuttal from host Keith Olbermann. The message? Countdown is doing just fine, thank you, and these critics are just part of the right-wing noise machine. He's mostly right, but that doesn't mean he should ignore them. (more...)

video I think Sarah Palin may have painted herself into a rather uncomfortable 'politically correct' corner this week. As valid as her outrage over Rahm Emanuel's (and many, many others) derogatory use of the word "retarded" (last November, behind closed doors) may be her tepid response to Rush Limbaugh's very recent, very public use of the word yesterday leaves a lot to be desired. Let's compare shall we. (more...)

video A couple of weeks ago, I asked the burning question "Is Keith Olbermann Losing it?" While I was concerned more with the Countdown host's loosening perspective, several media critics have since wondered if the show's ratings portend its imminent demise. As the LA Times' Andrew Malcolm puts it, are we counting down the last days of Countdown? More importantly, can Countdown be saved? Yup and here's how. (more...)

As reported earlier today, Sarah Palin is using her Facebook page to denounce Rahm Emanuel's casual and pejorative use of "retarded" on the president's detractors. Yesterday Rush Limbaugh got in the act, flaunting the "political correct" movement by repeatedly using the more offensive term "retard." This was reported last night by Keith Olbermann, who asked why Palin hasn't yet come down on Limbaugh? Let's hope that this story is only getting started because it could be really fun. (more...)

video We've written a lot about the trouble at NBCU - from prime time to late night to the Olympics to, well, the executive level. But when it comes to the news division, NBC has cemented itself firmly in first place. Well, except on cable. (more...)

A Pew survey that shows MSNBC spent six times as much coverage on the James O'Keefe story as other outlets is being touted as evidence that the cable news network might have it in for the pimp-suited independent filmmaker. Just as likely, though, is that the other media outlets shied away from the story due to their complicity with the O'Keefe-as-journalist meme, and out of fear of being embarrassed again. That fear may be behind MSNBC's new reticence to tell it like it is with O'Keefe. (more...)

At today's briefing, conservative radio host and reporter Lester Kinsolving asked Press Secretary Robert Gibbs to respond to a pair of MSNBC quotes. First, a golden oldie from June, in which a Newsweek editor compares the President to God (it makes slightly more sense in context), and Chris Matthews' post-SOTU declaration that he had forgotten that Obama was black for an hour.

Lester, you may recall, got a really quick answer to a really long question awhile back. Gibbs was equally brief this time. (more...)

video You may recall that one of the biggest concerns in the comedy world was that the election of Barack Obama would be the end of political humor, particularly where Jon Stewart was concerned. After years of being the unrelenting, sorely needed, voice of what many considered to be their only 'true' news source (that's a whole other conversation) during the Bush years, a whole lot of people wondered how Stewart would find a way to bring his biting humor to Obama who seemed -- a year ago anyway! -- to be untouchable. Regular viewers of the show will know it hasn't been all that much of a problem, particularly these last nine months (the 'Beer Summit' was pretty much tailor made for late night). (more...)

After Keith Olbermann's post-SOTU j'accuse of a bevy of conservative talking heads, in which he equated their cries of "arrogance" with the racially inflammatory "uppity," many thought Keith was overreaching at best.

Be that as it may, both The Daily Show and The Colbert Report covered a case of the pot calling the kettle "arrogant," as they reported on the unprecedented bit of reverse-place-putting that was the Republicans' Mini-me SOTU. It's not that Obama is "uppity," it's that the Republicans have been too "downity." (more...)