This is a really well done piece, Tommy. Olbermann has much to offer, but it is being lost in his shtick. It is getting tedious.

I will add, I don’t have a huge problem with Brown, but I do think the daughter thing was creepy. The whole pulling confetti out of your cleavage whilst standing next to dad was creepy, too.

Let’s have a moment of thanks that no registered Republican (or I suppose after Massachusetts…registered Independent…) will stand before Judge Tommy or Judge Keith in a court of law…

Unfortunately, they are both in a field where the avoidance of logical fallacies is important, but what the heck…at least they aren’t able to put anyone in jail…

I answered Olbermann’s challenge to “prove” Brown innocent, a day or two ago:

I’d like to answer Keith Olbermann’s challenge that someone prove Scott Brown innocent– a formulation particularly ironic in light of Olbermann’s chicken little rants on the death of due process under the Bush Administration. A short-lived concern on Keith’s part, lasting no longer than 8 years of the Bush Administration…

I’ll start with Olbermann’s “proof” that Brown is a “supporter of violence against women” because he failed to apologize for saying “we can do this” in response to a supporter who yelled “stick a curling iron up her [Coakley's] butt”:

First of all, Coakley may be a woman but she does not represent all of womankind. It is possible to bear an animus to an opponent that would not be extended to every member of their particular gender.

For example, if Coakley was a male and the campaign supporter had yelled “ream him!” or “bend him over!” (or some other similar expression that Olbermann has surely heard a thousand times by locker room jocks and MSNBC would-be political jocks), Olbermann would not assume that this sentiment extended to all of mankind, let alone that it was an actual threat of violence. Hell..he wouldn’t even assume that THAT sort of expression was even sexist.

Was it an ugly remark– no doubt. Was it an actual inducement to violence– no.

UPDATE: Brown did apologize for his supporter’s remark– http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0110/Brown_didnt_hear_curling_iron_remark_.html?showall

That Brown did not apologize for his supporter’s remark proves nothing other than that he refused to be drawn into a scenario where he escalated the story in the media by making an apology. Ditto for the fact that Brown did not deny that his statement “we can do that” was in response to the man’s remark. By not being drawn into game of having to explain what could easily have been a nervous unthinking lapse in a public situation, and having this explanation aired and discussed continuously, Brown effectively squelched the story in all but internet blue blogs. Any denial (no matter how accurate), would have only extended the news value of the story.

You could argue that this would “prove” that Brown is a politician, but it’s certainly does not prove that he advocates violence against anyone.

BTW– it’s not for nothing that Olbermann ignored the shout of “suicide!” by one Brown supporter. Olbermann once told one of his critics via email to “kill yourself”.

As for the charge of homophobia, Olbermann is aware that pols he has supported (both Clintons, John Kerry, Pres. Obama) have expressly been against gay marriage. In order to imply that Brown’s stand is essentially different than….(ahem…)….merely being against gay marriage…. Olbermann must base this upon some perceived difference between a Constitutional Amendment banning gay marriage and the Defense of Marriage Act (that Clinton advocated) and the stated preferences of John Kerry and Pres. Obama that states be allowed to choose their own marriage laws.

But if being against gay marriage means you’re a homophobe then the matter of whether you’d go as far as constitutional amendment or just to the point of letting states settle it as they see fit, is of little consequence in mitigating the fact that you are against extending that civil right to gays. And in terms of Olbermann’s characterization of a concern for “states rights” as having been racist code for “we don’t want to extend civil rights to minorities”, such a stand by Kerry and Obama should be of PARTICULAR disgust to Mr. Olbermann…

It’s significant too, that Olbermann did not quote Brown entirely in his comment about a gay political opponent adopting a child with her lover. Brown said, “It’s unusual for two women having a baby. It’s just not normal, in terms of what’s normal in today’s society.”

This is perfectly true, traditionally it has not been the norm in our society. If this is a homophobic stand, then Olbermann must see the WHOLE of America and American history as being this. No doubt he does, but let’s be clear that Brown is no more “homophobic” than ALL generations of Americas from our inception. Let’s make it clear that he is no more homophobic than Obama, Kerry, and the Clintons. In fact, Brown’s statement on same sex couple adoption is certainly more consistent with the natural law premise that underlines Obama, Kerry, and Bill and Hill’s objections to gay marriage. Why isn’t Olbermann asking one of THEM to explain THEIR logic in this?

Well, we know the answer. Olbermann is willingly to ignore what he labels as homophobia in Dem candidates, because he thinks his pols are merely turning their heads to gay civil rights out of political expediency!

As for “reactionary” and “tea-bagging”, that’s just typical liberal-speak for opponents. It’s not worth commenting upon.

“You can question the strength of his repudiation, or its sincerity, but he did make it. ”

You could also listen to the rest of his statement and not stop where Olby and the media does, everytime. It’s a lot easier to see the context of his reply if you dont cut it short.

The racist, sexist, and advocate of violence claims are weak. But even if you want to claim they are all true representations of this slander, to judge someone off of one incident and brand them that for the rest of their life is absurd.

I wonder dads in the world have made the joke of bemoaning the fact that someone has not taken their daughter (and daughter’s clothes-horse wardrobe needs) off their hands.

My husband has jokingly made such remarks about our daughter, as well as suggesting that my marrying him was the luckiest day of MY life– as he examined bills for “necessities”… from various charge accounts.

Such jokes may be old-fashion and sexist, but not mean-spirited.

In Brown’s case it may show a lack of awareness that their are TRUE CREEPS lurking around in the world, but that’s not exactly the worst indictment in the world.

Glenn Beck did a tirade against Brown for this, that was half-joking and half-serious, and all funny. Glenn Beck has very young daughters, and as he flatly stated, a FBI task force devoted to looking into people who would like to exterminate him.

That Glenn was so politically unastute as to treat Brown like any other guy, surprised people like Tommy C. because it doesn’t fit with leftist meme that all Republicans go through a blood brother initiation and have Karl Rove on speed dial, but what else is new?

As for finding something creepy in pulling confetti out your blouse while you stand next to your father…good lord! Go wash your mind out with soap!

His comment about Obama’s birth is so transparently racist I thought you were kidding. Do you assume your reader’s are idiots? Maybe, if he has contempt for Obama’s mother, it is because she had sex with a black man? Which would make Brown even more racist? Otherwise I thought you were fairly logical. The “or something” at the end shows you have picked up a tic from Hotair.com. I am not surprised.

Keith Olbermann is a racist, sexist lunatic tax-cheat who supports violence against women and exhibits a particularly weird pathology regarding attractive women with whom he disagrees.

The Ex-Nude Model should be a point to Brown. I know it is true so it is formally a point to Olbermann, it’s also awesome at the same time.

Now that I’ve said that, I think Brown’s a pretty cool guy. He’s an economic conservative and a social moderate, that’s rare in the republican party. Let’s also not forget that he recently stated his wish for people to have healthcare, that was awesome and completely out of nowhere. I for one welcome this new type of republican as an overlord for the party.

The economic conservative, social moderate niche is not too bad a place to be found. My only real quarrel with Republicans over the last five decades is their insatiable desire to turn us all into cookie cutter Cleavers and their creepy bedroom police mode.

I hope SaraInItaly does not mind my pasting her very excellent rebuttal of the Obama’s mother canard:

————————————————————————————————————————

sarainitaly says:
January 17, 2010 at 6:24 pm

Perhaps he got the idea from Michelle Obama? [http://www.kmbc.com/video/16846482/index.html]
“Barack saw his mother, who was very young and very single when she had him, and he saw her work hard to complete her education and try to raise he and his sister.” ~ Michelle Obama

“His own mother, she said at the beginning of her remarks, was “very young and very single when she had him.” And, Obama added, he has observed his wife’s attempts to reconcile motherhood with her career aspirations.”

Or maybe he got it from Rev. Wright? “”Hillary doesn’t know what it feels like to be raised by a single poor white mother, Barack does!”

Perhaps Brown remembered Obama saying he was raised by a single mother, which he repeated quite often.

“I was raised by a single mother.” [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpktgJ6UVuM&feature=player_embedded]

Scott was discussing attacks against the Palins, and Bristol Palin, and brought up that Obama’s mother was young too. The blogs only provided the :15 clip, thus leaving off the context of the discussion. Surprise.

You can see the longer clip here. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAjCaxN-_s8&feature=player_embedded]

Obama, himself, hints that his father and mother’s wedding may not have been properly documented. “How and when the marriage occurred remains a bit murky, a bill of particulars that I have never quite had the courage to explore. There’s no record of a real wedding, a cake, a ring, a giving away of the bride. No families were in attendance; it’s not even clear that people back in Kansas were informed.” Obama writes in his memoir.

TPM states (although, does seem to be a bit of a contradiction to Obama’s book):

“Now the factual record on this is clear. Obama’s parents were married February, 1961, and Obama was born in early August of the same year. So his mother was certainly married when he was born.”

This appears to have everything to do with the discussion Brown was having in the video, Obama’s mother was single when she got pregnant, just like Bristol Palin.

The only issue this brings up is the desperation by some to try to turn this into a smear by posting a mere snipit of the conversation.

Olbermann, at times, is like Ted Baxter on crack.

The economic conservative, social moderate niche is not too bad a place to be found. My only real quarrel with Republicans over the last five decades is their insatiable desire to turn us all into cookie cutter Cleavers and their creepy bedroom police mode.

—————————————————————————————————————

Considering that this is one of three threads on this media site with the topic of Scott Brown behaving creepily towards his daughter… the Cleaver remark is more than a little ironic.

Who cares what Olbermann says or thinks. Scott Brown is a breath of fresh air and Olberman smells like my cat box. NBC should get rid of Olbermann.

talk about creepy, olberman is the same age as Brown and dates a woman barely older than Brown’s now famous daughters.

ewwwwwww……

Irresponsible – FAIL – Yea, better to sugar quote it, and not confront the high school students directly about the ugly attacks on his daughter, and family. please!

Brown was reading their own words – how is that irresponsible? he was calling them out, and reprimanding them for their ugly attacks on him and his family, and did so in a small setting. This example is extremely weak. “…the “F” word was used in reference to his eldest daughter, Ayla. “Another said I should be dead,” Brown said.”

The only thing I would have done differently was call their parents, to have them there while he read the vile things their children wrote on their Facebook pages, so they would know first hand what kind of hooligans they are raising.

Brown also pointed out that the word appears in “Catcher in the Rye,” which is required reading for the students.

I already addressed the shout out about the daughters being single. In the words of his daughter, “mellow out…It just surprises me that people can be so negative.” If you want to talk about irresponsible, check out HuffPo: Meanwhile, HuffPo and some of the lefty gossip sites are posting a Facebook pic of her and her sister in bikinis posing with their dad — taken at her grandmother’s birthday party, according to Ayla Brown (from Hot Air)

If Olby thinks that one meeting at a school with high school children can define someone as irresponsible, then I am curious to what he thinks about Obama telling high school students about his drug and alcohol use in high school. He did not urge them to abstain from drugs or explain the difficulty of kicking addictions. And he left some with this conclusion: “There might be people that do drink or do experimental drugs and they may think that they are not going to get very far in life, but obviously Sen. Obama has gotten pretty far in life.” Or that, as a candidate, he lauhgingly admitted he inhaled, frequently, because that was the point. Does that send the right signal to kids?

Homophobic – Extremely weak. Regarding his comments about whether it was normal for two women to have a baby, Brown quickly apologized and said he chose his words poorly. (I suppose one could get into the debate about what constitutes normal – since it is biologically impossible, thus, not *normal* for two women to produce a child.) He also commented that his view is the same as President Obama, both anti-gay-marriage and pro-civil-unions. He believes it is up to the states to decide, and considering 45 states ban gay marriage, Olby would have to label almost the entire country homophobic to support this accusation. Also, the Obama supporters in CA that voted for Prop 8. I support gay marriage, and have many discussions with people about the topic. Most of those who do not support gay marriage, that I have found, do so because of religious beliefs. To attack them for their religious beliefs, I suppose one could say they are guilty of religious bigotry?

Racist – FAIL – this one is total bull, as we discussed in a previous thread. In an attemt to defend Bristol Palin as a young mother, Brown brought in Obama’s mother as a young mother as well. This site, Olby, and many others used intentionally edited video to try to smear him, and mislead people on the conversation. He had every reason to not know personally whether Stanley Ann was married or not, based on prior comments by Michelle, and Barack, Rev. Wright, and everyone in the media. For Olby to say this was about race is just another one of his stupid a** race cards. Obama’s mother was white – so for Olby to try and even make this about race is beyond stupid. It sounds to me like Olby is the one bordering on racism, for even trying to make that point: Obama is black, Brown assumes he was born out of wedlock until proven otherwise. Why did Olby’s mind even go there? Sounds like he is the ones with certain stereotypes floating around in his head.

Reactionary – this is just plain stupid.

Ex Nude Model – Hmmm, does someone posing once for a photo define them as a career model? As someone who actually used to model, I never ever have defined myself as a model…. This is a huuuuuuuge stretch. Also, considering we can’t see certain body parts, one has to wonder if he truly is, in fact completely nude, or if he is wearing something over his parts – like most people do in those situations. Brown did pose for a photo that shows him in the buff – but I would hardly define him as an ex-nude model. Olby can have this point, because, well, frankly, we get a photo of a hunk, and the Democrats have this.

Sexist – FAIL.

Tea-bagging – FAIL. Teabagging is a slang term for the act of a man placing his scrotum in the mouth or on or around the face (including the top of the head) of another person, often in a repeated in-and-out motion as in irrumatio. The practice resembles dipping a tea bag into a cup of tea.

Supporter of violence against women and against politicians with whom he disagrees – FAIL.

I think the most shocking thing about this video is the sheer lack of proof Olby, an actual “news anchor”, offers to support his smears. I did better than this, in an afternoon, sitting in Italy, on my couch. He has access to staff, video libraries, people to interview, etc. and this is IT? This is ALL he can come up with?

If I were Brown, I would totally sue him.

Olbermann is making the claim that a single incident or statement, even taken out of context, defines the whole of a person for their entire life. If that were true, than I guess the statement I hypothetically proposed about Olby is, in fact, who he really is.

Better luck next time, Olby. But, thanks for playing.

Snipzor says:
January 21, 2010 at 9:40 am

i agree! As a former left leaning, voting Democrat, now firm Independent, I am really hoping that Scott Brown will be who I think he is. I have been hoping for someone to emerge that reflects my independent status, and as an economic conservative and a social moderate he is sounding pretty attractive. The Dems have lost me for good, and there are some old farts in the Repub party that creep me out, so I am really hoping for some new, more indy repubs to surface, and shine. (also, having left the Left, I have had my eyes opened to the lies and smears often told by the Left, and have found myself heading even further right. This post is an example!)

JimW says:
ex politicalmedia hack says:
Completely!

Cecelia says:
January 21, 2010 at 9:49 am
Thanks! :O)

Why in the world would Olby beat this so hard? Whether he personally likes Scott Brown or not, Brown was elected to office by democrats and independents, not those nasty old republicans. Olbermann is basically calling the liberals and democrats of Massachusetts a bunch of loons for electing him. What do you suppose this will do for Olbey’s ratings and support in Massachusetts? He’s beating the shit out of his own audience. Brilliant. Just brilliant.

He should be screaming at those libs in Massachusetts, not at Brown.

timzank says:
January 21, 2010 at 12:10 pm

Shhh! Don’t tell him! If he keeps it up, he will either work himself completely out of a job or continue to drive Dems and Indys away.

Tommy – Great column; I think you’ve got it about right. Interesting how some of the teabaggers here who claim not to care about KO seem to…uh, care about KO. At any rate I’m sure KO loves the attention.

Ted, ya think they’re lovin’ KO up there in Mass these days? Actually, let me rephrase, Do you think any real democrats agree with him?

Sure, the same way real teabaggers like Glenn Beck and real Republicans like Rush Limbaugh. Surely you can relate to that.

@Cecelia “..That Glenn was so politically unastute as to treat Brown like any other guy, surprised people like Tommy C. because it doesn’t fit with leftist meme that all Republicans go through a blood brother initiation and have Karl Rove on speed dial, but what else is new?”
Wow, Cecelia, your devotion to Beck never ceases to amaze.
@Cecelia “..Glenn Beck did a tirade against Brown for this, that was half-joking and half-serious, and all funny.”
Really? The idea that there might be a “dead intern” in Brown’s political future is funny?
Becks comments may have been “half-joking” and “half-serious”, but they were completely unfunny.

You are so right Trickletown. Cecelia used the phrase “all funny”. There is nothing funny, even remotely, about a dead intern joke. In fairness to Cecelia, I’m relatively certain she didn’t mean she found that humorous, either. As for me, I find Beck a sick, sick puppy, and this is merely one example of his numerous pathologies.

Trickletown, I acknowledge your strong feelings and send you a sincere and hearty– Oh, well…

Ceceila, that’s good enough for me. May I add that I was completely in agreement with your comments on this issue up to the point where you heralded Becks funny input.

Well, I’m very pleased to be on your side in most things, Trickletown.

The only time I hear anything about what Keith Olbermann is ranting about is by way of sites such as this one or in soundbites on other venues. Mr. Olbermann has been nothing more than a mild curiosity to me but more recently, I see him as a hate-filled, small-minded, would be revolutionary of the bolshevik genera. He is crude, cheap, and stupid. He reminds me somewhat of an unpolished, uneducated, and unwashed David Letterman.

NewsBusters — Factcheck: Olbermann Repeats Incorrect Anti-Scott Brown Claims of Racism & Vulgarity, Insists He’s Correct
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brad-wilmouth/2010/01/21/factcheck-olbermann-repeats-incorrect-anti-scott-brown-claims-racism

There is a lot to like about Scott Brown.

Keith Olbermann? Not so much.

Obama isn’t for gay marriage. Does Olbermann call him a homophobe? Ted Kennedy left a woman to drown in a submerged car. Did Olbermann ever go on a rant about Kennedy being cruel to women? To Keith, anyone to the right of Chairman Mao is a racist homophobe tea-bagger. The man has become little more than a far left drooling idiot, and the saddest part of all is that he considers himself a ‘real’ journalist.

Also possible that Brown is not racist or mother-STI, and was simply playing a segment of its audience, he said, had to think of the president as a bastard. That would make him a liar and a coward.
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