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Keith Olbermann Undercuts Slavery Revisionism Segment with Awkward Tree-Lighting Gag

by Tommy Christopher | 4:31 pm, December 1st, 2010

» 30 comments

Everybody wants to be something else. In Countdown host Keith Olbermann‘s case, there seems to be a frustrated vaudevillian trying to get out. On Tuesday’s show, Olbermann made an admirable attempt at a spit-take, but later in the show, chose an inopportune moment to stretch his funny bone. In the middle of an important segment about a movement to sanitize Southern secession of its connection to slavery, he interrupted guest Clarence Page to indulge in some prop humor that would even make Carrot Top cringe.

It’s a running gag on Countdown that Olbermann is charged with lighting the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, and the giant Wile E. Coyote plunger that he uses to synchronize the gag with the (unrelated) lighting of the tree is a cute touch. Unfortunately, placing the gag smack dab in the middle of a segment about (just the latest) attempt to revise the slavery right out of Confederate history was a jarring mistake.

Here’s the full segment, from MSNBC:

Perhaps there is some measure of comedic redemption in the fact that the ad-libbed toss to Rachel Maddow was pricelessly awkward:

Olbermann promises never to do the bit again, but that’s a bit much. Perhaps rejiggering the Countdown lineup so the bit falls within a fluffier segment would suffice. Tradition, after all, is what Christmas is all about.

The larger segment, though, should be viewed absent the distracting bit, because this attempt at revisionism is part of a larger pattern, and dovetails with several other issues of the moment. Rep. Steve King, for example, has just compared the settlement of discrimination claims by black farmers to “slavery reparations” offered up by our “very, very urban” President Obama.

Additionally, WMAQ Chicago’s Edward McClelland points out that Mark Kirk‘s (R-IL) election to the US Senate “re-segregates” the legislative body, but also that there have only been four black US Senators since Reconstruction. Three of those four Senators have held that same seat. The Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto counter-intuitively chalks this fact up to the Voting Rights Act, as if there would be more black Senators if there were no “majority minority” congressional districts, or that black candidates are somehow able to control their “transracial appeal.”

Finally, Congressional candidate Rich Iott (R-Ohio 9) fell into some hot water just before the midterms when he engaged in a similar effort to extract historical atrocities from his Nazi reenactment unit.

The fact that these historical atrocities still resonate so strongly today is all the more reason that attempts to trivialize or whitewash them should be given no quarter.

Bob McDonnell, Carrot Top, civil war, Confederacy, Confederate history, Confederate History Month, Earth Day, Economy, Gaypril, history month, keith olbermann, Mark Kirk, Rachel Maddow, Rich Iott, Slavery, tourism, Virginia

Just4thefax

Fact: Olbermann and his viewers are all losers!
Big Eddie

Well , this may be the first story Big Eddie has read today that went from Christmas trees to reparations to lack of Black Senators to Nazi reenacting . But it’s still early .
http://twitter.com/SailRabbits Magister

Purely logistical, but I assumed that prior to the move, Keith’s show was originating from Secaucus and the “tree-lighting” was done on tape and post-move, the window was green screen.
BarneyFranken

Im not sure what went over worse- the prop gag, or asking Boehner “where are the jobs?”

He does understand what a lame duck session is right? Was he joking?

Or is the right question to ask: Is Oblermann nothing but a joke?
Dave Richards

Olbermann needs to move his program to the Cartoon Channel.
felixw

Olbermann is now covering the slavery issue? How cutting edge! And I thought Olby was behind the times when he kept on obsessing about George Bush years after Dubya left office. At this rate, Olbermann will be reduced to giving updates on the Peloponnesian War before the Obama administration comes to end.

I guess, from KO’s perspective, anything is better than reporting on the economy, foreign policy, taxes, the deficit, the border, the war on terror, etc. etc. etc. When there are so many issues that reflect badly on our community-organizer-in-chief, it’s no wonder liberal pundits prefer to offer up takes on the nineteenth century.
BR

Olbermann is just a fucking idiot
writer

When he named Pliny the Elder as worst person, I knew Keith was going ‘retro’.
ChiliPeppersFan

and once again the hatred you guys feel for ko overshadows these idiots who want to make believe they weren’t the heartless racist fucks that they were (and some still are).
i’m sure texas would love to here it wasn’t slavery but only a desire for self-governance which caused the civil war so they could totally eliminate slavery from their next school books.
felixw

writer said:
When he named Pliny the Elder as worst person, I knew Keith was going ‘retro’.

Very funny!
Just4thefax

ChiliPeppersFan said:
and once again the hatred you guys feel for ko overshadows these idiots who want to make believe they weren’t the heartless racist fucks that they were (and some still are).i’m sure texas would love to here it wasn’t slavery but only a desire for self-governance which caused the civil war so they could totally eliminate slavery from their next school books.

Fact: Democrats of the south did try to keep the slave trade alive but the republicans of the north freed them. I’m like you the urban haters of the DNC should pay reparations and no one else.
http://www.armwood.com armwood

It’s interesting that no one is discussing any of the issues raised concerning Slavery Revisionism.
jhkjhnbhgj

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Big Eddie

jhkjhnbhgj said:
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The first three item are on Olby ‘ s wish list .
nrgetick

Big Eddie said:
Well , this may be the first story Big Eddie has read today that went from Christmas trees to reparations to lack of Black Senators to Nazi reenacting . But it’s still early .

I know,.., Msnbc is becoming more and more like fox noise
nrgetick

well everything except one of those mentioned above. I think we all know which one
nrgetick

Just4thefax said:
Fact: Democrats of the south did try to keep the slave trade alive but the republicans of the north freed them”.

history is ironic, aint it scooter. Hey where did all those democrat fascists end up,., oh yea the conservative rethuglican movement. Go down south and ask how many of those klan fucks are still registered democrats,

Fact: none
nrgetick

armwood said:
It’s interesting that no one is discussing any of the issues raised concerning Slavery Revisionism.

shhhhhh were ignoring that part.,lol.,,,j/k….. its one thing to be proud of rebellion, but another to whitewash it and hide the movements context to future generations… shit.,,,and conservatives say liberals are indoctrinating kids because we dare use the word imperialism in the same sentence as the holy westward expansion, which of course is un-american and sympathizes with the brown infidels. That still doesent change the facts and facts do of course have a liberal bias…….. and are stubborn things.
Rusty Shackelford

Comcast may very well use that plunger on Keith. I think its in Maddow’s contract to laugh at Ko’s funnys.
stehil912

He’s either a Racist, or an idiot.. Or maybe both.. .. Saw someone write that earlier on a republican comment, noticed they hadnt commented yet on here, so I figured I would help them out.
http://www.facebook.com/people/David-Mangan/100000213524770 David Mangan

@Tommy C

“In Countdown host Keith Olbermann’s case, there seems to be a frustrated vaudevillian trying to get out.”

Actually, when I see KeithO, I’m reminded of that giant cockroach inside the body of the truck driver that’s trying to get out [of the galaxy]. Only the cockroach has more manners.
Dem4Ever

Lighten up Tommy. Keith was just having some fun and nobody is rewriting history.
The Realer John T

OOOOOOOOOOOOOKEITHSTOPOHKEITHSTOOPOOOOHKEITHSTOOOP……………………………
The Realer John T

nrgetick said:
well everything except one of those mentioned above. I think we all know which one

itz datz you in da avi brah?
nrgetick

The Realer John T said:
itz datz you in da avi brah?

sure is brah.,,,.
nrgetick

stehil912 said:
He’s either a Racist, or an idiot.. Or maybe both.. .. Saw someone write that earlier on a republican comment, noticed they hadnt commented yet on here, so I figured I would help them out.

thanks brah
Just4thefax

nrgetick said:
history is ironic, aint it scooter. Hey where did all those democrat fascists end up,., oh yea the conservative rethuglican movement. Go down south and ask how many of those klan fucks are still registered democrats, Fact: none

Fact: There are a few gay pies registered in the south. Aka hypocrates.
Just4thefax

stehil912 said:
He’s either a Racist, or an idiot.. Or maybe both.. .. Saw someone write that earlier on a republican comment, noticed they hadnt commented yet on here, so I figured I would help them out.

Fact: Neither, I just follow the truth that is history. Better luck next time urbanite!
beamangrow

i see racist people on this website,dan you should be ashamed of yourself.
money is not everything.just like fox news you found a market for racist.They can comment here all day,that is okay,but you are a lawyer,you should know better.
felixw

I am looking forward to Keith’s coverage of the report (in today’s Washington Post) that the Fed used bailout money to help General Electric, while the news organizations owned by GE (MSNBC in particular) never reported this fact. Maybe Keith should pick his boss Phil Griffin as the worst person in the world for running such a corrupt operation — siphoning off money from the same administration they kiss up to every day of the week, but never mentioning the cash payoffs.