Wailing Into The Void

He’s not resting, he’s dead.  He will be missed.

I watch his show occasionally and I find it entertaining, but while I’m usually sympathetic to his opinions I also can’t help thinking that he is essentially a liberal version of Bill O’Reilly.  He’s bullying, pompous, self-righteous and assumes the air of a self-appointed defender of values that are beseiged by all kinds of nefarious forces, just like O’Reilly.  I can’t stand O’Reilly and I’m pretty sure that if my politics tilted more to the right I would hold Olbermann in equal contempt.

Peter J. Boyer’s profile of Olbermann in this week’s New Yorker gives us some interesting glimpses into the man’s mindset, including this nugget:

But Olbermann contends that the labored pretense of neutrality in the news business is a fruitless exercise. “There are people who, with absolute conviction, believe that Brian Williams is a Communist,” he said. “There are people who, with absolute conviction, believe that Katie Couric is in the pay of the Pentagon. There are people who are absolutely certain that Charlie Gibson sleeps with Hillary Clinton, based on the last debate. This is an old schoolyard thing I learned from being repeatedly beat up in the fourth grade. It finally dawned on me one day—they are going to keep beating me up whether I respond to them or not.” Olbermann continued, “Brian sometimes looks like his collar button is going to burst from the restraint that he has. I know the pain that he goes through; he measures each word like an apothecary—and they beat him up, too. The point is, why not? Why not add something to the discourse?”

There’s a good case to be made for why maintaining the pretense of neutrality in news is a fruitless exercise, but what Olbermann offers here isn’t part of it.  First of all, the point of trying to be neutral in reporting is not to avoid criticism.  There are many reasons why a news outlet might want to aim for neutrality, but the reason that stands out to me is a desire to develop and maintain credibility with its audience.  True, a news outlet will never gain absolute credibility with every member of its audience, but that doesn’t mean pursuing that as an ideal is fruitless. 

Second, all criticism isn’t equally valid, or invalid as the case may be.  The notion that Brian Williams is a Communist doesn’t hold a lot of weight.  Some people may believe it with all their heart, but my guess is they don’t have much evidence to back it up.  The notion that Keith Olbermann wants Barack Obama to defeat John McCain in November, however, is close to self-evident.  Because Olbermann has abandoned any pretense of neutrality in this regard the credibility of any or all of his coverage of the race is severely undermined.  That’s not necessarily a problem for Olbermann I suppose, who seems to be content to preach to the choir, but that doesn’t mean the efforts of countless newspeople to keep their opinions out of their reporting isn’t worthwhile.

One has even managed to get himself appointed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action, Mr Bond.” - Auric Goldfinger

Rep.  Steve King (R-IA) asks Scott McClellan why he wants to hurt us with so much truth.

Laura Rozen of the FISA compromise:

Doesn’t that actually endorse and extend to private actors the Nixonian view that if the president says it’s legal, it’s legal, regardless of what the law says and the Constitution says? Wouldn’t that set an awful precedent that an administration could get private actors to do whatever they wanted including breaking the law?

ARG has Obama up 49-44 in the Sunshine State.

The latest Quinnipiac poll has Obama up there 47-43.

I don’t have a dog in a Boston-L.A fight, but just in case there are any Boston Celtics fans among my four or five readers let me just say “Congratulations, and Go Yankees!”

He doesn’t appear to be all that clear on what a “cap and trade” system is, even though he claims to be in favor of one.  He’s also been a little inconsistent on how he thinks we should deal with rising gas prices.  But don’t worry, my friends, he’ll be ready to lead on Day One.