And MB, I guess if pointing out the inadequacy of our current health system is a political position (which it could be when health care reform is being argued) then you could say he politicized the event.
But, I think Clinton's issue more to do with the messenger and not the message.
"...I guess if pointing out the inadequacy of our current health system is a political position..."
I don't regularly watch Olbermann, so I may be mistaken on the circumstances. My understanding is that he helped raise money to found rural healthcare clinins, but then featured them in segments on his program as an example of how poor our current healthcare system is. If I am mistaken on those facts, I apologize. But if my understanding is correct, then yes, I think he took an altruistic endeavor and politicized it.
"It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg."
-- Thomas Jefferson
To be fair Keith was going through a rough period. His mother died of cancer but then not long after his father's health really took a hit and spent a considerable period in the hospital. In between taking a lot of periods off to be with his father, I think you can say he took up the cause of promoting the clinic and being so vocal in the HCR debate: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/24/keith-olbermanns-emotiona_n_475973.html
MB - he did run segments on how the clinics help, the folks experiences who got the services, and did ask for donations from his audience. I believe he raised over a million dollars for these clinics through segments on his show and talking about the services they provide.
They were not just rural clinics, but all over the country, in big cities as well. Little Rock, New Orleans, Kansas City. And, he was actually going after many of the Blue Dog Dems who were seen as part of the problem - so I guess, you are right, that there was a political agenda - to expose the health care poverty in this country, especially to Dems who were seen as filibustering HCR:
"I propose tonight one act with two purposes," Olbermann said then. "I propose we, all of us, embrace the selfless individuals at the National Association of Free Clinics. You know them, they conducted the mass health care free clinic in Houston that served 1,500 people. I want a mass health care free clinic every week in the principle cities of the states of the six senators key to defeating a filibuster against health care reform in the Senate...
Sens. Lincoln and Pryor to see what health care poverty is really like in Little Rock....Sen. Baucus to see it in Butte....Sen. Ben Nelson to see it in Lincoln....Sen. Landrieu to see it in Baton Rouge...Sen. Reid to see it in Las Vegas."
And, for the record, good for MSNBC for suspending him.
"Well, Goth's right again: Liberals do just get away with anything."
Had this information not come out in the media, I'm sure he would have gone unpunished.
If he gets fired, then I'll change my viewpoint. However, a suspension is nothing. It's like what an anchor gets for swearing on air. I'm sure he'll come back stronger than ever and it will all be forgotten.
In the meantime, he'll go around blaming Republicans just like that liar Dan Rather.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
An indefinite suspension without pay is not nothing. So, do you think Fox should have fired Sean Hannity, who gave to Sarah Palin's PAC, then interviewed her without disclosing it?
"It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg."
-- Thomas Jefferson
Forget that- Sarah Palin is a FOX EMPLOYEE who has a PAC that supports political candidates!!! How is that acceptable? The Network itself gave $1 MILLION dollars to help elect Republican candidates! At the VERY LEAST they should be forced to drop "Fair & Balanced" from their vocabulary.
"Considering how many people over at DailyKos are wringing their hands and crying conspiracy..."
That's all they do all day is cry conspiracy.
The lines have been blurred for a long time. Gwen Ifill on taxpayer funded PBS was a huge Obama supporter. If anyone should have been suspended/fired, it should have been her.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
Funny how you are silent on the Fox News folks Goth.
Typical - distract and point at others, and never answer the question at hand.
FWIW, Countdown is an opinion show, and Olbermann has said as much. MSNBC is "your place for politics" not news. Fox pretends to be news, and is all politics and opinion.
Try and have a little intellectual honesty.
And, BTW, 50-60% of PBS' funding comes from private membership and grants.
I rarely discuss Fox on this board because people are at such a level of hatred that they have lost all sense of reason. (For example, do a search on the thread where one of you was screaming that Fox didn't broadcast Obama's State of the Union. I pointed out that Fox News had broadcast it but Fox Entertainment had went with their normal programming.)
If you were more aware of what goes on at Fox, it wouldn't be such a sore point. Beck, O'Reilly, Hannity, Sustern are all opinion shows. Sheperd Smith, who is News, has often bashed the conservative point of view.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
Two examples of Fox News and their irresponsible unfair bias. ANYONE who gets their news from FOX is a gullible moron!
'There are three sides to every story. My side, your side, and the truth. And no one is lying. Memories shared serve each one differently'
-Robert Evans-
I can't believe we're still discussing whether Fox News has a bias! MSNBC is a news network that has a block of clearly delineated "liberal" opinion shows (albeit ones that welcome different opinions and have conservative guests) while Fox has a 24/7 agenda to promote conservative Republican causes.
If you have any doubt about Phil Griffin's real motive in suspending Keith Olbermann, you need look no further than how the network reacted to Joe Scarborough's donation of $4,200 to a Republican House candidate in 2006:
Joe Scarborough, host of the "Morning Joe" talk show and the evening newscast "Scarborough Country," $4,200 in March 2006 to Derrick Kitts, Republican candidate for the House from Oregon. ... A spokesperson for NBC, Jeremy Gaines, replied to questions sent to Scarborough. "Yes, he did make a donation to Derrick Kitts. Kitts is an old friend of Joe's. Joe hosts an opinion program and is not a news reporter."
Griffin might try to defend himself by saying the difference is that Olbermann interviewed one of the candidates that he contributed to after making the contribution. But Griffin's problem would be that Joe Scarborough did the exact same thing. As JohnKWilson pointed out in a diary, after donating to Derrick Kitts, Scarbrough interviewed Kitts on his program.
The bottom-line here that both Keith Olbermann and Joe Scarborough both host opinion shows. They both made personal contributions to political candidates. But Olbermann supports Democrats, and Scarborough supports Republicans, so even though Olbermann is the network's top-rated host, and even though Scarborough hides his ratings sheet in a little box in the basement, it's Olbermann that gets silenced. Jed Report
Apparently, NBC News is stating that MSNBC is not subject to NBC News rules.
"The standards department has told us that MSNBC doesn't answer to NBC News standards," the insider said. "They don't have coverage over MSNBC. They used to, back before MSNBC went political, but at some point it became too hard and MSNBC was taken out of their portfolio. As far as I know, there are no ethical standards at MSNBC. And if NBC says MSNBC is supposed to be living up to the NBC News standards, that's a preposterous lie.""
Unless there was something specific in Olbermann's contract, I am calling Shenanigans. Shenanigans on Phil Griffin
It's more of the Griffin/Olbermann Penis Size Competition. Not being able to win with an actual tape measure, Griffin got all theoretical. He IS the boss, and he gets to suspend Olbermann on the "You forgot to say 'Mother, May I...?' technicality."
Happens every day in the real world. If Griffin's actual appendage were bigger than Olbermann's, he would have fired him outright.
.jpg?format=auto&width=300)
