Both Keith Olbermann and MSNBC confirm Olbermann is leaving the network and his top-rated show, "Countdown With Keith Olbermann" is canceled. There is tension in the air and a deal that will keep Olbermann off network television, "for an extended period of time."
Keith Olbermann in the MSNBC studio, 07/15/07. (photo: Mark J. Terrill/AP)
BREAKING: Keith Olbermann Is Finished at MSNBC
21 January 11
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eith Olbermann, the highest-rated host on MSNBC, announced abruptly on the air Friday night that he was leaving his show, "Countdown," immediately.
The host, who has had a stormy relationship with the management of the network for some time, especially since he was suspended for two days last November, came to an agreement with NBC's corporate management late this week to settle his contract and step down.
In a closing statement on his show, Mr. Olbermann said simply that it would be the last edition of the program. He offered no explanation other than on occasion the show had become too much for him.
Mr. Olbermann thanked his viewers for their enthusiastic support of a show that had "gradually established its position as antiestablishment."
In a statement, MSNBC said: "MSNBC and Keith Olbermann have ended their contract. The last broadcast of 'Countdown With Keith Olbermann' will be this evening. MSNBC thanks Keith for his integral role in MSNBC's success and we wish him well in his future endeavors."
NBC executives said the move had nothing to do with the impending takeover of NBC Universal by Comcast.
MSNBC announced that "The Last Word" with Lawrence O'Donnell would replace "Countdown" at 8 p.m., with "The Ed Show" with Ed Schultz taking Mr. O'Donnell's slot at 10 p.m. Mr. Olbermann did not discuss any future plans, but NBC executives said one term of his settlement would keep him from moving to another network for an extended period of time.
Mr. Olbermann signed a four-year contract extension in 2008 for an estimated $30 million. He had hosted "Countdown" at 8 p.m. since 2003 and it became the foundation of the channel's surge to its status as the second-ranked news channel on cable television, after Fox News, surpassing the one-time leader CNN.
Mr. Olbermann's outspoken, and sometimes controversial, support of liberal positions and Democratic candidates redefined MSNBC from a neutral news channel to one that openly offered a voice to viewers on the left, much as Fox News has done for conservatives.
Mr. Olbermann challenged Fox News publicly on numerous occasions, especially the top-rated cable host Bill O'Reilly.
Ratings for Mr. Olbermann's show grew, though he never approached Mr. O'Reilly's level of popularity. But he helped expand the MSNBC brand by his frequent invitations to Rachel Maddow, who was eventually offered her own show on MSNBC.
Ms. Maddow became the 9 p.m. host following Mr. Olbermann and has built such a successful show that some NBC executives felt less concerned about losing Mr. Olbermann as the signature star of the network.
According to several senior network executives, NBC's management had been close to firing Mr. Olbermann on previous occasions, most recently in November after he revealed that he had made donations to several Democratic candidates in 2010 - one of them, coincidentally, was Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who has been the subject of many of his recent shows after being shot in an assassination attempt.
The top MSNBC executive, Phil Griffin, said the donations had violated NBC News standards and ordered Mr. Olbermann suspended. His fans responded with a petition to reinstate him that attracted over 250,000 signatures. Mr. Olbermann returned two days later. In his response he said the rules on donations had been "inconsistently applied."
Click here to watch Keith Olbermann's farewell remarks.
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The so-called goldwater rule has never been anything to serious psycho-historia ns. One of Post's colleagues who discredits his work wrote a book on Bush called "Bush on the Couch."
It was Freud who first introduced the idea of using psychoanalysis to write about famous people of history or contemporary times. Of course, there are limitations but the insights are often good.
I've read all of Post's work on Saddam Hussein. It is trivial, banal, and clearly a hatchet job. I have several friends who met Saddam personally in Iraq. I've spoken on the phone with Saddam's foreign minister, Tariq Aziz. These are not scary people. They are not psychopaths like GW Bush or Dick Cheney. There's no need to run out of the room. But that is Post's drama and banality.
You mean like Hamlet? Wasn't likely to take offense or sue.
In what capacity did you speak with Aziz? Were you a Russian operative?
A large number of mental health professionals agree with Post's concerns, including John Zinner in this article, who goes farther than Post. Other mental health professionals have spoken up since earlier in Trump's presidency.
There's never been a POTUS before who displayed, over and over, such a lack of character, intellect & due diligence to serve as POTUS, or who has surrounded himself with unqualified advisors. He repeatedly reminds people of a young child. Mental health professionals have described him as a malignant narcissist with paranoid tendencies.
Millions of Americans have become extremely & increasingly alarmed about the man in the White House, and the dangers that he may or does pose. Trump has operated out in public for a long time now (even tweeting during the wee & pre-dawn hours). There is more than sufficient information for many mental health professionals to have developed strong opinions that they may wish to share with the public, to provide warnings. They should be free individually to share those opinions, even though their organizations would probably still be well advised not to make statements about the mental condition of elected officials or candidates.
So you got a thoroughly incompetent businessman in her place. What he will do is totally unpredictable which is what he promised. She was still promising Goldwater when she low-blowed Sanders.
They were both"malignant narcissists," but she lost.
Pushing these false equivalences of yours has become its own kind of delusional propaganda imo. Plenty of reasons to criticize Clinton, to reject her completely, but Trump is a unique phenomenon and the POTUS, debate is warranted.
My post is not a Hillary rant, or any kind of rant, except perhaps at Raskolnikov's message. BTW, Bernie was the candidate I really supported.
I'm anti-war all the way, & always have been. My only reference to Russia was in asking Raskolnikov how he happened to be on the phone with Saddam's foreign minister, Tariq Aziz.
I have a lot of gripes against Hillary, including unfairness to Bernie & failing to conduct a good enough campaign to defeat the ignorant, incompetent, cruel time bomb who won. But she's not a malignant narcissist. You haven't really read up on it.
If HRC had been elected & tried to start a war with anyone, we would have had to fight to stop her. Meanwhile, the POTUS escalated in Afghanistan & bombed Syria, just another of his reversals of position since his campaign.
Trump did not deserved to winn. Heavily involved in activism and a delegate to the Democratic Convention, a degree in Neurolinguistic s & MSS, Trump reproduced Hitler's method and targeted those married to ignorance until death....Or just plain lazy to research candidates. Yes I know they are angry but they are devoid of common sense. They will find out soon enough as they thrown under the bus. Part of Trump's Plan is another form of Genocide.
I confess, I smiled and even let a cheer to Hillary losing. Karma brought her her just deserts as it came back a bit heroine the ass as well as those in the Party who wanted to keep the power of the money machine along with her cohorts greed. to shun Bernie.
The real inventor of CIA pyschological profiling was John Gittinger. He's featured in this documentary -- "You have treated me as a fish long enough"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-noXrfZH52o
The problem with Post is that his analysis is based entirely on information given to him by the CIA. Some of it has also been published in the US press. The CIA is not honest in the reports it creates about leaders it wants to destroy. It invents really lurid fantasies. Post accepts those stories as true. He has been criticized by others in the profession for taking these stories as fact.
A psychological analysis really can only be made after long and careful face to face meetings with the subject. Post never meets the people he writes about. He's only providing fodder for the mass media character assassinations of foreign leaders. Post's work is really propaganda, intended for consumption by frightened Americans. There are very good psychoanalysts who try to write analyses that get into the minds of important people in the world.
"lack of character" is a moral judgment or a value judgment, not a psychological analysis. It means you don't agree with or value the kind of mind Trump has. I don't either. But there are many people who value it highly. They like his bluntness, openness, combativeness, and ignorance of history and world events.
I do think that GW Bush had a worse character than Trump. Although he was smarter, Bill Clinton may also have had a worse character. All of our presidents have been really bad or evil people, including Obama who should be given an academy award for playing the role of nice guy. Maybe Trump will turn out to be the worst of the lot. He certainly has the potential to be the very worst.
We are in a mess. High office too often attracts terrible people or the good ones are pushed out rather brutally.
The important thing is that as a society we have rewarded and promoted sociopaths so that they now control many of our national institutions -- government, corporations, courts, schools. We've rewarded the kinds of personalities they have. Trump is part of that trend. He's now being regime changed by people who are even worse sociopaths than he is. (I'm not making a psychological analysis here. I'm using the term as common term).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-WTmhUQlN0
If you were high enough in Russian gov to chat with Saddam's foreign minister, and went to China with Putin recently, you must be close enough to Vladimir to bathe in HIS narcissism that Dump is emulating... Tell us more...Curious minds want to know!
WMS was a really great organization and did important work. It is now defunct. Its leaders have passed away.
But over the weeks here, enough clues have been adding up in this 62 year old historian's noggin to make me wonder. KBG Putin stays in shape physically with judo. Perhaps KGB Putin keeps his propaganda / disinformation skills honed here?
If so, it wouldn't be the first time I have outed a Head of State online... Search, "RSN Queen Elizabeth Irish Slaves."
He died in 1976, soon after F-16 (same engine) rollout, at age 54. Cancer suddenly appeared in his back and spread. A single tiny grain of plutonium in his car seat would have accomplished that nicely, eh?
by Elias Canetti
Rascalnikov said it right. You should be writing for New yorker's public, not RSN.
If you have any experience with our current legal system you are likely aware of the ease with which conflicting psychiatric testimony can be obtained.
Be careful what you wish for...
Over time we are repelled by those we know in our soul are evil (Hitler, Pol Pot, etc.). We are repulsed by those who we know are awful human beings. Many in our Congress today, most with an R in front of their name as examples.
I have witnessed Presidents since Kennedy and voted as soon as i could. I was inspired by John Kennedy, repulsed by Nixon and incredulous when GW Bush was elected. He and Darth Cheney should be rotting in jail for what they did in lying about WMD and attacking Iraq .
Barak Obama is probably the most moral, ethical, smart and decent human being who ever served as President. The Racist Repubs thwarted him at every turn and are among the awful and corrupt.
Donald Trump is from a completely different planet. Tens of millions of us knew from the start of the campaign that this was not a normal person and saw him as a joke - how could any American with a brain and soul vote for hits idiot without morals, how could we hold him up as a model for our children. Most knew from the start that Trump was a buffoon - and now he's anointed many like him to the most senior positions in our government at the most critical time in history. How could highly trained shrinks not weigh in here? We cannot allow this moron be used as a willing fool to those around the world who wish us harm? That's truly insanity and those who say they would vote for him again truly need their head examined.
But Trumpolini Trumplethinskin seems ok to you?
That said, he is extremely scary. He decided to bomb Syria while emotional over the photos of children struck with chemical weapons, & without formulating any actual foreign policy to guide the decision. His psyche appears quite fragile & thin-skinned, & he has no experienced, rational foreign policy advisors,
But individual members should have their freedom of speech, & should not be constrained if they see a duty to warn. So the APA should rescind the Goldwater Rule.
Granted, the mental health professionals who speak out might not win over any Trump voters--althoug h it might help with those who feel betrayed. Those who speak out might have an impact on people who didn't vote last time & will next time.
But for those of us who were & will be strongly against Trump, it's helpful to have professional opinions that help us understand the monster. I was not familiar with malignant narcissism, but when the first report with a diagnosis came out, & that was it, it suits him to a T(rump). I encourage people to read what malignant narcissism is.
Now, now, it's been said that those who make carte blanc assertions as fact combined with excessive use of upper case shouting may also have "...severe personality defects...".
What the hey, could be we're all a little crazy...
"Still crazy after all these years"
Paul Simon
With an immoral GOP running both houses of Congress, nothing will happen unless & until Mueller's or another investigation find dirt that enough Republicans find repelling--or until the Dems retake Congress next year.
People have been working since GW Bush won with only an Electoral College majority to round up enough states willing to commit their electoral votes to the national popular vote winner that we won't have to have any more popular vote losers as POTUS. I believe the blue states are in but we need some red states. This end-run is necessary because amending the Constitution is impossible, thanks to the red states.
The GOP unfortunately lacked leaders willing to convince their voters that Trump was unfit--& it lacked candidates strong & moral enough to defeat his bigoted, ignorant bluster. Then HRC failed to go after the Rust Belt votes that decided the Electoral College outcome.
Bernie would have won, IMHO, & we could have had a POTUS focussed on the needs of the people of this country, & one who would oppose discrimination & division.
He's no more crazy than the GOP base and the years, decades, of insane right-wing propaganda that made his presidency inevitable. A malignant narcissist becoming a beacon of hope for the brainwashed masses makes perfect sense to me. You're right, he will come out unscathed, probably win a second term. 'The left', whatever the hell that means, still believes the average American sees him as offensive and outrageous. How could they not? Bull chit, they love him. The more 'the left' debates the danger and calls him insane, the more they martyr him. That's what America has devolved to.
Eventually the GOP base will wake up to the fact that they've been screwed, just like with Bush at the end of his second term. Just more debt and more of the nation's wealth in the hands of the top 1%. Wages will remain stagnant and the cost of health care will continue to rise. At least we stopped sharia law from taking over Kansas!
I feel like we're experiencing the Bush years all over again in a lot of ways. Much hope during his first years, believing he couldn't possibly win a second term. It got so bad at the end of his presidency, I thought the Reagan Era had finally come to a crashing end. Both parties would have to move back to a more sane and stable center. How could the crash of 2008 not bring about some change?
Boy was I wrong. We got a corporate, lame duck Democrat in the White House for 8 years while the GOP emerged stronger than ever. We laughed at the Koch funded Tea Party and their sad little rallies yet they elected a president, even if we're not calling him the Tea Party candidate. I'm afraid I've become a pessimist. Our only hope is for a generation or two to die off.
Politically, none of the weak men who ran against Trump were capable of standing up to Trump's bullying, & they allowed themselves to be swept along with his politics of hatred. I would have been disgusted to have any of them as POTUS. And yet, none of them would have been so ignorant & unqualified, so surrounded with unqualified people, so incapable of governing, so willing to obstruct justice, so willing to brag to the Russians & give them secrets provided in confidence by an ally, so unwilling to read & learn, & so erratic & childish & thin-skinned & unbalanced that he deeply frightens so many Americans & so many other people around the world.
Trump showed us that even a presidential candidate can cross every line and come out on top. Clinton utters one insulting word and loses the election and people are still blaming the election on that one sentence. That might be accurate. Trump insults millions of Americans for months on end and wins. Journalists have normalized the hate by insisting it was his appeal to rust belt voters, lies about factory jobs, that helped him the most. One of many double standards that helps to keep conservatives in power.
That is the most frightening outcome of this election imo, even if Trump is impeached, he has shown right-wing extremists who now run the country that there are few limits that voters will tolerate.