Leslie Griffith begins: "Now that the 'all about Keith' show is over and the hysteria died down, it's time to say 'goodbye.' It's also time to thank him and acknowledge that, sometimes in life, it's simply time to go. To move on."

Keith Olbermann delivers a Special Comment on MSNBC, 06/15/09. (image: MSNBC)

Olbermann in Exchange for Beck?

By Leslie Griffith, Reader Supported News

26 January 11

Reader Supported News | Perspective

ow that the "all about Keith" show is over and the hysteria died down, it's time to say "goodbye." It's also time to thank him and acknowledge that, sometimes in life, it's simply time to go. To move on.

America needed bravery exactly when Keith found his voice. America needed righteous anger and Keith struck just the right tone with his nightly comments. He said out loud and on television what many Americans (including reporters), were afraid to say even in hushed murmurs. He confirmed our worst fears. We were a country duped by a president who felt "misunderestimated." Keith often pointed out that our public education system is in ruins and for evidence of such, we need look no further than the previous leader of the "Free World," or to the Tea Party candidate who first heard about the Separation of Church and State while campaigning for Congress. It has been a crazy time, but times are changing.

Perhaps Keith knew this.

Truth is, during Keith Olbermann's final year at MSNBC, we watched the life get sucked right out of him. He became more extreme about most everything and employed the same angry tone all the time. Treason is not the same thing as stupidity. The difference is clear. But, lately, it felt like Keith wasn't seeing the difference and, rather, just putting on a show ... stirring the pot while turning up the heat on the trash talk and waiting for it all to reach a boil.

After 25 years in television news, I know it's not his fault. Not really. Television quickly turns bravery into arrogance, and there's no doubt Keith Olbermann got a bit snarky and arrogant. But I will miss the Olbermann of old, and I already miss the one of late ... the talking head who read Thurber out loud on the air. Anyone who reads Thurber gets the joke.

At the risk of sounding as if I am not grateful, let me say it plain: Thanks, Keith, for helping the nation find its voice. In honor of last night's State of the Union, I'd like to honor you. Now, as the President strikes a conciliatory note and tries desperately to get political opponents to sit together, many Americans no longer want or need "affirmation" television. We need insight from all points of view. If not, we will end up as divided and tribal as the Taliban.

The late, great Molly Ivins used to say about campaign finance reform, "We have to get the pigs out of the water to clear up the stream." Keith would have liked that. Let's focus on it.

Then, after "We the People" get campaign finance reform, so those in power won't have to (as Molly would say) "Dance with them what brung 'em," next, let's focus on nuclear disarmament.

If words are as powerful as bombs ... how about a trade for a trade?

Keith is gone.

Mr. Murdoch, it is your move.

Leslie Griffith has been a television anchor, foreign correspondent and an investigative reporter in newspaper, radio and television for over 25 years. Among her many achievements are two Edward R Murrow Awards, nine Emmies, 37 Emmy Nominations, a National Emmy nomination for writing, and more than a dozen other awards for journalism. She is currently working on a documentary, giving speeches on "Reforming the Media," and writing for many on-line publications, as well as writing a book called "Shut Up and Read." She hopes the book, her speeches, and her articles on the media will help remind the nation that journalism was once about public service ... not profit. To contact Leslie, go to lesliegriffith.org.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.

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+40 # Noah 2011-01-26 18:32

Thanks for your years of service Keith, and it certainly seems a fair trade to me.

+54 # Carla McClain 2011-01-27 11:01

I have never read such trivial nonsense as this Griffith piece. So we are all suddenly kumbaya after the SOTU and so no longer need a vital voice like Olbermann's to counter the psychosis and lies on the right that are destroying this country? Oh sure...Mr. Murdoch will surely turn sweet and docile now that you asked him to. Mr. Murdoch and his idiot minions are high-fiving each other 24/7 over the absence of Keith, because it gives them ever more dominance over the politics and policy of this nation...the policy and politics of plutocracy. They will come together only for themselves and their own self-interest, and anyone who thinks otherwise has drunk their kool-aid.

+5 # gillie 2011-01-28 10:22

Right on, Carla!!

+6 # DaveW. 2011-01-28 11:06

Carla, I wouldn't call Griffith's piece "trivial nonsense" but agree with you that Murdoch and Co. are simply celebrating the elimination of another impediment to their domination over a nation that apparently is bursting at the seems with morons. After years of basically "fighting fire with fire" Olbermann was rather unceremoniously "dumped" by MSNBC. Considering their corporate management its a wonder he lasted this long. His replacement, Lawerence O'Donnell, going head-to-head with "Bill-O the clown" is about equivalent to Colmes setting Hannity straight. This is a "victory" for the right Miss Griffith's. Why would they "change" an obviously successful formula?
As for Keith, often times the truest measure of an individual is his/her reaction to adversity and the ability to be resilient. I fully expect to see Keith back in action. If he ends up back at Sportscenter I'll be sorely disappointed.

+8 # Acaptiva 2011-01-28 12:04

Leslie you take Beck and I'll take Olbermann--you'll get a 'reader' stooge with an unmind, and I'll get an innovative intellect. In case you don't get the point Leslie--you lose big.

+16 # Ray 2011-01-26 19:17

Leslie, this is a nice way to acknowledge and thank Keith for the outlet he provided for sane people's frustrations during the Bush years. As always, with the lightest touch, you have excellent command of the point, and your ability to see both sides of this issue is refreshing. Thanks for your voice, our "New Molly Ivins of the blogosphere!"

+59 # soularddave 2011-01-26 21:04

Thank you Keith. You're about the only TV personality I ever see of late. I see you on YouTube because I got rid of my TV in about 1967 when 'they' got rid of Laugh In, the Smothers Brothers, and TWTWTW.

If I can't see my side broadcast publicly, I damn sure ain't gonna watch theirs!

Suggestion: Please do your own web cast, even if it's from your own living room. Talk to us; enlighten us; and be as "snarky" as you wish.

+28 # cc7bogert@yahoo.com 2011-01-27 09:40

I like the webcast idea. There has to be a place for someone with actual intellect like Keith.

+16 # Pat Tibbs 2011-01-26 21:45

Leslie, I watched you over the years & respected you as a journalist. When I read the lede on this piece I was prepared to be pissed. Then I read the rest of the piece and had to agree with you. But I don't see campaign finance happening, and I certainly don't see Murdoch doing anything healthy or responsible. I hope I'm wrong.

+74 # Regina 2011-01-26 22:01

No. Leslie, you're wrong! Keith's absence from the SOTU programming was a raw tear in the fabric woven on prior such national occasions with Rachel, Chris, and the rest of the MSNBC team. They didn't even set aside an empty chair, like the one at the House for Gabby Giffords. Granted that Keith's wound is psychological, not physical, his absence was still palpable. And you have a helluva long way to go to match Molly Ivins.

+81 # genierae 2011-01-27 04:12

Amen, Regina! I like Maddow, Schultz, and O'Donnell, but they are not Keith Olbermann. His passion will be sorely missed, and he does not deserve to be mentioned as a trade-off for Glenn Beck. I am surprised at this article, damning him with faint praise. He deserves better.

+4 # rock 2011-01-28 08:06

Yeah! Better throw in Matthews too!

+1 # lesliegriffith 2011-01-27 11:08

Agreed on that!

+62 # ME Browning 2011-01-26 22:04

"Mr. Murdoch, it is your move." It's a nice dream, one that Mr. Murdoch will be only too happy to ignore.

I will continue to lament the fact that yet another voice of reason has been silenced. For a long time, there has been a dearth of liberal opinion in the media, and a plethora of ignorant Americans who believe everything they see and hear on Fox News and shock radio. The radical right (whom the media erroneously calls "conservatives") are not going to disappear, and they are never going to play fair. O'Reilly, Limbaugh, Beck and a host of others won't suddenly wake up one day and embrace Michael Moore — they'll continue to leak their spewage and laugh all the way to the bank, and those of us who know the score will have to make do in a veritable vacuum. I hope Keith lands somewhere, anywhere, because more than ever, we sorely need his courage to speak truth to power ... and idiocy.

-130 # Centurian 2011-01-26 22:14

KO for Beck? You've got to be kidding. If KO thinks he has the substance to carry a show, then persuade a network.

trust me, he has neither the intelligence, imagination or competence to handle serious intellectual dialogue. KO is just another little man who is doomed from limitied assets.

+53 # Caesar 2011-01-27 03:07

Expressing opinions based on more than just what you can regurgitate from Faux News, and spell-check. You'd benefit from both "little man" - your "limitied" assets are on public display.

+37 # Hart 2011-01-27 06:18

You're obvious demented or completely unscrupulous Centurian (sic). [And it's spelled centurion.]

+30 # fresnoman4man 2011-01-26 22:16

No offense to Jesus or his followers intended but this judgmental sentencing reads to me like a snide and condescending blame the victim, "crucify Keith and give us Barabbas" cry from the back row of the sequestered chattering class.

+71 # Katya 2011-01-26 22:17

I completely disagree with this article. I felt he mellowed over the past year. There was more humor and perspective. I'll miss him and hope he returns soon.

+14 # Beeyl 2011-01-26 22:55

After saying we need to hear from all points of view, you quote Molly Ivins on campaign finance reform?
Huh?
Did you accidentally delete an intervening paragraph or two?
Perhaps you spliced sentences from two different articles you're writing? If not, I can't imagine what explains this:
"Then, after we get CFR... let's focus on nuclear disarmament."
In a thank you note to Keith Olbermann, that sentence is a fantastically bizarre and bemusing non-sequitur.

+30 # Mike K 2011-01-26 22:56

I get the Impression that Leslie Griffith is angry at Keith and dosen't like him any more becasue he called out Obama and other Democrats for there failers rather than cheering them on.

Still other than digs at Keith this is quite good. Keith did give voice to our anger at Bush and others. He did do a great job and will be greatly as missed.

Sadly this will almost certionly be a unilateral disamerment, Keith is gone (for now?) but i don't see Beck or any one else at Faux leaveing anytime soon.

+22 # guyarlos 2011-01-26 23:08

I suspect Mr.Grittith's real contrast between the Olbermann of two years ago and the Olbermann of today is that today he was finding fault with a Democratic president and not George W. Bush.

+48 # George D 2011-01-26 23:27

Sorry but, I for one and sick of this "let's play nice" tone, coming from the do nothing Democrats and the sellout president. Think Murdoch will dump Beck? Think again. This was just another defeat being handed to progressives in America and another dose of controlling the message, with an honorable spin, on the part of the message bearers in charge. Keith is gone and, even though I hated the Thurber stuff (and changed the channel every Thursday at that time) I will miss Keith and what he represented; The ONLY voice of defiant truth in a sea of right wing lunacy and dumbed down media.

I hate what has happened and I am no longer watching NBC or MSNBC and I will likely cancel the premium service on Dish Network, now that Keith is gone.

Conciliatory tone my ass. This is a war and people are dying; Make no mistake; The people that are dying are being killed by the unapologetic dog whistlers of the lunatic right.

Beck is right about one thing. We ARE seeing a replay of Nazi Germany; But they took Hitler's playbook and are using it against the rest of us.

Play nice? Do so at your peril.

+51 # jsucke3 2011-01-26 23:39

With great respect for your viewpoint, Leslie, I cannot agree that it "was time" for Keith to go. There is no sign we have entered a new era of good feelings. It may only be a pause in the status quo. In any case this is no time to ditch our most articulate partisan. You may miss him already, but we need him. Others will carry on, but no one could "carry on" like Keith did. Come back, Shane!

+24 # Patrick McCabe 2011-01-26 23:46

I love the concept but doubt it will come true. Will Murdoch call off the shock troops? What does he gain? He is out to destroy political discourse, not increase sane conversation. He is out to win and on the march to victory. Why on earth would he pull back?

+77 # DavidS 2011-01-26 23:50

Olbermann in Exchange for Beck?! This underscores the greatest problem with American politics today and its extreme lurch to the right. To quote Keith Olbermann: "Representing the interests of the powerful is NOT the moral equivalent of standing up for the powerless" To compare Olbermann with Beck is as misinformed or should I say 'misunderinforme d' as it gets.

If we use that same logic, I guess we could "exchange Cindy Sheehan leader of the Gold Star Mothers with say George W. Bush leader of the Neo-Conservative movement"

Leslie I don't just blame you, John Stewart got it wrong by comparing the supremely funded astro-turfed right wing banter with the truely grass rooted under funded peace activist, evironmental-social minded left.

The truth of the matter is that practically no one seems to have any historical perspective of just how extreme right our country has drifted in such a brief period in time. Much like the proverbial frog in the kettle that has slowly been brought to a boil until it is too late, we Americans seem to suffer the same amnesia. Conservative General and later President Eisenhower of the Fifties would be considered a bleeding heart Liberal by todays' standards.

The loss of Olbermann represents yet another win for the powerful, while I'm willing to bet a year from now those same interests will still be carried by Beck. Any wagers/takers?

+26 # d julien 2011-01-27 06:30

Well said. And talking about moral equivalence, it's ironic that those who are most visably trying to impose their "Christanity" on the nation are representing the interests of the powerful which seems the opposite of what Christianity's founder was saying....

0 # othermother 2011-01-27 01:37

A good tribute, Leslie, and I appreciate your insight on the effects of prolonged exposure on Olbermann. But Murdoch's next move is more likely to be cloning Glenn Beck.

+24 # Sidney david Berger 2011-01-27 02:19

the loss feels all the greater watching msnbc morning program where blowing, combing, arranging blonde tresses seems to be #1 concern.

+35 # hms 2011-01-27 02:29

Mega thanks to Keith--and also to all of you who are mentioning the name of Molly "Sweet Thang" Ivins. She's gone forever (but not what she wrote) but Keith is still here and I await what he contribute next!

+48 # Edward Dziadowicz 2011-01-27 02:30

Keith Olbermann is the greatest newsman of our time, possibly of all time. He will be spoken of in the same tones as Cronkite and Murrow. I fear that even the other excellent people on MSNBC will now be fearful to speak openly for fear of their jobs. Comcast has nailed shut the coffin of free speech. I will be canceling my service with Comcast. Comcast was either directly behind it, or if not, indirectly by buying the equivalent of a new car with the front wheels missing, since the station they bought was stripped of it's highest rated program.

+9 # Bill King 2011-01-27 04:44

Any MSM "journalist" who does not get fired occasionally is not worth his salt!

+31 # lobdillj 2011-01-27 04:12

I do agree that we need insight from all points of view--that is, from all points of view that are worth listening to. We don't have to listen over and over again to those who are clearly fascists, do we? At some point we really need to get down to brass tacks and limit our discussion to ideas that are consistent with our founding documents. Otherwise we are wasting precious time. My sense is that we are way past time to do that. Apparently Leslie doesn't agree.

I think she has misdiagnosed Keith's behavior. And her rather backhanded thanks to him does sound ungrateful--not that Keith needs her gratitude, of course. I believe Keith saw the coming train wreck and was becoming more and more convinced that his message was not going to stop it. Yet, he didn't know what else to do but talk. When you're mad as hell and you're not going to take it anymore what are your options really? The solution proposed by Howard Beale is certainly not going to work in our real life situation. I think Keith knew that. Apparently Leslie has not reached the conclusion that jabbering away is not going to solve our real life problems.

+2 # othermother 2011-01-28 10:33

Not all talk is jabber. What's the answer to 'real life problems'? Burn down a bank?

+40 # genierae 2011-01-27 04:36

Keith Olbermann is one of a kind, and I believe that he will resurface somewhere, where he will continue to be a great thorn in the side of the establishment. He has a genius for truth-telling, and delivers it with style and grace. Leslie Griffith seems to be talking about a Keith Olbermann that I don't know, I think she sees him "through a glass darkly". I, for one, am not ready to give him up. Heroes are scarce in this country, we can't spare such a one as Keith. Thank you Mr. Olbermann, you are a class act!

-15 # Bill King 2011-01-27 04:50

Let's face it, Keith had to go. He was too irreverent and too unpredictable for MSNBC or any MSM. They could never know when they would end up in the bulls eye of his truth telling.

+23 # fhunter 2011-01-27 05:03

Keith, as many of us suffer from infinite frustration that he cannot cope with. Obama had a chance to make US the best place on earth. He missed it! We have nothing to look forward to, except 30 years with the Chief Injustice of the Supreme Court who sold out our freedom to Corporations.

+20 # Richard Schmidt 2011-01-27 05:08

Yeah, and pigs will be flying long before Rupert axes Beck. He's their primary actor doing the delusional sociopath bit. O'Reilly would have to retrain and learn how to cry on cue.

+49 # ingle1@earthlink.net 2011-01-27 05:24

I'm sorry. I'm still caught up in the analogy of battle. Progressives and liberals have lost our Medal of Honor winner, who charged machine-gun emplacements at great personal risk.
Our cause is the worse.
Keith Olbermann "caught a bullet in the back" fighting for us--for our children and our children's children.
It's not "business as usual."
We are, as Keith Olbermann said very well, "LOSING!!"
I greatly admired the cigarette-smoking, unassuming, Edward R. Murrow.
I never thought Keith Olbermann could channel him or be worthy to say "Good Night and Good Luck."
I was wrong.
Good Luck, Keith.

+49 # Hart 2011-01-27 06:14

Leslie's comment that Keith lost his ability to "see the difference" (between treason and stupidity) is so far from the truth that I wonder what Leslie's doing writing for Reader Supported News. Republican and Tea Party rhetoric was bad enough around the 2008 election and then steadily became more and more unbalanced and at least highly unethical if not criminal. Labeling opponents and the worst kinds of enemies of the American people and deliberately or negligently distorting facts became the standard tactic of the right -- abetted by the mainstream media who refused to challenge it. Keith was the only voice of reason and while Obama sounds eminently reasonable, he cops-out by refusing to point the finger where it needs to be pointed. Shame on you, Leslie!

+26 # Midwestgeezer 2011-01-27 06:35

GLENN BECK FOR KEITH OLBERMANN? GLENN BECK?? That's akin to the Packers trading Aaron Rodgers for the Bears quarterback, what's his name...

Glenn Beck is a certifiable screwball but of all the adjectives I can think of to describe Olbermann, screwball is not among them.

+21 # JeffnAtlanta 2011-01-27 06:50

If MSNBC were to bring Beck onto their network, I would simply stop watching. There are other ways to get my Rachel fix. Beck is a waste of good air. That man is an idiot!

+40 # Bruce Gruber 2011-01-27 06:51

False equivalency and misdirection may not be the core values of Leslie's syrupy pontification. However, I disagree with her interpretations . Her opinion that Keith became "more extreme about most everything", "employed the same angry tone all the time", and was "just putting on a show" contrast with "America needed righteous anger and Keith struck just the right tone" and are cleverly duplicitous. Such dismissive pap as "America needed righteous anger and Keith struck just the right tone" would be better off squared with "After 25 years in television news, I know ..." - whatever it is she admits to 'knowing'. Keith put a voice to our anger, not a tone.
Olbermann's intellectual style antagonized ill educated simplicists who won't use a dictionary and only Google sources with whom they agree - including his targets. He demonstrated bravery in his willingness to criticize and condemn the US Chamber of Commerce, Presidents, the Supreme Court, major corporations (including the source of his employment), both houses of Congress and lobbyists. Their contractual silencing of him speaks volumes regarding his effectiveness at exposing them. He has been one of the few progressive media voices with a vocal audience. Hartmann, Goodman and Moyers reach fewer people and have to spend significant effort fundraising rather than rabble rousing ... and he is in NO WAY like Beck.

+9 # bigkahuna671 2011-01-27 15:37

I have to agree with you, Bruce. Leslie was way off base in saying Keith had become more extreme. He was the primary reason I watched MSNBC and now that he's gone, Rachel's attempts at being centrist have kept me from watching any longer. Ed gets too strident and Chris won't let anyone finish a sentence, so despite their best efforts, they can't hold a candle to Keith. I wouldn't say he's as good as Murrow, but he's in the upper strata of great newsmen. His ability to see all the possibilities makes his leaving MSNBC a sad event. We no longer have a logical, rational voice for liberal points of view. I can only see MSNBC slowly eliminating Ed, Chris, Rachel and the rest and replacing them with simulcasts of Beck, Hannity, O'Reilly, and the rest of their knuckleheads. To make the deal complete, you'd have to get Fox to fire all those clowns and we'd still be the losers in the exchange.

0 # Maine Independent 2011-01-30 08:28

"Now, as the President strikes a conciliatory note and tries desperately to get political opponents to sit together, many Americans no longer want or need "affirmation" television."

No, we need a Democratic President who is not going Republican on us after we did all the hard work to elect him.

"We need insight from all points of view. If not, we will end up as divided and tribal as the Taliban."

We get all the corporate "insight", and more, that we can handle. Olbermann was one of the counter weights, and the best. You want "insight" from the Teabaggers? Strange. And by the way we are already divided and tribal, but not like the Taliban, they are rather united.

You commentary was tripe; apparently you think Obomba actually works for the people.

+29 # Doctoretty 2011-01-27 07:19

How can you even say Beck in the same sentence as Olberman! It wouldn't be a fair exchange at all! Keith was a real voice. Beck is a farce!

+11 # Raggae 2011-01-27 07:24

With all due respect, I found myself in agreement with this piece on a few levels but I take exception to the way that Keith Olbermann was compared to the shrill, bigotry and violent laced rhetoric that comes from right-wing talking heads ... shame on you !

+18 # davidhp 2011-01-27 08:01

I would say that more broadcasters should take take to more aggressive defense of the left, not soften to the cave to the right wing like our president wants to do. Soldiers, Iraqis and Afghans are still dying, the rich are being appeased by so called "progressive" leadership in Congress and the White House. Working class needs are being shoved under the carpet to provide for the corporate robber barons. Olberman was a voice of righteous anger of the left. You appeasers of the right calling for bipartisanship are the problem, not anger from left.

+14 # Sarah LoRiver 2011-01-27 08:21

Am having K.O. withdrawels. I'm just not getting anything that rings as true to me as Keith did. So,for the most part I'm not watching as much MSNBC as I was with Keith. No one else even bothers to use the correct pronouns as he did. It was refreshing to hear a litteret usage of our American English. Most of the others on the "news" just don't care about he/him,she/her, I/me. Who's editting for them? Anyone? Anyone? There's a job in there somewhere.
Just saying, I miss him...

+16 # fredboy 2011-01-27 08:32

I believe Murdoch recognizes hatred as product, and thus will keep and promote the tragedy we call Beck. He's getting closer and closer to the edge, and has already tongued beyond the borders of decency and truth. Now it is as if he lives in a fictional world, inventing "facts" and wringing conclusions out of thin air. He and Fox pollute the harbor of discourse, preventing consideration and adulterating rational thought. Hell awaits them all as they stain and pervert the grand nation and notion of America.

+19 # Doug 2011-01-27 09:13

Stop right there...this is nonsense. Putting Keith Olbermann and Beck in the same sentence is an insult to intelligence. The disparity in pure intellectual capacity is painfully evident.

Beck, a high school drop out / entertainer following a script while having little or no idea what he is talking about is not a comparison it’s an insult.

+15 # cc7bogert@yahoo.com 2011-01-27 09:42

I agree there is not one right of center commentator that has the intelligence or common sense of Mr Olbermann.

+21 # kleunk@aol.com 2011-01-27 09:48

Olbermann for Beck is yet another false equivalency. Keith's evolution from "bravery to arrogance" is more the weariness and the frustration of the rooftop watchman that has cried "fire" repeatedly while his colleague watch men and women (media), instead of pursuing who lit it, why, and who will be served by the burning, reply with frothy spin such as "What color of fire? How hot is it? Interesting fire facts!Fires are common! Is fire necessarily bad? Perhaps it is the kind that doesn't burn," etc. Olbermann's liberal perspective is a reasonable reaction by an intelligent person to the systematic dumbing down and false-mythologizing by the apparatus of the status quo. The Beck/Hannity/O'Reilly/Limbaughs of the world carry water for the idealogues of the status quo in return for their 30 pieces of silver (or Gold, for which they all shill)and who will faithfully trumpet its daily talking points. It's the Olbermann/Maddow/Schulz/Hartmann's of the world that strive to speak truth to power and put themselves at risk by doing so- they are the ones that are silenced, often violently (i.e. Alan Berg)and whose voices help us cut through the propaganda by challenging our assumptions with verifiable facts and offer alternative ways of seeing to make sense of those facts. We need Keith now more than ever.

+14 # Scott Rubel 2011-01-27 09:54

Anyone who's smart enough to win candidacy or run a major business is not stupid. Treason is treason, and we still need Keith's tone on television.

+15 # patriot@att.net 2011-01-27 10:00

Mr. Olbermann did everyone a favor when he was on the air. It use to be if you questioned your government, your were doing your civic responsibility by making everyone question/think and in the end make our government better becasue of it. When a special interests and bullying is done to make the common citizen afraid to express their political views, then government is failing. The American Educational System is broken!

Ken

+14 # steve 2011-01-27 10:11

I will be impatiently awaiting your return in whatever format is available we miss you kieth
steve from pa.

+16 # John Goodspeed 2011-01-27 10:33

Trade Keith Olbermann for Glenn Beck?

Even if it were possible to make that trade who on earth would be stupid enough to trade a brilliant, talented, honest, man like Olbermann for a psychopathic, dishonest, bigot like Beck?

You can't be serious ! ! !

+12 # Barbara Lynn 2011-01-27 11:21

GET OLBERMANN BACK!!!!!!!!!!! !

+11 # Carlos Montes Sr. 2011-01-27 11:31

All I can say is I will wait pacientlly for Keith to reapeare some were and I will be there.

-8 # Pasquale 2011-01-27 12:14

The responses here are fascinating and, perhaps, telling.

Has the hyper-partisanship of our times squeezed the sense of humor out of us all? Stifled our sense of irony?

In fact, the hyper-ventilating of one side versus the other is a lot like the nuclear arms race, with each side clinging to its deterrent and searching always for a "balance of power."

Is that the implied irony behind the "Beck trade-off"?

While Olbermann often made sense...and often said what many of us felt...the simple fact is that, like the bloviation of FOX, MSNBC also symbolizes the end of actual news, of actual reporting and of actual investigation.

Righteous anger is attractive. Often necessary. But it is not news.

Facts are not liberal or conservative.

+6 # dmh 2011-01-28 06:14

I think these remarks, though perceptive and courteous, miss a salient point. None of the MSNBC nightly shows is essentially a news show. Like FOX's nightly enterprise, these shows are opinion shows. The issue then is just how good, how intellectually respectable, a job one does with mounting his or her opinion. It is how one resorts to facts and then deploys them in argument that should be what we care about in reacting to these talking heads. Olbermann has shown himself very trustworthy, very careful, in his extensive employment of facts. His tone is deliberately chosen to make those facts add up to his sense of outrage. His tone can get in the way of a decorous viewer's desire for equanimity. Rachel Maddow assembles facts just as carefully but iterates them in a calmer tone, but one often laced with growing incredulity that mushrooms into irony one short step from sarcasm. But both are dealing in opinion in the final analysis. The opinions on FOX News have, at their very best, a tortured relationship with factuality. Olbermann and Maddow have always been devoted to the facts and, therefore, secondarily to the NEWS.

+13 # Dick Huopana 2011-01-27 12:22

Griffith's article exemplifies why I have lost respect for America's main stream media - a media which enthusiasticall y carried the water for the Bush-Cheney war propaganda machine and later expressed no outrage when it learned that even the Iragi army couldn't find any WMD to use in defending their country against the Bush-Cheney illegal invasion. Nor did America's news media editorially demand that Bush, Cheney, Powell, et al be held accountable for their war crimes.

Americans need more voices like those of Keith Olbermann, Barry Sanders, Alan Grayson, et al.

Hope to see you back on my TV screen soon, Keith.

+5 # Patty Herrick 2011-01-27 12:41

I will miss Keith, I thought we'd have him forever. Empty feelings at his time spot. I will also really miss the Thurber stories. Oh yeah, I'm not sure what you meant by K.O. for Beck?? Was that a joke of some kind?

+8 # Elder Berry 2011-01-27 12:43

To in any way put Keith on the same level with Beck is an outrage of the first order and up with it I will not put.

+9 # Don Thomann 2011-01-27 13:06

Oh sure! Mr. Murdoch gives a hoot about what the President thinks, and even more about Ms. Griffith's tame analysis.
America has NEVER needed Keith Olbermann as much as it does NOW!

+12 # Whore-D-Hors 2011-01-27 13:10

I don't get the feeling that Leslie Griffith is happy that Keith will no longer be on air for now, I get the feeling that there is a resignation there, as that is our only choice. What is disturbing is that we have so few liberal voices on the air and I feel robbed. Liberals don't tend to listen to endless hours of commentators, as it seems the CONservatives do, we have a life to live, and so the Cons claim more support. The country is lacking so much factual information that the liberals work so much to report.
I will so much miss Keith's indignation that often equals mine.

+3 # pixel 2011-01-27 13:45

I first discovered Keith Olbermann in November 2004, when Bush was stealing the election in Ohio. I don't know that any other reporter in the mainstream was sending out the alarm signals and educating the public. Olbermann has been passionately -and often angrily- attempting to wake people up, to educate us to what has been happening to our country. There were times when I found him too intense for my tastes on a particular evening, but I've been grateful to have his voice reaching a wide audience. And, I'll miss him a lot and will be watching and waiting to see what he'll be doing next. I'm also watching for Leslie's book, "Shut Up and Read". I appreciate Leslie's article, because it is nuanced in both its criticism and praise. And that's not a bad way to analyze a situation. In her reporting, Leslie always presents the pros and cons of a situation, and clearly does her job as an objective observer seeking the truth. Thanks to you and Keith.

+9 # Lisa D. 2011-01-27 14:20

Edward Dziadowicz said: "I will be canceling my service with Comcast."

wish i could do the same, but, alas, working from home online, i MUST have high-speed Internet, and around here, i can ONLY get that from Comcast ... can you say "monopoly"?

+11 # lkach 2011-01-27 15:13

Anyone who doubts the unique quality and importance of Keith Olberman himself, not just as a fungible talking head to be traded off, should try to do what he did on the same deadline he had. I offer his intelligent well-researched piece on the day Citizens United was announced as just one example of his amazing ability to produce informed analysis under pressure. Any journalist who speaks of him in other than respectful tones should perhaps first demonstrate that they can perform even a fraction as well. LG?

Without conceding that KO's dugeon amounted to anger, nevertheless anger at injustice and fraud is not a sin, as Jesus himself demonstrated. Obama's complacency in the face of the damage to this country done on his watch is more than a sin. Torturing Good Soldier Manning, to name just one example, is a profound crime in violation of the Nuremberg principles and our Constitution.

Whatever it has to do with a piece on KO, LG is at least right about money in politics if not much else in this article. http://moneyouttapolitics.org/
Has she done anything as effective on the subject as KO did in his brilliant Citizens United essay? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKZKETizybw

+7 # lkach 2011-01-27 15:14

I hope KO will study what Amy Goodman had to do to stay on the air, becoming all the stronger for her struggle to be heard. We all are presented with challenges to the extent that we are capable of dealing with them. I would wager that KO is capable of dealing with this one and that we will all benefit from his struggle. Maybe we will get to join him as more than passive consumers and take the urgency of his voice as a call to action.

+9 # bobby t. 2011-01-27 15:32

keith, you lit candles and still cursed the darkness. there is nothing wrong with doing both.
there was not one time did i hear a moronic sentence out of your mouth. not once.
man, i still miss you on sports center. you and bob costas would make a great team....
good night sweet prince.....

+6 # Ida L Tino 2011-01-27 20:36

I find myself turning on the TV at Keith's hour only to walk away, do my house cleaning, laundry or some other chore rather than turn what vestiges remain of the two and a half voices of the left, Ed Schultz, Rachel Maddow and half of the time Lauwrence O'Donnell (all of whom were introduced to MSNBC by KO) off my screen. They must stay on the air, now more than ever; they are all we have left to keep us informed and tell us the TRUTH!
Thank you Mr. Olbermann for your voice of truthfulness, that shown like a beacon of light amidst the dark, dank, lying commentators that call themselves fair and balanced. I will not even mention any of their names because they are not deserving of advertisement. They are the WORST persons in the world for perpetrating lies in their so-called journalism. Your voice that raised our collective consciousness will be missed by many, including, I dare say Ms Griffiths.

+6 # Holly Collins 2011-01-28 08:12

Have to say I think Griffiths is way off here.
Keith Olberman was a light in the darkness and you Miss Griffiths have done him and us a disservice with your silly piece of appeasement.
There is no comparison between the left and the right here. Shame on you for contributing to the charade.

+11 # gillie 2011-01-28 10:14

I'd like to know what it was exactly that Leslie was watching? Arrogance? More like a reaction to the utter arrogance of the elite power cabal that has become our government. No, Leslie, treason is treason and Keith was neither arrogant nor over-the-top in calling it out. I would say he didn't go far enough. This article is pure arrogance.

One day those of you in the media will have to stop positing these false antinomies and start doing your job. To equate Olbermann with Beck is utter stupidity and ignores reality. To equate opinions and anger that are based on facts with the obsequious lying and misinformation of the Right-wing is insanity. You compare apples with road kill.

To those of you who think you are "balanced" and in the middle, you should know that you are far to the right of where you think you stand. Keith only bore the slightest versimilitude to a "liberal," but what he did was to challenge the hoi polloi to think about what the Right is actually doing and saying. After this past election, it became clear that the masses are not paying attention. In that light, is it any wonder that Keith chose to turn up the volume?

+2 # Anastasia 2011-01-29 12:11

I could not agree more with Carla...this piece is trash. We still need Kieth to counter the non-stop lies from FOX, Rush & the crazies in the republican tea party. We cannot count on CNN that's for sure...they have hitched their wagon to Sal Russo's tea bagger wagon.

0 # michael herrick 2011-01-30 07:24

keith only has to get on freespeech tv or link tv 9410-9415 on dishnetwork maybe 375-324 on direct tv.

0 # giraffe 2011-01-30 19:38

I think Keith should be the new Press Secretary for President Obama - he will know how to express what the President needs and at the same time (with that rye smile) he could put every "rightish" comment to bed with a "bed time story-line"

On the other hand Anthony Weiner (who I think is a great Representative) would not fit this role. On the other hand, the President should hire Anthony to give him lessons on how to "say it as it is" - as great an orator as President Obama is, he needs to make the GOP give facts behind their "opinions" ("positions") because that is the only way he and the Dems can let "the people" know in a "factual" way when the GOP is not telling the truth, use funny math, and force them to "answer"

So many assets --- Meanwhile Scalia is in bed with the T-Party and the largest money corps are getting ready to meet in Palm SPrings to figure their "Stupreme Court given privilege" on how to buy the 2012 elections.

Keith could "say it" faster than anyone I know and make sense at the same time. That is a GIFT. He'll be back.

0 # bobino 2011-01-31 18:05

Griffith has credited the superb Molly Ivins with a remark originally (and probably only) made by a longtime friend of hers Jim Hightower, another classy glass emptier.

The rest of Griffith's thinking - regarding Olberman - is sadly
obtuse. He's one of extremely few television commentators we
truly need, because he's smart and unafraid and just plain right.

0 # Taffy 2011-02-01 12:24

PLEASE Keith, do not desert us with your insightful comments. As one respondent suggests, please do it from your living room if you have to. We need your balance & prospective!

0 # Tom Cordle 2011-02-11 14:31

Yeah, Keith was far from perfect and sometimes a bit too strident, but this piece strikes me as damning with faint praise.

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