Why I like Keith Olbermann and hate the rest
April 22, 2007 by John Hoyle
Filed under Celebrities, Television
Keith Olbermann is host of “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” a rather unique evening newscast. His twist on the news is that he counts down some of the day’s top stories with his own particular wit and style. The show is on every weeknight, 8 PM ET (5 PM PT)on the MSNBC cable channel. The show is repeated three hours later on both coasts.
I’ve watched Keith since his days at ESPN. He takes his job seriously. From time to time he can go into a rant about President Bush’s running of the Iraq War or the mistreatment of injured veterans at Walter Reed Hospital. But most of his stories are right on, to the point, and delivered with his own impish sense of humor.
Most importantly, Keith outshines his other MSNBC news anchors, and those of Fox News as well, simply because of one simple fact: He lets his guests (usually one at a time) speak their peace without constantly interrupting them. Most of his guests are articulate and credible, so it is usually a pleasure to hear them give their opinions, filling in the facts of the news story without being shouted down or constantly interrupted.
Scarborough Country, Hannity and Colmes, Bill O’Reilly and the rest all seem to want to load up the screen with three or four “experts” who spend the entire time arguing with each other and vying for screen time. I personally get exhausted just trying to understand what points they are trying to make and trying to determine if any of them has even the slightest idea of what they are talking about.
Keith, on the other hand, has both in-house experts and visitors that always seem to have a reasonably educated opinion on a particular story or subject. My only real problem is that he seems to like to bring in guests that are standup comedians for some of the celebrity stories who try to be funny and aren’t. Many of their comments sound like they are being delivered by someone competing at the local amateur night at a small comedy club in Dubuque.
Keith on the other hand has an inate sense of the macabre and the irony behind the news. When discussing George Bush, Karl Rove and other ranking politicians, he almost always leaves the impression that says, “You know these guys are lying. How do we know these guys are lying? Because their lips are moving.” In most cases it turns out that they were lying – or at least heavily disguising the truth.
Keith Olbermann is probably not everyone’s cup of tea. On the other hand, if you are interested in the day’s news and are sick of the amateurish news readers on the local and main network stations, go check Keith out a few times. You might find his show addictive and find yourself smiling a bit when he announces who the “Worst Person of the Day” winner is.
My only other choice for real news, although he is not funny, is Anderson Cooper on CNN. This guy has lots of credibility - and like Keith – allows his guests to participate without being involved in unwanted and unwarranted debate.
You have got to be kidding! When your only guests are ideological sycophants there is no need for debate. Keith is a coward with a capitol C.
No debate may keep your delicate sensibilities from suffering some grave trauma, but it is a contemptibly timid manner in which to conduct public discourse.
Vigorous debate may occasionally devolve into a verbal brawl, but I’ll take that situation every time over the self-affirming love fest required by Olbermann. Any man or woman not willing to defend their opinion in the face of one opposed is simply not worthy of an audience. Unless of course you also tend to be a sensitive, delicate flower unable to stand the heat of mature dialog.