MSNBC has cleaned up its Election 2008 coverage, according to the management. Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews have been removed from election anchor duties as of this weekend. NBC executives cited biased coverage as the reason for their decision. This is hysterical.To be honest, I’m not sure what is funnier: that NBC executives are upset by coverage bias or that Olbermann and Matthews were put on election anchor duties in the first place? It’s no secret that both of these gentlemen are known liberal Democrats who have been vitriolic critics of the Bush administration and sniveling Obama sycophants. Olbermann’s MSNBC program “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” has been a platform from which the host has launched self-righteous hit pieces against the president and the War in Iraq, labeling Bush a cold-hearted murderer and a war criminal. Matthews, the host of “Hardball,” has served in Democratic campaigns and administrations for the majority of his adult life and is a Clinton apologist. He makes no secret of his political allegiances.
And these two knuckle-heads were hand-picked by NBC to anchor MSNBC’s coverage of the 2008 presidential election, even with their demonstrable records of liberal bias. They were given the responsibility of presenting impartial news coverage of what may be the penultimate election of our lifetimes, and one of the most hotly contested to boot. So why did NBC just now decide to yank Olbermann and Matthews? Well, I suppose the overwhelming outrage on the part of Americans over the way that network has propped up Barack Obama and bashed Sarah Palin may have had something to do with it…
Let’s take a few examples. Following Sarah Palin’s speech accepting the Republican vice presidential nomination, Keith Olbermann had the following snarky comment to offer in criticism: “People who like this sort of thing will find this… the sort of thing they like.” Really, Keith? And you’re an anchor, right? Wow. He further criticized Palin as an “elitist” for attacking community organizers. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. And Matthews famously embarrassed himself (and simultaneously made us all wet our pants with laughter) when he confessed to physical arousal after hearing Obama speak. Said the “Hardball” host, “It's part of reporting this case, this election, the feeling most people get when they hear Barack Obama's speech. My, I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean, I don't have that too often.” I would love for you all to watch the video.
Olbermann and Matthews will be relegated to analyst duty while David Gregory assumes anchorship. The most critical outcome of this shake-up is that it serves as a vindication of Governor Palin’s comments in her acceptance speech about media bias and is an open admission on the part of one of the major networks that their coverage has been greatly skewed to the Left. Not that this is news to conservatives...
Olbermann and Matthews will be relegated to analyst duty while David Gregory assumes anchorship. The most critical outcome of this shake-up is that it serves as a vindication of Governor Palin’s comments in her acceptance speech about media bias and is an open admission on the part of one of the major networks that their coverage has been greatly skewed to the Left. Not that this is news to conservatives...
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MSNBC is a start, but I will not be holding my breath for a revival of journalistic integrity in this country. Just look at CNN's coverage today. All evening they have been hammering away at Palin claiming she actually supported the "bridge to nowhere" based on comments during a debate that she would not oppose it. It was almost 11 PM this evening when Anderson Cooper came on with a "clarification in the interest of correctness" (his words) that when she actually got into office she shot down the project. I'm sure they just realized this now, in the middle of the night...
Anyone else out there watching CNN at 11 PM? ...didn't think so.
I'll be writing a submission on the mischaracterizations of Palin in the media lately, largely on her relgious views, but some of these financial attacks as well. Research almost done, so I call dibs.
Regardless, I think MSNBC's move is little more than smoke and mirrors. Indeed the change was made not in the interests of integrity per-se, but rather to eliminate "feuding" between the anchors and to allow them to speak out more aggressively, not less. Indeed Phil Griffin himself said, "If you move two feet over (from the anchor desk), you can say whatever you want virtually at the same time."
This is not a matter of objectivity, this is a matter of allowing their attack dogs to speak with maximum effect and minimum liability.
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