Thanks, Keith

No words from me, except that this should be on the big screen at every protest this weekend. Just watch.

And I'm Not Even a Hillary Fan

But this shit seriously needs to stop; at this rate I'm not going to have many people left to believe in. Olbermann piled on Monday night in the aftermath of the voice-catch Complete Fucking Female Emotional Breakdown, Whut Whut with a segment helpfully entitled Clinton Cries, Then Attacks Obama. The video, being the actual video from the celebrated emotional moment, continues to fail to show "crying" as it is conventionally understood--say, as when Mitt Romney does it three times in three weeks on the campaign trail--and the "very same sentence" that purports to contain an immediate personal attack on Senator Obama sounds to these tender ears like any other statement any other candidate has made regarding readiness to take over the top job:

Clinton (from video):But some of us are right and some of us are wrong. Some of us are ready and some of us are not. Some of us know what we will do on Day One and some of us really haven't thought that through enough.

Olbermann (in studio, ominously): It gets worse...

Worse than what? Worse than that clip you just played? Uh, gee, Keith. Given how low you just set the "bad" bar, well, not hard to do. In your smoking gun video, Clinton makes very general, non-personal statements that do not reference Obama either directly by name or obliquely as "other Democrats" or "that one guy Chris Matthews worships." There is plenty of stuff in Hillary's record and stated positions to give you reservations. Don't manufacture shit that simply isn't there, and then have the temerity to allegedly back up your bullshit by playing video that doesn't come close to illustrating what you want your viewers to believe it does. You pillory O'Reilly on a near-nightly basis for this kind of dishonesty.

Men think sexism doesn't exist like whites think racism doesn't exist. Olbermann joins Edwards in the ranks of guys I thought I respected who have now seriously pissed me off. Tom Toles of the Washington Post gets it. I'd like to see Obama prove he gets it by telling his supporters both in and out of the media that he'd prefer to win this race on issues of substance, thank you very much, without the help of bigotry of any stripe.

Great Moments in Reporting

For an invigorating exercise in cognitive dissonance, start with Olbermann's special comment from last night--that would be the quality micro-brewed IPA--and follow it with Paula Zahn's segment with Andrew Sullivan and Christopher Hitchens--that would be the shot of Albertson's house brand tequila. The Zahn bit is worth watching for Sullivan's spot-on characterization of Iraq as the foreign policy version of Katrina, and one-liners like "This isn't an election, but an intervention."

The part that made my head throb was Zahn's followup to Sullivan's discussion of the Sadr City blockade fiasco and, specifically, his statement that "We've abandoned a US soldier to the Shiite militias in Baghdad... where is he? Since when does the Commander in Chief abandon a US soldier to the enemy?" To be accurate, of course, her followup wasn't technically a followup because she completely ignored the issue of al-Maliki setting deadlines for the US Army and a man being left behind to ask,"Do you really think it's possible that Republicans will lose control of Congress based on this one issue? On Iraq?"

Iraq. One niggling little issue. Is it really fair for voters to focus on Iraq--Iraq!! Tiny little country no bigger than California!!!--when they could be focused on tax cuts, gay marriage, and a convenient small dip in gasoline prices? 2,800+ dead, 20,000+ wounded, billions down the crapper, terrorists incited, moral high ground lost for the foreseeable future... but it's just a single issue.

Paula should watch Keith. She might learn something about relating seemingly disparate events to each other, historical context, and, oh yeah, understanding the complexity behind "single issues" that cannot be transmitted in a three-word sound bite.

Keith.

Yesterday, Keith Olbermann delivered the most piercing, resonant, moving commentary on the fallout from the September 11 attacks I have yet heard. Period. Click on the link and listen, listen, listen again. The man's eloquence is beyond awesome.

When those who dissent are told time and time again — as we will be, if not tonight by the President, then tomorrow by his portable public chorus — that he is preserving our freedom, but that if we use any of it, we are somehow un-American…

When we are scolded, that if we merely question, we have "forgotten the lessons of 9/11"… look into this empty space behind me and the bi-partisanship upon which this administration also did not build, and tell me:

Who has left this hole in the ground?

We have not forgotten, Mr. President.

You have.

May this country forgive you.

Of course, since W has roughly the same relationship with the news as the Wicked Witch had with jacuzzis, it's preaching to the choir. Too bad he's unlikely to get this message directly.