The best thing – in fact, the only good thing – I can say about Keith Olbermann is that his idea for ending the Harry Potter series (Harry can defeat Voldemort only by sacrificing his wizardly powers) was far superior to the muggle’s breakfast that J. K. Rowling served up. Otherwise, I concur that –
Certainly, the faux journalist Olbermann, whose “Special Comment” is among the most hyperbolic, exaggerated, and mean-spirited political commentary available, is the least deserving of sympathy of any figure on the left in America. He oozes a sneering, self-righteous superiority that only liberals who feel similarly blessed with outsized notions of transcendence can stomach. Reportedly, he is not a very nice fellow either, but how could he be otherwise given the manner in which he routinely portrays the opposition as a cross between the devil and Hitler?
Nonetheless, like Bill Kristol, Andy McCarthy, Keith Williamson (former winner of Olby’s “Worst Person in the World” award), Jonah Goldberg (multiple WPITW laureate) et al., I can only shake my head in disbelief at the way that MSNBC has treated him. Sure, if the network has promulgated and consistently enforced a prohibition against making political contributions, someone who violates it ought to incur some punishment – but a punishment proportionate to the crime: something on the order of docking pay equal to a few times the amount contributed plus an on-air act of contrition. Indefinite suspension without pay, which appears to be a euphemism for dismissal, is preposterous, particularly for a guy whose job is to scream progressive shibboleths at the top of his lungs.
We all knew that Keith Olbermann was a lefty commentator on a lefty network. His every appearance was an in-kind contribution to left-wing office seekers. If he contributed his money as well as his mouth, I fail to see how MSNBC can reasonably claim that he seriously breached any standard of ethics.
There’s no point in trying to figure out what was going through the higher-ups’ minds. These are, after all, geniuses who devised a business model focusing like a laser beam on a tiny, temperamental demographic segment for whose custom there is already formidable competition from Old and New Media. That strategy hasn’t worked very splendidly, but the response to dwindling ratings has been to push ever further to the left. A decade ago, it wouldn’t have been laughable to say that MSNBC was not a lot less fair and balanced than Fox News. Today, it has all the intellectual bandwidth of al-Jazeera or The Nation.
The best outcome for MSNBC from this debacle would be for its owners to wake up, smell the wood alcohol, and replace their current crew with competent reporters and interesting pundits. As for Mr. Olbermann, I have an idea for a career change: His mind is full of fantasies; why not put them into a novel? His wacky conspiracies, grotesque characterizations and distorted realities might have the oomph to relegate Harry Potter to the remainder shelves.
Comments