NewsReal Sunday Matinee–Made for Each Other, Levi and Keith: Meltdown with Keith Olbermann Part 24
“Levi Johnston, a Sarah Palin whistleblower!” Keith Olbermann, MSNBC
Tomorrow night, Countdown with Keith Olbermann will air a not-so “special,” entitled “Countdown Favorites 2009.” Taking up 5 minutes of wasted space in this unrecoverable hour of a too short life, is a segment on an essential public figure.
Levi Johnston.
That’s right, the high school hockey player whose only accomplishment in life is knocking up Sarah Palin’s oldest daughter. Someone who would not be a media figure, no matter how hard he tried, if he had fathered a son with anyone else on the planet’s daughter.
And in fact, even in a media world of Palin-haters, Levi really only got about 15 seconds of fame. Vanity Fair extensively used him in their Palin hit piece, but not as their centerfold. Those hard-hitting journalists Larry King and Tyra Banks gave him respectful air time, but Dylan Rattigan on MSNBC dismissed him as a “hockey stud,” and even celebrity tabloid shows mocked Levi’s various attempts to get attention.
But on Countdown, he was a truthteller. and worthy of his own segment on a “best of the year” show.
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On the last Countdown segment before breaking for Christmas, snarky regular guest host Lawrence O’Donnell made a lame, transparent attempt to make the clip segment relevant and worth of the “Number One Story of the Day” ranking by bring up singer Tori Amos as the latest “A-list celebrity” to attempt to seem relevant by taking a Sarah Palin cheap shot.
Yes, the world is abuzz now that we finally know what Tori Amos (half the audience just asked, “Who?”) thinks (to use a word carelessly) about Sarah Palin.
What Levi Johnston thinks was given not given credibility anywhere more than on Countdown with Keith Olbermann, who breathlessly repeated each charge as though it actually reflected on the most hated woman on his long list of hated people.
Here are a sampling of Countdown reviews of Levi’s performances:
“The A-list smackdowns will come and go, Levi Johnston is forever”—Lawrence O’Donnell, Huffington Post
“Levi Johnston, a Sarah Palin whistleblower!” Keith Olbermann, MSNBC
It may be headache-inducing, but the video is instructive. For as it plays, Levi Johnston does not gain in credibility—except in comparison to Keith Olbermann. By the end of the four minutes, it becomes obvious. These two anger-driven and arrogant attentions seekers are muy simpatico. One of them just gets nightly airtime.
When Olbermann says things like, “Whether the engagement was real, or just a stunt to spare her from having to run for Vice President as the mother of an unwed mother…” it’s really hard to make the case that Levi Johnston is any more outrageous sleazy—or less personally credible than Keith Olbermann. Each takes pleasure in using the troubles of a teenager for personal gain and out of sheer spite.
In short, Levi Johnston and Keith Olbermann are made for each other. And Olbermann’s end of the year love letter to the former “hockey stud” proves it.
Note: With all due apologies to James Stewart and Carole Lombard, two of my all time favorites.
Now they pay people to lie on MSNBC, they have no shame whatsoever. Well, I guess if we vote into office, main stream media sees nothing wrong with parading more on their shows.
I did appreciate 60 minutes presentation last evening. Very enlightening and encouraging.
This would be funny in an Andy Warhol (15 minutes of fame) sort of way if it weren’t so utterly pathetic.
Let’s see… Olbermann and Johnston are so insignificant that you just spent a half-hour putting together an article about them, plus what ever time it took to create a video clip and upload the whole mess to your blog.
To paraphrase Captain Ahab: Olbermann tasks you, David, he heaps you. You must be exasperated with yourself for the way you obsess about him.
Read the mission statement for this block, before you spout obsession.
Read the mission statement for this block
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Dude, it was obvious before I read it.
“The left’s methods and agenda.” Got it. That phrase implies a certain level of effectiveness on the part of the people you write about, doesn’t it? And the obvious point I’m making — obvious to the average reader, I mean — is that if you characterize someone as ineffectual and irrelevant and then devote the majority your waking hours to writing about him, people are going to notice the inconsistency and ask, “Who are you trying to kid? Of course he’s effective. Of course he’s relevant — or you wouldn’t be spending so much time trying to convince people not to pay any attention to him!”
People understand the strategy of attempting to shape public opinion by repeating as a “fact” that which you HOPE will one day come to pass. Like chanting, “Nobody watches MSNBC.” If nobody watches them, why do they matter enough to turn a whole blog over to them?
Did I hear Keith Olberman say, “Investigative reporter, Tyra Banks”????
Every once in a while, even Keith tells a funny joke. I’m surprised that NBC doesn’t have a problem with him saying “premature jocularity” constantly on the pre-game football highlights show, though. Sports, sports shows and the commercials they show in sports programming needs to be more kid oriented, or at least friendly.
Could this be an example of a premature ejoculation”.
“Premature jocularity” is a catchphrase from Dan and Keith’s old SportsCenter show on ESPN. One of 5 or 6 that he uses regularly.
Sorry, had I known I would never have posted my comment. I am at a disadvantage when it comes to television as I have not watched TV since some time in 1992. And no I don’t miss it.
you mean eJOCKulation.
Re jeck U later and gone, would be more like it.
Cas, you say, “Sorry, had I known I would never have posted my comment. . . .”
I hope you mind my using that admission to make a larger point:
The reason so much of what RW bloggers write about Olbermann doesn’t make sense is that they haven’t bothered to acquaint themselves with the previous chapters in his career. Particularly, they don’t realize that the majority of his 30 years in journalism have been in sports — most notably at ESPN, where he and Dan Patrick were practically required viewing.
Viewers’ nostalgia for SportsCenter’s glory days explains why executives at NBC knew what they were doing when they added, first Olbermann, and later Patrick, to the cast of their Sunday night NFL pre-game show. Olbermann brings with him a substantial audience who’ve loved his work in the past, many of whom aren’t even aware of his recent foray into political news and commentary. They know him only, or primarily, as the guy who, with Patrick, revolutionized sports highlights on ESPN.
Post-ESPN, Olbermann stayed with sports — at ABC radio, CNN and Fox Sports Net, on his current cable channel anchoring the 2004 Summer Olympics, and on ESPN (radio this time) with Dan Patrick beginning in 2005. And now Sunday nights on NBC. Some people think he still does his best work in sports, but he’s made significant contributions to straight news reporting as well; even if Countdown isn’t your cup of tea, Olbermann’s daily radio dispatches from the scene of 9/11 following the attack (recognized with a Murrow Award, and still preserved online) certainly deserve props.
That’s a long and impressive history, one which can’t easily be dismissed by partisan bloggers who remain largely uninformed about this multifaceted broadcaster. Regardless of what you think of his politics, understanding Olbermann’s current work requires some awareness of the diverse reporting to which he’s turned his talents previously.
Correction to sentence #2 in last post, excuse me Cas, I meant to say “I hope you WON’T mind…”!
Give me a break. There is almost NO one reading this page who doesn’t know that Keith Olbermann spent most of his career in sportscastng. Seiously. It happens to be irrelevant to the topic at hand.
I know you think you’re here to eddicate us, but all us here right-wingers didn’t just fall off the turnip truck on our way to Sunday meetin’ son.
In fact, among average people who don’t pay very close attention, when I say one of my beats is to write about Keith Olbermann, the ONLY thing they know him for is sports. They are surprised– despite the HUGE viral audience you suppose is out there– to find out he does– or has done– anything else. A lot of people wonder how he got the NBC Sunday Night Football gig, because they thought he was out of broadcasting for the last decade or so.
David, you say, “A lot of people wonder how he got the NBC Sunday Night Football gig, because they thought he was out of broadcasting for the last decade or so.”
I see… so that explains the RW minions trolling the sports blogs, trying to foment revolution and urging everyone to plague NBC with demands to get that “liberal partisan hack” off their beloved pre-game show!
These obviously are NOT viewers who knew him when; they’re relatively young Johnny-come-latelys who’ve only been aware of Olbermann’s existence since folks started blogging about him in POLITICAL terms. They imagine his journalistic credentials mirror Beck’s, and have no inkling of Olbermann’s versatility and the fact that he long ago made his mark in areas of news that have nothing to do with his current cable gig.
I don’t know about you, David, but I think a guy with a Murrow Award has standing to reference Murrow in his sign-off. Your average NewsReal/Newsbusters/NewsMax consumer isn’t going to understand that.
So what? Most people are vaguely aware of his career on ESPN. It is still the highlight of his career– despite your great regard for the Murrow Award. I don’t know about you, Max, but most people don’t have the resumes of TV anchors, talkers, or reporters memorized. If they had that as a goal, they would take a LONG time to get down the food chain to Keith Olbermann.
So, by the way, are you a blood relative of his, or is it by marriage?
David, you say, “So what?”
So if you want to understand what a pundit meant, it helps to know something about what he’s personally seen and done. Nothing anyone does takes place in a vacuum — something happened that shaped it.
For example, you disparage Olbermann’s Murrow Award, but 9/11 occurred in his own home town — practically right down the street from where he lived. It gives a perspective to those daily dispatches which most of us don’t have; and as a blogger, if you know that — maybe even tracked down those reports and read them — you get why he went off on Republicans for acting at their convention like 9/11 was their preserve to exploit as they wished. Maybe you still won’t accept his conclusions, but at least you understand why he was so steamed.
Same with that SportsCenter catchphrase that puzzled you and Cas so much. It shouldn’t puzzle you, if you know that catchphrases are something Olbermann is known for. If you’ve only read as much as his Wikipedia entry.
What it all comes down to is, no writer wants to appear clueless to people who already know something of his subject. But avoiding that takes a little curiosity.
Dear Max,
Wow!!! Kieth Olberman was on Sports Center?!?!? Who knew? I mean, besides every single person on the planet who has an interest in sports. We get it. You like the guy. So much so that you really seem to be obsessed with him. Maybe he is reading this and will track you down and ask you to dinner. The two of you can talk about all his old catch phrases and his favorite plays of all time. That would be really nice for you two. Now, why don't you tell everyone about how Craig Kilborn was also on Sports Center back in the day. I bet nobody knows that either. Or, that the Daily Show was originally his.
Now, go set the table for your mother, it's almost dinner time Max.