September 9, 2009

Olbermann Loses Me

Sometimes, I like Keith Olbermann. He's got an engaging on-air personality and when he editorializes he can be passionate and persuasive. But not when he goes all-in on partisanship and busts out with an argument like "all opposition to President Obama is based in racism":



It's one thing to point out that a number of people (Glenn Beck is singled out for particular obloquy in this segment) are acting from a position of near paranoia. But there are plenty of people out there who oppose the President's policies for reasons that have nothing to do with the President's race. Olby lumps in everyone who opposes the President with the birthers and lunatics. He and his guest are quick to defend Van Jones, who let's not forget was a truther and therefore a left-wing lunatic himself -- and instead belittle the political prowess of the right-wing lunatics by calling Jones a small fry.

The magnitude of the failed appointment of Jones is not the issue. The issue is the reason why Jones didn't get his plum. He didn't get it because he was a lunatic and refused to even disavow his past lunacy. Mainstream America doesn't believe that President Obama is party to a nearly half-century-old conspiracy to conceal his birth in Kenya, and it doesn't believe that President Bush permitted the attacks of 9/11 to take place. It's lunacy on both sides and if you're going to condemn the one, you have to condemn the other.

The fact of the matter is that Obama is planning to double the deficit with a health care reform plan that may not even be effective in realizing its policy goals. There is nothing at all racist about saying that we cannot afford the reforms that the President wants, and opposing efforts to implement policies that will bankrupt our government for a generation. Olbermann went over the line here and he deserves to get called on it.

Keith Olbermann -- for selectively ignoring facts to put party first and the public interest second, you just may be today's worst person in the world.

2 comments:

  1. Libertarian Advocate9/09/2009 9:37 AM

    I agree. I'm not a constant Olbermann basher, far from it, but it's absolutely fair to call him out on his "racism" rants against any and all who oppose Obama's policy imitiatives. Frankly, Olbermann just loses any credibility when he pulls that stuff. Then again, maybe he just doesn't care about credibility...

    BTW... that live traffic feed plug-in is pretty cool though too pricey for me at $10.00/month.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dennis N9/11/2009 9:25 AM

    Two points:

    One: Jones has publicly stated that he doesn't believe in 9/11 trutherism, nor has he ever.

    Two: Mainstream Republicans are birthers, that is, upwards of half of them.

    ReplyDelete

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