Adios, Olbermann

CW Note: below are links to stories about Keith Olbermann's parting of the ways with NBC. The articles cover several days' reporting & commentary & appear in descending date order. There are a few more stories in The Commentariat for January 24 above.

New York Times: "Keith Olbermann, the highest-rated host on MSNBC, announced abruptly on the air Friday night that he is leaving 'Countdown with Keith Olbermann' immediately. The host, who has had a stormy relationship with the management of the network for some time, especially since he was suspended for two days last November, came to an agreement with NBC’s corporate management late this week to settle his contract and step down. In a closing statement on his show, Mr. Olbermann said simply that it would be the last edition of the program. He offered no explanation other than on occasion, the show had become too much for him." Here's the video:

Politico: "The departure was a stealth move, MSNBC insiders told Politico, with many top executives and on-air talent kept out of the loop as the decision was made. It came, one insider said, 'Out of the ... blue!'”

Take Howard Kurtz's analysis for what it's worth, but he does sort of give a good, quick rundown of Olbermann's highs & lows with NBC.

Colby Hall of Mediaite doesn't think it's a coincidence that Olbermann was pushed out the day after the FCC approved Comcast's takeover of NBC. "Today was Jeff Zucker’s last day at the helm, having sent a memo bidding adieu to his staff. Sources close to the situation have told Mediaite that there is no question that Comcast had expressed concerns about Olbermann."

As the New York Post headline has it, "MSNBC Pulls Plug on Gasbag Olbermann."

Here's the MSNBC story, which is pretty plain-vanilla. The story has been updated: "Starting Monday, 'The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell' will move to 8 p.m. ET/PT and 'The Ed Show,' hosted by Ed Schultz, will move to 10 p.m. ET/PT on msnbc, [MSNBC President Phil] Griffin said. 'The Rachel Maddow Show' will continue to air live at 9 p.m. ET/PT."

According to TheWrap, "It was Keith Olbermann's decision to leave his high-profile perch at MSNBC, TheWrap has learned.... But the sudden departure has a history, and the timing does not rule out a preemptive MSNBC move."

Bill Carter of the New York Times: "For the last several weeks, Mr. Olbermann and the network have been in negotiations to end his successful run on MSNBC, according to executives involved in the talks.... The deal was completed on Friday, and Mr. Olbermann made the announcement on his final 'Countdown' hours later. Friday’s separation agreement between MSNBC and Mr. Olbermann includes restrictions on when he can next lead a television show and when he can give interviews about the decision to end his association with the news channel.... The decision was completed a year to the day from the last time NBC decided to end a relationship with an on-air star: Conan O’Brien. Mr. O’Brien’s settlement had similar restrictions."

Prima Donna, Exit Left. Bill Carter & Brian Stelter of the New York Times: "MSNBC never had any doubt about what it was getting when it made Keith Olbermann the face of the network in 2003: a highly talented broadcaster, a distinctive and outspoken voice and a mercurial personality with a track record of attacking his superiors and making early exits." CW: I suppose we shall have to consider this the definitive word on the breakup of MSNBC & Olbermann; it is the New York Times, after all. ...

CW: Niall Stanage, writing in Salon, expresses my sentiments exactly: "The smugness, the narcissism, the never-ending parade of yes-man guests: Goodnight and good riddance!" A number of my friends were totally bummed by Olbermann's exit, & I think they were a little mad at me for kissing him good-bye without a tear. But they're coming around.

The Commentariat -- January 22

Dan Eggen & T. W. Farnam of the Washington Post: "The new Republican leaders in the House have received millions of dollars in contributions from banks, health insurers and other major business interests, which are pressing for broad reversals of Democratic policies that affect corporations, according to disclosure records and interviews. Much of that money flowed to the GOP chairmen overseeing banking, energy and other key committees - leaders who will play a central role in setting the House agenda over the next two years." ...

... Chris Hayes does a really good job of explaining Republican fiscal policy:

... Dana Milbank: Republicans' "fiscal responsibility" is a cover for reinstituting Newt Gingrich's culture war. "Americans said they want economic recovery. Instead, you're talking about finding Jesus and losing Big Bird." ...

... AND Milbank has a welcome plan: "I hereby pledge that, beginning on Feb. 1, 2011, I will not mention Sarah Palin -- in print, online or on television -- for one month. Furthermore, I call on others in the news media to join me in this pledge of a Palin-free February." He invites you on the linked page to join him & pledge not to read or watch anything about Palin during the month of February. ...

... CW: I'm with Jim Newell of Gawker on the Palin hiatus: "Don't write about her if she does nothing worth writing about; do write about her if she does something worth writing about." It's what I've been doing for some while.

Kate Pickert of Time ticks off "The Five Most Outrageous Health Care Claims of the Week." The first four belong to Republicans; the 5th to the Obama Administration.

Michael Cooper of the New York Times: "These are hard times for cities, and the mood was grim as more than 200 mayors gathered here this week for the winter meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors. Many mayors have already raised taxes, cut services and laid off workers, even police and firefighters. Now they are girding themselves for more tough times, as falling home values are belatedly showing up in property tax assessments, and struggling states are threatening to cut aid to cities."

Perry Bacon, Jr., of the Washington Post: "Gun control advocates are urging the White House to embrace stricter gun laws in the wake of the shooting in Tucson, calling for President Obama to talk about the issue in next week's State of the Union address." ...

... BUT. Jim White of Firedoglake: "Palmetto State Armory in South Carolina is 'honoring' Joe Wilson for his disruption of Obama’s health care address to a Joint Session of Congress in September, 2009 ... 'with the release of [a] new “You Lie” AR-15 lower receiver....' What is a 'lower reciever'? It’s a key component in assembling your own AR-15, one of the most popular semiautomatic rifles around." White posts a screenshot of Palmetto State's Website, featuring "Wilson endorsing the assault rifle component made in honor of his outburst." CW: the Website ad includes a shot of the Congressional seal, & Reader B.W., who directed me to the Firedoglake post, asks, "Is this legal?" Update: turns out Jim White has more on this. 18 U.S.C. §713 says, in part,

Whoever knowingly displays any printed or other likeness of the ... seal of the United States Congress, or any facsimile thereof, in, or in connection with, any advertisement, poster, circular, book, pamphlet, or other publication, public meeting, play, motion picture, telecast, or other production, or on any building, monument, or stationery, for the purpose of conveying, or in a manner reasonably calculated to convey, a false impression of sponsorship or approval by the Government of the United States or by any department, agency, or instrumentality thereof, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both."

     ... CW: Palmetto State Armory has pulled down the page, but yeah, I'd say it was "calculated to convey the impression of sponsorship or approval," wouldn't you?

Erik Eckholm of the New York Times: "Newly energized by their success in November’s midterm elections, conservative legislators in dozens of states are mounting aggressive campaigns to limit abortions. The lawmakers are drafting, and some have already introduced, bills that would ban most abortions at 20 weeks after conception, push women considering abortions to view a live ultrasound of the fetus, or curb insurance coverage, among other proposals." With state-by-state map.

Kareem Fahim of the New York Times: how the martyrdom of a Sidi Bouzid fruit vendor led to the Tunisian revolution, & perhaps to more unrest beyond the country's borders. ...

... Here's a related story by Robert Worth in the Times' "Week in Review."

Ben Klayman of Reuters: "The National Football League prodded Toyota Motor Corp to edit a television commercial, removing an image of a helmet-to-helmet tackle at a time when the effects of concussions have come under heavy scrutiny, representatives of both sides said. The Japanese automaker, one of the largest corporate advertisers, changed the TV ad after the U.S. sports league complained and warned that the spot would not be allowed to air during its highly watched games." ...

... Here's a related story by Alan Schwarz of the New York Times. Here's the ad before the edit (not sure how long it will stay up):

News Items

Los Angeles Times: "Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas failed to report his wife's income from a conservative think tank on financial disclosure forms for at least five years, the watchdog group Common Cause said Friday. Between 2003 and 2007, Virginia Thomas, a longtime conservative activist, earned $686,589 from the Heritage Foundation, according to a Common Cause review of the foundation's IRS records. Thomas failed to note the income in his Supreme Court financial disclosure forms for those years, instead checking a box labeled 'none' where 'spousal noninvestment income' would be disclosed."

New York Times: "Frances Fox Piven, a City University of New York professor, has been a primary character in [Glenn] Beck’s warnings about a progressive take-down of America. Ms. Piven, Mr. Beck says, is responsible for a plan to 'intentionally collapse our economic system.' ... Some say [Beck] is endangering her life."

AP: "The U.S. government awarded a no-bid, $266 million contract for a lucrative electricity project in southern Afghanistan despite promising last year to seek competitive bids from other companies...."

New York Times: "The natural gas pipe that burst in San Bruno, Calif., on Sept. 9, killing nine people and destroying nearly 40 houses, had numerous flaws in its welds, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a report released Friday."

New York Times: "Facebook announced on Friday that it had raised $1.5 billion in new financing led by Goldman Sachs. The investments include $500 million from Goldman Sachs and the Russian investment firm Digital Sky Technologies, as well as $1 billion from wealthy Goldman clients based overseas."

Guns and Good Manners

The Times moderators have held back my comments on Gail Collins' & Charles Blow's columns. So here they are:

Gail Collins: "Congress really has been looking a little more civil. Not quite Athens in the age of Pericles, but it’s very possible that this year we’ll get through the State of the Union address without anybody jumping up to scream insults at the president."

The Constant Weader's reply:

The trouble with all this civility is that it masks the reality of what Republicans are hiding behind their new good manners offensive. The House Republican Study Committee, which includes something like two-thirds of the Republican members, has rolled out a plan to cut back spending by $2.5 trillion over the next ten years. Having given a massive tax break to millionaires & billionaires, the newly-civilized ladies & gentlemen now propose that the rest of us sacrifice. Of the Study Group's proposal, Steve Benen says, "if lawmakers were to get together to plot how Congress could deliberately increase unemployment, their plan would look an awful lot like this one."

Jobs for Americans evidently aren't a component of the new civility. When asked about jobs, Speaker Boehner told reporters that the Congress had other priorities: "a ban on taxpayer funding of abortions across all federal programs," he asserted, "is one of our highest legislative priorities." Well, he said it politely.

Besides cutting thousands of public jobs, the House has some other great cost-cutting ideas: "eliminate or decimate: the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Title X birth control and family planning, AmeriCorps, the Energy Star program and work on fuel efficient cars, and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change." [Dana Milbank] If all this sounds vaguely familiar to you, it's because you heard it back in 1995, when the decidedly uncivil Newt Gingrich became Speaker. It's the Contract on America, dusted off &, now, thanks to that cost-saving paperless policy, slapped up online.

Oh, there's more that has got to go -– Amtrak subsidies, food safety inspections, mine safety inspections, fair wages on government contracts. Sissy stuff, favored by East Coast elites.

Of course, repealing the Affordable Care Act -– the House's big legislative "accomplishment" of the week -- is about as uncivil as a Congress member can get. Depriving millions of Americans of an opportunity to obtain affordable medical care – while refusing to give up their own government healthcare plans, of course – is an act of gross incivility no matter how nicely you say it. I’ll take "You lie!" over "You die!" *

As for comparing Republican talking points to Nazi propaganda -– that's just stupid. The House Republican plan stands on its own as a low water mark for legislative depravity. Ad hominem comparisons are superfluous.

So. A good start? People in power can do a lot to unravel civil society even while they maintain courtly demeanors. That's what House Republicans are doing now. In my view, their sadistic actions are all the more vicious when they carry them out with smiles on their faces.

* See the link to the post by Jim White of Firedoglake above. It looks as if Congressman Wilson has figured out a way to combine "You lie!" and "You die!"

Charles Blow: "Pre-presidency, Obama had been a strong supporter of gun-control initiatives. Since then, however, he has remained curiously quiet on the issue in general and following the Tucson shooting in particular. The question now is: which Obama will show up at the State of the Union?"

The Constant Weader sez:

When even Dick Cheney of quail-hunting fame came out in support of semi-automatic gun control this week, how much courage does it take for a Democratic President to do the same? Whether he says it in the State of the Union address or in some other venue, President Obama must get behind an assault weapons ban during this first semester of the new Congress, while there is a still a public will to reinstitute the law. To do less would be a gross disservice to the nation.

As Nicholas Kristof said last week, gun control is a health issue. Arguably, more people are dying for want of gun control than are dying for lack of health insurance. President Obama should not be sending his wife out in praise of Wal-Mart, which has promised to phase more healthful foods into its product line, if he is going to allow some of those new healthy eaters to be mowed down by assault weapons.