The Other McCain

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Olbermann’s Career: The First Time as Tragedy, the Second Time as Farce

Posted on | March 31, 2012 | 37 Comments

Huffy self-righteous liberalism is not a rare commodity, and the supply greatly exceeds the demand, so Keith Olbermann’s belief that he had cornered the market on progressive bombast was bound to lead him to a sorry end sooner or later:

For nearly a year now, Al Gore and Joel Hyatt have been building their liberal cable news channel, Current TV, with the mercurial television anchorman Keith Olbermann at its center.
This week, the center collapsed.
Current said on Friday afternoon that it had fired Mr. Olbermann — one of the nation’s most prominent progressive speakers — just a year into his five-year, $50 million contract. It was the culmination of months of murky disputes between Mr. Olbermann and the channel that he was supposed to save from the throes of ratings oblivion. . . .

(Ten million a year!)

In his 40 weeks on Current TV, he had an average of 177,000 viewers at 8 p.m., down from the roughly one million that he had each night on MSNBC.

Quick math: $10 million divided by 177,000 = $56 per viewer! Nice work if you can get it. Fortunately, Olby intends to sue the bastards:

Nevertheless, Mr. Gore and Mr. Hyatt, instead of abiding by their promises and obligations and investing in a quality news program, finally thought it was more economical to try to get out of my contract. It goes almost without saying that the claims against me implied in Current’s statement are untrue and will be proved so in the legal actions I will be filing against them presently.

Good on ya, Keith. We’ve always thought of Al Gore as a greedy, dishonest two-faced swindler, and look forward to you proving this in court. We are also comforted to know that (a) no other network will want to hire a demanding prima donna with a reputation for suing his erstwhile employers, and (b) you’ll be spending your own money paying lawyers to pursue a tort claim against your fellow liberals.

A win-win.

What shall we say of Keith Olbermann’s embarrassing self-destruction? He flourished at MSNBC during the Bush years, his verbose lectures channeling the rage felt by disempowered leftists who had previously only seen their sentiments expressed in Daily Kos rants, C-SPAN fulminations from congressional Democrats, and anti-war chants at A.N.S.W.E.R. rallies. As soon as the “outs” became the “ins” — after Democrats won Congress in 2006 and Obama took the White House in 2008 — the militant rhetoric of progressive resistance lost its focus and, to some extent, its audience.

If dissent is the highest form of patriotism, as liberals so often told us during the Bush years, then Olbermann’s claim to “patriotism” expired as soon as Obama took the oath of office. Dissent became the property of the Tea Party movement, and Olbermann’s denunciation of Tea Partiers lacked the prestige of “courage” he had enjoyed when he was posturing as the Last Honest Man, standing up to the Military-Industrial Complex and punctuating his sermons to the President of the United States with sarcastically contemptuous “sirs.”

By the time Olbermann left MSNBC in January 2011, his act had been obsolete for two years, as I observed then:

By moving left in 2006 — becoming the raging liberal doppelganger of Fox News — MSNBC pushed CNN into third place. But then what? Where was the audience-growth strategy? They couldn’t go farther left, and the steady diet of liberal indignation had reached its saturation point.

Olbermann didn’t understand this, and neither did the executives at Current TV, a network that isn’t carried by enough cable systems to reach an audience nearly as large as that of MSNBC which (although it is available everywhere) still gets just 1 million a night in primetime. For Olbermann to become the franchise player at a minor-league MSNBC wannabe never made sense as an economic proposition: Was Olby so much better than Lawrence O’Donnell that lefties would seek out his show on the What’s-It’s-Name Network?

There is, of course, a massive Memeorandum aggregation about this news, with commentary by Hot Air, Outside the Beltway, PJ Tatler, Weasel Zippers, National Review, Ann Althouse, and Jammie Wearing Fool among others. Of course, the question now is, what next for Olbermann? Now that he’s been fired by a low-rent operation like Current TV, it’s hard to imagine he has any future in “news.” I can’t see him pitching cubic zirconia jewelry on HSN, but maybe he’ll turn up next season on A&E, bidding for lockers on Storage Wars.

You may remember that, when Olbermann blamed the Tea Party for the Tucson massacre, he prompted a Very Special Comment in reply:

“Good night, Mr. Olbermann. Good night, and good riddance.”

Category: Keith Olbermann

Comments

37 Responses to “Olbermann’s Career: The First Time as Tragedy, the Second Time as Farce”

  1. JeffS
    March 31st, 2012 @ 9:59 am

    “…one of the nation’s most prominent progressive speakers…”

    Which speaks very poorly indeed of the progressive movement.

  2. Garym
    March 31st, 2012 @ 10:00 am

    Oh please let this be ugly and drawn out. No settling out of court! I want discovery damnit, and lots of it.

  3. ThePaganTemple
    March 31st, 2012 @ 10:38 am

    Olbermann’s nuts, and if the truth was known he was fired for doing something that would epitomize his mental health issues. He’s the kind of person you might expect to commit suicide on the air. Though more than likely he’ll just record a video of him doing it, probably opening his veins in a tub of warm, soapy bath water.

    Bottom line, Olbermann is one of these kinds of people that are impossible to get along with. If you read the statement from Current, that pretty much sums it up. They pretty much come right out and say as much as “this guy is one crazy, impossible to deal with son-of-a-bitch.

  4. JeffWeimer
    March 31st, 2012 @ 10:52 am

    “(a) no other network will want to hire a demanding prima donna with a reputation for suing his erstwhile employers, and (b) you’ll be spending your own money paying lawyers to pursue a tort claim against your fellow liberals.

    A win-win.”

    Mixed Metaphors risk: STRATOSPHERIC. 

    We don’t have to root for injuries, they’re baked in the cake!

  5. t-dahlgren
    March 31st, 2012 @ 10:53 am

    “[A]fter Democrats won Congress in 2006 and Obama took the White House in
    2008 — the militant rhetoric of progressive resistance lost its focus
    and, to some extent, its audience.”

    It also switched from being an asset to a liability.

    It is rather difficult to remain a critic of the people who have now been reduced to being critics of the new administration.  Or, put another way, stone throwing is worst when conducted from inside the glass house.

    Then there is the damage you do to the media’s own self-branding as ‘watchdog.’  At some point it becomes all too obvious you are nothing more than a cheerleader, and that reflects poorly on your cohorts – can’t have that.

  6. t-dahlgren
    March 31st, 2012 @ 10:55 am

    Olby knows Gore will quietly cut him a check, just to keep this from turning into an extended soap opera, and doing all the damage that Stacy alludes to. 

    No, it won’t be a big check, but at this point it’s all Olby has left.

  7. TR
    March 31st, 2012 @ 11:08 am

    Special Note to Jefferson:
    Don’t cut your hair into a Mowhawk and also stay away from methamphetamine and trigger happy neighbors.  (You might need to hire your older brothers for protection but not from Olby…LOL)

    http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/shooter-mistakes-mohawk-for-fowl-runs-afoul-of-the/

  8. Charles
    March 31st, 2012 @ 11:08 am

    Keith says his internal disputes with Current TV go back “more than a year” when he has only been on air for 9 months.

    http://www.leftbankofthecharles.com/2012/03/al-gore-kicks-out-worst-person-in-world.html

  9. ThePaganTemple
    March 31st, 2012 @ 11:10 am

    Wouldn’t it be hilarious if Olbie was to turn into a conservative just to spite Gore. And while of course it wouldn’t be sincere, it yet might not be as ludicrous as you might think if he were to make a move like that. Just think of all the things he knows, all the things he’s heard over the years from people that would never expect him to say anything about it.

  10. He’s Been Stinking For Years. Can We Just Bury Him Now? | Daily Pundit
    March 31st, 2012 @ 11:17 am

    […] He’s Been Stinking For Years. Can We Just Bury Him Now? Posted on March 31, 2012 8:17 am by Bill Quick Olbermann’s Career: The First Time as Tragedy, the Second Time as Farce : The Other McCain […]

  11. tranquil.night
    March 31st, 2012 @ 12:30 pm

    “Huffy self-righteous liberalism is not a rare commodity, and the supply greatly exceeds the demand”
     
    Great line.
     
    They always manage to dig their grave so dramatically and with irony abound.

  12. rosalie
    March 31st, 2012 @ 12:35 pm

    Jefferson, you’re a natural.  And with your good looks, you’re bound to go far. 

  13. robertstacymccain
    March 31st, 2012 @ 12:58 pm

    “this guy is one crazy, impossible to deal with son-of-a-bitch. “

    Much like Alec Baldwin.

  14. just a conservative girl
    March 31st, 2012 @ 1:01 pm

    But, but, but he has run out of places to go.  What is he going to do now?  

    I guess he will have to get “progressive truth” out on twitter while relaxing at home in his underwear.  

  15. richard mcenroe
    March 31st, 2012 @ 1:16 pm

     I want to see him endorse Romney.

  16. richard mcenroe
    March 31st, 2012 @ 1:19 pm

     THAT’S A DIRTY LIE!

    kIeth OLBermanN willbe KING of public axis cabel +
    YOutUbe chanelz!!!1!!eleventy!!!

  17. richard mcenroe
    March 31st, 2012 @ 1:20 pm

    And there’ always ESPN Sports Radio out of Las Vegas…

  18. Charles Martel
    March 31st, 2012 @ 1:44 pm

    I do believe they’ve signed up Elliot Spitzer (aka “Client #9”) to replace him.

  19. Bob Belvedere
    March 31st, 2012 @ 2:18 pm

    But, at least, Baldwin, is a good comic actor.

  20. Bob Belvedere
    March 31st, 2012 @ 2:22 pm

    That’s what I heard too, Hammer.

  21. richard mcenroe
    March 31st, 2012 @ 2:30 pm

    I look at KO’s numbers, and Soledad’s numbers, and suddenly I feel better about my blog’s numbers…

  22. Adjoran
    March 31st, 2012 @ 2:34 pm

     He’s like Baldwin without the endearing charm and parenting skills.

  23. Adjoran
    March 31st, 2012 @ 2:39 pm

     Yeah, due to his proven attraction for just the size audiences that Current usually draws.

    I have to wonder:  just how sick and deranged do those 177,000 people have to be?

    I bet they ARE the 99%.

  24. Charles Martel
    March 31st, 2012 @ 3:22 pm

    I guess this makes Keith “THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD!”

  25. BLBeamer
    March 31st, 2012 @ 4:25 pm

    Stacy, Olby’s career was pretty much farce the first time, too.

  26. ThePaganTemple
    March 31st, 2012 @ 4:46 pm

     Or maybe even worse, Charlie Sheen.

  27. ThePaganTemple
    March 31st, 2012 @ 4:46 pm

     So you’re saying Olbermann’s not?

  28. ThePaganTemple
    March 31st, 2012 @ 4:48 pm

     I just want to see him tell all he knows about the people who “did him wrong”.

  29. AnonymousDrivel
    March 31st, 2012 @ 5:40 pm

    That’s all he has? You mean he lost his bathtub? This is tragedy heaped upon calamity. The world mourns.

  30. Quartermaster
    March 31st, 2012 @ 7:41 pm

    He’d fit right in with a lot of the neocon cabal.

  31. Quartermaster
    March 31st, 2012 @ 7:44 pm

    He did a pretty good job of playing a CIA analyst.

  32. Adobe_Walls
    March 31st, 2012 @ 10:44 pm

    And delivers a return on investment in him.

  33. Adobe_Walls
    March 31st, 2012 @ 10:55 pm

    Not at all similar. Charlie’s descent in to madness went from madcap to scary but riveting. Olbermann’s descent is just pathetic without invoking fear or pity it’s not even sad. People will say “what a shame” if Charlie Sheen’s destruction is complete nobody cares what becomes of Olbermann other than the damage he might cause to the left’s brand.  

  34. SDN
    March 31st, 2012 @ 11:33 pm

     Oh, great, Gore has an affirmative action program for douchebags…

  35. asmith
    April 2nd, 2012 @ 1:34 pm

    Olbermann is praying hard for a Romney win.  He’ll be back in outraged business again.

  36. Under the Fedora: Slime, Pink and otherwise | The Minority Report Blog
    April 3rd, 2012 @ 10:46 am

    […] as I’ve reached a milestone Keith Olberman has reached a milestone of being fired from a network that almost nobody has heard of after only 40 weeks, 5 year $50,000,000 contract not […]

  37. Under the Fedora: Slime, Pink and Otherwise
    April 3rd, 2012 @ 4:41 pm

    […] as I’ve reached a blogging milestone, Keith Olbermann reached the milestone of getting fired from a network that almost nobody has heard of—after only 40 weeks, five-year $50,000,000 […]