From legendary Virginia Democratic political operative (Tim Kaine, Mark Warner, Terry McAuliffe Creigh Deeds, Jody Wagner, etc.) Mo Elleithee on the question, “Olbermann: Sad farewell or good riddance?”
As a Democrat, I’ve long felt that we need more passionate, progressive hosts to help drive the debate and counter the (often loud) voices on the right.
But having said that, we cannot denounce the lack of civility, vitriol and hate speech from right-wing hosts, while condoning (or embracing it) on the left.
I hope MSNBC replaces Olbermann with someone who is as fierce an advocate for the left as he was, but can help elevate the tone of the debate at the same time. And I can only dare to hope that Fox will follow suit and replace Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly as well.
I couldn’t agree more with the part I bolded – Mo’s last paragraph (but let me be clear: there is ZERO equivalency between Olbermann on the one hand and Beck/O’LIElly on the other). Beck should be canned for this situation alone. O’Reilly should be out of there – if not prosecuted for inciting a murder – for this. Of course, that won’t happen at Faux, nor will they sever their ties with the despicable, egregious Sarah Palin, but Mo Elleithee makes a great point nonetheless.
P.S. I don’t have cable TV (by choice) and only see these guys on occasion, when someone points out a video of theirs to me. Other than thinking that Beck and O’Reilly are crazy, extremist, hatemongers, I can’t say I’m a huge fan of Keith Olbermann either, just don’t like his style and think he goes over the top frequently. Having said that, there is no comparison between Beck/O’Reilly/Limbaugh/etc. on the right, and pretty much anybody I can think of on the left, in terms of dangerous, violent, insane, and factually incorrect rhetoric. Not even close.
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