Conservatives rail against MSNBC's Olbermann for reporting election irregu

[LiviaOlivia]

Conservatives rail against MSNBC's Olbermann for reporting election irregularities
11-16-04

Media conservatives have labeled MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann a "voice of paranoia" and accused him of perpetuating "idiotic conspiracy theories" for his sustained spotlight on the numerous local news reports of voting irregularities during the November 2 presidential election. Olbermann's emphasis during Countdown with Keith Olbermann on voting irregularities has been part of a critique of what he has called the "Rube Goldberg voting process of ours" -- as well as a criticism of the major media outlets' failure to report on the irregularities.

In her November 11 nationally syndicated column, right-wing pundit Ann Coulter falsely asserted that Olbermann has been "peddling the theory that Bush stole the election" and referred to "Olbermann's idiotic conspiracy theory." A November 14 column by associate editor Bill Steigerwald in the conservative Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (owned by right-wing financier Richard Mellon Scaife) claimed Olbermann "really made a Dan Rather of himself" by focusing a segment of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann on allegations of voter fraud. And in his November 10 "Inside Politics" column, Washington Times columnist Greg Pierce quoted the conservative Media Research Center's analysis of Olbermann's coverage:

"With 'Did Your Vote Count? The Plot Thickens' as his on-screen header, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann on Monday night led his 'Countdown' program with more than 15 straight minutes of paranoid and meaningless claims about voting irregularities in states won by President Bush," the Media Research Center reports at www.mediaresearch.org.

But Olbermann has not suggested that the election was stolen. Discussing the possible causes of the bevy of reported voting irregularities from around the country, Olbermann offered this analysis on the November 10 edition of Countdown:

There are really only three possible explanations for all of this. The first is hoped for virtually unanimously by supporters of every candidate and every party -- namely, that all those elected last Tuesday got in because that's the way the people voted. The second is that some of them got in through manipulation of a series of insufficiently sophisticated, insufficiently secure computer voting machines that might be hacked into by the nearest 9-year-old. But the third possibility is actually more heart-stopping still, one that threatens the democracy in the way 100 terrorist rings could not -- that the president or the District 90 dog catcher or other Republicans or other Democrats were elected because a series of insufficiently sophisticated, insufficiently secure computer voting machines was affected by bad design, bad use, damp ballots, power surges, and/or static cling.

<snip>

http://mediamatters.org/items/200411160006

[Dr Fate]

1. The Truth Hurts.

Gotta love those simple, old sayings!

[UL_Approved]

2. The hatred of dissent

No enemy is greater to a dictator than accurate information or dissenting opinion. The mere suggestion of wrongdoing places doubt in the minds of all, and can lead to more investigation. We have to keep this from getting swept under the rug. If it stops, we will NEVER get it back. The Bush regime may even go so far as destroying video archives at major news networks if people stop paying attention.

[johnaries]

3. This issue is starting to get more people to discredit it..

in the MSM than there are talking about it. A SURE sign that something is rotten in Denmark (and Ohio, and Florida, and ....)

[WMliberal]

4. he must be on to something

if the right has skipped step 1: having anonymous white house sources (Karl Rove) say shit to be repeated by all the major outlets and networs and gone to step 2: slander/character defamation in general.

When the Moonie Times is first on the attack, it's always (1) straight from the white house as in step 1 and (2) really scaring the shit out of them.

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. Free Olbermann!

He does have the right to go on the air and follow his conscience.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

6. Olberman has found something.

Why else would the Klan be after him.

[Left Brain]

7. That's okay -

Olbermann pretty much spanked Ann Coulter soundly in one of his recent blogs.

It's the same-old-same-old neocon spin, and those who get their info from the MSM are under their dizzying spell. Bobby Kennedy Jr said it best on AAR on 11/5: We've GOT to find a way to get our message into the media.