Olbermann commentary takes Condi to history school

[babylonsister]

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2007/Olbermann_commentary_takes_Condi_to_history_0227.html

Olbermann commentary takes Condi to history school
David Edwards
Published: Tuesday February 27, 2007

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann delivered one of his "special comments" on remarks that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made during an interview on Fox News Sunday, where she compared Saddam Hussein to Adolf Hitler.

"On the Sunday morning interview show 'Of Broken Record' on Fox, Dr. Rice spoke a paragraph, which if it had been included in a remedial history paper at the weakest high school in the nation would've gotten the writer an "F" — maybe an expulsion," Olbermann said. "If Congress were now to revise the Iraq authorization, she said, out loud, with an adult present: "… it would be like saying that after Adolf Hitler was overthrown, we needed to change, then, the resolution that allowed the United States to do that, so that we could deal with creating a stable environment in Europe after he was overthrown."

Olbermann added, "The secretary's résumé reads that she has a master’s degree and a Ph.D in political science. The interviewer should have demanded to see them, on the spot. Dr. Rice spoke 42 words. She may have made more mistakes in them than did the president in his State of the Union Address in 2003."

"There is, obviously, no mistaking Saddam Hussein for a human being; but nor is there any mistaking him for Adolf Hitler," Olbermann continued. "Invoking the German dictator who subjugated Europe; who tried to exterminate the Jews; who sought to overtake the world is not just in the poorest of taste, but in its hyperbole, it insults not merely the victims of the Third Reich, but those in this country who fought it and defeated it."

Olbermann argues that "you can't cherry-pick life — whether life in 2007, or life in the history page marked 1945," and that Rice should at least learn to use "the Google."

Clip of Olbermann's special comment at link.

[Buzz Clik]

1. Olbermann's screeds have fascinated me for a number of reasons.

His Special Comments initially struck me as being way over the top. His respectful scolding of the president, howling at Rumsfeld, and lecturing of Rice were a bit hard to take.

And then I watched his comments a second time, and it became clearer: no one of any stature in the media is calling the administration on their lies and assorted bullshit. We have become so accustomed to Bush, Rice, and Cheney lying to us that we don't even notice any more. How many times have we heard the comparisons of our invasion of Iraq to the the fight against Hitler? Ten? A thousand?

And how many times have we heard a point-by-point dismantling of the argument by someone other than those whose blogs are buried in the bowels of the Internet? None.

Olbermann is not the left's answer to Tony Snow or Rush Limbaugh, because they are liars. Olbermann researches his points carefully and drafts his Special Comments with great care. Dismissing his points as hyperbole is impossible.

For the longest time, I considered Jon Stewart as the lone voice representing the mainstream left. Colbert has spun off of Stewart's approach, but only through parody and irony. Their use of comedy softens the blow.

Olbermann, however, pulls no punches. His words are a sharpened sword that are delivered with surgical precision.

Thank God for Keith Olbermann.

[babylonsister]

2. Very nice post, Buzz Clik. I have to agree; unlike Stewart and Colbert,

KO is not a comedian and is dead serious, so there's a huge difference. He speaks from his heart, and we all get the feeling he is as angry as we are. So nice to have someone of such intellect with a platform in our camp, finally!