Keith Olberman checks out of Daily Kos in disgust

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/6/17/876760/-Check,-Please
Check, Please
by Keith Olbermann
Wed Jun 16, 2010 at 10:15:44 PM PDT

skip

If I can understand people's frustration with seeing a speech by a Democratic president criticized in a venue such as mine, why is it impossible for some people here to accept my frustration about the speech? You don't agree with me, fine. You don't want to watch because you don't agree with me, fine. But to accuse me, after five years of risking what I have to present the truth as I see it, of staging something for effect, is deeply offensive to me and is an indication of what has happened here.

You want Cheerleaders? Hire the Buffalo Jills. You want diaries with conspiracy theories, go nuts. If you want this site the way it was even a year ago, let me know and I'll be back.

edit: posted, deleted when I thought it was a dupe, but it's really not, so I reposted.

Sorry for the confusion. But the other post was someone else's take on it without a link. This is KO and only KO

[WeDidIt]

1. Keith Olbermann is a thin skinned asshole n/t

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bullwinkle428]

20. This from a guy who was insisting he put MSNBC on "permanent ignore"

on his cable box two nights ago?

A tad ironic, don't you think?

[WeDidIt]

26. And I did put MSNBC on permanent ignore

I have a choice on what I watch on television and how I spend my entertainment time.

Olbermann and Maddow are no longer on the menu. If I wanted the hear talking heads spewing bullshit about Obama, I can easily tune into Fox News for that bullshit.

[JHB]

30. Like clockwork... n/t

[WeDidIt]

Not my fault that Keith Olbermann is a thin skinned asshole. n/t

[JHB]

40. ...and pots and kettles to go with the clock.

:eyes:

[WeDidIt]

43. The thin skinned asshole quite DK over an HRed comment

It's not my fault. I didn't post the comment.

[sabrina 1]

49. No, the thin skins are on Daily Kos. Keith is just the latest

of many, many great progressive voices to either check out of Daily Kos, or to be driven out.

Greg Palast and Cindy Sheehan among them. Even Obama checked out of DK after posting only two diaries there several years ago.

Good for Keith. If he had been attention to what goes on there, he would have checked out a long time ago.

[walldude]

55. Did you even read the link?

He was responding to someone.. probably like you, who claimed that his anger about the speech was staged because someone told him that bashing the president was good for ratings. I wouldn't call it thin skinned if I responded to someone attacking my professional integrity.

[Donnachaidh]

58. remind you of anyone?

Have a mirror.... ? :rofl:

[earth mom]

59. Is that what you call yourself? Because you can't take the heat either!

:eyes:

[branders seine]

65. You sir, are a boor

and a lout.

[dionysus]

2. DUPE but nice self fashioned title

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

5. It was/is a completely accurate title.

He says "it was deeply offensive" to him. I would say people are disgusted when they find something deeply offensive.

[Arkana]

3. Geez, Keith--grow a thicker skin.

[Bluebear]

8. OMG you should talk, just sayin' :)

[William Z. Foster]

42. it is hilarious

Clearly, the people repeating the "thick-skin" thing are about the most thin-skinned people imaginable. They are all bent out of shape because a reporter said something they don't like about a third person, and are taking that personally. Now THAT is thin-skinned.

[Arkana]

47. What's that supposed to mean?

You don't think that a guy who's one of the most stridently liberal voices in the media (of the few that exist) should maybe be able to stomach a bit of criticism when it comes from his own side?

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Maru Kitteh]

29. BOG people. Personal attack

[mitchtv]

34. haha

Well, I'd take it as an insult

[Clintonista2]

18. Look in a mirror. n/t

[Arkana]

50. As soon as I'm a multimillionaire pundit on a major cable news network

who's opinion influences millions of OTHERS' opinions, I will, thanks.

Jesus fucking Christ, Keith Olbermann takes shit from his counterparts on the right on a daily basis, as well as stupid and vicious Republican politicians.

But when his own side criticizes him (whether misguided or not, I will not comment) he just up and ragequits Kos because his feelings got hurt? Come on.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

4. I will delete. I did not see the other thread.

[Sebastian Doyle]

6. So Message Discipline LLC wants to alienate one of the few friends Democrats have in corporate media

Like most Rahm Emanuel strategies, it's completely full of FAIL.

[xchrom]

9. +1

[William Z. Foster]

44. yes

It is one thing to disagree with the direction Rahm Emanuel is taking the party, and object to that, but the political strategy and tactics seem lousy, as well.

In defense of the administration, the timing has been awful - the Wall Street extortion and now the Gulf - and the "third way" approach precludes considering the possibility of things like that happening and does not offer them any way to effectively respond to these catastrophes when they do happen. They are getting hoisted by their own petard at this point. On the other hand, they brought the health insurance fiasco and the public education controversy on themselves.

[amborin]

51. +1

[Smashcut]

57. nodding

[bluestateguy]

11. Exiting the stage as the Drama Queen he has always been

Man has he grown an ego these last 2 years.

[lonestarnot]

13. You have the hots for Keith.

[inna]

12. K&R&lol

[treestar]

14. No we don't want cheerleaders

We want to lose. :sarcasm:

We have no pundit/comedians on our side or if we do they don't stick.

[jillan]

15. Wow Keith! If you can't take a little criticism than don't take a stand.

I love Keith - but he has no problem insulting other people.

He should be able to take it. This is like High School - you were mean to me so I'm not going to be friends with you.

WTF!

[sabrina 1]

66. When Keith insults people he uses the truth to go after them with.

He has no problem with being criticized or being disagreed with. But when, on a progressive board, his integrity is questioned with lies, he has every right to respond and expose the lies. That is what he does for others when lies are told about them by rabid rightwingers.

It is the blind worshippers of the party who need to learn to 'take it' as you say. Daily Kos is like high school, always was, and Keith is wise to get our of there. I used to wonder why he was there in the first place as their reputation is definitely not the greatest except among those who wanted to suppress the voices of real progressives on the internet. Daily Kos established itself as a fake 'liberal' blog and made it clear it would do the job of killing internet discussion of topics forbidden in the MSM and attempt to control the voices most needed to be heard. As a result, they get 'access', or some anyhow.

Keith is way above that standard, but he clearly bought the media's claims that that blog represents progressives. It doesn't, and now I hope he knows and wastes no more time there. He has real work to do. And an actual audience, not some fake numbers reflecting tens of thousands of people who are no longer participating there.

[scheming daemons]

16. I like Keith... a lot... but he should take his own advice here

He's taking his ball and going home because he got a little criticism?

Really?


Isn't that what he is railing about?



Sometimes people who like you will criticize you, Keith... roll with it.

[Helga Scow Stern]

17. Maybe he'll come to DU....

there are worse places on the internets.

[spoony]

32. Why would he do that?

The same infection that drove him from DK is festering here.

[Starry Messenger]

37. +100,000

[MissDeeds]

56. +1000

Squelching disagreement or dissent isn't healthy for a democracy.

[Barack_America]

61. Agreed.

I just posted the same thing down-thread.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=8584233&mesg_id=8590074

[MrMickeysMom]

36. I believe he has...

Recall the other night, he used the rant I hear here when people post about Freepers.... "Oh Noes!"

[Ozymanithrax]

19. I think Keith was surprised to see a "your with us or against us" mentality in so much of the left..

I know it amazes me.

[burnsei sensei]

23. Yes. That's groupthink.

Often a problem where many people agree about many things.

[Ozymanithrax]

27. Are his critics engaging in "groupthink" or is MSNBC/FOX/NBC/CBS/Comedy Channel?n/t

[burnsei sensei]

35. I think that at DK,

it's much harder to criticize or use a critical stand in evaluating the president or his actions. The writers there don't differentiate between traditional and Third Way liberalism.
Their objective is to run Democratic candidates and to do as much as possible to help them win the offices.
And this objective is one that forces them into uncritical evaluations and groupthink.

As for the others, I don't know because I don't have a TV and I haven't watched in years.

[dflprincess]

24. It's the "pragmatists" that have that attitude. nt

[Ozymanithrax]

25. Would that be pragmatism the philosophy...or are you just using the word as defined...

Dealing or concerned with facts or actual occurrences; practical.

[dflprincess]

31. The centrists who have turned "pragmatic"

into another way of saying "sell out" because now is never the right time for progressive change.

[Ozymanithrax]

39. I suppose there are some centrists that see things that way...

The bigger conflict is what defines progress, whether a small change is acceptable progerss or a sell out because it wasn't big enough.

[spoony]

33. It ain't the "left"

Not even close.

[sabrina 1]

63. Not the 'left'. The rightwing of the Democratic Party.

If Keith had had time to observe some of what goes on on that blog, he would not have been one bit surprised. The blog has been filled with political operatives and party loyalist cheer-leaders, some of the nastiest around the internet, attempting to enforce message discipline, since at least 2004. That's what he's reacting to, as have so many other real progressives before him who realized that it only hindered the work they are trying to do to get bogged down in what that blog does best, meta turf wars. So most have moved on as Keith is doing, as Obama did, Cindy Sheehan, Greg Palast, Chris Floyd, the list is long.

[burnsei sensei]

21. I posted at DK for about two years, maybe.

I decided to come and post here because I find that this site accommodates a wider variety of liberal and moderate views than DK does.

[KonaKane]

22. Gonna hold your breath until you're blue, too, Keith?

Come on back when you are not a child anymore.

[otohara]

28. Good One

He really is thinned skinned, so defensive.

[chrisa]

38. I always thought DK was a bad website.

Not because of any of this. Just because the design is annoying. It's like a web designer just spewed a bunch of a text on a page.

The Huffington Post is at least readable, and more organized.

[defendandprotect]

41. Kos has been becoming a TV personality . . ..

I've never been that excited about the Daily Kos -- or Kos

and I think whatever Kos was, he's been compromising it --

[elocs]

45. Evidently KO is not the only thin skinned one.

We have several posters here who would serve DU better by simply putting one another on "ignore". Enough bickering already goes on.

I don't watch KO or the other liberal commentators that so many here are constantly gushing about. While on a long driving trip last weekend I did listen to some liberal talk radio in the car and I realized after a couple of hours that DUers get their talking points from these people and parrot what they say, the same as the freepers do with their talking heads.

Of course we can be self righteous in the knowledge that the truth rests solely with us. It would be nice if all people could learn to think for themselves and not have somebody else's ideas spoon fed to them.

[madrchsod]

48. simple fact checking before posting on a...

controversial topic would help....yes there are a few here that seem to bicker but i`ve noticed the mods usually give them a pizza and time to think it over.

[madrchsod]

46. just think if there was the internet in the 60`s.....nt

[blueworld]

52. I think many progressives are getting tired & thin-skinned & cranky

I don't know much about DK, so I can't address that. I don't always agree with Keith by far, but I respect what he does.

The biggest surprises I usually get are in reading through these threads & seeing so many borderline nasty personal attacks on other DUers instead of addressing a fact & moving on.

If that's what's been happening at DK, I understand the drain of posters. Progressives usually don't want cheerleaders, but they don't want wing-nut type attacks either. A nice debate is good for the blood-pressure, but constant bickering is worse than a bad marriage & elicits the same response (without alimony).

[newspeak]

53. the whole family watches KO and Rachel every night

most of the time I agree with the comments-but, sometimes I don't. Of course, I don't go off of the deep end and cry I'm not going to watch them anymore because they don't agree with me. I will always appreciate KO (it was before Rachel) for having the guts to publicly come forward and tell the people that Little Boots was trashing the constitution-trashing the Bill of rights. Actually, criticizing (that who must not be criticized). And, I respect him for doing it now--Teddy Roosevelt once said (paraphrasing) "It is our duty, as citizens of this country to question the president, to do otherwise is treason."

As I've said before, I actually watched the speech-didn't really listen to the pundits--my own opinion, I was expecting more with less of the AQ terror shite and "god bless us everyone (my words)." But, you see, that's my opinion-and everyone has one.

[felinetta]

54. Well, I guess KO's ego just can't handle it. He can give all kinds of reasons, but it rubs me the

wrong way. And Maddow acting as "president"  way
over the top.  I'll check in on them, but with a much bigger
grain of salt.

[Barack_America]

60. Huh. So the same thing that has happened to DU has happened to Kos?

Wonder where the progressives are hiding out these days.

I had assumed the progressive leaving DU had flocked to Kos.

[WillyT]

62. I Feel His Pain...

:evilfrown:

[dionysus]

64. for keith;

i like KO, but it's too bad his ego is that fragile some posters on an message board got him in that much of a huff.

[Tarheel_Dem]

67. The moral of the story seems to be, "if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen"?

I have loved KO since I came across his show several years ago. I began tuning him out more & more, not because of this single incident, but his nightly obsession with Glenn Beck & Sarah Palin just wore me out.

I didn't expect KO to be a "cheerleader", but I think a lot of us expected that he would resist joining in the pile-on with Hamsher and her sycophants.