Check out this James Thurber fable.

[RedCloud]

A James Thurber Fable

"Several summers ago there was a Scotty who went to the country for a visit," James Thurber begins in "The Scotty Who Knew Too Much." The Scotty was contemptuous of the farm dogs he met. These dogs were afraid of a creature they encountered that had a white stripe down its back. The aggressive Scotty announced that he would take the creature on. "Don't you want to ask any questions about him?" a farm dog asked. "Naw," said the Scotty, "you ask the questions."

Undeterred by a squirting and the odoriferous result, the Scotty was soon ready to confront another animal all the farm dogs were afraid of. "Don't you want to ask any questions about him?" a farm dog asked. "Naw," says the Scotty, "just show me where he hangs out." The farm dog showed the Scotty where the animal lived, and within moments, the farm dog was pulling quills out of the Scotty.

Infuriated, the Scotty announced that he had now learned how to fight in the country and would beat up the farm dog. He held his nose with one front paw to ward off squirts and odors and covered his eyes with the other to keep out quills. "The Scotty couldn't see his opponent and he couldn't smell his opponent and he was so badly beaten that he had to be taken back to the city and put in a nursing home," concludes Thurber.

"Moral: It is better to ask some of the questions than to know all the answers."

[Tx4obama]

1. So what did Olbermann mean by it ? n/t

[Frustratedlady]

2. That was my first thought...did he choose that Thurber story for a reason?

The skunk and the porcupine?

Check out the Tweet change in another post. He changed stories from earlier in the evening to right before he went on.

Note also that he thanked Rachel, but not the others...Tweety, Ed, and the other...so mad, I can't think of his name.

[REP]

6. He probably changed it to a shorter story to allow time for his goodbye

Unless he sees Kabletown as the city dog.

[Clio the Leo]

3. bookmarking this one later..

.... as KO CLEARLY chose the story on purpose.

[coolhip33]

4. BUT someone translate!!!!

[Berry Cool]

5. Just my interpretation, but here it is.

KO sees himself as the Scottie. Bold, brash, maybe sometimes a bit too contemptuous for his own good. He looks at the right wing heavies and doesn't understand why the others he sees around him in the news world (which he entered after being in the sports world, just like the Scottie moving to the country) are so scared of them. "Bring 'em on," he says. "I'm not afraid of them." And then he learns, the hard way, that you can only win fighting against them for so long before they asphyxiate you with their stink and stab you with their quills until you're finally chased right out of their habitat and longing for respite from their attacks.

Here endeth the lesson.