11/10/2008 08:54:56 PM EST

Keith Olbermann - Worst Person of the Week!

posted by charlesf

I was shocked to learn that Olbermann does not vote.

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Personally I consider voting your patriotic duty. People have died to protect that right and it is your duty to exercise it.

I just don't buy the argument plenty of journalists make against voting. You're a citizen first, journalist second.

Besides, whom is he kidding? He's absolutely in the tank for (liberal) democrats and Obama. So what's this journalistic integrity meme. Please...

I like his cutting special comments, but whenever I see him take on someone in future, I'll be thinking "He doesn't vote and hence really his little standing to criticise any part of the body politic".

Well, I guess I'll get over him being in this respect a misguided soul and a political eunuch, but I can't help finding this most annoying.

What about you? 

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Keith Olbermann - Worst Person of the Week! | 19 comments (19 topical, 0 hidden)
What's your source? (none / 0)

by EveningStarNM on 11/10/2008 09:39:19 PM EST

Source (none / 0)
Olbermann himself on THE VIEW. Check it out.

by charlesf on 11/10/2008 10:00:19 PM EST

Here is the clip (none / 0)
Olbermann on The View.

It was SO DUMB of him to every say he doesn't vote. I won't say it's a career killer, but I couldn't think of a better bait to give his critics.

Obviously the right is going to bash Olbermann for this over and over (and over) again.

I also think this will turn off a good number of moderates and independents, some of which may have gotten into his show at some point.  He just helped to marginalize himself.

by Tom Hanc on 11/10/2008 10:09:55 PM EST

My take (none / 0)

>>> I also think this will turn off a good number of moderates and independents, some of which may have gotten into his show at some point.  He just helped to marginalize himself.

Nah. I wouldn't go that far.

He covers interesting news stories which are often neglected elsewhere. And he can speak truth to power.

Alas, he mars that with some of his antics. Still, he towers above the mindless and obsessively neutral fifty-fifty horseracish coverage in much of TV media.

Him being wrong on the voting matter is more about him as a person than about the show. 

by charlesf on 11/11/2008 04:47:43 AM EST

[ Parent ]
Keep in mind (none / 0)
I'm not talking about his existing audience. *They* aren't going anywhere. I'm talking about possible new viewers, assuming that the main thing they know about him before they see his show is that he doesn't vote.

It's going to undermine his credibility IMO. Not a career killer by any means, but a blemish on the permanent record.

by Tom Hanc on 11/11/2008 12:07:40 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Did he vote when he was at ESPN? (none / 0)
that might help us make sense of this.

by ProfRich on 11/11/2008 12:50:45 PM EST

[ Parent ]
I plead the 5th (none / 0)
So as not to look like an idiot.

by Tom Hanc on 11/11/2008 01:13:06 PM EST

[ Parent ]
This is pretty ridiculous (none / 0)
Olbermann does a news OPINION show, not a news show.  I really hope he doesn't have the same conceit O'Reilly does.

by jarett on 11/10/2008 10:10:13 PM EST

Really? This is important how? (none / 0)

C'mon, cut the guy some slack, he's always been a little odd, weird, geeky, and sort of nerdy anyways. Keep in mind, Olbermann's been operating on-air nearly solo throughout these last 8 years of the "liberals-are-devils&q uot; era. So he has a silly little principle that he tries to follow, so what? The rest of what he does has been largely informative, important, funny, and often brave when others have been silent.

by JamminEggs on 11/11/2008 04:42:20 AM EST

''Odd, weird, geeky, and sort of nerdy'' (none / 0)

That would seem to put him in the same class as 90% of the rest of us.  If he was in the jockstars-only clique, however, I probably wouldn't give a damn what he said about government policy.

However, I do think it's important that people put their money where their mouths are.  I hope never to hear Olbermann recommend who people should vote for or cover another election, and I'm still weighing the possibility that he's lost his right to complain to me about those in power.

by EveningStarNM on 11/12/2008 10:35:45 AM EST

[ Parent ]
Fair is fair (none / 0)
If I had found that out about someone on "the dark side" (Hannity, O'Reilly, Rush) I would be shouting from rooftops. In this case, it does impact my thinking about him, I'm almost embarrassed for "our side." 

by tifosies on 11/11/2008 06:50:23 AM EST

My take (none / 0)

Of course, the Fox gang don't have the same misplaced scruples Olbermann and other journalists have. It also strikes me as intellectual conceit.

They're right and Olbermann is wrong on this one.

Don't get me wrong. If I can look past most of Olbermann's over-the-top antics, so can I look past the error of his way regarding the exercising of the franchise.

But he's still wrong. And his scathing criticism is robbed of some of its power if the messenger doesn't meet his basic civic duty.

by charlesf on 11/11/2008 07:00:24 AM EST

Not for me (none / 0)
I don't think "duty" is a word that should be tossed around when we talk about voting.  For smart people like Olbermann, yeah; voting should probably be encouraged.  But for a lot of people....well, let's just say that, when Bobo told us at the start of the year that he was planning not to vote, I didn't exactly feel compelled to try and change his mind.

by OneHitKill on 11/11/2008 11:06:01 AM EST

[ Parent ]
Addendum (none / 0)
If Olbermann can, with his TV appearances, catalyze critical thought in the minds of just two or more dough-headed viewers, then he has already done more "civic duty" than one Joe Sixpack standing dumbfounded in a voting booth.  

So give him a break.

by OneHitKill on 11/11/2008 11:09:32 AM EST

[ Parent ]
I'm with OHK (none / 0)
It's his business and I don't really care.

by desertpear on 11/11/2008 01:56:54 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Aaaww, lay off the guy... (none / 0)
So he's a journalist, or opinion-giver if you will, and he finds it meaningful not to join a faction at the polling place. Sure, the vote is precious and the fundamental unit of a democracy's currency. But voting is a civic responsibility, not a legally required act. Perhaps the freedom envisioned by the framers of the Constitution includes being at liberty not to perform an ordinary duty in the service of a higher calling. If not casting a ballot frees Olbermann to do what he has done on the air these past few years, I respect that sacrifice on the part of a man who clearly must have had a tremendous emotional investment in the outcome. What would have happened if McCain had won by 1 vote? Olbermann Hell, that's what.

by joel on 11/11/2008 11:25:39 AM EST

Worst Poster in the World (none / 1)
1st:  The phrase is "Worst Person in the World."  You're one of those people that misquotes lines from The Simpsons at parties, aren't you?

2nd:  Olbermann gave a reason for not voting, as you seem to have glossed over in your post.  Let enlighten you:

It's symbolic of his objectivity.  And as he meantions on The View (and I seriously doubt you have seen even a marginal piece of it), he was just as critical of Hillary as he was of McCain.

By the way, Olbermann puts his reputation and ego on the line every night to express the frustration of millions of Americans who hate the establishment but don't have the ability or the means to make their opinions known.  So while you spend one day a year participating in democracy by voting, he spends every weeknight in defense of that democracy.

That said, I hereby nominate this OP for Worst Poster in the World.  Congrats.

by jasong on 11/11/2008 03:57:34 PM EST

I vote against you. (none / 0)

Congrats.

by EveningStarNM on 11/12/2008 10:37:08 AM EST

[ Parent ]
I cannot support this... (none / 0)
as long as Twba is still posting.

by richardshort2001 on 11/12/2008 11:47:54 AM EST

[ Parent ]
Keith Olbermann - Worst Person of the Week! | 19 comments (19 topical, 0 hidden)
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