Olbermann is "on assignment" ? (dissent transcript: Must Read)

[FlashHarry]

Isn't that the journalistic equivalent of "spending more time with his family?"

Anyone wondering if this has anything to do with his impassioned plea for tolerance and dissent last night? :tinfoilhat:

On edit: scroll down for transcript in question, or click here.

[darknemus]

1. Olbermann is teh rox0r!!!11 :)

I doubt it - they wouldn't boot Olbermann, he's too amusing and must be bringing them some sort of ratings. Although I'm definitely missing him.

Oh, hiya, DU - I finally decided to register after reading here for near six months now.

-darknemus

[grasswire]

3. write his boss

Let Countdown producers know that you miss him and watch every night.

We've got to get his numbers up.

[email protected]

[elfin]

28. thanks for the link - sent

a letter saying Countdown was an oasis for people with 3 digit IQ's and on and on....

[revcarol]

4. Welcome to DU.

:grouphug:

You come during "interesting times."

[mrsteve]

6. Welcome to DU, darknemus

Don't worry 'bout lurking, though. I've been here for just about 2 years and only have about 360 posts. ;-)

(on edit - ha! didn't even know my correct post count +-100)

[woofless]

7. Welcome to DU

n/t

[Pepperbelly]

10. welcome aboard. nt

[Old and In the Way]

13. Welcome aboard! The more, the merrier!

Head to the Lounge and say hello!

[newyawker99]

16. Hi darknemus!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[watercolors]

22. welcome darknemus

Its a great place to be, helps to hang on to your sanity, most of the time!

[FlashHarry]

23. Welcome to DU--even though I don't understand your post!

:hi:

[goobergunch]

27. Leet-speak...

essentially used by geeks like myself.

[elfin]

24. No - they'll just move

him to 3:30 PM opposite Crossfire. This makes me raging mad if what I suspect is true.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

2. Are you serious???

They are going to have groper boy and that ding dong BO Bitch on???


:wtf: this is freedom???? It's all one sided!!!

Damn It!!!!!!

[Must_B_Free]

5. Just Like Donahue, -

the kicker was when Rosie O'Donnell said:
"come on - killing people is wrong, haven't we learned that yet"

As soon as that aired, Donohue was not on again.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

34. guess they'll hire another scarborough to take his place

we can look forward to Dornan Country or The Malzberg Factor soon
they're the only nutjobs that haven't had a cable show yet

[SoCalDem]

8. They just want to utilize every spare minute they have to boost Ahhnold

Poor us, We got enroned, and are not being overthrown by Conan the Barbarian & his pals.:(

I just hope and pray that enough "normal" people come out to vote nect Tuesday..

I will be hunting for a newspaper on Wednesday.. I sure hope our hotel has them:)..

Or if I can find internet access, I'll join in here for whatever happens..

Fingers crossed

[dicknbush]

9. I SAW THAT LAST NIGHT

IT WAS RIVETING TO SEE A COMENTATOR WHO DIDN'T GIVE A CRAP WHAT THEY MIGHT SAY IF HE ROWED AGAISNT THE TIDE. I WAS STANDING IN FRONT OF THE TV CHEERING HIM ON IT WAS GREAT HE REALLY PUT O"LIAR IN HIS PLACE AND MADE YOU PROUD TO BE A LIBERAL. IT WAS FUCKIN GREAT!

[VolcanoJen]

11. Keith kicks so much f'in ass!

He deserves a little va-cay.

Taking off the :tinfoilhat: for the time being,
Jennifer :-)

[FlashHarry]

17. I was being sliiiiightly silly.

I tend not to wear the :tinfoilhat: Probably wouldn't fit my capacious mellon anyway...

[MoonAndSun]

12. My e-mail to MSNBC

I tune in to see Keith and instead I see (OMG) Chris Matthews. I refuse to watch this man who claims to be bi-partisan and spews nothing but rightwing blather. I quit watching MSNBC when you fired Phil Donahue because he opposed the Iraq invasion. I started back with you when Keith started his show. If you have gotten rid of Keith, you will have lost me forever.



everyone needs to e-mail this show.

[quinnox]

14. I hope it's permanent

I think that show he has is fluff and I don't find it entertaining. To be blunt, his show sucks. I wouldn't be surprised if his ratings, like most of MSNBC, are in the tank.

The only thing worth watching for me on that channel is Hardball, and only when important political guests are on, because Matthews is an idiot and unwatchable otherwise.

[thebigidea]

15. yeah! We can't have shows that mock O'Reilly, praise dissent

and make oft-goofy jokes.

[sandnsea]

18. WHAT!!!!

That one hour show has more hard core news than any other news program, save the Newshour or something like that. Sure, he mixes in his own brand of humor and the weird and bizarre, but he always hits the real news and doesn't pander to the Bushies.

I hope he wasn't removed because of his dissent piece, but if he was, it would actually be exposing the truth of what he was saying.

[quinnox]

19. Hard core news?

I don't call the Kobe Bryant case hard news. This is stuff I saw before on his show every night, if I happened to be tuned into that channel. No thanks.

[sandnsea]

31. Watch more often

And Kobe Bryant IS news to sports fans and there are alot of them. Olberman has given it much less attention than the rest of the media. And he is the most likely to report unflattering news against the Bushies FIRST and call it what it is at the same time. He's fair and fun, the perfect combo to attract younger people to the news.

[FlashHarry]

35. Tweety spoke to Tammy-Faye for 15 minutes the other night!

Was that 'hard-core news?' :puke:

[FlashHarry]

20. Read this, and tell me if you stil think he 'sucks.'

((Mods, this is only a small part of the entire transcript. If you feel I'm violating copyright rules, please snip.))
Complete transcript here.

<snip>
Let’s skip all that and talk instead about dissent. This has been a year in which dissent, especially taking an unpopular or minority political opinion, has been attacked by people like Mr. O’Reilly. In the last year, it has not been enough just to disagree with dissenters. Many of us have decided it is necessary to silence them, which is really kind of ironic, since it is political dissent that created this country and sustained it and improved it.

But ask the Dixie Chicks about how well, this year, we Americans kept our pledge to be tolerant of dissent, our delight in disagreeing with your opinion, but being willing to fight to the death to protect your right to express it. Or ask the Janeane Garofalos of this world, who are being told to shut up because their political opinions have no merit because they’re merely on television, told to shut up by people who express their own political opinions merely to try to get ratings on television.

Or the Al Frankens, who wind up getting sued by the Bill O’Reilly’s of this world. And when the suit gets literally laughed out of court, the Bill O’Reilly’s of this world decide Al Franken is the tip of some conspiracy to get them and, in some other era, would have been shot through the head by the president. Earth to Bill. Come on home. Your porridge is getting cold.

I’ve done this long preamble to the No. 1 story as a way of letting recent history remind us of not-so-recent history; 2003 was not the first time dissent, the American virtue, the unique right of us Americans, suddenly became an ugly word. It happens every few decades, like when they passed the Alien and Sedition Acts around 1800s. Hell, in a way, the Civil War was about stifling dissent. The law said slavery was just fine. The people who changed that were dissenters.
And you have your Palmer raids in the ’20s and your communist blacklist in the ’40s and ’50s, and there’s the tip of tonight’s No. 1 story.
All the witch-hunts against political contrarians in our history have ended the same way. The American political system was strong enough to prevail against mistaken ideologies. When the dissenters were wrong, the country got stronger. When the dissenters were right, the country got stronger. And everybody who ever tried to shut the dissenters up wound up hated and reviled, their accomplishments overshadowed by their lack of faith in freedom of speech, the people who arrested them, trashed them, sued them, testified against them.
</snip>

[Lefty48197]

25. Olberman is great

Yeah, he probably talked himself out of a job this time. He went out with a bang. He made them fire him for explaining that people are getting fired to silence them. Beautiful Keith!
let's not forget about Helen Thomas getting a chair in the hallway for daring to speak out against Herr President. They tried to silence Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins, by cancelling their MLB Hall of Fame appearance.
HOW DARE YOU PEOPLE SPEAK AGAINST THE KING!

[FlashHarry]

30. I doubt he was fired. Maybe he's just on vacation...

...while Tweety slobbers over the CA recall.

[Lefty48197]

26. Are you kidding?

Matthews parades all the Republican mummies in front of the camera. If he ever lets a sensible person on his show, he doesn't shut up long enough to let them complete a sentence anyways. Matthews' show is the biggest waste of airtime in America.

[madfloridian]

29. I am shocked to hear you say that.

I have the whole transcript from last night. There are other transcripts at the site as well.

Yes, he has some fluff mixed in, but he is outstanding in getting out news we need to know.

His show has been excellent about presenting both sides of the story.

[Booberdawg]

21. I think this is just a Hardball special because of the recall

Just speculating ..

[LyndaG]

32. Could Be Sports-Related

The last time Keith was "On Assignment," I saw him on the network covering some sort of sports thing.

[FlashHarry]

33. Well, he's got his roots in Bristol, CT...

...ESPN Studios.