NEWS: Keith Olbermann's Dan Rather moment (!!!!)

[AmyCrat]

PittsburghLIVE.com

Keith Olbermann's Dan Rather moment
By Bill Steigerwald
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/opinion/colu...
<snip>---
So, America, what's sloppier?
Our shaky elections system or the jayvee journalism practiced on Keith Olbermann's fake MSNBC news show "Countdown With keith Olbermann"?

I cast all of my votes for Olbermann.

The recovering sportscaster is openly liberal and his irreverent, run-and-quip offense is easy to detest. But I kind of like him and his fast-paced infotainment show, which has the fatal misfortune to occupy the 8 p.m. time slot opposite Fox's "The O'Reilly Factor."

Olbermann, however, really made a Dan Rather of himself last week.

Read more here
---<snip>

Now, I'm not one to jump to conclusions about Keith's vacation -- but the timing couldn't be weirder...

[alittlelark]

1. HIT-PIECE.... big time

scared, they are......

snip>
It turns out the votes were "a computer anomaly" that didn't affect or reflect the official vote count. And those 18,472 votes Olbermann said were counted in Fairview Park, a Cleveland suburb that had only 13,342 registered voters? Absentee ballots from many precincts had been grouped together by the computer and credited to Fairview Park, where 8,421 voted.

Olbermann had made a big sinister deal about 29 counties whose registered voters were predominantly Democrat "suddenly" voting "overwhelmingly for Mr. Bush." He slyly left the impression that massive vote-stealing could have been perpetrated by ballot tabulating companies like Diebold, whose bosses were known Bush allies.

I called Baker County, Fla., Olbermann's first example. Yes, twanged the cheery election lady, 69 percent of voters in her rural county on the Georgia border are registered Democrat. Yes, "Mr. Boosh" got 78 percent of the vote and trounced Kerry, 7,738 to 2,180.

This was nothing new or untoward, she said. Folks in Florida's Panhandle are conservative, especially on social and moral issues. They mostly register as Democrats and vote that way on local issues, but in national and state elections, they go Republican. Been doing so for years.



yeah.

[sandnsea]

2. Guess what CNN said today

That it was a typo. Yep. Somebody accidentally put a 1 in front of the 8,000 votes. Unless there's yet another incident where Bush got an extra 10,000 votes.

[alittlelark]

8. OOOOpsie, how can there be a typo w/ feed?

it soooo stinks....

[sandnsea]

14. Interesting question

My son leaped off the couch... wtf???? If they're uploading results, how can there be a typo indeed????

[Robert Oak]

17. huh, a typo on a modem calculated tally and the other 3 numbers were a ???

[mcg]

42. that's like saying "I accidently pulled the trigger."

Imagine this defense in a murder trail: "I just accidently pointed the gun at him and accidently pulled the trigger."

[Journeyman]

3. Well, it should be easy to find out the voting history. . .

of Baker County, to see if this pattern of registering Democratic and voting Republican in national elections proves true in the past half dozen elections. I wonder why Bill Steigerwald didn't ask the "cheery election lady" for this information, seeing as how he had her on the phone and she seemed in a cooperative mood.

[WeShallWinMore]

37. Are those statement true?

Have these FL counties been voting as the election lady says and does the OH story hold water? If these are considered to be false does someone have some documentation to debunk them?

[Unsinister]

43. Since no one else is answering ...

As it turns out, Bush did win those counties in 2000. Here are the 2004 county-by-county results. I haven't looked up '96 yet, but I've read that Dole beat Clinton that year in the disputed counties, too.

I don't know why so many Democrats in the panhandle seem to vote Republican, but ... it seems to be the way it goes over there.

I can't speak for the Ohio business. That one sounds fishy to me.

[newyawker99]

53. Hi Unsinister!!

Welcome to DU!!

[demodonkey]

4. Oh, THAT? That's Just our local Scaife-Rag, the Tribune "Shove It" Review.

Richard Scaife doesn't waste any time, does he?

God I hate that paper.

Anybody want to know why Western PA is leaning Red, you can thank Dickie Scaife's "Trib" and the world's first radio station, KDKA Pittsburgh, otherwise known as "Radio Hate America".

[NamVetsWeeLass]

23. LOL, You got a point.....I have a question for you though

Now I am a Native, but not in a Burb of the Burgh anymore.... How did my Beloved WDVE lean??? Just wondering... If you've heard, can you please let me know? Thanks

[demodonkey]

48. Sorry I don't know, but here is...

a link to them:

http://www.dve.com/main.html

[wtmusic]

5. What a crock of shit

Bill --

Regarding "Keith Olbermann's Dan Rather Moment", what exactly did Keith get wrong? Was it the reports of voter fraud (true)? Was it the story about the 93,000-vote computer anomaly (not only true, but should be cause for concern in anyone's playbook, even partisan newspaper reporters pleading objectivity)? Granted, he wasn't able to pin down ace witnesses like your unidentified "election ladies". Now *there's* Peabody-Award-winning journalism.

wtmusic

[demodonkey]

16. Journalism? We don't need no F-n journalism. We make news, not report it.

This year, after the GOP waged one of the most filthy dirty State Senate campaigns in Pennsylvania history here in Westmoreland County, the kicker came when Scaife's Tribune-Review SUED our Democratic State Senator on the Friday before the election.

The ridiculous suit was thrown out Election Day morning, but it was hanging out there all weekend and Scaife's Re-thugs (and yes, they really ARE "thugs" behaving like this), milked it for EVERY drop, right down to the wire. The smear worked, and when the votes were tallied we lost a truly decent, progressive public servant in exchange for Scaife's little GOP wannabe twit.

And "they" had the gall to complain when Teresa told their guy to "Shove It"...


BTW, You guys writing to Steigerwald, now you mind... he used to be a pretty good reporter... a SPORTS reporter, that is. Absolutely great on High School Football, a real specialist in the field, he was.

[verdalaven]

26. **snicker**

God, I love that "not sorry" pic......I started reading it, clueless, thought...hmm, spelled allowed wrong, curious.....then I got it....crap, that is funny!

Sorry, off subject.

[restorefreedom]

33. thank you, wtmusic

for the photoshop work

best laugh I've had all week

I guess if we don't laugh at the truth, we're gonna cry over it.....

[high density]

6. Another right-winger hates Keith Olbermann

I'm sure he's accustomed to it by now.

[autorank]

7. Welcome to DU. BTW, the Pittsburg Tribune Review is owned

and published by Richard Mellon Scaife, the heir to a mega-fortune who started the paper as a vehicle to smear Clinton and other Democrats. It is not a serious newspaper. It is in the same league as the Washington Times, owned by Korean cult leader Rev. Moon.

Rumors of Kieth's demise are greatly exaggerated.

[YellowDoginthehouse]

22. Thanks, autorank!

n/t

[Buddyblazon]

9. Here is my reply to this guy:

Dear Mr. Steigerwald,

I think the one thing that you failed to cover in your op-ed piece…was the fact that the present electoral system in our country is open ended enough to even allow for the word “fraud” to be thrown around.

If you REALLY want to make a difference, try asking questions about how we could come to this point. Why would the powers-that-be allow a system that isn’t very transparent? The fact that several of the systems we use across our country don’t provide a paper trail doesn’t bother you at all? If they had, then perhaps these questions could’ve been TRULY debunked by…ahem…journalists like you and the main stream media. “No paper trail” is the true story here, and you should be screaming.

And as far as:
“I called an elections bureau person in Cuyahoga County, Ohio (greater Cleveland), where, as Olbermann pointed out, 93,000 extra votes had been inexplicably cast Nov. 2.”

…I find it interesting that you call the entity that is on the other end of the accusation, and say, “Well that’s that.”. Come on…you’re joking. Aren’t you?

“Hey…little Bobby. Did you take a cookie out of the cookie jar?”

“Me? No…I didn’t. I would NEVER do that.”

Try doing some MORE research on that telephoney thingy. And think about talking to AT LEAST 3 or 4 stats people. Have them crunch some numbers for you. Now THAT would be investigation.

I guess we understand now why your only writing op-ed in the “mean-streets” of Pittsburgh…opinions are like a-holes…yada yada yada.

Respectively,

XXX XXXXXXXX





So...whatya think?

[Helga Scow Stern]

10. I think that rocks.

I am getting ready to start reminding these people that by covering up and misleading the people about the truth they are complicit in a felony.

[bluetrain]

11. I'll 2nd that.

[restorefreedom]

38. so is this moron going to get pounded with emails?

Keith said his email has been running 22:1 positive.
Wonder what this joker's ratio will be.

Not that he'd be truthful about it anyway......

[anamandujano]

45. next time, include the information

that Republicans OWN the voting machines, won't let anyone see the code and Republicans in the house and senate have resisted a paper trail (which was pursued by some Dems since 2000).

The NY Times guy on Charlie Rose guessed that because a printer would add $60. to the price of the voting machines and the worry of PAPER JAMS on election day. They do think we're wimps and very stupid.

[The Doctor.]

47. I can almost guarantee they will manufacture

very poor receipt printers guranteed to jam if receipts are legislated.

[txindy]

12. I think it is absolutely wonderful!

Because it means we are definitely moving into the third stage of my sig line. We are now in the "Then they fight you" stage. Cannot WAIT for stage #4!

[Buddyblazon]

13. Well...I hope your right (or shoud I say...I hope Ghandi was).

[bluetrain]

15. I think stage 3 is going to be a very long process.

[KoKo]

39. I think we are between Ignore and Laugh though...but expect us to get to

fight pretty soon if hard evidence comes out. So far the articles are laughing us off as "Internet Conspirators." And there's still a huge amount of "Ignore" going on with the laughter. But, in the end they wil have to fight...and I can't wait for that either...

[txindy]

41. I'm just going by recent attempts at more than just laughter

First, Coulter came out in her usual cheery fashion. Not only did she attack us, but she went after Keith Olbermann directly. He parried her easily on his show.

Then, Gibson on Faux News went postal on us, accusing, "This is how stupid ideas get people killed." (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,138335,00.html )

CNN has taken some mild swipes (adding yet a third reason why their exit polls were off - a typo in their direct data feed) and now this from Scaife's rag, so, I agree with you. We are gradually shifting into Stage #3. What amazes me is that they are sending out the usual attackers first. Subtlety is lost on these people. It's really kind of disappointing.

So, Stage #3 from Faux thugs and Scaife's. Not bad in only a week and a half.

[pa28]

18. To broach this subject is career suicide.

The right wing owns the media just as it owns the House and the Senate. Everyone, including Keith, knows this story is "against the party line". I really respect the fact he's willing trade his position for the truth. It looks like he's the only one.

[althecat]

19. Whaddaya mean vacation?

Is he going on vacation this week?

[burn the bush]

20. it looks like he finally got the memo

he said he didn't get the memo on media blackout. Maybe he got it now. I emailed him, hoping that he still gets it, and asked him to contact Bev or somebody and let us know that he is really just on vacation. I hope he gets my message and lets us know that he's ok

[bluetrain]

24. Two different people reported in the main Olberman thread

that he responded to their emails and said it was a vacation he's had planned since August.

[KaryninMiami]

29. So what IS THE STORY WITH KEITH Olberman?

Does anyone really know? Has anyone heard from him directly? He must know we are concerned. Let's keep this kicked in case he happens to be reading this.

[restorefreedom]

36. Yes, Keith is on a planned vacation

In the original thread yesterday on this, someone posted the actual email they got from Keith. In it, he said it was planned since August and he is owed a ton of time off because of all the extra days he has worked. He also said he plans to continue blogging.

Pretty damn cool of him to verify this, imo. He obviously knows that our concern, sadly, has some real validity to it. It certainly wouldn't have been the first time a MSM company canned someone who was rocking the boat.

But thankfully, after a week of r&r, KO will be back to keep pounding the truth out.

[Clark2008]

50. Here's the story

He really is on vacation.
He's fine.
In-so-far as it relates to the vacation issue, here's what he said in an e-mail to me last night:

----- Original Message -----
From: Olbermann, Keith (NBC Universal, MSNBC)
To: 'Me (I've removed my name here)'
Sent: Saturday, November 13, 2004 6:26 PM
Subject: RE: your vacation


I'll be doing some blogging -- and honestly, the vacation's been scheduled since August. If something big happens, I'll go in for a day or whatever. I've simply -- as you surmised -- been working so many extra days that 7-1/2 months into my work year, they owe me 28 workdays off...

He'll still be around if we need him.
Never fear. Bloggermann is still here.

[YellowDoginthehouse]

21. Op/Ed from a freeper hack

Plain and simple.

[PE]

25. If Liberals support Olbermann..

..that could greatly boost his ratings. So who cares if the conservatives diss him? They are not watching him anyway.

First, I think Olbermann is performing a great service by pursuing a story that no one else is pursuing. Even if the story proves not to be true, this is what investigative journalists do.. they invesigate.

But as far as conservatives saying he is biased or pursuing a story that has no merits? What, like Sean Hannity pursuing the Kerry intern story (only that she wasn't his intern as well as..)

So come on!! MSNBC is not MSM. It is a cable chanel like Fox. By ourselves, we should be able to boost Olbermann's ratings to keep a journalist/broadcaster who is unafraid of the Bushies on the air.

[liam97]

27. I think that cookie jar response

Is a great one and should be posted everywhere. I watched and re-watched every Countdown, they only reported facts - he even mentioned the 93000 explanation (which by the way was not a fully satisfactory explanation - we were told that all the votes were added to one precinct, but not why).

I think in your response you can cite the NYT editorial which says there are questions which cannot just be brushed away.

[intelle]

28. I am living in Pittsburgh and happen to know

That the "Trib" (this is their website) is more right-leaning than Keith is left-leaning. Remember that reporter interchange with Teresa Heinz Kerry when she told the reporter to "shove it"? Well, that was a reporter from the Trib...one she knew was not friendly toward her or her husband. Of course, MSM didn't pick up on THAT piece of information.

[WiseFawn]

30. I bet it's it's the same woman that said this....

"Morgan, the elections supervisor, said. Years ago, that party allegiance extended to congressional and presidential contests, but that's when Democrats "weren't ungodly like they are today," she said."


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/200...

[goodboy]

31. Olbermann is too close to something. Scaife sent his worthless hit men

after him. That's what happens when you live in a fascist theocracy.

[nashville_brook]

32. also in a fascist theocracy

you can have someone *accuse* olbermann of being "openly liberal" as if to say say that a crime.

[goodboy]

35. right. The ghost of Joe McCarthey have possessed half of the US.

[restorefreedom]

34. clearly Keith's hitting too close to the bone on this issue..

I hate to see the redneck press go after him, but the attacks would not be happening if he wasn't on to something that is scaring them sh*tless. And if this backwoods idiot had been paying attention, he would have realized that Keith verified all his info with the state in question and made a correction the following night on one point.

Then again, what do we expect from a scabie - I mean Scaife - outfit?

[LisaL]

40. Well, the author's e-mail is provided with this article.

We should drop him a note.

[burn the bush]

44. i already did

i told him that I could be wrong but i think he will be eating his words. Told him that we are too big now and growing and we can't be stopped. I said what i read here somewhere "this things got legs, lots of legs, and it's running." Also told him that it won't be stopped and that he and the rest of the media need to decide if they are going to be a media of truth for the people or the media of the fascist government.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

46. Scaife's rag sheet!

ignore

[Clark2008]

49. Nobody messes with my freedoms OR Keith Olbermann!!

So I wrote the little pissant.

Bill,
Interesting that someone in the mainstream media - the very media who has let this important voting story fester on the back-burner - is now accusing the only newsman who is actually looking out for our democracy of "jayvee journalism."
Very few people think that anything that comes of this will change the 2004 election, but there are great numbers of us who are concerned that a 9-year-old could hack our voting systems and install Shrek as the next president of the United States. In case you don't believe this, I suggest you take a look around some popular hacking blogs and read about how easily the Windows OS can be hacked, stacked and overcome. Taxpayers who have bought this shoddy and unsecured equipment should know that they've bought lemons without the courtesy of the paperwork needed to cement their interests.
You point to, as if to back up your assertion that Olbermann is performing sloppy reporting, by pointing out that there were voting anomalies, but that they could be explained away.
Some votes were counted in other counties, but that's OK? As long as they're counted somewhere?
You also don't give Olbermann credit for pointing out that seven - yes only seven - of the 29 Florida counties with higher Democratic registrations than Kerry voters are in the panhandle and usually do break for the Republican. What about the other 22?
And Diebold's Walden O'Dell is a Bush supporter, which should give you pause. If George Soros had developed voting software and Sen. John Kerry had won, I bet you'd be questioning the result. And, rightfully so.
When I was reporting, a comment from O'Dell regarding "delivering Ohio for Bush," would have rankled the nerve endings along my spine into an investigative tizzy. You? You think that corporate involvement into a very personal and civic matter is fine - just as long as it's too complicated for you to understand.
Give me a break. This is Election 101 and there shouldn't be this many problems. With elections continuing on the "too close for comfort" level, it behooves the American public and it's alleged surrogates, the media - the Fourth estate, to protect the democracy.
In the very least, you need to sharpen your news-gathering skills by realizing that the blog - the people - are buzzing about this issue. They are the people who want to learn more. They are the voters and they are the people who have been forced to sit through the National Enquirering of the mainstream media.
I suggest you take a good long look at www.blackboxvoting.org before you go flapping off at the mouth on the out-dated telephone, which also can be easily tapped, trapped and hacked.

Sincerely,

[Shopaholic]

51. Done

I asked him why didn't he go out and get a real job instead of whoring for a right-wing rag.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

52. I just slammed a nasty email to this Stiegerwald hack... n/t