What do you think of KO's "Special Comments" ?

[kentuck]

For some reason, tonight's "special comments" did not impact the way they did the first time he did them? Do they lose their "special" quality if he does them too often? I appreciate KO's courage in standing up to the Bush Administration. It seems so incongruous to have someone working for GE being so honest and blunt. What do you think? Does he do them too often? Will they lose their special impact if he does them too often??

[MadMaddie]

1. Actually I enjoyed tonights comments...and I like that he calls

him Mr. Bush...pointing out that * is not acting presidential...

The special comments are having an impact I think....because people are talking about them...not only us but others....

[shadowknows69]

21. Keith quoted 1984

he is God. Oceania has always been at war with eurasia.

[crispini]

2. I enjoy them.

He only does them when he feels inspired to do them.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. Magnificent, every time.

[kstewart33]

4. Tonight's was the best summary indictment of Bush.

Yes, he does them a bit too often, but if you want to hear the case for Bush's removal from office and a summary of his astonishing incompetence in foreign policy, this one summed it all up pretty well.

It's hard to imagine that Bush has screwed up in so many ways re Iraq. But listen to KO's summary. It is stunning.

[kentuck]

7. Somebody has to say it...

Who better than Keith? This is certainly no time for silence.

[Uben]

5. Are you kidding?

I wanna hear one every night! Again, and again, and again, until something starts to change! Never ever give up. Keep harping night and day, yell it from the rooftops!

[enigmatic]

6. It's the most powerful moment on TV

Now more than ever. In 50 years (knock on my wooden head)KO's commentaries are going to be listened to the the same kind of admiration that Murrow's commentaries in the 50's again Tail-Gunner Joe McCarthy were.

[monmouth]

8. I think Keith's "Special Comments" just get better. Love him.

[Neshanic]

9. He hits a home run out of the park with every one. He will be viewed in history...

as the person who started the wake up of America. He is our Murrow.

[TomInTib]

10. Pick your favorite exotic dish.

Then eat it five times per week for a few weeks.

Then cut back to three times a week.

Then let me know if it is still your favorite food.

I am afraid Olberman is going back to the well a bit too often.

When I stated this after his third "Special Comments" I was thouroughly and totally excoriated.

on edit:
While I did not hear tonight's segment yet, I am speaking as a professional Marketer.
The core will eat it up every time, but the core audience does not translate into greater ratings.

[rzemanfl]

18. Consider this, Keith only does a special comment when * or

someone powerful in his in administration does something incredibly stupid, arrogant and/or dangerous. The frequency of the special comments says more about the current misadministration than it does about K.O., who deserves a medal for his courage in standing up to those motherbleepers.

[TomInTib]

26. Yeah, I understand.

If I had maybe twenty years, I could tell you everything I think/know about this. But I am glacially slow on the keyboard.

While I am a huge fan of Countdown (I cannot remember the last time I missed one - goodness, do I have an exciting life or what?), I am all too aware of the negative impact that long, impassioned soliloquies have on the marginal audience.

That said, I am sure the producers of Countdown will allow Olberman to do pretty much whatever he wants until they see a ratings plateau.

I, for one, do not pay nearly as apt attention to his rants as I initially did. Maybe it is his lack of vocal range.
Or maybe it is because I am surrounded by people who rant, quite passionately and expressively, about these same subjects. Every day.

[Zookeeper]

33. I'm with you, Tom....

and I've been an Olbermann fan since his first show. In fact, I've always referred to him as, "My TV boyfriend."

But, thanks to the frequency of his commentaries, he has become, "My TV ex-boyfriend." I was floored by the first one, but now they strike me as a bit gimmicky and too much of a self-conscious Edward R. Murrow imitation.

Granted, I'm a little fickle. (HOW have I managed to stay married for 20+ years?!?)

[montanacowboy]

11. As far as I am concerned

he cannot do enough of them to suit me; I almost thought he was going to ask for the idiot to resign tonight;

his bravery is wiping off on others; Joe Scar for one and Tweety has been in a total Twit about Iran for two days now.

KO is a real treasure and he started it all; thank you Keith

[blossomstar]

12. Keith's best special comment yet!

Really, I don't think he can do it too often! They could never lose their special appeal and there are new people picking up on Keith all the time... all the more reason to do more special comments! Also, his ratings are going up, up, up!!!!

[ewagner]

13. I appreciate them

and think the more he does, the more people will tune in to them.

Kentuck, my friend, KO is doing something that we, the denizens of DU, cannot do....

he's reaching people who don't normally hear words like that (you know, the truth) in ordinary circles...I think he's reaching all but the most dedicated kool-aid drinkers.....

I hope he keeps it up......I hope he reaches more and more and more of them....


:hi:

[kentuck]

14. I tend to agree with you...

I was wondering what others might think??

[Rick Myers]

15. Love them!!! Excellent!!! n/t

[mod mom]

16. I keep thinking -this one can't be outdone, yet I am amazed when the next one

airs. He speaks what so many of us feel inside. I hope he keeps delivering them until theyu are no longer needed.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

17. Brilliant, each and everyone and I always hope afterwards that he will stay safe. nt

[rebel with a cause]

19. The one tonight was mostly the same as last nights

with what bush said last night added in. Now last night I saw/heard it and tonight I only read it, so that may be the reason it didn't have the same impact on me tonight. I don't watch him every night, my kids don't want me watching political things too much, bad on the heart and all. :eyes: They don't even like for my being on here. Go figure. :7

[rebel with a cause]

32. Just saw it on tape

I loved it. It was very moving. A lot of difference to reading it.

[oasis]

20. I never tire of hard hitting commentary against the tyrant, G.W. Bush. nt

[graywarrior]

22. A few times I've thought, "not again", then I listen and POW.

Stunning.

[Berry Cool]

23. They can't be too often for me, and each one builds upon the last.

I don't think he does them too often. He does them only when moved to, and he really does not do them all that often if you go back and look (it just may seem more often to you). They're not ratings-driven, they're events-driven.

And if it seems amazing that anyone working for an entity of GE is saying this stuff, well then, you don't know KO. And you don't know GE, either. Only part of their money comes from defense. The money they make from selling advertising on NBC and MSNBC is just as green. And right now, for MSNBC, KO means ratings. He is the ONLY thing that means ratings.

If you want to be cynical, look at it this way: GE rakes in dough from the war with one hand and rakes in dough from opposition to the war with the other. Both ways, they make money. That's business for you.

In the meantime, Keith gets to stay on the air and speak truth. And maybe if he speaks enough truth, the war will end. And that won't bankrupt GE. They'll just make money the zillions of other ways they make money.

[C_U_L8R]

24. thumpa thumpa thumpa

keith's THE man

and his commentary is historic !

[jollyreaper2112]

25. it's a subjective thing

But in general, I agree that it's better to have them less frequently and more powerful. The highest allowable frequeny and percieved greatest impact, of course, is a subjective thing so he's never going to keep everyone happy. The sweet spot is where he's keeping most of the reasonable people happy. The really rabid types would want MSBNC to be nothing but special comments and the Bushies would want KO off the air so they're the outliers on the statistical scale. :)

The only comment I have is that some of them might go a little long but I'd be damned if I could think of what to cut. Shorter typically hits harder but it won't hit for much if you have to drop major points for time. Again, it's a balancing act. Overall, I'm so happy he's doing it because it's the kind of journalism that never gets done these days. It's also kind of astounding how short our national attention span has gotten. Back in the days of Lincoln and Douglas, people would stand in line to hear famous orators who would bloviate for hours and would be in rapt attention. Or perhaps they feigned the attention because it impressed other people. At any rate, today any cut that goes on for more than five seconds will start losing audience attention.

[originalpckelly]

27. I think it's preaching to the choir. We know how we feel. Why do we have to have him say it?

I think that's the problem with all these media outlets and shows specifically designed to cater to liberals or conservatives. In a way it's kind of re-enforcing what we believe instead of challenging what we believe. There's no consideration of why we believe what we do.

Now, don't get me wrong, I like it, and I watch KO on Countdown. We need to have a media group to counter the conservatives, but I wish we didn't have to do it.

I just want the news, I want the facts, and I want to make my decisions based upon reality, not the party line.

In a way being told how to think is not American, it's like a tyranny by proxy. They tell us how to think, and we go and vote that way.

Political ads do the same, instead of presenting the facts in favor of a candidate, they make you feel a certain way about someone. A person could be the best candidate in America for that particular office, but their opponent can run an awful campaign of associating them with bad emotions, in an effort to control how one feels.

That's no way to run a representative democracy, we need to use logic to make our decisions, not the whims or advertising capability of a certain candidate. That I suppose includes Mr. Olbermann's comments.

Unlike Murrow's commentary, this one is solely from a single perspective, though I was pleasantly surprised at his outreach to the other side, in the second to last comment. Murrow was respected by all Americans. That's what was different. The "conservatives" of today are not listening to Olbermann, if anything they are ignoring him.

[kentuck]

28. But he is the only one saying it..

and if he reaches a bigger audience every night, then that is good. I would think it might be more than just DUers watching his shwo?

[originalpckelly]

29. Well, of course, but do you really think conservatives are the ones tuning in?

I don't. I think other people like you and I are tuning in. We like to hear it.

[kentuck]

31. I think different Americans of different stripes....?

may be turning in? Perhaps many Independent-types that never paid a lot of attention to politics before? Maybe this is something they knew was true but no one had ever verbalized it before?

[originalpckelly]

34. I don't know. It seems looking back at Murrow that he was talking to America...

not to Democrats or even independents. Yes, I know, he says "Mr. Bush" but it's to us really. I highly doubt that idiot at 1600 Penn. Ave pays any attention.

I don't know if this whole system of partisan media is good for America. No one sees the plain facts, people live in bubbles. I hardly ever watch Fox News, unless I'm flipping between CNN and SPIKE TV.

I just get so angry at Fox when I watch it. I'm willing to bet that's the way conservatives feel about Keith.

[WilliamPitt]

30. A friend who's never seen one before saw tonight's comment.

In awe.

[Auntie Bush]

36. Well then...that settles the question.

If one more person hears him then he should continue.

[bling bling]

35. If this was all about No Child Left Behind or Privatizing Social Security

or other such topics that Bush is incompetent about, then yes, the special comments would be a little overdone.

But this adminstration is literally making the world a more dangerous place for my baby to grow up in. When you think about the implications of this man's horrendous Presidency, it is outrageous that he was re-elected. The media is largely responsible for that, and I blame them also to no small degree for this catastrophic nightmare of an illegal war for neglecting their jobs and neglecting their country. The corporate-owned media are traitors to America and Americans. And I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Keith Olbermann is among the very few who can look back at this time with a clear conscience.

To me, the special impact of his special comments was more that somebody (other than comedy central) was actually confronting the Untouchables. I don't think the comments themselves will lose their impact. As long as he keeps revealing the truth to the public and confronting the administration on their bullshit, he's doing his job.

[lectrobyte]

37. Astonishing. The list. The 1984 quote. It may be preaching to

the choir, as another poster said, but sometimes you need a good inspirational sermon. TESTIFY!