Keith Olbermann Still Sucks

Guess what. Keith Olbermann still sucks. His suckiness was noted by yours truly, rather controversially, in a 2006 column. Olbermann's fan club called for my hide. (I shat on Anderson Cooper in the column too, but nobody minded that.) Said one Keithite:

seriously, i kind of feel sorry for her. i guess not every progressive can have the brains to be grateful to Olbermann. she's a sad little commentator, isn't she? pitiful.

I cried. No I didn't. Yes I did. No I didn't. Yes I did.



Olbermann's popularity has only grown as his show has matoored. But I still can't fucking stand him. His self-congratulatory attempts to conceal his ego are worse than the ego itself. False modesty has no place in a news show because a news show is not about you in the first place. And I maintain that being a generalized smarty pants does not qualify a person for an anchor chair.

To lefty people who want their own Bill O'Reilly, I say, like Demetri Martin, let's never hang out. I know news can never be perfectly objective, but it's something to shoot for, isn't it? Tom Brokaw may get a bit fuddyduddy, but doesn't he seem to have a sacred notion of The News that deserves respect?

The NBC News brand has been tarnished by the lefty flavoring of MSNBC, and Brokaw and Brian Williams have seemed to me visibly resentful when appearing on the Chris-n-Keith primary and convention shows. (I like to read a lot into things. Don't dispute me; I'll cry.)

Which brings me to Rachel Maddow. We all know she's irresistible. That much makeup and still butchy: props to you, girl. But when I watched the debut of the Rachel Maddow Show on Monday, I felt like no, no, no, no, no. First of all, I don't want Rache to be the Palin with Olbs on top of the ticket. She's better than that. And second, this just reinforces the whole icky team-think MSNBC-as-left-Fox thing.

Maddow, you lovely, witty lesbian, I must warn you that there was another charming young woman on MSNBC's fresh new face track. She subbed for Olbermann then got her own show. Her name was Alison Stewart and I loved her from back in the day on MTV News. She's on the radio now. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

After years wandering the desert alone with my Olbermann loathing, it's admittedly satisfying to see his star falling a bit. The New York Times reported Sunday that pleasantly boring (though sometimes inadequate) David Gregory will be scooching Olbermann out of the anchor chair for election coverage.

Call me crazy, but I still prefer Chris Matthews.

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