...He was my inspiration, and will always remain so. His bravery these last six months cannot be measured. He is as much my hero now, as he was when I was five years old.

More at Baseball Nerd.

We reported earlier on the vicious personal attack Keith Olbermann spewed at Floyd Abrams. Mr Abrams is the father of Dan Abrams, MSNBC legal analyst, but as a first amendment attorney he dared to represent a client Oralmann didn't like. So Keith maniacally smeared Mr Abrams, who is Jewish, by comparing him with a Nazi.

Now the Media Institute, dedicated to defending the first amendment, has demanded that Edward R Olbermann issue a public apology for his slander. Their open letter, which deserves to be read in full, pulls no punches:

For any Jew to be compared to a Nazi collaborator is vile, but in the case of Floyd is simply beyond comprehension.... If you believe that attorneys should be personally vilified whenever they advocate a cause you oppose or a client you dislike, we would like to know how you believe our system is supposed to work. Many of the freedoms you enjoy as a journalist exist because of the work of Floyd Abrams throughout his exemplary career. Yet even if Mr. Abrams had not blazed important paths for the rights of the press, he does not deserve to be personally insulted, which for you may have seemed like nothing more than a clever turn of phrase.... But we also look forward to your public apology to Floyd Abrams for your unwarranted personal attack.

Our advice to the Media Institute: don't hold your breath waiting for that Olbypology. Comparing people to Nazis is nothing new for the infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann. Whether it was giving the "Sieg Heil" salute (for which he was admonished by the ADL), or comparing Fox News to Nazis, not to mention calling the Bush administration facist and likening it to the Third Reich, Herr Olbermahn has never been able to purge himself of the compulsion to demean his enemies with the Nazi comparison.

From the OlbyWatch archives, a little remembrance of Keith's love/hate relationship with the Nazi smear:

Discuss, resolve, and recap the week's last Hour of Spin. Comments are open!

He hasn't been on The Hour of Spin for a while, but don't get the impression that the infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann hasn't been busy. Maybe just not busy doing what you thought. The posts continue of course over at the (now heavily moderated) baseball blog. Meanwhile he's picking up the pace at his blog of choice, Daily Kos (proprietor: Markos 'Screw 'Em' Moulitsas). Mediaite noticed that he posted a blast at Jesse Ventura:

Keith Olbermann responded to an interview between Cenk Uygur and Jesse Ventura with a lengthy blog post on Daily Kos last night. Then he followed it up with 18 more comments to fellow Kos commenters. All concern his history with MSNBC, Ventura's, Ashleigh Banfield's time at the network (and leaving the network) and...more.

Jesse's crime? He criticized MSNBC. It is ironic that for all his rhetoric, Oralmann proves at heart to be the quintessential 'company man', flacking for his bosses even when he is supposedly preoccupied with other matters.

And yet the obsessive-compulsive nature of this cannot be understated. It was after 3:00 am, and Keith was presumably back home (he claims he wrote the lengthy original post at the hospital, using an iPhone!). But though it was the middle of the night, Edward R Olbermann was still tap-tap-tapping away. For some reason he thought it necessary to produce a detailed list of every person who held the 8:00 pm slot on A-Mess-NBC. We suppose that's nice bit of ego-onanism for someone who can then claim "I had it longest", but really, it's just...well...weird:

Notice how he puts that line break in to highlight 2, and again to separate 21 from the entries preceeding it? Self-absorbed much?

Discuss, resolve, and recap. Comments are open!

People are starting to wonder if Keith Olbermann has spiraling toward the career meltdown so many have speculated about for years. It was just a few days ago when he attacked ESPN's Bill Simmons as a hack with "no discernible insight or talent". (Keep in mind that ESPN and Olby parted company on less than friendly terms.)

A storm of commenters reacted to Oralmann's rant to the point where Keith had to cleanse the comment thread of those pesky dissenting voices. Sort of like he does every night on The Hour of Spin.

But Olby believes that no opportunity to personally attack someone on his 'enemies' list should go to waste, so he has doubled down and launched a new invective-filled salvo at Simmons. If you don't believe that paranoia strikes deep, then how else to explain Olbermann's latest delusion--that Simmons is cyber-stalking him in the comments while disguising himself under a panoply of pseudonymns:

And we now encourage Mr. Simmons to again falme [sic] the comments section under various identities, to his heart's content.

Oh there's a lot more hate from Krazy Keith so read the whole thing. And then check out Jed Eckert's latest take on all this:

This may just be a frivolous and minor spat among relatively minor media players, but it goes to a pattern of unraveling for Keith. Why gratuitously attack "The Sports Guy?" What did he ever do to you? He's a successful figure at ESPN, so there's probably some jealousy factoring in, but come on.... By the way, Simmons' reference to Keith living alone could have something to do with rumors about the stalker's once live-in girlfriend, Katy Tur (pictured below in happier times.) We hear that Katy has had enough of Keith and has flown the coop. Maybe he can reignite his affair with karmabites1!

Discuss, resolve, recap. Comments are open!

Keith has been off the air all this week, except for a taped-in-advance segment on Monday's program. That segment appeared to air from "on location", obviously intending to suggest Olby was at the hospital visiting his father. Which he may well have been.

But let's bear in mind what happened last week. The infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann launched into the most recent of his unhinged diatribes, this one at a fellow MSNBC employee, Dan Abrams. This vicious personal attack had been preceded by KO smearing Abrams's father, constitutional attorney Floyd Abrams, by comparing him to a Nazi. (Yes, Floyd Abrams is Jewish. No, we don't think Olbermann cared one whit about tossing another "Nazi" stinkbomb into the public arena.) We waited for some action from NBC honchos, who were quick to slap down Joe Scarborough for daring to criticize Edward R Olbermann. But it hasn't come. Or at least it hasn't been publicly revealed.

So that brings us to our question of the day. What has Keith Olbermann been up to? Three days away from The Hour of Spin so far this week. Odds are that today will make four. We understand if he is consumed with personal issues, and again extend our best wishes and prayers for all of his family in this troublesome time. But it's not like Olby isn't doing other things.

Just this morning he was making oh-so-witty comments over at his blog of choice, Daily Kos (proprietor: Markos "Screw 'Em" Moulitsas). Here he is jumping into a Sarah Palin bashing thread with some OlbyHumor about Todd and Levi.

And of course there's his baseball blog. He was busy there on Tuesday, bragging about how assiduously he keeps politics out of his posts, as he launched into a seemingly endless stream-of-consciousness ramble about the career of--guess who?--Jim Bunning! What's interesting is that it obviously took a while to write up--it's a long post--and it was published Tuesday at 7:34 pm. Right around the time when he'd ordinarily be preparing for Countdown.

Why he is not doing The Hour of Spin, but instead is writing long-winded dissertations on baseball, is a question we can't answer. His choice, or someone else's? Discuss, resolve, and recap. Comments are open!

UPDATE: Curiouser and curiouser. He can't do Countdown, but he can joke around with Jon Stewart.

UPDATE UPDATE: Another lengthy baseball/golf post this morning.

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE: The baseball post linked above attracted a storm of comments. Today the reader reactions have been trimmed down to half of the original number. Apparently on his blog, just like on The Hour of Spin, dissent is not to be tolerated.

Thanks to our friend Broliath. Comments are open!

Another month of Olbermann spin, made more bearable only by the fact that it is the shortest one of the year. Once again we poured through the MSNBC transcripts and tallied up the guest breakdown for The Hour of Spin. The results will not surprise you:

Here are some fun facts about the stats. In an overabundance of caution we classified a number of frequent guests as 'neutral', even though they very rarely were. So they aren't counted in the chart. These include The Wolffe Man (6 appearances) as well as Margaret Carlson, Howard "Pundit for All Occasions" Fineman, and the Perfessor (Turley). Among those categorized as Dem strategists, the names that came up most were Crazy Larry O'Donnell (7) and Markos "Screw 'Em" Moulitsas (5). Among the liberal/progressives who weren't Dem strategists, David Corn led the way (6), followed by Ezra Klein (5). And these are Republicans/conservatives Olbermann had on his show:

Do you want to see that list again? Here it is:

As you discuss, resolve, and prepare to recap another excruciating Hour of Spin, you might want to check out the latest from Jed Eckert:

Sources within NBC News have confirmed that things are more dire than we originally thought. Veteran correspondents are cringing and are openly embarrassed by Olbermann's self-absorbed theatrics.

There's a lot more to this so read the whole thing. Comments are open!

Yet again the Olbermann Watch Research Division poured through the MSNBC online transcripts to see how much attention was paid to notable stories and issues over the past week. Here is what our keyword searches found:

Notes: References to Iraq do not include Olbermann's ritual closing mantra. Countdown did not air on Thursday. Crazy Larry substituted for Olbermann on Friday.

Get ready to recap another week of The Hour of Spin...comments are open!

That's the word from JedEckert.com:

...His bosses have long suspected that he was playing the bereaved son card. They could even tolerate the sick father excuse to a point (apparently even when that said father was not be seen at the many Yankee games Keith was attending - one notable game was the October 9 play-off against the Twins!) But now things have really gotten creepy. In his special comment on Wednesday, in what can only be a cry for help or sign of impending mental breakdown, Keith talked about killing his father...

And more:

...Word is that the folks at NBC are now looking for a way out. Very informed sources tell us that they realize all his relationships with employers end badly. It is just a matter of degree. Add to that - his embarrassingly dismal ratings no longer appear to warrant his inflated salary...

The article seems to be a mix of anonymous sources and speculation, so read the whole thing and make your own decision as to its validity.

Olbermann will again be off tonight, reportedly due to his father's illness. We extend our best wishes and prayers.

Edward R Olbermann has found someone new to hate. Tonight he accused Dan Abrams of using Mediaite.com to attack the Great and Powerful Olb. Because, well, it must be because Abrams was "fired" by MSNBC, and is so "embittered" by his "failure" that he's taking it out on Queeg Olbermann. No we're not making this up. See for yourself:

This is fresh off Herr Olbermahn comparing Dan Abrams's father, attorney Floyd Abrams, to a Nazi! Is Dan Abrams still the Chief Legal Analyst for MSNBC? If so, does that mean that it's OK for Keith to attack a fellow MSNBC employee, while Joe Scarborough gets slapped down for criticizing Olby on twitter? Let us remember the words of the man who purports to be Keith Olbermann's boss:

We have many strong personalities with differing, passionate opinions, but it is important to remember that we are all on the same team. I want to reiterate my long-standing policy: We do not publicly criticize our colleagues. This kind of behavior is unprofessional and will not be tolerated. Let me be clear: I encourage you to keep doing what you do best. Give the viewers your perspective and a vigorous debate on the issues they care about. But do not turn substantive differences into personal ones.

The ball's in your court, Mr Griffin.

UPDATES:

• Mediate responds: Olbermann has lost it.
• Inside Cable News: analysis.

Discuss, resolve, and recap. Comments are open!

Great thanks again to Broliath for another devastating take-down of the infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann, aka Mr Diversity:

The Olbermann Watch Research Division poured through the MSNBC online transcripts yet again to see how much attention was paid to various stories and issues over the past week. THere is what our keyword searches found:

Notes: Iraq reference count does not include Oralmann's ritual closing mantra.

Get ready to recap another dismal five days of The Hour of Spin...comments are open!

Checking in...

Just a little update for long-time readers of Olbermann Watch. I am still actively blogging but these days spending most of my blog-time working on a hyper-local web site where I live in New Rochelle, NY. Our City is the 7th largest in New York State but does not have any MSM beat reporters assigned full-time to the City and we are in the shadow of New York City so are largely ignored by the big NYC papers media outlets.

Cops in New Rochelle are upset with me for running this story: New Rochelle Commissioner Turns Blind-Eye to "Gangster Mentality" in Police Department's High-Stakes Fantasy Football

Generally, Talk of the Sound supports the cops as a whole and the rank and file against the brass but this vulgar web site set up by NRPD officers struck as indefensible. Curious as to how folks outside New Rochelle would look at this story so if you get a chance click the link and leave a comment. You can also email me at newrochelletalk AT me DOT com.

Bob Cox
Founder and Managing Editor
OlbermanWatch

Listen and enjoy as Gibby explains to his clueless caller the empty idiocy of Keith Olbermann, and how he came to be known as 'Bathtub Boy'. Then recap the week's last Hour of Spin. Comments are open!

Tuesday night, the infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann once again revived a favorite meme: put Cheney on trial for war crimes! And of course, for "expert" commentary Olby turned to his favorite felon, disbarred lawyer John Dean. Needless to say, Liz Cheney wasn't exactly impressed and you can hear her tell John Gibson what she really thinks of Olby and the felon:

Discuss, resolve, then recap Wednesday's and Thursday's Hours of Spin. Comments are open!

Great thanks to broliath for bringing this to our attention:

Comments are open!

Another week of the infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann means another analysis of five days worth of OlbyTranscripts, direct from MSNBC's official page. Would it surprise you to learn that there was someone who got more coverage on OlbyPlanet than even President Obama? Here are the results of our keyword searches:

Clearly Herr Olbermahn has a new Olbsession, and she's from Alaska. Well he's got to do something, with his audience dwindling and his career circling the drain. The most recent ratings show him losing overwhelmingly to Mr Bill, as is customary. Even more embarrassing, Olby regularly slips out of his poor second place and falls into third. Note how that powerhouse of journalism, Nancy Grace, yet again defeats Krazy Keith in the critical, all-important, nothing-else-matters, crucial, much-beloved "key demo". It couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Prepare to recap tonight's Hour of Spin. Comments are open!