Keith Olbermann Gets his Due

I remember Keith from back during the Monica Lewinski brouhaha. His sense of
disgust was palpable, all the way out the door. When he left MSNBC in the '90s,
I was crestfallen. When he came back I was euphoric.

It's not that he's willing to give Democrats credit when they deserve it, because
stupid Dems get what they deserve too. Stupid people always get what they deserve
from Olbermann.

It's not that he's always going after O'Reilly and Coulter and Melanie Morgan
and others in their classless horde.

It's not because I love “worst person in the world.”

It's not that he just doesn't care what you think.

It's not that he's smarter than anyone else on the air, cable or otherwise.

Okay, yes it is.

“You can’t spell momentum without Olbermann — or something like that,” he said in a telephone interview, with a typical sprinkle of wry in his voice. The momentum reference related to MSNBC’s recent aggressive positioning of the program “Countdown With Keith Olbermann” as the centerpiece of this all-news cable network’s latest effort to become more competitive with Fox News Channel and CNN. MSNBC revamped its prime-time schedule two weeks ago, shelving many of its prime-time hosts in favor of documentary-style programs but retaining “Countdown,” a program the network cites as its great growth story. (snip) “You don’t punch down,” Mr. Olbermann said. “If you’re in my position,” he added, referring to his initially microscopic ratings next to Mr. O’Reilly’s, “you punch upwards.” Every time Mr. O’Reilly took umbrage at the slams, it seemed to add a bounce to Mr. Olbermann’s ratings — one reason, perhaps, that Mr. O’Reilly’s reactions seem to have tailed off more recently. Nobody at Fox News wants Mr. Olbermann to get any more of a draft from Mr. O’Reilly’s popularity. Mr. Olbermann thinks he knows one reason behind his gains. He believes that Mr. O’Reilly’s audience, which is still huge, is aging. He noted that Mr. O’Reilly’s total viewer ratings are basically flat, while his numbers in the younger audience group have been dropping — down about 15 percent for the last quarter. “There is no other conclusion to draw than he is not adding younger viewers,” Mr. Olbermann said. … MSNBC’s Star Carves Anti-Fox Niche