# Olberman demoted at MSNBC **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 8, 2008, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olberman-demoted-at-msnbc/462695 "2008-09-08T23:02:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olberman-demoted-at-msnbc/462695/1 "2008-09-08T23:02:44Z")
[MSNBC is replacing Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews as co-anchors of political night coverage with David Gregory, and will use the two newsmen as commentators.](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080908/ap_en_tv/tv_nbc_olbermann) Ok, so even **I** wouldn’t call him non-partisan. At least he’ll still be around as commentator. ---
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olberman-demoted-at-msnbc/462695/2 "2008-09-08T23:20:23Z")
I’m not surprised. I’m a Democrat and a big Olbermann fan, but even I thought he was getting excessively snarky during the RNC. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olberman-demoted-at-msnbc/462695/3 "2008-09-08T23:25:46Z")
I agreed with just about everything he said, but still couldn’t watch him because he reminded me so much of Bill O’Riley. What an abrasive delivery style. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olberman-demoted-at-msnbc/462695/4 "2008-09-09T00:52:09Z")
I wouldn’t call it a demotion, unless you want to call [Robert Trout and Roger Mudd anchoring the Democratic Convention coverage in 1964](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Trout) a crippling blow to Walter Cronkite’s career. Let Olberman do his commentaries and let Matthews do his blowhard interviews. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olberman-demoted-at-msnbc/462695/5 "2008-09-09T01:33:34Z")
> [@Renee](#): > > I agreed with just about everything he said, but still couldn’t watch him because he reminded me so much of Bill O’Riley. What an abrasive delivery style. For me, it was Rush Limbaugh who came to mind. That and those “3-minute hate” breaks from 1984. He should’ve stuck with sports, where he can vent his spleen at recently disgraced athletes. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olberman-demoted-at-msnbc/462695/6 "2008-09-09T02:06:15Z")
> [@The\_Scrivener](#): > > He should’ve stuck with sports, where he can vent his spleen at recently disgraced athletes. His _Countdown_ show was actually pretty good when it was a lighter, humorous news show. But I stopped watching as Olbermann became more focused on partisan politics and the show started to become the “liberal O’Reilley”. In general, though, I hope other cable news networks take the lead of MSNBC and keep their commentators more clearly separated from their news coverage. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olberman-demoted-at-msnbc/462695/7 "2008-09-09T02:51:33Z")
Well, now I won’t be watching MSNBC anymore. Not because I particularly adore Olberman, but because I was really hoping he and “Tweety” Mathews would come to blows. Literal fisticuffs. Now the dream is over. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olberman-demoted-at-msnbc/462695/8 "2008-09-09T03:03:10Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > His _Countdown_ show was actually pretty good when it was a lighter, humorous news show. But I stopped watching as Olbermann became more focused on partisan politics and the show started to become the “liberal O’Reilley”. Yeah, the downside of tuning out Olbermann, for me, is that I miss all the “Oddball” segments. The show’s run’s worth of "Oddball"s would make for an interesting DVD or two, and it’d be a heckuva time capsule item for people to uncover a century or two from now. (Not that they’d be able to play it back or anything.) ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olberman-demoted-at-msnbc/462695/9 "2008-09-09T08:15:11Z")
Mmm. He’s intelligent, he truly cares about the direction this country is headed, and I can’t dispute a single viewpoint he ever made, but yeah, maybe it’s time to give him a break. The problem, I think, is actually something Tom Tomorrow alluded to in the intro to one of his old books. He once ran into a lunatic on the street who was so overwhelmed with Republican excesses that he blithered aimlessly about them, constantly. And Tom reflected on the fact that if he didn’t have a funny cartoon where he could poke fun at these excesses and laugh, he’d have ended up just like that lunatic a long time ago. Olbermann isn’t that far gone yet, but he’s in a similar fix: SO much ungodly crap, SO much stupidity, SO much outrage, year after year after year, and _nothing_ ever changes, that it’s just completely worn him down and made it almost impossible to feel anything other than rage. I just hope that he seeks help before he loses it completely. I have no ill will toward him. If anything, I’m disgusted that no one else has stepped up. For crying out loud, the troglodyte right wing media has a small army of voices; why does a washed-up sports personality have to carry the burden all by himself? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olberman-demoted-at-msnbc/462695/10 "2008-09-09T08:42:34Z")
David Gregory is hardly an improvement — merely a swing the other way. He leans right, and has yet to raise a single issue with respect to Palin’s lies and contradictions on his own show, Race for the White House. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olberman-demoted-at-msnbc/462695/11 "2008-09-09T10:51:36Z")
Too bad he wasn’t demoted to the unemployment line. It’s where he belongs. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olberman-demoted-at-msnbc/462695/12 "2008-09-09T11:09:46Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > Too bad he wasn’t demoted to the unemployment line. It’s where he belongs. He’d be welcome in the UK anytime. He’s one of the most cutting, and insightful talking-head political commentators, I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olberman-demoted-at-msnbc/462695/13 "2008-09-09T11:35:18Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > He’d be welcome in the UK anytime. And he’s welcome to leave for the UK. Anytime. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olberman-demoted-at-msnbc/462695/14 "2008-09-09T12:25:32Z")
> [@pepperlandgirl](#): > > Well, now I won’t be watching MSNBC anymore. Not because I particularly adore Olberman, but because I was really hoping he and “Tweety” Mathews would come to blows. Literal fisticuffs. Now the dream is over. Oh that could still happen! Btw, I never heard CM referred to as “Tweety” till I was searching for articles on the demotion yesterday. Where does that come from? The shape of his head? Who started it & when? ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olberman-demoted-at-msnbc/462695/15 "2008-09-09T12:36:07Z")
hair colour as well. fine blondy hair. tweety bird! ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olberman-demoted-at-msnbc/462695/16 "2008-09-09T23:36:24Z")
[QUOTE=Simplicio] His _Countdown_ show was actually pretty good when it was a lighter, humorous news show. But I stopped watching as Olbermann became more focused on partisan politics and the show started to become the “liberal O’Reilley”. [/quote] The difference is MSNBC is pulling back on his reins and yet Fox continues to let O’Reilley run his mouth like a hose without a fireman. > [@](#): > > In general, though, I hope other cable news networks take the lead of MSNBC and keep their commentators more clearly separated from their news coverage. Lately I have begun to wince at some of his comments but at least he provided a balance to Limbaugh and O’Reilley. What will MSNBC get for taking the high road? Nice networks finish last. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olberman-demoted-at-msnbc/462695/17 "2008-09-19T06:20:17Z")
Keith Olberman is a smug son of a bitch who can’t decide whether he wants to be Walter Cronkite or Chevy Chase. Neither of whom he can hold a candle to. Have you seen his nose lately? Of course not! Nobody has. It’s so far up Obama’s ass it may never see the light of day again. Maybe we should all send him a Band Aid in case Obama stops short. I’m not a great big fan of O’Reilly’s politics but as far as giving the audience both sides of the story he’s way ahead of Olberman. And just for fun: [Bill O Reilly vs Keith Olberman - Google Fight : proposez un combat avec Googlefight](http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=Bill+O+Reilly&word2=Keith+Olberman)