The are fact based, and the equivalency isn’t symmetrical, but I do think that Olbermann gets over the top and makes mountains out of molehills. He doesn’t lie, and falsify videos and make things up like the Fox News screamers, but he does get kind of full of himself, and can be a demagogue.
I think Stewart was bending over backwards trying to be fair to the righties and was probably conceding more than they really deserved, but if he hadn’t included some of the MSNBC people, he would have been excoriated as partisan, and one-sided and fraudulent in his claims that the rally was abouit civility and non-partisanship.
For those who would like to make the call for themselves, here are quotes from the Wikipedia article:
[INDENT] Robertson: You don’t think that this man deserves to die?
Y. Islam: Who, Salman Rushdie?
Robertson: Yes.
Y. Islam: Yes, yes.
Robertson: And do you have a duty to be his executioner?
Y. Islam: Uh, no, not necessarily, unless we were in an Islamic state and I was ordered by a judge or by the authority to carry out such an act - perhaps, yes.
[Some minutes later, Robertson on the subject of a protest where an effigy of the author is to be burned]
Robertson: Would you be part of that protest, Yusuf Islam, would you go to a demonstration where you knew that an effigy was going to be burned?
Y. Islam: I would have hoped that it’d be the real thing
The New York Times also reports this statement from the program: [If Rushdie turned up at my doorstep looking for help] I might ring somebody who might do more damage to him than he would like. I'd try to phone the Ayatollah Khomeini and tell him exactly where this man is.
[/INDENT]
There’s no evidence that his comments were “jokes” other than his later declaration.
I didn’t say they were jokes. I said they didn’t contradict my statement that he did not support the fatwa. He did not. Those comments are irrelevant to my point. Nothing in those comments voices support for the fatwa. I don’t think you understand what a fatwa is. If you think I’m wrong, please specify which one of those comments endorses the fatwa.
Mr. Cynic, again this response is not to you, but for anyone wishing to make up their own mind on the issue. There are dozens of words here whose individual meanings can be challenged, and I have no interest in such parsings.
Again from Wikipedia:
A fatwā in the Islamic faith is a religious opinion concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar. In Sunni Islam any fatwā is non-binding, whereas in Shia Islam it could be considered by an individual as binding, depending on his or her relation to the scholar. (…) This is not necessarily a formal position since most Muslims argue that anyone trained in Islamic law may give an opinion (fatwā) on its teachings.
Again from Wikipedia, the fatwa under discussion:
[INDENT]In the name of God the Almighty. We belong to God and to Him we shall return. I would like to inform all intrepid Muslims in the world that the author of the book Satanic Verses, which has been compiled, printed, and published in opposition to Islam, the Prophet, and the Qur’an, and those publishers who were aware of its contents, are sentenced to death. I call on all zealous Muslims to execute them quickly, where they find them, so that no one will dare to insult the Islamic sanctity. Whoever is killed on this path will be regarded as a martyr, God-willing.
In addition, if anyone has access to the author of the book but does not possess the power to execute him, he should point him out to the people so that he may be punished for his actions. .[/INDENT]
Yusaf: (cited earlier) I might ring somebody who might do more damage to him than he would like. I’d try to phone the Ayatollah Khomeini and tell him exactly where this man is.
In my book that is definitely “support.” Is it an unqualified endorsement? I don’t care.
He didn’t support the fatwa. He specifically said he’d only support execution under due process in a Muslim country. The Ayatollah comment was clearly a joke. He’s not even a Shiite, so the Ayatollah has no authority to him, and nither did the fatwa.
As to the Yusef Islam/Salman Rushdie stuff, here is the actual clip of his comment.
Decide for your self, but bear in mind that the name of the show is “Hypothetical”. If someone asked hypothetically if I would beat the heck out of Glenn Beck with a tube sock full of horse crap, I would emphatically say yes.
If I saw him on the street in real life and happened to have a handy tube sock of horse crap…I don’t know. Even knowing he is an evil shill for the Koch brothers and would see us in a scorched burning hell, I really don’t know if I would do it.
I could answer the same thing if it was Let’s Make a Deal and the prize was a can of tuna.
It is interesting the set-up of the show: I’d assumed it was a political panel show. It makes a big difference that he was speaking in a more relaxed and “hypothetical” atmosphere, especially the comment on “I’d hope it would be the real thing”.
Olbermann may not be as loose with the facts as Hannity, but the guy’s still a douchebag of the highest order, who’s done more than his share to contribute to today’s poisonous political climate. To have him on our side is nothing to be proud of.
