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Keith Olbermann, on Bush's purported sacrifice: |
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Shut the hell up! |
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This one should be easy. It's not, though. Keith's outrage, thoroughly justified, was so compelling, so moving, that we can't do it justice. This "special comment" was occasioned by a sleazy, pandering "interview" by a disgrace to the journalism profession of a disgrace to the American Presidency. He goes by the name of Mike Allen; his bio is posted here on Politico.com. One could be generous and say that politico probably had to agree to all sorts of groundrules to get the interview, and that those rules included requiring that Allen gently lob several planted questions for which Bush had rehearsed answers that the gaggle of brain-dead Stepford Wives still willing to be employed by his abomination of an administration thought would bolster his "image." But we at the Algae Awards are not feeling charitable. Politco is no "news" outlet; it does not traffic in journalism, if it will agree to participate in something this appallingly crass. But we digress. This is supposed to be an award to Keith, not a slam of Allen and the brothel that employs him. Ok, deep breath. There. Keith was particularly inscensed by the couple of closing questions in what was otherwise a forgettable stream of self-serving drivel rehashing worn-out talking points and claiming the Democrats will invite the terrists to attack. But near the end, Allen says to Bush, paraphrasing; "you have not been playing golf for a while; is there a reason for that?" Bush tries to look sincere and sensitive, but instead just looks like he has bit down on something slimy and maybe a bit rancid (he has difficulty feigning actual human emotion). He then manages to say his lines without mangling them too badly, that he feels it would not be right for some mom who has just lost a son in Iraq to see the commander in chief playing golf. A followup question identifies the VERY DAY in 2003 that he "went on the wagon" from golf. The silly bastard forgets that he's been posing for pictures fishing, biking, climbing on furniture, doing a soft-shoe all this time, and that he is fighting the new GI Bill to expand veteran's benefits. Also forgets that he played golf ON CAMERA a couple of months AFTER that date, and that the leg injury that made him quit running coincides nicely with that time. Some brainless twit somewhere in the basement of the White House came up with this cock-and-bull story (reminiscent of the idiot who stole recipies from a a website and claimed they were Cindy McCain's) and turned it in to his/her equally brain-dead boss, who included it in this canned interview thinking it would raise the jackass's popularity back above 25%. Good lord, we'd be better off with the cast of The West Wing running the country! Well, that's the setup. Keith pretty much had a meltdown. But a controlled, disciplined, and erudite meltdown. The guy has a gift for words - especially when he is so pissed off he can't see straight. We've included excerpts below, but please click the link and read the whole transcript, or, better yet, play the video. |
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Link to Keith
Olbermann Commentary Transcript
Link to video
President Bush has resorted anew to the sleaziest fear-mongering and mass manipulation of an administration and public life dedicated to realizing the lowest of our expectations. And he has now applied these poisons to the 2008 presidential election, on behalf of the party at whose center he and John McCain lurk. Mr. Bush has predicted that the election of a Democratic president could "eventually lead to another attack on the United States." This ludicrous, infuriating, holier-than-thou and most importantly bone-headedly wrong statement came during a May 13 interview... The question was phrased as follows: "If we were to pull out of Iraq next year, what's the worst that could happen, what's the doomsday scenario?" The president replied: "Doomsday scenario of course is that extremists throughout the Middle East would be emboldened, which would eventually lead to another attack on the United States. The biggest issue we face is, it's bigger than Iraq, it's this ideological struggle against cold-blooded killers who will kill people to achieve their political objectives." Mr. Bush, at long last, has it not dawned on you that the America you have now created, includes "cold-blooded killers who will kill people to achieve their political objectives?" They are those in or formerly in your employ, who may yet be charged some day with war crimes. * * * Then came Mr. Bush's final blow to our nation's solar plexus, his last reopening of our common wounds, his last remark that makes the rest of us question not merely his leadership or his judgment but his very suitably to remain in office. "Mr. President," he was asked, "you haven't been golfing in recent years. Is that related to Iraq?" "Yes," began perhaps the most startling reply of this nightmarish blight on our lives as Americans on our history. "It really is. I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the Commander in Chief playing golf. I feel I owe it to the families to be as to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal." Golf, sir? Golf sends the wrong signal to the grieving families of our men and women butchered in Iraq? Do you think these families, Mr. Bush, their lives blighted forever, care about you playing golf? Do you think, sir, they care about you? You, Mr. Bush, let their sons and daughters be killed. Sir, to show your solidarity with them you gave up golf? Sir, to show your solidarity with them you didn't give up your pursuit of this insurance-scam, profiteering, morally and financially bankrupting war. Sir, to show your solidarity with them you didn't even give up talking about Iraq, a subject about which you have incessantly proved without pause or backwards glance, that you may literally be the least informed person in the world? Sir, to show your solidarity with them, you didn't give up your presidency? In your own words "solidarity as best as I can" is to stop a game? That is the "best" you can do? Four thousand Americans give up their lives and your sacrifice was to give up golf! * * * It is not, Mr. Bush, about your golf game! And, sir, if you have any hopes that next Jan. 20 will not be celebrated as a day of soul-wrenching, heart-felt thanksgiving, because your faithless stewardship of this presidency will have finally come to a merciful end, this last piece of advice: When somebody asks you, sir, about Democrats who must now pull this country back from the abyss you have placed us at ... When somebody asks you, sir, about the cooked books and faked threats you foisted on a sincere and frightened nation
Good night, and good luck. | ||||||
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Algae Award to SPECIAL COMMENT May 14, 2008 By Keith Olbermann, Anchor, 'Countdown' MSNBC dbc3, 5/15/08 Please visit our tribute to those men and women and their grieving families: www.Zeitlangers.com |
