By all accounts, Keith Olbermann is quite the blowhard. A liberal version of Fox News host Bill O'Reilly - without Congress and the White House in his corner - he could have his own version of a Stephen Colbert imitator if only the American right had a sense of humour.But his recent tirade against the Bush administration in general and defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who compared those who oppose the war in Iraq to appeasers before the second world war, was not just a tour de force but a real indication of how the centre of political gravity is shifting in the US concerning the conflict.
Rumsfeld was expounding what seems to be Bush's strategy for September to browbeat the American public back into line over the war. But as time goes on, the administration's opportunities to exploit the war for partisan ends appears to be fading. Olbermann, a presenter for cable channel MSNBC, basically compares these tactics with the legacy of Nixon, McCarthy, Neville Chamberlain and, at times, seems to implicitly compare them to Nazis themselves.
What feels remarkable about this is not that most Americans would agree with Olbermann's take on the Bush administration, but because just a couple of years ago this kind of talk would have been considered not just unpatriotic but heretical. People have been saying these things for quite some time, but rarely have such views received airtime in anything approaching the mainstream media.
I found it interesting to see a commentator's response from abroad.
Talk amongst yourselves.
¶ 8/31/2006 02:31:00 PM
Perhaps because Olbermann has learned that Truth has greater value than ratings, and that just as Murrow was most passionate, he was also on the verge of being demoted and eventually removed from the airwaves.
But his words have resonated long beyond the vile policies of the near political tyrants he helped to tear down.
One part of Murrow's words have always been most memorable to me, especially today in the dimly lit terror-filled world of Bush and Company:
"We will not walk in fear - one, of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of un-reason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men; Not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes that were - for the moment - unpopular."
I simply cannot understand anyone, regardless of political leanings, who could support this administration. Most conservative talk radio hosts have abandoned ship... except Limbaugh of course.
I'm still waiting for the conservative blogosphere to collapse like a deck of cards.
: 9/01/2006 08:26:00 PMSubscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
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