Nothing’s confirmed yet, but it would be a perfect match — Olbermann could spew the hot air and the ManBearPig could peddle the carbon offsets to Keith’s followers to protect themselves. It would be a “venom and antidote” business partnership made in heaven.

From the New York Times:

Keith Olbermann, the former top-rated host of “Countdown” on the news channel MSNBC, will announce his next television home on Tuesday, and people familiar with his plans pointed Monday to a possible deal with the public affairs channel Current TV.

Neither Mr. Olbermann, his representatives, or executives from Current TV would comment on the move, but they did not deny that the channel, which counts former Vice President Al Gore as one of its founders, will become at least one partner in Mr. Olbermann’s future media plans.

One of the people with knowledge of the plans said Mr. Olbermann would have an equity stake in Current TV. The people insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized by their employers to comment in advance of the official announcement.
[...]
With Current TV, Mr. Olbermann would also gain a measure of independence. Unlike most cable channels, including MSNBC, which are owned by large media companies, Current is privately and independently owned by Mr. Gore and other backers.

Olbermann hired a public relations agency to handle the changeover. Gee, who do you think wrote the press release?

“He and his new partners will make an exciting announcement regarding the next chapter in his remarkable career,” the agency wrote in an e-mail.

“His legendary humility and level of news talent that would make Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite envious are sure to follow him wherever he goes…”

Update: Olbermann’s officially now with Current. His apparent title — no kidding — is “Chief News Officer.”

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

Friday night was Keith Olbermann’s last day doing “Countdown” on MSNBC, and it would appear that most of America found out about it at around the same time Olbermann did.

NBC Universal’s statement about Keith’s seemingly sudden departure is here. The media blogosphere lit up like Olbermann’s face when discussing arresting Cheney for war crimes when the news of his exit from MSNBC was announced.

There’s no reason for concern over at MSNBC though — somebody there will probably be more than happy to pick up the slack when it comes to misogynistic bomb throwing.

Hot Air has lots of Olbermann updates for those keeping score at home.

Mediaite is reporting that MSNBC got rid of Olbermann for the same reason that proctologists retire: They got tired of dealing with… nevermind.

Commenters at HuffPo are pledging to never watch MSNBC’s primetime shows again. Who says bipartisanship is dead?

Plenty on the left are also blaming Olbermann’s exit on Comcast, but a glance at the political bent of Comcast’s CEO should at least give that notion a moment of pause. The fact that Comcast also once offered an “All Obama All the Time” channel doesn’t exactly signal that a shift to the center is inevitable either.

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

Temp-host fail:

Chris Hayes, tapped Friday by MSNBC to fill in for the indefinitely suspended Keith Olbermann as host of the prime-time political show “Countdown,” gave money to two Democratic campaigns in recent years. Now, following that disclosure, MSNBC says Mr. Hayes won’t get the gig after all.

Mr. Hayes, editor of The Nation, a liberal magazine, made a series of donations to Josh Segall, an Alabama Democrat, who ran for Congress in 2008 and considered running in the Democratic primary for this election. Mr. Hayes donated $1,500 to Mr. Segall in 2008 and $250 in December 2009, according to Federal Election Commission records.
[...]
Several hours later, MSNBC said Mr. Hayes was no longer slated to take Mr. Olbermann’s place. The network said it would name a new replacement soon.

I’d suggest this to MSNBC: Don’t replace Olbermann. I for one would be far more inclined to watch an a hostless MSNBC show featuring an empty desk than any other option they’ll think of — unless of course it’s discovered that the desk is also a Dem donor.

Proof-positive that donating money to Democrats costs jobs.

*******

Background: Support Olbermann? No freaking way

(h/t Weasel Zippers)

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

As you all know, that mashed-up bag of gas with pancake make-up on it Keith Olbermann has been “suspended indefinitely” by MSNBC for making and failing to disclose political contributions to three Democrats — including open-borders Democrat Rep. Raul Grijalva, whom he hosted on the same day he forked over a donation.

Unlike Fox News (pay attention, Media Matters Soros-bots), NBC ethics guidelines (yes, they do have them) bar their employees from making political contributions. (FNC’s real-world, pro-free speech rules allow donations as long “as long as the activity does not interfere with or impair the performance of the employee’s duties for the Company.”)

Politico got the scoop on Olbermann’s donations to Grijalva, AZ Democrat Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, and failed Kentucky Democrat Senate candidate Jack Conway by sifting through FEC records.

Bill Kristol is rallying conservatives to support Olbermann.

MSNBC’s suspension of Keith Olbermann is ludicrous. First, he donated money to candidates he liked. He didn’t take money, or favors, in a way that influenced his reporting. Second, he’s not a reporter. It’s an opinion show. If Olbermann wants to put his money where his mouth is, more power to him.Republicans of the world, show you believe in the free expression of opinion! Tell the crony corporatists at NBC—keep Keith!

Pardon my MSNBC-like incivility, but are you freaking kidding me? Hoping Kristol’s tongue is firmly planted in cheek, but plenty of people are taking him seriously.

Olbermann railed against FNC in August for its corporate donations while whitewashing NBC/GE’s:

On the August 17 edition of ‘Countdown,’ host Keith Olbermann used the donations to do the only thing he’s capable of doing: criticizing Fox News.

“We now have another million reasons why Fox News is the Republican news channel, correct?” Olbermann asked Media Matters president Eric Burns.

Olbermann said that GE, MSNBC’s parent company, donated an equal amount of money to both the DGA and RGA. He didn’t mention, however, that according to OpenSecrets.org, in 2008, 100 percent of MSNBC Cable’s donations went to Democrats and 99 percent of NBC’s donations went to Democrats.

Additionally, so far in 2010, 100 percent of ABC News’s donations have gone to Democrats and CBS Corporation’s PAC has contributed $51,000 to Democrats in 2010.

The Media Research Center previously noted News Corp.’s donations favored Democrats and that other outlets critical of the donation, such as Viacom’s Comedy Central, have all given substantial money to Democrats, yet there is no outrage over their political contributions.

Olbermann’s sanctimony and hypocrisy only compound his core failure to disclose the donations before Election Day — especially during the show in which he hosted one of the beneficiaries of that cash.

Here is the full transcript of the Olbermann/Grijalva interview on Oct. 28, the day Olbermann donated the maximum to Grijalva’s re-election bid:

Title: MSNBC “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” – Transcript
Date: 10/28/2010
Interview
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

REP. RAUL GRIJALVA (D), ARIZONA: Good to talk to you, my friend.

OLBERMANN: Is there anything you can tell us about the relationship between these private prisons and the lawmakers who supported this monstrosity of a bill?

GRIJELVA: It is a wonderful I told you so moment. But, at the same time, we”ve been battered for the six months for our opposition to 1070, not just myself but others. And we don”t know how much they”ve contributed to these independent expenditure campaigns, the private prison industry.

But you used the word citizens. It”s disgusting, cynical and disgusting that they were bragging about there”s going to be more women and children detained, so therefore this is a market for us.

And the fact of the matter is Russell Pearce and Jan Brewer made a decision to put this law in effect. It had had nothing to do with border security. It had nothing to do with the security of the state. It had to do with the profit line.

And, you know, I”m glad that NPR did this. I”m glad “In These Times” did that. Finally, it”s catching some attention. But it comes at the end of a campaign when many of us have been battered for six months because of our opposition to 1070.

It is–you used the word cynical. It is past cynical. It is using
a very tough situation in the state of Arizona when it comes to immigration

using it to make a profit and using people, when we should be talking about how you we”re going to reform this law. It”s unbelievable.

OLBERMANN: It”s almost extraordinary to believe that once we got past the original phony reason for it, which was security at the border, when obviously it didn”t pertain to that whatsoever, that the real reason behind that was well, this is to intimidate people of Hispanic descent. Well, it turns out there”s an even more base, cynical reason behind it.

Am I wrong about this? When they talk about making money, it”s not–they”re not talking about people who are going to be in jail because they”ve been convicted of anything. This would be making money off people who are held and then found to have violated no laws, correct? They make money whether something”s guilty or innocent, correct?

GRIJALVA: It”s filling beds and spaces, period. It”s about detention. It”s about building private prisons, filling them, taking a profit from the federal government, and with that profit continuing to expand the bottom line. The advisers for Jan Brewer are part of this. The people that wrote the law for Russell Pearce of part of this. They”re all going to make millions of dollars off of this.

What expense? The division in Arizona, the division across this country. They get to go blithely walk away with their money, leaving behind the kind of social mess they”ve left all over this country. It is for me one of the most corrupt political acts. Because you use people. You use the emotions involved and you make a profit.

OLBERMANN: I can”t insure your house for fire, because legally that would give me a motivation for wanting to see your house catch fire. I mean, the idea of private prisons–suddenly, we see the flaw in that idea, too, that if they”re private prisons run for profit, there”s going to be a motive to put people in prison who don”t belong there.

GRIJALVA: That and the private prison industry here in Arizona has a wonderful test case. Murderers escaped from a private public. They haven”t escaped from a public prison. That”s Jan Brewer”s agenda. That is the extreme right”s agenda here.

I think–I hope people–I think people in Arizona are now seeing through the cloud and realizing that this is not just about immigration. This is not just about border security. There”s an insidious reason we”re involved in this really tough, tough issue. That is that somebody is making money off of it.

OLBERMANN: Lastly, any idea why the governor is going to San Francisco?

GRIJALVA: Well, she hasn”t debated. She wants to avoid the questions that are pressing about her relationship to this private prison industry and why they wrote the law. The people on her staff that are running her campaign and her chief of staff, I”m assuming that she wants to avoid those questions.

OLBERMANN: Congressman Raul Grijalva of Arizona, it”s always a pleasure and an education. I”m sorry it”s always about something like this. Thanks for your time.

GRIJALVA: Thank you.

Olby’s defenders say it’s wrong to punish opinion journalists for supporting candidates and causes.

But:

1) MSNBC has always promoted and allowed Olbermann to preen as an award-winning journalist and broadcaster of Edward R. Murrow’s caliber — above the fray and superior to the rest of us in the print/broadcast media who are open and honest about our political and ideological biases.

2) Whatever NBC’s guidelines may be, it was the basic journalistic failure of the Murrow wanna-be to disclose the donation on the night he hosted one of his cash recipients that seals his fate and undermines whatever iota of credibility his station has left.

Good night and good riddance.

***

Flashback 2007:

HOW many times over the years have we seen mainstream media elites get on their high horse about their unbending commitment to objectivity?

Wear ribbons after the 9/11 attacks? Heavens, no, the news poobahs swooned. Stacey Woelfel, news director at KOMU-TV in Columbia, Mo., directed his staff to “leave the ribbons at home” to show viewers “that in no way are we influenced by the government in informing the public.”

Display the flag during wartime? Heavens, no, cried the dinosaur networks. ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider told The Washington Post: “Especially in a time of national crisis, the most patriotic thing journalists can do is to remain as objective as possible . . . We cannot signal how we feel about a cause, even a justified and just cause, through some sort of outward symbol.”

And dole out political cash while on the job? Heavens, n-oh, wait a minute. That unbending commitment to neutrality is really nothing but a Wetzel’s pretzel.

Despite all the past protestations about the need to avoid outward signs of partiality, we now learn that journalists in America’s top newsrooms overwhelmingly donate to Democrat causes and candidates (shocker!) – and that they’ve been giving despite clear prohibitions and conflicts of interest.

MSNBC.com’s Bill Dedman found 144 journalists who’d made political donations to candidates, parties and causes from 2004 through the start of the 2008 campaign. Nine out of 10 – 125 in total – gave to Democrats and liberal groups; only 17 gave to Republicans, while two gave to both parties. The donors include war correspondents who gave while embedded or on the war beat, The New York Times’ ethics columnist and several news anchors who crusaded and signed petitions against the war.

Adding insult to self-injury, every single one of these donors – who work in an industry that crusades for openness, disclosure, and transparency – failed to inform their viewers, readers and bosses of their political activities.

So much for “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”

***

Flashback: Rejoice: Voters eject MSNBC host-to-be Alan Grayson in Fla.

Flashback: The old “coconut” smear: Another MSNBC white liberal bigmouth with race issues

Flashback: MSNBC’s Larry “O’Scary” O’Donnell melts down again

Flashback: White liberal MSNBC TV host can’t stop talking about president’s skin color

Flashback: MSNBC Clown who called me “big mashed up bag of meat with lipstick” says Scott Brown hates women

Flashback: The indelible whiteness of MSNBC

Related: MSNBC’s on-air political fundraising.

***

Ok, poll time:

Click here.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

So far, I like Democrat Senate candidate Alvin Greene, because he doesn’t really say much, and, as a result, I believe him.

Greene was the surprise winner in the Democrats’ South Carolina Senate primary, getting 59% of the vote, and, if a few unresolved legal issues are sorted out, he’ll face Jim DeMint in November — or not, whatever. Greene doesn’t seem too concerned either way.

Rarely do we stumble across a candidate like Alvin Greene, who can actually relate to the issues ordinary Americans face — unemployment and financial troubles — while at the same time possessing qualities and experiences that could make him a perfect fit with Congress and a useful advisor on issues relating to the SEC: A looming felony charge and an alleged affinity for Internet porn.

It seems like more people, especially Democrats, would be celebrating Greene’s historic win:

Greene won the contest with 59 percent of the vote and is now the first African American major-party U.S. Senate nominee in South Carolina since Reconstruction.

But no, instead, South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn has called for an investigation, claiming Greene might be a GOP plant:

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) articulated the suspicion of many South Carolina Democrats this morning by suggesting that the state’s Democratic U.S. Senate primary victor Alvin Greene was a “plant.”

Greene, who is unemployed and lives with his mother, was the come-from-nowhere winner Tuesday after earlier paying $10,400 to register as a candidate and then seemingly disappearing from view. On Wednesday, the state’s Democratic leaders called on him to drop out of the race after it was revealed he has a felony obscenity charge pending against him for having allegedly shown a University of South Carolina undergraduate Internet porn and made “statements of going to the victim’s room,” according to the arrest warrant.

If convincing people that Greene’s candidacy is a lie doesn’t work, Clyburn might claim that Greene was the Tea Partier who was hurling racial slurs at him during the health care protest.

Here’s Keith Olbermann interviewing Greene last night, if you want to call it that. This interview is the political equivalent of “bay-see-ball been beddy beddy good to me,” but oddly enough, when I watch Mr. Greene, I don’t feel nearly as lied to as I do after listening to the run-of-the-mill Democrat. Greene could have easily won over Olbermann by calling Bush a nazi, but he took the high road instead and didn’t say… anything:

“Alvin Greene: Obama without the teleprompter” — start making the t-shirts.

My first piece of advice for Greene is this: Don’t change a thing. By saying virtually nothing, you’ve got the media more frustrated than the time Chris Matthews ran out of Puffs Plus during Obama’s inauguration speech, and the more frustrated they get, the more free press you get.

Second piece of advice: The next time a pasty talking head from a lily white network asks you how you got $10,000, get right in his or her face, and as loudly and as uncharacteristically for you as possible, yell, “Why? If a black man has some money it means he stole it?”

Maybe Alvin’s just waiting for the White House to call and make him an offer to drop out of the race. Hang in there, Mr. Greene! One way or another, I have a feeling you’ll have a job soon.

**Written by guest-blogger Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

Dude, look in the mirror:

That deranged talking head who called me a “big mashed up bag of meat with lipstick” and mocked my ethnic maiden name is suddenly concerned with public decorum.

Ed Morrissey at Hot Air has the pathetic video of cable clown Keith Olbermann naming me “worst person in the world” on Friday for telling the truth about corruptocrat smear merchant John Murtha and commenting on how stents came to market after President Clinton’s heart surgery (beyond the pale!).

As anyone with working eyes can read, the Murtha column was published on February 12. Murtha died on February 8. According to Olbermann’s MSNBC Math, this is “less than 24 hours.”

Of course, he’s too busy hyperventilating and manufacturing outrage to refute any of the facts in my column about Murtha’s sordid career.

Not a single one.

Only fraudulent made-for-TV “progressives” would come to the defense of pork-addicted wheeler dealer Murtha.

They don’t know Jack — and they don’t believe in jack, either.

On MLK Day last month, the Denver Public Schools served Southern-style fried chicken, biscuits, and collard greens for lunch.

Despite the fact that MLK was actually from the South and actually liked those foods, the racial grievance crowd raised hell and complained that the menu was RAAAAACIST — prompting an apology from the school system.

Now, we have another p.c. food brouhaha — from the cafeteria halls of NBC News in New York City.

Mediaite has a photo of the network’s Black History Month menu, which includes fried chicken, collard greens, black-eyed peas, and biscuits.

JWF is certainly right to call out the Left for its double standards:

“Could you imagine the media meltdown if Fox” did this?

True enough. And the demogogue race-baiters at MSNBC certainly don’t help.

But the annoying double standard doesn’t justify joining the cuisine correctness crowd and extracting apologies for serving up soul food.

My prescription: Everybody, chillax.

Well, the “SNBC” stands for Simpering Neanderthals Bashing Conservatives.

Here’s Keith Olbermann coughing up his bile against Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown:

In short, in Scott Brown we have an irresponsible, homophobic, racist, reactionary, ex-nude model, teabagging supporter of violence against woman and against politicians with whom he disagrees. In any other time in our history, this man would have been laughed off the stage as unqualified and a disaster in the making by the most conservative of conservatives. Instead, the commonwealth of Massachusetts is close to sending this bad joke to the Senate of the United States.

Someone needs to get Olbermann a new binkie before he throws another tantrum and tips his high chair over.

***

Heh: Scott Brown’s wife could kick your a**.

***

Joe Scarborough apparently called out Olbermann, via Ed Morrissey.

But Scarborough has his own history of dissing conservative women. Remember?

In Michigan, O’Donnell smugly noted that Palin’s fans were “largely white — almost no minorities in this crowd.” Matthews parroted the line, assailing the “white crowd.” Walsh likened the gathering to a “paranoid tea party.” Matthews hammered away at the “monochromatic” scene.

Ahem. Check out the masthead of MSNBC TV, “The Place for Politics.” Wear sunglasses and SPF 30 lotion. You’ll need protection from the blinding white glare:

Take a closer look:

White and white.

White.

White.

Pallid white and pasty white.

Does it get any whiter than this?

Oh, and these are the colors of the gang that sneered at Palin’s “white crowd:”

Self-righteously white x 3!

MSNBC’s p.c. pontificators have some nerve clucking about lack of racial diversity.

After the Don Imus debacle, NBC hired a “diversity leader.” By the left-wingers’ own tallying in 2007, guess which network boasted the whitest programming on cable TV during a randomly selected period? Hint: Starts with “M” and ends with “SNBC.”

Palin-bashing racial bean-counters in monochromatic houses shouldn’t throw stones.

***

Speaking of the MSNBC ghouls, Allahpundit’s got video of when Sarah met Andrea Mitchell.

Johnny Dollar takes you on a tour of the MSNBC Misogyny Hall of Shame.

And liberal Tommy Christopher calls out the deranged Keith Olbermann for his “dehumanizing terms.”

Much appreciated.

Christopher contacted MSNBC for comment. They had none.

The silence speaks volumes, but it’s no surprise.

Hard to top “big mashed up bag of meat with lipstick.”

But remember: Only conservatives are horrible ogres.

Newsbusters has the report for the 99.99999 percent of Americans who don’t watch Olbermann’s misogynistic freak show (vid here if you feel like torturing yourselves).

In case you were wondering what kind of lipstick we big mashed up bags of meat wear, I prefer M.A.C. Lustreglass in Ornamental or Lipglass in Spite. Because nothing goes better with fascistic hatred!

Photo credit: Jonah Koch for the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute Calendar (get yours here)

***

Awww, look, it’s Washington Post/MSNBC-induced hate mail! How sweet (language warning):

Joel joel.tarp@comcast.net
to writemalkin@gmail.com
date Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 12:04 AM
subject Hi Michelle
mailed-by comcast.net

How did you become the blow job girl at Fox News? I didn’t think you would ever be considered a Blow Job Queen, since you usually so full of shit that it runs out your mouth. Your a pig with no morals or any redeeming values. NONE you “big mashed up bag of meat with lipstick. ONLY A COW would put a GLAMOUR shot of herself

***

You’re a sick BITCH. Are you aware that you almost causes the death of an elementary school teacher the other day with your bullshit. You are a disgrace to Black people. I’m sorry .That’s right . You’re not black. Is your husband a white man that works for the Insurance Cartel ?

Bwahahahahahaaha.

Edward R. Murrow he is not.

MSNBC, the left-wing basket case cable network, is in full meltdown mode. After several weeks of on-air sniping and tantrums from the Spittle Twins, Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews, executives at NBC apparently staged an intervention.

They will no longer anchor political coverage or the debates. The fair and balanced savior?

Former White House press corps yapper David Gregory.

Savor the quotes from the NYTimes piece. Schadenfreude-licious:

In interviews, 10 current and former staff members said that long-simmering tensions between MSNBC and NBC reached a boiling point during the conventions. “MSNBC is behaving like a heroin addict,” one senior staff member observed. “They’re living from fix to fix and swearing they’ll go into rehab the next week.”

The employee, like others, spoke on condition of anonymity because the network does not permit it people to speak to the media without authorization. (The New York Times and NBC News have a content-sharing arrangement exclusively for political coverage.)

Mr. Olbermann, a 49-year-old former sportscaster, has become the face of the more aggressive MSNBC, and the lightning rod for much of the criticism. His program “Countdown,” now a liberal institution, was created by Mr. Olbermann in 2003 but it found its voice in his gnawing dissent regarding the Bush administration, often in the form of “special comment” segments.

As Mr. Olbermann raised his voice, his ratings rose as well, and he now reaches more than one million viewers a night, a higher television rating than any other show in the troubled 12-year history of the network. As a result, his identity largely defines MSNBC. “They have banked the entirety of the network on Keith Olbermann,” one employee said.

Triple-snorter:

Mr. Griffin, MSNBC’s president, denies that it has an ideology. “I think ideology means we think one way, and we don’t,” he said. Rather than label MSNBC’s prime time as left-leaning, he says it has passion and point of view.

Stay self-delusional, MSNBC.

***

Reader Brian M. e-mails:

Hi Michelle,

I sent this to MSNBC tonight:

Demoting Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews, from the anchor chair is like putting a butterfly bandage on an Artery wound.

MSNBC just doesn’t get it.

”Phil Griffin, the president of MSNBC, said in a telephone interview Saturday. Fighting the ratings game, he added, “the bottom line is that we’re experiencing incredible success.”

Yes, journalist students for generations to come can study MSNBC’s grand experiment in trying to redefine the definition of success.

You may want to invest in a book on Complex Numbers and study the chapters on imaginary numbers, it may give you insight into your ratings.