Keith Olbermann’s Best Rants (and Raves)
In his eight years as host of Countdown on MSNBC, Keith Olbermann unleashed dozens of patented "Special Comments," passionate editorials usually skewering some politician who'd pissed him off, though sometimes – like when he spoke about his father and health insurance – taking a more personal tack. Here, from Palin to Bush to O'Reilly, we collect some of our favorites.
Read Rolling Stone's interview with Keith Olbermann about why he left MSNBC – and how he plans to get even.
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On Sarah Palin’s Idiocy
Olbermann asks whether Palin is smarter than a third grader. Footage of her explaining the role of the vice president answers the question for him.
Read Rolling Stone's interview with Keith Olbermann about why he left MSNBC – and how he plans to get even.
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On Clinton, Bush and 9/11
Olbermann calls the Bush administration "one whose policies can do us as much harm as al-Qaeda." He adds that George W. Bush has been given "the greatest pass for malfeasance" in the September 11th attacks, and commends Bill Clinton for being honest about his inability to find Osama bin Laden during his presidency.
Read Rolling Stone's interview with Keith Olbermann about why he left MSNBC – and how he plans to get even.
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On the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords
Olbermann used the shooting of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords to highlight the danger of violent political rhetoric and what he dubs "an age of domestic terrorism." He calls on politicians and Americans alike to reject "the black cloud of violence that has enveloped our politics."
Read Rolling Stone's interview with Keith Olbermann about why he left MSNBC – and how he plans to get even.
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On the Tea Party
To Olbermann, Tea Partiers in Congress are nothing more than "a group of unstable, unqualified politicians who will do what they are told in exchange for money and power and march this nation as far back as they can get."
Read Rolling Stone's interview with Keith Olbermann about why he left MSNBC – and how he plans to get even.
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On His Father’s Death – and Health Insurance
In perhaps his most personal Special Comment, Olbermann shares the story of his ailing father. "Last Friday night, my father asked me to kill him," he begins, and tells the harrowing story of his dad's six months in hospital. "I demand that you give everybody in this country a chance at the care my father has gotten," he says. "And I demand that you enact this most generous and most kind aspect of the [health care] reform proposed: the right to bill the damned insurance company for the conversation about what to do when the time comes, the Life Panel."
Read Rolling Stone's interview with Keith Olbermann about why he left MSNBC – and how he plans to get even.
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On Bill O’Reilly
Olbermann lampoons archrival Bill O'Reilly for threatening to sue Dick Wolf over "defamatory and outrageous" statements made about him on Law & Order: SVU. If O'Reilly decides not to sue, Olbermann says, he is in effect agreeing that he is "a cancer, spreading ignorance and hate."
Read Rolling Stone's interview with Keith Olbermann about why he left MSNBC – and how he plans to get even.
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On California’s Gay Marriage Initiative
"This isn't about yelling, and this isn't about politics," Olbermann says of the passage of California's Prop 8. "This is about the human heart. If that sounds corny, so be it." He tells Prop 8 supporters that gay men and women "want what [they] want – to be a little less alone in the world."
Read Rolling Stone's interview with Keith Olbermann about why he left MSNBC – and how he plans to get even.
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On Big Banks and the Bailout
"The vast, engorged, gluttonous corporations whose sneezes can be fatal to our jobs" – the beneficiaries of the bailout – are a major Olbermann target. He calls for the resurrection of the old "Bust the Trust!" chant to break up the banks and "cut the fluff," better known as bank execs and their bonuses.
Read Rolling Stone's interview with Keith Olbermann about why he left MSNBC – and how he plans to get even.
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On the “Ground Zero Mosque”
"In a country dedicated to freedom," Olbermann says, "forces have gathered to blow out of all proportion the construction of a minor community center" to turn it into " training grounds for terrorists and an insult to the victims of 9/11." Moreover, the proposed "mosque" isn't a mosque at all, but rather a community center with a basketball court and culinary school. Olbermann jokes that surely this will create "terrorist chefs and terrorist point guards."
Read Rolling Stone's interview with Keith Olbermann about why he left MSNBC – and how he plans to get even.
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Olbermann Signs Off (For Now)
Not really a Special Comment, but …. Olbermann gives an abrupt goodbye on what, it turns out, was his last show on MSNBC. "This may be the only program on which the host was much more in awe of the audience than vice versa," he said. "You will always be in my heart for that."
Read Rolling Stone's interview with Keith Olbermann about why he left MSNBC – and how he plans to get even.