Bye-Bye Bathtub Boy

Tonight was the last night for MCNBC’s bete noir, (that’s French for “embarrassing a$$hole”) Keith  Olbermann, who made the surprise  announcement at the end of his show just moments ago.

Twitter has been afire with the news.

See Mediaite: BREAKING: Keith Olbermann Announces Tonight’s Countdown As His Last Show

Keith Olbermann has just ended his Friday night episode of Countdown–and apparently ended his run as host of the show on MSNBC. The host thanked his Countdown staff and team at MSNBC, read a poem and bid viewers farewell, tossing his papers toward the camera for the “final time,” and saying “Good night, and good luck.”

Developing…

Mediaite now has the video up.

Ace o Spades once asked Keith on Twitter: @KeithOlbermann, when you have your inevitable psychotic break and get fired again, do you think MSNBC will finally hire a black guy?

Alas, no….

Starting Monday, Lawrence O’Donnell takes the 8 p.m. hour, Ed Schultz moves to 10 p.m., and Rachel Maddow stays at 9.

Not exactly an improvement….

Starting on Monday, Cenk Uygur host of YouTube’s  “The Young Turks,” will be filling in as host of the 6 p.m ET hour.

Helpful tweeters start a new topic: #NewOlbermannJobs

DrewM has more at AoSHQ: Olbermann Resigning? Update:Sounds Like He Was Fired

UPDATE:

No news yet about the firing at Olbermann Watch, but the last two posts do offer clues as to what may have been the last straws to break the camel’s back:

Olbermann Smear Victim Makes World’s Most Futile Request

Keith Olbermann smeared John S Wilson on the air after Wilson wrote a post about succession plans for incapacitated Congressmen. Then Mr Wilson made what we rightly describe as the most futile request in the world, and Oralmann’s response was just what you’d expect:

Time for Another Lesson in Civility from Keith Olbermann

Keith ‘You’re a Fascist!’ Olbermann spent last night bellowing that Joe Liebermann is a ‘delusional liar’. It’s part of the ‘new tone’, don’t you know. What can we expect on tonight’s Hour of Spin?

MORE:

Hot Air: Breaking: Olbermann announces the end of “Countdown”; Update: Settled contract with MSNBC “late this week”

Why? No idea. There was no inkling of it on Google News earlier today. It sounds from the clip like he was let go, but he signed a four-year contract extension in 2008 so I’m not sure how the mechanics of firing him would work. Could be that he resigned, but there’s been no indication of which I’m aware that he was considering that.

Unhappiness with Olby among MSNBC employees has been rumored for ages, and some speculated last year that Comcast might want to “rein in” MSNBC, but as I say, this is all just theorizing at the moment

Legal Insurrection: “Have You No Job, Sir?” – Olbermann Out At MSNBC

Professor Jacobson see’s the new line-up as a move even further to the left, and offers some classic Olby clips.

Olby Watch now has a post up and links to Business Insider: So Why Did MSNBC Just Dump Keith Olbermann? Hint: COMCAST

Update: Bill Carter just told Anderson Cooper that part of whatever deal they struck will likely keep Olbermann off TV “maybe not for two years” but for an extended period of time.

So again, why now?

It likely has everything to do with this:

Comcast officially takes over on Monday.

The Cable Gamer is thinking along the same lines:

But The Cable Gamer can’t help but think that two big events in the news: The FCC’s approval of Comcast’s takeover of NBCU, and Jeff Immelt’s ascension as the Obama administration’s favorite corporate stooge, have something to do with this.    That is, either Comcast wanted Olby gone, or else Immelt figured that he was so golden with the Obamans that he could do something that he always wanted to do–fire Olby as a way of clearing the decks for the new bosses–who, of course, might have put Immelt up to it, as part of the deal, so that the old regime would take the hit, not the new regime.

UPDATE:

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Heh….hee hee hee…..HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!:

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Via @allahpundit on Twitter:

KosKid:Mr. Olbermann, Consider a Senate Run

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UPDATE:

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Great analysis from Instapundit: “He was a useful idiot for a while. Now he’s no longer useful. Expect to see more of this kind of thing”.

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UPDATE:

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Bryan Preston at The PJ Tatler seems serious in his speculation that Olby may be interested in “a prominent job opening in DC these days.”

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Dude!

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UPDATE:

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Olbermann Watch: Our Work is Done but Olbermann is the Winner

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Linked by Michelle Malkin, Adeliemanchot, The Other McCain, The Augustine 25 Daily, The Daily Gator, and Da Techguy’s Blog , thanks!

Friday Free-For-All

TGIF!

We thought this week could not possibly be any crazier than last week, but we were wrong, huh, Mr Doren?

Fresh off the presses at PJ Media, Zombie takes a step back and looks at the big picture: Human Rights Imperialism: Leftist Satire or Moral Collapse?

The Guardian recently published a wicked satire of moral relativism, a Swiftian send-up entitled “End human rights imperialism now” with the classic sub-heading “Groups such as Human Rights Watch have lost their way by imposing western, ‘universal’ standards on developing countries.” Brilliant! Hahahahaha! I didn’t know the Guardian had branched out into humor.

But about five minutes after my laughter subsided, a horrible suspicion dawned on me: Could it be that the author was serious?

A quick re-read confirmed my fears. This was no joke. This was the modern left finally taking its last inevitable step into the abyss of moral oblivion.

Keep reading.

What’s this all about?

House Judiciary Voter Suppression Files Photographed by Tatler Source outside Rayburn Office B351 this morning

This box was found this morning sitting on a palette outside a room in the Rayburn House Office Building, the staff office for the Democratic staff office of the House Judiciary Committee . As you can see, the box is labeled “Voter Suppression Files.”  Now what exactly is in those boxes? The Tatler asks why in the world would Democrats want to suppress votes in any elections?

Check out the Augustine 25 Daily for all the latest links from around the blogosphere.

At The Washington Examiner, Bruce McQuain asks: Are we headed to an unrecoverable fighter jet gap?

“There has not been a single soldier or Marine who lost his life in combat due to a threat from the air in over 56 years.”

Let that statement sink in for a minute. The reason we’ve not lost a single soldier or Marine to enemy air is we’ve maintained such a dominant edge in both technology, ability and numbers that no enemy has been able to challenge our dominance of the air over any battlefield on which we’ve fought since Korea.

The military defines air superiority as “that degree of dominance in the air battle of one force over another which permits the conduct of operations by the former and its related land, sea, and air forces at a given time and place without prohibitive interference by the opposing force.”

But that dominance and superiority in the air are in serious jeopardy.  In our drive to cut budgets, we are about to cut capability instead of costs.  And that could result in a serious threat to the war fighting ability of our military and  eventually threaten our national security.  There is a developing fighter gap and if it continues as it is presently proceeding, it may be unrecoverable.

There’s goes Iowahawk making me lol, again: Dear Nazi The correspondence of Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN), America’s most dynamic metaphorist

Mr. Hector Gutierrez
Gutierrez Bros. Landscaping
Arlington, VA

Dear Mr. Gutierrez:

Nothing could have prepared me for the shock that awaited as I exited the front door of my home early Wednesday morning, where I discovered that your lawn crew had cut a swath of environmental destruction across my yard so horrifying that it only can be compared to the Rape of Nanking. I can scarcely bring myself to describe the killing fields that are my North azalea beds and the brutal degradation and torture suffered by the bluegrass around the locust tree by the rear patio.

No longer will I sit idly while you and your doorknob hangers continue to repeat the Big Lie of “satisfaction guaranteed.” I am writing to inform you that I have contacted the US Department of Interior to conduct a full independent investigation into Gutierrez Brothers’ actions in this matter. Please be advised that you may be subpoenaed for records pertaining to mower height, pruning shear maintenance, and leaf blower emissions.

I would also advise your crewmen to heed the lessons of the Judgement At Nurenburg: although they may be spared the justice due their superiors, “I was only following orders” is not an excuse.

Sincerely,

Representative Steven Cohen
Washington, DC

And so on…Seems Rep Cohen is a busy correspondent

Awwww…From the Daily Caller: Women in Boehner’s home state love it when he cries

Fox News: Where Was the Media When Bush Was Being Called Hitler?

Thank you CK for making this point:

This is Daily Caller video is awesome: Herman Cain, CEO of Godfather’s Pizza circa 1994, challenging Bill Clinton on Hillarycare:

“On behalf of all those business owners that are in a situation similar to mine, My question is quite simply, if I’m forced to do this…what will I tell those people whose jobs I’ll have to eliminate.”

Watch Slick Willy’s face drop after he thinks he’s masterfully handled the question and Cain (who has clearly done his homework) begs to differ, crunching the numbers for him.

Linked by DoublePlusUndead, thanks!

Gosnell’s House of Horrors

Some news stories are almost  too sick and disturbing to countenance. You just want to look away and pretend it’s not happening.

The Philadelphia abortion butcher horror is just that sort of story for me.  And while the left calls for more “civility” in public discourse, our civil betters are flushing this story down the memory hole as quickly as possible because it doesn’t further their narrative. It furthers ours: Legal or illegal,  abortion is a ghastly business that corrupts everything it touches.

In Doc Gosnell’s case, liberal fealty to the pro-abortion narrative was so heart-achingly appalling and indecent, I’m near speechless.

The Anchoress isn’t speechless, although she’s just as horrified: Gosnell; Baby Feet Kick the Nation – UPDATES

I have been afraid to write about this woman–killing, baby-slaughtering, fertility-stealing, heartless and exploitative freak since the story broke. It’s been that horrifying.

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Of course this neglect toward patient’s safety and the law is by design. A shoddy operation like Gosnell’s could not have continued to perpetrate medical atrocities on women, unless somewhere along the line situations were going unreported and investigations were left unassigned as true-believers within the system looked determinedly away. See pages 9-15 of the report. In fact, just keep reading.

For them, I suppose, these dead or maimed women might be considered “collateral damage” in the efforts to preserve a “choice” they consider sacrosanct. If a few women perish along with the million babies per year, well, it’s such a small number, right?

And if some women are left scarred, maimed or infertile, well…probably they’re the sort of women who shouldn’t have babies, anyway, right?

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Yesterday on Twitter, a journalist wrote: “This abortion doctor story is gruesome. Anti-choicers will seize on it, but it’s about criminal behavior, not abortion.”

Its funny how framing works. A massacre perpetrated by a deranged man is not about the deranged man; it’s about “rhetoric.” But a massacre perpetrated by an abortion provider whose violations against laws of the nation and of humanity were overlooked for years is “not about abortion.” It’s about criminal behavior, and that’s all. But some of our most prominent politicians have voted against the very bill — the “born alive” bill — that defines such behavior as criminal. Meaning, I guess, that if only enough politicians had voted with Sen. Barack Obama, Gosnell’s behavior would not be “criminal” at all, and therefore we wouldn’t even be talking about it?

Nobody wanted to believe this about Obama in 2008:

More Anchoress: Abortion, Language and Looking Away:

Many of the women who came to Gosnell were poor, and far along in their pregnancies They paid exorbitant sums to Gosnell (after being referred to him by who? Other doctors?) in order to be stripped from the waist down and given not-so-much as a gown — only blood-stained blankets that were washed once a week. They were anesthetized by unlicensed persons while flea-infested cats roamed freely. That’s just the tip of this iceberg, but I can’t go on because its too upsetting. The babies who “precipitated” and “fell out” of women while no medical personnel were available; babies being pulled out of the pipes or “seeming to swim” in the toilet. Babies breathing and crying before their spinal cords were “snipped” and their bodies were thrown into empty milk-cartins, cat food containers, shoe boxes. Women who were maimed or left infertile, or diseased or killed. The unwashed instruments, the bloody tables and stirrups, the feet severed from babies and kept as trophies.

Crying yet? How many more clinics like Gosnell’s are there out there?

The press is not going giving a full sense of the scope of this horrorshow, because they will want this story minimized and shoved down the memory hole as fast as possible. There are a few weak lines of spin being bandied about, but do not be fooled; this is about abortion in America, and about a mindset that will excuse a great deal for its sake. Steel yourself to it and try to read the report. Become educated about Gosnell; it is very likely there are more like him — exploiting the poor, cutting every corner and confident that local authorities and regulators will not care.

We were told that Roe v. Wade  made abortion “safe, legal, and rare”. Well, it certainly made it legal.

Michelle Malkin posts the grand jury report, and focuses on the media angle to the story: The Philadelphia Horror: How mass murder gets a pass

Deadly indifference to protecting life isn’t tangential to the abortion industry’s existence – it’s at the core of it. The Philadelphia Horror is no anomaly. It’s the logical, blood-curdling consequence of an evil, eugenics-rootedenterprise wrapped in feminist clothing.

Almost as if on cue, R.S. McCain posts: Professor on Aborted Babies: ‘I Look at Them Unflinchingly and See Meat’:

“I’ve scooped brains out of buckets, I’ve counted dendrites in slices cut from the brains of dead babies. You want to make me back down by trying to inspire revulsion with dead baby pictures? I look at them unflinchingly and see meat. And meat does not frighten me.”
– Paul Z. Myers, University of Minnesota biology professor

While Prof Babymeat has no problem with the  murder charges against Gosnell pertaining to the women, he takes exception to the charges for the baby murders:

He has also been charged with the murders of seven babies, and there I have to disagree. There has to be a difference in degree, or the mothers of those infants would also have to be charged as collaborators (they were all willing volunteers for this medical procedure, and they knew the result would be termination of their pregnancy). They haven’t, and they shouldn’t. Much noise is being made about the “horrific” killings, but late term abortions, even the ones done in clean, properly maintained facilities with well-trained personnel, are always necessarily bloody and unpleasant affairs, like most surgeries.

See, only the women’s deaths and mutilations were “horrific”.  All those babies who bawled as their spinal chords were snipped, or were delivered straight into the toilet….no big deal.

Vox Popoli sez:

This is the naked face of atheism, ladies and gentlemen. Look on it well and remember it, because it usually doesn’t dare to show its disgusting and anti-human nature so openly.

I was thinking the same thing, but didn’t want to bring atheism into it. Not all atheists are like that. It’s the naked face of militant atheism.

Ed Morrissey notes at Hot Air:

There are really two stories here.  The first is Gosnell and his clinic, and all of the damage and death he caused over a decades-long run.  The second is the utter lack of concern over it by government authorities that supposedly exist to protect public health and women.  The grand jury report could not possibly be more damning of the failure of public oversight in the Gosnell case.  The media is covering the first and doing their best to ignore the second, and especially the reasons for the failure, which the grand jury showed more courage in defining than news organization have done in reporting.

Ace  plumbs the depths of depravity at a radical feminist hive known as Feministing : Feminists: What Gosnell Did Says Absolutely Nothing About Abortion Because It Wasn’t Abortion

Linked by Michelle Malkin, and iOWNTHEWORLD, and Pundette, and Doug Ross, thanks!!

Video: Glenn Beck’s So-Called “Call To Violence”

This is the Glenn  Beck clip lefties have been hyperventilating about all over the blogosphere: Glenn Becks “call to violence”:

Here is a partial transcript of the show from June 10, 2010:

The media and the politician have all of this wrong. In every single walk of life — you want to know why TV doesn’t reflect you? You want to know why Washington doesn’t reflect you? Because they don’t understand, from the radical revolutionaries to the Islamic extremists — and yes, DOJ, they do exist — to the Tea Party movements.

Just because you in Washington and you who are so out of touch with life in the media, just because you don’t believe in anything doesn’t mean nobody else does. We do. You know why you’re confused by this show? It’s because I believe in something. You don’t.

Tea parties believe in small government. We believe in returning to the principles of our Founding Fathers. We respect them. We revere them. Shoot me in the head before I stop talking about the Founders. Shoot me in the head if you try to change our government.

I will stand against you and so will millions of others. We believe in something. You in the media and most in Washington don’t. The radicals that you and Washington have co-opted and brought in wearing sheep’s clothing — change the pose. You will get the ends.

You’ve been using them? They believe in communism. They believe and have called for a revolution. You’re going to have to shoot them in the head. But warning, they may shoot you.

They are dangerous because they believe. Karl Marx is their George Washington. You will never change their mind. And if they feel you have lied to them — they’re revolutionaries. Nancy Pelosi, those are the people you should be worried about.

Here is my advice when you’re dealing with people who believe in something that strongly — you take them seriously. You listen to their words and you believe that they will follow up with what they say.

You can read the entire transcript at Fox News, linked above.

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Here’s what the “most highly rated” (and strongly suspected astroturf) first comment at YouTube says:

Why is Glenn Beck so obsessed with calling anyone who disagrees with him a “Nazi” or “Communist”? Why has he dressed up like a Nazi or a Soviet Union party member, on so many occasions?

Why isn’t the management at “Fox News” acknowledging this video and Beck’s call for violence?

This is not subtle. It’s pretty clear. This man is sick. I wouldn’t want my kids to see this hateful garbage.

Way to take the exact opposite meaning from what was intended in the clip.

What should be absolutely clear to anyone with two working brain cells, is that Beck is warning Democrats about the violent nature of the revolutionaries within their own party. It’ looks to me that when he says, “shoot me in the head” and “you’re going to have to shoot them in the head”, he’s speaking metaphorically, but when he gets to the revolutionaries, (to make his point), he’s speaking in a more literal sense. These people are serious, and they’re dangerous, he’s warning them.

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Lefties like Charles Johnson, (whom Patterico screencaps from Twitter), want you to believe that Beck is inciting his followers to violence.  Regular viewers of course know that Beck habitually does the opposite.

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These are the very same people who asked us to listen to Reverend Wright’s disturbing rants “in context”, (hoping we wouldn’t, because “in context” never helped).

The left is knowingly misrepresenting what Beck was saying. When called out on their dishonesty, they move the goalposts and say Beck is just crazy for using such violent language.

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Those folks need to be reminded that people who are on the air for 20 hours a week will occasionally say things they might have said better.

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If they were serious about violent and vitriolic rhetoric they would be just as concerned by commentators like Chris Matthews, for instance:

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How about the spittle-flecked vile hate fantasies of left-wing talker, Mike Malloy:

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I would think the left would police their own side if they were really concerned about “hate speech”. But as you and I know, they’re not. This is just a tactic in their quest to delegitimize effective conservative talkers.

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Don’t buy the bull.

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See also:

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The Other McCain: Patterico: ‘Charles Johnson Doesn’t Care About Context or Truth Any More’

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The Blaze: Did Glenn Beck Really Tell His Audience to ‘Shoot’ People ‘In the Head’?

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Linked by Michelle Malkin, and Little Miss Attila, thanks!