DHS Report: Rightwing Extremism

[Schmedlap]

The subject of rightwing extremism is today's hot topic across the cable spectrum - secession seems another. So, I was treated to one of the nuttier interviews I've seen in a long time - so nutty that I had to look for the video and the transcript to make sure that I got it right.

So, we have Countdown, Keith Olbermann and Janeane Garofalo:

The first few times that I saw the spectacle that is Keith Olbermann, I thought that I was watching an MSNBC version of the Colbert Report. The guy is so far over the top that he is a caricature of himself. Sometimes I wonder if he is just going to eventually yell into the TV camera, "you idiots! You took me seriously all these years? Are you that crazy?" He holds forth with prose that is so exacting and deliberate in its grammar and rhetoric, delivered with such a serious demeanor and such flawless diction, that I often think he's simply trying too hard to carry on with a farce. Underneath the grammar, the stern face and square head, the prose - what he's actually saying is utterly foolish; sometimes fantasy, sometimes conspiracy, almost always inflammatory garbage. He can't possibly be serious unless he is insane. Given the effort that goes into the delivery of what is essentially nonsense, I have to believe that he is an actor who is never out of character.

OLBERMANN: ... On a more serious note, we're now joined by actor, activist Janeane Garofalo.

Classic.

[jmm99]

When Olbermann started out, he was from a sports background. He managed to have at least one sports segment and a funny animal story (one of my weaknesses, together with Meg Ryan comedies). The rest of the stories were pretty much centric (well, center-left and more akin to the old NBC).

That was then; this is now.

Impelled I suppose by the ratings quest, KO strove to become a re-incarnated Ed Morrow. And, of course, the on-going feud with BillO, who sometimes manages to impersonate a more moderate form of Father Coughlin.

Hey, the FNC-MSNBC lineups from 7-10 (Shep Smith excepted) is better than WWE. I love being infuriated - good for circulation.