NBC In-Fighting Never Ends, It Only Spreads

Steve Krakauer at Mediaite:

Keith Olbermann unleashed a super-aggressive, borderline-absurd last minute “quick comment” about GOP Massachusetts U.S. Senate candidate Scott Brown, highlighting some of the story lines that have been put out there by his critics over the last few weeks and taking it to a nauseating extreme.

But it was the Twitter response from Olbermann’s MSNBC colleague Joe Scarborough, by name, that may further this story even more. Update: With Scarborough video.

Olbermann introduced the comment by saying Brown has been “talking out of his bare-bottom,” a reference of course to the 1980s Cosmo pictures. In the next minute, he highlighted the off-hand ‘Obama maybe born out of wedlock’ comment from Brown last year, and the murky-at-best possibility Brown responded favorably to a disgusting comment said during a recent rally. And more.

So here’s his conclusion:

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…The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is close to sending this bad joke to the Senate of the United States.

We’ll let Scarborough, Olbermann’s co-worker, take the lead on a response (sic’ed):

Obermann calls Brown a “homophobic racist reactionary” who “supports violence against women.” How reckless and how sad.

It is no longer enough to simply disagree with someone. These days some feel the need to call opponents evil. It happens on both extremes.

Just as when Beck called the President racist, this sort of rhetorical extremism must be discouraged. It cheapens the debate.

Ed Morrissey:

What are the odds that Olby names himself the “Worst Person in the World” for his transgressions? I’d say a lot lower than “honoring” his fellow MS-NBC host. Kudos to Scarborough, though, for making the obvious plain on his network, which shows guts that others on that network apparently lack — including its management.

Peter Wehner at Commentary:

MSNBC, with a few exceptions (like Scarborough), long ago became a circus act. But it’s a circus act that serves a purpose. It reflects the temper and mindset of much of the Left. It is a movement fueled by paranoia and hate, even with Obama in the White House and Democrats in control of Congress. If Olbermann and Schultz’s comments are indicative of how the core of the Democratic Party is reacting simply in anticipation of a loss in Massachusetts, it’s hard to envision what will happen if Brown actually wins, let alone what would happen if Republicans make widespread gains in November.

Such ugliness by any political group or movement — whether from the Left or the Right — is not good for democratic discourse. It’s why each side needs to police its own ranks. But when the Left becomes as unhinged as Olbermann and some of his colleagues are — when the public gets to peer into their dark, angry, and bitter little world — it will have political ramifications, none of them good for Democrats.

Sometimes seeing ugliness on full display, even if it’s a bit uncomfortable, reveals certain realities. America can decide for itself if it wants to support an ideology that produces people like Keith Olbermann.

Daniel Foster at National Review

Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit:

Is it just me or does Olby sound a bit jealous that he was never asked to do a spread in a nudie magazine?

UPDATE: Huffington Post

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