Results tagged “keitholbermann”

MSNBC talk show host Keith Olbermann may be incredibly polarizing, but his tribute to his mother, who passed away over the weekend, is rather sweet. He said that Marie Olbermann was the person who made him love sports, "It was Mom who introduced me to the game, and in my teenaged years when we went nearly every day, it was she who trundled me and my sister to the ballpark. It was on her tv that I came to love the sport, and by her side that I began to understand it. And, sitting next to her, that I began to understand that I was not going to be any damn good playing it and if I wanted 'in' - maybe I'd better try talking about it."

With less than 48 hours left before the election, John McCain stopping into Saturday Night Live to perform in a couple of sketches seems like it should be huge news. But with so much attention being showered on the show this year throughout the campaign season, somehow it just felt par for course at this point in a period that Tina Fey for one calls "the weirdest time in my life."

Last week's Republican National Convention sparked passionate debate over the qualifications and treatment of Sarah Palin as well as John McCain's poaching the message of "change" from the Democrats the week prior. Possibly lost in the shuffle was the relatively small amount of airplay given to the 9/11 attacks, especially when compared to how central a theme they were throughout the previous RNC held here in New York. Even Rudy Giuliani didn't spend a great deal of his speaking time hearkening back to 9/11 in comparison with his usual rhetoric.

Photoshop skills are necessary in the bitter cable news wars.

The headline for the above-the-fold NY Times story about presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain, For McCain, Self-Confidence on Ethics Poses Its Own Risk, doesn't quite prepare readers for the juicy insinuations waiting for them in the second paragraph. The first sentence notes that during McCain's 2000 presidential campaign advisers were worried because...

A female lobbyist had been turning up with him at fund-raisers, visiting his offices and accompanying him on a client’s corporate jet. Convinced the relationship had become romantic, some of his top advisers intervened to protect the candidate from himself — instructing staff members to block the woman’s access, privately warning her away and repeatedly confronting him, several people involved in the campaign said on the condition of anonymity.

Um, what? The story is, on the surface, about ethics, but the hint of a possible close relationship with lobbyist Vicki Iseman - especially when McCain and Iseman deny any romantic relationship - makes this the kind of thing news pundits blow a gasket over. (Keith Olbermann was literally freaking out during Countdown last night while reporting about it.) And since the article appeared online last night, they've been bloviating about this for hours now.

Yet another example of foot-in-mouth syndrome due to the hours of punditry on TV, followed by an apology and suspension! Yesterday, while referring to Chelsea Clinton's campaigning on behalf of her mother, MSNBC correspondent David Shuster commented, "Doesn't it seem as if Chelsea is sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way?" Yes, he totally said that. Or, as the Washington Post's Howard Kurtz writes, "Using a prostitution metaphor for the daughter of a presidential candidate is a surefire way for a journalist to get into trouble."

When the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting announced in June that they were proposing new rules for videographers, filmmakers and photographers - everyone who's ever seen an image of New York responded.

Today, the fourth suspect in the alleged plot to blow up a jet fuel pipeline at JFK airport and the vicinity surrendered to authorities in Trinidad. Abdel Nur is being questioned and will appear in court in the next few days. Two other suspects, Abdul Kadir and Kareem Ibrahim, were arrested in Trinidad on Saturday, while Russell Defreitas, a former air cargo worker at JFK was arrested in Brooklyn.

This morning, NBC News President Steve Capus appeared on the Today show to discuss the immediate ending of radio shock jock Don Imus's MSNBC simulcast. Per TVNewser, Capus said:

There's no question that his program has had provocative conversation and interesting conversation, deep conversation with thought leaders and political leaders through the years. But it's also had the other element. At some point you have to say 'enough is enough.' This went so far over the line that it was time.

Capus also mentioned the most vocal critics he heard from were from NBC itself and said "why have an integrity policy unless you're going to enforce it?" The NBC News chief has denied that the reason for the firing was because advertisers were fleeing, which we sort of buy - given that the show made $50 million in revenue, you could probably find some less prestigious advertisers to fill the ad time. FishbowlDC has been liveblogging Imus's radio show this morning, and Imus talks about hyprocrisy, MSNBC being unethical, and a lack of support from Harold Ford Jr.

Fox News Channel blowhard Bill O'Reilly and fellow Foxie Geraldo Rivera were in a heated argument on last night's edition of The O'Reilly Factor. The tiff was about a drunk driving illegal alien in Virginia killing someone and devolved into yelling and actual finger pointing with Geraldo starting out by pointing out to Bill that he was wrong. Since we usually avoid cable "news" like the plague, we were tipped to this morning, saw a bit on Fox 5 Midday, and was given a YouTube link. We can only imagine what MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, who is a foe of O'Reilly, is going to say on his show tonight.

NYU College Republicans say they are happy with the reaction from their planned "Illegal Immigrant Hunt" at Washington Square Park. They wanted to start a controversy and discussion - and that they did, with hundreds of protesters and more members of the media than actual College Republicans playing the game (by one count, twelve showed up, one signed up). College Republicans president Sarah Chambers told the Washington Square News, "Sometimes, you have to be politically incorrect. Sometimes, you have to be provocative." However, NYU president John Sexton told the NY Times he was disappointed that the group put "sloganeering and trivialization of thought above true debate."

Judge Larry Seidlin wept when he gave custody of Anna Nicole Smith's body would go to her baby Danielynn Smith. Well, make that Danielynn's legal guardian, Richard Milstein. Five-month-old Danielynn was practically the only person who wasn't fighting for her mother's body, and the AP called it a "surprise middle course" decision. However, Newsday's Star Struck blog called Seidiln's sobbing "possibly the most embarrassing thing on television since 'The Magic Hour.'" E! Online has the Seidlin quotes

"I want you to understand that I reviewed absolutely everything," Seidlin said before issuing the ruling. "I have struggled with this. I have shed tears.

Continue reading "Bronx Blubber: Crying Judge Gives Anna Nicole to Baby"

A look at some noteworthy programs this week:

Let's take a look back at a week that raised this Zen koan: if Kevin Federline got into a wrestling ring with a wrestler, who would you root for?

Last night, Keith Olbermann gave an eight minute speech from the World Trade Center. It's a passionate criticsim of President Bush; here's part of it:

However, of all the things those of us who were here five years ago could have forecast -- of all the nightmares that unfolded before our eyes, and the others that unfolded only in our minds -- none of us could have predicted this.

Continue reading "Video of the Day: Keith Olbermann from Ground Zero"

To get our minds off whether or not the President served in the guard, here's a link to an amazing Dubya moment. It's from Keith Olbermann's Countdown with Keith Olbermann, and his reaction is priceless. And because there's no visual, Gothamist thought we would just run one from that oldie but goodie of a physical gaffe: President Bush falling off a Segway.

Michael Musto, Village Voice

There have been questions about whether reporters' deaths are getting too much attention, rather than focusing on the soldiers. Gothamist understands that point, it's important to focus on the men and women doing the job, but if you have watched or read a certain journalist on a regular basis, for many years, inevitably, you develop a relationship with him/her. And that's the case with David Bloom, whether we watched him report from the White House or rode toy cars on Weekend Today, we felt like we knew him. And that's why it seems, just seems, to cut harder than hearing about a soldier die.