Morning Jolt
. . . with Jim Geraghty
April 22, 2010
In This Issue . . .
1. Olbermann's Home Is His Castle
2. You Could Call Gardiner and Montgomerie a Pair of Clegg-Warners
3. Even the Gecko Was Offended
4. Addenda
Good Morning,
Here's today Jolt!
Enjoy,
Jim
1. Olbermann's Home Is His Castle
Is criticism of Keith Olbermann enough to get you canned from MSNBC? If true, no wonder the man's ego is out of control; any on-camera admission of error, expression of self-doubt, or acknowledgement of his own flaws would get him thrown off the air!
The New York Times: "A weeklong anchoring stint on MSNBC by Donny Deutsch ended abruptly on Wednesday, and four people briefed on the decision said the cancellation stemmed from an unflattering mention of that channel's No. 1 anchor, Keith Olbermann, a day earlier. Mr. Deutsch had labeled his hour on MSNBC 'America the Angry,' and Mr. Olbermann was shown briefly in a series of clips of media figures during a segment that pondered what role the media plays in fomenting the public's anger. The four people briefed on MSNBC's decision said Mr. Olbermann's anger about the segment prompted the cancellation of the weeklong 'America the Angry' series."
Credit my buddy Hugh Hewitt for his role in this; he called Olbermann one of the biggest hatemongers on television and Deutsch did not cut off his mike, swear vengeance, or smash the on-set coffee cup into jagged shards and attempt to stab him, which is, I suppose, standard MSNBC policy in those circumstances.
Deutsch is the guy who called Marco Rubio a coconut and later claimed that, of all the possible synonyms for "lunatic," he just happened to pick the one that has the racial connotation of a Hispanic who has betrayed his roots. (Must I spell it out? The outside color vs. the inside color.) Knowing his propensity for awkward food metaphors, I asked Hugh if Deutsch had accidentally called his guest a saltine cracker.
Robert Stacy McCain suggests it was predictable: "How to Lose Your MSNBC Anchor Gig: Describe Keith Olbermann as 'angry.' . . . Geez, Donny, you start lumping in Herr Olbermann with minions of greedy racist homophobic Republican evil like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, and what do you expect? Leg-thrills from Chris Matthews? A [sexual act] from Rachel Maddow?"
Hot Air's Allahpundit savors the irony: "Question for Chris Matthews: Would this qualify as a 'Stalin-esque purge'? . . . Says Philip Klein, 'So Olbermann was really angry about being called angry?' TV Newser is hearing the same thing as the Times, but only the Times has the fun detail about Deutsch's executive producer being sent home after the show. And who is his producer? Gresham Striegel, who joined MSNBC in January after working for 13 years at . . . Fox News. Hmmmm. Oh, also: Turns out Olby will be off the air for the next two nights too, allegedly due to a routine colonoscopy, although those cynical scamps at Mediaite can't help questioning the timing. Double hmmm."
2. You Could Call Gardiner and Montgomerie a Pair of Clegg-Warners
The Economist's cover depicted the three options in the U.K. parliamentary elections as "The Devil You Know" (current Labor -- sorry, Brits, over here it's not "Labour" -- prime minister Gordon Brown), "The Devil You Don't" (Conservative leader David Cameron), and "Who the Devil" (Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg).
I covered the 2005 British elections from London -- it was during my Turkey years -- and I remember feeling pretty good about the options before I headed there. Sure, Blair's was technically the center-left party, but he had stuck by the U.S. in the Iraq war, at great personal cost, and you have to admire a loyal friend who's willing to take the heat for what he believes to be right. He went in the favorite and guided Labor to a win that wasn't historic in size but kept Labor in power. The Conservatives looked set to gain some seats, which was good, even though there had been some harrumphing that they didn't like the Iraq war and were drifting away from America. And the Liberal Democrats were set for their traditional third place. I concluded, "Tony Blair laid out a vision of a muscular liberalism that didn't back down from threats and didn't hesitate to use military force. For this, his own party smacked him around like soccer hooligans running into a guy wearing the wrong colored jersey. The majority of voters punished his party for his staunch pro-U.S., anti-tyrant stand and sent George Galloway, a man whose lips were firmly attached to Saddam Hussein's rump when it mattered most, back to Parliament. We are witnessing the slow-motion triumph of a rancid anti-Western ideology taking root in the nation of Shakespeare, Locke, Disraeli, Churchill, and Thatcher. A nation that kept buggering on during the Blitz is now enraptured by a philosophy that is anti-U.S., objectively pro-Saddam, resolutely defending the worst of the status quo, and indifferent at best to the war on terror." (Those words were written two months before the London bombings.)
Today, things look worse.
In the Corner, Nile Gardiner labels Clegg the anti-Churchill of British politics and gives five reasons Americans should be afraid, very afraid, of his rise to power. He concurs with Tim Montgomerie, editor of ConservativeHome.com, who warned, "Clegg does not want Britain to have an independent nuclear deterrent. He supports earlier withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan. He wants Britain to move closer to the European Union and farther away from the USA. The U.S. doesn't even get a mention in his party's manifesto. His party won a good number of seats at the last election by currying favor with anti-Iraq War Muslim communities, and that has reinforced a very timid approach to the war on terror."
I don't often agree with Daniel Larison, but here's his defense of Clegg to chew over: "Whether or not one agrees with Clegg's entire speech, it is flatly dishonest to portray the views contained in it as 'anti-American,' and it is misleading at best to say that Clegg is anti-Israel. Clegg will not be the next Prime Minister, but America and Britain would be much better off and would have a much stronger, more balanced relationship if the next Prime Minister paid attention to even some of Clegg's ideas."
Larry Sabato predicts that Clegg will be taking fire in today's debate, concluding, "Double-teaming likely. If Clegg gets another boost in debate 2, it will very hard to slow his momentum, barring a collapse in third debate."
3. Even the Gecko Was Offended
It seems like every other commercial on television is for GEICO insurance -- don't ask me why it's in all-caps -- but those ads will soon have a new voice-over at the end. Tabitha Hale at Red State lays out what triggered the change: "Last week, Matt Kibbe posted the voicemail from voiceover actor Lance Baxter (A.K.A D. C. Douglas). The voicemail was very calm, very steady, asking how many FreedomWorks employees were 'mentally retarded,' and then goes on to ask what our spin will be when one of our members finally kills someone. And then he left his name and phone number. Let's state the obvious: This is sheer stupidity. If you're even remotely recognizable and you are representing a company, you don't alienate customers. It's as simple as that. GEICO obviously saw the damage, and fired him."
The voice-over actor issued a press release today, declaring that while he's not willing to spend any money suing FreedomWorks, he's "open to any attorneys taking on this case pro bono."
Okay, I'll bite. I don't think he has much of a leg to stand on when it comes to a wrongful-termination suit, but if he did, it would be targeted at GEICO. But he explicitly declares he has no gripe with GEICO. So why would he sue FreedomWorks? I know he hates them, but that traditionally isn't sufficient basis for a lawsuit.
Confederate Yankee: "Let me explain this very clearly for the whining Mr. Baxter and his would-be defenders. As an American, you have the freedom of speech. You do not have the right to avoid entirely reasonable responses to the speech you decide to exercise. Baxter chose to take actions that led to a response by the target of his ire, which was entirely within their rights. GEICO, likewise, was entirely within their rights to dump Mr. Baxter, who could not control himself and made an outburst that could cause the company financial losses. Freedom isn't free, it requires responsibility and knowing that you may be required to pay a price for your convictions."
At Reason, Tim Cavanaugh highlights the bottom line that matters most: Geico Fires Phone Prankster, But Gecko Still OK. Repeat: The Gecko Is OK.
And I concur with Daniel Foster that the last word should be Greg's line over at the Media Blog: "I guess Geico figured that the voice-over job was so easy, even a caveman could do it."
4. Addenda
With the 29th pick in the first round of tonight's NFL draft, the New York Jets select Everson Griffen, defensive end from Southern Cal. |
