Keith Olbermann is a Ninny...
*Sigh*

It's bad enough that Bill O'Reilly and Hannity and Colmes have become all but unwatchable, but does MSNBC have to follow the same path?

My complaint this time is about Keith Olbermann. Now, normally I don't watch Olbermann and his Countdown show because, well, Keith is an idiot. He was an idiot on SportsCenter on ESPN, and whoever decided he was a "serious journalist" should be taken out an neutered. In the most painful fashion imaginable. However, occasionally (like when O'Reilly drops journalism for the tea-leaf reading that is "Body Language Analysis" or his weekly confab with Geraldo) I do pop in to MSNBC, just on the off-chance that something is being discussed which can hold my interest for at least 3 minutes.

Keith Olbermann ain't that tonic, though.

First off, Keith is a one-trick pony; he can do nothing except report bad news from Iraq, complete with infantile analysis and bad puns, to boot. When he isn't doing that, he's crying about O'Reilly. I swear, I have probably popped into Countdown at least half a dozen times in the last month, and every single time Keith does his "Worst of the Week" shtick, Bill O'Reilly always comes in first (or is it last?). He's obsessed with O'Reilly, almost as much as O'Reilly is obsessed with himself.

Secondly, Keith Olbermann is not quite as smart as he likes to think he is, second-grade witticisms aside. In fact, I rather doubt Keith writes much of the crap that he spouts, but that there is an entire division of MSNBC devoted to making him appear at least Rhesus-monkey clever. If there is, every member of the "Make Olbermann Look Smart" team should be fired, because they invariably fail. Horrendously.

It says a lot when the "best" news shows these days happen to be Tucker Carlson and, two days out of five, Chris Matthews -- and that's only because the competition has been so consistently bad since the beginning of the year, at least.

I sort of remember Daniel Patrick Moynahan once complaining about the "Dumbing Down" of America. He was speaking of the schools and the media, and their ability to withhold any actual information from the public. I'm certain the late Senator tunes in from the Great Beyond at 8 p.m. every evening, watches Olbermann, and wincing, gets disgusted because he was right.