Letters to the Editor
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Why Olbermann did it
This, from Gawker:
"During the 1990s, Richard Mellon Scaife spent millions of dollars to dig up all kinds of dirt on Bill and Hillary Clinton, including about Bill's sexual misconduct and the Clinton's investment in the Whitewater real estate development. At the time, Hillary said the media attacks Scaife funded were part of a "vast right wing conspiracy," but now she thinks the whole thing was just hilarious. MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann reminded Clinton that he once left MSNBC because he was so upset over coverage of the attacks on Bill Clinton. Hillary Clinton kept laughing. Olbermann told her he wasn't joking. Clinton kept laughing. "I do believe in redemption, Keith," Clinton said. "I believe in deathbed conversions." Deathbeds are funny, so Clinton kept laughing."
Olbermann takes things personally -- too personally, frankly. That thin-skinned nose of his is notorious for getting cut off to spite his face. Rightly or wrongly, he took Hillary's dismissal of as a personal affront. It was a textbook way to make an enemy of Olbermann, but if there's we've all learned by now, it's that Hillary doesn't give a damn about one more media adversary.
We get the satisfaction of hearing yet another one of MSNBC's Bully Boys issue an apology. Good. Olbermann needed to apologize. The charges of sexism and Clinton-bashing from the media are true and deserve to be called out.
But there's another point that's being avoided entirely: why did Keith get so upset in the first place? Easy. Because Hillary took something that was dear to him - the defense of people with ideals he respected - and had it thrown back in his face with a cackle. Who would just slough that off with a "ho hum"? If Olbermann felt like he was being mocked for something he took too much to heart, well, then I feel it too. That sort of righteous anger is palpable, even if the violent talk that followed wasn't acceptable in the least.
What I'd like to see from Ms. Walsh is not only a repudiation of Hillary's tactics but her complete abandonment of all her ideals. That's what has been infuriating about her campaign from day one. How many countless letters in the blogosphere have been dedicated to this topic? What is the point in being a Democrat if we're forced to vote for a candidate who stands for nothing but her own personal gain? If you want to know why we're grasping at Obama, it's because he's the only one left in the field who reminds us what we're supposed to fighting for; Hillary's already happily cozied up to the vermin she once fought against.
Where's that essay, Ms. Walsh?