My Fave Line at TCA So Far: Keith Olbermann Believes He's a Virus to Bill O'Reilly

In a press conference here announcing MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann's stint moderating a democratic candidates forum Aug. 7, Olbermann regaled critics speaking on his favorite subject -- Fox News pundit Bill O'Reilly's historic feud/fascination with him.

"We, in many respects, get a nice free ride because Bill just won't let it go," said Olbermann, who has long contended that some of the heat for his show, Countdown, comes from the press he gets when O'Reilly attacks him. (He's even offered to give some of his salary to O'Reilly; I think he was kidding)

"It's, to some degree, the way a virus feels about its host."

Later, he noted, "If there are t-shirts tomorrow that read 'O'Reilly's virus,' how could that be a bad thing?"

And so it goes...

UPDATE: Not long after Olbermann's session ended, I moseyed into the TCA press room, where reporters can hop on the Internet, pick up press releases and make phone calls between press conferences. Someone -- I wanted to believe it was a staffer from Fox News, but I have been assured it was not them -- had festooned the room with color copied flyers proclaiming Olbermann's Countdown show was "fourth in a four horse race at 8 p.m." 25 percent of the time among viewers aged 25 to 54, behind O'Reilly, CNN's Paula Zahn and CNN Headline News' Nancy Grace.

The TVNewser Web site quotes Olbermann saying: ""Okay, they cooked the books, they used the old ratings system that only Fox uses anymore, in fact we've been fourth one time since June 1. And by the way I've been on vacation 27 percent of the time since June 1."

The graphic illustrating this message: A Photoshopped image showing O'Reilly, Zahn and Grace as horse jockeys with Olbermann's head protruding from the rear of a fourth steed.

No wonder they say the TV news biz is tough....

Comments

[paul]

O'Reilly is #1 because he not only beats his compitition, he crushes them. No one is even close and that includes Olbermann. You fools can't realize that he HAS to stir it up with O'Reilly because he'd have nothing left if he didn't. Just like you liberals to blame everthing else but the facts. O'Reilly is a lot more talanted than Olbermann. Go back to your dead Air-Hate America station.

[Tom]

"Olbermann regaled critics speaking on his favorite subject -- Fox News pundit Bill O'Reilly's historic feud/fascination with him."

"Bill O'Reilly's historic feud/fascination with him"? ROTFLMAO! Instead of serving as Olbermoronn's useful idiot (to be fair, Olbermoronn has hundreds of useful idiots writing for American publications), you may want to do your homework. Olbermoronn has mentioned O'Reilly on Olbermoronn's unwatched gameshow Meltdown with Keith Olbermoronn hundreds of times (see Olbermannwatch.org for the numbers) while O'Reilly in 10 years or so of his program may have mentioned Olbermoronn's name once and referenced Olbermoronn's gameshow on another occassion. The only fascination is Keith "FOURTH place out of FIVE" Olbermoronn's fascination with O'Reilly who has FOUR times the viewers of Olbermoronn's unwatched "program".

[Scott]

I know you don't want to let the facts get in the way of a good story... but O'Reilly has mentioned Olbermann's named ONCE.... EVER... IN THE HISTORY OF HIS SHOW.

It's Olbermann who has the ridiculous fascination with O'Reilly, not the other way around.

Maybe it's because O'Reilly gets triple the viewers Olbermann gets every night, and his 11pm re-run gets double the viewers.

[Mike]

Someone please help me with this MATH and this Sentence?

"color copied flyers proclaiming Olbermann's Countdown show was "fourth in a four horse race at 8 p.m." 25 percent of the time among viewers aged 25 to 54, behind O'Reilly, CNN's Paula Zahn and CNN Headline News' Nancy Grace."

How can someone come in 4th out of 4 and still have 25%?

[Karla]

Well, it's obvious some people WISH Keith would stick to sportscasting...except when he does do sportscasting, then they accuse him of doing it with a "liberal bias"...bwahahahaha. There's just no pleasing the right-wing nutjobs!

Fox's self-serving "horserace" posters don't surprise me either. They probably take the one lousy week when Paris Hilton and Chris Benoit were making Nancy and Paula's sensationalist-driven shows get unusually high ratings (for them) and then paint Keith as a ratings failure just because he didn't exploit those two stories and his numbers suffered accordingly. Big deal! If Paula Zahn's show gets so much better ratings than Keith's, how come CNN is trying to take it off the air every chance they get? Ha.

[Bob Borquez]

Keith should stick to sportscating...that's what he did best.

[Spyrochiro]

Nancy Grace is in the top 3? It never ceases to amaze me how easy it is to severely overestimate the intelligence of the American gene pool.

[Eric]

Whenever somebody starts pointing at ratings ... I just chuckle and remember the time when the "Macarena" was a #1 song...

The sun even shines on a dog's behind some days...

[Jason]

Who are you going to Hiroshima? Iraq? Note the trouble makers are called "insurgents". That at least implies that they are from somewhere else, and trust me you blow the ones up in Iraq and they'll make more....

Start pulling out, yeah, but someone needs to come up with a plan to cause the least damage to the Iraqi people as we pull out, because all the strife we leave, is strife we've caused.

Whatever we do we should have a "plan". Know any good planners? There aren't any in the Bush Administration...

[Jack Jackson]

Quite simply: Bush had the stupidity to get us in this war but he doesn't have the balls to finish it. There are only two ways to end the war right now since the status quo will do nothing but kill more US youngsters.

1. He needs to pull out.

2. The only other option is to go Hiroshima on them and scare the "suicide" out of the "terrorists". Don't forget the Japanese looked pretty damn unconquerable on their own turf until they saw their families melted into puddles on twisted collapsed beams. It IS terrible; I know this, but Bush has literally got us in this bad of a quagmire. Im willing to get ruthless to save American lives, and then I'm all for charging Bush with war crimes.

[fuzzybutton]

For those of you who like fox news go here: http://www.newshounds.us/ I do.

[Dave]

Speaking of the media, though.

We don't have 24-hour news channels, despite what you hear. I think we used to once.

But all we have now is people giving opinions about the day's news. Turn on any news channel after 8 PM and it's all just talking heads. Sheesh, at least we used to have Headline News until they gave us Nancy Grace (the horror! the horror!)

And then it all goes into reruns at midnight (as a night owl, I've seen all these shows already!!)

I just want a real news channel. I'll never forget the night the levees broke in New Orleans (after 2 AM or so), and my incredible frustration that NOT ONE SINGLE NEWS NETWORK felt it was worth reporting on until the next day.

Thank goodness for the internet, or I'd be as clueless about what goes on in the world as George W. Bush.

[Dave]

"I'm hoping perhaps we could spend more time tlaking about the media part of this equation."

Hehe, well you know how it is once you get us started.

[Cranky Media Guy]

"Liberal fringe cook

Posted by: John Johnson"

I had a friend back in Catholic high school named John Johnson.

THAT one could spell, though.

[thanks beelzebozo]

off topic.

ron mexico stole his alias from mike vick, and his joke from bill hicks.

[drx1]

Actually, I think the issue in the Middle East ... appears to be polygyny- makes sense to my pschy 101 mind, maybe not Freud or Neitsche but who cares about early psychologists and crazy mad philophers?

"The surprising answer from the evolutionary psychological perspective is that Muslim suicide bombing may have nothing to do with Islam or the Koran (except for two lines in it)."

so we are way off topic, but maybe that will put things to rest.

STICK TO SPORTS KEITH!!!

[Eric Deggans]

I appreciate the spirited debate that I've seen in these quarters today. but I'm hoping perhaps we could spend more time tlaking about the media part of this equation.

For the person who linked to TvNewser ratings; the flyer said Olbermann was fourth 25 percent of the time.

Those with high school diplomas swallow the theory that if we leave Iraq - "They'll follow us here". (Can you say Republican scare tactic?) Please explain to me and my college buddy's how that can happen. It's like they see the insurgents as a swarm of bees chasing some broad with too much hair spray.
For Christ's sake, if they want to come over here they'll come over here - with or without our presence in Iraq. It's got nothing to do with it.

Also, monkey boy keeps saying he needs more time. But no one to my knowledge has done anything to calculate how much time may be needed. Here's an idea...How many insurgents are there? How many have we chugged since we've been there? The balance will tell you how long it will take. Oh, and factor in insurgent recruits that come along each month. My guess is somewhere around 60 years. Monkey boy has himself cornered. He looks like an idiot if he stays in but keeps the .001 percent chance of success alive (which is what we all argue about everyday as if the chance were much greater- say 2 percent), he looks like an idiot if he pulls us out (admits defeat). Guess what..he looks like an idiot doesn't he?

Just how stupid CAN people actually be and still feed and clothe themselves?

[Bradman]

Dave,

Right on man! I've watched countless cable interviews of Republicans cornered by the interviewer to explain why the "Decider" commuted the sentence of Libby.
EVERY time they start harping on what Clinton did because they cannot answer the questions. Same with Gonzales, Iraq, and Dick Cheney. The "Decider" is a divider.

[dogfighter]

Ron Mexico is not a porn name...Michael Vick used it as an alias at a hotel in which he was sued by a girl he infected herpes. Geez, doesnt everyone know that on here? google it

[chris]

point is..if osama was smart enough to carry out 9/11..i am sure he is smart enough to carry out his cause after his expiration...with billions of dollars..osama dead wont stop islamic radicals from paying young,hopeless kids families from being "martyrs"

[Dave]

"If you haven't seen a bigger collection of liars and crooks, then you must have been born after January 2001, or blind prior to."

Ah, yes, the trustworthy defense of a Bush supporter: "But...but...but Clinton!!!"

Tell me, anonymous, did Clinton's shenanigans make you angry? If it did, why doesn't Bush's offenses make you equally angry?

Clinton was President nearly a decade ago. This is the here and now. Two wrongs do not make a right, and listening to Bush supporters try to twist facts, blame the messenger, smear valid critics, etc., just shows that they care more about a Republican being in power than they care about having a good government.

You are failing your duty as an American citizen. We have to hold ALL our elected officials accountable, not make lame excuses and talk about Bill Clinton instead.

I'm an American, not a frickin' party shill. The Bush administration STINKS TO HIGH HELL, but his fervent defenders keep trying to tell us they smell like roses.

[chris]

dave...last all saw...osama looked like death and is irrelevent to all of this...osama dead or alive wont stop anything...thanks for trying and better luck next time

And Olbermann should stick to sports.

Dave--Forgive me for slandering you as a Democrat. That was totally uncalled for. Yes, I do enjoy being lied to by my leaders--count me as one of those 19% who thinks the Democrats are doing a bang-up job of losing the war, pleasing their union masters, and Hispandering our border security away. If you haven't seen a bigger collection of liars and crooks, then you must have been born after January 2001, or blind prior to.
Mick--Ron Mexico is his porn name, not a real one. And you missed the point, which was actually more name calling (I read all the previous posts, and thought that's what you people did here). Forget analogies: Saddam was supposed to kill Iranian terrorists, and so we sold him equipment, possible chemical weapon precursors and alleged CIA intelligence. Surprise--he used them to kill everyone he slightly disagreed with, and threatened the entire Middle East. Since, without oil, everything in America would grind to a halt, it was judged as a direct security threat, and we had to take him out. True ignorance is believing the Iraqis were better off under this brutal madman than with even a chance at freedom, however imperfect or tainted by terrorism. Don't let any politicians determine what happens in Iraq--let the generals win it, and give them what they ask for.

[Mick]

oops

name not nmae

and kurds not curds, they're a people, not a dairy product.

[Mick]

"Ron--go back to Mexico, man."

Wow, that's a great way to argue the point he made, a crack about his name. I guess it's at least a 1/2 of a step above anme calling.

"Kevin--My father died of a heart attack; I think I'll sue you for selling him the french fries."

I think a more valid comparison would be if McDonalds sold him the fries and then attacked him for having the fries that they sold him. Oh, and don't forget, the fries are all gone. We waited to enact the no-fly zone until AFTER he used the fries on all those pesky curds.

Anyone who thinks we're not in Iraq for profit is ignorant to the world around them.

[Dave]

Dave--the democrat-controlled Congress has an approval rating of 19%.

I'm not a Democrat, anonymous poster. I'm an American. And I despise liars and crooks in my government, no matter what party they belong to.

And I've never seen a bigger collection of liars and crooks than the Bush administration.

Maybe you enjoy being lied to by your leaders. I don't.

[Jonnan]

Fourth in a four horse race? How odd - mediabistro has the ratings for cable news, and although O'Reilly stays in first by a pretty healthy margin, Countdown is typically 2nd.

I'm given to understand Countdowns demographics are actually better, but I don't know enough to argue the question either way - I suppose if so, then the market is deciding against conservatives.

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/ratings/default.asp

Dave--the democrat-controlled Congress has an approval rating of 19%.
Ron--go back to Mexico, man.
Kevin--My father died of a heart attack; I think I'll sue you for selling him the french fries.
Sharra--you never liked O'Reilly.
Ed--not even Human Rights Watch believes the 600,000 number anymore.

Olbermann should stick to sports.

[JP]

I thought this thread started with a discussion about news show hosts...what is all this back and forth about our occupation of Iraq?

Did I miss something? Did Iraq invade Saudi Arabia? Other than maybe a border skirmish here and there during the first Gulf War, was there an actual invasion?
Also, I really must have missed something big. I didn't realize we went to war to avenge IRANIAN deaths in a war in which we supported Iraq, which is why we sold them the mustard gas that they used on the Kurds 20 years ago.
One more thing, Mark, we attacked Iraq to get them back for being attacked by Israel? huh?
Intelligent rebuttal? I'm at a loss. The best I can come up with is: WHAT?

[Troy]

John Johnson,

I have a hard time believing that's really your name, but that's neither here nor there. The word you were looking for was 'kook'. Don't rely on spell check, JJ. There's still something to be said for proofreading. As far as hating America goes, have you actually listened to anything "Silly Willy" has said lately? No one hollers more about how much they love America than people with something to hide.

[bmoney]

amen Sharra, amen!

[Sharra]

I actually don't think Olbermann is out there at all, I don't listen to his show regularly, but every clip I have seen where he rants, it's usually a rant I agree with. I use to actually like O'Reilly until he became a lying hypocritical nutjob who is on the wrong side of almost every issue.

[Ron Mexico]

That's how we know Saddam had chemical weapons. We still had the receipts.

[kevin]

Mark,
Please go on. You forgot to mention who sold the chemical weapons to Saddam? It was US. More specifically Rumsfield.. So you could say that the US helped murder all of those people.

"We" aren't in Iraq. It was Bush's decision, it was Bush's misinformation that got Congress' buy-in, and Bush, the self-described "war president," alone runs it. The only thing "we" do in this war is lose international goodwill and die in it.

Iraq already has another heavy-handed fascist dictator like Saddam Hussein.

[James]

All Iraq needs is another heavy-handed fascist dictator ala Saddam Hussein...for he and his cronies were the only people who could keep that sham of a country together.

[Eric Deggans]

Bob --

I'm not sure if somebody else corrected the first mistake you pointed out, but when i looked at the site, feud was spelled correctly. And i had run the post through a spellchecker, so I thought the obvious misspellings were caught.

But I am hurriedly posting items while running to press conferences, conducting interviews and planning stories. And there is no line editor in this space -- what I post is what goes up. So please forgive, in advance, any big time mistakes...

[Dave]

I'm always amused by all the re-justifications for the Iraq invasion that apologists keep coming up with.

So much for WMDs and "imminent threat," I guess.

Meanwhile, Bin Laden laughs and laughs at us.

[Ed]

Mark,
So THAT's why we went Iraq. It's interesting, all of the shifting explanations since we we're sold on Bush's adventure back in March 2003.
Guess what? The Iraqi death squads still wear Iraqi police uniforms in that country, they still hate us and now, unlike 2003, al-Qaeda is there and recruiting.

And one more point, since Bush's bungled nation-building experiment began over 600,000 Iraqis have died due to violence in a country we took responsibility for. At that rate, Bush's Iraq Occupation will surpass Hussein's 1 million dead in about 2 and a half years. A rate that might make Saddam himself blush.

But hey, Iraqis are much better off now, aren't they?

[Mark]

I don't think Iraq had anything to do with 9/11. But let's look at the facts about why we are in Iraq. The attack in 1987 on the USS Stark by an Iraqi Mirage jet fighter firing two Excocet missiles. 1990 invasion and occupation of Kuwait. Invasion of Saudi Arabia. Killing thousands of Kurds via chemical weapons. Killing thousands of Iranians via chemical weapons. Killing of Iraqis by chemical weapons. Nuclear facility bombed by the Israelis. The murder of perhaps 1 million Iraqis, presumed to be dissidents. Bounties put on shooting down US pilots patrolling the no fly zone post Operation Desert Freedom. Attempted assasination of President George H.W. Bush in Kuwait. Failure to comply with UN inspectors. Failure to account for chemical munitions. Failure to abide by UN Resolutions (what 17 or 19 of them). Shoot down, capture and probable murder of Navy pilot Commander M. Scott Speicher. Should I go on? Any intellgent rebuttal? Perhaps Katie Couric would still like for Sadam to escape.

[Oscar]

Olbermann may be out there, but at least he is not another version of the same old, same old. Hannity, O'Reily, Grace, Beck, etc are all interchangeable and say the same thing.
I swear they are like the Darrins on the old Bewitched show. One day one will be gone and another will be in the same place saying the same thing and no one will notice a difference.

[Bob]

...what gets me is that a respected name in newspapers has "feud" spelled "fued" in the sixth line, and a little further down "I" is lower-cased-maybe penance for the page editor who let it slip? In an article about journalism? Gotta love irony...

[Dave]

"Liberal fringe cook?"

Hahahaha...the only people who watch Bill O'Reilly are senile senior citizens and neo-Nazis. Oh, and the regular low-IQ Fox News viewers, who still think Iraq had something to do with 9/11.

In other words, addled people and stupid people.

Sorry bud, but only 26% of the US supports George W. Bush.

Who is the fringe "cook"?

[Sarah]

What type of recipes does a "Liberal fringe cook" specialize in?

[John Johnson]

Olbermann is still on the air??

Who watches this America hating nut?

Liberal fringe cook