Marvin Kitman: Olbermann Rules

[Hissyspit]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marvin-kitman/olbermann-rules_b_65858.html

Marvin Kitman
Olbermann Rules
Posted September 25, 2007 | 07:16 PM (EST)

One of the most frequently asked questions I get as a critic is what do I really think of Bill O'Reilly?

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I am worried about O'Reilly.

When I began studying him he was a semi-demented TV newsman, who rudely interrupted guests in debates, giving them the last word, which he also interrupted, but lately he seems to be losing it.

As an O'Reillyologist, I could see it happening more easily than the normal viewers who couldn't watch O'Reilly without their blood boiling and wanting to tear his tongue out and burning him at the stake -- and that was before they would punish him.

One night I was stunned to learn from the O'Reilly show that "a national underground network of pink pistol-packing lesbians is terrorizing America." Violent lesbian gangs are a growing problem, the segment began. All across the country they are raping young girls, attacking heterosexual males at random. The story told me more than I ever wanted to know about pistol packin' Lesbos who carried 9mm. Glock pistols, colored pink.

Nobody else had the lesbian gang story that day, as far as I could tell. Presumably, it was what used to be called in local TV news during sleaze sweep periods "an exclusive." Because nobody else wanted it. But this was national television with three million or so viewers who may, or may not be, permanently terrified by the thought of lesbian gangs with pink pistols.

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He just seems to go berserk more often now.

Forget the important issues. Even his personality has changed. I was dumbfounded earlier this month when he was interviewing Tony Snow, his former colleague at Fox News, about his post-White House future, and the exchange went something like this:

O: So what are you doing next?

SNOW: Maybe a book. Or lecture circuit. I'm going to try to earn some money for my family.

O (snickers): Well, you're never going to earn as much as me.

That may not be the exact language, but the sentiment is right. He had to tell Snow how much money he makes. He would never have done that in years past. He just never bragged about his money. Probably because he feared people would ask for loans. He is a very frugal person, as my book explains at great length.

Frankly, I can't listen to him anymore. As much as I praised the early O'Reilly, I think he's gone nuts. Between the fight with Geraldo, the weekly culture quiz and the body language segment of the show, he has jumped the shark.

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On the other hand, it's no great loss since I have Keith Olbermann at 8 o'clock now. As I explained in my Nation cover piece, Olbermann's style of journalism is changing the face of TV news. He is the first competent newsman, who is smart, articulate, with a sense of humor, an understanding of pop culture, with the guts to have opinions about important issues that he has the courage to stand by, or at least sit by, on the air.

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[Skittles]

1. O'Reilly has always been a nutjob

even when he was on that stupid tabloid show - I mean, the first one