WOW!!!! Keith Is Ripping Koppel A New One

[KingOfLostSouls]

AMAZING. simply amazing.



jesus christ, keith has come back from his suspension on fire.


"whatever that television news was before, we now have to fix it."


the MSM failed us over the Iraq war and Koppel was part of that failure.

[Fuzz]

1. Yikes Keith, that's gonna leave a mark.

[Bucky]

2. Oh, to be a fly on Koppel's wall just now

I'll bet his ears are turning bright red

[Whisp]

7. they are normally red. ;)

maybe they are turning plaid

[LiberalFighter]

39. I hope Koppel loses it. And people need to drop Keith's name whenever

they see Koppel.

[rustydog]

63. Keith isn't Jesus and he is WRONG on this

Koppel's observations are dead on. He simply told the truth. If you can't handle the truth don't turn into what you hate by smearing the messenger, discredit the MESSAGE. Oh, it can't be discredited, it is the truth.

[Enthusiast]

66. LOL!

You are joking, right?

[Kalyke]

80. First - no one said Keith was Jesus.

And, for the record, he's absolutely right about Koppel and the other "newsmen" complicit in Bush's move into Iraq. In other words, he discredited Koppel's message:

Just as the story of Mr. Murrow's career emphasizes McCarthy but not the fact that the aftermath of McCarthy buried Murrow's career, the stories of Mr. Koppel's career will emphasize the light he so admirably shone on the Irahn hostages. Those stories will probably not emphasize that in 2002 and 2003 and 2004 and 2005 Mr. Koppel did not shine that same light on the decreasingly coherent excuses presented by the government of this nation for the war in Iraq.

Fourteen consecutive months of nightly half-hours on the travesty and tragedy of 52 hostages in Irahn, but the utter falsehood and dishonesty of the process by which this country was committed to the wrong war, by which this country was committed to dishonesty, by which this country was committed to torture — about that Mr. Koppel, and everybody else in the dead "objective" television news business he so laments, about that Mr. Koppel could not be bothered to speak out. Where were they?

False Promise of 'Objectivity' Proves 'Truth’ Superior to 'Fact'

[ProudDad]

83. Koppel is an ass

and his critique of a system that he participated willingly in perpetuating is self-serving bullshit...

He can try to blame Olbermann (and faux-noise) but it's the M$M with their bullshit "objectivity" for entertainment's sake that is the cause of the dumbing down of the USAmerican Sheeple...

And Koppel has been a very well paid tool of that system...


On Edit: Olbermann is a HELL of a lot closer to Edward R Murrow than Koppel EVER was! I know, I've seen all three of them at work.

[eleny]

3. kr

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Ah objectivity

This reminded me of that god in Graduate school... that is what historians strive for, but I suspect it is also dead in history... because quite brutally honest it is ahem difficult to achieve.

[Whisp]

5. the MSM failed us over the Iraq war and Koppel was part of that failure.

well ain't that a truth.
Koppel was singing the same tune as all the other head noddin' pin wearing 'patriots'. Good for Keith (not really a fan of his but he got this one right on the bullseye)

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. Koppel did speak one truth

too late to do anything about it. A couple days before the war he did state that the war could be stopped since it was the wish of fifteen people at most.

I still remember that sickening episode of Nightline... It also made me wonder what HE KNEW and was not saying. I guess over the years we have found out what he knew... and the rest of them knew.

[Whisp]

22. so he snuck something in just to cover his ass.

that's how I look at it.

there wasn't anybody on network or cable news that did any serious questioning for any length of time - compared to the hour and hours and dozens and dozens of 'opinions' that supported the war - often ex military or present military. salute, bow, rah rah. Even Rather got all choked up about 'supporting your President in time of war' or some ultra crap like that.

Phil Donahue did their jobs on his talk show and he got fired for it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

28. I am not sure if it was CYA

or a moment of rare honesty...

Regardless that was the ONLY point in MSM when a truth slipped in.

Having a husband on the front lines tends to concentrate the mind... in ways that are quite crazy.

[madokie]

71. yup

[karynnj]

78. That is a good point - the war started because Bush ordered it to happen in March 2003

There were many in the media that were cheerleaders for it from summer 2002 on. Many others thought the inspectors being in could avoid the need for war. It is NOT true that war was inevitable in early 2003. It was inevitable ONLY if GWB wanted it.

I think that episode was when it was clear that Bush was going to send the troops to war - he had told the inspectors to leave.

[demigoddess]

6. Keith, I am so proud of your beautiful A@@!!!!

You are more than right. You are right on!!!!
:toast: :toast: :toast:

[ncrainbowgrrl]

8. literally speechless

Bravo, Keith!

[ncrainbowgrrl]

9. literally speechless

Bravo, Keith!

[murray hill farm]

10. My ears are happy, happy!

Wow!!!!! Keith has come back even stronger! Sometimes 300,000+ signatures on a petition in just a few days has real power. Let's remember that in the future. Keith was fantastic!!!

[Cleita]

12. And then he ripped into Joe Scarborough without

mentioning his name. Oh, please Keith, don't get fired again.

[bullwinkle428]

14. They were merely statements of fact - nothing that actually opined

on anything pertaining to Joey Scar. He shouldn't have to worry about that!

[bullwinkle428]

13. "I've criticized Obama more in the last week than Fox News

criticized Bush over the course of his entire presidency!"

WORD!!!!

Thank you, Keith, for putting into words exactly why the whole "mirror image" meme is such a load of bullshit!

[girl gone mad]

15. Did he mention the "War is Beautiful" Nightline pre-Iraq propaganda episode?

That's the day I realized what a POS Ted Koppel was/is.

[cyr330]

16. Shit! Fuck!

I missed it! Goddamnit, I have to wait till 8 pm, Pacific Time, to see it. . .

[RavensChick]

19. You'll love it!

[cyr330]

25. Am home now. . .

With my feet up,some greens out to smoke, and Rachel Maddow on to be followed by Lawrence O'Donnell, and I will DEFINITELY wait for Keith O. to come back on-- thanks! You've got me really looking forward to it! :)

[elleng]

17. Sure did! Applause here!

[NNN0LHI]

18. He mentioned how former Rethug congressman Joe Scarborough gets 3 hours of spewing his propaganda ..

... unchallenged but his bosses were on Keith's ass and ready to fire him for giving the liberal side of the wars.

That jab was for Jon Stewart who chose to leave Scar out of his little picture show for some reason I still haven't figured out. Mika should have been included on there too. That is where Stewart fucked up.

Don

[polichick]

21. So happy he included that! nt

[TuxedoKat]

41. Yes

I was wondering about that too, why Joe and Mika were left out of that montage. That Monday after the rally Joe and Mika couldn't pat themselves on the back hard enough about how they agreed with Stewart about the incivility on both sides and how civil they are on their show. I had to laugh out loud at their hypocrisy. It's like Joe and Mika have an agreement not to say anything negative about Stewart and vice versa.

[Enthusiast]

67. "Stewart fucked up."

Yes he did. Big time.

[madokie]

73. for what fuck up he made

[bigwillq]

20. K and R (nt)

[moondust]

23. Keith's best yet.

This one should be taught in J-schools.

Glad to hear the story of how Nightline got started. It makes me wonder if ABC's sole dedicated coverage of the Iran hostage crisis night after night was actually a hit job on President Carter.

[RavensChick]

29. It was.

From the moment they started the coverage it was the beginning of the end of President Carter's term, and I for one hated ABC News for that ever since!

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

62. And that coverage dovetailed beautifully with the October surprise.

:think:

[glitch]

70. Stop wondering: ABC's been complicit with the neoconservative agenda a long, long time. nt

[bagimin]

24. K&R

A thing of beauty.

[dreamnightwind]

26. Koppel is not our friend

I will never forget how, early in the '92 Dem POTUS primaries, Jerry Brown was looking like he had a real shot. I forget the details, but IIRC, Clinton had yet to win a single state, and Brown was ahead of him all around. Tsongas was in the mix too.

The PTB apparently made a phone call (I know nothing to substantiate this). Anyway Koppel's Nightline ran a sensationalist hit-piece about how Jerry had been seen (sometime in the past, not during the primaries) at some party where someone claimed someone (not even alleged to have been connected to Brown) had been seen smoking marijuana.

They played it to the hilt. Other media outlets picked it up. Brown was finished. We got Clinton.

Brown wasn't the pick of the PTB, and they took him out. Never forget.

[dsc]

60. that is a wierd reading of history

Brown's big problem was his really bad tax plan. He supported a flat tax which was regressive.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

76. Brown ran as a fiscal right-winger

Just like Tsongas, which is why once the field cleared out (Harkin, Bob Kerrey) Clinton emerged from the fray strong.

[dreamnightwind]

92. not exactly

I recall the flat tax proposal, which was seemed lame to someone like me. I remember Brown talking about how the existing system was actually more regressive than it would be with his proposal, because with the tax code of that time (and today), people in the higher brackets had all sorts of ways to avoid paying taxes on their income, and when all was said and done actually payed less, not more, as a percentage of their income, than people in lower brackets.

I'm not claiming he was correct, I think he may well have been correct but I don't know. His point was that he'd remove all the favors from the tax code, most of which were put there by politicians doing the bidding of corporate lobbyists.

[dsc]

93. but it did kill him in the big primaries of New York and Illinois

where both the mortgage and income tax deductions were huge. I also think he was very wrong on what would happen to middle class taxes under his proposal.

[dreamnightwind]

97. quite possibly

It seems there are a number of interpretations of that race. The one I quoted below also mentioned that Brown had mentioned Jesse Jackson as a possible running mate shortly before those primaries, and that the New York Jewish vote was scared off by that. Dunno.

My main point was that Koppel was a part of a take-down of Brown by the powers that be. Clinton was who they wanted, at least between Brown and Clinton, and they weighed in with the pot story, though the more substantive drug stories were in the closets of Clinton and the Chimp. I stand by that and I think it stands up to scrutiny. Doesn't mean that's the only reason or even the main reason that Clinton beat Brown.

[dsc]

94. but it did kill him in the big primaries of New York and Illinois

where both the mortgage and income tax deductions were huge. I also think he was very wrong on what would happen to middle class taxes under his proposal.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

77. Sorry, but you are wrong

Brown didn't become a contender until March. By then, Clinton had fought off Tsongas by winning most of the Super Tuesday primaries. Brown just hung in there, basically nipping at his heels running as a fiscal conservative picking up where Tsongas left off.

I'm not saying there wasn't a hit piece slamming him for smoking pot.....I recall that. But Brown was not a huge factor until everyone else had dropped out.

I remember the joke....."Clinton didn't inhale, Jerry Brown never exhaled."

[dreamnightwind]

91. Here's some more info

My memory is never perfect, pretty good though. I did a little Googling to check on this after reading your refutation. It's not exactly how I remember it, substantively though I'd say it was accurate. Nightline selectively torpedoed the Brown campaign at a critical point in the primary.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_%28United_States%29_presidential_primaries,_1992
"On March 17, Brown forced Tsongas from the race when he received a strong third-place showing in the Illinois primary and then defeated the senator for second place in the Michigan primary by a wide margin. Exactly one week later, he cemented his position as a major threat to Clinton when he eked out a narrow win in the bitterly fought Connecticut primary. As the press now focused on the primaries in New York and Wisconsin, which were both to be held on the same day, Brown, who had taken the lead in polls in both states, made a serious gaffe: he announced to an audience of various leaders of New York City's Jewish community that, if nominated, he would consider the Reverend Jesse Jackson as a vice-presidential candidate. Jackson, who had made a pair of anti-Semitic comments about Jews in general and New York City's Jews in particular while running for president in 1984, was still a widely hated figure in that community and Brown's polling numbers suffered. On April 7, he lost narrowly to Bill Clinton in Wisconsin (37-34), and dramatically in New York (41-26)."

http://www.mediaresearch.org/realitycheck/1999/fax[phone].asp
" Koppel never devoted a Nightline to Bill Clinton when he admitted using marijuana on March 29, 1992, despite the undoubtedly numerous Arkansas prisoners incarcerated for possession or use of marijuana. "
...
" Perhaps most importantly, on April 9, 1992, Koppel and Nightline joined ABC's investigation employing anonymous California state police to charge that while he was Governor, Jerry Brown allowed drug use in his home."
...
"But Koppel has demonstrated a pattern of selective devastation. Clinton was left untouched. Koppel crippled Brown when he was Clinton's only remaining obstacle to the nomination in 1992."

[pacalo]

27. It was awesome. Thanks to Ted's letter to the Post for giving Keith the opening

to say everything he said tonight. Nobody but a supreme wordsmith like Keith could put Ted & his news ilk in their place like I saw tonight. Keith values truth & integrity & that's why I like him so much -- along with his sharp wit & his command of language.

[Tatiana]

30. It was an amazing thing of beauty.

Keith really has a way with words.

I was so happy to see someone point out that the goal of true journalism should be to educate the populace -- not to provide two sets of opposing "facts" or viewpoints. If the sky is freaking blue, just say "the sky is blue." But we've bought into the mantra of objectivity, which means journalistically reporting that "Democrats believe the sky is blue, however Republicans insist that the sky is gray."

[H2O Man]

31. Recommended.

I think that we are witnessing KO rise to a new level in journalism. It's easy to point out the problems with Fox, and to mock people like Bill O'Reilly. But I believe Keith is going to target some of the less obvious (to the general public, not to the democratic left) and more serious issues with the media. And, truth is, Keith is probably the best positioned person to do this today.

[mmonk]

59. I agree 100%

[mrs_p]

32. he was right on tonight

over the last decade, i have become skeptical, if not downright hostile, to anything the "news" tells us. my eyes were first opened during the lead-up to the illegal iraq war. that's also when even NPR lost me. this bowing down to "objectivity" is just ridiculous. every completely fabricated lie gets "objective" treatment - no one in the MSM dares to call a spade a spade. in that way, journalism is just a dead discipline to me. it's all just entertainment now....

[madrchsod]

33. teddy was the pioneer of the shit we hear and see today.....

night after night...no wonder Reagan was elected.

[elocs]

34. Well, it's good to hear that he was on fire. That's what I wanted to know.

Definite K&R for being on fire.

[me b zola]

35. Pitch perfect, Keith

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[sally cat]

36. I wonder if he thinks the MSM is also failing us on the Afghanistan war?

[Enthusiast]

69. Isn't the M$M failing us on the Afghanistan war?

It is.

[MrMickeysMom]

37. I was very proud of that special comment

Doesn't it make you want to listen to an audio archive of Edward R Murrow's rooftop reporting. He's right up there with him.

Koppel... what a weak cup of tea he is...

[Larkspur]

38. Great Special Comment, Keith

It is one of your best.

[demigoddess]

40. don't forget that the reason the news is so bad is that

they essentially cover "politics" they really do that in order to avoid covering the news. We get so little of what is happening overseas etc. We get ambulance chasing in the local news and on the national stuff we get the back and forth between the parties, and opinion, but not actually the whys and wherefores of the actually stuff they are doing. Very few committee meetings are covered, very few of the actual laws that they are passing. Have you noticed that we get very little of what is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan? Very little of what the world is doing.

[Mimosa]

47. ITA 'they essentially cover "politics" in order to avoid covering the news.'

And people have become so darned ignorant. :(

[wryter2000]

89. And, don't forget the missing blondes

How long did we have to hear about a custody problem in South America?

[Major Hogwash]

42. Won't get invited to Jon's program now -- "both sides do it".

Hahahahahahahaha!!!!

And so Jon, which side was Colbert on?

Oh muh gawd!!
How the logic noodle unraveled that time!!

[TuxedoKat]

43. Keith was amazing

He was so eloquent and he just kept getting better and better as he went along. I listened to it on my radio tonight and it was a veritable feast for the ears.

[DimplesinMI]

44. This is why.....

I am glad he is back. K/R

[JohnyCanuck]

45. K & R

[Inchworm]

46. Wow indeed!

Just watched it. Perfect.

:kick:

[HEyHEY]

48. Yes, and a contributor to a politcal party is just the man to bring balance back to TV news

Every day I think he's more of a douchebag.

[Skidmore]

56. ?????

Who are you referring to exactly?

[meow mix]

72. Unrec...n/t

Every day I think he awsome. sorry you guys feel threatened by him..LOL

[phleshdef]

81. Right, because objective journalists are not human beings & are not capable of political preferences

[HEyHEY]

96. That's not the point

Point is this fucking douchebag is knocking the others for doing the very same thing he was caught doing a week ago. He's a fucking twat.

[MedicalAdmin]

98. If I may translate your post?

"Point is this fucking douchebag is knocking the others for doing the very same thing he was caught doing a week ago. He's a fucking twat."

Translation: I think (misogynistic comment = I hate women) is pointing out BS so because he is not a perfect saint and following my strange and unreal inwritten rules of conduct. (misogynistic comment = I hate women)

Is that about right?

[phleshdef]

99. LOL. What a complete fucking lie.

He was knocking entire corporations for giving millions to Republicans. He NEVER knocked individuals for contributing. Of course you know this, you are just hoping you can throw any old bullshit out there and not get called on it.

[krispos42]

49. The last four minutes are the scorcher

Yikes!

[Greybnk48]

50. Every word true. Awesome.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

51. Just watched the 11 pm rerun. Awesome.

I am very glad that Keith told the young people how Nightline got started, as reporting on the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. That hostage crisis cost Carter the election and he was made to look like a fool. The hostage crisis lasted 444 days, I remember that. I was a senior in college.

Thank you so very much, Keith! :yourock:

[donheld]

52. .

:bounce:

[Raine]

53. KO was TERRIFIC he was on fire!!!! nt

:applause:

[Waiting For Everyman]

54. Keith's the one who has the "mantle of the greats", that's evident

and not the Koppel/Brokawites who think we should count them in the same league, just for kissing corporate a$$ for a long time, and climbing the ladder. It doesn't work that way, a newsman without some degree of insurgency about him is a failure. The go-along to get-along mentality with sources and networks, leads to burying the news not reporting it.

It takes a pretty big failure of news reporting to enable the trainwreck we have now - of another fake war (like VN, and I count the 2 current wars as 1) that not only was declared but continued for a decade, and a total ongoing collapse of the economy. The self-satisfied news contingent kinda missed the story a bit! Just like they missed big relevant chunks of every major news story in the last 50 years (including Watergate).

The news fakers should know when to SU and not draw attention to themselves - that isn't too bright of them.

[ClayZ]

55. It was a thing of beauty! K and R

[taterguy]

57. What was wrong with Koppel's old one?

:shrug:

[Little Star]

58. Keith told it like it is. k&r for KO!!

[The Uncola]

61. K&R

[marions ghost]

64. +++++ K&R One of his BEST

:thumbsup: Keith

Many amazing points of Truth not often heard in The Media.

[myrna minx]

65. K&R n/t

[madokie]

68. Damn I knew I should have watched

sumbeech

[CrispyQ]

74. Watch it here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x525718

[madokie]

75. Thank you

I'll do that now and pass it on to a friend who didn't see it either and would like to see it.

[Kalyke]

79. That was great.

As a former reporter of the old guard, Keith's comments on the complicity of Koppel, et al, made my heart soar with hope for my former profession.

[eppur_se_muova]

82. With this Special Comment, KO looks and sounds just like the giants of journalism ...

for whom Koppel waxes so nostalgic. Clearly, Koppel can't see the truth right before his face. "Just the facts" didn't make Murrow a great reporter; it was putting the facts together, seeing where they led, and voicing his (and our) outrage about the injustice of it all.

[Ken Burch]

84. Well, remember, Ted got his big break in show business

Thanks to the Iranian hostage situation(which means he owes people like Reagan and his acolytes BIG time).

Remember also that, before that, Koppel was basically a journalistic Kissinger groupie.

[bbgrunt]

85. Keith soars like an eagle!

[katty]

86. glad SOMEBODY is kicking ass and Rachel's brilliant dot to

dot ripping of John McCain's flip flopping career was incredible. Why would anyone take anything he says seriously,ever?! He jumps on any horse he can find at the moment.

[KamaAina]

87. Did he pull Koppel's rug off, too?

Oliver North once swore it was real. So you know it's a rug!

[Politics_Guy25]

88. Ted Koppel is a republican hack

and has ZERO credibility.

[LaPera]

90. Ted Koppel has always been a lying toll for republican elitist - Koppel is a complete lying asshole!

[DeadEyeDyck]

95. Go K!