Wow.
Countdown just ended with Keith making a "special statement in response to Donald Rumsfeld". Special doesn't even begin to describe what he did.
Let's just say that tonight, he truly earned the right to use his sign-off phrase.
Update [2006-8-30 21:30:46 by dmsilev]: The good folks at Crooks and Liars already have the video, not 30 minutes after the fact. Link here.
Update [2006-8-30 21:57:58 by dmsilev]: People shoud get in touch with MSNBC management and express their support and thanks for Mr. Olbermann. The email addresses: viewerservices@msnbc.com and letters@msnbc.com . For Countdown in particular, the contact address is countdown@msnbc.com .
Update [2006-8-30 22:16:42 by dmsilev]:: Anyone wishing to express their thanks directly to Keith can write to him at KOlbermann@msnbc.com.
Update [2006-8-30 22:40:39 by dmsilev]: Another useful thing to do: Go to Keith's blog, scroll down to the bottom, and rate up the importance of the story.
MSNBC is pretty bad with transcripts, but fortunately Keith has already
blogged his speech. And make no mistake, it was a speech.
In brief, Keith started by taking Rumsfeld's equating critics of the administration with Nazi appeasers, and utterly destroyed it, by pointing out that the closest modern analogy to the Chamberlain government was the Bush administration, since both governments had a nasty habit of trying to margainalize and surpress any form of dissent.
That was just the beginning. He accused the administration of taking after Nixon and McCarthy in their attitude towards critics, pointed out that dissent is the lifeblood of any democracy, and reminded the administration that they work for us, not the other way around.
He ended by reading the words of Edward R. Murrow on the same subject. Mr. Murrow was attacking Senator McCarthy, but his words ring true today:
We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men -- not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular.
from here.
Mr. Olbermann:
That, about which Mr. Rumsfeld is confused is simply this: This is a Democracy. Still. Sometimes just barely.
And, as such, all voices count -- not just his.
Had he or his president perhaps proven any of their prior claims of omniscience -- about Osama Bin Laden's plans five years ago, about Saddam Hussein's weapons four years ago, about Hurricane Katrina's impact one year ago -- we all might be able to swallow hard, and accept their "omniscience" as a bearable, even useful recipe, of fact, plus ego.
But, to date, this government has proved little besides its own arrogance, and its own hubris.
Tonight, Keith Olbermann truly earned the right to end his shows with
Good night, and good luck