KO's opening segment featured Michael Moore followed by a Special Comment. KO may've previously done a Special Comment in his opening segment before, but I can't recall one. Usually, they're reserved for the closing segment.
Either way, KO was en fuego in that segment. The Gibbs comments and (in KO's eyes) the tacit endorsement of those comments by Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton struck a nerve. KO clearly perceived himself as being a part of "the professional left," and he even more clearly was offended by Gibbs's characterization of such professionals.
What's particularly obvious from KO's Comment is that his concept of effective negotiation radically differs from that of this WH. As he put it, they generally start out just a little bit left of center and steadily negotiate to the right thereafter. I've never understood this approach, and neither does he.
It's obvious at this point that there's an enthusiasm gap (or an enthusiasm chasm) between left and right for the 2010 elections. Given that gap, what's the point of consciously dampening the enthusiasm of an already dispirited group? Is there a "The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves" sign hanging somewhere in the West Wing?
I'll be curious to see what Rachel M does in the next hour. In this hour, it's obvious that this WH has lost KO. Whether that loss is at all analogous to LBJ losing Cronkite on Vietnam remains to be seen.