I've seen God knows how many diaries here since his termination. I've yet to see one, however, that notes this Facebook page link of KO's. It has been noted on FDL in some detail (I didn't find this link myself). I finally posted this diary b/c I didn't see it here.
I have no clue as to how, when, why, or by whom KO was terminated. The one thing that is painfully obvious, however, is that KO was terminated. As jamess noted, when KO announced his departure last night, he said he was told:This will be the last edition of your show.
As most people know, KO is under a gag order on his termination as part of his severance agreement. The only indicia of his side of his departure are, accordingly, his link to a Facebook page calling for his return and his comment noted above. While we may never know the true facts of his termination, the one fact that's painfully obvious is that he did not leave voluntarily.
The length of his non-compete agreement is still not clear. It appears, however, that it is for many months, which is like a lifetime in his business. His chances of getting another platform like the one that was just taken away from him are pretty slim. Even if he could return in, say, 3-6 months, who would hire him as a full-time anchor/commentator for an hourlong primetime show? Fox obviously won't and MSNBC dumped him. That leaves CNN as the only possibility, and it's hard to see that ever happening.
I will never forget his Special Comments. I cannot recall how many times I had tears in my eyes and my jaw on the floor as I watched him excoriate W, Cheney, Rummy, et al. I cannot describe how proud I was that there was one guy on a major cable network who spoke the truth about the an unnecessary and an increasingly disastrous war, government-sponsored torture, and a fundamentally lawless WH. W/ the possible exception of Michael Moore, who lost his various network platforms years earlier, no one was speaking truth to power in a very dark time the way that KO did.
I often compared him to Murrow here after watching a Special Comment. Sadly, he met the same fate that Murrow did. Just as CBS suits did Murrow in 50+ years ago, NBC and/or Comcast suits* did KO in yesterday. Just as our public discourse was visibly poorer for Murrow's departure from CBS, our public discourse is visibly pooer for Keith's departure from MSNBC.
*I don't know, nor do I really care, which suits from which corporate entity dismissed KO.