Keith Olbermann:
While I tend to agree with many of your opinions, you come off as mean spirited, as if your desire was to become the Limbaugh of the left. I don’t respect Rush’s rudeness and egotism, his shallow intelligence and tendency to foam at the mouth while pontificating. I dislike his style, and because of that I spare myself the agony of listening to him any more often than absolutely necessary.
Speaking of Limbaugh, Keith, may I add that I see far too much of him watching your show. If the man is as easily dismissed as intelligent opposition as you almost nightly contend, and I agree his can be, why continue to give him additional exposure on your program? The less exposure he gets the better. Let him talk, but don’t make those of us who tune in to hear you have to listen to so much of him.
OK, enough about him.
Keith, I feel your frustration. I share it. But I try not to feed it.
No matter how well you can defend your opinions, when you show more interest in humiliating the opposition than informing me of the facts I get uncomfortable. I’ve never liked bullies, even after I reached an age where they no longer bothered me personally (30-something). I don’t like smart bullies. I don’t like bullies of any stripe. And you, sir, are a bully.
Maddow and Stewart seem to be able to bring me the same information you do without the uncomfortableness. They use satire and humor to expose the same silliness that appears to giving you a near heart attack. They make me think about issues, you want an emotional reaction. That’s one of the many things I dislike about religion, it thrives on emotion. I’m not unemotional, but I certainly try to balance my emotions with thoughtful consideration.
By the way, none of you conduct an interview as well as Charlie Rose or James Lipton.
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009, 7:17 pm | 
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26 June 2009 at 11:44 am
rAmen! Once in awhile, I find Olbermann's over-the-top antics worthwhile but most of the time I feel like I'm watching less real news and more commentary on Fox “News.”
25 June 2009 at 2:17 am
I find TV personalities annoying, and here's my practical suggestion for dealing with the problem: if you don't like the guy, don't watch him. Turn the TV off. Go read a book, or bake cookies, or write a blog entry. Then he won't bother you a bit. Seriously, even when some media nitwit is in the headlines to the point where you can't avoid them, it makes them much less annoying if you just don't watch (or listen) to them.
As for Olbermann being some sort of mirror of Limbaugh: I don't watch either one so I can't say for sure, but judging by Limbaugh's history, I'd say it's not warranted until at least most of the following have happened:
1) Olbermann is busted for doing drugs, then buys his way out of prosecution
2) Olbermann defends preemptive war on right-wing countries
3) Olbermann starts making claims which prove to be false, is caught on them, and then repeats them anyway
4) Olbermann claims to be the equivalent of PBS
5) Olbermann gives direction to a national political party, and they not only largely take his direction but those who disagree in public end up having to apologize to him
For that matter, I don't think you can claim the left has a Limbaugh in this country, because the left and right are not mirrors. There's no real leftist political party these days — there's the right-to-far-right Republicans, and the center-to-right Democrats, and between them they own (and are owned by) the media. Limbaugh himself has admitted in public that the idea of the “left-wing media” was a lie to rouse the right-wing rabble and to force media outlets to grant him (and his fellow-travelers) airtime, and it's not really fair to compare Olbermann, who is a lone dissenting voice, to Limbaugh in his echo chamber.