As anyone who reads this blog knows, or might guess, I am a fan of Keith Olbermann’s “Countdown” — especially his special comments.
But tonight’s comentary (transcript) missed the mark, or the second half of it did.
Olbermann went off on the Republican Party and its misappropriation of the images of 9/11 during its convention in a video billed by the party as a tribute.
As Olbermann said,
What we got was not a tribute to the dead of 9/11, nor even a tribute to the responders, or the singularity of purpose we all felt.
The Republicans gave us sociological pornography… a virtual snuff film.
He called it a branding of a national tragedy, an effort to lay claim to the events of that day to create a climate of fear,
To open again the horrible wounds, to brand the skin of this nation with the message — as hateful as the terrorists’ own — that you must vote Republican or this will happen again and you will die.
The deconstruction was a tour de force. But what followed, an attempt by Olbermann to blow the standard boasting of a candidate into something more, dulled his blade.
The quotation:
“Look,” he said. “I know the area, I’ve been there, I know wars, I know how to win wars, and I know how to improve our capabilities so that we will capture Osama bin Laden — or put it this way, bring him to justice. We will do it. I know how to do it.”
Olbermann’s read on it is that
we must take him at his word, that this is no mere ludicrous campaign boast.
We must assume Senator McCain truly believes he is capable of doing this, and has been capable of doing this, since last January.
But why? How is this different than any other campaign boast? He’s not saying he has a secret plan, but that he has the know-how, the temperment and the commitment to find and capture the elusive Bin Laden.
I think he’s full of you know what, but that’s not the point. Olbermann in tonight’s special comment unfortunately crashes on the shoals of logic and partisanism, playing loose with McCain’s words in nearly the same way as he accuses — rightly — Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity of doing.
He doesn’t make is own “Worst Persons” list, but I do expect better of him than this. There is enough to be outraged about in McCain and his party’s behavior during this campaign season so that he shouldn’t have to go down this road.
Hank Kalet 
Dear Mr. Kalet:While I, like yourself, do believe for one second that McCain has any special knowledge of the area or is in any way better suited to find and capture or kill Bin Laden than any of his Republican predecessors, I believe you are mistaken in your criticism of Olberman\’s latest Special Comment and are rather out of line equating him to O\’Reilly or Hannidy. Let me explain why. Even if McCain has no special knowledge of the Pakistan/Afghanistan region and even if he professes only to have the military know how to get the job done, he is still obliged to share that information with top national security personnel. Having made this claim in January, he could still have had ample time to have told the proper authorities, consulted with them on their execution and then after eight months, boasted that he shared that information with the Bush Administration but they either did not use it or were too inept to use it. Both scenarios would paint McCain in a positive light as caring about national security and actually doing something about it. It however, would paint an awful light on the Bush administration, something he is reluctant to do. That is not so say he has never criticised the president, though his claim that we are worse off than four years ago, while painfully obvious, is also painfully vague and not really a criticism of Bush per se.But I suspect that McCain relies on the same bunch of fundraisers for his campaign that Bush relied on for his reelectio campaign. Take an analogy of the patent and trademark office. A fitting analogy since Olberman stated that the Republican party seems intent on trademarking 9/11 for their own use. The U.S. Constitution provides that inventors of objects and ideas can profit for a period of time from their ideas by being given copyright, patent, and trademark protection and monopoly for their ideas. This protection is given as an incentive to bring ideas forth that will benefit mankind because there will be sufficient enough reward in it. This is perfectly acceptable and the essence of the American Way.However, if you have an idea that will benefit mankind, which benefits will be manifest almost immediately, yet you hold that idea or process secret so as to first secure something of value in exchange for that idea, such as patent protection, or in this case the presidency, then you cannot claim to put the needs of the country above your own. You are quite plainly, and vainly placing your needs above those of the country.What if the world were suffering from a pandemic outbreak of a deadly disease and McCain claimed that his ideas would lead to a cure but likewise refused to help the NIH until he became president. What could you say to those that died in the intervening months waiting for the NIH to come through with a cure?No, Olberman is spot on. The Republican party have used disasters time and time again, first and foremost as public relations tools. Witness Bush diverting National Guard helicopters to be backdrops for his press conference with \”Brownie\” and marching along the streets of Mississippi with a crew of volunteer firefighters at his side to do nothing more than serve as a prop for his publicity.Finally, to equate Olberman\’s logic in any way to the illogic of Hannity or O\’Reilly is truly insulting. While all three may be equally passionate in their beliefs, Olberman has escaped the bonds and shadows of Plato\’s cave and Hannity and O\’Reilly have not. Moreover, it would appear that not only would Hannity and O\’Reilly really prefer to stay in their metaphoric darkness, but also that they strive to bring as many people into the shadows as well.coltergeist on Dailykos, no relation to Ann