Olbermann Special Comment: Tea Party Is Racist, And You Lost

12:42 am EST March 23rd, 2010 | Media, Politics | 24 Comments

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24 Responses to “Olbermann Special Comment: Tea Party Is Racist, And You Lost”

  1. Joanne says:
    March 23, 2010 at 1:24 am

    The political Toyota is such a perfect metaphor in this case. I’d say Olbermann nailed it this time as well as he ever has.

  2. jesus says:
    March 23, 2010 at 2:25 am

    jesus, this guy is crazy.

  3. Mike says:
    March 23, 2010 at 7:14 am

    Nope, he’s not crazy: he’s right. Of course, the Republicans, who are working actively to destroy this country, will not stop until they destroy themselves. Maybe then we’ll get a sane opposition party.

  4. SaveFarris says:
    March 23, 2010 at 8:10 am

    He seems pretty supportive of a bill he swore to disobey back in December.

  5. Indeed says:
    March 23, 2010 at 8:48 am

    Got a link to prove it?

    Heh.

  6. SaveFarris says:
    March 23, 2010 at 9:07 am

    No single payer? No sale. No public option? No sale. No Medicare buy-in? No sale. I am one of the self-insured, albeit by choice. And I hereby pledge that I will not buy this perversion of health care reform. Pass this at your peril, Senators, and sign it at yours, Mr. President. I will not buy this insurance. Brand me a lawbreaker if you choose. Fine me if you will. Jail me if you must.

    Countdown: 12/16/09

  7. kth says:
    March 23, 2010 at 10:18 am

    Olbermann was indeed of the firebagger tendency for a time. He was wrong: there will always be subsidies for people who can’t afford the insurance, and if the subsidy proves to be too expensive, a competing public option can then be enacted.

    The irony is that nearly all of the lefty opponents of HCR minus the public option are, like Olbermann, in the process of being reconciled to it. Thanks for this goes to the barbarian rabble that constitute the right-wing opposition, of whom the “baby killer” shouting representative is completely typical.

  8. The Dark Avenger says:
    March 23, 2010 at 10:23 am

    As the economist JM Keynes once said:

    When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?

    Reply to a criticism during the Great Depression of having changed his position on monetary policy, as quoted in Lost Prophets: An Insider’s History of the Modern Economists (1994) by Alfred L. Malabre, p. 220

  9. SaveFarris says:
    March 23, 2010 at 10:35 am

    So exactly what changed in the American Health Care system between December and Saturday that all of a sudden made the Senate bill palatable?

    Other than Scott Brown’s election, of course. Because that would mean Olbermann was being disingenuous about his opposition. And that, I find hard to believe!!!!

  10. Indeed says:
    March 23, 2010 at 10:40 am

    Hey man, so sorry your team’s the party of Racist Teabaggers. I’m sure changing the subject in blog comments–like bitching about Olbermann’s grudging acceptance of this Health Care Bill–will go a long way to changing that very unfortunate fact. Good luck!

  11. kth says:
    March 23, 2010 at 10:56 am

    There’s absolutely nothing inconsistent between the two commentaries. Olbermann still believes that the current bill has a lot of shortcomings, but feels that passing it is far better than kicking the issue down the road 15 more years. Three months ago, he no doubt felt that it was possible to pass a better bill (from a progressive standpoint), and from that position it made sense to draw attention to the current bill’s flaws. But the choice then (this bill or a better bill) was different from the choice now (this bill or no bill).

  12. Marco says:
    March 23, 2010 at 11:35 am

    Words too big?

  13. SaveFarris says:
    March 23, 2010 at 11:45 am

    Again, I quote from the December Special Comment:

    They must now not make the defeat worse by passing a hollow shell of a bill just for the sake of a big-stage signing ceremony. This bill … is now little more than a series of microscopically minor tweaks of a system which is the real-life, here-and-now version, of the malarkey of the Town Hallers. The American Insurance Cartel is the Death Panel, and this Senate bill does nothing to destroy it. Nor even to satiate it.

    …

    There is only one redemption possible. The mandate in this bill under which we are required to buy insurance must be stripped out. The bill now is little more than a legally mandated delivery of the middle class … into a kind of Chicago stockyards of insurance. Make enough money to take care of yourself and your family and you must buy insurance — on the insurers terms — or face a fine. This provision must go. It is, above all else, immoral and a betrayal of the people who elected you, Sir. You must now announce that you will veto any bill lacking an option or buy-in, but containing a mandate.

    …

    The Senate bill with the mandate must be defeated, if not in the Senate, then in the House.

    Those are not the words of someone who’s okay with the current proposal, but is still angling for a better deal. Those are the words of someone who thinks this bill will make things WORSE than the status quo and will do anything and everything to see it’s defeat.

    PS: Thanks for that substantive argument, Indeed. I thought we were discussing Olbermann’s views on health care. I merely thought that Olbermann’s stance on this very subject from less than 100 days ago when nothing of substance in the debate has changed (other than Scott Brown’s election) might be of some relevance. How silly of me.

    Also, calling someone who disagrees with you a racist: original and persuasive!

  14. Indeed says:
    March 23, 2010 at 12:05 pm

    So THAT’s why the modern Republican Party isn’t the party of Racist Teabaggers*.

    *not merely people who disagree with me, just the racist ones as noted by Mr. Olbermann and elsewhere. It’s not wrong to point that out is it?

  15. Quaker in a Basement says:
    March 23, 2010 at 12:36 pm

    I know Olby is supposedly on “our side,” but I still say he’s a clown.

    Sorry.

  16. kth says:
    March 23, 2010 at 2:12 pm

    Well he’s not for everyone, not even for every liberal. I’ve never been persuaded that we need ‘our’ version of Glenn Beck or Michael Savage; Ed Schultz in particular seems to have fashioned himself as a lefty-populist Rush Limbaugh. KO’s not as bad as Schultz, nor as bad as Maher IMO. But generally I think Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are basically in the same line of work as Olbermann (i.e., debunking the insane right), and are much better at it.

  17. Marco says:
    March 23, 2010 at 2:16 pm

    He really lot me during the primaries in 2008. Rush Limbaugh’s Hillary hate seemed subdued in comparison.

  18. Repack Rider says:
    March 23, 2010 at 2:39 pm

    Keith is sometimes a little over the top for me, but far more enjoyable than anyone on FOX.

    OTOH, Rachel Maddow is so great, sometimes I wish I were a woman so I would have a chance with her.

    Rachel for president.

  19. The Dark Avenger says:
    March 23, 2010 at 2:41 pm

    Can’t face the truth about being on the losing side, SaveFerris?

    Let’s have Frum explain it to you:

    Those of us who said there was a deal to be done, that there are a lot of parts of this bill that look familiar, that look like Mitt Romney’s plan, that look like plans Republicans proposed in 1993 and 1994, they look like things that were drafted at the Heritage foundation in 1990 and 1991, we can work with this, there are things we don’t like, [but] President Obama will pay a lot maybe for 20 or 30 Republican votes, let’s deal — that was shut down, we went the radical way, looking for Waterloo, and it looks like we arrived at Waterloo.

  20. SaveFarris says:
    March 23, 2010 at 2:48 pm

    that there are a lot of parts of this bill that look familiar, that look like Mitt Romney’s plan

    The fact that Frum takes this as a POSITIVE shows just how far off the reservation he’s strayed.

    He’s joined that exclusive club of Colin Powell, David Gergen, Lindsay Graham, and David Brooks as “Republicans” whose sole reason for media attention is to criticize “fellow” Republicans. It’s why John McCain was invited on every Sunday show last decade.

    Frum’s our very own Dick Morris!

  21. Indeed says:
    March 23, 2010 at 3:07 pm

    He’s joined that exclusive club of Colin Powell, David Gergen, Lindsay Graham, and David Brooks as “Republicans” whose sole reason for media attention is to criticize “fellow” Republicans. It’s why John McCain was invited on every Sunday show last decade.

    Dude, totally. Republicans should only believe and say what Chairman Rush tells them to.

    Please keep up this campaign to purge Republicans of wild-eyed hippies like Lindsay Graham and David Brooks. That’s a Winner. Thanks in advance. And good luck getting rid of that commie McCain in the Arizona primary!

  22. SaveFarris says:
    March 23, 2010 at 5:02 pm

    Only Republicans purge someone who doesn’t toe the party line.

  23. The Dark Avenger says:
    March 23, 2010 at 5:18 pm

    Only Republicans purge someone who doesn’t toe the party line.

    Indeed

    Miller criticized for “unprovoked threat of retaliation” against Smith’s son if he opposed bill.

    The ethics subcommittee reported that according to Rep. Candace Miller (R-MI), after Smith told her that he was going to vote against the bill, “she responded by saying words to the effect of: ”Well, I hope your son doesn’t come to Congress, or I’m not going to support your son, or something to that effect.’” The subcommittee further wrote that “Smith’s recollection was that Representative Miller ‘came up and said something like, I haven’t been involved in this campaign before, but if you don’t change your vote, I’ll get involved, and I’ll make sure Brad isn’t elected.’”

    Yup, IOKIYAR is alive and well……….

  24. forthelulz says:
    March 24, 2010 at 9:10 pm

    wow, olbermann has really jumped the shark. all the things he’s saying are the exact same “NO U” things that the republicans are saying. everything he’s accusing them of, he himself is guilty of, or the democrats have been guilty of in the past.
    PROTIP: POLITICS ARE POLITICS, BOTH PARTIES DO THE SAME THING
    i wonder how he can’t see just how similar he is to the people he’s criticizing..