Hoping to gain attention for his failing sitcom, Countdown, Left Cable's biggest mouth, Keith Olbermann regularly makes outrageous charges against hosts with (way) bigger ratings, hoping to draw them into a fight and get his little program some attention.
Not for the first time, Olbermann took on Rush Limbaugh, who steadfastly refuses to give the MSNBC ranter the audience he craves by responding. Olbermann tried something that got Bill Clinton slapped around in the wake of Oklahoma City:
OLBERMANN: Specifically Rush Limbaugh's hate radio, which encouraged people as he encouraged people today to view the child molester, David Koresh, and the Branch Davidians somehow as innocent victims of what he called an invasion by U.S. military tanks. This is an exact parallel to the paranoia that Limbaugh stokes daily among those who feel themselves invaded by the U.S. government today. Limbaugh claimed others would have blood on their hands in the event of future right-wing terrorism.
Frankly, Rush, you have that blood on your hands now and you have had it for 15 years.
When Bill Clinton trotted this chestnut out in 1995, the public reaction immediately made him backtrack and weasel his way out of it by insisting he didn't mean Limbaugh, but fringe ham radio operators. (click NewsRealBlog link above for video)
OLBERMANN: But our winner, Boss Rush H. Limbaugh, who today asked why amid memorials and anniversaries for the dead of Oklahoma City, quote, "were there any anniversary ceremonies for the Waco invasion? Have with had any anniversary ceremonies for the invasions of Waco by Janet Reno and U.S. military tanks 17 years ago?"
"Let me ask you a question: What was the more likely cause of the Oklahoma City bombing: talk radio or Bill Clinton and Janet Reno's hands-on management of Waco, the Branch Davidian Compound and maybe to a lesser extent Ruby Ridge?"
Well, obviously the answer is talk radio. Specifically Rush Limbaugh's hate radio, which encouraged people as he encouraged people today to view the child molester, David Koresh, and the Branch Davidians somehow as innocent victims of what he called an invasion by U.S. military tanks. This is an exact parallel to the paranoia that Limbaugh stokes daily among those who feel themselves invaded by the U.S. government today. Limbaugh claimed others would have blood on their hands in the event of future right wing terrorism.
Frankly, Rush, you have that blood on your hands now and you have had it for 15 years. Limbaugh, today's "Worst Person in the Worrrrld."
Ironically, Game Change author John Heilemann made the point Olbermann objects to on the Chris Matthews Show– while accusing Limbaugh of seditious behavior!
JOHN HEILEMANN: "And Joe's right and I'll name another person, I'll name Rush Limbaugh who uses this phrase constantly and talks about the Obama Administration as a regime. That phrase which has connotations of tyranny. And what's so interesting about it to me, to get to Norah's point – what is the focus, what is the cause of this? You think back to 1994, there was Ruby Ridge. There was Waco.
Don't hold your breath waiting for Keith to be outraged by Heilemann. Keith Olbermann knows Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were not Dittoheads. But staying within the bounds of reason won't get him quoted on higher rated programs.
I would quote one of Keith's heroes by asking, "Sir, have you no shame?" But that would define wasting my breath.