libertango | Entries tagged with olbermann

radhuspladset in kobenhavn
Originally uploaded by halobrien

So, we were watching Olbermann tonight, and as part of his "Oddball" segment, he showed what appears to be this video of a guy utterly failing to set a world record of splitting open coconuts by karate chops.

Behind him was a building I thought looked familiar. It would be the one on the far right of this panorama that I took during our day-long stopover in Copenhagen during our trip to Sweden in 2001.

Also, it's a bit pixelated, but you can see the DR (or Danish Radio, who also do their TV) logo up in the upper left corner of the video.

Now that I've waited for the transcript to be posted, I can bring you this:

*^*^*

OLBERMANN: For more on the impact on the presidential election, let's turn now to our own Richard Wolffe, also, of course, senior White House correspondent for "Newsweek" magazine.

Richard, good evening.

RICHARD WOLFFE, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Good evening, Keith.

OLBERMANN: All right. We know Senator McCain loves gambling. So, here's a gambling metaphor-the risk that he took was that if the bailout package tanked, after he promised that he could secure its passage, that he was harkening to Washington as Batman harkens to the bat message in the sky. If it didn't work out, he'd be left holding the mess. Did the Republican nominee just lose his bet?

WOLFFE: Well, let us count the ways he lost it. And first of all, he didn't lose it by the sort of finger-pointing and the blame game that goes on. Completely independent of everything that Mike has just explained so well, you have McCain failing to live up to his own standards, his own measures here. He said that he would suspend his campaign and get a deal, he didn't do either. He said that he wouldn't debate until he got a deal. There was no deal but he debated anyway. He said that he wasn't going to phone it in; he was going to be fully involved. And he went to the phones. And lastly, his surrogates tried to claim credit for the deal that ultimately fell apart. So, by his own measure, McCain lost, at least, four different ways just in the last three or four days.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that, earlier this week, Keith Olbermann did an outstanding job of reminding us how -- again -- Condi Rice either is mendacious beyond belief, or suffers from a severe memory problem.

Just to set this up, here was Ms. Rice's foot-in-mouth moment in front of the 9/11 Commission:

RICE: I remember very well that the president was aware that there were issues inside the United States. He talked to people about this. But I don't remember the al-Qaida cells as being something that we were told we needed to do something about.

BEN-VENISTE: Isn't it a fact, Dr. Rice, that the August 6th PDB warned against possible attacks in this country? And I ask you whether you recall the title of that PDB?

RICE: I believe the title was, "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States."

Ouch.

But this week, as a response to Bill Clinton's assertion the Bush Administration sat on its hands regarding al Qaeda between Inauguration Day and 11 Sept 2001, Ms. Rice made the claim that, "We were not left a comprehensive strategy to fight al Qaeda."

If you watch the video, you'll see Olbermann present the following:

"On January 25, 2001, five days after Mr. Bush took office, counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke sent Rice a memo, attaching to it a document entitled "Strategy for Eliminating the Threat of al Qaeda." It was, Clarke, wrote, "developed by the last administration to give to you, incorporating diplomatic, economic, military, public diplomacy, and intelligence tools."

(emphasis added)

Oy.

Or, take this exchange from a White House pwess bwiefing, with Ari-the-Liar at the podium:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, February 27, 2001)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Taliban in Afghanistan, they have offered that they are ready to hand over Osama bin Laden to Saudi Arabia if the United States drops its sanctions, and the—they have a kind of deal that they want to make with the United States. Do you have any comments (INAUDIBLE)?

ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS Secretary: Let me take that and get back to you on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OLBERMANN: There is no record of any subsequent discussion on that matter.

Really. If you have neither read nor seen Olbermann's report, you should.

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Hal O'Brien

Slipping on the fatal floor.

Entries tagged with olbermann

radhuspladset in kobenhavn

Oops. (McCain on a limb edition)

"Doesn't anyone here know how to play this game?"

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