Olbermann: I’ll Be Back

Not weeks after Keith Olbermann’s abrupt exit from his time slot on MSNBC’s flagship 1 hour news and commentary program, “Countdown,” he has re-emerged with the announcement that he will host a one-hour news and commentary show on  Vice President Al Gore’s cable news channel Current TV.

It is sure to alter the status and image of the flat and unfamiliar cable TV channel founded nearly 6 years ago by the former VP and Joel Hyatt, and if things are going the way they seem to be going on MSNBC, with recent heavy-handed corporate involvement in their liberal news content, it is sure to replace MSNBC as one of the main voices of the liberal press.

Especially if Keith lures Rachel. And maybe Chris. And maybe Lawrence.

And Ed.

Truly, one hopes that the entire early evening and prime time lineup could reform over at Current TV, and once again the television airwaves will be free of the iron grip of the corporate pressure machine that inhibits the free flow of information.

Wouldn’t it be great?

Comcast: Taking Out Liberal Voices One at a Time

By jumpin’ Jesus they figured it out. They figured out how to silence the loyal opposition. They figured out how to obliterate the voice of progressivism from airwaves. You go for the guy who brought sanity and civility to cable media via his nightly news and commentary show, “Countdown.” You go for the guy who virtually invented speaking for the lower and middle classes and against the power brokers who were trying to make our country into a personal ATM for themselves and their friends.

You go and get Keith Olbermann.

And you silence him.

Details on how and what went into the deal to get Olbermann off of his nightly one-hour MSNBC show are sketchy because that, apparently, was part of the deal.

From the New York Times:

“The executives involved in the discussions confirmed that the deal carries limitations for Mr. Olbermann in terms of when he can next work on television, though he will be able to take a job in radio or on any forum on the Internet. The deal also prohibits the host from commenting publicly on the deal, the executives confirmed.”

But with the just closed deal between Comcast and NBC Universal, along with official blessings by most of the FCC, the timing couldn’t make it clearer who and what is behind this attempt to gut the liberal voice on television: Comcast.

Again, from the same NY Times article:

“Many of Mr. Olbermann’s fans responded to the decision by accusing Comcast, the incoming owner of NBC Universal, of forcing him out for political reasons. Several of Comcast’s top executives have been financial supporters of Republicans.”

An accusation that Comcast will deny until Doomsday.

This is what we have to expect in the days, weeks and months to come. The Right is in a resurgence and this time they are making sure that the opposition, that is, the forces of all that is good and right, doesn’t have a voice or a vote to return the country back to a path of social justice, opportunity, and equality for all.

Keith Olbermann, we hardly knew ye.