'Worst Person in the World': Keith Olbermann! (and Bill Maher)
By Ari Kaufman (11/20/06)
If you've ever had the misfortune of watching MSNBC’s "Countdown" with Keith Olbermann or been in a Barnes and Noble, you know that "K.O.," once upon a time a solid sports journalist, has basically regressed into a juvenile, leftist pundit who has an nightly segment called "The Worst Person in the World." Nine out of ten times, those chosen are Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh and Fox News people. Olbermann's ratings are so low and he is so desperate and jealous of O'Reilly and Fox's success and his failures, that he penned a book with a list of those people, adding in other conservatives, clergy, hard-working Americans and so on. No Radical Muslims or leftist organizations like ANSWER, CODE Pink or the ACLU made the book, of course.
So yesterday(the 14th) then, it was no surprise to me nor any sentient American that when Texas Tech basketball coach Bob Knight, flicked one of his player's chins up to get his attention and motivate him, Olbermann went nuts, giving him the award and, on ESPN Radio, calling for college basketball's soon to be all-time winningest coach to be immediately fired, banished from the game, etc.
Like a good public school bureaucrat would do, Olbermann is unimpressed nor unaware most likely that Knight, for nearly 40 years, has had the highest graduation rate of any major college coach, coached at West Point, is considered a role model by all who played for him (including the player who took no umbrage to this Monday's incident), a teacher, motivator, good American, religious, humble, a family man, etc.
In fact, no, in today's Orwellian world - like it was for a teacher like me in Los Angeles, who wouldn't toe the union line while they stole my money and ruining our students' educational experience - Olbermann's ilk probably held that against him.
If it weren't Knight, and it was a "minority" coach or some modern, new age, "progressive" coach (not and old school, stern disciplinarian), Olbermann would have been mute.
The biggest bigots, racists and sexists continue to be cowards like Olbermann, Jesse Jackson and Bill Maher; the latter decided to "out" RNC Chairman, Ken Mehlman, as a homosexual for no good reason (aside from his bigotry and insecurity) last week on Larry King Live.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15730498/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/11/08/censored-by-cnn-bill-mah_n_33701.html
(Printer friendly version) Email: Ari Kaufman
