August 12, 2009

(Nicole) MSNBC's Keith Olbermann is going out of his way to refute the rumors of a deal made between FOX and MSNBC by naming Billo the Clown once again as his Worst Person in the World. His infraction this time? The insinuations by Bill--all completely unresearched and unconfirmed BY BILLO'S OWN ADMISSION--that MSNBC parent company GE is under suspicion for supplying parts found in roadside bombs, purportedly placed there by Iranian forces.

So he smeared a company which he had previously threatened with public blackmail. You can talk all you want about feuds and cease-fires and childishness. But if I or any actual reporter like me had gotten as much wrong in any story as Bill O'Reilly got wrong in this one, I'd be fired in 15 minutes, as he should be now.

Silly rabbit. No one actually thinks Billo the Blowhard is a reporter, do they? He's a talking head. And as we've seen time after time from Fox News Channel, the heads need only talk, not have a brain, much less report facts. Facts have a liberal bias, Keith, and that's something you'll NEVER find on Fox News.

Transcripts below the fold

That's next, but first time for COUNTDOWN's number two story, tonight's worst persons in the world.

The bronze to Boss Limbaugh, once again interrupting his new compare everybody to Hitler radio show to bleep that everybody else is comparing him to Hitler. "You people are out calling us Nazis, saying we're running around with Swastikas. We get tarred and feathered as Nazis because we don't just bend over, grab the ankles and let you guys ram whatever down our throats you want."

I always knew Mr. Limbaugh had problems with reality and logic, but this misunderstanding of anatomy is news.

The runner-up-here we go again-Lou Dobbs and the self-destruction tour. He said former DNC Chairman Howard Dean was guilty of advancing liberal fascism. Then Dobbs added, "I thought we had gotten rid of this left wing pest. He's a bloodsucking leftist. I mean, you got to put a stake through his heart to stop this guy."

He then issued one of those apologies in which he denies the murderous imagery was his responsibility. "I'm sorry if a Bram Stoker allusion is too literary for some. And for those who could not make what was seemingly an obvious connection, my deepest apologies, and I gladly withdraw the latter part of my remark."

Howard Dean's brother, Jim, chairman of the Democracy for America activist group has emailed his entire membership. It, in turn, issued a statement calling on his radio syndicator and CNN to fire Lou Dobbs.

And tonight's worst, Bill O'Reilly, who stepped in it this time. After trying to blackmail people for two months with some story about the involvement of the parent company of this network, GE, in roadside bombs, IEDs found in Iraq, Bill-O made one gigantic mistake. He said last night, "sources tell the Factor there's a federal investigation under way to find out if any American company has sold components for roadside bombs to nefarious people. In May 2008 and again in October of '08, coalition forces discovered unexploded roadside bombs in Iraq and handed them over to the FBI bureau in Baghdad. The FBI then discovered that radio frequency modules inside the bombs were part of a shipment made by a U.S. company to Corezing International, a business in Singapore with direct ties to Iran.

"Now, the FBI will not comment. The Factor has been told but cannot confirm that the General Electric corporation is under suspicion in the case."

So you've got an unconfirmed report of an unconfirmed investigation, and you've got an unconfirmed report that GE is under suspicion in your unconfirmed report of your unconfirmed investigation. Do you have any facts at all? Well, there is a company called Corezing, and there are parts called radio frequency modules. However, a GE spokesman told the Associated Press today that it has never done any business with the Corezing company. And according to the spokesman, GE also does not happen to make the kind of radio frequency modules described by O'Reilly.

So he confirmed no facts about any investigation, no facts about GE being investigated. He got the elemental details about whether GE ever dealt with Corezing wrong. And he didn't bother to check whether the components at issue were even made by GE, which they are not.

So he smeared a company which he had previously threatened with public blackmail. You can talk all you want about feuds and cease-fires and childishness. But if I or any actual reporter like me had gotten as much wrong in any story as Bill O'Reilly got wrong in this one, I'd be fired in 15 minutes, as he should be now.