Bias and Propaganda: MSNBC and Olbermann Do the Right Thing

While I love Harball, and I think that Chris Matthews-- despite it being obvious he supports the Democrats-- runs a fair show where issues are debated in a balanced and civilized way, I completely agree with MSNBC's decision to remove Matthews and Keith Olbermann from the election coverage. Olbermann, of course, is the liberal version of O'Reilly. And although I think he's much more articulate and intelligent than Bill, because he is so blatantly one-sided, I have hardly ever watched Countdown. Having those two cover the election would be like having O'Reilly and Sean Hannity cover the election on Fox News. There would be absolutely no objectivity. So MSNBC is right to remove them and put in Gregory.

That said, I think that the 9-11 video in question that Olbermann apologized for was exploitative and pure propaganda. What it did was to, once again, conjure up these primal, visceral emotions; emotions that one should never act, nor make decisions upon. It also, once again, painted America as the holy, sacred beacon of freedom, and the terrorists as the enemy of that freedom. These raw emotions that are elicited from the graphic footage from 9-11 that the video portrayed, coupled with manichean language, is a dangerous concoction that neoconservatives use time and time again to rally people in support of their militaristic and imperial foreign policy. We do not need more leaders who say "bring 'em on" in response to attacks on America. We cannot have another Yosemite Sam occupying the White house. That prospect scares me more than the possibility of another attack.

Olbermann was right to apologize, but he should have waited to do it on his own show.