January 25, 2024 • 43 mins
SEASON 2 EPISODE 112: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN
A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Yes. I think that's the lead story. And I don't even LIKE Jon Stewart. But it's time to recognize that we are at war. It is, for now at least, a war being conducted almost entirely inside the media world, and here's a prayer that it stays contained within those walls. But if it is, the forces of democracy need all the fighters we can find. And Stewart - who has been mad at me since 2003 and once accused me of "stealing his act" - going back to host The Daily Show at least once a week and be the Executive Producer all the other days, at least through the election, is welcomed news. For that matter, I hope it inspires Maddow - who has been mad at me since 2011 - to be on the air more often at MSNBC.
Meanwhile, I have had absolutely enough of "5 Takeaways From The New Hampshire Primary." Not only is the premise hackneyed, but The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, CNN, The Hill, and Agence France Presse all used EXACTLY THAT TITLE for their versions. And all of them left out the real takeaways: Trump needed to pretend to be a human being and instead lashed out in a rage against Nikki Haley that is now continuing into a third day and last night extended to Trump threatening to "ban" from MAGA anybody who contributes to her campaign (sure - he won't take somebody else's money; his least convincing lie yet). His fuse is completely gone. He also has now claimed he defeated the sitting governor of Iowa, I guess in the primary there, and near as I can find no sitting governor of Iowa has sought the Republican presidential nomination since 1912 so maybe whatever he has, has just moved into the tertiary stage.
Plus: CNN's shame. Its 10 PM the anchor - the one it preempts once a week to instead run Charles Barkley - condescendingly parroted the right wing talking point that nobody in America wants Joe Biden. She should be fired, but given her ratings, they can do something worse to her: force her to continue doing her show.
B-Block (25:04) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Frank Farian, the evil genius behind "Milli Vanilli," is dead. Until I read his obituary, I had NO idea that the scam came apart when a record skipped... in BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT. NewsNation is not satisfied with you not watching it on TV. Now it wants you to also not listen to it on radio. And the Maryland State Senate - led by Democrats - is trying to explain how the new member of the State Board of Elections just got arrested as a January 6th Insurrectionist.
C-Block (32:11) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: With the Abby Phillip Right Wing Talking Point and CNN's continuing lurch rightwards - even under new post-Lichtian management - I think it's time to remind you that ALL the cable news networks have already had THE meeting and tried THE lurch to the right. At MSNBC it was 20 years ago and it was highlighted by the attempt to mainstream a homophobic racist named Michael Savage, and how the President of NBC was enraged when Savage crossed the line and had to be fired.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. It's quiet,
It's too quiet. Thank God. We have five million different
(00:28):
five takeaways from the New Hampshire primary articles to get
us through it. Yesterday was the day. Everybody pretty much
gave themselves the day off. Even Trump's social media went
into reruns and reposts, more enraged attacks on Nicky Haley,
more of the new Trump twenty twenty four god con
(00:49):
with links to propaganda with headlines like his truth is
Marching On. Trump had one new reality optional dementia driven
claim in which he says he has quote beaten the
once very popular sitting governor of Iowa. I can't swear
to this, but I believe the last sitting Republican governor
(01:11):
of Iowa to seek the presidential nomination was Governor Albert
Cummins in nineteen twelve. If Trump thinks he ran against
Governor Albert Cummins in nineteen twelve and beat him, his
dementia or his CTE or his syphilis is further along
than any of us could have possibly dreamed. The American
(01:34):
media political industrial complex also slept in both sidesing Trump's
dementia and Biden's age is exhausting, after all, strained lying
always is. Even Matt Drudge, who now impossibly is one
of the good guys, largely took the day off from
pommeling Trump. CNN was still live from this New Hampshire
(01:56):
diner at twelve fifty nine pm, and the post show
meeting will be about how terrific the lighting was. Great
job everyone. The biggest political development yesterday was a shock
on many levels. John Stewart is returning to The Daily Show,
hosting on Monday's executive producing through the election and maybe beyond. Firstly,
(02:19):
this comes as a surprise to many of us who
did not know the Daily Show was still on the air. Secondly,
I have a lot of problems with John Stewart. John
Stewart is still mad at me because I did not
stay home from work at MSNBC one day in two
thousand and three when I was just getting the show started,
to instead be a guest on The Daily Show. If
(02:41):
you think this is an odd thing to still be
mad at somebody about twenty and a half years later,
you don't know John Stewart. Regardless, this sadly, seriously is war,
and it is almost entirely and hopefully will remain only
a media war. I got a lot of problems with
(03:03):
Mado too. I don't know have I ever mentioned any
of them, but two years ago I actually sent her
a note pleading with her not to cut back to
one day a week, but to take a sabbatical of
a year or even two and return full time as
the twenty twenty four primary season began. The saving grace
of the left is that while no Republican hates any
Democrat as much as he hates some other Republican, Dems
(03:27):
and Libs are actually kind of the big tent we
claim to be. Stewart sees the existential threat to American
democracy that Trump represents. Matdow sees the existential threat to
American democracy that Trump represents. They have fan bases and platforms,
and therefore the more they are on TV, I say,
(03:50):
the better. I mean. I did just also say. Matt Drudge,
who now impossibly is one of the good guys, happily
into this news Doldrum Breach stepped many of America's best
both sidesists. The New York Times was good enough to
publish Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan's five takeaways from the
(04:10):
New Hampshire primary. Aaron Blake of The Washington Post offered
five takeaways from the New Hampshire primary. Conversely, The Hill
presented five takeaways from the New Hampshire primary. CNN meanwhile
offered five takeaways from the Newmpshire primary. But broadening out
(04:30):
the picture just a little bit, barrens more of a
business publication published originating from the Agen France Press, five
Takeaways from the New Hampshire Primary. So here are five
takeaways from the five takeaways from the New Hampshire primary.
Takeaway number one, Why the hell is it always five takeaways?
(04:55):
To stand out? Just in the journalistic takeaways space? All
the New York Times or France Press has to do
which to four takeaways, or to six takeaways, or to
two hundred and six takeaways, and they would crush the
other takeaway bastards like grapes. Takeaway number two, nobody writing
(05:20):
American political analysis for a mainstream legacy site or network
or newspaper or magazine anywhere in the world apparently reads
anybody else's political analysis, or they would realize just how
stupid publishing exactly the same title over what is supposed
to be the premium value of your analyst's insight is
(05:42):
I mean when the Agen Franz Press and the Hill
are both stuck on this cliched, formulaic gobbledegook that was
outdated when Teddy Roosevelt fought Albert Cummins and Taft for
the nineteen twelve Republican nomination. The system is broken Takeaway
number three. Every one of these sets of five takeaways included.
(06:06):
The clock is ticking on Nicky Haley's campaign. Gee, that's wonderful, thanks,
clock is ticking. That's kind of the point. The clock
is ticking on Trump's life, and my life and yours.
And I'm sorry if this is somehow a surprise that
I'm breaking to you. In fact, the clock is ticking
(06:29):
on everything in life, except, it seems on the mindless
insistence of news organizations to continue running pieces called five
Takeaways from the New Hampshire Primary Takeaway number four. All
five of the five five takeaways provided more opportunity for
their encrusted institutions to pray at the altar of both
(06:52):
sides ism and at the altar of the use of
euphemism at a time of crisis when hard facts and
real language are essential. All tiptoed around the actual takeaway.
Trump lost his mind after Nikki Haley did not humiliate
herself and signed up for the kind of involuntary Trumpian
(07:13):
servitude that Tim Scott signed up for. The Washington Post
actually wrote, Haley is staying in for now, which Trump
appeared angry about. Really, he threatened her, He threatened those
who endorsed her. His flying monkey Marjorie Taylor Green demanded
that Haley's team be imprisoned. Appeared appeared to be angry.
(07:39):
The Hill actually wrote Primary season looked short and drama free.
I guess unless you think ninety one indictments of the
front runner, including for the components of treason and threats
of violence against and prosecution of those who challenge him,
let's you think any of that constitutes drama. I'll give
(08:01):
CNN rare credit. They used a good word to describe
Trump insanity. He quote seethed and mocked seethed, and then
CNN gave that credit right back quote Trump sounded annoyed.
Christ can you just write what happened in Iowa? Trump
(08:23):
swallowed his only real human emotion, rage, and at least
said words that, when said by other people would seem
mildly gracious in New Hampshire. He got up and swore
at Nicki Haley and her supporters and threatened them, and
you could see the red in his face through the
orange on his face. Even Politico reported that after Trump
(08:47):
lost it at a moment that actually required him to
fake being sane, a Haley campaigner asked them, quote, why
is he so angry for someone who's not threatened by Nicki?
He sure talks about her every chance he gets. Politico
added that a Biden campaign aid then texted about Trump's
outbrun quote that's the guy we will beat. And that,
(09:08):
of course, is the true takeaway. The thin veneer of
human like conduct Trump slathers on every morning along with
his rustolium number two four five two two one hairspray
now vanishes instantly at the slightest pressure. He is, as
the psychology professionals say, come and unglued. That's the takeaway,
(09:33):
and takeaway number five. I don't want to leave the
impression that the Times, the Posts, the Hill, CNN, and
a gen Franz Press are the lone culprits. Here a
Google search for five takeaways from the New Hampshire primary
in Quotes produces fifty one thousand, two hundred results. About
(09:55):
thirteen thousand of them are individual public radio and TV websites,
from kyuk k Yuck in Alaska to c SPAN, which
reposted NPR's five Takeaways from the Hampshire Primary by Domenico Montanaro,
whose first takeaway was God Bless him. The clock is
(10:16):
ticking on Nicky Haley's campaign. The Internet is infinite, and
so are the five takeaways. Actually here, I will follow
my own advice and stretch the takeaway boundaries in a
form never before seen nor heard in the English language.
I hold in my hand my sixth takeaway. My sixth
(10:42):
takeaway is that the real takeaways are Trump lost his mind.
Tim Scott is not only a bigger clown than Ramaswami,
but if you saw him on stage with Trump, you
have to have noticed that he breathes through his mouth.
Marge Green says she's purging the gop of all non maga,
(11:03):
and she doesn't understand that it means Trump will get
fewer votes because she's stupid or stoned or both. Trump
is pressuring Haley to drop out now, and using all
his minions to do so, but Haley is staying in
in case Trump begins speaking in tongues or does an
l presidente esposito and announces we all have to change
(11:23):
our underwear every half hour and wear it on the
outside so he can check. Of course, none of the
takeaways could manage to come out and say any of
my takeaways because such actual insight is not permitted in
the official AP style book for five takeaways on I
(11:48):
have a seventh takeaway quick the smelling salts. Dana Bash
just fainted. My seventh takeaway is use the term as
a verb. This useless institutional promoting artery hardening format. Take
it away happily. The media has learned its lesson Senator Collins.
(12:17):
Five four pm Eastern Yesterday, Washington Post campaign newsletter, Trump's
early wins come with warning signs. Eleven minutes later, New
York Times campaign newsletter, Trump's new Hampshire win suggests trouble ahead.
This is a recording before I get back to beating
(12:38):
them up. Let's run through the other headlines. Looks like
Senate Republicans are getting ready to sell out Ukraine. Punch
Bowl News reports that Mitch McConnell till the closed door
meeting of his coven. Quote. When we started this, the
border united US and Ukraine divided us. The politics on
this have changed, punch bowl says McConnell. Referred to Trump
as the nominee and added, we don't want to do
(12:59):
anything to undermine him. We're in a quandary. No, the
people of Ukraine fighting the Russians there, so we don't
have to fight the Russians in Warsaw or Berlin. The
people of Ukraine are in a quandary. You are in
danger of losing your immortal souls, you Republican senatorial bastards.
(13:25):
Also remember two weeks ago when I suggested here that
maybe Madison Cawthorne was right and the insanity of the
Republican Party was actually easily explained, that they really were
all just sprung out on drugs. Turns out, three days
before I said that, the Department of Defense Inspector General's
Office released an eighty page report on the White House
Medical Unit and pharmacy, covering the years two thousand and
(13:49):
nine through twenty nineteen, but focused on the years twenty
seventeen through twenty nineteen under Trump. As Rolling Stone summarized it,
the report showed that drugs, especially uppers and downers, were
handed out like candy, especially after Trump took over. No oversight,
no coherent records, no hesitation to give out medications without prescriptions,
(14:11):
usually in advance of overseas trips, to White House staffers
who were ineligible for them. In three years, the Trump
White House bought at face value nearly fifty thousand dollars
worth of brand name Ambient. If this sounds vaguely familiar,
note that time frame two thousand and nine through twenty nineteen.
(14:33):
Guess who joined the White House Medical Unit in two
thousand and six, Doctor Ronnie Jackson. Guess who became director
in twenty ten again doctor Ronnie Jackson. And guess who
became physician to the President in twenty thirteen, Doctor Ronnie Jackson.
After widespread allegations of drunkenness and harassment, he was finally
forced out in twenty nineteen and forced to serve in
(14:56):
the House of Representatives. This next one would be a
wild story if it were not about Arizona and Carrie Lake.
She just successfully blackmailed the state Republican chairman into resigning,
so says Jeff de Witt. He says he has quit
he has resigned because Carrie Lake released an audio tape
in which he has heard offering her lucrative job opportunities
(15:18):
to just get the hell out of politics for just
two years. He says, she has threatened him with another
audio tape. He says he doesn't know what might be
on it, so he quit. The UAW endorsed Biden. Wait,
that's just the start. In his speech endorsing the president
UAW President Sean Faine called Trump a scab. Then he
(15:43):
went on Fox and said, nowhere in history has Donald
Trump ever stood for the American worker. He stands against
pretty much everything that we stand for. Sean Fain, Shin Faine,
Shawn Faine, Shin Fain. I keep thinking this is not
a coincidence. Only Sean Fain is clearly tougher. And because
(16:04):
my bile is still surging, let's go back for some
more media bashing with three of the worst takes of
the entire twenty twenty three twenty four campaign year, and
all of them are this week about New Hampshire. Kelly
and Kahn job on Fox, just as Trump is getting
up to the podium after winning New Hampshire, He'll be
gracious to Haley. Sean Hannity then says, hash tone his
(16:29):
pitch ha hish cadence shows he's been really dialed in
in a way I've not changed since twenty twenty. When
you stop as I do, and wonder how this insane,
brain damaged, half human incubus could come to dominate American politics,
I mean, just calm yourself and think of how very
(16:53):
stupid the people are who support him. After nine years
of this, Kelly and Conway and Sean Hannity expected him
to turn human. Okay, that's one. Here's a beauty Alex
Salmon descending down the liberal media game of shoots and
ladders from the New Republic to Mother Jones to American
(17:15):
Prospect to Slate Tuesday morning at Slate morning of the
ne Hampshire primary, publishers, Democrats got themselves a big old
mess in New Hampshire. Biden snub ne Hampshire. Now the
state is poised to embarrass him right back, and he
wrote Biden, with his record low approval ratings and miserable
head to head polls, is hardly in a position to
(17:35):
weather even a symbolic loss. It's unlikely that a ceasefire
write in vote will topple Biden, but the campaign seems
like a meaningful way to register discontent with Biden's policies.
Biden got two thirds of the votes in New Hampshire,
not on the ballot, two thirds of the votes all
right in. We do not yet have the breakdown of
(17:58):
all of the sixty three hundred or so non Biden
write in votes in that state. But in Nashua in Hampshire,
Biden got four and thirty four write in votes. Cease
Fire got forty six forty six. We do know that
all the non Biden write in combines just edged out
(18:22):
Mary Anne Williamson. Mary Anne Williamson. On the other hand,
mister Salmon's take was right about the town of Hill, Hampshire,
eleven hundred residents, and there Dean Phillips humiliated Joe Biden
thirty votes to twenty nine. It's a final so far.
(18:44):
That is the only locality in the entire state that
we are sure Biden did not win thirty to twenty nine.
You know, if you get fired from Slate, the next
job is writing graffiti. Still saving mister Salmon from worst
take about Hampshire, Abby Phillip of CNN, she is apparently
(19:09):
adored by Washington insiders, CNN gave her her own show
at ten PM last year. I know you didn't hear
about that, did you. It's the show they preempt once
a week to instead run Charles Barkley and Gail King,
which should tell you everything you need to know about
Abby Phillip. Yet there was more to tell. This was
(19:30):
her take Tuesday night. I'll remind you this is ostensibly
a news anchor, a CNN anchor, you know, and so you.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Know, as Nicki Haley put it, I think it's actually
such a smart way to put it. Maybe the first
person to let the first party to let go of
their eighty year old might be the victor, But who's
going to be the one to move first? And I
think that's where that's where we are as a country,
and that's why this is kind of such an intractable problem.
Nobody wants Trump, nobody wants Biden, but nobody wants to
(20:02):
be the very the first to walk away from either.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
I'd be startled at Abby phillips amazing combination of condescension
and inaccuracy and right wing trash. But this is CNN.
And by the way, Monday's cable ratings are the most
recent ones out, and the Abby Phillip program is literally
the second lowest rated show in primetime in cable news.
(20:28):
She had what was for her a strong night Monday Night,
nearly one third of the audience of Lawrence O'Donnell. She
had ninety three thousand viewers in the twenty five to
fifty four advertising demo. She has a national TV show
with a staff and a green room and coffee, and
(20:49):
her demo audience is twenty percent smaller than the daily
audience of this podcast, which I do by myself in
my spare time. Not only do they preemp once a
week for Charles Barkley and Gail King, but when they do,
(21:09):
Barkley and King get ratings twenty percent higher than hers.
I have no idea why. Also of interest here, so,
how did the state Senate elect a guy was about
to be arrested as a charged January sixth Trump election
denier insurrectionist. How did they elect him onto their state
(21:34):
board of Elections. Well, apparently the answer is they never
asked him about January sixth. Holy crap, that's next. This
is countdown. This is countdown with Keith Oberman still ahead.
(22:15):
On countdown, since we began this episode with the overwhelming
and possibly invincible truth of both sides ism just another
of the many default positions in journalism that favor Trump
and fascism and the denial that anything important is actually
at risk. I'm going to devote today's things I promised
(22:36):
not to tell to the answer to this question, which
of the following cable news channels has never suddenly lurched
to the far right in hopes that it could get
more fascists watching a Fox, b CNN or c MSNBC. Well,
(22:57):
of course it's a trick question. The answer is d
None of them have never done that. All of them
have gone far right of the day. MSNBC tried to
move to the right of Fox News the Michael Savage saga.
Next first time for the daily roundup of the miss Grants,
morons and Dunning Kruger effects specimens who constitute two days
(23:19):
worst perusons the were Bronze worse. Frank Farion, the German
music producer behind the group Milli Vanilli, the duo that
had three number one singles in nineteen eighty nine until
one day at a concert in of all places, Bristol, Connecticut. Hello.
(23:40):
The record they were lip syncing to skipped and it
kept repeating, girl, you know it's girl. You know it's girl.
You know it's girl. You know it's girl. You know
it's and one of the members of the duo fled
from the stage in panic. Yet it was not until
after Millie Vanilli took home the Grammy for the Best
(24:03):
New Artists that the scam was revealed. Not only were
they not singing, but it wasn't even them on the record.
They were lip syncing too. Anyway. The producer at the
heart of this, mister Farrian, he's dead. Is it unfair
to put a guy on the worst Person's List when
he dies? Yes, yes it is. But when else would
(24:23):
I get the chance to tell that great story again?
Frank Farrion was eighty two years old when he died
in Miami, Or was he? The runners up? Worser News Nation,
the right wing TV network that pretends to be neutral
and above the fray, and it's actually right wing and
it's actually just the nicket night for cable news hosts
(24:46):
Dan Abrams, Elizabeth Vargas, Chris Cuomo. It also pretends to
have viewers, it doesn't. But now it has launched News
Nation Audio, in which it will take important sound bites
from its beloved newscasts and offer them to participating radio
stations around the country. So now you have two News
(25:06):
Nation options. You cannot watch it on TV and you
cannot listen to it on the radio. But the winner
the worst the State Senate of Maryland and President Bill Ferguson,
Democrat from Baltimore. There is a lot of introspection in
the State Senate right now, and when you hear politicians
use the word introspection, they mean paddick. Last year, Carlos
(25:32):
Ayala got broad bipartisan support. People noted whimsically that he
used to be a vice president at Purdue Farms and
his mother used to be married to Frank Purdue, the
Frozen Chicken King, who used to do his own TV
commercials because bluntly, he looked like a chicken. Mister Ayala
then sailed through a confirmation hearing and he was added
(25:53):
to the Maryland State Board of Elections last year. Then
last month, mister Iowa was arrested by the FBI on
felony and misdemeanor charges because the new member of the
Maryland State Board of elections is being prosecuted for his
role in January sixth. Video and testimony shows Ayala in
(26:17):
a huge painter's mask, carrying a flagpole with the word
defend and an image of an M sixteen on it,
climbing over the police barricades on January sixth, going into
the capitol on January sixth, jabbing the flag pole at
capitol police officers on January sixth. Now, what was January
sixth about again? Oh? Yeah, trying to prove a legitimate
(26:39):
election had been stolen from a lying sack of shit
would be dictator? Well, well, yeah, this Aywa has considerable
experience in election issues and chicken, he'd be great. The
Maryland Democrats who supported him are all on record now
(27:00):
with basically some variation of the same quote. We don't
know how this could have happened. We will try to
find new methods of blah blah blah blah blah. Well,
you could have asked him, or you could have googled him.
Turns out they never asked him the Maryland State Senate.
By the way, Ayalla resigned from the state election board
after he was arrested. Hey, maybe you guys, you got
(27:21):
an opening maybe you could replace him with this Mike
Lindell guy. He seems nice. Two days worse persons and
(27:51):
you the number one story on the countdown and my
favorite topic, me and things I promised not to tell
And who boy, they're all still at it in cable news. Huh,
still hoping they'll wake up tomorrow and it'll be two
thousand and five again, and everybody watches one of the
channels and hundreds of millions of dollars and just waiting
to be made. And our industry is not dying.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
It's not, it's not, it's not.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
I'll repeat my point about the desperate attempts at CNN
and MSNBC and the minor ones to court right wing viewers.
I mean, once again, i'll mention the name Abby Philip.
This is no boating accident. Virtually every mainstream media organization
(28:35):
in this country, as I have said time and time again,
has already had the same meeting. Let's now discuss how
if Trump seizes power again and America goes fully fascist
in twenty twenty five, how can we do the most
important thing that journalism demands. How can we still protect
this company's profits. I say this not merely because I
(28:59):
know most of the people running the mainstream media organizations,
but because these conversas have already happened, and they happened
long ago, largely because the first not white guy president
was elected just seven years and two months after nine
to eleven. We forget how seriously and terrifyingly we already
have teetered on the edge of full fledged fascism here
(29:22):
after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Nine to eleven happened between my two tenures at MSNBC,
but I returned a year and a half after it happened,
and by then the place I went back to work
had already hired a sort of Alex Jones prototype radio
host named Michael Savage, and it was slowly trying to
(29:42):
build him into the host of a weeknight show. Savage
was a homophobe plus an equal opportunity bigot. His real
name was Michael Wiener, and all you need to know
about him is that he was a Wiener who pretended
he was a Savage. What happened to him when they
tried to stick him into primetime, and what he said
that led to his firing and the blowing up of
the Let's out Fox Fox News play of the then
(30:05):
NBC chairman and CEO Bob Wright is a great story.
I will relish telling you in a moment, but first
a little context to this. MSNBC and Fox Nudes launched
within weeks of each other in nineteen ninety six, and
for a while, in fact, until I left MSNBC in
December nineteen ninety eight, we were ahead of Fox in
(30:28):
many time periods, though CNN crushed us both. Then Fox ascended,
then came nine to eleven, and then Bob Wright thought
he saw his opportunity. All you need to know about
him is that after he left the position of running NBC,
he became a contributor to Fox Business. At MSNBC, Wright
(30:49):
gave Oliver North his own show and Laura Ingram her
own show. He had given a program to Alan Keyes,
a Republican who somehow managed to lose Senate races in
two different states and washed out three different times in
Republican presidential primary. His MSNBC show consisted of him giving speeches.
Though he was alone in a studio with no audience,
(31:11):
Alan Keys could not break himself up his habit of
spraying the room with his eyes. The viewer at home
would see him looking off camera to his left, then
looking at the camera, then looking off camera to the right.
He went back and forth like a sprinkler. I remember
once looking at him and yelling at the TV, hey,
hell over here, I'm the one in the middle. Bob
(31:33):
Wright also brought in Joe Scarborough, long before Scarborough knew
how to disguise much of his fascism. Bob Wright fired
Phil Donahue, although to be fair, that was really more
about money than it was about politics. But he replaced
Donna Hughes's show with what was supposed to be a
high speed, slightly right leaning newscast produced by a Fox
News refugee. It was called Countdown with Sam Donaldson, and
(31:58):
needless to say, the right leaning idea went horribly horribly
wrong after they changed it to Countdown Keith Alderman. MSNBC's
lineup was remarkably unstable at that time. I had hosted
its eight pm show from October first, nineteen ninety seven,
through the beginning of December nineteen ninety eight, and then
I left to go back to sports and baseball at Fox.
(32:21):
Then the eight pm hour was hosted by John Hockenberry,
for three months, then Oli North got his shot a
month later. They started having rotating liberals co host with
Oli North in April nineteen ninety nine and it became
North and Paul Bagala. That was five shows in five months.
In May they cut North and Begala to half an hour.
In June they canceled them and replaced them with a
(32:43):
half hour Ann Curry documentary. In early two thousand, Curry
was expanded to an hour, but then in May Curry
was replaced by Lorie Doo. In August two thousand, they
started their version of Dateline called MSNBC Investigates. In September,
they cut that show to four days a week and
launched a vanished White Woman of the Week show actually
(33:05):
Missing Persons with Diane Diamond, which they canceled after one episode,
and then they put MSNBC Investigates back on. Then they
canceled that a month layer to make room for a
newscast with Forrest Sawyer. Then after the uncertainty of the
two thousand election, they refocused that as Decision two thousand
with Forrest Sawyer. In January two thousand and one, they
canceled Forest Sawyer and put MSNBC Investigates back on for
(33:27):
the third different time. Then in July they moved The
News with Brian Williams from nine pm to eight pm.
Then the next September they moved Brian to CNBC and
instead launched Phil Donahue show in the eight pm MSNBC slot.
Then in March two thousand and three they off Donahue.
They started Countdown originally with Lester Holt, Pat Buchanan and
Bill Press. Then after the war started and there wasn't
(33:49):
anything to count Down too anymore, they hired me to
host Operation Iraqi Freedom, and after one week of that
show they launched Countdown with Keith Olrman. That's twenty different
shows or formats in four years and four months. Soh
Bob Wright's next primetime ideas, And you got to give
him this much. He had a lot of primetime ideas
(34:12):
and virtually all of them made it onto TV. His
next set of ideas was a primetime lineup of me
doing the News at eight, then Scarborough at nine, then
Jesse Ventura at ten, and then this Michael Savage character.
They began this plot by giving Savage his own show
an hour every Saturday afternoon. On March eighth, two thousand
(34:32):
and three, everybody agreed it was crap. On radio, Savage
sounded kind of threatening, I guess, a kind of red
meat fascist. But on TV taking calls from viewers in
a tiny, little, cramped looking studio somewhere in the Bay Area,
he looked small and whiny and cavetchy, and he was
(34:54):
wearing a bad tupei and a suit that was far
worse than that. When I was negotiating my return to
MSNBC in two thousand and three, I got the executive
in charge your Primetime to put it in my contract
that Michael Savage would never appear on my newscast in
any form unless it was an obituary, open and shut.
(35:15):
But then on Friday April twenty fifth, two thousand and three,
I came into work. We were about a month into
the show, and there in the computer rundown of my
newscast was a pre recorded Michael Savage commentary. As soon
as he saw I was in the office, the executive
producer they had hired from Fox, a cross eyed chainsmoker
named Dennis Murray, pushed his way into my office and said,
(35:35):
we have to run a Michael Savage commentary. There's also
a mandatory Matt Drudge SoundBite. This is per Phil Griffins.
So don't think you can call Phil to get it dropped.
He's not in New York. He's not reachable, and he left.
I called my agent. I told her the story, and
I'm matter of factively asked, if they don't drop it,
I have to walk out, don't I mind you? She
had just exhausted herself negotiating my extremely unlikely return to MSNBC.
(36:01):
She didn't flinch. Of course, you have to walk out,
but first call Griffin's office and tell him you're leaving.
Give him a chance. It'll help when you sue them.
It was breach of contract. I find dramatic, life changing
and potentially costly stuff like that is usually way easier
if you have the high moral ground. So I called
Griffin's office. His assistant said he was in Washington and
(36:23):
meetings and could not be reached. I said, well, you
should reach somebody there. Tell them I just called a
car to take me home because my contract says you
can't put Michael effing Savage on my newscast, and somebody
just did nice working with you all. And tell Phil
to give me a call sometime sometime was three minutes later. Griffin,
who frequently panicked outdid himself on this call. You would
(36:45):
really walk out, buddy, I said, it was in the contract.
I was putting my pens and books in a box
as we spoke. I told him he was repeating himself. Finally,
he said, okay, okay, okay, buddy. Can you look at
the commentary and find me a reason, a reason that
isn't about politics? Why shouldn't run? I said, you mean,
(37:07):
like video quality or racist language or something. Phil Griffin's
voice brightened. Yeah, good, racist language or something that'd be great.
Call me back. The executive producer and I went to
the video edit suite, where a guy named Brendan o'melia
was cutting out the time Savage had stumbled or flubbed
while recording this nonsense. First of all, I said to
(37:30):
the X Fox guy who was the producer, Michael Savage
is wearing a brown shirt and a brown tie on
top of his brown shirt. He is literally dressed like
a Hitler brown shirt. The editor Omelia played the whole
video for me, and as I dialed Phil Griffin's cell,
I started laughing. I said, even for racist, homophobic crap.
(37:52):
This thing makes no sense. He just keeps saying George W.
Bush is right, because George W. Bush, because he's right.
He looks small and whiny and convecchy, and he's got
a bad tupe in a worse suit. We wouldn't run
this as a sound bite in his obituary. And the
lighting is terrible and he's dressed as a brown shirt.
(38:12):
Apparently that was enough. Phil Griffin ordered the piece dropped
from My show. I think they ran it on Scarborough
Show at nine PM. In fact, I think I might
be wrong. They ran two or three Savage commentaries on
Scarborough shows. I know they intended to, God knows. I
never watched Scarborough Show. Happily, this was about the time
Michael Savage ended his own TV career. On Saturday July fifth,
(38:37):
two thousand and three, show fifteen out of a series
of Chex's Notes fifteen, Michael Savage was on the air
live on MSNBC when a caller baited him about gaze.
Savage replied, quote, so you're one of them sodomists. You
a sodomite. The caller said, yes, Oh, you're one of
them sodomites, continuing the quote, you should only get aids
(39:00):
and die, you pig? How's that? Why don't you see
if you consume me, you pig, you got nothing better
to put me down, you piece of garbage. You have
nothing better to do today. Go eat a sausage and
choke on it. Get trick andses end quote and Michael Savage.
And by the way, that quote that I just read
that was way better than the commentary they had had
(39:20):
him record for Countdown. Two days later, on Monday, Eric
Sorenson the president of MSNBC, and he was president of
all the boring things Bob Wright didn't want to be
bothered with. At MSNBC. Eric Sorenson fired Michael Savage. Sorenson,
for whom I worked in Los Angeles in local news
and who consulted on my show on Current TV as
(39:41):
recently as twenty eleven, took me for a drink because
he needed to tell somebody what happened next after he
fired Michael Savage. As soon as the Savage firing was announced,
Sorenson said, the phone rang in his office and it
was Bob Wright, the chairman of NBC. Did you have
to fire americ? Wright asked in his nasal, Long Island accent,
(40:02):
and Sorenson said he answer, yes, I literally had to.
I had to fire him. Remember the clause in his
contract there are forty phrases he's not allowed to use
on the show. It literally says, if you say any
of the following forty things, you will be automatically fired
for cause and get no money. Remember remember what number
four on that list is. Number four is quote, I
(40:25):
hope you get AIDS and die unquote. And then he said,
I hope you get AIDS and die. Bob, I literally
had to fire him. I had to fire him. It's
in the contract. Eric Sorenson told me. There was a
long pause on the other end of the phone, and
then Bob Wright said, in anticipation of all that we
(40:47):
have seen in television news since all the meetings about
what happens if the country goes fully fascist, and NBC
and CNN and CBS and ABC all want to protect
their profits and do the devil's work, Bob Wright said,
after a long pause to Eric's Warrenson, who had just
fired Michael Savage because it was in the contract. Bob
(41:08):
Wright said, softly and sadly, but Eric, did you have
to fire him? But did you have to fire him.
(41:31):
I've done all the damage I can do here. Thank
you for listening. Countdown. Musical directors Brian Ray and John
Phillip Shanelle arranged, produced, and performed most of our music.
Mister Ray was on guitars, bass and drums, and mister
Schanale handled orchestration and keyboards. And the music was produced
by Tko Brothers and by me pushing a button on
this machine. Other music, including some of the Beethoven compositions,
(41:54):
were arranged and performed by the group No Horns Allowed.
The sports music is the Olderman theme from ESPN two,
written by Mitch Warren Davis courtesy of ESPN, Inc. Our
Satirical and Pit. The musical comments are by Nancy Faust.
The best baseball stadium organist ever our announce you today
is my friend Stevie Manzant. Everything else was pretty much
my fault. So that's countdown for this the two hundred
(42:15):
and eighty sixth day until the twenty twenty four US
presidential election, and the fifteenth day since Dementia J. Trump's
first attempted coup against the democratically elected government of the
United States. Use the Fourteenth Amendment. Use the insurrection at
use the justice system, use the mental health care system
to stop him from doing it again while we still can.
(42:39):
The next scheduled countdown is tomorrow, Bolton says, the news
warrants till then. I'm Keith Olverman. Good morning, good afternoon,
good night, and good luck. Countdown with Keith Ulderman is
(43:05):
a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. It's quiet,
It's too quiet. Thank God. We have five million different
(00:28):
five takeaways from the New Hampshire primary articles to get
us through it. Yesterday was the day. Everybody pretty much
gave themselves the day off. Even Trump's social media went
into reruns and reposts, more enraged attacks on Nicky Haley,
more of the new Trump twenty twenty four god con
(00:49):
with links to propaganda with headlines like his truth is
Marching On. Trump had one new reality optional dementia driven
claim in which he says he has quote beaten the
once very popular sitting governor of Iowa. I can't swear
to this, but I believe the last sitting Republican governor
(01:11):
of Iowa to seek the presidential nomination was Governor Albert
Cummins in nineteen twelve. If Trump thinks he ran against
Governor Albert Cummins in nineteen twelve and beat him, his
dementia or his CTE or his syphilis is further along
than any of us could have possibly dreamed. The American
(01:34):
media political industrial complex also slept in both sidesing Trump's
dementia and Biden's age is exhausting, after all, strained lying
always is. Even Matt Drudge, who now impossibly is one
of the good guys, largely took the day off from
pommeling Trump. CNN was still live from this New Hampshire
(01:56):
diner at twelve fifty nine pm, and the post show
meeting will be about how terrific the lighting was. Great
job everyone. The biggest political development yesterday was a shock
on many levels. John Stewart is returning to The Daily Show,
hosting on Monday's executive producing through the election and maybe beyond. Firstly,
(02:19):
this comes as a surprise to many of us who
did not know the Daily Show was still on the air. Secondly,
I have a lot of problems with John Stewart. John
Stewart is still mad at me because I did not
stay home from work at MSNBC one day in two
thousand and three when I was just getting the show started,
to instead be a guest on The Daily Show. If
(02:41):
you think this is an odd thing to still be
mad at somebody about twenty and a half years later,
you don't know John Stewart. Regardless, this sadly, seriously is war,
and it is almost entirely and hopefully will remain only
a media war. I got a lot of problems with
(03:03):
Mado too. I don't know have I ever mentioned any
of them, but two years ago I actually sent her
a note pleading with her not to cut back to
one day a week, but to take a sabbatical of
a year or even two and return full time as
the twenty twenty four primary season began. The saving grace
of the left is that while no Republican hates any
Democrat as much as he hates some other Republican, Dems
(03:27):
and Libs are actually kind of the big tent we
claim to be. Stewart sees the existential threat to American
democracy that Trump represents. Matdow sees the existential threat to
American democracy that Trump represents. They have fan bases and platforms,
and therefore the more they are on TV, I say,
(03:50):
the better. I mean. I did just also say. Matt Drudge,
who now impossibly is one of the good guys, happily
into this news Doldrum Breach stepped many of America's best
both sidesists. The New York Times was good enough to
publish Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan's five takeaways from the
(04:10):
New Hampshire primary. Aaron Blake of The Washington Post offered
five takeaways from the New Hampshire primary. Conversely, The Hill
presented five takeaways from the New Hampshire primary. CNN meanwhile
offered five takeaways from the Newmpshire primary. But broadening out
(04:30):
the picture just a little bit, barrens more of a
business publication published originating from the Agen France Press, five
Takeaways from the New Hampshire Primary. So here are five
takeaways from the five takeaways from the New Hampshire primary.
Takeaway number one, Why the hell is it always five takeaways?
(04:55):
To stand out? Just in the journalistic takeaways space? All
the New York Times or France Press has to do
which to four takeaways, or to six takeaways, or to
two hundred and six takeaways, and they would crush the
other takeaway bastards like grapes. Takeaway number two, nobody writing
(05:20):
American political analysis for a mainstream legacy site or network
or newspaper or magazine anywhere in the world apparently reads
anybody else's political analysis, or they would realize just how
stupid publishing exactly the same title over what is supposed
to be the premium value of your analyst's insight is
(05:42):
I mean when the Agen Franz Press and the Hill
are both stuck on this cliched, formulaic gobbledegook that was
outdated when Teddy Roosevelt fought Albert Cummins and Taft for
the nineteen twelve Republican nomination. The system is broken Takeaway
number three. Every one of these sets of five takeaways included.
(06:06):
The clock is ticking on Nicky Haley's campaign. Gee, that's wonderful, thanks,
clock is ticking. That's kind of the point. The clock
is ticking on Trump's life, and my life and yours.
And I'm sorry if this is somehow a surprise that
I'm breaking to you. In fact, the clock is ticking
(06:29):
on everything in life, except, it seems on the mindless
insistence of news organizations to continue running pieces called five
Takeaways from the New Hampshire Primary Takeaway number four. All
five of the five five takeaways provided more opportunity for
their encrusted institutions to pray at the altar of both
(06:52):
sides ism and at the altar of the use of
euphemism at a time of crisis when hard facts and
real language are essential. All tiptoed around the actual takeaway.
Trump lost his mind after Nikki Haley did not humiliate
herself and signed up for the kind of involuntary Trumpian
(07:13):
servitude that Tim Scott signed up for. The Washington Post
actually wrote, Haley is staying in for now, which Trump
appeared angry about. Really, he threatened her, He threatened those
who endorsed her. His flying monkey Marjorie Taylor Green demanded
that Haley's team be imprisoned. Appeared appeared to be angry.
(07:39):
The Hill actually wrote Primary season looked short and drama free.
I guess unless you think ninety one indictments of the
front runner, including for the components of treason and threats
of violence against and prosecution of those who challenge him,
let's you think any of that constitutes drama. I'll give
(08:01):
CNN rare credit. They used a good word to describe
Trump insanity. He quote seethed and mocked seethed, and then
CNN gave that credit right back quote Trump sounded annoyed.
Christ can you just write what happened in Iowa? Trump
(08:23):
swallowed his only real human emotion, rage, and at least
said words that, when said by other people would seem
mildly gracious in New Hampshire. He got up and swore
at Nicki Haley and her supporters and threatened them, and
you could see the red in his face through the
orange on his face. Even Politico reported that after Trump
(08:47):
lost it at a moment that actually required him to
fake being sane, a Haley campaigner asked them, quote, why
is he so angry for someone who's not threatened by Nicki?
He sure talks about her every chance he gets. Politico
added that a Biden campaign aid then texted about Trump's
outbrun quote that's the guy we will beat. And that,
(09:08):
of course, is the true takeaway. The thin veneer of
human like conduct Trump slathers on every morning along with
his rustolium number two four five two two one hairspray
now vanishes instantly at the slightest pressure. He is, as
the psychology professionals say, come and unglued. That's the takeaway,
(09:33):
and takeaway number five. I don't want to leave the
impression that the Times, the Posts, the Hill, CNN, and
a gen Franz Press are the lone culprits. Here a
Google search for five takeaways from the New Hampshire primary
in Quotes produces fifty one thousand, two hundred results. About
(09:55):
thirteen thousand of them are individual public radio and TV websites,
from kyuk k Yuck in Alaska to c SPAN, which
reposted NPR's five Takeaways from the Hampshire Primary by Domenico Montanaro,
whose first takeaway was God Bless him. The clock is
(10:16):
ticking on Nicky Haley's campaign. The Internet is infinite, and
so are the five takeaways. Actually here, I will follow
my own advice and stretch the takeaway boundaries in a
form never before seen nor heard in the English language.
I hold in my hand my sixth takeaway. My sixth
(10:42):
takeaway is that the real takeaways are Trump lost his mind.
Tim Scott is not only a bigger clown than Ramaswami,
but if you saw him on stage with Trump, you
have to have noticed that he breathes through his mouth.
Marge Green says she's purging the gop of all non maga,
(11:03):
and she doesn't understand that it means Trump will get
fewer votes because she's stupid or stoned or both. Trump
is pressuring Haley to drop out now, and using all
his minions to do so, but Haley is staying in
in case Trump begins speaking in tongues or does an
l presidente esposito and announces we all have to change
(11:23):
our underwear every half hour and wear it on the
outside so he can check. Of course, none of the
takeaways could manage to come out and say any of
my takeaways because such actual insight is not permitted in
the official AP style book for five takeaways on I
(11:48):
have a seventh takeaway quick the smelling salts. Dana Bash
just fainted. My seventh takeaway is use the term as
a verb. This useless institutional promoting artery hardening format. Take
it away happily. The media has learned its lesson Senator Collins.
(12:17):
Five four pm Eastern Yesterday, Washington Post campaign newsletter, Trump's
early wins come with warning signs. Eleven minutes later, New
York Times campaign newsletter, Trump's new Hampshire win suggests trouble ahead.
This is a recording before I get back to beating
(12:38):
them up. Let's run through the other headlines. Looks like
Senate Republicans are getting ready to sell out Ukraine. Punch
Bowl News reports that Mitch McConnell till the closed door
meeting of his coven. Quote. When we started this, the
border united US and Ukraine divided us. The politics on
this have changed, punch bowl says McConnell. Referred to Trump
as the nominee and added, we don't want to do
(12:59):
anything to undermine him. We're in a quandary. No, the
people of Ukraine fighting the Russians there, so we don't
have to fight the Russians in Warsaw or Berlin. The
people of Ukraine are in a quandary. You are in
danger of losing your immortal souls, you Republican senatorial bastards.
(13:25):
Also remember two weeks ago when I suggested here that
maybe Madison Cawthorne was right and the insanity of the
Republican Party was actually easily explained, that they really were
all just sprung out on drugs. Turns out, three days
before I said that, the Department of Defense Inspector General's
Office released an eighty page report on the White House
Medical Unit and pharmacy, covering the years two thousand and
(13:49):
nine through twenty nineteen, but focused on the years twenty
seventeen through twenty nineteen under Trump. As Rolling Stone summarized it,
the report showed that drugs, especially uppers and downers, were
handed out like candy, especially after Trump took over. No oversight,
no coherent records, no hesitation to give out medications without prescriptions,
(14:11):
usually in advance of overseas trips, to White House staffers
who were ineligible for them. In three years, the Trump
White House bought at face value nearly fifty thousand dollars
worth of brand name Ambient. If this sounds vaguely familiar,
note that time frame two thousand and nine through twenty nineteen.
(14:33):
Guess who joined the White House Medical Unit in two
thousand and six, Doctor Ronnie Jackson. Guess who became director
in twenty ten again doctor Ronnie Jackson. And guess who
became physician to the President in twenty thirteen, Doctor Ronnie Jackson.
After widespread allegations of drunkenness and harassment, he was finally
forced out in twenty nineteen and forced to serve in
(14:56):
the House of Representatives. This next one would be a
wild story if it were not about Arizona and Carrie Lake.
She just successfully blackmailed the state Republican chairman into resigning,
so says Jeff de Witt. He says he has quit
he has resigned because Carrie Lake released an audio tape
in which he has heard offering her lucrative job opportunities
(15:18):
to just get the hell out of politics for just
two years. He says, she has threatened him with another
audio tape. He says he doesn't know what might be
on it, so he quit. The UAW endorsed Biden. Wait,
that's just the start. In his speech endorsing the president
UAW President Sean Faine called Trump a scab. Then he
(15:43):
went on Fox and said, nowhere in history has Donald
Trump ever stood for the American worker. He stands against
pretty much everything that we stand for. Sean Fain, Shin Faine,
Shawn Faine, Shin Fain. I keep thinking this is not
a coincidence. Only Sean Fain is clearly tougher. And because
(16:04):
my bile is still surging, let's go back for some
more media bashing with three of the worst takes of
the entire twenty twenty three twenty four campaign year, and
all of them are this week about New Hampshire. Kelly
and Kahn job on Fox, just as Trump is getting
up to the podium after winning New Hampshire, He'll be
gracious to Haley. Sean Hannity then says, hash tone his
(16:29):
pitch ha hish cadence shows he's been really dialed in
in a way I've not changed since twenty twenty. When
you stop as I do, and wonder how this insane,
brain damaged, half human incubus could come to dominate American politics,
I mean, just calm yourself and think of how very
(16:53):
stupid the people are who support him. After nine years
of this, Kelly and Conway and Sean Hannity expected him
to turn human. Okay, that's one. Here's a beauty Alex
Salmon descending down the liberal media game of shoots and
ladders from the New Republic to Mother Jones to American
(17:15):
Prospect to Slate Tuesday morning at Slate morning of the
ne Hampshire primary, publishers, Democrats got themselves a big old
mess in New Hampshire. Biden snub ne Hampshire. Now the
state is poised to embarrass him right back, and he
wrote Biden, with his record low approval ratings and miserable
head to head polls, is hardly in a position to
(17:35):
weather even a symbolic loss. It's unlikely that a ceasefire
write in vote will topple Biden, but the campaign seems
like a meaningful way to register discontent with Biden's policies.
Biden got two thirds of the votes in New Hampshire,
not on the ballot, two thirds of the votes all
right in. We do not yet have the breakdown of
(17:58):
all of the sixty three hundred or so non Biden
write in votes in that state. But in Nashua in Hampshire,
Biden got four and thirty four write in votes. Cease
Fire got forty six forty six. We do know that
all the non Biden write in combines just edged out
(18:22):
Mary Anne Williamson. Mary Anne Williamson. On the other hand,
mister Salmon's take was right about the town of Hill, Hampshire,
eleven hundred residents, and there Dean Phillips humiliated Joe Biden
thirty votes to twenty nine. It's a final so far.
(18:44):
That is the only locality in the entire state that
we are sure Biden did not win thirty to twenty nine.
You know, if you get fired from Slate, the next
job is writing graffiti. Still saving mister Salmon from worst
take about Hampshire, Abby Phillip of CNN, she is apparently
(19:09):
adored by Washington insiders, CNN gave her her own show
at ten PM last year. I know you didn't hear
about that, did you. It's the show they preempt once
a week to instead run Charles Barkley and Gail King,
which should tell you everything you need to know about
Abby Phillip. Yet there was more to tell. This was
(19:30):
her take Tuesday night. I'll remind you this is ostensibly
a news anchor, a CNN anchor, you know, and so you.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Know, as Nicki Haley put it, I think it's actually
such a smart way to put it. Maybe the first
person to let the first party to let go of
their eighty year old might be the victor, But who's
going to be the one to move first? And I
think that's where that's where we are as a country,
and that's why this is kind of such an intractable problem.
Nobody wants Trump, nobody wants Biden, but nobody wants to
(20:02):
be the very the first to walk away from either.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
I'd be startled at Abby phillips amazing combination of condescension
and inaccuracy and right wing trash. But this is CNN.
And by the way, Monday's cable ratings are the most
recent ones out, and the Abby Phillip program is literally
the second lowest rated show in primetime in cable news.
(20:28):
She had what was for her a strong night Monday Night,
nearly one third of the audience of Lawrence O'Donnell. She
had ninety three thousand viewers in the twenty five to
fifty four advertising demo. She has a national TV show
with a staff and a green room and coffee, and
(20:49):
her demo audience is twenty percent smaller than the daily
audience of this podcast, which I do by myself in
my spare time. Not only do they preemp once a
week for Charles Barkley and Gail King, but when they do,
(21:09):
Barkley and King get ratings twenty percent higher than hers.
I have no idea why. Also of interest here, so,
how did the state Senate elect a guy was about
to be arrested as a charged January sixth Trump election
denier insurrectionist. How did they elect him onto their state
(21:34):
board of Elections. Well, apparently the answer is they never
asked him about January sixth. Holy crap, that's next. This
is countdown. This is countdown with Keith Oberman still ahead.
(22:15):
On countdown, since we began this episode with the overwhelming
and possibly invincible truth of both sides ism just another
of the many default positions in journalism that favor Trump
and fascism and the denial that anything important is actually
at risk. I'm going to devote today's things I promised
(22:36):
not to tell to the answer to this question, which
of the following cable news channels has never suddenly lurched
to the far right in hopes that it could get
more fascists watching a Fox, b CNN or c MSNBC. Well,
(22:57):
of course it's a trick question. The answer is d
None of them have never done that. All of them
have gone far right of the day. MSNBC tried to
move to the right of Fox News the Michael Savage saga.
Next first time for the daily roundup of the miss Grants,
morons and Dunning Kruger effects specimens who constitute two days
(23:19):
worst perusons the were Bronze worse. Frank Farion, the German
music producer behind the group Milli Vanilli, the duo that
had three number one singles in nineteen eighty nine until
one day at a concert in of all places, Bristol, Connecticut. Hello.
(23:40):
The record they were lip syncing to skipped and it
kept repeating, girl, you know it's girl. You know it's girl.
You know it's girl. You know it's girl. You know
it's and one of the members of the duo fled
from the stage in panic. Yet it was not until
after Millie Vanilli took home the Grammy for the Best
(24:03):
New Artists that the scam was revealed. Not only were
they not singing, but it wasn't even them on the record.
They were lip syncing too. Anyway. The producer at the
heart of this, mister Farrian, he's dead. Is it unfair
to put a guy on the worst Person's List when
he dies? Yes, yes it is. But when else would
(24:23):
I get the chance to tell that great story again?
Frank Farrion was eighty two years old when he died
in Miami, Or was he? The runners up? Worser News Nation,
the right wing TV network that pretends to be neutral
and above the fray, and it's actually right wing and
it's actually just the nicket night for cable news hosts
(24:46):
Dan Abrams, Elizabeth Vargas, Chris Cuomo. It also pretends to
have viewers, it doesn't. But now it has launched News
Nation Audio, in which it will take important sound bites
from its beloved newscasts and offer them to participating radio
stations around the country. So now you have two News
(25:06):
Nation options. You cannot watch it on TV and you
cannot listen to it on the radio. But the winner
the worst the State Senate of Maryland and President Bill Ferguson,
Democrat from Baltimore. There is a lot of introspection in
the State Senate right now, and when you hear politicians
use the word introspection, they mean paddick. Last year, Carlos
(25:32):
Ayala got broad bipartisan support. People noted whimsically that he
used to be a vice president at Purdue Farms and
his mother used to be married to Frank Purdue, the
Frozen Chicken King, who used to do his own TV
commercials because bluntly, he looked like a chicken. Mister Ayala
then sailed through a confirmation hearing and he was added
(25:53):
to the Maryland State Board of Elections last year. Then
last month, mister Iowa was arrested by the FBI on
felony and misdemeanor charges because the new member of the
Maryland State Board of elections is being prosecuted for his
role in January sixth. Video and testimony shows Ayala in
(26:17):
a huge painter's mask, carrying a flagpole with the word
defend and an image of an M sixteen on it,
climbing over the police barricades on January sixth, going into
the capitol on January sixth, jabbing the flag pole at
capitol police officers on January sixth. Now, what was January
sixth about again? Oh? Yeah, trying to prove a legitimate
(26:39):
election had been stolen from a lying sack of shit
would be dictator? Well, well, yeah, this Aywa has considerable
experience in election issues and chicken, he'd be great. The
Maryland Democrats who supported him are all on record now
(27:00):
with basically some variation of the same quote. We don't
know how this could have happened. We will try to
find new methods of blah blah blah blah blah. Well,
you could have asked him, or you could have googled him.
Turns out they never asked him the Maryland State Senate.
By the way, Ayalla resigned from the state election board
after he was arrested. Hey, maybe you guys, you got
(27:21):
an opening maybe you could replace him with this Mike
Lindell guy. He seems nice. Two days worse persons and
(27:51):
you the number one story on the countdown and my
favorite topic, me and things I promised not to tell
And who boy, they're all still at it in cable news. Huh,
still hoping they'll wake up tomorrow and it'll be two
thousand and five again, and everybody watches one of the
channels and hundreds of millions of dollars and just waiting
to be made. And our industry is not dying.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
It's not, it's not, it's not.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
I'll repeat my point about the desperate attempts at CNN
and MSNBC and the minor ones to court right wing viewers.
I mean, once again, i'll mention the name Abby Philip.
This is no boating accident. Virtually every mainstream media organization
(28:35):
in this country, as I have said time and time again,
has already had the same meeting. Let's now discuss how
if Trump seizes power again and America goes fully fascist
in twenty twenty five, how can we do the most
important thing that journalism demands. How can we still protect
this company's profits. I say this not merely because I
(28:59):
know most of the people running the mainstream media organizations,
but because these conversas have already happened, and they happened
long ago, largely because the first not white guy president
was elected just seven years and two months after nine
to eleven. We forget how seriously and terrifyingly we already
have teetered on the edge of full fledged fascism here
(29:22):
after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Nine to eleven happened between my two tenures at MSNBC,
but I returned a year and a half after it happened,
and by then the place I went back to work
had already hired a sort of Alex Jones prototype radio
host named Michael Savage, and it was slowly trying to
(29:42):
build him into the host of a weeknight show. Savage
was a homophobe plus an equal opportunity bigot. His real
name was Michael Wiener, and all you need to know
about him is that he was a Wiener who pretended
he was a Savage. What happened to him when they
tried to stick him into primetime, and what he said
that led to his firing and the blowing up of
the Let's out Fox Fox News play of the then
(30:05):
NBC chairman and CEO Bob Wright is a great story.
I will relish telling you in a moment, but first
a little context to this. MSNBC and Fox Nudes launched
within weeks of each other in nineteen ninety six, and
for a while, in fact, until I left MSNBC in
December nineteen ninety eight, we were ahead of Fox in
(30:28):
many time periods, though CNN crushed us both. Then Fox ascended,
then came nine to eleven, and then Bob Wright thought
he saw his opportunity. All you need to know about
him is that after he left the position of running NBC,
he became a contributor to Fox Business. At MSNBC, Wright
(30:49):
gave Oliver North his own show and Laura Ingram her
own show. He had given a program to Alan Keyes,
a Republican who somehow managed to lose Senate races in
two different states and washed out three different times in
Republican presidential primary. His MSNBC show consisted of him giving speeches.
Though he was alone in a studio with no audience,
(31:11):
Alan Keys could not break himself up his habit of
spraying the room with his eyes. The viewer at home
would see him looking off camera to his left, then
looking at the camera, then looking off camera to the right.
He went back and forth like a sprinkler. I remember
once looking at him and yelling at the TV, hey,
hell over here, I'm the one in the middle. Bob
(31:33):
Wright also brought in Joe Scarborough, long before Scarborough knew
how to disguise much of his fascism. Bob Wright fired
Phil Donahue, although to be fair, that was really more
about money than it was about politics. But he replaced
Donna Hughes's show with what was supposed to be a
high speed, slightly right leaning newscast produced by a Fox
News refugee. It was called Countdown with Sam Donaldson, and
(31:58):
needless to say, the right leaning idea went horribly horribly
wrong after they changed it to Countdown Keith Alderman. MSNBC's
lineup was remarkably unstable at that time. I had hosted
its eight pm show from October first, nineteen ninety seven,
through the beginning of December nineteen ninety eight, and then
I left to go back to sports and baseball at Fox.
(32:21):
Then the eight pm hour was hosted by John Hockenberry,
for three months, then Oli North got his shot a
month later. They started having rotating liberals co host with
Oli North in April nineteen ninety nine and it became
North and Paul Bagala. That was five shows in five months.
In May they cut North and Begala to half an hour.
In June they canceled them and replaced them with a
(32:43):
half hour Ann Curry documentary. In early two thousand, Curry
was expanded to an hour, but then in May Curry
was replaced by Lorie Doo. In August two thousand, they
started their version of Dateline called MSNBC Investigates. In September,
they cut that show to four days a week and
launched a vanished White Woman of the Week show actually
(33:05):
Missing Persons with Diane Diamond, which they canceled after one episode,
and then they put MSNBC Investigates back on. Then they
canceled that a month layer to make room for a
newscast with Forrest Sawyer. Then after the uncertainty of the
two thousand election, they refocused that as Decision two thousand
with Forrest Sawyer. In January two thousand and one, they
canceled Forest Sawyer and put MSNBC Investigates back on for
(33:27):
the third different time. Then in July they moved The
News with Brian Williams from nine pm to eight pm.
Then the next September they moved Brian to CNBC and
instead launched Phil Donahue show in the eight pm MSNBC slot.
Then in March two thousand and three they off Donahue.
They started Countdown originally with Lester Holt, Pat Buchanan and
Bill Press. Then after the war started and there wasn't
(33:49):
anything to count Down too anymore, they hired me to
host Operation Iraqi Freedom, and after one week of that
show they launched Countdown with Keith Olrman. That's twenty different
shows or formats in four years and four months. Soh
Bob Wright's next primetime ideas, And you got to give
him this much. He had a lot of primetime ideas
(34:12):
and virtually all of them made it onto TV. His
next set of ideas was a primetime lineup of me
doing the News at eight, then Scarborough at nine, then
Jesse Ventura at ten, and then this Michael Savage character.
They began this plot by giving Savage his own show
an hour every Saturday afternoon. On March eighth, two thousand
(34:32):
and three, everybody agreed it was crap. On radio, Savage
sounded kind of threatening, I guess, a kind of red
meat fascist. But on TV taking calls from viewers in
a tiny, little, cramped looking studio somewhere in the Bay Area,
he looked small and whiny and cavetchy, and he was
(34:54):
wearing a bad tupei and a suit that was far
worse than that. When I was negotiating my return to
MSNBC in two thousand and three, I got the executive
in charge your Primetime to put it in my contract
that Michael Savage would never appear on my newscast in
any form unless it was an obituary, open and shut.
(35:15):
But then on Friday April twenty fifth, two thousand and three,
I came into work. We were about a month into
the show, and there in the computer rundown of my
newscast was a pre recorded Michael Savage commentary. As soon
as he saw I was in the office, the executive
producer they had hired from Fox, a cross eyed chainsmoker
named Dennis Murray, pushed his way into my office and said,
(35:35):
we have to run a Michael Savage commentary. There's also
a mandatory Matt Drudge SoundBite. This is per Phil Griffins.
So don't think you can call Phil to get it dropped.
He's not in New York. He's not reachable, and he left.
I called my agent. I told her the story, and
I'm matter of factively asked, if they don't drop it,
I have to walk out, don't I mind you? She
had just exhausted herself negotiating my extremely unlikely return to MSNBC.
(36:01):
She didn't flinch. Of course, you have to walk out,
but first call Griffin's office and tell him you're leaving.
Give him a chance. It'll help when you sue them.
It was breach of contract. I find dramatic, life changing
and potentially costly stuff like that is usually way easier
if you have the high moral ground. So I called
Griffin's office. His assistant said he was in Washington and
(36:23):
meetings and could not be reached. I said, well, you
should reach somebody there. Tell them I just called a
car to take me home because my contract says you
can't put Michael effing Savage on my newscast, and somebody
just did nice working with you all. And tell Phil
to give me a call sometime sometime was three minutes later. Griffin,
who frequently panicked outdid himself on this call. You would
(36:45):
really walk out, buddy, I said, it was in the contract.
I was putting my pens and books in a box
as we spoke. I told him he was repeating himself. Finally,
he said, okay, okay, okay, buddy. Can you look at
the commentary and find me a reason, a reason that
isn't about politics? Why shouldn't run? I said, you mean,
(37:07):
like video quality or racist language or something. Phil Griffin's
voice brightened. Yeah, good, racist language or something that'd be great.
Call me back. The executive producer and I went to
the video edit suite, where a guy named Brendan o'melia
was cutting out the time Savage had stumbled or flubbed
while recording this nonsense. First of all, I said to
(37:30):
the X Fox guy who was the producer, Michael Savage
is wearing a brown shirt and a brown tie on
top of his brown shirt. He is literally dressed like
a Hitler brown shirt. The editor Omelia played the whole
video for me, and as I dialed Phil Griffin's cell,
I started laughing. I said, even for racist, homophobic crap.
(37:52):
This thing makes no sense. He just keeps saying George W.
Bush is right, because George W. Bush, because he's right.
He looks small and whiny and convecchy, and he's got
a bad tupe in a worse suit. We wouldn't run
this as a sound bite in his obituary. And the
lighting is terrible and he's dressed as a brown shirt.
(38:12):
Apparently that was enough. Phil Griffin ordered the piece dropped
from My show. I think they ran it on Scarborough
Show at nine PM. In fact, I think I might
be wrong. They ran two or three Savage commentaries on
Scarborough shows. I know they intended to, God knows. I
never watched Scarborough Show. Happily, this was about the time
Michael Savage ended his own TV career. On Saturday July fifth,
(38:37):
two thousand and three, show fifteen out of a series
of Chex's Notes fifteen, Michael Savage was on the air
live on MSNBC when a caller baited him about gaze.
Savage replied, quote, so you're one of them sodomists. You
a sodomite. The caller said, yes, Oh, you're one of
them sodomites, continuing the quote, you should only get aids
(39:00):
and die, you pig? How's that? Why don't you see
if you consume me, you pig, you got nothing better
to put me down, you piece of garbage. You have
nothing better to do today. Go eat a sausage and
choke on it. Get trick andses end quote and Michael Savage.
And by the way, that quote that I just read
that was way better than the commentary they had had
(39:20):
him record for Countdown. Two days later, on Monday, Eric
Sorenson the president of MSNBC, and he was president of
all the boring things Bob Wright didn't want to be
bothered with. At MSNBC. Eric Sorenson fired Michael Savage. Sorenson,
for whom I worked in Los Angeles in local news
and who consulted on my show on Current TV as
(39:41):
recently as twenty eleven, took me for a drink because
he needed to tell somebody what happened next after he
fired Michael Savage. As soon as the Savage firing was announced,
Sorenson said, the phone rang in his office and it
was Bob Wright, the chairman of NBC. Did you have
to fire americ? Wright asked in his nasal, Long Island accent,
(40:02):
and Sorenson said he answer, yes, I literally had to.
I had to fire him. Remember the clause in his
contract there are forty phrases he's not allowed to use
on the show. It literally says, if you say any
of the following forty things, you will be automatically fired
for cause and get no money. Remember remember what number
four on that list is. Number four is quote, I
(40:25):
hope you get AIDS and die unquote. And then he said,
I hope you get AIDS and die. Bob, I literally
had to fire him. I had to fire him. It's
in the contract. Eric Sorenson told me. There was a
long pause on the other end of the phone, and
then Bob Wright said, in anticipation of all that we
(40:47):
have seen in television news since all the meetings about
what happens if the country goes fully fascist, and NBC
and CNN and CBS and ABC all want to protect
their profits and do the devil's work, Bob Wright said,
after a long pause to Eric's Warrenson, who had just
fired Michael Savage because it was in the contract. Bob
(41:08):
Wright said, softly and sadly, but Eric, did you have
to fire him? But did you have to fire him.
(41:31):
I've done all the damage I can do here. Thank
you for listening. Countdown. Musical directors Brian Ray and John
Phillip Shanelle arranged, produced, and performed most of our music.
Mister Ray was on guitars, bass and drums, and mister
Schanale handled orchestration and keyboards. And the music was produced
by Tko Brothers and by me pushing a button on
this machine. Other music, including some of the Beethoven compositions,
(41:54):
were arranged and performed by the group No Horns Allowed.
The sports music is the Olderman theme from ESPN two,
written by Mitch Warren Davis courtesy of ESPN, Inc. Our
Satirical and Pit. The musical comments are by Nancy Faust.
The best baseball stadium organist ever our announce you today
is my friend Stevie Manzant. Everything else was pretty much
my fault. So that's countdown for this the two hundred
(42:15):
and eighty sixth day until the twenty twenty four US
presidential election, and the fifteenth day since Dementia J. Trump's
first attempted coup against the democratically elected government of the
United States. Use the Fourteenth Amendment. Use the insurrection at
use the justice system, use the mental health care system
to stop him from doing it again while we still can.
(42:39):
The next scheduled countdown is tomorrow, Bolton says, the news
warrants till then. I'm Keith Olverman. Good morning, good afternoon,
good night, and good luck. Countdown with Keith Ulderman is
(43:05):
a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Host
Keith Olbermann
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