Murrow, Cronkite, Olbermann
In a day where the “No-Spin Zone” is anything but and journalists jockey for fear-based ratings, something must be said for eloquence. Whether you agree with his views or not, anyone with a basic knowledge of rhetoric and style must applaude Keith Olbermann and his Special Comment piece on MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann. While his “Worst Person in the World” are fun little afterwords, his Special Comment pieces are indeed special. The words echo in your heart and stay in your head long after Olbermann’s commanding baritone has ended. These are the words of a great newscaster.
It’s not just that I find Olbermann’s words reassuring. I usually become bored with those who merely preach to the choir. The Special comments are trying to push the dialogue forward. At the heart of these comments, there’s a belief that the right words can change minds. That well-reasoned rhetoric doesn’t have to be propaganda but rather an impassioned plea and a call to arms.
Below I’ve posted what I feel are the five best of Olbermann’s recent editorials:
August 30, 2006 – We Must Not Confuse Dissent with Disloyalty: “The man who sees absolutes, where all other men see nuances and shades of meaning, is either a prophet, or a quack. Donald H. Rumsfeld is not a prophet.”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PxJN7XUQVQ&rel=1]
September 11, 2006 – This Hole in the Ground: “Five years later this space… is still empty. Five years later there is no Memorial to the dead. Five years later there is no building rising to show with proud defiance that we would not have our America wrung from us, by cowards and criminals. Five years later this country’s wound is still open. Five years… later this country’s mass grave is still unmarked. Five years later… this is still… just a background for a photo-op. It is beyond shameful.”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdD6op0l2jk]
September 25, 2006 – Clinton vs. Fox News: “It was the kind of cheap trick which would get a journalist fired — but a propagandist, promoted: Promise to talk of charity and generosity; but instead launch into the lies and distortions with which the Authoritarians among us attack the virtuous and reward the useless. And don’t even be professional enough to assume the responsibility for the slanders yourself; blame your audience for “e-mailing” you the question.”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70wOzCkWN5g]
October 5th, 2006 – Bush Lies: “Why has the ferocity of your venom against the Democrats, now exceeded the ferocity of your venom against the terrorists?”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQfW9wjJZaY]
October 18th, 2006 – The Death of Habeus Corpus: “And if you somehow think Habeas Corpus has not been suspended for American citizens but only for everybody else, ask yourself this: If you are pulled off the street tomorrow, and they call you an alien or an undocumented immigrant or an “unlawful enemy combatant” — exactly how are you going to convince them to give you a court hearing to prove you are not? Do you think this Attorney General is going to help you? This President now has his blank check.”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIe2fPmGFYw]
2 Comments to Murrow, Cronkite, Olbermann
Great montage of video’s from one of the few voices of sanity in the mainstream mouthpiece media. I could only hope that after Bush and his minions are tried for high treason and crimes against humanity, and they will, that responsibility for 9/11 and the resulting shredding of our constitution will lie squarely with the real people behind all this, The world banking crime syndicates and the FED. This may in turn spawn a new age of vigilance among the American public. Thank-you Globalstomp
[...] Rise of Keith Olbermann As you may or may not have noticed, I am a bit of a Keith Olbermann fan. I find that in a day dominated by vacillating, vacuous gasbags [...]
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January 13, 2007