A Gentle Reminder That Perversion Is Bipartisan

Whatever happens to Keith Olbermann (and I think we all know his upcoming stint on ESPN will end badly), I will always remember fondly that when Sen. David Vitter (R-SC) was caught up in his prostitution scandal back in 2007, Olbermann would quickly and quietly mutter “diaper” when referring to the Palmetto Perv.

Vitter was named in the DC Madame scandal, but then it emerged that just as members of Congress have homes both in DC and their states, Vitter had ho’s both in DC and back home.  And he managed to stand out among his brothel’s clientele in New Orleans because he liked to let his good times roll while wearing a diaper.  Yes, he managed to shock NOLA prostitutes in how he preferred to be “Pampered.”

And if you think things couldn’t get weirder, let me add that when Vitter was running for Senate, one of his ads showed him changing one of his kids’ diapers.

I bring this up because last night MSNBC’s Melissa Harris Perry was talking about Vitter’s bill banning a federal bailout for Detroit (no one is proposing such a bailout, but that never stops the party from the alternate universe), and she referenced his “unlawful and, shall we say, infantile infidelity.”

More subtle than Keith, but much appreciated anyway.

So make your Weiner jokes, GOP, but don’t forget that members of both parties can be equally bizarre and creepy when it comes to their members.

Nate Silver Returns to His Roots

Our favorite election prognosticator, Nate Silver, is moving his FiveThirtyEight brand from the NYT to ESPN.  During election years, he’ll work for ABC.  Nate was a baseball statistician before he went into election analysis.

Nate is expected to be a regular on Keith Olbermann’s new show, which starts in late August.  Keith has been told that besides sports, he can talk about pop culture and current events on his show, but not politics.  Not sure how you talk about current events without talking about politics, not sure how you stop Keith from talking about politics, so his show may not be around very long.  But I will enjoy it while I can…

 

 

Keith Olbermann Has a Job!

Well, the economy must be doing very well if even Keith Olbermann can find work.

Okay, it’s just for a few weeks, and it’s not until October —  he’s going to anchor TBS’ post-season MLB coverage out of Atlanta.

I see him at Yankee games and wish he’d get up and do a special comment in between innings.

Al Gore Sides With Really Big Oil

Al Gore turned down Glenn Beck’s offer to sell his Current TV network to Al Jazeera instead, owned by the government of Qatar.

Insert your own joke.

Maybe Keith Olbermann will come back.  I think Al Jazeera is about the only network he hasn’t been fired from.

You Can’t Get Much Sicker Than This

At the Republican Conference meeting following the Supreme Court’s Obamacare decision, Mike Pence (R-IN) compared the decision to 9/11.

That kind of says it all about the GOP and where their heads are right now.

Since Keith is off the air, I will take it upon myself to name Mike Pence “today’s worst person in the world.”

Another Reason to Love Gawker!

Gawker announces its newest hire — The Fox Mole, “a long-standing, current employee of Fox News.”

From his (or her) first column:

“The video above is of Mitt Romney and Sean Hannity bantering before the taping of an interview for the “Hannity Vegas Forum” in February.  Of note:  Romney professes his and his wife Ann’s well-known love of horseriding, praising the qualities of the ‘Austrian Warmbloods’ that his wife rides — they are ‘dressage‘ horses, he notes — while maintaining his own preference for the ‘smoother gait’ of his own ‘Missouri foxtrotter.’

“Now there’s nothing wrong with Mitt and his wife loving horseback riding.  But remember this video next time Romney attacks Obama for golfing.  The inherent elitism and snootiness of golf is NOTHING compared to competitive horseback riding.  And I think Mitt loses points with the GOP base for his correct pronunciation of dressage.  To GOP-voter ears, it sounds not only gay, but even worse, French.”  Emphasis added.

Politico‘s Dylan Byers weighs in on The Fox Mole — “Should be fun, until they find out who it is.”

If you watched The Borgias on Sunday and saw the king’s torture chambers in Naples, I expect Fox News has something similar in their basement.  The Fox Mole is either very brave or very stupid or both.  I think it’s fair to say he will “never work in this town again” once Roger Ailes identifies his sorry ass.

I wish I could hear the back-and-forth between Mitt’s campaign and Fox about this leak.  The video also shows Mitt declining a pink tie in a fake gay voice.

All this story lacks is a loofah.

If you still had a show, Keith Olbermann, you could and would air this video tonight.

I Got That Lawsuit Part Right

Keith Olbermann has confirmed that he will be suing Al Gore and Joel Hyatt:  “It goes almost without saying that the claims against me implied in Current’s statement are untrue and will be proved so in the legal actions I will be filing against them presently.”

This should be fun!

Olbermann Fired (Again)

Keith Olbermann has been fired from Current TV for not honoring his five-year, $50 million contract.  This comes a little over a year after Olbermann left MSNBC under less than happy circumstances.

Eliot (Client #9) Spitzer is replacing him as of tonight, and the show is being re-named “Viewpoint with Eliot Spitzer” instead of Countdown.  Olbermann won’t have a chance to say goodbye.

I’m guessing there will be a lawsuit.  Current is owned by Al Gore and Joel Hyatt.

Olbermann is notoriously impossible to work with — he gives divas a bad name.

Olbermann v. Gore

So far Olbermann v. Gore seems to be going about as well for Al Gore, founder and president of Current TV, as Bush v. Gore did.

David Carr has an update at the NYT (“Barricaded Inside His Show”) about Keith Olbermann’s refusal to anchor the network’s election night coverage because he doesn’t believe Current is ready to do such coverage, given the technical problems it has been having with his show, Countdown:

“Mr. Olbermann did excellent on-air work for CNN, Fox, ESPN, and MSNBC, but that never stopped him from burning bridges faster than they could be built.

“Current TV executives are going through all kinds of gyrations to patch things together while at the same time expressing surprise that Mr. Olbermann is acting like, well, Mr. Olbermann.

“Mr. Olbermann’s contractual rights at Current TV are significant — he has control over the content of his show and his lawyers have argued that the channel has no right to pre-empt it for special election coverage — and management has very little leverage over him.  So the channel is left to check his Twitter updates for indications of his mood, which is usually not very good.”  Emphasis added.

Dick Morris Is a Big Fat Pot Calling the Kettle Black

I got a mass email today from creepy, prostitute-hiring Fox News analyst Dick Morris that said in part, “Obama and the Democrats are famous for creating issues that don’t exist.”

Republicans, of course, never do anything like that.  They wouldn’t, say, call the Islamic Center at the old Burlington Coat Factory the “Ground Zero Mosque.”  They wouldn’t raise fears about “death panels” that are as real as unicorns.  They wouldn’t make a huge stink about the president’s birth certificate.   They wouldn’t have a clueless presidential candidate like Michele Bachmann, who thinks the Gardasil vaccine causes mental retardation.   They wouldn’t have a crazy presidential candidate like Ron Paul, who thinks the fence along the Mexican border will be used to keep Americans from going to Mexico.

Dick Morris, if not today’s Worst Person in the World, certainly the least self-aware.