Dana Milbank quits Olbermann over disputed Obama quote
In a column that ran in the Washington Post last week, reporter Dana Milbank accused Barack Obama of "hubris" for having allegedly told a private gathering of members of the House of Representatives, "This is the moment ... that the world is waiting for. ... I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions."
Several Congressional aides quickly challenged Milbank's version of the quote, insisting that he had omitted a crucial transition and that Obama had really said, far more modestly, that the enthusiasm which has met him "is not about me at all. It's about America. I have just become a symbol."
The gathering excluded reporters and was not recorded, so there has been no ready way of resolving the argument. It has now spilled over to involve MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, on whose program Milbank has been a frequent guest. Although Olbermann had not commented publicly on the dispute, he had seemingly been insisting behind the scenes that Milbank owes Obama some form of apology, leading to what is now an extremely public falling-out.
As Olbermann explained, first at Daily Kos and then on Monday's Countdown, Milbank "notified us today that after four years appearing with us, he had accepted another television offer. This saved your crack Countdown staff an increasingly difficult decision."
"For nearly a week we'd been waiting for him to offer a correction or an explanation for his column from last week in which he apparently reported an Obama quote without the full context that turned the meaning of the quote inside-out," Olbermann continued. "We had decided not to have Dana on this news hour again until this was cleared up, and sadly, after some very happy years, he's apparently chosen to make that cloud permanent."
The Politico reports that Milbank has already begun his new job with CNN, where he "appeared on Campbell's Brown 'CNN Election Center' last night, which happens to be the same time as Keith Olbermann's "'Countdown.'"
Olbermann's actions have so far received mixed reviews. One poster at Americablog wrote approvingly, "It's practically a first: A reporter is suffering the consequences for bad behavior. ... The way this town goes, however, there's always CNN or FOX for Milbank."
And a diarist at Daily Kos addressed Olbermann directly, saying, "I write to thank you for your Obamaesque send off of Dana Milbank. You did indeed set the record straight."
However, a poster at No Quarter, which is known for its frequent criticism of Obama, indignantly described Olbermann as both a communist and a Nazi, writing, "The arrogance. The perfidy. The cock of the walk puffed up rooster-ness of it all! On The Big Orange, Commissar Keith Olbermann decided to whet the appetites of his rabid, but dwindling, fan base by offering 'a little preview of an item on tonight’s Countdown' by ordering an EXECUTION. ... Dana finally woke up from his koolaid-induced stupor and called it like he saw it. And for this, the punishment was to be swift and sure from Herr Olbermann."
This video is from MSNBC's Countdown, broadcast August 4, 2008.
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