| | Olbermann: McCain would 'rather win than catch bin Laden'
 In a Special Comment on the eve of September 11th, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann blasted the Republican Party for its reduction of 9/11 to "a Republican campaign slogan" and Senator John McCain in particular for using terrorism to "blackmail" the American people.
"This is supposed to be a day of remembrance," Olbermann began. "Instead, 9/11 has become a brand name -- a Republican campaign slogan, propaganda of the lowest form. 9/11 has became a trademark logo."
"911(TM) has made possible the greatest slight-of-hand in our nation's history," he continued. "The political party in office at the time of the attacks ... and the presidential administration already through 20% of its first term ... have thus far not only escaped any blame for the malfeasance and criminal neglect which allowed the attacks to occur, but ... have managed to make it seem as if the other political party would be solely and irredeemably responsible for any similar catastrophe in the future."
Olbermann particularly blasted the so-called 9/11 tribute shown at the Republican convention, saying, "What we got was not a tribute to the dead of 9/11, or even a tribute to the responders, or the singularity of purpose we all felt. The Republicans instead gave us sociological pornography, a virtual snuff film."
"Years ago," Olbermann continued, "responsible television networks.... voluntarily stopped showing the most graphic of the images of the World Trade Center, except with the strongest of warnings. And yet the Republicans at their convention, having virtually seized control of the cable news operations, showed the worst of it."
"It was terrifying," Olbermann commented. "After all, its object was to terrify. Not to commemorate, not to call for unity, not to remember the dead, but to terrify. To open again the horrible wounds. To brand the skin of this nation with the message, as hateful as the terrorists' own, that you must vote Republican or this will happen again and you will die."
It should be noted, however, that MSNBC re-ran its entire coverage from the morning of 9/11 on last year's anniversary of the events.
Olbermann then turned his attention to John McCain, saying, "That manipulative videotape from your convention should tar you always in the minds of decent Americans. ... but the senator has done worse with 9/11 and the evil behind it."
He quoted a statement by McCain -- one of many similar claims -- that "I know how to improve our capabilities so that we will capture Osama Bin Laden ... I know how to do it."
"Senator McCain seems to be quite serious that he and he alone ... can capture Bin Laden," suggested Olbermann. "Thus we must take him at his word that this is no mere ludicrous campaign boast. We must assume Senator McCain truly believes he is capable of doing this and has been capable of doing this.
"Well, then Senator," Olbermann continued, "you'd better go and do it, hadn't you? If you have had a means of capturing Osama Bin Laden and you do not immediately inform some responsible authority of the full scope of that plan, you are ... aiding and abetting Osama Bin Laden."
Olbermann went on to charge that, "You, sir, are blackmailing some portion of the American electorate into voting for your party by promising to help in the capture of Bin Laden only if you are made president. ... 'I'd rather win an election than catch Bin Laden.' No more cynical calculation has ever been made in this nation's history."
"You have shown that it is John McCain first and the country last," concluded Olbermann. "Terrorists are not what you, John McCain, fight. Terrorists are what you, John McCain use."
One blogger who describes himself as an Olbermann fan, however, felt that Olbermann had overreached in his twisting of McCain's words. "How is this different than any other campaign boast?" wrote Hank Kalet, managing editor of the South Brunswick Post. "He's not saying he has a secret plan, but that he has the know-how, the temperment and the commitment to find and capture the elusive Bin Laden. I think he's full of you know what, but that's not the point. Olbermann in tonight's special comment unfortunately crashes on the shoals of logic and partisanism, playing loose with McCain's words in nearly the same way as he accuses -- rightly -- Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity of doing."
This video is from MSNBC's Countdown, broadcast September 10, 2008.
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