Olbermann on Letterman with bonus Dirty Laundry

For the first time since Keith was fired from Current TV, he gives his side of the story.




I have three things to say about this clip. First, Keith is not helping his case. This clip only adds to the impression that he's egotistical and shifting blame to his former employers.* Second, "Better watch now, because things could go wrong in a hurry." Letterman's writers got that one right! Finally, this is a preview clip of tonight's show. Those of you in the Central through Hawaiian-Aleutian time zones can still watch this "live." When the full show becomes available on CBS's site, I'll add the link.

ETA: Show's been posted.  If that doesn't play,or is too long for your taste, there's a more complete clip of Keith.  Let's see if it embeds.



Looks like it does.

As for sticking to the April theme of song lyrics as poetry, I present Robin Meade of CNN/HLN singing Don Henley's "Dirty Laundry."




I don't know whether to laugh or facepalm at her choice of a debut single. As the song's Wikipedia entry states:

The song is about the callousness (and callowness) of TV news reporting as well as the tabloidization of all news. Henley sings from the standpoint of a news anchorman who "could have been an actor, but I wound up here", and thus is not a real journalist. The song's theme is that TV news coverage focuses too much on negative and sensationalist news; in particular, deaths, disasters, and scandals, with little regard to the consequences or for what is important ("We all know that crap is king"). The song was inspired by the intrusive press coverage surrounding the deaths of John Belushi and Natalie Wood, and Henley's own arrest in 1981... Lines in the second verse, "Is the head dead yet?", were likely inspired by the shooting of President Ronald Reagan in 1981.

I don't know about Robin, but Keith would probably object to being associated with such a song, as he at least attempted to cover serious and underreported stories, even if he presented them with his own particular brand of snarky senstionalism. However, he'd probably agree with who would be the most appropriate target of it.

In the Eagles' Farewell 1 Tour-Live from Melbourne concert DVD, Henley (speaking for the band) dedicated this song "to Mr. Rupert Murdoch"; in many live performances, this dedication remains but is sometimes changed "to Mr. Bill O'Reilly".

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to "The Worst Persons in the World!"

*Countdown's TVTropes page already references the precursor of this fauxpology on Twitter--"I'd like to apologize to my viewers and my staff for the failure of Current TV"--as an example of a Backhanded Apology. That trope appeared on the show's page after he was fired; it wasn't there before.