How Keith Olbermann Stays Objective (No, Really)

What an odd man Keith Olbermann is. The Countdown host -- who just signed a new contract that will keep him at MSNBC through 2012 and nearly double his current $4 million-a-year salary -- was on The View today, where he reiterated a position he first took in 2004 that maybe, kinda made a little sense at the time but makes absolutely none now: He doesn't vote.

"It's a symbolic gesture," he told Joy Behar. "It's the only thing I can do that suggests even that I don't have a horse in the race."

Now, there's nothing inherently wrong with a journalist who, like former Washington Post editor Len Downie, refrains from voting, although people love to ridicule them for it. As I've noted before, it's simply neurological fact that voting for a candidate will make you more likely to interpret that candidate's actions favorably.

But Olbermann isn't running a newsroom like Downie. He's a commentator, one so voluble and persuasive he's managed to pull an entire network to the left with him. Four years ago, perhaps, he could say, somewhat plausibly, "I have no more interest in the political outcome of an election than I did in the winner or loser of any ballgame I ever covered."

But that was before he started doing passionate "Special Comments" with titles like "Bush: Pathological liar or idiot-in-chief?" and "Senator, Grow Up!" Under these circumstances, declining to vote in order to safeguard one's objectivity is a little like sprinkling water on a fire with one hand while using the other to pour gasoline on it.

I asked an MSNBC spokesman whether Olbermann contributes to political campaigns or is registered with either party. The spokesman said he has done neither in many years, if ever. He also forwarded a statement from Olbermann:

I haven't been particularly clear in expressing myself on what the "symbolism" is. I know it's very idiosyncratic, but I would feel just a little hesitation, just a little drag on the airflow, if I went to criticize somebody, especially a president, for whom I had voted. It is driven by the same thing that used to make me keep my distance from the athletes I covered. I don't want anything, even that tiny bit of symbolic connection, to stand in between me and my responsibility to be analytical and critical.

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