Olbermann Comes Out Swinging

The ratings aren't out yet, but it's a fair bet that many people tuned in to MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann to see how he'd would respond to The New York Times report that the heads of General Electric and News Corporation brokered a cease fire between the anchor and Fox News' Bill O'Reilly.

Did Olbermann play nice?

Of course not!

Olbermann devoted the whole of his signature "Worst Person" segment to The Times story, naming its author, Brian Stelter, third worst person in the world, Bill O'Reilly the second worst, and News Corp chief Rupert Murdoch the absolute worst person in the world. (Last night anyway.) Stelter, who's a downy 23-years-old (so young, and yet so "worst"!), looked extra innocent beside the headshots of O'Reilly and Murdoch.

Also in Olbermann news, the show has ended its relationship with former Newsweek writer-turned-lobbyist Richard Wolffe, who became something close to collateral damage when Salon's Glenn Greenwald dug deeper into Stelter's story. Wolffe, who guest hosted Countdown one night last week while Olbermann was on vacation, left Newsweek for Public Strategies, Inc., a D.C.-based corporate communications firm. Wrote Greenwald, "Wolffe's role in life is to advance the P.R. interests of the corporations that pay him, including corporations with substantial interests in virtually every political issue that MSNBC and Countdown cover." (Wolffe was such a fixture on Countdown he was portrayed in a Saturday Night Live satire of the show featuring Ben Affleck as Olbermann.)

Olbermann explained the Wolffe dismissal in a post on the progressive Web site DailyKos: "I am confident his commentary to this point has not been compromised - he has been an insightful analyst and a great friend to this show - but until we can clarify what else he is doing, he will not be appearing with us. I apologize for not being able to prevent this unhappy set of circumstances from developing."