I felt today like an old friend had died suddenly, I really did.

For the past few years, no matter what was going on in politics or my life, watching Keith on MSNBC at 8PM was a way to end the day with a laugh, and as long as he was there, I knew there was hope we could stem the Right wing horde. I could wake up in the middle of the night, and if I missed the first showing, he was there. Sure, lots of tremendous talent still there. Maybe he was fired, maybe he saw the handwriting on the wall. I needed today to reflect, and nt read the media or DU hoping it was temporary.

But my friend is gone. My friend is gone.

Buyouts generally include some type of non-compete clause sp he can't bring his talents to a rival right away. We may not see him until 2012.

to decide HOW he'll come back. This might be one of those instances when one looks back and realizes "it's the best thing that could have happened". IMO, anyhoo. :7

:hug:

:cry:

And Limboland has nothing to do with that fat ass excuse for a human who owns EIB

reason he will be back on some sort of media, but in the meantime those who should be off the air aren't.

Monday night and all next week will be rough going.

not even hiding their disdain for those of us who are sad to see him go.

I love KO

I feel like it's a death in the family. He will be gone for a year or so.

The worst part of it is how it was done. Like a thumb in the eye to the viewers.

I believe the message was to each of US, not just to Keith. NBC said exactly what it thinks of you and of me, goddam liberals.

I'm alarmed that another liberal voice is muzzled, but more alarmed that DUers are more upset about losing a show than they seem to be about the greater implications of media consolodation. If you want to make a difference, start with fixing the media...oh, but you'll have to organize and take action to do that.

:shrug:

Don't start pointing fingers at others here whose efforts you know nothing about. Many here have been working to fight this further media consolidation. Al Franken was about the only Senator on our side. Snide comments that imply we are all just sitting here on our asses complaining and too clueless to organize and take action are really unnecessary, unwelcome and wrong.

the rest of us will be happy to join in. Give us a start plan because I'm clueless, we need someone with a plan. :thumbsup:

1). The Fairness Doctrine be reinstated

2). That Citizens United be overturned (start by removing the compromised Thomas and Scalia from the SCOTUS).

3). Demand real campaign finance reform.

4). Break up the media monopolies.


Start by making them pay attention. Blockade the roads around all media headquarters and TV stations with very slow moving traffic; absurd amounts of congestion, so that no one gets to work on time. Flood reps offices with HARD COPY letters demanding the change that's needed to save our democracy. If they don't listen, then a peaceful highway "sit in' around D.C should get their attention. It worked in France.

KO is a professional commentator. That's his job, and he'll find another place to do it, just as Bill Maher did. He's not the core issue here; the Right Wing's iron hold on our media is...and the root issue their goes back to corporate money in politics, monopolies, and the lack of media regulation that the Fairness doctrine once offered.

and derision-filled earlier posting. You really ought to apologize for that.

Had you done so, this posting would have gotten some productive discussion going. Instead... just hard feelings. I really think you are better than that. :shrug:

personally. I find the sentiment that they are "friends" very disturbing. There's a huge difference between being a person's friend and being their fan. And I'm not a huge fan of opinion TV. I miss the days when news was delivered straight with an effort to NOT spin it in any way, shape or form. We were required to make up our own minds on the issues back then. TV doesn't offer any reality anymore; it's a distraction and a propaganda tool, nothing more.

The Fairness Doctrine is really important to have, awful that it was ever done away with. Of course everything on the list is important and would make so much difference. :thumbsup:

Loved your post.

congress with complaints for allowing this to happen, as well as for allowing thinly-veiled calls for violence by Fixed News hacks.

DUers who don't share the same affection for KO shouldn't dictate to others how to grieve such a huge loss in what little liberal media there is. In my home, it has been a habit of ours to watch KO every night as we ate our evening meal for 8 years.

If you don't feel a loss, the least you could do is say nothing.

also, this go out and do something crap is crap. do what? we are every bit as aware as anyone else why this happened and what needs to be done. but we also feel AWFUL about it and I don't apologize to anyone. I hear ya, Dainbramaged.

It's hardwired, so to speak. It's how our brain/psyche systems work.

someone suggests something that needs to be done. Put them in charge of doing it.

So now, I and a lot of other DUers are putting you, Lorien in charge of organizing and taking action to fix the media.

It's you who need to organize. Don't point the finger at others.

meh

:eyes:

And most of the tribe freaks out?

Yeah... felt a lot like that.

:shrug:

:hi:

For all too brief a period, we had equal footing on the airwaves (but not equal time, of course).... and far better spokespersons.

I really fear that this is a sea change at MSNBC and we will see the progressives fall one by one. I think there is a corporate strategy to stifle liberal and progressive points of view in this country. I also fear the internet(s) are next.

DU'ers personally did huge postings and pumps and contacts to urge MSNBC to put Keith on the air.

It's sad to see what has happened now. All that work during the Bush years trying to BUILD a voice for Democratic Media...and now...it seems to be coming down around us...

I think it started when Rahm called us "Fucking Retards." It started to go downhill from there.

Feeling very depressed.

He was a multi-millionaire pitching to a particularly-underserved demographic for ratings. He is a businessman and a broadcast professional making financial decisions, not a hero or a a knightly champion bravely fighting off the Republican tide.

There are some people whose lives were or may have been saved because of the millions raised by Olbermann for the health care clinics. There were people whose lives were forever altered by corporations or individuals being forced to right wrongs they made against others, many times, due to the Worst Persons segment and interviews that shone light on stories being ignored else where. I imagine Keith would be the first to affirm much of what you say and would reject as hyperbolic superlative the label of 'hero,' but I think those people would beg to differ with you on that point.

across the country for people who couldn't afford healthcare for merely attention or because he cared that not everyone as sick as his dying father could afford the same good care?

If you don't care about losing Keith's show, why say anything negative???

take your cynicism to another thread. there are people who got health care and people with heart trouble who would argue to hell and back about what you said.

....until I read your profile.

news as entertainment?

watch. can't people miss that and feel sad about not being able to tune into something they looked forward to everyday ?

If people have nothing better to do that make snarky comments about over-reacting, then all I can say is take yr unrecs and yr bad vibes and when you wake up tomorrow and find the entire world has changed coz Keith is gone and there's a hole in yr heart that can never heal, don't come crawling to me expecting me to steer you through this scary, new world where there's no Keith and no way of finding out anything that liberals need to know. Now excuse me while I go and start a silent thread of virtual candlelighting to remember our Keith with!

But, you'd have to have been there to know that.

and a businessman, they can't speak truth to power? And they can't be a hero?

And as someone who worked for ABC in the dark days of 2003-2004 when the Iraq War broke out, I can tell you that the prevailing wisdom in media those days was to pander to the right wing. That's where everybody believed the money and the fame was. For Keith to buck that trend took a lot of courage, more than you will ever understand.

The stream lasted a week and it was like old times. This was after the shooting in Tuscon and gave me comfort. Our info blankie is gone.

But, hey if CONAN O'BRIEN can end up landing on his feet, so will Keith. He may land something better. I think the days of MSNBC "leaning forward" will soon be replaced with "leaning to the right". We maybe feeling the same as COMCAST takes the network in a new direction, and people like Ed Schultz, Rachel Maddow and others slowly disappear.

On our shittiest days, I knew I could turn on his program and hear a lone voice giving words and definition to my feelings.

When you live in red state hell, where on some days you hate your idiot neighbors, going through a major health crisis - his show was a both a heart balm and a sanity check.

I watched him many, many times from my son's hospital room.

Fuck those cynics who would discount his impact.

I watched him from the very beginning - when he was the ONLY one saying all the things that needed to be said.

It's a huge loss.

You haven't lived until you've experienced being a white liberal in a southern state.

Comfort is what Keith brought to me by validating my feelings and political leanings by the words he spoke and the manner in which he presented them. I remember during the W. Bush years when Keith uttered one of his blistering commentaries, people on this board, myself included, moaned that "he (Keith) had done it now; gone too far and for certain, MSNBC would fire him." But they didn't, ... until now.

Yeah, I feel like I've lost a friend, too.

:puke:

He has a large enough following to start his own media empire like Arianna Huffington or Al Gore.

Anyone who has Comcast as a provider should DROP them and so so NOW!

Keith gave us hope when there was no other voice on network TV that did.
I recall his first special comment, and playing it over and over..

And a number of others where he took a stand, and no one else on TV did.

He's a television personality. Get over it already.

Silliness. KO wouldn't piss on any of you if you were on fire.

meh.................

Totally uncaring and unnessesary.

of sanity...I'd have to turn up my small bedroom teevee to hear over the faux news channel in the next room but that was ok because at least I KNEW what was going on. Believe me the others don't have a clue. K&R

It will take me a while to adjust to that empty spot in my day.