Has the Daily Kos community soured on Keith Olbermann?


keith olbermann daily kosA survey found that 65% of Daily Kos’ discussion of a recent Olbermann segment is negative.

Last week, Fox News’ Sean Hannity made an off-the-cuff offer to partake in waterboarding for charity, an announcement that MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann met with his own charity offer.

“For every second you last, a thousand dollars — live or on tape, provided other networks’ cameras are there,” the MSNBC anchor said. “A thousand dollars a second, Sean, because this is no game. This is serious stuff. Put your money where your mouth is, and your nose. Oh, and I’ll double it when you admit you feared for your life, when you admit the horrible truth — waterboarding, the symbol of the last administration, is torture.”

Over the past few years, members of the liberal blogosphere have been among Olbermann’s most ardent supporters, perhaps none more so than the diarists at Daily Kos. During every show of his the community hosts an “open thread” and Olbermann himself often blogs at the liberal site.

But the negative response the Kos community had for this Olbermann segment and others indicates a certain level of animosity is growing towards the MSNBC host. As of this writing, Olbermann’s charity offer has spawned nine diary posts and nearly 1,400 comments at Daily Kos. I surveyed a sizable percentage of these comments and found that approximately 65% of the discussion of Olbermann is negative. About 30% of the comments are positive, while the remaining 5% is neutral.

“Someone should ask Olbermann why he would want to inflict any such treatment on any other living human,” one commenter wrote. “And, if what he is proposing comes up short of what we did with our ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ what’s to be gained by giving Hannity any attention.”

Much of the negative coverage followed in this vein, while Olbermann supporters said that the anchor’s offer was a good idea, one that would finally teach Hannity that waterboarding constitutes torture.

“I disagree,” one person wrote. “This is co-opting Hannity’s stunt. I think Hannity is now in a losing position. Either he backs out, or Olbermann makes some actual good come out of Fox News.”

This isn’t the first indication that the Daily Kos community has soured on Olbermann. When CNBC’s Jim Cramer appeared on the Daily Show — an appearance that many considered an embarrassment to CNBC and its parent company — the Kos community harshly criticized Olbermann for not highlighting the interview on his show. Many accused him of bowing down to alleged demands that MSNBC anchors not mention the Cramer/Stewart interview. Olbermann himself showed up in the comment threads to defend himself from these charges.

But if this is a sign that the Kossacks have turned on Olbermann, who will take his place in the cable news lineup as the liberal blogosphere’s darling? Both Rachel Maddow and (ironically) FNC’s Sheppard Smith have been getting favorable coverage from Daily Kos in recent months. Might one of them become the blog’s newest champion?

Simon Owens is a media journalist and social media consultant. Email him at simon.bloggasm@gmail.com or read more of his writing at his blog


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8 Comments Leave a comment

intresting diary

dave_in_atl (Diary) Friday, May 1st at 12:06PM EST (link)

Don’t know what to make of the Kos kids, they are and will always be idiots though so I don’t really care what they think.

I do think Hannity should take Olberman on his offer take his money and immediately after being water-boarded explain how its not torture. I think after such an event the left will never be able to get traction on what they call “torture”.

Sheppard Smith, Olberman, and Rachel Maddow are the worst kinds of Americans…. Traitors to our way of life. FOX should know better and fire Smith immediately after those comments he made on the air.

Missing tag-I'll try to fix

civil truth (Diary) Friday, May 1st at 12:13PM EST (link)

test 1 test2 test 3

The greatest evil…is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the offices of a thoroughly nasty business concern. -C.S. Lewis

http://www.gmsplace.com/

 
 

simonowens - you've need to close your html italics tag

civil truth (Diary) Friday, May 1st at 12:17PM EST (link)

To edit, got to “Create New Diary Entry” and then click on “Manage” at the top. This will bring up you diary list. Click on this title and then you can edit.

The greatest evil…is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the offices of a thoroughly nasty business concern. -C.S. Lewis

http://www.gmsplace.com/

 

Ed Schultz will probably be the new angry whiner. nt

Common_Cents (Diary) Friday, May 1st at 12:21PM EST (link)

Early on in the radio days he was hailed as the left’s answer to Rush Limbaugh. LOL

Obama=Golfer in Chief, Leading from, behind, the Back Nine.
Leaders don’t create movements. Movements create leaders. Get involved. Your future depends on it.
Govt “invests” YOUR tax money for POLITICAL return rather than economic return.

 

this may be blogspam

dave_in_atl (Diary) Friday, May 1st at 12:28PM EST (link)

I don’t like to make accusations against people without proof, but this seems more like blog spam on further inspection.

Not only has he used this post to advertise his own blog, but he has not fixed the diary on request, and he has posted this same diary word for word on dailykos.

cross posting

simonowens (Diary) Friday, May 1st at 12:31PM EST (link)

As for crossposting, that is a common occurrence with diaries. I’ve seen many people on Redstate and other similar diary sites cross post content from their own blogs.

As for fixing the html tag, I just posted this a few minutes ago, give me the benefit of the doubt here.

 
 

Kos Needs This

Lee Hempfling (Diary) Friday, May 1st at 7:06PM EST (link)

Progressives are known for eating their own. Oh, sorry no pun intended. Really! Not one! Ah… Without Bush, they need to carve out one of their own to feel superior to. The Kossacks are not the worst at it. Democratic Underground is by far the funniest example out there.

http://www.rollovermartin.com Excerpt of Chapter One and the full synopsis of the true story currently in a Federal Secret Court.

 

It's Not Ironic That Shep Smith Is Getting Kudos From Kos

IJB Friday, May 1st at 9:22PM EST (link)

There’s a reason Shep Smith is my #1 choice as to who I’d like to see fired from FNC.