Keith Olbermann’s Countdown premiered on Current TV Monday night, and with it came some of the expected ego-stroking and rival-pecking that was expected from previews. His first guest was ultraliberal propagandist Michael Moore, who chatted with Olbermann about Obama’s decision to enter Libya without getting Congress’s clearance first. Then there was a segment on the way that conservative radio hosts like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh sell their editorial airtime to the highest bidder, which Olbermann’s producers bolstered with embarrassing footage of the pair shilling for sponsors. And of course, there was a series of “Worst Persons,” which culminated in everybody’s favorite well-educated train combatant.
The Washington Post’s Hank Stuever noted with a raised eyebrow that all of Olbermann’s guests were men. The last of them was Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas, who dropped in to throw some darts in Joe Scarborough’s direction. “I got in a little Twitter war with him, and apparently I made him cry,” Moulitsas mewled to Olbermann. “He decided I would not be allowed on MSNBC until I apologized. I found it bizarre that the lowest-rated morning-show host in cable news was dictating the guest list on the only show on cable that cracked Fox News’s stronghold on the top ten — yours.” Then there’s Olbermann’s sign-out: “Thank you for helping us preserve freedom of news.”
(For what it’s worth, Morning Joe is not the lowest-rated morning show in cable news — it routinely trounces CNN’s American Morning, leaves CNBC’s Squawk Box in the dust, and often beats HLN’s popular Morning Express with Robin Meade. But, you know, making stuff up is cool, too.)
