Hypocrisy: Hume vs. Olbermann

Fox's Brit Hume was accused of "smearing" John Murtha in his commentary on Sunday morning.

That sound bite from John Murtha suggests that it’s time a few things be said about him. Even the “Washington Post” noted he didn’t seem particularly well informed about what’s going on over there, to say the least. Look, this man has tremendous cachet among House Democrats, but he is not — this guy is long past the day when he had anything but the foggiest awareness of what the heck is going on in the world. And that sound bite is naivete writ large, and the man is an absolute fountain of such talk, and the fact that he has ascended to the position he has in the eyes of the Democrats in the House and perhaps Democrats around the country tells you a lot about how much they know or care about what’s really going on over there.

On the left side of the blogosphere, ThinkProgress unleashed a crescendo of complaints against Hume, claiming he had "smeared" Murtha. TP did not, however, describe the remarks made by Murtha that prompted Hume's assertions.


In fact, Murtha said:

REP. JOHN P. MURTHA, D-PA.: People tend to say well, if we leave, there's going to be chaos. I don't believe that. Seventy- eight percent of the Iraqis say that's not going to happen. Seventy- eight percent of the Iraqis say it will be -- we're the ones that are causing this, and Al Qaida is going to be -- Al Qaida's going to disappear.

Al Qaida's going to disappear? To call Murtha's predictions "dotty," as Hume later did, is being kind.

I find it ironic, as well, that TP condemns Hume for his relatively mild rebuke. Let's compare and contrast, shall we?


Media Research Center advises us that Keith Olbermann is joining the staff of NBC Nightly News. Olbermann will be offering "occasional essays" that are certain to display the political balance for which he and NBC are famous.


Olbermann has called President Bush a "compulsive liar" and has accused him of "impeachable" offenses after forgetting "the lessons of 9/11." He has labeled SecDef Rumsfeld a "quack" who advocates "fascism." And he claims that conservatives might intentionally "provoke potential terrorists" in an effort to maintain "influence and control of the presidency."


Olbermann called Fox's Chris Wallace, "a monkey posing as a newscaster" and accused Rush Limbaugh of "following the logic and ethics of Osama Bin Laden."


By a margin of 8 to 1, Olbermann has targeted conservatives for his "Worst in the World!" segments.


Cheering on terrorists, Olbermann has stated that, "this country has already lost in Iraq" and "fomented new terrorism," "stoked paranoia," and "pitted Americans one against another." He claimed that troops were sent to Iraq for the president's "lie" (originally) and for his "ego" (now).


Olbermann has also entertained debate on whether Bush is the "worst ever" president, noting that the current White House is a "textbook case of authoritarianism."


After comparing Newt Gingrich's comments on free speech and anti-terrorism measures to those of Nazis, Olbermann refered to Gingrich using terms such "fascism," "barbarism" and "delusions of grandeur."


Just before the 2006 election, Olbermann accused the GOP of terrorist activities, asserting that the president and the Republicans were committing the "dictionary definition" of terrorism in attempting to scare Americans." Olbermann claimed that "the leading terrorist group in this country right now is the Republican Party."


In October, Olbermann suggested that Bush was as significant a "threat" to America as "terrorists." He further claimed that the administration had, "imposed subjugation and called it freedom," accused President Bush of "lies," and announced, addressing Bush personally, that "the threat this generation of Americans needed to take seriously was you."


In another October commentary, which ran eleven minutes, Olbermann stated that, "A President who comes across as a compulsive liar is nothing less than terrifying."


As an aside, this is but a small sampling of Olbermann's sense of balance and fairness. Visit Media Research Center for a more complete list of Olbermann quotes.


Placing a virulent partisan like Olbermann on the NBC Nightly News is like spiking a bottle of moonshine. And it demonstrates that NBC is comfortable discussing both sides of each issue: the progressive side and the liberal side.

And for Think Progress to complain about Brit Hume's comments in light of Olbermann's excretions is the height of hypocrisy. Somehow, I'm not in the least surprised.


Oven-baked good readin', just like Mama used to make:
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