And in case you missed it, Maddow Friday night called for Olbermann's reinstatement. And as she whined her way through her what-he-did-was-wrong-but-Fox-is-worse-so-reinstate-him-now complaint, MSNBC came sharply into focus.
It's not high school with cable TV salaries, as one news executive once explained it to me trying to account for the adolescent behavior and attitudes of its hosts. No, it's a weird, little, liberal prep school. It's not very good academically, but it cost lots of money to get in. The editor of the literary magazine is Olbermann, and his protege is Maddow, the poetry editor. And now, the poetry editor is upset because Keith was suspended for breaking one of the school rules.
And she's so upset she's going to demand his immediate reinstatement. But what is she going to do if he is not reinstated? Nothing, because that would involve paying a price, however small, for her convictions. And if she walked off in protest, who would publish her self-absorbed, snarky poems?
Poor MSNBC President Phil Griffin, having to play headmaster to this crew of emotional 15-year-olds.
-- David Zurawik, "Free Keith: Watching MSNBC go off the rails" (Baltimore Sun).