Finkelblog nails it: Keith Olbermann's sees it as his duty to cover for Barack Obama and his gaffes. After Obama cracked on the disabled--a crack that led even hardcore Democrat Maria Shriver to protest--Olbermann Freudian-slipped as he played damage control, saying, “What do we do–what does he do, about that?"
As far as The Cable Gamer can tell, the first blogger to pick up on Olbermann's comment was Jennifer Rubin, a blogger for Contentions, the Commentary magazine blogsite. As Rubin put it:
Definitely not comedy gold: Obama insults the disabled on the Tonight Show. When it rains it pours.
Keith Olbermann worries what “we” should do about it. Hmm, nothing like that ferocious independent media.
But it was another blogger, Mark Finkelstein, who used to be at Newsbusters, but is apparently now an indy, who put the best spin on Olby's words:
Does Keith Olbermann see himself as some sort of Junior Assistant to White House press secretary Robert Gibbs? Over at Contentions, Jennifer Rubin has noted that in discussing the Obama “Special Olympics” comment, the Countdown host asked a guest “what do we do–what does he do, about that?” Translation: how do “we” repair the damage?
And obviously, at MSNBC, sister network to NBC, there is insider-trading. As Finkelstein further noted:
By the way, Olbermann scooped his own network on the gaffe. “Tonight” had already been taped by the time Olbermann went on the air at 8 PM EDT last night, and as you’ll see from the YouTube, he had somehow gotten an advance look and rough transcript of the show.
