That's Olby above, holding forth yesterday on "worst persons in the world" for the online "Fok News Channel," which he is using to kill time till he gets his Current TV show off the ground. From that smallbore perch, Olbermann declared Fox's Jennifer Griffin and Glenn Beck to be two of his "worst persons." OK, no surprise there; even though Olbermann was fired by MSNBC, he still carries on sectarian media grudges--probably for life. Yet the third choice for "worst person" was a bit more interesting: Franklin Graham, the evangelist/humanitarian son of Billy Graham. Franklin has made controversial--some would say accurate, some would say inflammatory--comments about Muslims and Sharia law, which obviously Olbermann doesn't like. And so that led Olby to slam Franklin.
But what's really interesting is that Olbermann used his attack on Franklin to segue into attacks on Billy. As Olbermann put it, "Franklin Graham . . . has continued his father Billy's divisiveness, condescension, fear-mongering, and cash in easy-to-carry packets."
Billy Graham, of course, is one of the most respected and admired figures in America; for no fewer than 54 years, Graham has been listed on the Gallup Poll's "ten most admired Americans" listing. Having changed the lives of tens of millions--maybe even hundreds of millions--around the world, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan in 1983.
But Olbemann didn't stop there in his attacks on Billy Graham. He hauled out a story from 40 years ago, in which one baseball player allegedly told another baseball player, "Billy Graham is a cracker." Wow. That's some "evidence" that Olbermann mustered up: hearsay from nearly a half-century ago. Forty years ago, or thirty years ago, or twenty years ago, or ten years ago--or yesterday on "Fok"--somebody was calling somebody else a name. And not a nice name. "Cracker" does not have the intensity of other words, such as the "n" word, or the "t" word that Bill Maher used on Sarah Palin, but it's plenty nasty. And yet of course, all those "sensitive" liberals and "human rights and justice" leftists will never complain about Olbermann attacking whites.
And in case anybody missed Olbermann's furious determination to defame Billy Graham and the Graham family even further, he added, in closing, that Franklin was "even dumber and more racist" than Billy.
A final interesting point about how the media pick up on certain news items and not on other news items: Olbermann's video aired yesterday, but nobody in the MSM seems to have picked up on Olbermann's crazed attacks on Billy Graham, the American legend. Politico reported on the video, noting all three names on Olbermann's "worst persons" list, but didn't mention the attack on Billy Graham. And the MSM-ish blogs barely mentioned the attack on Billy. The Business Insider gave the video cursory treatment, again not mentioning the Billy Graham attack, focusing on Olby's attack on Beck. Mediaite mentioned the hatcheting of Billy Graham in passing, but focused, too, more on Beck.
The Cable Gamer is not surprised by this ignoring of Olby's absurd attack on a revered and admired American. Most of the NYC-to-DC types don't really care about Billy Graham, one way or another. In their Gawker-ish "rage of the creative underclass" urban environment, the hispsters and trendwatchers are much more interested in media doings in their own little echo chamber, and so even a vitriolic ad hominem attack on a great American goes by without comment. (Olbermann would have gotten a trillion times more reaction had he attacked, say, Jon Stewart or Lady Gaga, that is, somebody that insider-types care about.)
So instead, Manhattan-based Olbermann is free to attack people who live outside of NYC and DC all he wants, and nobody cares. Except, of course, for millions and billions of people around the world who revere Billy Graham, and for those everywhere who care about civility and fair play. It's those salt-of-the-earth folks that need to be alerted to Olby's vile words.
All those people should speak up, and ask Olbermann why he is saying what he is saying. Who doubts, after all, that he will defame more Christians in the future? And then the upholders of family values and the Christian faith should ask Al Gore and Joel Hyatt and all the other financial machers who are backing Olbermann--"Why are you doing this? Why are you paying Olbermann to defame American heroes?"
And of course, any and all advertisers should be put on notice: Any network that puts Olbermann on the air is an enemy of American values and should be boycotted. Not just the Olbermann show, but boycotted across the board. In the event of such as boycott, maybe George Soros will step in and simply write a check to make up the difference, but no company seeking the favor of Middle America should be allowed to get away with giving financial support to any Olbermann endeavor.
A final point: Olbermann might be a crank and a crackpot, but he's a well-heeled crank-and-crackpot; he made many millions at MSNBC, and presumably kept some of it. So The Cable Gamer wonders if that's his home in the screen-grab above, high over Manhattan. What better place for him to attack Christians and the rest of America, the people Olby obviously looks down on with sneering contempt?
