Howard Kurtz got right to the point in a "Media Backtalk" online discussion this afternoon on WashingtonPost.com and explained the logic--such as it is--behind Keith Olbermann's nightly histrionics on MSNBC:

SYRACUSE, N.Y.: Hi Howard-As a semi-regular viewer of "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" I've seen his tirades on Bill O'Reilly in the past but his undressing of "Bill O" last Thursday was stunning. Olbermann has always used Bill O as a foil for his clever writing but this time it seems like he took the gloves off. Do you detect a new shift in Countdown from tongue in cheek to crusader against Fox/O'Reilly?

HOWARD KURTZ: I didn't see the latest missive, but as Olbermann told me when I interviewed him a couple of months ago, the "feud" with O'Reilly has been a publicity gold mine for him. After all, O'Reilly draws an audience several times larger than Olbermann at 8 pm eastern, so anything that Keith can do to draw O'Reilly into a public exchange has the effect of increasing Olbermann's visibility. Plus, given that "Countdown" has an increasingly liberal and anti-Bush bent, the shtick undoubtedly plays well with Olbermann's audience.

And lest we lose sight of the original crime against journalism that is "Countdown" itself, check out Johnny Dollar's latest Olbermann Watch guest post on "The Man Tan Man's" Friday night shtick...

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