How do you think Keith Olbermann is going to react to David Gregory the next time they see each other? After reading the headline above, which appeared in today's TV Newser.
"A high level source inside MSNBC" reports, you decide. Actually, TV Newser reported it, in great detail, and I am merely transcribing. But I will offer my own prediction in a moment.
But first, let's take a look at Steve Krakauer's TVN story:
MSNBC has bore [sic] the brunt of much of the criticism, from a candidate, a competitor, and many voices in between. Now, TVNewser speaks with a high level source inside MSNBC, who sheds light on some of the inside rumblings.
MSNBC has drawn criticism from pundits from both parties, other journalists and the White House, for the perceived, and often obvious, leftward shift of their lead political anchors Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann.
"Every Tuesday night Keith is up there as the face of NBC News. That's a problem," says our source. "[Tim] Russert is upset about it. Russert has spent 20 years building credibility. All of a sudden he's taking questions from Keith Olbermann, the Daily Kos blogger?"
The insider says Olbermann's election night partner has reservations as well: "Chris Matthews is quite pissed about it. He knows a lot about politics and he takes it seriously. He's so close to it that he's not that political. He's not an activist — Keith's an activist. That's the difference."
Now, of course, on-the-record MSNBC-ers dismissed this sniping. Here's more from Krakauer: "Asked for a response, an MSNBC spokesperson tells TVNewser, 'Your source is ill-informed and the assertions are laughable.'" And then later, MSNBC chief Phil Griffin, obviously alarmed by the story, and eager to do what he could to stamp it out, added this: "Whoever you're talking to knows nothing, it's that simple. MSNBC has offered the most interesting election coverage this season and the audience is responding. We're thrilled that Tim Russert chooses to be part of that coverage. If your source doesn't, they should leave."
Boy, are they mad over there at MSNBC! To see a staffer equate Olbermann to the left-of-left Daily Kos, pictured above, has to hurt. Oh sure, lefty viewers don't mind, but reporters care, and advertisers care. A lot.
And yet, interestingly, damaging as the story was to MSNBC, the suits at MS obviously respect Krakauer as a reporter--that's why they aren't claiming, as they could, that Krakauer simply made up his "blind" quotes. Which is to say, they must know that their network is honeycombed with Olbermann critics. One who has been "made," of course, is Gregory.
So we'll have to see what happens. But of course, the KO m.o. is to blow. That is, blow his stack; lose his cool.
Even a casual Cable Gamer can tell that he's obviously a deeply angry man, and this series of stories will only make him angrier. No doubt he will by now have marched into the office of Griffin, or NBC News chief Steve Capus, and demanded tough action. KO will say, most likely, that MSNBC could be doing more to shut these leaks down, or to try to intimidate TVN from printing such items. No doubt he will eventually say, "Either Gregory goes, or I go."
Because, you see, the Olbermann personality type can sure dish it out, but he can't take it. He will be convincing himself that he will be happier at Air America, say, or maybe just on the lecture circuit, where he can speak about George W. Bush and others in even harsher terms, if that's possible. Which, of course, it is--no doubt Olbermann will be happier saying what he really thinks, although, of course, he will eventually discover that he is surrounded by traitors, wherever he goes. Why? Because the bile is mostly in him--he is a walking spleen.
And so, as promised: Here's The Cable Gamer's prediction: By this time next year, Olbermann, Russert, and Gregory will not all be working for NBC/MSNBC. For reasons stated above, most likely, the missing man will be KO, although he might find a way to take Gregory down, too, on the way out. Or maybe, of course, MSNBC and NBC will be thrown way off course if GE spins them off. In that case, lots of folks will have jumped ship, or been thrown off the ship.
But one way or another, their happy little family--as happy as Liz Taylor in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"--will have broken up by next June.
You read it here first!
