Olbermann v. Milbank: The Back Story

Original Link: http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/08/07/olbermann-v-milbank-the-back-story/

By SusanUnPC

Aha! I knew someone would get to the bottom of this shocker (”Keith Olbermann Declares Off With Dana Milbank’s Head”). At last! The sordid details!

Politico’s Michael Calderone has the scoop, via Memeorandum.com:

Milbank’s dissatisfaction with the show started before any controversy over the Obama piece or questions from Olbermann about misquoting the Democratic candidate, according to sources.

Isn’t that what most sentient beings had already figured out? That for all of Olbermann’s heavy-breathed sternness and breathless tirade published at the distinguished Daily Kos, it turns out that it was Milbank who was sick and tired of Olbermann’s and his crew’s stunts?

A source familiar with the situation told Politico that Milbank had been unhappy on the show for a couple of months and expressed this sentiment to friends. But it wasn’t until directly after an incident last month that Milbank made a move.

During the first week of July, Milbank spoke to executive producer Katy Karp about why he had not been on the show for a couple of weeks. At that point, Milbank was told that there was an issue among staff with something positive he said the previous month about Charlie Black, a McCain senior adviser.

Oh. My. God. Milbank committed the ultimate sin! Well, the sin just below criticizing “The One.” He praised The Enemy’s Force! Oh, the hideousness of it all!

Here’s the exchange from June 23, where Olbermann talked to Milbank on-air about Black’s statement to Fortune magazine, that a terrorist attack would be a “big advantage” for the McCain campaign.

OLBERMANN: But where do we go in terms of this story from here? Does McCain have to, whether he likes it or not, fire Charlie Black or face having this bell along with other bells around his neck all summer and all fall?

MILBANK: Well, he’s going to wait and see. I imagine they are certainly going to hope that this becomes a 24-hour thing that blows over. Which it well could be, depending on what events happen in the coming days. But if it keeps being brought back to them, they’ll have to take some action here.

The irony here is that Charlie Black is a very soft-spoken, well-liked figure, and this does seem rather out of character for him to sound off in this way.

An MSNBC spokesperson confirmed there was a conversation where Black came, but the producer was only joking. The spokesperson said there was no connection between anything Dana said about Black and his not being booked on “Countdown.”

Milbank told Big Head DC yesterday that he "started contract talks with CNN on July 7" — therefore, things were underway several weeks before the July 30 column. (Indeed, Milbank reached out directly to Campbell Brown.) …

Read all.

So, if you’re looking for Dana Milbank, look no further than CNN!

And I hope that Keith Olbermann followed the instructions from Obama’s campaign to the letter.

For more fun with this “hot” story, check out Larry Johnson’s “Obama Versus the Press.”