Olbermann was a bit more than opinionated. He distorted facts to match his opinion.

As a pundit, that's standard fare. As a news anchor, that's unacceptable. Viewers should be alerted when they're receiving propaganda vs news. Olbermann as a pundit can now rant to his heart's delight. But it will no longer count as news; only opinion.

The past week provides a useful case study of how the Republicans' assault on the media works.

Last Friday, John McCain announced that he had chosen Sarah Palin to be his running mate. The media had a few questions -- basically, who is she, and is she ready to be president? So the McCain campaign threw a tantrum, insisting the media were being unfair. As usual, the complaints were short on details and merit -- but the media still took the complaints seriously, treating them as one of the most important topics of the past few week.

Perhaps the best example of how phony the GOP's complaints were: the McCain campaign's cancellation of an appearance by McCain on Larry King Live because, they said, CNN anchor Campbell Brown had behaved improperly in interviewing campaign spokesperson Tucker Bounds the night before. They didn't really say what Brown had done wrong -- probably because all she had done was ask simple questions that Bounds couldn't answer. After Bounds said that as governor of Alaska, Palin leads the state's National Guard, Brown asked him for an example of a decision she had made in that capacity. He didn't answer. So she asked him again. That isn't inappropriate; that's exactly what she should have done -- that's journalism.

And that drove the McCain campaign crazy.

So, did all the complaints work?

Consider this: Wednesday night, Sarah Palin falsely claimed she had told Congress she did not want funding for the "bridge to nowhere." She didn't; that was a lie. Congress had said a year before Palin became governor that Alaska need not spend the federal funds on the bridge. And Palin had initially supported the bridge, not opposed it. And once she became governor, Palin kept the money. Palin's false claims Wednesday night were not new: She had said the same thing in previous campaign appearances since McCain picked her -- and several media outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times had debunked the boast. But when Palin told the lie during her convention speech -- after days of McCain complaints that the media had been too hard on Palin -- those newspapers ignored the lie.

It's all about the polls. When they thought Dems would be in power they started to question the Republicans - now we are back on the same old page.

What a disaster for the country and the world.

Look, drifting into some debate about ideology at the cable nets is silly: MSNBC made this change because Olbermann and Matthews were terrible anchors, and should probably never have gotten the live gigs to begin with. Both have suffered from horrendous profiles (Matthews in the NY Times, Olbermann in the New Yorker) that made clear just how limited and less than ideal they were as anchors, never mind people. Given the death of Tim Russert (who, in the rush to laud him, should be noted as having championed both of them), it's not surprising that a rudderless news division is scrambling. It's also clear that senior NBC ews types, especially Brokaw, don't like either of them. Gregory, a snoozy, not especially strong choice, will be fine, but probably not a long term fix, nor is he likely to solve MSNBC's biggest problem of low ratings. It's clear MSNBC could quite possibly succeed as the lefty version of Fox News... but I suspect that the idea of throwing away what shreds are left of journalistic cred really keep them from giving in. Probably, they shouldn't bother. But it's nice to see someone - at least Brokaw - would like to keep the idea of doing better alive.

Why is TAP defending Olbermann and Matthews? Matthews is not even a liberal, he is a Reagan Democrat. Olbermann is the liberal version of Bill O'Reilly, which isn't saying much. If you've ever read the Daily Howler, you know they suck at what they do.

"But it's nice to see someone - at least Brokaw - would like to keep the idea of doing better alive."

Is this the same Tom Brokaw who declared any criticism of John McCain's integrity off-limits because of his status as a former POW? Is this the same Tom Brokaw who refused to accept that the Mighty, Mighty Surge has not led to any lasting political reconciliation in Iraq on Meet The Press yesterday, and who praised Sarah Palin's ability to read one-liners off of a prepared text as a "great speech?"

Please explain how I'm "defending" them. All I did was point out that the minimal ideological bias of Olbermann is nothing compared to what FOX passes of as "news" on a daily basis.

I'm sickened by the media coverage of this election - it's as if Karl Rove has again given the finger to the American people with the selection of a right-wing book-banner as V.P.

As the media hacks obediently follow the juicy scandals of "troopergate" and "babygate" et al, they fail to notice the growing evidence that McCain is in the early stages of dementia, an incurable condition that will become rapidly worse under the pressures that come with leading this country

Get ready for President Palin.

For laughs, I turned to Fox immediately following Obama's acceptance speech.

As the applause was still going, first voiceover words out of Brit Hume's mouth: "Barack Hussein Obama."

But I'm sure he was just innocently using Obama's full name to mark the importance of the moment. Nothing meant by the emphasis on the middle name, not at all.

Keith Olbermann bring trust back to the news anchor chair, after most of the other journalist were caught in bed with the Bush Administration. There were pretty much turned into bed sissies after 9/11.

This is so typical of the media, bought and paid for by the Republican Party. I am so sick of the media choosing what propaganda we sould hear. MSNBC has various other political analysts on there shows that give by bypatisan views.

Keith Olbermann is the best MSNBC has. His special comments are blatantly truthful and that is the reason the dishonest Republican party is allergic to him

Olberman's and Matthew's sexist assaults on Hillary
are finally coming home to roost. Too late for Hillary but may be they will help Obama lose by their racist and sexist assaults on Clinton and her backers.

Olberman's biggest problem is that besides being biased, he is a buffoon. A journalist needs to command respect, even if you don't agree with his opinions. One may not agree with the positions taken by the Fox folks but they are all 'professionals'. Not so with the MSNBC clowns.