Count Me Blue: KO's worst people

This episode of Keith Olbermann's Worst Person in the World, from yesterday's show, is notable for a number of reasons.

First - Matt Drudge. It really angers me that a person like Drudge, who has ethics and scruples much lower than the rest of the civilized world, will smear any enemy of the Republican Party, or even someone who has merely embarrassed the GOP.

Drudge's latest target - CNN Iraqi Correspondent Michael Ware, who has more than embarrassed Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain before and during his current visit to Baghdad. Really, McCain has embarrassed himself; Ware has merely succinctly pointed it out.

Yesterday, Drudge posted some inaccurate and disparaging information about Ware on his über-popular Website, The Drudge Report, as Olbermann states above, including that Ware heckled McCain and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) at a press conference along with the insinuation that Ware has a drinking problem.

As soon as Ware flatly denied the report, stating on CNN "check the videotape," video indeed appeared on the Web, backing up Ware's claim - not a speckle of heckle. Mysteriously, Drudge's entry on Ware disappeared from his Website. Surprise!

Drudge has a history of disparaging individuals on his site - Sidney Blumenthal comes to mind as one of the more noteworthy cases. Drudge posted libelous statements about Blumenthal, senior political adviser to President Clinton in his second term, (I won't rewrite them here) and Blumenthal sued him. Blumenthal later dropped the suit when it became clear that it wasn't worth the time or effort to go after Drudge. (Quick plug - Blumenthal's tome, The Clinton Wars, is arguably the best book on Clinton's presidency available anywhere. [aside from Clinton's autobiographical My Life] Sid's book is an awesome political read. )

It's not a stretch to say that Drudge has a "post it now, verify later, if at all" mentality, journalistic standards be damned. This right-wing shill dares people he's disparaged to come after him. It's also a well-known fact that Drudge is in regular contact with leaders of the Republican National Committee, who give him talking points.

And Drudge's stories make it into the mainstream media with stunning regularity. The Ware case is the latest example - I'll repost the CNN footage:

Notice how Soledad O'Brien brings the rumor up in this exchange with Ware. Two schools of thought here: 1. She brought up Drudge's b.s. to give Ware an opportunity to respond to the ridiculous allegations, or 2. O'Brien did what many other MSM anchors do these days - if it's on Drudge, it's news. History suggests the latter is more accurate - since Drudge "broke" the Monica Lewinsky Scandal on his site, he's shockingly become the darling of MSMs looking for news on the Web.

One recent example - when John Edwards announced a few weeks ago that he would have an announcement about his wife's health the following day, Drudge and The Politico leaped into action (these two Websites seem to be entangled in a passionate love affair as of late). The Politico, which has plenty of credibility problems of its own as of late, reported that Edwards would drop out of the race with a one-source story. Drudge pounced, reporting it on his site as fact, and from there, it went to all of the cable news networks, including CNN. The next morning, I was listening to Thom Hartman on my drive in to work, and he announced that Edwards was dropping out of the race, "according to CNN."

Twenty minutes later, Edwards was on television announcing he intends to stay in the race.

Whaaaaa Whaaaaa Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaant.

Virtually every cable news network got the story wrong - because they relied on dopes like Matt Drudge to get their story, in lieu of getting a story the old fashioned way - by cultivating sources and doing some investigating. I guess that's too much work for journalists these days. Drudge is as credible as a jilted spouse who's been cheated on, looking for revenge in a divorce proceeding. Reliability police - pull over!

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Anyway - Olbermann's other target in the clip above - Bill O'Reilly. It's beyond comedy the way O'Reilly treats people, especially military veterans who know more in their toenails about the military than O'Reilly could ever hope to learn in a lifetime.

Update: I found the video of Billy dressing down Col. Ann Wright, a 29-year military veteran. Check it out: