Olbermann rips Powell endorsement rxns

The reactions by many on the right to Colin Powell's endorsement of Barack Obama this past Sunday on Meet the Press have been both shocking and appalling this week, and considering the level of discourse in our country, I'm not a person easily shocked.

A few nights ago, Olbermann did a pretty nice round-up of the ridiculous statements that have been babbled by the likes of Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and Sarah Palin, and I can't even begin to get my hands around how breathtakingly mindless both of these women are (and I'm being quite kind).

I'm just wondering exactly where these "pockets of pro-America areas" are? We'll have our answer in 10 days - whichever states vote go for the McCain/Palin ticket I guess are the pro-America. Pretty pathetic.

Even more pathetic is Bachmann's assessment that we should have what would equate to loyalty oaths in Congress, which I'm guessing even her own Republican Party disagrees with. As frightening and reactionary as the current edition of the GOP can be, I'd like to think that we'll never return to the age of McCarthyism. Fortunately, Bachmann's idiotic statements have been a financial boon to her opponent, El Tinkenberg, who has raised over $1 million since her stupid comments last weekend. The best part about Bachmann's fiasco is that she almost certainly would have won reelection had she kept her mouth shut, but she couldn't help herself. Hopefully her stupidity will be Tinkenberg's gain. Right now, El Tink's got a slim two-point lead on Bachmann. Please, if you have the means, go to Tinkenberg's Website and contribute $5 or $10 to help out his campaign; every little bit will help him kick an intolerant, asinine Republican out of Congress.

Just in case you missed it, below is the video of Powell's endorsement. I found his words to be powerful, heartfelt and spot on. This past week, I was asked by many people how I felt Powell's endorsement would affect the election, and my initial reaction was, "Not much." However, upon further reflection, I'm not so sure. His support for Obama certainly does shatter some misconceptions about how Obama would lead and use the military. Naturally, right-wing hate radio had a field day with the endorsement (see Olbermann clip above).

I was very happy to hear Olbermann slam the likes of the hate mongers mentioned above, and specifically Rush Limbaugh for his mindless hate speech. I don't always agree with Keith, but this is one of his best Special Comments I've heard in quite some time. For all of the people who rip Olbermann for being so partisan, my question would be, were it not for Olbermann and a select few others, who else in our corporate media would be echoing these thoughts? Damn few, and I'm happy Olbermann is doing what he does on a nightly basis.