Yes, he did just call the president a Fascist.

I’m going to hazard a guess that most of the readers of this blog watch Olbermann over ORLY. I base this on the fact that Farley does, and he invited me here to get on everyone’s nerves while he’s off in the Holy Land trying to recruit for the Bluegrass chapter of Hamas or something.

I’m probably fairly late to the Olbermann party; I wasn’t in the country for his Sports Nigh…, er Sports Center days, and I guess I just assumed that all the talking heads on TV were as atrocious as those found on Fox and CNN. But anyone who calls Bush a fascist on live TV is OK in my book, and it’s even better if they’re not a 17 year old covered in tattoos and piercings, minutes before getting billyclubbed by riot police.

The New Yorker has a rather interesting piece on dear Keith, and why he’s our favorite left wing demagogue, which you can read online. It details how he developed his monologues to those in power, and the Suits reactions:

At MSNBC, the feedback was slightly more cautious. Olbermann’s original script identified the “cold-blooded killers” as everyone at the Pentagon and in the Bush Cabinet; when a colleague noted that that would include such relative moderates as Colin Powell and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Olbermann modified the line. Phil Griffin, the senior vice-president in charge of MSNBC (“Phil thinks he’s my boss,” Olbermann says), raised the matter of tone. Why did Olbermann need to end his commentary by telling the President of the United States to “shut the hell up”?

“Because I can’t say, ‘Shut the fuck up,’ that’s why, frankly,” Olbermann responded. The line stayed in.

I really wish they’d let him swear.