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MSNBC Suspends Keith Olbermann
After taking a few punches from the pundits for the Rally to Restore Sanity, Jon explores Keith Olbermann’s indefinite suspension from MSNBC for making campaign donations without obtaining permission from the network. Find out how indefinite his suspension was in last night’s episode.
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It’s great — read it! Then join 60,000 others in signing the national congrats card to Keith!
Statement To The Viewers Of Countdown
I want to sincerely thank you for the honor of your extraordinary and ground-rattling support.
Your efforts have been integral to the remedying of these recent events, and the results should remind us of the power of individuals spontaneously acting together to correct injustices great or small.
…I also wish to apologize to you viewers for having precipitated such anxiety and unnecessary drama. You should know that I mistakenly violated an inconsistently applied rule – which I previously knew nothing about — that pertains to the process by which such political contributions are approved by NBC.
Certainly this mistake merited a form of public acknowledgment and/or internal warning, and an on-air discussion about the merits of limitations on such campaign contributions by all employees of news organizations.
Instead, after my representative was assured that no suspension was contemplated, I was suspended without a hearing, and learned of that suspension through the media.
You should also know that I did not attempt to keep any of these political contributions secret; I knew they would be known to you and the rest of the public. I did not make them through a relative, friend, corporation, PAC, or any other intermediary, and I did not blame them on some kind of convenient ‘mistake’ by their recipients.
When a website contacted NBC about one of the donations, I immediately volunteered that there were in fact three of them; and contrary to much of the subsequent reporting, I immediately volunteered to explain all this, on-air and off, in the fashion MSNBC desired.
I genuinely look forward to rejoining you on Countdown on Tuesday, to begin the repayment of your latest display of support and loyalty – support and loyalty that is truly mutual.
Today … President Obama is in Indonesia but will be cutting the visit short due to Volcanic Ash –
When will RTP constituents get it -it was Republicans who had absolutely no control fiscally, engaged in big govt by waging 2wars, 2tax giveaways to the rich without paying for them btw, the last guy permitted mass amounts of deregulation in nearly every sector of business which brought our economy to its knees – Republicans say they are fiscally responsible but what President Obama walked into does not sound like responsible behavior and it continues with tantrums about wanting to extend the Bush giveaways permanently without paying for them -and on whose backs?
Though we have pulled out most of our troops in Iraq there are over fifty-thousand serving on behalf of all Americans, we have Corporations in the private and or public sector who are not hiring enough to get us out of this recession, or have changed the rules by limiting the work available, Democrats just got voted out of being the majority in the House but still control the Senate and we have a Democratic President. We have far too many public servants with personal agendas, Tea Party or Teabaggers, who were only a small group a while ago have been able to put a few in the US Congress after the midterm elections. I am not pleased but the current rhetoric or exchanges among themselves is encouraging because it is clear that jobs and or our economy was a distraction used by the RTP and what won them the House. While we are all watching, waiting the truth is going to unfold and folks who voted them into office will finally see the ugly RTP agenda which is that they are going after President Obama instead of creating jobs or a better economy. We all know this group has very extreme ideas about what they will do when on the floor of Congress and while the voters decided to send a message to the folks on Capitol Hill i am still confused about what voting against your best interest does for anyone but make things even worse. I am upset about it and as a democrat i think people need to take control over their own ability to get good information and dissect it to make intelligent choices. The loss of the House, the things we all wanted as dems, libs and or progressives has been put at risk by all the anger votes made. I want to believe people truly had no idea what was at stake and treated the midterms as the no big deal state based elections. The only problem is only 4.7% of Blacks voted plus women and lgbt voters deciding to lean right is one of the most confusing moves by people who need support from the govt and only time will tell how much we all will suffer or for how long.
If the lean to the right was a tantrum because your group or issue did not get voted on yet or was passed but was not what you wanted that is childish behavior. I would also say people need to stop whining and understand the governing process because if not we all will suffer for it. I cannot ask enough how selfish could someone be to hold their vote hostage or vote right of center just because they are angry is not only offensive but makes me wonder how American is that. It is when Democrats are not united or in solidarity do we lose and only then is when i wish the Democratic Party was more like the RTP in so far as the group mentally they maintain until now did not wane no matter what glitches or tweaks that may be needed. The RTP knows if they can get a bill passed it can be manipulated maybe democratic constituents do not know this –
I will never understand anyone willing to vote against his or her best interests.
It is obvious that our economy was in much worse shape then what we thought maybe worse off than what the last guy told the Obama Administration before leaving never to look back again. . Certainly, it was unprecedented and while it is obvious they were flying by the seat of their pants trying to fix the core of the problem it seemed like there were several branches that if tweaked the wrong way could be big trouble. The Party of No has managed to stifle progress in Congress yet folks continued to hold the Obama Administrations feet to the fire and not the Republicans. In my opinion, Americans have been too impatient, are swayed by “the Media” definitely uninformed and maybe did not care about the facts because of their own status in the world. It is unacceptable to think twenty months is long enough to fix anything as big as the US economy, which reached out globally. That coupled with the overt effort on the part of i guess the Heritage Foundation, the chamber of commerce, big business and Republicans all decided to stop progress by any means necessary. Who knew that we have a group of people willing to throw Americans from all stages of life under the bus to gain back their country in an effort though the 2008 elections were legal done correctly and 53% of the population voted for Barack H. Obama. If anyone has been watching all the issues being juggled by President Obama which have been many and include jobs, pirates, terrorists, 2Wars, exiting a war, dadt, immigration, racism, signing over 200 bills that definitely will make positive changes to all our lives. The legislation that could have pushed us into the 21st Century probably will likely to be a memory if democrats continue to split off instead of unifying as a group to get things done during the lame duck session. It is also upon democratic constituents to participate by calling your member of Congress to let them know what is important call the Republicans to tell them you are an American and while they have fooled some we all are watching as they abandon the peoples business for tearing apart our government.
Is it just me or have democrats in Congress left the messaging up to the President… oh we have some Representatives like Patty Murray, Debbie Wasserman Shultz, Alan Grayson, Anthony Weiner, Sheila Lee Jackson, James Clyburn, Keith Ellison , Jim McDermott, Stabenow and McCaskil others but we need more of them getting on the air and touting the legislation as being absolutely positive things for Americans. The Democratic Party needs to meet and decide what direction they want to go; our President needs to tell them what he wants done and they all need to get on the same page and get it done. The fact that this President did not write the HCR bill himself or let the House write, create and pass bills, which is their jobs upset folks on the left because it was not single payer pouted and voted for Republican is beyond me. The midterms confirmed how uninformed most of the public is on what it takes to get a bill on the floor of Congress let alone passed and made a law. Again, I may not have been completely satisfied with the legislation but the alternative was much worse and knowing that legislation can be tweaked made it tolerable for me.
Twenty months ago there was a bipartisan agreement to bailout the big banks and since then they turned their backs on President Obama and while apologizing in public they promptly began giving huge bonus’s to their people, have continued to flex their muscles and refuse to lend money to the everyday people that hire folks, insurance companies are inserting millions to fight HCR for all, credit card companies are bashing people with fees, our Supreme Court has caused a problem for our Democracy, reports of at least 12 terrorist attacks have been waged on the US, republicans have held up the Presidents nominees for his cabinet and recently, we came close to having several planes bombed. I am sure i forgot something but this President has been busy and is making sweeping changes to a system that was broken. I believe we were in a perfect position to make the changes we voted for and needed but maybe the Obama Admin and the Democrats in Congress did not have a strategy, had idea what was in store for the midterms and had no back up plan or understood how serious that waterloo comment was. Those of us sitting back waiting for change need to become more engaged by making our voices heard in support of this President’s efforts to move Americans into the 21st Century. If you think any President can get legislation passed without the help of their base you are sadly mistaken. The tent of Democrats is huge and though HCR for example was not popular it needed to be dealt with will save money, create more jobs and discrimination based on pre-existing conditions got knocked out, kids in college don’t have to worry about insurance and while there are no death panels in the bill Republicans might create an environment similar by privatizing healthcare, medicare/caid and social security if given the opportunity. The midterm elections had so much at stake but folks voted in anger as Republicans said this that and the other about being fiscally responsible only to get on camera after taking over the House that they are if you pay attention listening are not just going after the President say they can get things done if President Obama does what that want which continues the irrational, uncompromising loud defiant obstructionist behavior Republicans have resorted to for 20 months and begs democrats to rise up against.
Other News …
G20 begins Nov. 12th
The WH does not support stripping out DADT out of defense bill
Missile launched off Coast of Cali -a mystery
GM lays off Mr Goodwrench
Amazon comes to Seattle with 10,000 jobs?
New Chevy Volt on sale in Seattle next Fall
President Obama will meet with new congressional members Nov.18th
CDC:59.1 million lacked ins in 2009 -outrageous
Seattle bank fees are the highest in the country 2.60 while the average is 2.33
11thousand cribs made in China sold at JCP 2003-2007 models have rail hardware prob
Tony Hayward admits they were unprepared to deal with the BP oil spill
CSPAN …
Sunday buzz… Fall back y’all and we did. The President and Mrs. Obama are out of town so to speak. While here in the States we have to hear the continuous drone from the Republican Tea Party who think Americans want repeal HCR, Wall Street reform, cut Education by 20%, replace and eliminate social service programs that women, vets, older folks and the new poor use. If Republicans decide to go after these things instead of JOBS it would definitely be a recipe for trouble, likely force into a deeper recession and will be the reason they will become unemployed. The current rhetoric has absolutely nothing to do with JOBS or the Economy …If people are listening they have no intention of cutting spending unless it is on the backs of the Middle and Lower classes people …get that in your head!!! The RTP will be in control for about a minute and what we as Democrats need to remember is that we have to call Republicans out on every move they make to ruin the current President instead of focusing on Jobs. I have to say anyone with any common sense knows that the top 2% will not spend their tax cuts to create an environment so that people will be hired or create jobs and if they do it will be to outsource them for lower wages in China, Mexico etc. If you do not believe it, just tune into CNBC and hear the words coming from various CEO’s being trotted out on any given day by Kudlow and associates.
I hope everyone is asking their Republican member of Congress what exactly the top 2% did with the Bush giveaways because it could not have been on hiring and creating jobs or we would not be in or see the mess all around us. I feel that after twenty months of gridlock from the Republican Tea Party of No things are about to get heated within their own Family Values Platform party. Anyway –
“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” –George Orwell
I personally do not want to go back to colonial days we must move forward stay in the present so discrimination fails …the past fails and equal rights for all prevails.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the World. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” –Margaret Mead
Jus sayin
Other News …
Tomas is still being a stubborn storm
Texas border is suffering from shoot outs
Obama pays tribute to Gandhi
In India, Obama pushes U.S. jobs
Man in Sweden has been arrested for the shooting of immigrants -his target
The Pope urges Spain to shun secularism
Trader Joes recalls products that have cilantro
Counting begins in Myanmar election
Israeli police raze mosque amid protests
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Saturday ...It was great to see President and Mrs Obama get off the plane in India as well as hearing his great speech …it was early …great time to do laundry…coffee -sad Haiti just cannot get a break
The news about the recent move by Griffin to suspend a valuable employee named Keith Oberlmann has not only grabbed the attention of at least 200 thousand people they all have signed a bring back Keith petition that you can find on Facebook and or twitter. This man has among other things given the public a platform to truly help others with the free clinic spot he made available to his viewers. It was a rude awakening to see so many people needing healthcare while our Republican members of Congress probably with constituents in those lines object to HCR that they have for their own families. The free clinic and of course the news delivered only the way Keith did will be missed if he decides to leave. I will admit and say that if Keith’s contract states ALL employees must read and abide by the rules with those rules clearly listed in an obvious way applying to ALL employees then he broke the rules and should be reprimand but if msnbc is singling him out then something smells. I think Keith needs to decide what is important, his 950 thousand viewers all understand what pride is all about, so, if he chooses not to come back we will understand. I hope he knows that there are only a few News guys like him who dems, libs and all those left of center feels is giving the adequate information we need, crave, maybe a pep talk as well as great interviews with Politicians, entertainers etc that share our way of thinking. The fact that 950 thousand people choose to tune in to hear Keith O he has made it possible for people donate to the free clinics Keith has brought great awareness to on his show because we are in fact our brothers and sisters keepers. It is a fresh and great use of time instead doing a pledge show for politicians. I believe Keith and a few other News reporters have made it ok to help your fellow man even if they are American Muslims, Hispanic, Gay, Asian Straight, believe in freedom of religion and still be an American, want the right to choose, be Black or Latino because most democrats/libs have a different ideology than the RTP. This is not to say Keith O’s show is the end all be all but he is important to over 950thousand people. While most will continue to tune in for left of center News at least 175 thousand have signed a protest petition, a few have stopped their twitter msnbc follow or have decided to boycott msnbc because the reasons behind the suspension seemed unfair . If the rumors surrounding the suspension turn out to be true it would seem a co-worker donated to Republican candidates and received no suspension at all. The first reports were that the other guy dealt with opinion News while Keith was a News reporter which seemed strange because he never asked for donations from anyone during the midterm campaigning. The notion that the other guy who is a Republican, an ex-member of Congress giving donations to fellow Republican Politicians as being acceptable while Keith who reports the News and as a private citizen donated to a Democrat is absurd and offensive. It is my hope that msnbc will see the error their ways and bring him back on given other employees have done so in the past without similar outcomes. The News can be subjective instead of objective to the point that we scream shout and sometimes throw stuff at it especially when the viewer knows the person sitting there reading off the prompter is being paid to lie, stir up trouble and in a lot of cases race bait. Again, I am willing to admit that Keith’s spot does not completely counter a whole freakin station like faux news but he has helped tamper the ugly nasty sometimes racist noise coming from the right on any channel. It is important to feed both sides of any issue, maybe deliver some real News with truth and facts splashed with some good ole fashioned humor as well.
Later in the day -I could not help but read the various comment boards about Keith O’s suspension and it appears as if those on the right responded with the most and usual hater remarks so i had to put my 2cents in as well… It seems like the group on here making comments are all viewers of Fox News… funny …putting the name Fox and News together is such a joke to me. I do not tune into fox very often but sometimes you just have to see what all the fuss is about, hear the ugly nasty words they say without flinching. I have to say I would never let my kids see that show because they teach fear and hate. The fact that fox is a far right of center activist cable station that allows their employees to seemingly spew hate, promote fear and if you are a person of color the comments seem just shy of outright racism and take the whole we are using our 1st amendment rights thing too far for me. The fact that Fox obviously donates thousands of dollars to candidate’s right of center is unseemly at best, no station should be too left or right of center in my opinion. Fox is the only station I know that promotes right of center opinion ideas or so-called news. It is offensive to watch them use their station to campaign for Republicans at all let alone for those that clearly have an extreme agenda. In addition, when these entertainers grab a story without fact checking it look into the camera and tell the viewer the President is going to India with 34 war ships, 3000 staffers so on and so forth it makes you wonder when someone will make them stop.
There were reports that Keith stated he would not be coming back -we will miss him.
CSPAN …
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Over the last four years, the Democratic House Majority that you made possible took courageous action on behalf of America’s middle class to create jobs and save the country from the worst economic catastrophe since the Great Depression.
Despite the outcome of last night’s elections, please know that your grassroots support still made a difference.
There are many courageous Democrats who won close races last night because of your remarkable support.
The outcome of this election does not diminish the work we have done together for the American people. With so much at stake for our country, we must all strive to find common ground to support the middle class, create jobs, protect Social Security, reduce the deficit and move our nation forward. Today, all Democrats should hold their heads high.
Your support and dedication has made a positive difference in the lives of all Americans.
For that, I cannot thank you enough.
Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of the House
State Department Press Briefing
Be a Seed for Change 
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