The last bastion of journalism

I’ve said it before, and I will say it again: if you aren’t watching Countdown with Keith Olbermann, you are missing the best news show on television. Sure, I love Jon Stewart as much as the next guy, and he points out the absurdity in the world better than just about anyone out there. But Keith is by far the best (and maybe the only remaining) tele-journalist out there. For evidence, check out this clip of him ripping Laura Ingraham to shreds for her unconscionable comments on the Today show Tuesday (which not nearly enough of the blogosphere has done).

The sad part is that Keith is the only journalist that has refused to even entertain this latest round of right-wing attacks that ‘the media is trying to sabotage the war in Iraq’. After airing the Ingraham clip, as well as the one of Bush getting thrown softballs in West Virginia yesterday where he criticized the media, he immediately posted polls which showed that a clear majority of Americans believe that:

a) the war has gone on too long
b) the situation is worse than the president wants to believe it is
c) this president is doing a poor job in managing the war

Every other show out there is giving equal time to the ‘bash the media’ side. Last night metro-sexual Anderson Cooper allowed that Hugh Hewitt (if that’s a stage name, then that lets you know his level of intelligence) to slam the media in front of Nic Robertson and Michael Ware, both of whom are in Iraq. And obviously Falafel is screaming bloody murder now, not like he has any journalistic credibility anyways.

At least Keith has realized that just because someone has a contrary position doesn’t give it credibility. If you say the world is flat and I say it’s round, that doesn’t mean there’s a debate, you’re just wrong. At some point, journalists and TV moderators are just going to have to realize that their job is to search for the truth, and not just repeat what others say regardless of whether it has any roots in reality. One step at a time…