I watch two political shows daily. The first of course is The Daily Show with John Stewart, where I find the coverage to be more fair and balanced than Fox News. And I watch Countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC. Olbermann, for those who do not know, is a liberal nightmare for the Bush administration, who often features Bill O’Reilly and Rush Limbaugh in his daily Worst Person in the World segment. How I’m sure that if I sat down with Keith Olbermann we would have many things to debate, for the most part I find him to be dead on in his assessment of our country’s current unfortunate state.
Olbermann is well known for his ranting commentaries against the administration, which are occasionally given their own time slot on MSNBC. These rants, and the millions of views they have garnered on YouTube, are a large part of Olbermann’s recent success. I also can’t help but feel the movie Good Light, and Good Luck has played some role in this, as Olbermann borrows Murrow’s sign off on Countdown.
Keith Olbermann has aggregated these rants onto paper in his new book, Truth and Consequence. I went through half the book in a single session right after taking it out of the bag.
I wish I could provide a detailed review of the book, but to be honest, there isn’t much to review. The book is for the most part just a collected transcript of his rants, that are honestly much more entertaining and powerful when seen and heard from Olbermann on video. I don’t think that’s an insult on his book as much as it is a compliment of his on air presence and his ability to deliver biting lines. The books does offer some intermingled stories about the thoughts and events behind a rant, and those are somewhat interesting. But lets be honest, his rants don’t come out of left field for anyone paying attention to the news. The statement “Louisiana is a city largely under water tonight” comes to mind.
My opinion on the book is this; if you like Keith Olbermann, you will likely enjoy going through this book and reviewing some of his past rants, or maybe rants you missed. It also may serve as an interesting gift for the 70% of people in this country who disapprove of George W.
