Just Saw Ten Seconds of Keith Olbermann
He noted that McCain mispronounced Zardari’s surname — sounded to me like McCain said, “Gardari.” Olbermann seems to think this is a prosecutable offense. Olbermann didn’t mention that both McCain and Obama referred to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as the “Republican Guard” of Iran. Olbermann also noted that McCain referred to Pakistan as a failed state. Actually, Olbermann might want to invest in TiVO: McCain said that Pakistan was a failed state when Musharraf came to power, and that most Pakistan-watchers would agree. That’s a very different statement. My threshold for defining a failed state is such that I’d describe pre-Musharraf Pakistan as a failing state. But really, these are the points Olbermann is trying to score? I was a television producer for a while. I’m 95 percent sure I would have done a better job, and I wouldn’t have had to make anything up.
Incidentally, people often pronounce “Rye-hahn” as “Ray-hahn.” I don’t lose much sleep over it.
I have to say, Rachel Maddow kicks Olbermann’s behind. She has real erudition and knowledge to back up her left-of-center snark.
To each his own but the correct pronunciation for Reihan is actually “Ray-hahn”, not “Rye-hahn”.
— scritic · Sep 27, 04:12 AM · #
Reihan…this occurred to me while watching.
Scraped off….pared down to the bare substance…..this is simply a vote between the future and the past.
Ima vote for the future.:)
— matoko_chan · Sep 27, 04:21 AM · #
“Incidentally, people often pronounce “Rye-hahn” as “Ray-hahn.” I don’t lose much sleep over it.”
guilty as charged ;-)
— razib · Sep 27, 08:15 AM · #
Maddow is erudite — finally, someone on TV who has a degree from Stanford, and a real degree from Oxford. Maddow was a Rhodes scholar — and she left Oxford with an M.Phil. And that’s a real academic achievement,
— Gage Jones · Sep 27, 01:07 PM · #
yeah but is it Sah-lahm (rhymes with “your mom”) or Sa-lam (ryhmes with “green eggs and ham”). If the pronunciation is the latter, that’d be so cool. it’d sound like “slam”. and slam is a cool word.
— Nyack · Sep 27, 07:42 PM · #
Plenty of d_____bags have been Rhodes ‘scholars.’ Need I name the most famous?
I know Olbermann is a total leftso wank-off, but do you really need to point that out by giving kudos to his gender-bending protege, who’s stated purpose in the media is to turn our country into a howling wasteland of degenerates by propagating her deformed value judgements? (see here: http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2345)
— Paul · Sep 27, 10:56 PM · #
sorry mr. salam.
most pakistan watchers wouldn’t agree that pakistan was a failed state in 1999.
you have got to be kidding me with that.
here is the most critical and liberal and progressive pakistani blogger on mccain’s failed state comment:
“This was a very lame response.”
He also said:
“It was good to see Obama lash out at McCain for supporting a dictator in Pakistan, saying “We had a 20th century mindset that said ‘well, you know, he may be a dictator, but he’s our dictator’ and as a consequence, we lost legitimacy in Pakistan.”
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2008/09/2008927175058288972.html
— Jactitating Masticater · Sep 27, 10:57 PM · #
also he didn’t mispronounce it as ‘gardari’
he said ‘kadari.’
you’d think he’d have gotten it right after zardari essentially invited himself into palin’s bed.
there’s also the issue that previously mccain referred to the iraq/pakistan border
and continued supported musharraf even after he imposed emergency and cancelled elections last year
btw what are mccain’s views on the military dictators in b-desh.
— Jactitating Masticater · Sep 27, 11:02 PM · #
“McCain said that Pakistan was a failed state when Musharraf came to power, and that most Pakistan-watchers would agree.”
Somalia is a failed state. A corrupt Pakistan with rouge Islamist elements at the periphery is not a failed state. Note that my description of Pakistan could apply to 1999 or 2008. I won’t call myself a Pakistan-watcher. Is Reihan? How about some citations?
It is still small potatoes for Olbermann to be harping on compared to the ill-thought out League of Democracies business or McCain’s incoherence on fiscal policy. Still, had Obama made similar mistakes while McCain none, it would certainly be newsworthy. Whining post-hoc about bogus baseline expectations is the kind of thing that losing campaigns do, which makes Olbermann’s constant bluster seem more out of touch the closer Obama gets to the White House. Still, it took a little bluster (and a strategic miscalculation by McCain not just to do contrast, but go lowball) to blow down the puffery of the Straight Mainstream Talk Media Express. This was especially true given how Obama had already defined himself as the high road candidate. I hope Obama will end some of his more misleading ads before they tarnish that image any further.
— nicestrategy · Sep 28, 04:31 AM · #
On the Zardari/Qadari thing. It’s not like McCain placed inappropriate emphasis on a vowel. He got the first letter wrong!
That is a bigger deal. Right, Xeihan Kalam?
— southpaw · Sep 28, 05:46 PM · #
You can’t take this Olbermann seriously when all he does is contradict
McCain constantly instead of supporting the claims of his guy.
There’s just no validity to his analysis.
Praise Obama…that’s fine. But, just pointing out the negatives of McCain makes it appear that Obama has nothing.
— Ray · Sep 29, 12:49 PM · #
Reihan, I think you should stop quibbling about McCains pronounciation ideosyncracies, and start paying attention to the fact that the guy seems to be sliding into senile dementia.
“The question is why would a man who forever advertises his own honor toy so selfishly with our national interest at a time of crisis. I’ll leave any physiological explanations to gerontologists — if they can get hold of his complete medical records — and any armchair psychoanalysis to the sundry McCain press acolytes who have sorrowfully tried to rationalize his erratic behavior this year. The other answers, all putting politics first, can be found by examining the 24 hours before he decided to “suspend” campaigning and swoop down on the Capitol to save America from the Sunnis or the Shia, or whoever perpetrated all those credit-default swaps.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/opinion/28rich.html?ref=opinion
— matoko_chan · Sep 29, 12:52 PM · #
Reihan, stop quibbling about McCain’s pronounciation and please explain what is to all appearances a slide into senile dementia.
“The question is why would a man who forever advertises his own honor toy so selfishly with our national interest at a time of crisis. I’ll leave any physiological explanations to gerontologists — if they can get hold of his complete medical records — and any armchair psychoanalysis to the sundry McCain press acolytes who have sorrowfully tried to rationalize his erratic behavior this year. The other answers, all putting politics first, can be found by examining the 24 hours before he decided to “suspend” campaigning and swoop down on the Capitol to save America from the Sunnis or the Shia, or whoever perpetrated all those credit-default swaps.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/opinion/28rich.html?ref=opinion
— matoko_chan · Sep 29, 01:04 PM · #
Regretfully, I have not been a a more frequent viewer of your telecast. I adore you and your candid approach to issues, people, events, etc. Your intelligence is very obvious/awesome.
With regard to Obama/Biden v McCain/Palin…
I am a true layman to politics so bear with me quickly…
I feel the McCain folks are going to try to DISCREDIT Obama in many areas
I feel that Obama and Biden should do more campaigning together to offset each other’s strengths. Biden is very knowledgable about McCain’s political record and history so he could defend Obama superbly there.
I, through, rumor mill have heard that Palin is NOT WELL liked, at home, in Alaska.
She cut 65% of funding for programs that were for ‘Special Need’s children?
What about her using her power to have her ex-brother-in-law fired and did not care who she had to threaten to take their job if they did not comply with her demands?
Why do they keep saying Obama lacks experience and good judgment?
He opposed the war in Iraq…
He comes from humble beginnings…why would he (or Biden) knowing what middle (main) stream life living is about raise taxes on the working class?
(I know I am not flowing correctly, but bear with me)
How can they even relate, especially McCain, with what it is like to live from pay check to pay check and have never experienced it nor interacted with people who do and are for any period of time?
Creditably? What is the deal on the pregnant daughter? What message is that sending to young girls not even out of high school? Is that really Sarah Palin’s baby (personal query)?
What about the disclosure of her TAXES?
Thank you for any attention that may be given to these questions.
PS:
I feel Obama and Biden should cut down on the Kudo’s they give to McCain and Palin. The average person would tend to think they are in agreement with whatever they are speaking to or that they are right about anything.
— Mary Nailor · Oct 3, 08:17 PM · #