Current Affairs

Looks like Keith Olbermann has been fired from yet another network.  Again.  Jeez.  Current's brilliant idea?  Replace him with...Eliot Spitzer.

We’re very excited to announce that beginning tonight, former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer will host “Viewpoint with Eliot Spitzer,” at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT.  Eliot is a veteran public servant and an astute observer of the issues of the day. He has important opinions and insights and he relishes the kind of constructive discourse that our viewers will appreciate this election year.  We are confident that our viewers will be able to count on Governor Spitzer to deliver critical information on a daily basis.

All of these additions to Current's lineup are aimed at achieving one simple goal -- the goal that has always been central to Current's mission:  To tell stories no one else will tell, to speak truth to power, and to influence the conversation of democracy on behalf of those whose voice is too seldom heard.  We, and everyone at Current, want to thank our viewers for their continued steadfast support.

Olbermann's statement is brief:

I'd like to apologize to my viewers and my staff for the failure of Current TV.

Editorially, Countdown had never been better.  But for more than a year I have been imploring Al Gore and Joel Hyatt to resolve our issues internally, while I've been not publicizing my complaints, and keeping the show alive for the sake of its loyal viewers and even more loyal staff.  Nevertheless, Mr. Gore and Mr. Hyatt, instead of abiding by their promises and obligations and investing in a quality news program, finally thought it was more economical to try to get out of my contract.

It goes almost without saying that the claims against me implied in Current's statement are untrue and will be proved so in the legal actions I will be filing against them presently.  To understand Mr. Hyatt's "values of respect, openness, collegiality and loyalty," I encourage you to read of a previous occasion Mr. Hyatt found himself in court for having unjustly fired an employee.  That employee's name was Clarence B. Cain.

In due course, the truth of the ethics of Mr. Gore and Mr. Hyatt will come out.  For now, it is important only to again acknowledge that joining them was a sincere and well-intentioned gesture on my part, but in retrospect a foolish one.  That lack of judgment is mine and mine alone, and I apologize again for it.

"I'm sorry that my employers were douchebags who suck rat poop" is an interesting tactic, but I think the much larger problem was that my cable company didn't care Current to begin with, so I don't really miss the guy.

But seriously, if you get tossed off Current for being too much of a fringer, it's time for an intervention.  I like Keith the newsman.  I don't like Keith's Ego, the newsman.  Really.  Yes, seeing a liberal voice go out like this is awful.  But KO is not entirely without fault, either.

We'll see how long Spitzer lasts, I guess.