Things have been relatively quiet over at MSNBC since Keith Olbermann departed the network at the end of January but for a couple of days last week there was a sign of life that the network still had some fight left in it.

Lawrence O’Donnell who replaced Olbermann in the 8 p.m. time slot but without the sarcasm and bombast channeled his predecessor  a couple of times last week when he went after Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly.

First O’Donnell mocked O’Reilly for what he called his “faux Irish tough guy style” when he said:

“When I look at O’Reilly, I also see dozens of guys I grew up with just like him: overbearing, argumentative Irish guys who think they know everything and can back up nothing. Those guys have always been a joke to me, which is why O’Reilly almost never has the capacity to outrage me. Because he is just a joke to me most of the time. But when he blares homicidal encouragement for killing physicians who perform abortions he deserves all the serious minded condemnation he has received.”

I guess I’m not just as aware of Irish stereotypes as O’Donnell is because I have never thought to equate O’Reilly’s hard nosed style with his Irish heritage.

O’Donnell wasn’t done though when a few days later he went after O’Reilly again this time with the help of left wing media critic David Brock when he said that O’Reilly is the star of a long running Fox sitcom and that “Bill O’Reilly the actor is a little bit smarter than the character he plays on TV.”

This was in response to O’Reilly’s outrage over the questioning by Meet The Press’ David Gregory of Speaker Boehner about the president’s religion which O’Donnell thought was ridiculous because he felt that Fox was responsible for originating the questions about whether or not Obama is a Muslim.

But as Mediate’s Matt Schneider points out O’Donnell seems confused about what Boehner’s role should be:

“John Boehner spends his entire working life trying to convince Republicans to think his way on taxes and spending . . . but he won’t say a word about the President’s birth or the President’s religion, if people want to be wrong about that, that’s not John Boehner’s job to say anything about.”

So does that mean he agrees with O’Reilly or not?

O’Donnell must have thought that trying to act more Olbermanish would help boost his ratings and appeal to Keith’s far left audience but if these first two attempts are any example they were but a very poor imitation.

Maybe imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but a poor imitation is nothing more than an embarrassment.

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About the author

Don Irvine
Don Irvine is Chairman of Accuracy in Media. He is active on Facebook and Twitter. You can follow him @donirvine to read his latest thoughts.

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2 Comments for O’Donnell Channels Olbermann

Jack Gerow

Too bad, O’Donnell couldn’t channel a working brain instead.