Keith Olbermann, FOX News, and George Tiller

Keith Olbermann is a despicable human being.

That's a given. He'll say anything to get attention, the more over the top the better.

The thing is his foaming at the mouth ugliness is hurting the NBC News brand.

Olbermann is the face of MSNBC and it is ugly.

On his little-watched MSNBC program on Monday, Olbermann blamed FOX News for the murder of abortion doctor George Tiller.

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Transcript, from NewsBusters:

KEITH OLBERMANN: Finally tonight, our number one story and the very serious, very unsettling part the Fox News Channel played in the assassination of Dr. George Tiller, a horrifying realization that a television figure can be a facilitator for domestic terrorism

This was underscored, proved even, today when a man named Frank Schaeffer wrote for the Huffington Post that as a former member of the anti-abortion, activist far right he believes he, quote, "shares the blame for the murder of Dr. Tiller," as we believe here does Fox News Channel.

Schaeffer followed his father Francis, an evangelist, into the field, each writing books. His father's was called A Christian Manifesto. "In certain passages, he advocated force if all other methods for rolling back the abortion ruling of Roe V. Wade failed. He compared America and its legalized abortion to Hitler’s Germany, and said that whatever tactics would have been morally justified in removing Hitler would be justified in trying to stop abortion."

"Like many writers of moral/political/religious theories my father and I would have been shocked that someone took us at our word, walked into a Lutheran Church and pulled the trigger on an abortionist. But even if the murderer never read Dad’s or my words, we helped create the climate that made this murder likely to happen."

Of course, in this case, the murderer clearly heard the words from Fox News Channel, or, in the most benign of constructions, read the words of those who had heard the words from Fox News Channel. There's a comment thread from the Operation Rescue Web site from April and May 2007. I'm not implying these other posters had a hand in this. These are merely comments from readers about an anti-Tiller prayer event in Wichita. It begins with a post from April 6, asking: "Has Bill O'Reilly been invited to any of the Tiller events? And if so, what has been his reply? Has Fox News covered any of the events?"

There are two subsequent answers echoing the invitation. And then there is the ninth post from May 19, 2007, which reads "Bless," misspelled, "everyone for attending and praying in May to bring justice to Tiller and the closing of his death camp." That was posted by Scott Roeder. Scott Roeder is the name of the suspected terrorist who was arrested yesterday for assassinating Dr. George Tiller. And what were the kinds of things he and/or those around him heard about Dr. Tiller from Fox News?

A slew of clips, mostly of Bill O'Reilly, follows. Then Olbermann continues.

OLBERMANN: For four years, on at least 28 occasions, that is what was said on Fox News channel. Nazism, al-Qaeda, Hitler, Mao Zedung, Stalin, baby-killing, pedophilia, "Tiller the Baby Killer" – again and again and again. And tonight, confronted with the inevitable result of the instigation, the principal perpetrator at Fox News Channel made no acknowledgement of culpability, nor even regret. He said, "No backpedaling here. I report honesty. Everything we said about Tiller as true, and my analysis was based on those facts. It is clear that the far left is exploiting the death of the doctor. Those vicious individuals want to stifle any criticism of people like Tiller. That and hating Fox News is the real agenda here. ... If these people were so compassionate, so very compassionate, so concerned for the rights and welfare of others, maybe they might have written something, on things, about the 60,000 fetuses who will never become American citizens."

It is useless to urge restraint on men who believe self-editing of freedom of speech should apply only to others that they are flawless and blameless and righteous. It is useless to make Frank Schaeffer’s argument to them even though they have made parallel ones about how liberal television degrades children, about how liberal television hypnotizes voters, about how liberal entertainment destroys American values. When they reply, "not in this case, bad apple, TV can't make that happen," it is useless to say if TV can't make something happen, then why do people advertise on it with the same commercial again and again and again in hopes of making buzzwords sink in? The Geico geko, "Viva Viagra," FreeCreditReport.com, "Tiller the Baby Killer." Don't tell them. They will not listen.

We know this because of the case earlier this year of a Fox News commentator named Bernard Goldberg. In February, it was revealed that last July before he walked into a Unitarian church in Tennessee and opened fire during a children's play, Jim David Attkisson had written a note of explanation. "This was a symbolic killing," he said. "Who I wanted to kill was every Democrat in the Senate and the House, the 100 people in Bernard Goldberg's book."

That 2005 book was called the 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America. And on the list was everybody from Al Gore to Anna Nicole Smith. Mr. Goldberg did not even offer as much as his regrets, never mind offer his resignation. His employer Fox News responded to reporting that placed the books of several of its hosts in Attkisson’s home by sending one of the same producers who stalked the late Dr. Tiller to stalk the reporter who’d had the nerve to link that network to the two people killed by Attkisson in Tennessee.

So what to do? Viewer boycotts mean little. You are already here. You are not watching Fox News Channel. Advertiser boycotts are also of limited value. Most make barely a dent in a company. Besides which, in this economy, an advertiser that found its sales boosted by association with malaria would start breeding mosquitoes. If there is a solution, it is perhaps an indirect boycott. It is probably your experience, as it has been mine, that stores, bars, restaurants, waiting rooms, often show Fox News on their televisions. Don't write a letter, don’t make a threat, just get up and explain if they will not change the channel, leave the place and say calmly why it is you are taking your business elsewhere. If you know a viewer of that channel, show them this tape or just the tape of the attacks on Dr. Tiller that set the stage for his assassination. Fox News Channel will never restrain itself from incitement to murder and terrorism. Not until its profits begin to decline, when its growth stops. So, not so much as a boycott here as a quarantine because this has got to stop. That I have a commercial conflict of interest here is obvious, so I'll make the first symbolic contribution to this quarantine. One of my pleasures obviously is constantly criticizing him in that Ted Baxter voice. It is the idea of laughter, as a social sanction against inflexible behavior. But this is no time for laughter. This is serious. Serious as death. As serious as George Tiller's death. So as of this show's end, I will retire the name and the photograph and the caricature. The words may still be quoted in the future as developments dictate. But the goal here is to get this blindly irresponsible man and his ilk off the air. We're only in the television news business, a profession that is at times about two inches up from carnival barking. We must again separate it, television from terrorism. And we must again make the world safe for people condemned by the Fox News Channel. That's Countdown for this, the 2,223rd day since the previous President declared "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq. I’m Keith Olbermann. Good night and good luck.

No one is responsible for George Tiller's murder other than Scott Roeder, the suspect in Tiller's murder.

Dr. Tiller did kill babies. Stating that fact doesn't make one responsible for the alleged criminal and immoral actions of Roeder.

In one of the clips Olbermann picked to support his rant, O'Reilly says, "There's got to be a special place in hell for this guy."

That may be.

There's probably also a special place in hell for Tiller's murderer.

Question: If, God forbid, someone would physically harm Bill O'Reilly or others at FOX News, would Olbermann be responsible?

Would Olbermann be responsible for physical harm done to Dick Cheney or George W. Bush?

As incendiary as Olbermann's remarks are, he would not be responsible for those acts unless he instructed viewers to carry them out or if he committed the acts himself.

It's wrong to blame people that speak out against the murder of the innocent unborn for the criminal and immoral acts of individuals such as Roeder.

I have absolutely nothing to do with Tiller's murder, in spite of being staunchly pro-life and supporting pro-life groups.

A news report that I heard yesterday on 1130 WISN-AM stated something to the effect that EVEN anti-abortion proponents condemned the murder of Tiller.

That sickened me. What's with the "even"?

Disgusting. Of course, his murder is being condemned by people against abortion.

I don't want abortionists like Tiller to be murdered. Tiller didn't deserve to die. His wife and children don't deserve the terrible loss they've suffered because of a crazed murderer.

I do want abortionists to stop killing. I want them to stop because they realize that they are in the business of taking life.

Committing murder is wrong.

And Olbermann is a disgrace.