As Olbermann concluded his rant, he addressed Bush: "You instructed no one to mail the fake Anthrax [received by Olbermann], nor undermine the FBI's case, nor call for the execution of the editors of the New York Times, nor threaten to assassinate Stephanie Miller, nor beat up a man yelling at Senator George Allen, nor have the First Lady knife Michael J. Fox, nor tell John McCain to lie about John Kerry. No, you did not, sir. And the genius of the thing is the same as in King Henry's rhetorical question about Archbishop Thomas Becket: 'Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?' All you have to do, sir, is hand out enough new canes."

     [This item by Brad Wilmouth was posted, with video, Wednesday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org. The video/audio will be added to the posted version of this CyberAlert, but in the meantime, to watch the Real or Windows Media or to listen to the MP3 audio, go to: newsbusters.org ]

     MSNBC.com has posted a transcript with MSN video: www.msnbc.msn.com
     Olbermann began his nearly 12-minute long "Special Comment" by describing the 1856 cane attack by South Carolina Congressman Brooks on Massachusetts Senator Sumner because of Sumner's opposition to slavery, which the MSNBC host described as a time when "the deteriorating American political system veered towards the edge of the cliff," although "others will cite John Brown's attack on the arsenal at Harper's Ferry as the exact point after which the Civil War became inevitable." Tying in President Bush, Olbermann contended that "Tonight, we almost wonder to whom President Bush will send the next new cane," and accused Bush and the GOP of a willingness to "exploit" any political division. Olbermann's tie-in with the 19th century slavery debate and Civil War is reminiscent of the time Olbermann seemed to compare those who supported President Bush after his much-criticized response to Hurricane Katrina with those who supported the racist, pro-slavery 1864 candidacy of George McClellan against Abraham Lincoln. See: www.mrc.org

     Somewhat later in Olbermann's rant, he brought up accusations of racism by Republicans over the controversial RNC campaign ad, featuring a white woman, that attacked Tennessee Senate candidate Harold Ford's attendance of a Playboy party. Olbermann accused Bush of getting his "henchmen to take advantage of the evil lingering dregs of the fear of miscegenation in Tennessee, in your party's advertisement against Harold Ford."

     After contending that Al Gore and John Kerry had both been "too cordial" to President Bush in past presidential campaigns, the Countdown host brought up the possibility that Bush is "far more stupid than the worst of your critics have suggested" and is unable to "follow the construction of a simple sentence." Notably, Olbermann himself has a history of distorting the words of those he criticizes: In 2004, the MSNBC host used selectively edited clips of Vice President Cheney to make it appear Cheney had argued that Iraq was involved in the 9/11 attacks as a justification for the Iraq invasion. See: www.mrc.org

     In 2005, Olbermann accused FNC's John Gibson and talk radio host Janet Parshall of sounding like terrorists from "an al-Qaeda show on Al-Jazeera" as Olbermann distorted Gibson's remarks about the American tradition of majority religions tolerating minority religions: newsbusters.org

     On Jay Leno's show, Olbermann even accused FNC host Bill O'Reilly of defending the Nazis from World War II because of O'Reilly's mixup of the events of the Malmedy Massacre. See: www.mrc.org

     In his Wednesday "Special Comment," in light of Kerry's recent apology for his controversial comments, Olbermann soon called on President Bush to apologize to American troops for several actions related to the Iraq invasion, and then moved to attack Republican Senator John McCain for his own denunciation of Kerry's comments, charging that McCain "should be ashamed of himself," and, again referring to the Sumner beating, referred to "the symbolic stick" McCain had broken "over Kerry's head." After labeling McCain's anti-Kerry comments a "cheap and tawdry political trick" and accusing him of being a "front man in a collective lie to break sticks over the heads of Democrats," the MSNBC host, who has a habit of suggesting that the "Orwellian" President Bush is a threat to the free speech rights of Olbermann and other administration critics for simply responding to their anti-Bush attacks, himself argued that McCain should not practice his own right to free speech because McCain campaigned against a wounded Iraq War veteran a fellow veteran who is now running as a Democrat for Congress in Illinois:
     "He said all this while demanding that the voters of Illinois reject a candidate who is not only a wounded Iraq veteran, but who lost two limbs there, Tammy Duckworth. Support some of the wounded veterans, but bad-mouth the Democratic one. And exploit all the veterans and all the still-serving personnel in a cheap and tawdry political trick to try to bury the truth: that John Kerry said the President had been stupid. And to continue this slander as late as this morning, as biased or gullible or lazy newscasters nodded in sleep-walking assent, Senator McCain became a front man in a collective lie to break sticks over the heads of Democrats, one of them his friend, another his fellow veteran, legless, for whom he should weep and applaud or at minimum about whom he should stay quiet."

     Olbermann lambasted Bush for "redefining" America and getting "a tortured Vietnam veteran to attack a decorated Vietnam veteran in defense of military personnel whom that decorated veteran did not insult" before moving on to inject racism into the discussion by referring to the controversial RNC ad being run against Democratic Senate candidate Harold Ford in Tennessee: "This is our beloved country now as you have redefined it, Mr. Bush. Get a tortured Vietnam veteran to attack a decorated Vietnam veteran in defense of military personnel whom that decorated veteran did not insult. Or get your henchmen to take advantage of the evil lingering dregs of the fear of miscegenation in Tennessee, in your party's advertisement against Harold Ford."

     Bush moved on to blame Bush for other controversial actions by his supporters, including, referring to Rush Limbaugh's criticism of Michael J. Fox, "getting someone to make fun of the cripple." Olbermann again brought up recent relatively innocuous comments about Fox by First Lady Laura Bush and contended that Bush has "already assured that the terrorists are winning," and accused Bush of "systematic, institutionalized laying and smearing and terrorizing."

     Olbermann: "Oh, and sir, don't forget to drag your own wife into it. 'It's always easy,' she said of Mr. Fox's commercials, and she used this phrase twice, 'It's always easy to manipulate people's feelings.' Where on Earth might the First Lady have gotten that idea, Mr. President? From your endless manipulation of people's feelings about terrorism? 'Wherever they put it,' you said Monday of the Democrats, on the subject of Iraq, 'their approach comes down to this: The terrorists win, and America loses.' No manipulation of feelings there. No manipulation of the charlatans of your administration into the only truth-tellers. No shocked outrage at the Kerry insult that wasn't; no subtle smile as the First Lady silently sticks the knife in Michael J. Fox's back; no attempt on the campaign trail to bury the reality that you have already assured that the terrorists are winning....And here we have deliberate, systematic, institutionalized lying and smearing and terrorizing, a code of deceit that somehow permits a president to say, 'If you listen carefully for a Democrat plan for success, they don't have one,' permits him to say this while his plan in Iraq has amounted to a twisted version of the advice once offered to Lyndon Johnson about his Iraq, the thing called Vietnam. Instead of 'declare victory and get out' we now have 'declare victory and stay indefinitely.'"

     Olbermann then linked President Bush to recent instances of threats against administration critics, including an Anthrax hoax perpetrated against Olbermann:
     "And also here, we have institutionalized the terrorizing of the opposition. True domestic terror. Critics of your administration in the media, sir, receive letters filled with fake Anthrax. Braying newspapers, sir, applaud or laugh and reveal details the FBI asked to have kept quiet, and thus impede or ruin the investigation. A series of reactionary columnists, sir, encourage treason charges against a newspaper that published supposed 'national security information' that was openly available on the Internet. One radio critic receives a letter threatening the revelation of as much personal information about her as can be obtained and expressing the hope that someone will then shoot her with an AK-47 machine gun. And finally, a critic of the incumbent Republican Senator, a critic armed with nothing but words, is attacked by the Senator's supporters and thrown to the floor in full view of television cameras as if someone really did want to re-enact the intent, and the rage, of the day Preston Brooks found Senator Charles Sumner."

     Olbermann concluded by charging that, in a manner reminiscent of King Henry's suggestion that Archbishop Thomas Becket should be killed, President Bush has indirectly inspired his supporters to go after Bush's critics, even blaming Bush indirectly for an Anthrax hoax against Olbermann himself:
     "Of course, Mr. President, you did none of these things. You instructed no one to mail the fake Anthrax, nor undermine the FBI's case, nor call for the execution of the editors of the New York Times, nor threaten to assassinate Stephanie Miller, nor beat up a man yelling at Senator George Allen, nor have the First Lady knife Michael J. Fox, nor tell John McCain to lie about John Kerry. No, you did not, sir. And the genius of the thing is the same as in King Henry's rhetorical question about Archbishop Thomas Becket: 'Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?' All you have to do, sir, is hand out enough new canes. I'm Keith Olbermann. Good night and good luck."

     Olbermann's teasers and introduction to the show:

     Keith Olbermann, in opening teaser: "And presumably the President will now apologize to the troops for creating a war with no plan, no exit strategy, and no hope, for mocking them in a tuxedo while they died in Iraq.
     George W. Bush: "Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere. Nope, no weapons over there. Maybe under here."
     Olbermann: "My 'Special Comment' about the apologies Mr. Bush owes and about his new policy of talking loudly while letting others swing the big stick."

     Olbermann, introducing the show: "Good evening. This is Wednesday, November 1st, six days until the 2006 midterm elections. In the words of then-President Gerald Ford, 'My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.' Senator John Kerry having now apologized for the misinterpretation, the deliberate misinterpretation of what was actually a joke or an insult at the expense of the President. The White House having already said tonight that Senator Kerry has done the right thing, so why, in our fifth story on the Countdown, have the Republicans rushed a campaign manifesto onto the Web site using the video of Kerry's comments and decided not to take it down. And ahead this hour, my 'Special Comment.' We have Senator Kerry's apology to the troops. So where are the ones from the President to the troops?"

     For the complete transcript of Olbermann's "Special Comment" from the November 1 Countdown show, check Brad Wilmouth's NewsBusters posting: newsbusters.org