Keith Olbermann - Truth and Consequences: Special Comments on the Bush Administrations War on American Values

Acknowledgments

If youll do me the favor of reading them, these might constitute the oddest collection of acknowledgments youll ever see.

In addition to the collected thank-yous, a few acknowledgments of fact are merited:

that there are terrorists;

that there is a need to revise some of our expectations of our rights in the wake of how our century has thus unfolded;

that this all would have been taken a lot more seriously if the Bush administration had deemed homeland security a nonpartisan issue, and had a few members of the other party help lead the defense (you know, the way most presidents have done duringand I use this term because the administration has been so fond of itwartime);

and, most important, that just because the previous three things are true, that no more means we now have to surrender the Constitution or the two-party system than did the reality of the Cold War or the presence of the anarchists of the late nineteenth century or the existence of the Secesh movement.

We should also acknowledge, of course, that even the most enlightened government of all time was, by definition, a collective defense against fear of some kind. The best of them are in the protection game. The worst supply both cause and effect.

Now my expressions of gratitude. For pure patriotic inspiration: John Dean, Joe and Valerie Wilson, Elizabeth Edwards, and the high school teachers who opened my eyes to the incredible usefulness of history, particularly Walter Schneller and Peter Gibbon.

Among the staff of Countdown: our executive producer, Izzy Povich, and Greg Kordick, Denis Horgan, Rich Stockwell, Tina Cone, Eelin Reily, Brendan OMelia, Jonathan Larsen, Carey Fox, Brian Nalesnik, Joelle Myszka, David Shuster, and Monica Novotny. Among our analysts: Craig Crawford, Roger Cressey, Lawrence ODonnell, and Richard Wolffe. Among our MSNBC and NBC management: Jeff Zucker, Phil Griffin, Steve Capus, Bill Wolff, Cheryl Gould, Dan Abrams, and Neal Shapiro. And on the mother ship: Brian Williams, Andrea Mitchell, and Mike Boettcher.

Externally: my agent, Jean Sage, and my literary agent, Esther Newberg; the editor who coaxed a book out of all this, Tim Bartlett; and my friends Richard Lewis, Jeff Wald, Dan Patrick, Jason Bateman, Aaron Sorkin, and the late Hal Fishman. From the political arena: the Clinton family (especially Dorothy Rodham), Al Gore, John Kerry, Joe Biden, Harry Reid, and Dennis Kucinich.

Thanks also to all the visitors to YouTube, Crooks and Liars, Daily Kos, and every other website and viewer and reader who passed along links and videos. And of course, a man I never met but who I hope would approve: Edward R. Murrow.

And last and foremost, Katy Tur, who managed the seemingly mutually exclusive roles of girlfriend and editor (I love it. Too long). My eternal thanks, Bear.

Also by Keith Olbermann

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

KEITH OLBERMANN is the host of Countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC. A veteran broadcaster, he was the co-anchor (with Dan Patrick) of ESPNs SportsCenter from 1992 to 1997 and helped to launch ESPN2 and ESPN Radio Network. Olbermann is the recipient of numerous awards in radio and television broadcasting, including the Edward R. Murrow Award for his coverage of the events of 9/11. He has hosted prime-time news programs, moderated a debate between Democratic presidential candidates, anchored the World Series broadcast, and written for dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Newsweek, Time, and Sports Illustrated. He co-hosts MSNBCs election night coverage and NBCs Football Night America.

Conclusion

The Nexus of Politics and Terror

R elieved of orange, yellow, and red alerts, relieved of hovering attorneys general and shoot-from-the-hip vice presidents, the ex-secretary of Homeland Security could reflect, and reveal.

In retrospect, the quickly forgotten color-coded threat chart perplexed Tom Ridge. More often than not, he said on May 10, 2005, we [in the Department of Homeland Security] were the least inclined to raise it.

One pictures the jaw of the interviewer slowly dropping. Sometimes we disagreed with the intelligence assessment. Sometimes we thought even if the intelligence was good, you dont necessarily put the country on [alert]. One imagines Ridge looking dreamily into the distance as the reporter goes ashen, then faints. Some people were really aggressive about raising it [the threat level], and we said, for that?

You know what, Tom? I said that, too. And Im still saying it. Thanks for backing me up there.

There are terrorist plots.

And there are successful terrorist plots.

And, perhaps worst of all, there are successful terrorist plots pulled off by idiots. It can be argued that for any cleverness they showed, all of the 9/11 bombers were idiotsif their understanding of the extremist interpretation of their religion was wrong just in the slightest, they not only murdered and terrorized, but they also killed themselves for nothing. No starker definition of idiocy is possible.

It is indeed possible that a moron throwing lighted matches toward a barrel of gasoline against a gale force wind might still actually succeed in blowing up the barrel. Even a jackass who puts cleaning powder in an envelope and mails it to a newscaster can claim to be a successful terrorist, as can the chowderheaded newspapermen who publicize the act.

Never should we let our guard down; never should we dismiss the improbable or fantasy-driven plots of terrorist wannabesthey might just be stupid enough to succeed.

But that doesnt mean that every time we learn of one of their daydreams, our government should publicize, even boast of, interrupting a terrorist plot. As Roman emperor and unintentional philosopher Marcus Aurelius so incisively noted, we each encounter dishonesty, greed, selfishness, and falsehood every day. If were still surprised that it happens, we are now supplying the surprise.

Thus the concept of our Countdown series The Nexus of Politics and Terror. If a guy decides he wants to blow up the moon by shaking up a bottle of Coke with Mentos mixed into it, and the Department of Homeland Security arrests him and crows about stopping a dangerous terrorist, who is supplying the terror? And to what end?

The Nexus of Politics and Terror has never been about dismissing terror plots. Its about dismissing a government that proudly exposes every ludicrous scheme as if it were Osama bin Ladens most labyrinthine plan. Any such government shows itself either incapable of discriminating between potentially deadly criminals and nuts with more pipe dreams than pipe bombs, or exploiting the concept of terror to make sure we stay scared, 100 percent of the time. In so doing it is asking us to surrender first our common sense, then our ability to discern, and finally our freedom.

Better safe than sorry ignores a disturbing truth about the days since September 11, 2001. Safe and sorry are not mutually exclusive nor mutually inclusive. We can be safe, and still very sorry indeedand we can be sorry, and still anything from safe.

So, as I have presented them on Countdown, here are the fourteen prime examples into August 2007, when the juxtaposition of terror plot revelations and the political need for smokescreens and diversions were the most blatant. As I caution each time we air this compilation: There is every reasonable chance that the malefactors accused intended all manner of heinous results. There is also a reasonable chance that a similar chronological list could be constructed out of terror plot revelations and the openings of Dairy Queens around the country.