The Peter-principle Pundit

Keith Olbermann blogs. Who knew? Better yet, who cares?

My first encounter with him came in the mid-, late-80's when he arrived as a local sportscaster in Los Angeles. His sarcastic wit went far to make him a very different and enjoyable change-of-pace (his finest moment came during a local LA Rams post-game show where he described the NY Giants feelings of inadequacy about Ram rookie RB Robert Delpino as "Delpino envy").

Such has never really been put to much good use in his current role as political-news commentator. It just makes him sound like he thinks he knows more than he does. Always a good recipe for looking foolish.

Yesterday, he wrote a post titled The resignation of Scott McLellan. Unfortunately for him, he comes off looking too much like a snarky know-it-all and not enough like an insightful pundit. My favorite doesn't-have-anything-to-do-with-anything-point?

This one: The way Craig Crawford reconstructed it, this one went similarly to the way the Killian Memos story evolved at the White House. The news organization turns to the administration for a denial. The administration says nothing. The news organization runs the story. The administration jumps on the necks of the news organization with both feet - or has its proxies do it for them.

That's beyond shameful. It's treasonous.

The White House reaction is understandable, and in my opinion correct. But the reaction has nothing to do with the incident. Newsweek screwed the pooch, bigtime. As more than one smart-writer has noted, anybody with a brain could predict the result of publicizing such an incident.

That is the salient point of the discussion, and the Administration's reaction to it neither adds to nor detracts from it's centrality. Though for a Peter-principle pundit who regularly chases the shiniest object he spies on the floor, I guess this represents another opportunity to show off that glowing intellect.

Free advice is often worth just what is paid for it, but Keith would be better off getting back to describing the Giants' case of Delpino-envy. He's much better at reading sports copy than political analysis. Honest.