GQ correspondent Tom Carson raises the question in a lengthy feature about MSNBC anchors Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann in this month’s issue.
Carson, citing Fox News Channel’s rise to the top of the ratings, writes, “Here’s an inconvenient truth, Keith: You should be rooting for John McCain. Across the spectrum, openly partisan news coverage does the most good and has the most pizzazz when it’s at odds with power.”
Carson compares and contrasts Olbermann with his election night counterpart Matthews:
Despite [Olbermann’s] affected ebullience, he can’t understand just loving the roller coaster, even though Matthews is giving him an encyclopedia’s worth of lessons in how political creatures digest reality.
Carson also compares Olbermann to FNC foil Bill O’Reilly: “When it comes to vanity getting its rocks off by posturing as moral outrage, I don’t see much daylight between them. That one is a bully and the other a scold is just a stylistic distinction that suits their constituencies.”
(illustration by Zohar Lazar, courtesy of GQ)