We Don't Blame You, Pat

Sajak, that is. Mr. Sajak was kind enough to issue an apology recently for Keith Olbermann. Why, you might ask? Many years ago, Mr. Sajak often had Olbermann on his show as a sports analyst. He enjoyed his wry sense of humor and intellect. Hey, so did I, in all honesty.I used to DVR "Countdown," wouldn't miss it. That was then, this is now, and no way in hell will I give him the traffic.

As for Mr. Sajak, the same thing. This was then. To give you an idea, this is what Keith used to be like:



Funny, right? Perfectly entertaining. But something happened in 2008 that just seemed to send him off the rails. Mr. Sajak seems to feel the same way, given he issued an apology, which he did through Ricochet.com:

[snip] Keith tended to wear out his welcome at stations and networks, and he bounced around to several places before he found his niche at MSNBC. When he first went on the air there, he was actually quite entertaining. He was wry and amusing, and he looked at the news at a kind of cockeyed angle that I enjoyed.

I’m not sure how he morphed into the bitter-sounding, hate-mongering name-caller he’s become, but I’m sorry he did. I liked the guy, and he was always a good guest. Maybe it’s just show business and trying to find a place in it and building an audience, but I don’t know. We were never friends away from the show, so I can’t even guess what drives him.

I do know that to whatever extent the political well has been poisoned, Keith has dumped more than his share of venom into the water. I’d like to think he knows that and maybe even regrets it. I liked the Keith Olbermann of 1989. This tape reminded me that I miss him. (Click here to read the rest.)

Well, you will get zero argument from me that Olbermann dumped more than his share of venom into the political well. The extent of his poisonous ranting has been well documented.

But you know Mr. Olbermann was not going to take this lying down. Why should he? He is probably one of the few people who can be suspended from work, and make his employers apologize to him in order for him to return. Go figure. Anyway, the long and short of Olbermann's retort is that Sajak did not introduce him to a national audience. Yeah, okay, Keith - whatever you say (am I alone in not believing what he says? Yeah, didn't think so.).

I appreciate Mr. Sajak's taking the time, and bearing the responsibility, for apologizing for unleashing Olbermann onto the national scene, but it isn't his fault. We don't blame the Wheel of Fortune man. How could he possibly know that the funny, quirky sportscaster he had on his show was going to turn into someone who said crap like this:



Yikes. And anyone who listened to this man during the 2008 Primary knows for Olbermann to throw the terms "sexist" at someone else is just laughable. Laughable. The manner in which he has talked about both Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin make him the last person in the world to be taken seriously hurling that charge at another. Who could forget statements like this from the lips of Mr. Olbermann, "Right. Somebody who can take her into a room and only he comes out." So, this man, who is threatening violence against a woman, and not just any woman - a sitting US Senator, thinks he can call anyone else a "sexist"? Yeah, that would be laughable if it wasn't so despicable.

Again, anyone who watched him during the 2008 Primaries/Campaign know the type of rhetoric to which Mr. Sajak was referring. He couldn't know, couldn't possibly know, that this is who the once-funny sportscaster would become...

Consider this an Open Thread.