The truth is, I've attempted emailing you, but they bounce back to my inbox with great rapidity. (I fully understand you could easily be overwhelmed by sheer email volume from fans and, given prior circumstances, can't blame you for not allowing direct email.) What surprised me was the huge amount of feedback I recieved tonight. (I may have to invoke your name on all of my diaries now just to get readers... kidding.) I'm never amazed at the discouragement of thought in this country - it seems to me to be the status quo. The dumbing down of the entire nation has been going on for decades - how else will we buy the bs they peddle and swallow the gall without complaint, except that they make us numb and complacent? I prefer to think in the terms of my great-great-great grandfather, John Adams - "Abuse of words has been the great instrument of sophistry and chicanery, of party, faction, and division of society." Perhaps a thought for the day for Mrs. Clinton? Or too harsh?
 

On the recent loss of the teacher who was so influential in your life. I was very moved by tribute you gave the other night: Walter Schneller sounds like a Best Person indeed! We all owe him a debt of gratitude for fostering your interest in history and politics, and I'm sure he was incredibly proud of you and your work.

And I want to thank you for reminding me that an email or phone call is long overdue to the Mr. Schneller in my life. I had an English teacher who played a similar role in shaping my interests and career. He challenged me relentlessly in several classes I took with him. He threw down assignments that sometimes made me chafe and bristle, and he always gave my papers back slathered in red, often bearing ridiculously low grades. But the crusty Welshman knew that getting my Irish up was the way to get me to perform. And so I did. I'm not the only professional writer he minted.

When I was back in Hawaii for a reunion a year and a half ago, I dropped by his house for lunch. We spent four hours catching up. In truth, though, he's with me every day at the keyboard. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Thanks for sharing a little of Mr. Schneller with us. I trust he will always be with you as well.

...(and I know the odds of a reply are microscopic, partially due to the loaded nature of the question) just to have it out and floating in the ether...

Does the KO Lovefest here ever (or, ahem, frequently) get to be just too ridiculous for you? I remember, from a couple of years back, an interview in which you said that some bloggers are "desperately and unfairly favorable to me." While pleasantly self-effacing, the comment made me wonder if the apparent willingness of some to worship the ground you walk on is an embarrassment to you.

We tread some fine lines here on the intertubes, I know. Sometimes we cross those lines in leaps and bounds. A community like this one means well a great deal of the time -- primary season bringing obvious exceptions, of course. I hope that would factor into your reaction were kossacks ever to start, say, telling those lame Chuck Norris jokes differently (the basic "Keith Olbermann's tears can cure cancer; too bad he doesn't cry").

My point sounds silly to me, but I'm basically still a kid (trying to graduate from college this summer), so I'm going to plead naivete as the reason I worry about the dignity of the blogosphere; it's been tenuous for a long time. I also worry about how we treat public figures who are real people, even if they are big damn heroes, such as yourself. The web can be brutally dehumanizing. Someone who takes the time to interact with a fanbase deserves better than that.

(This is likely a wholly unoriginal question, but after all, it's a big site, and comments can slip by busy folks.)

Not as appreciative, telling, or descriptive as "Leigh3352's" fine diary, but I know you're a busy man. Especially busy fighting the wars that many of us here on dkos take up but obviously, you help us and those causes exponentially with your national visibility. Thanks again KO.

Will you include her? :)

...for being one of the last remaining sources of truth and honesty in an industry where people will say and do anything just to get one more viewer or one more dollar. We truly appreciate what you do.

It's just the nature of the beast (greedy).

  Hey Keith,
    If you read this, or if one of your (very talented) people reads it and passes it along, PLEASE ask Tom Brokaw what happened to the Obama 50, i.e, the SuperDelagates who before March 4th were about to come out for Obama, but decided (ostensibly because of the [non-]groundswell Hillary received to only keep up the meowing.
  It's because these folks are behaving like great big ...um... kittys, that the Democratic "race" goes on, to the benefit of "100 year War McCain."