Of course, all of this relating to his amusement over the Spongebob Squarepants saga.
Keith, blogging from vacation:
The video itself-- which we showed on Countdown-- contains not a single reference to sexuality (and only about four clips of SpongeBob-- heck, the Count from Sesame Street stole the damn picture). And the advice to the teachers seemed pretty logical (as opposed to telling a seven-year old that his best friend and his two Mommies were all going to Hell).
The spam e-mails began coming in Tuesday night. They were pretty routine, damning me to eternal fires and reminding me what they "did" to Dan Rather and how I'd be next. But they were generated from Dobson's own website, which of course negates their impact, and as a result a lot of them were downright hilarious.
More:
One particularly useful one included the actual instructions on the Website as to how to conduct the campaign, which I reproduce here in full:
"Action Alert
Set the Media Straight on SpongeBob
Urge them to stop distorting Dr. Dobson's words
Hundreds of media outlets in recent days have vastly distorted comments made by Dr. James Dobson designed to warn parents of efforts to promote homosexuality to their children through the schools. Dr. Dobson has been mocked for saying that a group calling itself the We Are Family Foundation is using a video on "tolerance" -- one which features popular cartoon characters like SpongeBob SquarePants -- to potentially teach children that homosexuality is the moral and biological equivalent to heterosexuality. Instead of reporting those concerns accurately, though, reporters have twisted the story to say Dr. Dobson has suggested SpongeBob is gay.
Among the greatest offenders in the media:
- New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, who sarcastically wrote Dr. Dobson had done "the country a service be reminding us to watch out for the dark side of lovable but malleable sponges."
- Today show anchor Matt Lauer, who suggested that "Focus has made a mistake and really doesn't want to apologize for it."
- MSNBC.com columnist Michael Ventre, who called Christians "creepy, rigid, arrogant, cruel, know-it-all, pompous, obnoxious and treacherous -- better know by the acronym CRACKPOT." He added: "They are giving Jesus Christ a bad name."
- Crossfire host James Carville, who said: "How stupid am I? I thought these (tolerance and diversity) were actual virtues."
- MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann, who said: "If the folks at Focus on the Family are right, it could make you, your children or maybe your furniture gay. Or tolerant."
While definitely aggressive, Dobson's crew is evidently not made up of the brightest bulbs on the Xmas tree. (Oops! In writing "Xmas," did I just take the Christ out of Christmas?)
Read Keith's blog here:
Keith's Blog
As many of you know, I live in perpetual fear that the every right-leaning MSNBC will get fed up with Keith's glorious snarkiness and pull the plug on COUNTDOWN. So, if you are so inclined, drop him an email and cancel out all those from Spongebob Haters Anonymous.
KOlbermann@msnbc.com