Olbermann bestowed "Worst Person" honors on conservative media figures for attack on Clinton

On the January 24 edition of MSNBC's Countdown, host Keith Olbermann honored the "yakkers of the irrational right" with his "Worst Person in the World" award for hyping a discredited post on the NewsBusters weblog that baselessly suggested Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) had recorded the video announcing her presidential bid months ago. The "yakkers of the irrational right" included CNN Headline News' Glenn Beck, radio hosts Neal Boortz and Rush Limbaugh, and Fox News hosts Steve Doocy and Sean Hannity.

As Media Matters for America noted, NewsBusters updated the post to suggest that its original speculation about when Clinton taped the announcement was baseless, and Newsday reported that Clinton had filmed the video the previous week at her home in Washington, D.C.

Nevertheless, Beck, Boortz, Limbaugh, Doocy, and Hannity all touted the allegation that the announcement had been filmed earlier to suggest, in Olbermann's words, that Clinton "was guilty of media manipulation."

From the January 24 edition of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann:

OLBERMANN: But our winners: a tie among the yakkers of the irrational right, Glenn Beck, Neal Boortz, Steve Doocy, Sean Hannity, and comedian Rush Limbaugh. Each announced that Senator Clinton's online campaign announcement had to have been recorded months ago because you could see some green on the trees in the background and she, thus, was guilty of media manipulation. Their source, apparently, the infamous wacky website NewsBusters.

As National Public Radio's Juan Williams pointed out on Fox Noise, the senator taped the statement last week at her home here in Washington, near Rock Creek Park, which, believe it or not, is still a little green. A little green, like Glenn Beck, Neal Boortz, Steve Doocy, Sean Hannity, and comedian Rush Limbaugh, today's "Worst Persons in the World."

—J.M.