Olbermann awarded Beck "Worst Person" "bronze" for comments about California fires

During the October 22 edition of MSNBC's Countdown, host Keith Olbermann awarded syndicated radio host and CNN Headline News host Glenn Beck the "bronze" in his nightly "Worst Person in the World" segment for, as Media Matters for America documented, saying on the October 22 edition of his radio program, "I think there is a handful of people who hate America. Unfortunately for them, a lot of them are losing their homes in a forest fire today." Forest fires ravaged parts of Southern California, leaving one person dead and four firefighters wounded, according to The New York Times. Subsequent to Beck's comments, the Times reported that "[a] total of 250,000 people were evacuated, including inmates from one jail and patients from one hospital in the fires' path."

As Olbermann noted, Beck's comment immediately followed his statement that "we're all one America" and "just because I disagree with you doesn't mean you hate America, and I love America. We all love America. We just disagree on how we should function." Beck had been distinguishing his views from those of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), who, according to the Financial Times, "has urged Republican presidential candidates to capture the political centre ground ahead of next year's election by focusing on healthcare reform and education."

As Media Matters has documented (here, here, here, here, here, and here), Olbermann has frequently named Beck during his "Worst Person" segment. Olbermann also named a CNN executive "Worst Person" for hiring Beck to host his CNN Headline News show.

From the October 22 edition of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann:

OLBERMANN: That's ahead, but first, time for Countdown's "Worst Persons in the World."

The bronze: CNN's Glenn Beck. He says, quote, "We're all one America. Just because I disagree with you doesn't mean you hate America, and I love America. We all love America. We just disagree on how we should function, what we should do, big government, small government. It doesn't mean you hate America." Next sentence: "I think there's a handful of people who hate America. Unfortunately for them, a lot of them are losing their homes in a forest fire today."

Nice. Make fun of the California wildfires. How would you like to have to defend this guy at a sanity hearing?

—B.J.L.