Olbermann awarded Savage “Worst Person” for calling Madeleine Albright a “traitor” who “should be hung,” named O'Reilly runner-up for claiming North Korea favors Dems

Written by Andrew Ironside

Published


On the October 10 edition of MSNBC's Countdown, host Keith Olbermann named nationally syndicated radio host Michael Savage the winner of his nightly “Worst Person in the World” award for claiming, as Media Matters for America documented, that former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright “should be tried for treason, and when she is found guilty, she should be hung.” Olbermann then said: "[F]irstly, you would look a little less like a mental patient if you remember that it's hanged, not hung. Secondly, [Secretary of Defense] Donald Rumsfeld was on the board of the company that got the contract for those nuclear reactors. Mike, you gonna make sure he gets hung, too?"

Olbermann also awarded Fox News host Bill O'Reilly the runner-up “Worst Person” for asserting, as Media Matters also noted, that “the reason North Korea is causing trouble is that it wants to influence the November election.” Olbermann joked: “Listen, Bill-O, the Republicans don't need Kim Jong Il's help to screw up their chances in this election; they're doing a great job of it by themselves.”

Savage and O'Reilly have frequently been featured during Olbermann's “Worst Person” segment. Most recently, Savage was awarded the runner-up “Worst Person” for claiming that the “average prostitute” is “more reliable and more honest than most U.S. senators wearing a dress.” O'Reilly was honored with “the bronze” on the October 9 edition of Countdown, for attacking “the Cleveland Plain Dealer for publishing a negative review of his novel,” while failing to “identify one thing factually incorrect about that review.” Olbermann remarked: “Bill, your book sucks. Some people are gonna buy it anyway. Shut up and take the check.”

From the October 10 edition of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann:

OLBERMANN: Our runner-up: Bill Orally -- the tortured logic of the tortured soul. “Now the reason North Korea is causing trouble is that it wants to influence the November election. This is not a partisan statement. It is a fact” -- an officially authorized Republican fact. Listen, Bill-O, the Republicans don't need Kim Jong Il's help to screw up their chances in this election; they're doing a great job of it by themselves.

But our winner, Michael Weiner Savage; labeling Madeleine Albright a, quote, “traitor” because the Clinton administration was in office when North Korea bought two nuclear reactors from a Western company in 2000. Saying former Secretary Albright should be, quote, “tried for treason, and when she is found guilty, she should be hung, and when she is hung” -- firstly, you'd look a little less like a mental patient if you remember that it's hanged, not hung. Secondly, Donald Rumsfeld was on the board of the company that got the contract for those nuclear reactors. Mike, you gonna make sure he gets hung, too? Michael Weiner Savage: today's Worst Person in the World.

From the October 9 edition of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann:

OLBERMANN: The bronze, speaking of which, here come the reviews. Bill-O has slammed the Cleveland Plain Dealer for publishing a negative review of his novel. I actually wore a windbreaker to my book cover photo shoot because the reviewer works with a progressive media watchdog. But, Commander Prothero could not identify one thing factually incorrect about that review. Bill, your book sucks. Some people are gonna buy it anyway. Shut up and take the check and then send Andrea Mackris her 30 percent or whatever it is.

Andrew Ironside is an intern at Media Matters for America.