During the August 3 edition of MSNBC's Countdown, host Keith Olbermann named Denver radio host “Gunny” Bob Newman the “winner” of his nightly “Worst Person in the World” segment for, as Colorado Media Matters documented, mischaracterizing retired Gen. Wesley Clark's comments on the July 26 edition of Countdown about the death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman. Olbermann quoted Newman saying, “Wes Clark is claiming that former NFL player turned Army Ranger Pat Tillman may have been murdered on orders from the president of the United States. I wish I was making this up, but the thing is Clark made the claim on live TV on MSNBC. And we have him on video and we have the transcripts of the appearance to boot.” Olbermann responded: “Maybe in that VCR in your mind, pal, but not in reality. You are making it up. I asked General Clark about the report that investigators weren't even permitted to inquire if Pat Tillman was murdered. He said that the cover-up of whatever really happened to the American hero must have gone up the chain of command.”

Additionally, Olbermann named President Bush “runner-up” in “Worst Person” for, as Media Matters for America noted, “holding another off-the-record Oval Office chat with conservative talk show hosts Glenn Beck, Bill Bennett, Neal Boortz, Scott Hennen, Hugh Hewitt, Laura Ingraham, Lars Larson, Mark Levin, Michael Medved, and Janet Parshall.” Olbermann said, “Certainly likes to hear a variety of opinions, doesn't he?”

Olbermann awarded Fox News host Bill O'Reilly the “bronze” for, as Media Matters also documented, “blast[ing] the conservative website Free Republic for permitting people to post comments there like '[Sen.] Hillary Clinton [D-NY] should be assassinated,' unquote.” Olbermann said: “Bill, there have been posts threatening her life made on BillOReilly.com.” Olbermann added: “Also, a reminder to conservatives: To save his skin, Bill-O will happily throw you under the bus too.”

As Media Matters has documented (here, here, here, and here), Olbermann frequently names O'Reilly during his “Worst Person” segment. Recently, Olbermann named O'Reilly “Worst Person” for stating: “Most Americans don't want to hurt any poor Mexican people. They want to know who they are. They want to know where they are, what they're doing. They don't want them clustering in neighborhoods and changing the whole tempo of the neighborhood.”

From the August 3 edition of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann:

OLBERMANN: The bronze to Bill-O, trying to dig himself out of the hole that he's made about the website the Daily Kos. He has now blasted the conservative website Free Republic for permitting people to post comments there like, “Hillary Clinton should be assassinated,” unquote. Bill, there have been posts threatening her life made on BillOReilly.com, right near that warning that reads that you won't, quote, “be held liable for any user activity on the message boards. We do not actively monitor user-submitted content.”

Also a reminder to conservatives: To save his skin, Bill-O will happily throw you under the bus too.

The runner-up tonight: President Bush, holding another off-the-record Oval Office chat with conservative talk show hosts Glenn Beck, Bill Bennett, Neal Boortz, Scott Hennen, Hugh Hewitt, Laura Ingraham, Lars Larson, Mark Levin, Michael Medved, and Janet Parshall. Certainly likes to hear a variety of opinions doesn't he? The good news is that among them, the president and the 10 water carriers did set a Guinness Book of Records mark for most lifetime lies by 11 people in the same room.

But our winner, “Gunny” Bob Newman, Denver talker, angling for an invite to next year's event at the White House by lying entirely about what General Wesley Clark said on this newscast on the 26th of last month. Newman said, quote, “Wes Clark is claiming that former NFL player turned Army Ranger Pat Tillman may have been murdered on orders from the president of the United States. I wish I was making this up, but the thing is Clark made the claim on live TV on MSNBC. And we have him on video and we have the transcripts of the appearance to boot.”

Maybe in that VCR in your mind, pal, but not in reality. You are making it up. I asked General Clark about the report that investigators weren't even permitted to inquire if Pat Tillman was murdered. He said that the cover-up of whatever really happened to the American hero must have gone up the chain of command. Here's the actual tape.

CLARK: [video clip] Where did the idea that you shouldn't give any indication of what happened to Tillman? Just go ahead and go through with the burial ceremony. Give him the Silver Star. Where was that idea blessed? You can be sure that that idea did not originate or stop at the two- or three-star level. That was -- someone approved that all the way to the top, because Pat Tillman was a political symbol used by the administration when it suited their purposes.

OLBERMANN: This idiot Newman called General Clark a bizarre conspiracy-theorist crackpot. No, sir. A conspiracy-theorist crackpot is somebody who takes the plain facts that are right in front of them on tape and deliberately alters them to fit their own paranoia. Somebody like “Gunny” Bob Newman, today's Worst Person in the World.