Olbermann named Bozell “Worst Person” for claiming “100 generals ... would disagree” with NBC's characterization of Iraq as “a civil war”

Written by Andrew Ironside

Published

On the November 30 edition of MSNBC's Countdown, host Keith Olbermann awarded Media Research Center president L. Brent Bozell III winner of his nightly “Worst Person in the World” segment for claiming, as Media Matters for America documented, that “probably 100 generals in the field in Iraq would disagree” with NBC News' “decision to call [the war in Iraq] a civil war,” without providing any examples. Bozell recently was part of a “five-way tie” for “Worst Person” along with Fox News host Sean Hannity, nationally syndicated radio host Laura Ingraham, Boston University professor Bob Zelnick, and Fox News host Bill O'Reilly, who all distorted media tycoon Ted Turner's explanation for why he has a problem with President Bush's statement, “You're either with us or against us,” as Media Matters also noted.

Additionally, Roger Hedgecock, guest host of The Rush Limbaugh Show, received “the bronze” for claiming, as Media Matters also noted: "[T]he murder rate in Baghdad, the people being killed in Baghdad, is lower than the murder rate in Washington, D.C." Olbermann then observed, as Media Matters also documented: “The rate of death by violence in Baghdad is actually about seven times greater than that of Washington.”

From the November 30 edition of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann:

OLBERMANN: But first, time for Countdown's latest list of nominees for “Worst Person in the World.” And there's a theme tonight: reactions to the NBC editorial decision to start calling the Iraq civil war, the Iraq civil war.

The bronze to Rush Limbaugh's fill-in host Roger Hedgecock. No, that's not really his name, is it? OK, Roger Hedgecock. “The murder rate in Baghdad, the people being killed in Baghdad, is lower than the murder rate of Washington, D.C.,” he says. “Is Washington, D.C. in a civil war?” Well, the statistics from the Brookings Institution are in. The rate of death by violence in Baghdad is actually about seven times greater than that of Washington. Nice try, Skeezix .

[...]

But tonight's winner, the inimitable bozo himself, Brent Bozell, creator of the self-described Media Research Council [sic: Center]. Even though in August and September alone, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General [Peter] Pace, and General [John] Abizaid and General [George] Casey and General [Peter] Chiarelli all admitted that at minimum, Iraq could be headed to civil war, Bozell said of the decision to call it a civil war, quote, “probably 100 generals in the field in Iraq would disagree.” OK, name them. We're waiting. Make it easier, just name 25. Brent Bozell, today's “Worst Person in the World.”