Friday Frivolity: The Current TV Values Edition (Update: Instalink and Pattericolanche!)

Update: Linked and quoted by Insty twice.  And linked by Patterico.  Newcomers might enjoy my multiple posts on the Obamacare arguments (here, here, here and here), and on the Martin/Zimmerman shooting (start here and work backwards).

So today we get word that Keith Olberman has been fired.  Again.  His viewer must be devastated.  One suspects that this might have something to do with the lawsuit involving James O’Keefe, but truthfully that is rank speculation.  I have no idea what brought this on, perhaps because I don’t have Current TV and wouldn’t be caught dead watching it if I did.

But via twitter, Olberman put out a statement today, 140 characters at a time.  And I will aggregate it into something easier to read:

I'll be putting out my statement in two ways: 140 characters at a time, and then in one fell swoop via Twitlonger.

I'd like to apologize to my viewers and my staff for the failure of Current TV. Editorially, Countdown had never been better.  But for more than a year I have been imploring @AlGore and @JoelHyatt to resolve our issues internally, while I've been not publicizing my complaints, and keeping the show alive for the sake of its loyal viewers and even more loyal staff.  Nevertheless, Mr. Gore and Mr. Hyatt, instead of abiding by their promises and obligations and investing in a quality news program, finally thought it was more economical to try to get out of my contract. It goes almost without saying that the claims against me in Current's statement are untrue and will be proved so in the legal actions I will be filing against them presently.

To understand Mr. Hyatt’s “values of respect, openness, collegiality and loyalty,” I encourage you to read of a previous occasion Mr. Hyatt found himself in court for having unjustly fired an employee. That employee’s name was Clarence B. Cain: [link to this article.]

In due course, the truth of the ethics of Mr. Gore and Mr. Hyatt will come out. For now, it is important only to again acknowledge that joining them was a sincere and well-intentioned gesture on my part, but in retrospect a foolish one.

That lack of judgment is mine and mine alone, and I apologize again for it.

Meanwhile, Current TV put out a statement that explained that “We are moving ahead by honoring Current's values.”  And how did they honor Current TV’s values?  By replacing Olbermann with a whoremonger:

We’re very excited to announce that beginning tonight, former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer will host “Viewpoint with Eliot Spitzer,” at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT.

Well, we have indeed learned a great deal about their values, haven’t we?

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