Olbermann's Attack on 9/11 Memorial at RNC

A memorial tribute was played to the victims of 9/11 last night at the Republican Convention. Keith Olbermann found it disturbing.



"It is a subject of great pain for many of us still and was probably not appropriate to be shown," he said. Yes Keith, it was graphic, and it did stir up memories. But while those memories that are painful, they should never be forgotten. There are some events that come -- thankfully once a generation -- that define us as a nation. In these events, we honor the dead not just because they died, but because of their motivation, patriotism and love of country. Such is the case with the defenders of the Alamo; or the hundreds of thousands whose blood was spilled by the hand of brothers at Gettysburg, Manassas, and Antietam; or the so many young servicemen killed in a surprise attack at Pearl Harbor. The list goes on and on. But in every waking moment, we must be grateful for their ultimate sacrifice.

Yes Keith, being reminded of the sacrifices of Sept. 11th is painful. But closing our eyes to what happened on that day would be more painful. If we forgot those heroes, we would be guilty of wasting their bravery. The firefighters who climbed those stairwells, or the passengers who fought back on a jet over Pennsylvania, as well as the other 3,000 heroes deserved to be remembered. Tributes to those heroes are never out of place, and last night's video was done in good taste. There was no politics involved. It would have been appropriate to run the same video at the DNC in Denver. Not once was McCain's name used, nor was there a push to vote Republican. It's too bad you feel shame in their tribute, because most Americans are proud of them.

And yes, I knew two victims of that day as well. I will never forget them, neither should anyone else.

UPDATE, 12:25 p.m. Sept. 5: The Olbermann Watch blog makes a point worth reinforcing. Last night's commentary came from the same "neutral news anchor" who repeatedly screamed for media access to take pictures of our military heores' flag-draped coffins coming home from Iraq, despite family wishes to the contrary.

... Olbermann, who remains "down the middle" when he's anchoring news events, did raise crocodile tears over this horrible "exploitation" of the dead. Mind you this is the same Herr Olbermann who repeatedly made an issue of getting public photos of flag-draped coffins, regardless of the wishes of the families. That's not exploitation, oh no. But remember, hypocrisy is coin of the realm on OlbyPlanet.