Imus: Maddow Is "Gutless" For Not Defending Olbermann In "Real Time"

[DToTheJ]

Imus: Maddow Is "Gutless" For Not Defending Olbermann In "Real Time"

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow was raked over the coals by Don Imus - himself a former MSNBC employee until that Rutgers thing - on his radio show this week for not coming to the defense of her now-former colleague Keith Olbermann during her live appearance on HBO's "Real Time With Bill Maher" on Friday night (Olbermann, of course, had his MSNBC swan song hours earlier).

Imus believes Maddow should have defended Olbermann on Maher's program, since she "owed her job to him." To only be "caught off guard by the news" when informed by Maher, according to Imus, makes Maddow a "gutless, sniveling worm" and "the worst kind of coward" in the I-Man's book.

More info, with video:
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/don-imus-rachel-maddow-is-a-coward-and-a-gutless-sniveling-worm/

 

[Sammi Brie]

Re: Imus: Maddow Is "Gutless" For Not Defending Olbermann In "Real Time"

The situation was so nebulous and so unexpected at the time that Rachel Maddow's reaction was to be expected. What if that were taped at, hm, 9:15? And she had not been informed?

 

[Irishfl]

Re: Imus: Maddow Is "Gutless" For Not Defending Olbermann In "Real Time"

Real time is live (10:00 PM Est), & i'm sure she had 100 or so text messages before he even announced onair as I imagine once word got out to his staff it spread thruout MSNBC like wildfire.

With that said, I don't agree with Imus. Let her defend Olbermann. She might have known about his firing, but she probably didn't know all the details, or if she was under any gag order herself. She was probably busy getting ready for the topics of the show.

 

[TheBigA]

Re: Imus: Maddow Is "Gutless" For Not Defending Olbermann In "Real Time"

What's the point? Bad-mouthing your employer on another network isn't going to change anything, and it just soils your own bed. Not that Imus understands any of that.

 

[formeraa]

Re: Imus: Maddow Is "Gutless" For Not Defending Olbermann In "Real Time"

And look where Imus' huge mouth got him... ;D

Maddow took the high road.

 

[MattParker]

Re: Imus: Maddow Is "Gutless" For Not Defending Olbermann In "Real Time"

Imus is right. One person's high road is another person's cop out.

Where did Imus' mouth get him? More money than any of us will ever see. Did you see what his house sold for? And he's buying a second ranch. Flies back and forth in a corporate jet.

Imus' mouth has done pretty well by him - except when he lost his own guts and caved in to CBS management and the PC crowd. Crawling to Al Sharpton, the Rutger's women's basketball team and everybody else is what did him in.

 

[radiophiler]

Re: Imus: Maddow Is "Gutless" For Not Defending Olbermann In "Real Time"

Eh, Imus can keep his loads of cash. I'd take Rachel Maddow's salary any day. She has class, which Imus obviously doesn't. Imus is yesterday's news, Maddow is still a rising star. I'll go with those above and say she did the right thing.

 

[flashback]

Re: Imus: Maddow Is "Gutless" For Not Defending Olbermann In "Real Time"

imus has always been and still is a shock jock.with or without music.

when imis says things like what got him in major trouble a few years ago, his new comments or anything else, i say "thats interesting and kind of funny" or "whatever .he missed the mark".in my mind nothing he says is that important.

 

[formeraa]

Re: Imus: Maddow Is "Gutless" For Not Defending Olbermann In "Real Time"

.

Imus' mouth has done pretty well by him - except when he lost his own guts and caved in CBS management and the PC crowd. Crawling to Al Sharpton, the Rutger's women's basketball team and everybody else is what did him in.

Oh, I see, it's always better to blame the victims... :

In any case, I haven't missed Imus...he is so 20th century! Rachel Maddow is so 21st century!

 

[MattParker]

Re: Imus: Maddow Is "Gutless" For Not Defending Olbermann In "Real Time"

Oh, I see, it's always better to blame the victims... :

I'm sorry. Was there a victim in all this? I mean besides Imus?

 

[JeeperOne]

Re: Imus: Maddow Is "Gutless" For Not Defending Olbermann In "Real Time"

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow was raked over the coals by Don Imus - himself a former MSNBC employee until that Rutgers thing - on his radio show this week for not coming to the defense of her now-former colleague Keith Olbermann during her live appearance on HBO's "Real Time With Bill Maher" on Friday night (Olbermann, of course, had his MSNBC swan song hours earlier).

Imus believes Maddow should have defended Olbermann on Maher's program, since she "owed her job to him."

Where does he get off saying this? Don Imus obviously needs to be corrected of (At least) two things.....

1) Keith Olbermann dug his own grave. HE chose to make inappropriate contributions to Democratic candidates last year & HE chose to not tone down his commentary WHEN ASKED BY HIS BOSSES TO DO SO. That's why he got canned.

2) Rachel Maddow DOES NOT owe her job to ANYONE but HERSELF She got that job the old fashioned way (Or given today's political climate - The ANCIENT way) - SHE EARNED IT

For Imus to say otherwise is not only BLASPHEMOUS & INSULTING but is also indicative of someone who STILL has an axe to grind (BTW, was he an actual employee at (and receiving a paycheck from) NBC when MSNBC was simulcasting his old RADIO show on Westwood One? Me doesn't think so but could be wrong).

Assuming I'm right - WHO IS HE TO GET OFF BLASTING ANYONE AT MSNBC FOR ANYTHING THAT NETWORK DOES WITH ITS TALENT He no longer works there & hasn't worked there SINCE 1986

Sorry for the political rant but that's just my blunt opinion.....

Cheers

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Re: Imus: Maddow Is "Gutless" For Not Defending Olbermann In "Real Time"

People, people, people.

I tuned in the Olbermann final broadcast about halfway through and heard his announcement, live, of farewell. My memory is that I heard Maddow on her broadcast which followed expressing about as plainly as was appropriate that she was disappointed that all this "came down".

For her to speak with dignity rather than what back home in the Ozarks we would have called "a hissy-fit" seems appropriately professional from where I sit. After all, its probably not desirable that we all behave in the manner of Glenn Beck, Hannity and Rush.

 

[kc1ih]

Re: Imus: Maddow Is "Gutless" For Not Defending Olbermann In "Real Time"

Wait a minute! If Maddow was on MSNBC from 9 to 10, and then on HBO from 10 to 11 on the same night, it’s pretty well impossible that both were live unless the studios are adjacent.

 

[Ultimajock]

Re: Imus: Maddow Is "Gutless" For Not Defending Olbermann In "Real Time"

People, people, people.

I tuned in the Olbermann final broadcast about halfway through and heard his announcement, live, of farewell. My memory is that I heard Maddow on her broadcast which followed expressing about as plainly as was appropriate that she was disappointed that all this "came down".

For her to speak with dignity rather than what back home in the Ozarks we would have called "a hissy-fit" seems appropriately professional from where I sit. After all, its probably not desirable that we all behave in the manner of Glenn Beck, Hannity and Rush.

Wait a minute! If Maddow was on MSNBC from 9 to 10, and then on HBO from 10 to 11 on the same night, it’s pretty well impossible that both were live unless the studios are adjacent.

...past a pre-recorded interview with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Dr. Maddow was not on The Rachel Maddow Show on January 21st; the pinch-hitter was Chris Hayes. She made her comments about Olbermann's departure on her program the following Monday, January 24th...

 

[DToTheJ]

Re: Imus: Maddow Is "Gutless" For Not Defending Olbermann In "Real Time"

Maddow's show takes place at the MSNBC studios in New York (or is it Secaucus? I know "Countdown" is in Midtown Manhattan, what with the window behind the host overlooking Rockefeller Center). HBO's "Real Time" is recorded in Los Angeles. Hence, why she wasn't physically available on Friday night to host on MSNBC. Although it is kind of interesting that Keith chose the night Maddow was 3,000 miles away to perform his swan song. Maybe he's still bent over Maddow scoring that Ben Affleck interview on her show, I don't know... But as a previous poster suggested, she must have been flooded wth texts that night.

 

[Sammi Brie]

Re: Imus: Maddow Is "Gutless" For Not Defending Olbermann In "Real Time"

Maddow's show takes place at the MSNBC studios in New York (or is it Secaucus? I know "Countdown" is in Midtown Manhattan, what with the window behind the host overlooking Rockefeller Center). HBO's "Real Time" is recorded in Los Angeles. Hence, why she wasn't physically available on Friday night to host on MSNBC. Although it is kind of interesting that Keith chose the night Maddow was 3,000 miles away to perform his swan song. Maybe he's still bent over Maddow scoring that Ben Affleck interview on her show, I don't know... But as a previous poster suggested, she must have been flooded wth texts that night.

Since October 2007, MSNBC is entirely run from New York and Washington. The old Secaucus building was sold to MLB Network.

 

[FreddyE1977]

Re: Imus: Maddow Is "Gutless" For Not Defending Olbermann In "Real Time"

knowing Olbermann's reputation and past run-ins with management, I am sure that
she was smart enough to hold her fire and wait until she had the facts before saying anything.

 

[LKellerIII]

Re: Imus: Maddow Is "Gutless" For Not Defending Olbermann In "Real Time"

knowing Olbermann's reputation and past run-ins with management, I am sure that
she was smart enough to hold her fire and wait until she had the facts before saying anything.

I'm not understanding why Maddow should run to the defense of Olbermann...because they're both liberals? They're very different people, with different temperaments, and different on-air personas. They may respect each other, or they may not - who knows?

Michael Savage's original weekday radio show was at a conservative Bay Area talk station. From what I understand, the other local hosts (all conservatives) despised him personally, and would have thrown him an anchor if he was drowning.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

Re: Imus: Maddow Is "Gutless" For Not Defending Olbermann In "Real Time"

Obviously Imus has no love lost for MSNBC. That network, along with CBS radio, threw Imus to the wolves following his comments about the women basketball players.

Instead of going after Maddow, Imus should just concentrate on his own show, which is heard on WABC and (of all places) the Fox Business Channel.

Imus is coming to the end of his career and he knows it. His prime has long since passed. He should just call it quits and retire to his ranch in New Mexico.

BTW I'm no fan of Maddow either; so I am not defending her or her show. But what was she supposed to say regarding Olbermann's departure? After all she isn't going to tick off the network that pays her a good salary now is she?

 

[MattParker]

Re: Imus: Maddow Is "Gutless" For Not Defending Olbermann In "Real Time"

But what was she supposed to say regarding Olbermann's departure? After all she isn't going to tick off the network that pays her a good salary now is she?

If she follows that line of thought, she will continue to be a second-tier personality. Imus made his career out of ticking off the network that pays his salary. So did Howard. Deep down a whole lot of people would love to tick off the boss and get away with it. The great broadcast personalities, going back to Godfrey, have built their success on embodying that fantasy.