On his Wednesday night show, MSNBC host Keith Olbermann discussed the delegate math with Newsweek’s Howard Fineman. “Some adults somewhere in the Democratic party [need] to step in and stop this thing,” Fineman said, referring to super superdelegates. Olbermann responded, “Right. Somebody who can take [Hillary Clinton] into a room and only he comes out.” (Watch it here.) Eat The Press’ Rachel Sklar said that comment “can only mean one thing: Beating the crap out of Hillary Clinton, to the point where she is physically incapable of getting up and walking out.” Olbermann has since issued an apology and explanation to Sklar:
It is a metaphor. I apologize: the generic “he” gender could imply something untoward. It should’ve been “only the other comes out – from a political point of view.” You could’ve called for reaction first if your main motive had merely been criticism.
Greg Sargent writes, “Not to quibble with the great KO, but does he really call people for reaction before pillorying them as ‘The Worst Person In The World’?”
UPDATE: Olbermann issued a clarification tonight on Countdown, explaining that he was using a “pretty common metaphor.” He said he mixed up his pronoun usage, thereby inadvertently turning the metaphor into something “inappropriate.” And for that, “I apologize,” Olbermann said. Watch it:
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