egos

Talk about a short suspension:

STATEMENT REGARDING KEITH OLBERMANN - SUNDAY, NOV. 7

From Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC:
After several days of deliberation and discussion, I have determined that suspending Keith through and including Monday night's program is an appropriate punishment for his violation of our policy. We look forward to having him back on the air Tuesday night.

And it turns out this was all over something I suspected – egos:

Network sources tell Playbook that Keith Olbermann was suspended because he refused to deliver an on-camera mea culpa, which would have allowed him to continue anchoring "Countdown." Olbermann told his bosses he didn't know he was barred from making campaign contributions, although he is resisting saying that publicly. Olbermann may not hold as many cards as he thinks. He makes $7 million a year and MSNBC's prime time is not as dependent on him as it was before the addition of Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O'Donnell, who make considerably less.

Seeing more details come to light makes me think that we’ll see more stories like this in the future. Olbermann’s contract is up in 2012, so I wonder if he’ll be looking to go elsewhere, or if Griffin will look to push him out, when that happens.

Perhaps that is a saying that should be echoed through the offices of the RNC and the Republican leadership. From the latest example of this practice, let’s look at the ongoing battle Michael Steele is waging with his own members in Senate:

Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME), a pro-stimulus Republican who will be up for re-election in 2012, told Roll Call that she approached Steele about his comments and asked him bluntly: "You didn't really mean that, did you?" She said that Steele has agreed to set up a meeting with the three pro-stimulus GOPers to discuss this.

Snowe pointed out that the loss of GOP moderates, and the view that they don't belong in the party, has contributed to the party's overall decrease. "When we were in the majority, there were more of us. Now that we're in the minority, there are less of us," Snowe explained, also adding: "If that's what they want to be, well that's their choice."

Snowe is referring to Steele’s threat of not giving RNC money for the re-election of the Senators who voted for the stimulus. This is the practice of “accept our entire agenda or get out” that has helped push the Republicans into their current dilemma. Sadly the RNC is also rich when it comes to egos, so they don’t see any wrong in this.

So how bad are things on the international front? The Washington Post gives us a great view:

From deteriorating security in Afghanistan and Somalia to mayhem in the Middle East, confrontation with Iran and eroding relations with Russia, the White House suddenly sees crisis in every direction.

North Korea's long-range missile test Tuesday, although unsuccessful, was another reminder of the bleak foreign policy landscape that faces President Bush even outside of Iraq. Few foreign policy experts foresee the reclusive Stalinist state giving up the nuclear weapons it appears to have acquired, making it another in a long list of world problems that threaten to cloud the closing years of the Bush administration, according to foreign policy experts in both parties.

"I am hard-pressed to think of any other moment in modern times where there have been so many challenges facing this country simultaneously," said Richard N. Haass, a former senior Bush administration official who heads the Council on Foreign Relations. "The danger is that Mr. Bush will hand over a White House to a successor that will face a far messier world, with far fewer resources left to cope with it."

Yes and whoever that President is will have to deal with this and with a budget that is out of control and other messes Bush has made (ie. FEMA). This is what happens when you get someone who would rather play President then be presidential. Bush has the most dangerous of egos - thinking he is right on everything. That ego has cost America more then it will ever know.