Olbermann named “Gunny” Bob “Worst Person” for mischaracterizing Gen. Clark's comments about Tillman case

Written by Media Matters Staff

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MSNBC host Keith Olbermann on his August 3 Countdown broadcast named Newsradio 850 KOA's “Gunny” Bob Newman his “Worst Person in the World” after Colorado Media Matters pointed out that Newman distorted Gen. Wesley Clark's remarks about Army Ranger Pat Tillman's death. On his July 31 show, Newman cited Clark's interview on Olbermann's July 26 program and stated, “Wes Clark is claiming that [Tillman] may have been murdered on orders from the president of the United States.”

A version of this item originally was posted at Media Matters for America.

During the August 3 broadcast of MSNBC's Countdown, host Keith Olbermann named Newsradio 850 KOA host “Gunny” Bob Newman the “winner” of his nightly “Worst Person in the World” segment for, as Colorado Media Matters documented, mischaracterizing retired Gen. Wesley Clark's comments on the July 26 edition of Countdown about the death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman. Olbermann quoted Newman as saying, “Wes Clark is claiming that former NFL-player-turned Army Ranger Pat Tillman may have been murdered on orders from the president of the United States. I wish I was making this up, but the thing is Clark made the claim on live TV, on MSNBC. And we have him on video and we have the transcripts of the ... appearance to boot.” Olbermann responded: “Maybe in that VCR in your mind, pal, but not in reality. You are making it up. I asked General Clark about the report that investigators weren't even permitted to inquire if Pat Tillman was murdered. He said that the cover-up of whatever really happened to the American hero must have gone up the chain of command.”

From the August 3 edition of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann:

OLBERMANN: But our winner, “Gunny” Bob Newman, Denver talker, angling for an invite to next year's event at the White House by lying entirely about what General Wesley Clark said on this newscast on the 26th of last month. Newman said, quote, “Wes Clark is claiming that former NFL-player-turned Army Ranger Pat Tillman may have been murdered on orders from the president of the United States. I wish I was making this up, but the thing is Clark made the claim on live TV, on MSNBC. And we have him on video and we have the transcripts of the, of the appearance to boot.”

Maybe in that VCR in your mind, pal, but not in reality. You are making it up. I asked General Clark about the report that investigators weren't even permitted to inquire if Pat Tillman was murdered. He said that the cover-up of whatever really happened to the American hero must have gone up the chain of command. Here's the actual tape.

CLARK [video clip]: Where did the idea that you shouldn't give any indication of what happened to Tillman? Just go ahead and go through with the burial ceremony. Give him the Silver Star. Where did that, where was that idea blessed? You can be sure that that idea did not originate or stop at the two- or three-star level. That was -- someone approved that all the way to the top, because Pat Tillman was a political symbol used by the administration when it suited their purposes.

OLBERMANN: This idiot Newman called General Clark a bizarre conspiracy theorist crackpot. No, sir. A conspiracy theorist crackpot is somebody who takes the plain facts that are right in front of them on tape and deliberately alters them to fit their own paranoia. Somebody like “Gunny” Bob Newman, today's Worst Person in the World.