Infuriating a good many Texans, Keith Olbermann took a broad swipe at the Lone Star State. "A mind may be a terrible thing to waste," smirked Olbermann. "But if you waste 15 million of them, apparently you get Texas." He was referring to a recent University of Texas poll that found 60 percent of Texans "either believe humans and dinosaurs lived at the same time or are not sure." Throwing in a hint of social Darwinism, he said "Ultimately, Texas may not have to secede from the union. It may just collectively drop off like a vestigial tail":

Olbermann's broadcast set off a wave of Texan outrage across the Web. Among the heaps of "don't mess with Texas" sentiment, one Texan commenter said that insulting the second most-populous state was simply bad business:

Media people need to build and hold the largest audience possible. It appears that Mr. Olberman is not aware of the economics of commercial broadcasting.

Of course, Texas isn't a monolith. On the same message board another Texan sided with Olbermann:

I have to agree with him...we're about to re-elect [Governor Rick] Perry a SECOND TIME, after he made it more than clear that he intends to sell off control of our highways to private companies for tolling (in some cases, foreign-owned companies). He even attempted to put toll booths on some of our existing freeways....Anyway, Keith wins on this one, in my book.

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at jhudson at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.
John Hudson