Here we go again: yet another disagreeable political move is compared to Nazi appeasement. In a twelve-minute rebuke of President Obama's tax cut compromise, Keith Olbermann--understandably, as a liberal--calls out the President for retreating on his campaign promises to end tax cuts for the rich, extend unemployment benefits, and create more job opportunities. Olbermann suggests that Obama didn't have to settle the way he did, pointing out the Republican's track record of continuing unemployment benefits without having to be forced, and recalling John Boehner's previous comment that, given no other choice, he would support the President's tax cut package for the middle class.

That is a reasonable argument. Perhaps a bit unreasonable, however, is his not-so-subtle comparison between Obama's concession to the Republicans regarding tax cuts and Neville Chamberlain's concession to the Nazis in signing the Munich Agreement. The show begins with a paraphrased quote from a 1938 speech given by Winston Churchill. In case anyone Obama and anyone else watching did not catch the reference, Olbermann makes sure it is clear at around the eleven-minute mark, saying:

I don't want to make any true comparison to the historical event to which it is related, the viewer can go ahead and look it up if they wish. I will confess I won't fight if anyone wants to draw a comparison between what you've done with our domestic policies of our day to what Neville Chamberlain did with the domestic policies of his.

[H/T: Tommy Christopher at Mediaite]

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Caitlin Dickson