"Gunny" Bob repeated "Olbermeinkampf" smear, touted Freedom's Watch ads but not their linkage of 9-11 and Iraq

Summary: On his September 6 Newsradio 850 KOA show, "Gunny" Bob Newman repeated a smear he had made September 4, calling host Keith Olbermann of MSNBC's Countdown "Keith Olbermeinkampf." Newman also attacked MSNBC for its supposed refusal to air advertisements by Freedom's Watch -- a group he praised as "pro-U.S. military" -- that support the Iraq war. Newman did not tell listeners that some of the ads misleadingly link the Iraq war to the September 11, 2001, attacks.

After receiving the "bronze" award during the nightly "Worst Person in the World" segment on the September 6 edition of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Newsradio 850 KOA host "Gunny" Bob Newman again called Olbermann "Keith Olbermeinkampf," as well as "caustic, pedantic ... childish," and "extraordinarily hateful." Newman also described an organization called Freedom's Watch as "pro-U.S. military, pro-freedom for Iraqis," and attacked MSNBC for supposedly refusing to air the group's advertisements, claiming that MSNBC "won't run anything that's pro-military." Newman failed to mention, however, that two of the four Freedom's Watch advertisements link the Iraq war to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, as Media Matters for America documented.

As Colorado Media Matters noted, Olbermann awarded "lunatic-fringe radio host 'Gunny' Bob Newman of KOA in Denver" the bronze for "demanding the NBC networks run these so-called Freedom's Watch commercials, the ones that insist more Americans must be killed in Iraq. 'MSNBC is the network,' he says, 'of the far-left, anti-American hate merchant Keith Olbermeinkampf.'" Olbermann continued:

OLBERMANN: He says he's been a guest on this network, but, quoting again, "I will never do so again unless MSNBC changes its policy and allows both sides of this argument to be heard. They do that, they call me again, fine."

Hey, Bob, don't spend your lonely nights sitting by the phone. It ain't going to ring. Also, by the way, just to add to your evidently weak knowledge of 20th-century history, the guy who wrote Mein Kampf was a right-winger like yourself.

Newman responded to the "award" by repeating his original smear of Olbermann, saying, "On MSNBC, there's a show host by the name of Keith Olbermeinkampf, and ... he's got this program that has horrible ratings." Newman later added that Olbermann was "very upset that I had the audacity to bring up on the air that MSNBC refuses to run ads from an organization called FreedomsWatch.org, which is pro-U.S. military, pro-freedom for Iraqis. And MSNBC as their policy, they won't run anything that's pro-military, as this organization is."

Newman did not mention, as ABCNews.com reported on August 22, that some of Freedom's Watch advertisements "link the war with Sept. 11, despite no reliable evidence Iraq played any role in those attacks":

In the ad, [Iraq war veteran John] Kriesel says, "They attacked us, and they will again. They won't stop in Iraq."

Laura Youngblood is featured in another ad -- she lost her uncle Henry, a New York City fireman, on Sept. 11, and her husband, Travis, in Iraq.

As Media Matters has noted repeatedly (most recently here), while President Bush and members of his administration have frequently claimed a connection between Iraq and the 9-11 attacks, the 9-11 Commission found "no evidence" that contacts between Iraq and Al Qaeda "developed into a collaborative operational relationship" before the 2003 Iraq invasion. A September 2006 report by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence concluded: "Postwar information supports prewar Intelligence Community assessments that there was no credible information that Iraq was complicit in or had foreknowledge of the September 11 attacks or any other al-Qa'ida strike."

Newman also said of Olbermann, "[H]e's a failed sportscaster. He, you know, he couldn't make it in the sportscasting world, and so they gave him a ... news comedy show on MSNBC." As NBC announced in April, Olbermann -- who was co-anchor of ESPN's "SportsCenter" from 1992 to 1997 -- is a co-host of NBC's Football Night in America studio show preceding the network's prime-time NBC Sunday Night Football broadcasts, joining host Bob Costas, co-host Cris Collinsworth, and analysts Jerome Bettis and Tiki Barber. Furthermore, according to his MSNBC bio, "Olbermann is the recipient of numerous distinguished awards in radio and television broadcasting, including the 1995 Cable Ace Award for Best Sportscaster, 11 Golden Mike Awards for excellence in television and radio, and four Sports Emmy Awards. Olbermann also received an Edward R. Murrow Award for his coverage of the events of 9/11."

From the September 6 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's The Gunny Bob Show:

NEWMAN: You can also weigh in on not only our topic tonight, but on my most recent award. I've won two of these in about the last month or so. On MSNBC, there's a show host by the name of Keith Olbermeinkampf, and he has a, he's got this program that has horrible ratings. CNN crushes him; Fox News, of course, crushes everybody, but -- and he's on the least-watched cable network in the history of cable TV. And he has again voted me -- he has this little segment on his program called the "Worst Person in the World," and he gives, and he names three people who he hates. And I won as the worst, the very worst person in the world, just recently. And tonight he again named me -- but I only came out in third place as the worse -- W-O-R-S-E -- person in the world, because he's angry with me that I called him Keith Olbermeinkampf instead of his real name, which is Keith Olbermann. And he's a failed sportscaster. He, you know, he couldn't make it in the sportscasting world, and so they gave him a new -- a news comedy show on MSNBC.

And he's also very upset that I had the audacity to bring up on the air that MSNBC refuses to run ads from an organization called FreedomsWatch.org, which is pro-U.S. military, pro-freedom for Iraqis. And MSNBC as their policy, they won't run anything that's pro-military, as this organization is. And I said, I told, said on the air last night, I said I'm not going to ever appear on MSNBC again -- I've appeared upon there multiple times -- until they apologize and change their policy on this. And he didn't like that.

[...]

CALLER: I was wondering, do you and Keith Olbermann have a dispute going on, because --

NEWMAN: Well, he's got a dispute with me. I've never met the guy. And twice now --

CALLER: Yeah, you were his worse person tonight --

NEWMAN: Again.

CALLER: -- on his show.

NEWMAN: That's the second time.

CALLER: Yeah, I know, I saw it before.

NEWMAN: And so I've got, I've got the video up. You know, that's a badge of honor. So I've got the video link on my Web pages. But I'm disappointed too, [caller], because the last time he came after me, I was the number-one, the worst, person.

CALLER: Yeah, you were the --

NEWMAN: And tonight I was only number three.

CALLER: Number three. Yeah.

NEWMAN: I was crestfallen. I mean, because I started off at the top, and all of a sudden I'm in number three. I'm like, "Oh no."

CALLER: He must listen to your show.

NEWMAN: I have no doubt at all he listens to my show.

CALLER: He says, "Don't sit by the phone, 'cause your phone won't be ringin' " for them to call you.

NEWMAN: Well, yeah, and that, what was very interesting about that is, 'cause last night on the show, I said I refuse to go on MSNBC --

CALLER: Mmm-hmm.

NEWMAN: -- until they change their policy and apologize.

CALLER: That's why -- that's why he said your phone won't be ringing.

NEWMAN: Yeah, and, well, is he implied that, oh, that he's gotten me banned from MSNBC. But I already said I'm not, I'm not going to go. So he's got his, his timing is reversed.

CALLER: Mmm.

NEWMAN: But, but he's also, what's really funny, he's very angry at me callin' him Keith Olbermeinkampf.

CALLER: I think he's very, I think he's a very smart man. I like his commentary.

NEWMAN: I think he's caustic, pedantic, and childish.

CALLER: Oh no, not really. He's very --

NEWMAN: And extraordinarily, extraordinarily hateful.

CALLER: A lot of what he says makes a whole lot of sense.

NEWMAN: I mean, he said, if you, if you -- I've never heard him make any sense in my life. And when you --

CALLER: Well, you don't like him.

NEWMAN: -- read his commentary --

CALLER: That's why you think so. Just like you don't like --

NEWMAN: No.

CALLER: -- Hillary Clinton --

NEWMAN: No. No.

CALLER: -- and you refer to her as "a thing" last night.

NEWMAN: As a what?

CALLER: As a "thing." Because you said you were going to dedicate the election cycle to letting people know about Hillary Clinton; you called her, let me see, you called her a "thing." I remember that. I said, "Isn't that insulting?" That woman is accomplished --

NEWMAN: Well, I don't remember that. But I'll take your word for it.

CALLER: You did. Go over, listen to your tape from last night.

NEWMAN: [Caller], [caller], [caller], I said I'll take your word for it. Calm down.

CALLER: Mmm-hmm.

NEWMAN: Now, let me go back and finish my thought about Olbermann.

CALLER: And Fred Thompson will never get elected.

NEWMAN: [Caller], [caller]. Whoa, whoa, [caller], [caller].

CALLER: Fred Thompson will never be elected.

NEWMAN: [Caller], [caller], [caller], you're on hold. OK, you're on hold. Now, calm down, [caller]. You're getting all worked up. Now I'm gonna -- let me finish my point. Very important here. Olbermeinkampf, your hero, he also said that the Freedom's Watch group -- which is simply a pro-military, or a very pro-military, pro-freedom for brown-skinned Muslim Iraqis group -- Keith Olbermann said that that group wants more Americans dead. It's on the video.

—C.H. & J.F.B.