The Big Rivalry

OK... so yesterday I saw this story on the AOL Welcome Page that reported on the bad blood between Bill O'Reilly of Fox News Channel and Keith Olbermann of MSNBC. It must be true because I just heard Olbermann say on his show, "Mental health is not O'Reilly's strong suit."

I'm not that familiar with Olbermann, but from what I've been able to gather, he is sort of like Jon Stewart of Comedy Central's "Daily Show"... a non-news newsperson who makes a show of the news... who is in no way married to the truth... more interested in entertainment than issues... very much a mouthpiece for the Democrats and the Left.

You get the picture... At least you get my impression...

I'm sure Lefties, stupid people, and the ignorant (a homogenous grouping) think this guy is great.

And the numbers, please....

CABLE NEWS RACE
MON., JULY 10, 2006VIEWERS

FOXNEWS O'REILLY 2,264,000
FNC HANNITY/COLMES 1,801,000
CNN LARRY KING 1,382,000
FNC GRETA 1,340,000FNC
SHEP SMITH 1,252,000
FNC HUME 1,197,000
CNN COOPER 1,132,000
CNN DOBBS 823,000
CNN PAULA ZAHN 679,000
MSNBC HARDBALL 360,000
CNNHN GRACE 354,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 349,000

Well call me slow, but it dosn't look like there is much of a rivalry. Olberman's audience is a mere 15% of O'Reilly's... a poor showing when you consider that many cable and satellite packages offer MSNBC but not FOX. This is like the "rivalry" between Rush Limbaugh and Air America... Non-existent.

But the people that produce the AOL Welcome Page are mouthpieces for the Left, and I'm sure in their dreams Olbermann has kicked open wide the door of broadcast liberalism.

(OK, it's not much of a post, but I do love charts.)