Olbermann lays into Chertoff's 'remarkable counter-terrorism stomach'

David Edwards and Josh CatonePublished: Thursday July 12, 2007
"We used to have John Ashscroft's major announcements. We used to have David Paulison's breathless advisories about how to use duct tape against radiation attacks. We used to have Tom Ridge's color-coded threat levels. Now we have Michael Chertoff's gut," began Keith Olbermann in a scathing 'Special Comment' on MSNBC's Countdown.
Olbermann laid out five possible explanations for "Mr. Chertoff's remarkable revelations about his transcendently important, counter-terrorism stomach."
Of his conclusions, "bureaucratic self protection, political manipulation of the worst kind, the dropping of opaque hints, a gaffe backfilled by an instant report, or the complete disintegration of our counter-terrorism effort," Olbermann found the last to be the real "nightmare scenario."
"That we really have been reduced to listening to see if [Chertoff's] gut will growl, that [his] intestines are our best defense," mocked Olbermann. "All hail the prophetic gut!"
Olbermann concludes that Chertoff has "reduced [himself] to status of a hunch-driven clown" and that he should turn over his duties to someone who "represents that brain, and not the gut." The following video is from MSNBC's Countdown, broadcast on July 12.