For a good laugh, check out the New York Times‘ piece on MSNBC’s decision to replace its co-anchor circus act of Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews:

On the final night of the Republican convention, after MSNBC televised the party’s video “tribute to the victims of 9/11,” including graphic footage of the World Trade Center attacks, Mr. Olbermann abruptly took off his journalistic hat.

“I’m sorry, it’s necessary to say this,” he began. After saying that the video had exploited the memories of the dead, he directly apologized to viewers who were offended. Then, sounding like a network executive, he said it was “probably not appropriate to be shown.”

Translation: Olbermann criticized the news judgment of the network for which he works on the air. Not too bright. Commenting on the matter, he got even dumberer:

“I found it ironic and instructive that I could have easily said exactly what I did say, exactly when I did say it, if I had been wearing a different hat, and nobody would have taken any issue,” he said.

How does irony even apply to this situation? Does Olbermann understand the meaning of that word? And is it true that Olbermann didn’t know until the present controversy that when your network asks you to pretend to be a journalist for a few nights, you can’t keep acting like an opinion commentator? MSNBC shouldn’t have removed him because of political bias. They should have removed him because he’s apparently a moron.