Update: Keith's Special Comment: Hillary Clinton

Keith Olbermann, host of MSNBC's "Countdown" and creator of the Special Comment segment of that show, is set to deliver his first-ever commentary directed at a specific Democrat. Reports Huffington Post:

On last night's "Countdown," Keith Olbermann announced that tonight he'd be delivering another of his "Special Comments" - his impassioned, angry monologues fueled by outrage and usually addressed to President Bush and the Bush administration. Tonight, his special comment will be directed at Hillary Clinton - and, for the first time, his special comment will be directed exclusively at a Democrat.

Olbermann has become something of a hero to liberals since beginning his Special Comments in August of 2006, as the first mainstream media figure to give outspoken voice to the outrage that many in the country were feeling. Since then, his show has garnered ever-increasing ratings, and ever-increasing heat from the right.

Update: Here's the video. My review comes after the jump.

Reaction to tonight's Special Comment should be interesting. I expect that the Clinton campaign will try to paint Olbermann with the Chris Matthews brush, but while he has been critical of her campaign of late, those criticisms have been largely substantive. In fact, Olbermann has defended both Hillary Clinton and her husband, Bill Clinton, in previous Special Comments.

Olbermann is expected to use Clinton's failure to remove Geraldine Ferraro from her staff due to remarks Ferraro made as a jumping-off point to review the Clinton campaign's missteps. It remains to be seen if he will widen his criticism from there.

A defining characteristic of the administration that Hillary seeks to replace is an unwillingness to listen to dissenting views. It will be interesting to see if she can distinguish herself from George W. Bush in that way, and perhaps entertain the possibility that change is something she can even do on the campaign trail.

My Review:

Like me, Keith starts out by praising Hillary, then repudiates, not her, but her campaign's tactics. He places the blame where it firmly belongs, on her team of advisers. He gives Hillary every benefit of the doubt. He pleads with her, as I have, to put a stop to this Republican-on-Steroids style of campaigning, and to denounce and reject Geraldine Ferraro.

Keith is absolutely right, and he will no doubt be deserted and/or crucified by her supporters. He spoke out, as I have, out of affection and respect for Hillary Clinton, out of a desire to pull her back from the disastrous precipice that her wrongheaded advisers have driven her to. I don't want to rehash every part of this here, but Keith said tonight most of what I said a week ago, that Hillary's tactics are going to result in the destruction of everything that she stands for.

Hillary is getting extremely bad advice. As a longtime observer and admirer of Hillary Clinton's, I believe that I have a good sense of what is Hillary and what is campaign-craft, and I can tell you that every misstep, every wrongheaded talking point, except perhaps one, has been crafted by the same group of geniuses who lost the 2004 election to the worst president in history.

It is almost certainly too late for Hillary to win this nomination, by any plausible means. It is not too late for her to step back from this cliff, for her to repudiate these win-at-any-cost tactics, to turn her considerable political arsenal against the true opponent of the Democratic Party's hopes for the American people, John McCain. It is not too late for her to end up on an unstoppable ticket with Barack Obama. But neither Keith Olbermann nor myself have any chance of influencing her to do that.

Only you can do that. You, Hillary's supporters, many of whom are this very minute preparing to denounce us, without basis, as sexist or biased, you must stop for a moment and consider the possibility that Hillary Clinton needs your help. Contact her and tell her to denounce the divisive tactics that her current team has saddled her with. Tell her to make the very fair argument that she is an unparalleled politician with experience and solid Democratic policy positions, and that above all else, it is crucial that a Democrat win the White House.

The damage that has been done can still be undone, but for the Democrats to win in November, the healing and the unification must start now.

I am still getting caught up with comments. Please be patient.