NBC buttboys up to their old tricks

So, the Republicans win the House in a landslide on Tuesday, and three days later,  Keith Olbermann is out, if only temporarily.  Could there possibly be a connection?  Digby thinks so:

Am I the only one who finds it just a little bit interesting that every time the political zeitgeist turns, MSNBC seems to shift ideological direction? I guess there's a reason why their new slogan is "Lean Forward" (which could be interpreted as something a little bit cruder...)

I have no idea what really went on with Olberman but I suspect it may have had at least something to do with our one-sided obsession lately with "civility." He did, after all, suspend his "worst person in the world" segment last week although that may have been entirely his decision. I sense that there are misgivings about the strong anti-rightwing slant of an Olbermann or Shultz (as opposed to the populist, pox-on-both-their-houses approach of Uyger or Ratigan) and that they may be afraid of the financial consequences of being too hostile to the GOP.

Given the mores of the Village, I also expect that they do not like being seen as the liberal answer to Fox. ...   They don't have the guts to stake out a real position and when they see uncomfortable comparisons between themselves and "the crazies" they back off. It's the oldest working the ref play in the book.

 ...Sadly, all the MSNBC hosts will undoubtedly be aware -- if only subliminally -- that regardless of Olberman's eccentricities, the fact that the bosses are clipping his wings over something they could have technically overlooked ("it's an opinion show") is a message, particularly since he was getting good ratings. They don't have a whole lot of rope and I'm sure they know it.

 NBC has always sailed the political winds, and this one might be heading starboard again. Back when Jack Welch ran the show, he groomed "talent" like Chris Matthews, Brian Williams and Tim Russert who cozied up to power and curried favor with anyone who could help their careers.  They did more to promote Clinton hate than any other news organization -- any organization at all, including the Republicans -- and didn't give up even after he was impeached.  Gore inherited this animus, and, throughout the 2000 campaign and recount, he was a prisoner of the media and its lockbox of contempt. NBC, keeper of the box, buried the key. This is how Welch and his boys ushered in the age of Bush and cheered him on after 9/11 straight through to the Iraq war. Long before Matthews felt those first tingles of love for Obama, it was George Bush in full camouflage who kindled his man-lust. As the war dragged on and the economy flagged, the buttboys soured on the Bush boys, and turned their flirtations leftward, or  -- maintaining our nautical metaphor -- to port.  Two years later, another lurch to the right is not only possible, but likely.

We've seen this show before, and it didn't end well.