Because after all, dissent is no longer patriotic in the Era of Hope'N'Change.

Now that America has a liberal President, it is apparently no longer acceptable for a private citizen to express disagreement with the White House in Keith Olbermann’s world. On Thursday’s Countdown show, MSNBC host Olbermann delivered his latest "Special Comment" rant, this time calling for former Vice President Cheney to "leave this country," and made a suggestion that Cheney, who recently criticized President Obama’s plans for handling counterterrorism, should somehow be "made to desist" from such criticism. Olbermann: "You, Mr. Cheney, you terrified more Americans than did any terrorist in the last seven years, and now it is time for you to desist, or to be made to desist."

The Countdown host, who never showed any concern that his tirades against the Bush administration would "undermine" the war on terrorism, accused Cheney of "trying to sabotage" Obama’s "efforts against terrorism," and made a number of vulgar implications in attacking Cheney – including twice pronouncing the former Vice President’s first name with emphasis as if to call him by a vulgar word; saying that he would tell Cheney to "shove it"; and asking which "orifice" Cheney was pulling numbers from about the recidivism rate of former Guantanamo detainees.

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After several plugs, during which he claimed that "his [Cheney’s] policies contributed to the worst attack ever on American soil," and said he would tell Cheney to "shove it," Olbermann began his "Special Comment":

Flatly, it may be time for Mr. Cheney to leave this country. The partisanship, divisiveness, and naiviete to which he ascribed every single criticism of his and President Bush’s delusional policies of the last eight years have now roared forth in a destructive and uninformed diatribe from Mr. Cheney that can only serve to undermine the nation’s new President, undermine the nation’s effort to thwart terrorism and undermine the nation itself.

The MSNBC host soon read a quote from Cheney’s interview remarking that "When we get people who are more concerned about reading the rights to an al-Qaeda terrorist than they are with protecting the United States against people who are absolutely committed to do anything they can to kill Americans, then I worry." Olbermann shot back: "More concern, Mr. Cheney? What delusion of grandeur makes you think you have the right to say anything like that?"

Where shall we begin dealing with the words of this loud-mouth buffoon who claimed to be a patriot while actively seeking to tear down the previous occupant of the Oval Office in language significantly less respectful that those used by the former vice president?

1) What "delusion of grandeur" makes Cheney think he has the right to say what he said? Well, aside from having some three decades more experience in the field of national security than Mr. Obama does (which certainly qualifies Dick Cheney as more of an expert on such matters than either Obama or Olbermann), I suppose it might be this:

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

That settles the question of what Dick Cheney thinks gives him the right to speak his mind freely in this country, wouldn't you agree? And furthermore, the notion that Dick Cheney should be "made to desist" from making such comments is advocacy of the wholesale violation of his civil liberties, you friggin' brownshirt. Clearly YOU are more concerned about the rights of terrorists than you are about the rights of Americans -- making you objectively pro-terrorist, Keith.

2) "Flatly, it may be time for Mr. Cheney to leave this country." What's that, Keith? Good God! That isn't even "America: Love it or leave it." It is "America: Support Obama or get out." What next, Ubermoron? Forced deportation? Or internment in reeducation camps like those found in Red China during the Cultural Revolution for those of us who fail to support Dear Leader Hope'N'Change?

3) Weren't you one of the folks who argued throughout the last administration that "dissent is the highest form of patriotism"? Why, then, do you seek to suppress speech that said standard shows to be objectively more patriotic than your felating of the current regime? Could it be that you rally believe that "dissent is the highest form of patriotism only when the president has an R after his name"?

You know, we hear a lot about the "Fairness Doctrine" and "hate speech in media". Seems to me that any hearings on talk radio should be expanded to include the cable propaganda outlets like MSNBC -- with Keith Olbermann as the prime example of what hte speech in media really looks like.