Sloppy Olbermann Mistakenly Relays Leftist Blog's False Attack
By Mark Koldys (Bio | Archive)
July 23, 2008 - 23:03 ET

Keith Olbermann is notorious for filching stories from the blue blogs, particularly ones that attack the eeevil Bill O'Reilly. But now his sloppy, unprofessional practices have come back to bite him. He aired an out-and-out falsehood tonight as fact, ripping and reading from the most unreliable source in existence.

On "Countdown" tonight Olbermann assailed O'Reilly over his segment on Rep. Robert Wexler. After some crack about altering the color of Wexler's lips (a confirming clue as will be seen), he then turned the indignation up to '11' and ridiculed Bill for not knowing that Florida doesn't have a state income tax:

OLBERMANN: The Frank Burns of News then speculated that Wexler was somehow trying to cheat Florida out of income tax. Fund had to inform him that Florida doesn't have an income tax. "No income tax? This is where my argument falls to the ground!"
Don't believe me? Watch the video past the jump:Story Continues Below Ad ↓





Unfortunately this is completely false, and in fact the opposite of what actually happened. It was O'Reilly who brought up Florida's lack of an income tax:
O'REILLY: You say it's legal. You can do that, based upon how he set it up. Now, taxes. Doesn't he have to pay taxes in both states if he has dual residency there?
FUND: Members of Congress can choose to pay taxes either in the Washington area or in their home state.
O'REILLY: OK so they have the choice. So he would pay it in Florida because Florida doesn't have a state tax. And Maryland taxes like crazy.
FUND: And you have just identified one of the big reasons he has to have this phantom residence, because that enables him to pay no state income tax.
Don't believe us? Here's the video of the segment, the video Olbermann was careful not to show:


newsbusters.org/blogs/mark-koldys/2008/07/23/sloppy-olbermann-mistakenly-relays-leftist-blogs-false-attack -