Call this the meeting of the minds - should it ever happen, but the host of CNN "Lou Dobbs Tonight" has a message for MSNBC's "Countdown" host Keith Olbermann.
Lou Dobbs, a self-described ‘independent populist' that espouses his anti-free trade and protectionist viewpoints on CNN nightly, appeared at the Family Research Council's Values Voter Summit. It was there that Dobbs revealed his disdain for Olbermann.
"Did somebody mention Keith Olbermann?" Dobbs asked rhetorically. "By the way - I was delighted to hear that - well, let me say, let me put it this way just very clearly - I'm a petty and venal person. I and Tony [Perkins, president of the Family Research Council], I'm confessing in front of everyone here, but the man is hanging by a highly medicated string. And I am so, well, I have to admit it - I am a little angry with him."
Both Dobbs and Olbermann have raised the ire of many conservatives because of their viewpoints - Dobbs for his economic views and Olbermann for most of his views.
"In trying to criticize my politics and my views, he [Olbermann] at the same time attacked uh, two of my children," Dobbs said. "It's not the first time, but as I would just like to say that should I ever encounter Mr. Olbermann in a place where there's just the two of us to converse and discuss the issue - we will have a full and frank exchange of viewpoints.
According to the most recent ratings, Dobbs show "Lou Dobbs Tonight" has a little over 900,000 viewers and Olbermann's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" has a little over 1.6 million viewers.
But Dobbs' criticism of Olbermann was just one element of the "liberal media" he criticized at the summit. Overall, Dobbs expressed his displeasure with the media's treatment of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin since Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, Ariz., selected her as his running mate.
"One of the issues in all of this is the role of the national media," Dobbs said. "I was kidding with you a bit about having my national media card lifted. I make no pretense that I'm an independent populist - which has already upset both the left and the right every time I say that. But the truth is, we have a national media that is liberal in tone, liberal in its bias and that is dominant in the stories that we choose to report and the way in which we report them."
Dobbs said the media's treatment of the Alaskan governor was a case study of the liberal bias of the media.
"The nomination of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska stands as an amazing, stands as one of the most instructive moments - instructive moments demonstrating the liberal bias of the national media," Dobbs said. "This woman was savaged for five days before anybody heard from her. This woman yesterday was savaged by Matt Damon, Whoopi Goldberg and other glitterati and intelligencia."
Despite Dobbs rhetoric about the liberal media, he isn't criticism-proof. In June, he called for President George W. Bush's impeachment after a salmonella scare originally blamed on tomatoes.
