Every Hero needs a villain. And for Markos Moulitsas, the Villain of the Olbermann Window Closing is MSNBC President Phil Griffin:

Remember how I told you about Phil Griffin, and how he’s done everything possible to keep MSNBC from going the full liberal?

I rest my case. MSNBC has suspended Olbermann indefinitely without pay for giving political contributions to several candidates this cycle.

The Kos Case — repeated ad infinitum across the Web — goes something like this: Griffin is a Joe Scarborough partisan who grudgingly puts up with Olbermann because Keith made MSNBC a (relative) success, after years of failure. But Griffin undermines the left-leaning nature of that success every chance he gets, because it chaps his ass.

This should be easy to document.

Except for one problem: It isn’t.

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“A policeman guarding Mr Obama’s Mumbai hotel set off a major security alert after accidentally shooting himself in the leg last night.” [Daily Mail UK]

Keith Olbermann [Twitter]

Title: “Broke: The Plan to Restore Our Trust, Truth and Treasure”

Authors: Glenn Beck and Kevin Balfe

Rank: 3

Blurb: “You’ll see how everything you thought you knew about the political parties is a lie, how Democrats and Republicans alike used to fight for minimum government and maximum freedom, and how both parties have been taken over by a cancer called ‘progressivism.'”

Review: “I havent had a chance to read it yet because I just got it but I did look though it. It looks great. The pages are water marked and glossy. It even feels good in the hand. Looking forward to reading it.”

Customers Also Bought: “Life After Death: The Evidence”, by Dinesh D’Souza

Footnote: We think that review is legit. But if not, it’s even better.

Broke [Amazon]

Buy or Die [Stinque@Amazon kickback link]

We’ve enjoyed Countdown, nightly, for about two years now. As our esteemed apocalyptic vulgarian FlyingChainSaw observes, it’s like watching Crooks & Liars live. Although unlike our esteemed apocalyptic vulgarian, we think that’s a good thing.

So we don’t come to this mess from the perspective of an Olbermann-basher. We like Keith. He’s fun. He’s the only reason we even turn on the tube at 5pm Pacific. San Diego has a 24-hour jazz station. We have options.

That said, we agree with MSNBC management: Olbermann violated a clearly stated ethics policiy, and his suspension is not unwarranted. Olbermann did the same thing with Richard Wolffe, after all.

What disappointed us after the news broke Friday is that we’re in the minority. At least among progressive bloggers — the progressive bloggers we also read daily as we scrape the Internets for story tips. They’ve ignored entirely the facts of Olbermann’s suspension, and the principles behind it.

And in so doing, they’ve shown themselves to be hacks.

Let’s take a tour…

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We’ve long said that Countdown is fine Left Coast dinnertime entertainment: We enjoy a good rant with our supper, and Keith Olbermann can deliver a stemwinder when he’s moved.

We also certainly don’t mind when a couple of our graphics show up on his program. Based on past performance, we should see another in 2012 or so.

But despite the slant of its primetime hosts, and its new slogan, MSNBC still styles itself a news organization, with certain ethical standards required of all journalists: You shouldn’t kick bucks to a political campaign you’re covering. And if you do, you should disclose it — preferably to your audience, but at the very least to your management.

Olbermann crossed that last line with three campaign contributions, and it seems that his boss learned the news from a Politico reporter. This is not, shall we say, A Good Thing. Said boss promptly “suspended indefinitely” the title character from “Countdown with Keith Olbermann.”

And unleashed a shitstorm.

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Last time around, he quit Daily Kos but kept his show. Maybe this time he’ll have more incentive.

Keith Olbermann suspended after donating to Democrats [Politico]