A few random points and thoughts on being Wednesday’s Worst Person in the World according to Keith Olbermann.

First, thanks so much for all of the congratulations. I should note this wasn’t the first time I’ve been dubbed WPIW by Olbermann and, frankly, compared to driving Barbra Streisand to cancel her subscription to the LA Times, it’s pretty small beer. I could have have retired then and there and been a happy man.

Second, I do wonder whether Olbermann realizes how stupid this gimmick is. If you take it seriously, then he’s saying I’m (or Rich or Rush or Kathryn or any random Republican he so designates) is worse than various and sundry murderers and dictators. Obviously, nobody actually takes the thing seriously, which is why it’s something of a badge of honor to get the title. But the rhetoric makes it just that much easier to dismiss Olbermann as a silly man with an important voice. The result is to give Olbermann a Leslie Nielson in Police Squad kind of persona. He seems serious if you don’t seriously listen to him — or if you agree with everything he says — but otherwise he’s sort of a parody of himself. Obviously, schtick is inherent to the medium of television, but you sometimes get the sense that Olbermann and his fan’s don’t realize how silly the whole spectacle is, despite all of Olbermann’s feigned world weary bemoaning of the evils of this and the violations of that.

Last, if everybody who offered to buy me a beer to congratulate me for driving Barbra Streisand away and for being the Worst Person in the World, spent that beer money on NRO, this pledge drive would be over by now.