I don’t care if his ratings are phenomenal, and I don’t care that he has the best hair of all the network anchors, Keith Olbermann had to go. In the last five months he has displayed a panache for jackassery and saccharine pro-Democrat bias, two facets of his “journalistic style” that have made it a difficult chore to glean anything worthwhile from his newscasts. (And this from the guy who, for such a long time, did a wonderful job hating on that loudmouth demagoging troll without sinking to said troll’s level.)

And things only worsened when MSNBC made Olbermann, along with Chris Matthews (fratty anchorman extraordinaire ), lead anchors for its election coverage. During their reign of pettiness, the two lambasted poor Joe Scarborough on air (when they weren’t consumed with crashing their own egos mid broadcast), and though I’d rather live in the third world than Scarborough Country, Olbermann and Matthews were acting like douchebag bullies.

Well, the bullying is over. Olbermann and Matthews have been demoted to analysts, and David Gregory has assumed the anchor role. Let’s hope Gregory has the gumption to allot the two only as much time is needed for viewers to remember why MSNBC took away their cushy chairs in the first place.

Sarah Palin told everybody that all the Palins are proud proud proud that her baby’s having a baby.

Really? So is she the one who decided that Bristol, the five-months pregnant teen, would carry youngest-for-now Trig (even their names are tragic) throughout the big coming out party in Ohio last week?

How come the snowmobile racing musher husband stood hands-free while poor poor Bristol was saddled with Trig? One on her and one in her, as Dolly Parton would say, all morning long?

Could it be because the little one and the huge blanket she had wrapped around her covered the round mound at her midsection ?

Poor Trig was a beard?

Sure he was. That’s pretty sick, ain’t it?

Personally, I thought Barack Obama’s speech last night was a tad humdrum. He got a little feisty, for him. But, the challenges to his opponent—”John McCain has voted with George Bush ninety percent of the time”—still seemed staid. He said what he need to say, but for some reason, the deliverance fell, mmmm, I don’t know, dare I say it, okay I will: flat.

‘Happy, proud American Obama’ spoke with the same tone and demeanor as ‘Enough is enough, fed-up with the status quo Obama,’ and it just wasn’t working for me. Plus, the fascinating life story doesn’t pop as much the three hundredth time around. Not his fault. But true nonetheless.

When it comes to oratorical ability, I’m throwing my full support behind Pam.

Oh Pam, how you wooed me with your mama-don’t-take-no-shit-from-no-one attitude, disillusioned Republicanism, and undaunted appearance in front of 85,000 people. Pam’s story definitely fit squarely in with the democratic narrative. She is from Pittsboro North Carolina. She and her husband raised four children together, both worked, and led generally content lives. Then, her husband lost his job and, consequently, the family’s medical insurance. Hard times fell on Pam and Mr. Pam. (Her last name is actually Cash-Roper.) It was time to speak out for CHANGE. “I am a lifelong republican who voted for Nixon, Reagan, Bush, and Bush, but I can’t afford four more years like this,” she told the crowd. “I can’t do it! I can’t do it!”

Anyway, just watch the video. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll wish you could hug Pam through the youtube video. (And for more info on Pam, check this out.)

DENVER—LL is currently sitting at Denver International Airport, yawning and enjoying the free WiFi, mostly to ogle Sarah Palin. As his time at the Democratic National Convention comes to a close, though, he is reminded of an informal blog-off discussed late last week between himself and the Washington Post’s David Nakamura and DCist’s Sommer Mathis.

You decide the winner in the comments! Here’s my posts, Mathis’ posts, and Nakamura’s posts.

Now before you cast your vote, ask yourself this: What other blogger has brought you poorly lit video of Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr. doin’ “Da Butt”:

LL shot that at a poolside party Tuesday night thrown by Pepco, where guests were greeted by a thoroughly seersuckered Vincent B. Orange Sr., the former Ward 5 councilmember turned Pepco lobbyist, and treated to a carving station and raw bar.

Prior to Thomas’ move-busting, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton had been getting down with about a dozen others in a “Booty Call” line dance. That prompted noted jock Thomas, standing on the sideline, to protest to LL that “he got the athletics gene but not the dancing gene.” He pointed to his mother, delegate delegation member Romaine Thomas, who was dancing with Norton and said, “She’s the dancer in the family.” He then informed a surprised LL that he had attended cotillion as a youngster.

Then the DJ spun E.U.’s go-go crossover classic, and it was off to the races. LL, meanwhile, had to explain go-go to a pair of befuddled New Mexico delegates who had wandered in.

To paraphrase All the President’s Men, that’s a good, solid piece of American journalism the Washington Post doesn’t have.

Vote away!

Just Asking: Which local journo cornered Sarah Silverman in Denver and asked if she wanted a job in an Obama administration, then asked “what position” (heh, heh)? The funny lady replied with two playful “love slaps” on the reporter’s cheek.

DENVER—Tune in to WTOP radio this morning at 10 a.m. to hear LL run down the local side of the Democratic National Convention on the Politics Program With Mark Plotkin.

Plotkin was kind enough to invite LL on after not being able to personally attend his first Democratic convention since 1968. Here’s the item from LL’s column this week about Plotkin’s sorely missed absence:

Some familiar faces are absent from the D.C. crowd this year. Not among the politicos, mind you—Councilmember Marion Barry, for one, was holding court in the Crowne Plaza lobby bar as LL was typing out this column Monday evening.

Nope, two giants of local media—WTOP’s Mark Plotkin and WRC-TV’s Tom Sherwood—were left to take it all in from home. (Covering the locals has fallen to LL, the Post’s David Nakamura; DCist’s Sommer Mathis; Leon Harris, Gordon Peterson, and Rebecca Cooper from WJLA-TV; and Patrick McGrath from WTTG-TV.)

Both sidelined reporters expressed their disappointment to LL.

Sherwood says he found out he wouldn’t be making the trip only last week, and says the decision was made for “budget reasons.” He hasn’t missed a convention, Democratic or Republican, since 1988, and he attended the ’84 Democratic affair to boot. Asked what he’ll miss most, Sherwood said, “This sounds corny, but showing the local people in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia a part of history.”

Asked about the budget situation, Sherwood’s boss, VP of news Camille Edwards, says, “I don’t really discuss things like that,” though she admitted that budgets are tightening across the local news industry. Channel 4, she says, has plenty of NBC network resources to draw on to cover the local delegation.

Yeah right: LL can’t wait for that Brian Williams one-on-one with Harry Thomas Jr.

Plotkin declined to blame the decision not to send him or any other in-house WTOP reporter to what he calls “the quadrennial highlight of my life” on any budget pressures, saying station owner Bonneville International has “plenty of resources.”

“Conventions have been a part of my life,” he says, having attended every Democratic confab since 1968—that’s 10 of ’em—plus four Republican shindigs to boot. The listeners aren’t going to go without in this age of corporate synergy, he says, with reports coming into the powerhouse news station from reporters who get their paychecks from CNN, CBS, and Politico.

“Maybe the benefit of all this is there’s less Plotkin to listen to,” he says. “Less Plotkin is more!”

DENVER—Mayor Adrian M. Fenty arrived moments ago at the D.C. delegation’s floor space at Mile High Stadium, hours ahead of Sen. Barack Obama’s acceptance speech. He initially was sitting at the back of the section, tending to his BlackBerry with aide Veronica Washington, but just now snapped a smiling picture arm in arm with Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray and other councilmembers.

It’s unclear whether Fenty will remain for Obama’s speech; LL is told he has seats higher in the stadium.

Also here this evening: former mayor Marion Barry, meaning the former civil-rights leader will witness an African-American accept the presidential nomination of a major party for the first time in American history. Barry is not a delegate but is holding a “special guest” credential. Barry had not been able to attend convention sessions earlier in the week at the Pepsi Center due to a lack of credentials.

UPDATE, 7:35 P.M.: And now Fenty’s gone, having exited the field level with Washington and aide John Falcicchio.

UPDATE, 11:44 P.M: LL left the field level before Obama’s speech, but a source informs him that Fenty returned for the speech.

DENVER—So they all showed up!

Sen. Paul Strauss and Michael D. Brown, not to mention Shadow Rep. Mike Panetta, got to back, along with several dozen guests in the glow of Heroes‘ Hayden Panettiere and the somewhat, um, dimmer aura of David Keith and Melissa Fitzgerald (who, incidentally, appeared at a campaign event for 2006 Ward 3 candidate Robert Gordon, who ran against Strauss.)

But the real thrill for LL was to see Dan Rather greet the crowd. He didn’t address voting rights in his remarks to the crowd, but in comments to LL afterwards said, “I do know about the home-rule problem and getting the vote. It’s pretty clear it needs to happen, it will happen, and it’s just a question of when it’s going to happen.” Rather spoke fondly about his time living in Washington, from the mid-60s until the late 70s, making his home in Georgetown.

Here’s a short video of Rather and Panettiere holding forth on the issue du jour:

DENVER—Yesterday, LL reported that musician and DJ Moby had expressed strong support for D.C. voting rights to Shadow Rep. Mike Panetta while at an event here at the Democratic National Convention.

Well, last night, LL was pursuing some leisure activities out in Denver’s warehouse district when Moby walked by, on his way into an art gallery. LL ran him down, and while Moby said he was pressed for time—he had to DJ and Democratic Party event—he was a happy to take a minute to speak, passionately and informedly (is that a word?)—about the District’s lack of a franchise:

My comment is, the District has more people than Wyoming and has no representation. It’s the nation’s capital and has no representation federally, or almost barely any representation federally….For the hundreds of thousands of people who live in the District, I think it’s just a shame that this administration’s talking about spreading democracy and spreading voting rights abroad when the people living next door don’t have the same voting rights and have the same federal representation. And also, if the District becomes a state, as I do believe it should, suddenly you have two senators from the District.

LL asked if he supported the incrementalist approach favored by Eleanor Holmes Norton and D.C. Vote:

I think they should hold out. I think that everyone in the District should go on strike until they get it. Just imagine what would happen to Washington, D.C., if everybody in the District stayed home, nonviolent protest, until it became a state.

Fenty Yet Again a No-Show: Mayor Adrian M. Fenty was listed as a speaker on the program for this morning’s delegation breakfast at the Crowne Plaza, but he never showed.

DENVER—TV star Hayden Panettiere, LL has learned, is scheduled to join the D.C. delegation for a luncheon this afternoon hosted by the District’s shadow delegation.

Panettiere is buds with Shadow Sen. Paul Strauss, whom she met earlier this year while lobbying Congress on saving the whales. She taped a short YouTube voting-rights PSA with Strauss at the time.

More to come.

UPDATE, 12:24 P.M.: Strauss, moments ago, promised LL there would be two additional big name “Hollywood guests.” He has printed up hand cards advertising the shindig.

UPDATE, 12:38 P.M.: LL’s aggressive coverage of this issue continues. Shadow Sen. Michael D. Brown reports one of the as-yet-unnamed guests was in Officer and a Gentleman and the other was in the West Wing. And, he says, there’s a fourth possible guest “bigger than the other three combined,” but that’s not confirmed yet.

UPDATE, 2:21 P.M.: The fourth big shot? Dan Rather! He hasn’t shown yet, but he is said to be on the way. Brown reports he will accompany Rather to Mile High Stadium tonight for Barack Obama’s acceptance speech.

UPDATE, 3:19 P.M.: Hayden is in the house, just delivered her remarks. The other celebs are David Keith of An Officer and a Gentleman and The Great Santini, and Melissa Fitzgerald from West Wing. No Debra Winger! Dan Rather is due within minutes.

DENVER—These superdelegates had at one time endorsed Hillary Clinton, but ended up casting their votes for Barack Obama:

• Most prominently: Harold Ickes, the longtime Dem operative who has been among Clinton’s most dogged supporters.
• Yolanda Caraway, PR strategist
• Hartina Flournoy, American Federation of Teachers
• Ben Johnson, DNC deputy chair
• Elizabeth Smith, DNC member at large
• Mona Mohib, DNC Asian Pacific Islander American caucus
• And the there’s Ward 5’s Harry Thomas Jr., who initially supported Clinton before making an agonizing switch to Obama.

DENVER—Mayor Adrian M. Fenty was late arriving to the convention floor and was not able to give the D.C. delegate tally from the delegation’s floor microphone.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton filled in with impromptu remarks, which local Dems chair Anita Bonds says Norton composed, with the help of Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans, within five minutes when it became clear Fenty might not make it on time.

Fenty, as mayor, is the official head of the District’s delegation, and Bonds says it’s “traditional” for the head to take the mike. It seems Hizzoner was delayed getting in to the arena, arriving less than 10 minutes late. After briefly greeting local delegates, Fenty roamed the convention floor before entering the bowels of the Pepsi Center, where he was whisked into the off-limits-to-press “Boiler Room” by his longtime political strategist Tom Lindenfeld to meet an unnamed VIP.

Fenty declined to explain his absence; the roll call vote had been moved up earlier in the day, Bonds says, and Fenty was trying to make it to the floor in time. “I was talking to John [Falcicchio, Fenty's political aide], every minute,” she says.

Fenty says he heard Norton’s remarks on his way onto the floor. “She said exactly what I would have said,” he says.

UPDATE: The District cast 33 votes of its 40 votes for Barack Obama, and seven votes for Hillary Clinton. The Clinton voters were Evans, former Ward 8 councilmember Sandy Allen, Ward 2 gay activist Peter Rosenstein, elected Democratic National Committeewoman Marilyn Tyler Brown, DNC member Mary Eva Candon, Minyon Moore of America Coming Together, and DNC member Eric Kleinfeld. Evans, Rosenstein, and Allen were pledged to Clinton; the rest are unpledged superdelegates.

Moby knows his D.C. voting rights.

Shadow Rep. Mike Panetta found that out after he introduced himself to the musician and DJ at a party he talked himself into last night, after Moby had played a set.

Panetta mentioned that he supported his activism on behalf of “net neutrality”—the idea that Internet bandwith shouldn’t be reserved for high bidders—but Moby (who’s blogging about the DNC, incidentally) wanted to change the subject.

“Without missing a beat,” Panetta says, “he said, ‘I’d like to work on the D.C. issue—it’s crazy that D.C. doesn’t have a voice in Congress.’”

And he’s willing to go farther than a mere congressional vote—ahem, Eleanor. “He went right up to statehood,” Panetta says.

“Welcome, D.C. Democrats!” Mayor Adrian M. Fenty said about an hour ago, at D.C. Vote’s protest in front of the Denver Mint.

About friggin’ time, was the sotto voce attitude of many DCites present.

Fenty arrived at 10:45 a.m., about 15 minutes into the gathering—after Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray and Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans had spoken, and congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton was well into her characteristically lengthy remarks. Fenty gave a one-minute speech, then initially joined elected officials behind a “No Taxation Without Representation” banner. As the speeches dragged on, Fenty peeled off and spoke to reporters gathered down the block. He rejoined a march back to the Crowne Plaza, the official D.C. delegation hotel, to cap off the rally.

Fenty’s tardiness is just another item on a growing list of perceived slights.

Last night, Fenty did not join the D.C. delegation on the floor of the convention. At first, Fenty said, “I just got in late, just a lot of things to get done.” Later, he said he he arrived at about 3:30 p.m. yesterday, well ahead of the night’s biggest speeches, from Virginia’s Mark Warner and Hillary Clinton. He says he did not enter the Pepsi Center last night, but stayed at his hotel, the Westin, where he says, “I really didn’t do much.” The fact that he’s staying there, of course, is an additional bone of contention.

About the hotel drama, Fenty said “what’s important to the residents of the District of Columbia” was supporting voting rights and getting Barack Obama elected.

But, LL asked, can’t you do that from the Crowne Plaza?

“You can do it from any hotel,” he said.