By: Chris Cummins
Staff Writer

Keith Olbermann has been suspended without pay, as his previously unknown donations given to three Democratic politicians have been made public, no doubt due to the indiscretions of a disgruntled campaign volunteer. Olbermann, the host of the popular Countdown with Keith Olbermann, has been a particular divisive and loud personality amidst cable airwaves populated with an abundance of such personalities. Sometimes labeled as a left wing equivalent of Glenn Beck, Mr. Olbermann has dominated MSNBC, his show the flagship program on the station, and his message becoming synonymous with the MSNBC brand. That hold may be slipping, mainly due to the fact that his extremely partisan brand of polecism has been criticized as hypocritical in the extreme, due to the right wing demagogues he so roundly criticized on a daily basis.

Obviously, this suspension raises questions about the political course of MSNBC. Again, viewed in some circles as the left wing equivalent of Fox News, the channel has been host to, obviously, Olbermann, as well as Rachel Maddow, an outspoken lesbian activist and far left liberal. Acting as a platform for such outspoken liberal thought has led to a dedicated yet small audience, which has only grown greater with time. This suspension, however, raises questions about the role of politics polemicism in cable news; still a thriving business, could it potentially fall by the wayside? Whatever the eventual course of MSNBC, it has set aside it’s most profitable and controversial star, and in doing so, changed it’s course irrevocably.

For more info on Keith Olbermann, visit his website: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677.