Was Keith Olbermann fired or did he quit?

MSNBC’s statement:

“MSNBC and Keith Olbermann have ended their contract. The last broadcast of “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” will be this evening. MSNBC thanks Keith for his integral role in MSNBC’s success and we wish him well in his future endeavors.”

An MSNBC spokesman said that Comcast’s acquisition of NBC Universal was not a factor in the decision.

In the clip, Matthews says: “I was trying to think about who he was tonight. And uh, it’s interesting. He is post-racial, by all appearances. You know, I forgot he was black tonight for an hour. “I was watching, I said, ‘wait a minute!’ He’s an African-American guy in front of a bunch of other white people and there he is president of the United States and we’ve completely forgotten that tonight — completely forgotten it!”

MSNBC did not comment on Matthews’ quote.

Later, on Rachel Maddow’s show, Chris Matthews tried to clarify his statement about Obama’s State of the Union Address – check out the video clip:

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No doubt 24 co-star Janeane Garofalo has strong opinions – check out this video clip of Janeane on last night’s Keith Olbermann, where they discuss the tea parties and Garofalo gives her opions about the participants being nothing but “tea-bagging rednecks.”

Do you agree with Janeane Garofalo’s opinion that the teabagging folks are motivated by “hating a black man in the White House”? Watch for Garofalo at around 3 minutes in, but Olbermann’s “teabagging” double entendres in the beginning of the clip are fantastic.

The MSNBC producer is having such a screaming meltdown, you can’t even hear the anchor reporting the story.

While Sarah Palin carried on with a press conference to pardon one turkey, Triple D Farm and Hatchery worker slaughtered another – yep, right behind Palin and on camera (the gruesome bit includes slicing a turkey’s neck, letting it bleed out and twisting off the head).

A reporter asked Sarah Palin how she felt about it, to which the Alaskan Governor answered, “no worries.”

Palin continued, “I was happy to be invited to participate in, in this, and, uh, and, you know, for one, you need a little bit of levity in this job, especially with a, uh, so much that has gone on in the last couple of months that has been so, um, political, ah, obviously, that it’s nice to get out and, and do something to promote a local business and, and to uh, just participate in something that isn’t so, um, heavy-handed politics that, uh, invites criticism. Certainly we’ll even invite criticism for doin’ this too, but at least this was fun!”

Uh… yeah.

Things started to get ugly during the conventions, reportedly on Keith Olbermann’s part, with his many criticisms at the GOP convention.

David Gregory will step in as MSNBC anchor for the presidential and vice presidential debates as well as on election night.

Keith Olbermann’s “Countdown” tonight, September 8, will feature his interview with Barack Obama.

Watch the MSNBC Palin video above and read the transcript after the jump.

The following is the MSNBC Sarah Palin oops transcript – you’ll hear Anchor Chuck Todd, Consultant Mike Murphy, and Wall Street Journal columnist and former Ronald Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan:

Murphy: You know, because I come out of the blue swing state government work. Engler, Whitman, Thompson, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush. And these guys, this is all how you want to (inaudible) this race. You know, just run it up. And it’s not gonna work.
Noonan: It’s over.
Murphy: Still, McCain can give a version of the Lieberman speech to do himself some good.
Noonan: I saw Kay this morning
Todd: They’re all bummed out. I mean, is she really the most qualified woman they could have turned to?
Murphy: She’s never been comfortable.
Noonan: The most qualified? No. I think they went for this, excuse me, political bullshit about narratives and (inaudible) the picture.
Murphy: Yeah, but what’s the narrative?
Noonan: Every time the Republicans do that because that’s not where they live and it’s not what they’re good at and they blow it.
Murphy: You know what’s really the worst thing about it? The greatness of McCain is no cynicism
Todd: And as you called it gimmicky.

Yeah, I’m not buying that either.

Then, on this morning’s MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough calls John McCain on his “Hills” lie, saying:
“We were extraordinarily impressed at your ability to look right into the camera and lie about the fact that you’re a huge fan of The Hills. Heidi Montag on your side – you got that going for you.”

John McCain’s response? “That was pretty good wasn’t it?. Well, she’s a very talented actress.”

Obviously, he hasn’t got a clue who Heidi Montag is. But why lie?

More video clips of the Barack Obama race speech after the jump.

In this video clip, Barack Obama addresse the remarks made by his pastor Rev. Wright.