The first time I heard Olbermann echo the words of Edward R. Murrow, at the end of one of his fiery commentaries, it sent chills up my spine. Unfortunately, the allusions to Murrow are starting to seem a little contrived and a tiny bit grating.

Nevertheless, there's nothing like a good Keith Olbermann rant to get the blood flowing, and that one was a pip. He uses anger to good rhetorical effort, and it's cathartic, to tell the truth, to let off some steam and yell right along with him. "Yeah! Punch him again, Keith! Yah, right in the nadgers!! There ya go!"

Why have we denied ourselves this simple pleasure for so long? Conservatives have had their army of frothing-at-the-mouth desk-pounders for years, and we thought they were barbaric for it. Now we know how good it can feel--Olbermann's a decadant self-indulgence!

But to get serious: The comparison's not entirely odious. Consider how the Right moved millions of people with that approach. People like Olbermann provide a focus for discontent and can transform it from a powerless ill-defined malaise into a focused laser beam of action. The time is right for Olbermann because there's a good part of the country that's had it up to here with the government of the last six years. Oblermann isn't creating the sentiment, he's riding it. Let's hope the tiger doesn't eat him.