George W. Bush is officially off the hook. Since February 2006, Keith Olbermann has taken a shot at the former president at the end of nearly every show, using the same Iraq-themed line: "That’s Countdown, for this, the 2,576th day since the previous president declared "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq. I’m Keith Olbermann. Good night and good luck." But that signoff was retired as of Monday, in favor of "for this, the 34th day since the Deep Water Horizon oil spill disaster began," notes Newsbusters.
The new line "is much less clearly a direct shot at President Obama as the previous one—Bush was actually in the script," notes Steve Krakauer for Mediaite. "But the severity of the oil spill and the inaction in cleaning it up, whoever you want to blame, has forced a noted shift in the preeminent liberal cable news show."