In the past week, MSNBC hotshot Keith Olbermann reengaged with the often misguided, apoplectic Bill O’Reilly. His polemic, a mixture of solid criticism and playful jibe, caricatured O’Reilly as a prisoner of his own imagination and megalomania. Like a Dan Brown novel, O’Reilly managed to connect thinkprogress.org with heads of NBC and President Barack Obama within a national conspiracy to squelch conservative voices in media.

Admittedly, this latest episode of O’Reilly paranoia is pretty provocative stuff and worthy of a good dousing of reason. Olbermann, however, mixed reason with immature, unfair rhetoric. Instead of evaluating the validity of his claims, Olbermann referenced the plummeting fortune of Rupert Murdoch, media mogul and FOX news owner, to argue O’Reilly’s waning political sanity and relevance. He proceeded to assert the financial solvency of NBC and the cushy disposition of his 8 p.m. spot.

First, Murdoch’s 57 percent decline in personal wealth is more indicative of the nosedive ravaging print media and the universality of market woes than the ranting of an old man. Second, why the hell does it matter anyways? (Cue the strings.) In the marketplace of ideas, truth and incisive argumentation are the only acceptable currency. Popularity and personal fortune, on the other hand, are duds. It amounts to schoolyard flexing, a vicious and tired “my dad makes more money than you.”

Unfortunately, Olbermann’s disturbing obsession with O’Reilly constitutes a general unraveling of MSNBC as a cable news source. Granted, I’m hopelessly liberal. I relished the departure of conservative Tucker Carlson from the nightly lineup. His frequent, indignant agitation was that of a pimply, junior high forensic student. I loved the infectious Obama-love (post Hillary, of course) and the blue election fanfare. I even indulged in the chest pumping that carried through January’s inauguration (my backpack still sports an Obama pin).

But it’s been 60 days. Permanently bitter Chris Matthews still burns a daily Bush effigy and might as well cast Obama in gold. Olbermann still counts the days since the declaration of mission accomplished while leveling his critique just above the current president’s expansionary plans for Afghanistan. Rachel Maddow — whose green, snarky chatter and socially progressive advocacy, I love — gleefully (and rightfully) derides the GOP’s latest train wreck but only with stale, Bush-like self-satisfaction.

In many ways, MSNBC is an answer to FOX News. It gives liberals and moderates a palatable offering of news commentary. Slack political analysis, unconditional Obama love and cheap, rhetorical barbs, however, confuse that distinction. While the mistakes of the past administration are still vivid and deserve redress, the fresh paint being laid by the Obama administration demands scrutiny. As for the inter-cable news network banter, leave O’Reilly to his senility and eventually (and hopefully) someone will direct him to the nearest Shady Pines.

—Abraham Hanson is a senior in the College of Arts and Science. He can be reached at abraham.c.hanson@vanderbilt.edu.