Who Really Suspended Olbermann?

Let's unravel the politics here. The most reasonable assumption is that the indefinite suspension of Keith Olbermann is not about ethics in journalism or corporate policy at NBC. When you suspend your big earner and 800-pound gorilla and, in a sense, raison d'être, it's pure power play.

The story now reads like MSNBC president, Phil Griffin, is making a grab. Griffin, a career network news guy, has risen at MSNBC as Olbermann has risen. It is Olbermann, after all, who has single-handedly remade MSNBC as liberal TV (or anti-Fox TV) and given it its brand and value. Griffin and Olbermann have tag-teamed on-air and back office. More bluntly: Griffin works for Olbermann. Effectively so -- perhaps even happily. Griffin seems to have adapted to and even thrived on the basis of Olbermann's hard-to-handle personality. So what's changed? Comcast, obviously.