In the other room on the TV, Keith Olbermann has (at least) twice plugged an upcoming story about how Arizona's "paper please" law* - the one where local law enforcement have to determine the immigration status of pretty much anyone they come across - is actually a secret conspiracy promoted by for-profit prisons.
Proof? One of the legislators who pushed the legislation got donations from prison companies, and several of the bill's later supporters did as well. Now Keith is interviewing Rep. Raul Grijalva about it.
Am I the only one who remembers a time when journalists, even investigative journalists, reported facts that they'd uncovered from documents or on-the-record sources, as opposed to guessing about something that might be plausible and then reporting it as if it's fact? Because that's basically what Olbermann is doing here. Roughly four minutes into this segment, he's yet to produce any objective fact proving that the proponents of SB 1070 were definitely influenced by private prison-lobbyists. And while I'm sure Rep. Grijalva has strong opinions about SB 1070 - really, who doesn't? Unless Grijalva has some special inside knowledge of legislature/lobbyist negotiations, Olbermann might as well be interviewing me.
Basically, Olbermann has about as much proof as do the Fox News wingnuts who think that every Muslim in America is a terrorist. "This looks fishy" --> "It could be true"--> "It's definitely true" --> doesn't work any better when it's a left-wing screaming head doing it.
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