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Everything he's done. he hasn't always agreed with everything i've done. but i've always respected his work immensely. but he is a brilliant man and writer and i found him to be a great guy to work for. it's going to be a certain loss for everybody who is involved in primetime at msnbc. >> david, i don't want to put you on the spot too much, but it's sort of my job in this case. was he well liked within msnbc? i've heard plenty of -- what was your impression? >> well, yeah, a fair question. i think the people he worked with had a lot of respect for him. the people on his show, the director, th...

Msnbc in recent months. during that controversy over the political donations he made to democrats, he threatened this they didn't truncate his suspension to go public and in response, phil griffin, the president of msnbc, told his agent if he did that, he would be fired. so relations had so badly deteriorated after years of internal struggles, even though olberman is a very talented broadcaster who basically revived msnbc, led it in a leftward direction, despite the key role that he played at that network, the relations were so frayed with people who had been his friends for years and felt he ...

Wise to talk to him and see, okay, what could he possibly do next, whether it's radio or tv. he's such a super talent, and he is good to work with. that's a combination that i think will mean he has a bright future, regardless, and it will be on his terms. >> ali, as david mentioned, i just want to play some of what he said when he came back from his suspension. >> i owe you an apology, for most for having subjected you to all this unnecessary drama. the white house is on the phone for you. seriously? another for not having known by observation, since it's not in my contract that nbc had rules...

Successful. they're the left wing alternative to fox news and it's been their brand. i think they're going to be cautious about that. let's face it, rachel maddow has become the star of the network and her opinions and i just think keith is a different personality. would he have run afoul at comcast? i think everybody at nbc and msnbc believes that would have been inevitable. >> david schuster, what do you make of this? >> well, anderson, first of all thanks for having me. i'm shocked and let me say from the outset that i'm a huge fan of keith's work. he was always very kind to me and i consid...

Powerhouse for msnbc. how crucial was that show to msnbc's bottom line? do we know? >> well, it appears to have peaked. the ratings for the show appear to have peaked a little bit and roland brings out a good point. while keith olberman has been an issue in terms of his volatile personality, they now have quite a solid bench to be able to have made that move. so the reality is, would the new owners have tolerated volatile and combative, or to them might that have been toxic? and i think that howard makes the point this is an environment where toxic may not have been that helpful. so while this...