Keith slams Fox News chief: Roger Ailes is no moderate

In a Monday night interview with Daily Kos founder and publisher Markos Moulitsas, Current TV's liberal news host Keith Olbermann tore into a new interview by Daily Beast contributor Howard Kurtz, featuring the insight of Fox News director Roger Ailes.

In the interview, Ailes told Kurtz that Fox News has become more "moderate" ever since the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), with this change personified by reeling former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin back and firing conspiracy theorist Glenn Beck. Ailes indicates that he's making the conservative network more toward the center ahead of the 2012 elections, at least in part as a way to grab a greater audience share.

Both Olbermann and Moulitsas thought this notion was silly, with Keith howling that Ailes is no moderate, he's a wanna-be "kingmaker." Moulitsas added that Kurtz's interview was "the essence of journalistic dishonesty," in that he failed to criticize Fox News in the past, but now seems at ease attributing their right-wing sway thanks to his interview with Ailes.

This video is from Countdown with Keith Olbermann, broadcast Monday, Sept. 26, 2011.