Phillies Owner's Wife Called Anal at Project Home Tribute

Last night was the 25th anniversary gala of Project Home, the charity founded by indomitable Sister Mary Scullion and Joan Dawson-McConnon that endeavors to end all homelessness in Philadelphia. The charity has helped more than 8000 people get off the streets and built more than 600 housing units. Phillies part owner John and Leigh Middleton were honored for their transformative gift of over $15 million to the charity.

Leigh and John Middleton accepting their honor

The Philadelphia society types came out for the dinner, which was attended by 1250 and raised $2.1 million. Rock star Jon Bon Jovi, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, Bill Giles of the Phillies as well as the formerly homeless residents of Project Home attended the event. Pennsylvania's First Lady, Susan Corbett, Senator Bob Casey, and Mayor Michael Nutter also attended the event.

Eagles owner Jeffrey and Tina Lurie,  Comcast CEO Brian and Aline Roberts, and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim

NBC's Meet the Press moderator David Gregory, whose show is currently in third place, was the evening's host. I asked him if there was any truth to the Washington Post report that a psychological consultant have been hired to help him. He dismissed the story with "It's just noise." Still I would have liked to be a fly on the wall during Gregory's conversation with his boss, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts. No one was smiling.

Meet the Press moderator talking with his boss Comcast CEO Brian Roberts

Bon Jovi in his short but sweet speech made it clear who was the top dog in his relationship with Project Home co-founder Sister Mary Scullion. The nun is the boss of the rock star. He decided to become involved with the homeless after looking out his Philadelphia hotel room and seeing the homeless freezing on the street. He thought, This is not what our forefathers intended."

Bon Jovi teased Sister Mary Scullion during his speech. 

Binswanger Corp CEO David Binswanger and his wife Dorothy revealed some interesting details about the Middletons in their introduction of the couple. The couple works hard to deflect attention from themselves. They chose a seat at Phillies home game, to the left of the catcher, which is just out of camera range. The Middletons bought John's mother's 107 year old house and are refurbishing it. David Binwanger teased John Middleton about constantly looking at his phone and always being serious. Dorothy described Leigh Middleton as super organized or, in her words, "anal".

The World Bank President Jim Yong Kim gave a moving tribute to the Middletons in which he called them the new face of philanthropy. Kim announced that the World Bank is committed to ending extreme poverty in 15 years. He credited John Middleton with helping him developing a more scientific system for distributing aid.

He said, "I am so excited to be here. I have known John and Leigh Middleton for five years. There are no two people in the world that I admire more. John and Leigh ask simple questions of the people they work with 1. Do you have heart? 2. Do you grit? 3. Are you committed? 4. Do you use scientific evidence to improve the work that you do?"

I left the dinner with a queasy feeling in my stomach. I am not sure how I feel about going to a fancy gala dinner to raise money for the homeless. It was interesting to note two of the biggest supporters of the night made their fortunes from tobacco and sugary drinks, which have decimated poor communities.

Helping the homeless is hard work complicated by obstacles such as mental health and addiction. Yet, I was surprised how few people (8000 people) they had brought in from the streets or homes they had built (600) in a quarter century since the richest people in the city and Bon Jovi fund them. Mega developer Bart Blatstein does that in a year. When you break it down,  Project Home helped 320 people a year and built 24 homes a year.

The North Philly Stompers and the Phillie Phanatic led the crowd to dinner

David Binswanger and Marjorie Honickman are two major donors to Project Home

Cohen Fundraising Letter for DSCC Fundraiser with Obama

President Obama will speak at a DSCC fundraiser at the home of Comcast EVP David L. Cohen and his wife Rhonda on Thursday night. Richard Vague is the co-chairman. He made a fortune in fossil fuels, then credit cards. He then founded venture capital firm, Gabriel Partners. Senator Robert Casey will be there.

Here is Cohen's solicitation email.

Some of you were at the DSCC finance committee meeting yesterday, but for those who were not, Anne Caprara, Political Director at the DSCC gave a great update on the major Democratic Senate races.  We announced that we are currently at $600K in pledges and money in the door.  The DSCC has set a goal of $750K for this event, but we all agreed that we should be able to raise $1M as this finance committee has countless times in the past for the DSCC.

Just as a refresher, here are the details of the event Rhonda’s and my home: Address blocked out.

Event co-chairs: $32,400 - 5PM Cocktails and hors d'oeurvres, followed by a very small clutch, photos and dinner/Q&A with the President (At this level you are welcome to bring a guest for the photo and dinner portions of the event).

Event sponsor: $10,000 - Per person 5PM Cocktails and hors d'oeurvres, followed by photos and dinner/ Q&A with the President

If everyone on this email would either write or raise $10,000, we would easily be able to meet our goal of $1M and have a true impact on the programs that the DSCC works every day to implement in each of the targeted Senate races which obviously proved to be a winning strategy in the 2012 cycle (and in previous cycles).

DSCC Obama Dinner Invite 11.14.13.pdf

Comcast's Cohen Saved Corbett's Struggling Reelection

When I had a chance to ask Governor Corbett a question last year at a rare press conference in Philadelphia, I said, "It looks like your policies are shafting Philadelphia." The Philadelphia Inquirer lead with my observation the next day.

That is why I was surprised that Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen, former chief of staff to Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell, recently held a fundraiser for Republican Governor Tom Corbett at his home in the Mt. Airy section of Philadelphia. The fundraiser was mostly attended by Comcast employees and prominent Republican Bob Asher.

Cohen, who has been a longtime supporter of the Democratic party, had hosted President Obama there for a fundraiser that netted $1.2 million for his reelection campaign.

Under his breath, former Governor Rendell must be muttering e tu David? Corbett is basically the anti-Rendell. He has slashed programs for the poor, suggested women "close their eyes" while having a vaginal ultrasound, outsourced the state's lottery to the British, and possibly bundled his investigation into convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky when he was the state's attorney general.

Cohen's move is also surprising because Pennsylvanians have roundly rejected Corbett gubernatorial tenure. A recent Franklin and Marshall poll has only 26% of Pennsylvanians approving of the job that he has doing.

Terry Madonna, the state's preeminent political pollster said, "Corbett has vacillated between 25-35% since taking office. These are the worst poll numbers ever for a sitting governor at this point in his administration.  Corbett's predecessors, Rendell and Ridge, were polling at 50% and 40% respectively at the same time in their administration."

He continued, "We'll see if Corbett can come back from this. Every incumbent governor, since Pennsylvania has permitted governors to run for a second term, has won. Usually, they don't face tough competition. In this case, first tier Democrats are chafing at the bit to run."

In some ways, voters have already spoken on Corbett. They elected Kathleen Kane, who made an investigation into Corbett's bumbling of the Sandusky prosecution a central part of her election platform, as the state's Attorney General in 2012. She is the first Democratic to win that office since the office became an elected one. She is the rare women to win a Pennsylvania election. Allyson Schwartz is the lone woman to represent Pennsylvania in Congress.

The support of Cohen, considered the most astute political player in the state, and Comcast for Corbett is significant. Without it, the Corbett campaign would have remained on life support. Madonna, who expects Corbett to raise $20 million for the race, did not see any dissonance in Cohen's donation to Corbett.

"David has always been a businessman in politics. He has never been overly concerned with social issues."

I sent an email to Cohen's public relations people asking routine questions like such as why Cohen supports Corbett, has he been good for business, and name one policy of his that you like. He refused to comment. I am wondering if he would defend Corbett's anti-choice views to the female employees of Comcast or defend   his abandoning of Philadelphia, whose renaissance he spearheaded.

A source close to Comcast, who attended the fundraiser, explained that "If someone is surprised at Cohen's support of Corbett, they don't know David Cohen. The fundraiser was held before Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz announced that she was running. Comcast always supports incumbents and doesn't support challengers. The electoral history of Pennsylvania suggests that an incumbent will win."

He continued, "Comcast is a business in the state of Pennsylvania. They need to be able to talk to both sides."

This is technically true. While the cable industry is heavily regulated, most of the regulation comes from the federal level not the state level.

This person did not rule out the possibility that Cohen will donate to the campaign of  Corbett's "formidable" challenger Allyson Schwartz.She appears to have declared her intentions before the other Democratic candidates.

Not waiting for Cohen's check, Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz supporters are dismissing Cohen abandoning the Democrats. One said, "Corbett saw his poll numbers and terrorized a leading businessman to support him."

Rachel Magnuson, the chief of staff for the Congresswomen, was not concerned about Cohen's donation.

"Allyson Schwartz does not care about a political insider. She is hearing from Pennsylvanians from all four corners of the state and they are urging her to run," said Magnuson.

Madonna names Pennsylvania State Treasurer Bob McCord, who has won two statewide campaigns and has personal wealth that he put in the campaign, and former Congressman Joe Sestak, who only lost the 2010 Senate race against Toomey  by 2 points, as two other possible Democratic challengers to Corbett. He noted that Allyson Schwartz understood what it took to run statewide since she had previously run for the Senate and lost.

While it is too early to handicap the race, he thinks that a winnable race for the Democrats could be lost if there is a nasty primary battle. It was not all good news for the Democrats.

"Rendell was a liberal and won. But he won on the strength of his mayoralty in Philadelphia," said Madonna.

CNBC's Bartiromo: Banks Are Not Lending Because They Can't Lie

CNBC's star anchor Maria Bartiromo, the "Money Honey" was the featured speaker this morning at the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce Economic Outlook 2012 breakfast. Her delivery of a canned speech made it clear that the Money Honey did not want to be in Philadelphia this morning, but only came due to pressure from NBC's new owners, specifically Comcast's Executive Vice President David Cohen. (So much for Comcast's promise not to interfere with the news division.)

Being in Philadelphia, she warmed up the audience by mentioning that her family went to Penn. Interestingly, she stayed mum about having been appointed to the Wharton Business School Leadership Advisory Board by the former CEO of Citigroup's wealth management division, Todd Thomson, who was fired by Citigroup over their alleged affair.

Due to the tremendous amount of advertising dollars that the World Economic Forum drops on CNBC, she must have felt obligated to say the word Davos. However, she did not offer any fresh insights from the conference. As one breakfast attended said, "She did not have to go to Davos to give that speech."

According to Bartiromo, there is a reason that banks are not lending and it is not the bad economy. "One high level bank executive told me his bank is not lending money now because they can no longer lie on the loan documents," she said. "People have to have the financial wherewithal to buy."

She believes that the economy has started to turn around. "When I interviewed JP Morgan CEO Jamie Morgan, he said that housing has hit bottom, but will be bumping around the bottom for awhile."

Bartiromo is a big proponent of mobile technology. "There are 1 billion personal computers in the world today while there are 4 billion mobile devices. Only 400 million of those are smart phones," she said, "Many people do not yet know the potential of their phones. In Korea, they can pay for everything, board planes with their phones."

Internationally, she is concerned about the drop in China's growth rate from 11% to 8%. March 22 is the next potential default date for Greece. Although Greece is a small European country, a default would have a tremendous psychological impact on the market.

With the tremendous growth in the world's population, she is pushing commodities and mining stocks. "Demand for iron ore, gold, copper, and steel are very strong," she said.

She ended with her thoughts on education. "In America, children attend school five hours a day, five days a week when you exclude gym and lunch," said Bartiromo. "In the rest of the world, children go to school 10 hours a day, six days a week."

One of the panelists, the new president of Tasty Baking Company Paul Ridder, is also concerned about the small pool of educated workers. "With the unemployment rate over 8%, you would think that it would be easy for us to find skilled electricians and other workers. It is not," he said.

While many criticize the banks for not lending, Ridder defended the banks. "Banks are not venture capitalists. They must lend to solid businesses," he said.

Dan Calista, founder and CEO of health industry management consulting firm Vynamic, believes that for Philadelphia to grow as a business center "it can not be the murder capital of the world" and must improve conditions at Philadelphia International Airport.

Comcast Not Adding Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera English (AJE) launched a campaign to be added to cable lineups in the United States. The pressure from the Jewish community has apparently scared off Comcast.

A veteran Israel activist told me that senior management at Comcast promised him that Al Jazeera would never be added to the cable line up except where it all is. Comcast viewers in Washington DC can see AJE.

When I asked Al Jazeera's Molly Conroy's for the station's response, she said, "How can Comcast decide they will never put a 4 year old station on the air?

Their official statement came from Al Anstey, head of AJE-
"We know there is significant demand for access to Al Jazeera English in the US. Over the last weeks, we have received more than 20,000 emails from Comcast subscribers across the country asking for access to the channel. Our conversations with Comcast are ongoing and we are hopeful we will reach an agreement to launch in the near future."

Comcast spokesman John Demming, who needs to chill, hyperventilated in his denial that any decision about adding AJE has been made.

My answer to him was that I stand by my reporting.

Obama's Jewish Problem

Ever since Obama's May speech on the Mid East that mentioned pre 1967 borders as a starting point, Obama has been perceived as having a problem with the Jews. Media outlets such as Politico are churning out stories with dire headlines - "The Jews are abandoning Obama."

Republicans have a big incentive to win over Jewish voters. Ari Fleisher pointed out at the AIPAC conference in May, "If Republicans are successful at attracting 30% of the Jewish vote during a presidential election, they win the election."

All of the Philadelphia Democratic Jewish establishment were chairmen of the Obama fundraiser in Philadelphia on June 30 at Comcast's Executive Vice President David L. Cohen's Mt Airy home. Beside Cohen, the chairman included lawyers Daniel Berger, Alan Kessler, Ken Jarin and Mark Alderman. Jewish guests included Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, Steve Cozen, and developer Israel Roizman, an Israeli who rode a tank during the 6 day war in 1967.

Kessler said, "We raised a little less than $2.5 million. (According to DNC sources, the goal was $3 million.) This was a good number considering where we are in the campaign cycle and the state of the economy. People are more focused on getting to the shore and how they are going to pay for their gas to get there than they are on the next election."

The issue of Israel came up often during the fundraising. Kessler said, "With Jewish voters who care about Israel, it took more to convince them to donate. 15-20% did not donate because of the President's comments about the pre 1967 borders."

He then walked me back from those estimates. Fundraisers often find that people who can no longer afford to give will not admit it and trot out a political reason for their lack of giving. Having been a fundraiser and a target for donations myself, I would say that this probably means that we should cut Kessler's estimate in half -7.5% -10% did not give because of the President's Mideast speech. This is still a large, significant number.

Kessler also pointed out that it will be easier to fundraise when Obama is running against someone in particular.

Steve Cozen, an ardent supporter of Israel, directly asked the President at the fundraiser about his support of Israel. He came away convinced that the President has unwavering support for Israel and its security. Cozen said, "In practically terms, this President is providing more financial and logistical support to Israel than any other administration. The Iron Dome has prevented many attacks."

Cozen believes that "some of the President's reasons for stating that the pre 1967 borders should be a starting point of the negotiations is the upcoming UN vote about a Palestinian state in September." Cozen explained, "The President does not want the United States to be the lone veto vote of the resolution. With his comments about the 1967 borders, the President hopes that he will be able to convince others to join us in that veto."

My friend, Richard Rothwharf, points out the problem with analyzing the Jewish community. "We are the only minority group that votes against our interests meaning Israel."

Berger agrees that Jewish concerns are not monolithic. He commented, "The Republicans are always trying to peel off the Jewish Democrats. Of course, Israel is an issue. But when Jews consider the commandment Tikkun Olam, (fixing the world), they have no choice but to vote Democratic."

I attended the lower minimum fundraiser ($100-$2500) at the Bellevue Hyatt earlier in the day. With the exception of Obama's base in the African American community, the rest of his base did not come out. With the $100 ticket price for younger voters (Gen 44), it was surprising that the DNC were not able to attract more of them.

Looking at a list of chairmen for Romney's fundraiser the same day, I did not see any Jewish defections from the Democratic party. The Jewish chairman included Charles Kopp, Jeffrey Orleans, Mitch Morgan, and Ira Lubert. As far back as I can remember, these 4 have always been Republicans.

Ben Smith from Politico's article on Obama may be losing the Jews, which seemed to indicate a huge problem in the Jewish community with Obama, has some problems. I specifically asked Daniel Berger about his comments in the article. Berger, who is no fan of Politico, swears he said nothing negative about fundraising for the Obama dinner to Smith. Then how was Smith able to get this particular quote?

Ben Smith stands behind his reporting. When contacted, he said, "You are, to my eye, printing an innuendo. I'll give him a call tomorrow and can share my notes if he wants. The quote is totally accurate. He said a ton of things I didn't include, as does everyone one interviews." Smith never answered my email if he had checked with Berger.

Betsy Sheerr, who works tirelessly to get women elected to public office, was a major supporter of Hilary Clinton in the 2008 election. She never really got behind Obama so her quote on this subject is meaningless.

I hope that this quells some of the hysteria about Obama's Jewish problem.

Status of Sixers' Sale

I checked in tonight with Comcast founder Ralph Roberts and Comcast-Spectacor honcho Fred Shabel at the Rittenhouse Square Ball about the status of the Sixers's possible sale.

Ralph Roberts said,"The Sixers will be sold. They are losing money."

Fred Shabel, Snider's right hand man, said, "We are in negotiations." He declined to name a point man for the sale, but emphasized that Comcast was involved. "There are financial, legal and operational people on the negotiating team."This indicates to me that the negotiations are advanced.

He also declined to say why the negotiations are taking so long.

Spielberg is Cheap

Employees at public relations firm Star Group are complaining that director Steven Spielberg is cheap. The firm were forced to work at a cut rate for his pet charity, the USC Shoah Foundation Institute.
After Schindler's List,Spielberg started the Shoah foundation to record first hand accounts of survivors of the concentration camps. This year, the dinner is in Philadelphia and the honoree is Brian Roberts, CEO from Comcast. For one month starting April 25, Comcast through its On Demand service and Infinity is offering for free ten films from the Institute.
Star was awarded the job because they handle the Museum of American Jewish History.
Don't you hate when billionaires begrudge us working stiffs a decent wage?

Liz Lemon Comes to Kabletown

Tiny Fey, the creator, writer and star of "30 Rock," appeared at the Central Parkway branch of the Free Library to promote her new book, "BossyPants."
Fey, a graduate of Upper Darby High School, was thrilled to return to her hometown. Her proud parents were in the audience.
Steve Burke from Comcast, with his wife and four of his children in tow, introduced Fey by saying "Welcome to Kabletown." He acknowleged "30 Rock" is one of the few hits on NBC. Burke gave her a compliment by repeating Lorne Michael's comment that she is the most talented person at NBC.
By the way, Lorne Michael refused to meet his new boss for breakfast, but did meet Burke for a dinner after the Thursday night run through of "Saturday Night Live." Lorne said to Burke, "Breakfast is out of the question."
Tina Fey credited her sixth grade teacher in Upper Darby with encouraging to write. She got her start writing a humor column for the school newspaper. A community theater group in Upper Darby gave Fey her first taste of the theater.
When asked about Alec Baldwin's announcement that he was leaving "30 Rock" after next year, Tina Fey said, "Alec is famous for making pronouncements and then changing his mind."
After Al Franken won the Senate without Fey's financial support, she texted him, "I knew that you could do it without my help." The new Senator texted back, "F--k you!"
Fey admitted that he unusual cover, which is a picture of Fey juxtaposed with hairy arms, "creeps people out."
Fey had mixed feelings about her iconic role as Sarah Palin on "Saturday Night Live." It certainly raised my profile, but it also created a group of people that hated me, " explained Fey.
The book and lecture were a little disappointing because Fey revealed very little and did not dish on her colleagues.

Comcast Executive Lets Loose

Metro was able to catch up with an exultant David L. Cohen, the executive vice president of Comcast, by phone from his Philadelphia office hours before the Comcast-NBC deal closed. Comcast now owns 51% of NBCUniversal in a joint venture with General Electric. Comcast assumes management control of the network.
Cohen, along with a team of Comcast employees in Philadelphia and Washington, has spent over a year working on gaining regulatory approval for this deal. “I can not believe that we (Comcast executives) are going to wake up in the morning and be the proud owners of NBCUniversal. Brian Roberts, the CEO of Comcast, is both exhilarated and humbled,” said Cohen.
Comcast headquarters will stay in Philadelphia notwithstanding that NBC is New York City based. Although Brian Roberts recently bought an apartment in Manhattan in the same building as Sting and Denzel Washington, he is not decamping there. Cohen insisted, “Brian and Ralph Roberts and Comcast executives are proud to head a Philadelphia based company. We just opened the center city headquarters in June 2008.”
For the city of Philadelphia, the merger will not mean a gain or loss of any jobs. Cohen stressed, “Comcast employees will not be moving to New York. We do not intend to move NBC, Universal or Telemundo employees here. Maybe, a few additional administrative positions might be needed locally”
Cohen was clearly taking a victory lap. “During the week before the FCC vote, more than 110 Congressman and Senators signed a letter urging approval. Governors, mayors, and City Council members supported the deal. Only two people –Congresswoman Maxine Waters and Senator Al Franken-were against the deal at the end,” said Cohen.
Congresswoman Waters, reached over the weekend, said, “When no African American received an Oscar nomination this year, I am right to be worried about diversity.” Queen Latifah spoofed her outspoken criticism of the merger on “30 Rock.”
Critics charged that the FCC did not extract major concessions from Comcast when they approved the merger. Cohen also downplayed the significance of the conditions that FCC imposed on Comcast to approve the merger. “We voluntarily agreed to most of the conditions because we would have done them anyways. For example, we have agreed to supply an additional 1000 hours of local news and public affairs programming and partner with hyperlocal non- profit news organizations because we believe in local news,” he asserted.
Cohen argued that ceding management control of Hulu, the online video service that is a joint venture between NBC, News Corp, and Disney, was a “nonevent.” “Before the merger, NBC had a minority, non controlling stake that afforded limited governance,” he contended.
Comcast is now required by the FCC to offer stand alone hi speed Internet at the price of $49.95 for the next two years with a cost of living increase only allowed in the third year. Cohen contends, “Comcast was doing this anyways. We currently charge $49.95 -$54.95 for this service.”
Jeff Zucker, previously the CEO of the network; MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann; and Angela Bromsted, the programming executive responsible for “House” and “Heroes” have been recently terminated. One person that does not seem to have to worry about a job is Steve Capus, the head of NBC News.
Cohen said, “NBC News is the crown jewel of the network. We have enormous respect for the people that work there and have made it the leading news network. Steve Capus is staying and will now be reporting directly to Steve Burke, the incoming CEO of NBCUniversal.”
While the acquisition of NBC was Brian Robert’s vision, his 91- year- old father, Comcast founder Ralph Roberts, has reason to be proud. On a video conference for NBCUniversal employees today, the senior Roberts said, “Only in America could a cable company in Tupelo, Mississippi with 1200 customers turn into a company with $50 billion in revenues and 130,000 employees.
NBC and ATT Broadband will probably not be the last purchases of Comcast. Cohen, refusing to comment, said, “I joined Comcast because they are a growing company, not content to stand still.”
I reported part of this for Metro.
http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/local/article/758449--comcast-staying-put-in-philly-after-nbc-merger

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Olbermann's Firing by Comcast

I have talked to executives at Comcast and friends of the Roberts family. While they would not go on the record, they did make these points. Comcast was definitely part of the equation in the firing of MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann, but it was more complicated than that.

Everyone was tired of Olbermann's tantrums. Jeff Zucker was gone so Olbermann did not have a rabbi or booster in the room.

Phil Griffin, the head of MSNBC, was worried about keeping his own job after the takeover. When Olbermann acted up for the hundredth time, Griffin did not hesitate in firing Olbermann. Griffin thought that his firing Olbermann would help him keep his job. He hoped that they would be grateful that he eliminated a problem for Comcast.

Griffin definitely boosted his chances of keeping his job by the efficient way he handled Olbermann's termination. While the Comcast executives did not care for Olbermann, they hated even more the possibility of a repeat of the Conan saga. During the Late Night wars, they were vexed but powerless to do anything. They just shook their head and said, "What a mess."

By the firing, Comcast wanted to send a message that no prima donnas would not be tolerated at NBC and MSNBC. In some ways, this was a repeat of the sacking of Pat Croce as head of the 76ers during a winning streak.

Brian Roberts overlooked Olbermann's political donations that broke NBC rules, but he could not forgive the theatrics around the event. He was livid at Olbermann's attempt to blackmail him by threatening to appear on rival networks' shows such as "Good Morning America" to discuss the donations.

It might have helped to soothe things over if Olbermann had made a courtesy trip to Philadelphia like David Gregory and many others did to kiss the pope's ie Brian Roberts ring, but he could not be bothered.

Olbermann was riled up because Comcast had made it clear that MSNBC would no longer lean as liberal in the future. He would no longer be allowed to anchor election night coverage. Comcast insists that this was a business decision not a political one. My source said, "There are just not as many as left wing listeners as right wing."

Although I think changing the political branding of MSNBC is misguided, I do not think the decision is political based. Comcast executives say that the decision is more headline based. Comcast likes to fly under the radar. They did not like the complaints about MSNBC bias.

Unlike Roger Ailes, the head of Fox News, Burke and Roberts are not former political operatives so they do not relish the political debate. While Steve Burke is an avid Republican supporter and fundraiser, he is not dogmatic. The traditionally conservative Roberts family tend to be pragmatic and are definitely liberals on social issues. They have donated to both Democrats and Republicans.They hired David Cohen, Democratic Mayor Rendell's chief of staff, as an executive vice president.

Olbermann, like many other broadcasters, was told to tone down the rhetoric. He resisted and resented their interference. Even though Olbermann does not advocate violence in any way, Comcast had even less interest in bombastic speech of any kind after the Gifford's assassination. The decision to let Olbermann go was already in the works but the tragedy just reinforced that it was the right one.

Personal prejudices entered the picture. Ralph Roberts, the founder of Comcast and the current CEO's father, hated "The Worst Person in the world" segment as many people did.

Olbermann should be back on the air in September. He probably will not be able to tell us what really happened because he signed a confidentiality agreement.

Comcast Speaks about the Olympics

NBC started airing the Olympics when Richard Nixon was President. The broadcasting tradition of a generation will mostly like end after the Comcast takeover of NBC is completed.
With NBC losing a reported $223 million on the 2010 Vancouver games and standing to lose even more on the 2012 London games, bidding for the broadcasting rights to the Olympic Games at the current prices that the Olympic Committee is asking may no longer make economic sense. While Comcast CEO Brian Roberts medaled in squash at the Maccabiah Games, that will probably not be a compelling enough reason for Comcast to take the financial losses. By all accounts, the Roberts family bought NBC to make money not for the prestige.
David L. Cohen, the Executive Vice President of Comcast, said, "We have to finish the acquisition and then look at the books." When pressed, he added, "I know that there is no way that we are going to pay $2.5 billion for the rights like the Olympic Committee currently wants." Cohen doubted that the NBC would prevail in the auction next spring of the broadcasting rights for the games in 2014 and 2016.
Comcast CEO Brian Roberts was one of twenty CEOs that recently met with Obama during the CEO summit in December at Blair House. Cohen discussed that visit, "Published reports are accurate."
Accounts of the meeting said that Roberts voiced his support directly to the President for the then pending net neutrality proposal at the FCC because of the importance of regulatory certainty for Comcast." John Doerr, the venture capitalist behind Google and Amazon, voiced similar sentiment at the summit.