Network politics aside, Olbermann’s expression of assertive comfort with what he did appears particularly inconsistent with what he has held to be his own brand of personal ethics. There were his lashings of Juan Williams and Rick Sanchez for allegedly violating their company policies (or, in the latter case, finding a really weird way to be offensive). There were his myriad railings against Fox News for allegedly having a political agenda, one that rendered their news reporting worthless. And, of course, there was his claim on The View in 2008 that he didn’t vote because doing so would compromise his journalistic integrity. Even if political donations were allowed by his employer, and even if he did nothing outside the realm of the law– public or private– he violated rules he personally applies hard and fast to his political enemies and, two years ago, was apparently quite proud to apply to himself. Unless he can come up with a good reason why someone would donate to the campaign of someone they politically disagreed with, it’s hard to find any distinction between the message sent by a vote for a candidate in a voting booth and money sent to that candidate’s campaign.