No time like the present. Just over 24 hours after Tim Russert's memorial service (watch here if you missed any of it being broadcast on MSNBC) Keith Olbermann called the New York Post's Paula Froelich his "Worst Person in the World" (if Keith keeps going at this rate people are going to be gaming for the title based on kitsch value alone) for a gossip item that is running on today's Page Six titled "Cable Guys Lust for Tim's Job" (and really, all things considered, who doesn't think there's probably some truth to this). Anyway the item basically says that Matthews was overheard "plotting" for Russert's seat at the memorial service (Matthews emphatically denies, we tend to believe him, the man can be crass but he's nothing if not sincere) and that Olbermann is threatening to quit if he doesn't get the job. Says the source "I know, it sounds ludicrous, but, then, Keith Olbermann is ludicrous."

Olbermann was having none of this last night on his show, even leaping to Matthews' defense. To add insult to injury, the piece also quoted the same insider saying that NBC has no intention of hiring a MSNBC host, "They're cable. They're far too partisan. They have no gravitas. If gravitas is eight letters, they're about seven letters short." (Whoever this insider is, he has a way with words.) Also, Chuck Todd was apparently Russert's own pick as successor (we have to agree, along with many others).