About 35 minutes into tonight’s episode of Countdown Keith Olbermann had an episode of his own. Midway through his McCain in the Membrane segment, he leaned off camera, coughed and tried to make it through his script:

…about the not apologizing, Governor you may have missed this. But Defense Secretary Rumsfeld apologized for the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners in custody and then the new defense secretary, Mr. Gates apologized for the air raid last year…

Excuse me.

No, I’m not going to make it to the break.

Go.

And with that, Countdown went to break. When Olbermann came back, he took a big gulp from his coffee mug and continued on with the show. Olbermann has been recovering from a case of strep throat. He missed Sunday’s Football Night in America due to the illness.

> Update: Click continued to see the clip…