Olbermann Uses Return To Talk About Transparency

So, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann returned to his show last night -- after what amounted to a two-day suspension when it became known that the left-leaning broadcaster had given some money to a few Democrats running for office (which MSNBC said violated its policy).

As you would expect, Keith addressed the controversy on the air. You can see all six minutes or so of his commentary here.

He apologized for three things:

-- "For having subjected you (his viewers) to all this unnecessary drama."

-- For not knowing that "NBC had rules about getting permission for making political donations."

-- That after he gave money to Arizona Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' campaign, he had her opponent on the air. "I should have made either it clear that I had contributed to her campaign or better still just dropped (the opponent, Jesse Kelly) from the segment."

Then at the end, Keith used the commentary to make a point about campaign finance laws. If he had given money to the political action fund of a group like the Chamber of Commerce, which then could have donated the money to a candidate, "you would have never, ever known."

"I gave and you found out and you judged me for good or ill" and that's good, Keith said. Here's a clip from that part of his commentary: