Keith Olbermann returns on Tuesday, suffers one day suspension

Even MSNBC itself doesn't take its policies very seriously. Keith Olbermann will return to Countdown on Tuesday, making his punishment for very partisan Democratic campaign donations (whatever) a whopping one day long.

Many of us probably weren't even aware that MSNBC prohibits any kind of political donations, probably because that policy is specific to MSNBC alone. Even NBC allows company donations. But after the internet blew up over Olbermann's political indiscretions which was more about principles that MSNBC apparently had than actually being offended, Olbermann was gone indefinitely.

After a full two days fraught with outrage and uncertainty, MSNBC president Phill Griffin released this statement on Saturday:

After several days of deliberation and discussion, I have determined that suspending Keith through and including Monday night's program is an appropriate punishment for his violation of our policy. We look forward to having him back on the air Tuesday night.

Olbermann only misses one day of work, which is tonight.

Rachel Maddow explains the rules about political donations for different 24-hour cable news stations. As awesome as she is, that whole statement about Fox being a political organization and MSNBC a news organization is unrealistic. (Maybe it's in their super-serious manifesto.)