In a press conference here announcing MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann's stint moderating a democratic candidates forum Aug. 7, Olbermann regaled critics speaking on his favorite subject -- Fox News pundit Bill O'Reilly's historic feud/fascination with him.

"We, in many respects, get a nice free ride because Bill just won't let it go," said Olbermann, who has long contended that some of the heat for his show, Countdown, comes from the press he gets when O'Reilly attacks him. (He's even offered to give some of his salary to O'Reilly; I think he was kidding)

"It's, to some degree, the way a virus feels about its host."

Later, he noted, "If there are t-shirts tomorrow that read 'O'Reilly's virus,' how could that be a bad thing?"

And so it goes...

UPDATE: Not long after Olbermann's session ended, I moseyed into the TCA press room, where reporters can hop on the Internet, pick up press releases and make phone calls between press conferences. Someone -- I wanted to believe it was a staffer from Fox News, but I have been assured it was not them -- had festooned the room with color copied flyers proclaiming Olbermann's Countdown show was "fourth in a four horse race at 8 p.m." 25 percent of the time among viewers aged 25 to 54, behind O'Reilly, CNN's Paula Zahn and CNN Headline News' Nancy Grace.

The TVNewser Web site quotes Olbermann saying: ""Okay, they cooked the books, they used the old ratings system that only Fox uses anymore, in fact we've been fourth one time since June 1. And by the way I've been on vacation 27 percent of the time since June 1."

The graphic illustrating this message: A Photoshopped image showing O'Reilly, Zahn and Grace as horse jockeys with Olbermann's head protruding from the rear of a fourth steed.

No wonder they say the TV news biz is tough....