MSNBC, after enduring a public soap opera last week involving celebrity men-children Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews, has decided to replace them as co-anchors of political night coverage, the Associated Press reports:

The change reflects tensions between the freewheeling, opinionated MSNBC and the impartial newsgatherers at NBC News. Throughout the primaries and summer, MSNBC argued that Olbermann and Matthews could serve as dispassionate anchors on political news nights and that viewers would accept them in that role, but things fell apart during the conventions.

Of course, they’ll still be around as commentators, so they won’t have to continue their weak act of pretending to be objective and unbiased. Is that harsh? Consider this from the same story:

Perhaps most embarrassing, Joe Scarborough was discussing positive developments in John McCain’s campaign at one point when Olbermann was heard on an offstage microphone saying: “Jesus, Joe, why don’t you get a shovel?”

Scarborough, a former Republican congressman and host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” got in another nasty on-air exchange with MSNBC reporter David Shuster, and Matthews snapped at Olbermann on-air when it appeared Olbermann was criticizing him for talking too much.