Did Keith Olbermann Insinuate Michele Bachmann Is a Pig?

Well that didn't take long. Only a week into his new Current TV show, Keith Olbermann is already stirring controversy. Last night, for example, he seemingly insinuated Michele Bachaman is a pig.

After playing a clip of a "fan" saying that Bachmann has a "fire in her," Olberman commented, "yeah, should you smell ham burning, she has a fire in her." As a bonus, he later mocked Fox's Greta Van Susteren and the way she talks:

It is possible that Olbermann was referring to Bachmann "hamming it up," as the phrase goes. But Mediaite's Tommy Christopher thinks the comparison is clear:

This isn’t about whether Michele Bachmann or Greta Van Susteren “deserve” this treatment (they don’t). There are legitimate criticisms to be made of Bachmann, but calling her a pig isn’t just over the line, it’s a non sequitur. Of the knocks leveled at Bachmann by even her sharpest critics, none would suggest such an appellation.

The controversy seems to center around what "ham burning" means. If he's calling her a ham as opposed to a pig, there is a difference. But in the end, if you have to parse out those words, isn't the damage already done?

Read all of Christopher's comments on the issue here.

UPDATE:

Olbermann is now, in fact, claiming he meant Bachmann is a "ham," not a pig: