Rachel may have the most important show on the air.

[chieftain]

I have been critical of her on multiple occasions but her recent work has been so smart and so illuminating that I have to take my hat off to her. She has connected the dots on the money conspiracy that has rendered the August recess a witches brew of lies and scare tactics. Her exposition of the quantum uptick in violent rhetoric spotlighted the grave danger that the Republic is facing. Her interview with the SERE instructor was nothing short of brilliant. I can't remember the instructor's name but in responding to Rachel's insightful questioning, he pointed out that the reverse engineered torture techniques adopted by the Bush regime were designed to extract confessions not intelligence. I had never heard this point made by anyone in all the debates on how badly America lost its way under Bush/Cheney and yet once said it was so obvious.
Journalism is not dead. Investigative reporting is still possible.Should young reporters aspire to become real journalists, they should bar Mouthpiece Theater hacks from their viewing list and instead see how it is done by concentrating on Rachel. She is the real successor to the Murrows and Cronkites.

[BlooInBloo]

1. It's nice that when important shit goes down, she quits sniping at Obama...

and focuses on what is vastly more important right this second.

[chieftain]

9. I thought she was pretty snide sometimes about Obama

and I don't like that one bit. But when she digs her teeth into a story, I am very , very impressed. I almost always come away from watching with new information or a new way of looking at what I thought I knew completely. I am really impressed with what she is doing.

[BlooInBloo]

11. Not a big deal. Nice to know that when shit goes down, she truly is on our side.

[chieftain]

12. Agreed and it does not bother me that left pressure is applied.

I agree generally with the political path the President has chosen to walk, but he needs to be reminded from time to time that it was the left wing of the party that first embraced him.

[BlooInBloo]

13. Me neither. It's when "putting pressure" is used as a cover, when they're really not on our side...

that bugs me.

Hell, republicans "put pressure" on Obama. At least they're gracious enough to ADMIT they're not on our side.

[rurallib]

2. She's sneaking in to the Moyers and Goodman category

to me that's pretty good company.

[Faryn Balyncd]

8. good observation

[Skink]

3. I love cooking shows.

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[doc03]

4. Damn I was going to say I love Rachel Ray

who watches MSNBC maybe 200,000 or 300,000 people? I can't even get the channel.

[lordsummerisle]

6. No excuses

You can

listen to her on some Air America affiliates:
http://airamerica.com/stations

get her podcast via Air America:
http://airamerica.com/ondemand

on-line at MSNBC.com:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/

as well as cable channel MSNBC

[frogcycle]

7. well, without you I guess it will fold

:sarcasm:

[RandomThoughts]

5. She also pushes stories she is fed sometimes.

Seen it a few times.

And there are stories she does not talk about also.

[RandomThoughts]

16. But she does cover alot of stories other people do not also.

So not trying to just be negative.

[Orsino]

10. I think she's generally careful to ensure that nothng important happens on the air...

...but I hear good things about her this week.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

14. Struck me as rather hypocritical.

She was going on about how dangerous the rhetoric is because media pundits and congressmen are comparing Obama to Hitler.

But just a few weeks ago she was trying to drum up anti-Obama sentiment by comparing Obama to Bush.

[billyoc]

24. Obama is not continuing the policies of Hitler, he's continuing the policies of Bush.

One comparison is not valid, the other one is.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

27. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Save it for the teabag party.

[billyoc]

28. Oh, I didn't realize that the teabaggers complained about Bush's policies being continued.

Good for them, if they do.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

29. They make stupid, fundamentally dishonest, bullshit analogies

And you're not any better.

[billyoc]

30. Obama is continuing Bush's policies. It's not an "analogy".

Though I'm sure you know that, don't you.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

32. Teabaggers make up the same sort of shit about Obama and Hitler.

You're both full of crap.

[billyoc]

33. The policies speak for themselves, they're still in place. But you know that, too.

Don't you.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

34. I know he's discontinued much of Bush's policies, he's the polar opposite.

I know that, you know that.

And, I bet, that's why you don't like him.

[billyoc]

35. I don't like him because I'm a Marxist. I didn't care for Bush much, either.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

36. Yeah, right.

I'm an astronaut.

[billyoc]

39. Ask around. Google might help.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

40. Billyoc, please.

Once you compare Obama to Bush, you lose all credibility on any issue forever.

It doesn't matter if you really see a wolf for once, nobody's going to come running.

[billyoc]

41. Once again, a continuation of policies isn't a comparison.

They're worlds apart. I just don't like either one of them.

[GivePeaceAchance]

15. I've got her on twitter and sent her my respects for her work. twitter.com/maddow

[BlooInBloo]

17. You realize she only gets what you "send her" if she's following *you*, right?

[NorthCarolina]

26. Not if it is a direct message to @Maddow

Her twitter account would receive a direct message regardless of whether she is following the senders account or not.

[Douglas Carpenter]

18. Rachel has been fantastic!!! kick and recommend!!

[HamdenRice]

19. Ever since her "Bush, I mean Obama" comments, I switch channels when I see her

Her show may have improved, but I'll never know because I won't watcher her.

[lunatica]

25. You're really missing something then

Give her another chance. She isn't the type of person who sticks to wrong opinions or stubbornly refuses to give another chance. The way she interviews the Republicans is very good. She asks and insists on getting answers to very hard questions and yet they leave feeling she's given them a chance to talk. The secret is she asks complex questions and then lets them talk all they want. Then she follows up and actually refutes their lies with facts and lets them talk. Then she will follow up later, usually a day or two with proof of their lies and/or fabrications. It's an excellent combination, and she does it respectfully.

And for some reason they really like her, just like they really like Jon Stewart and Colbert even while they getting their asses skewered squarely to the wall.

She has done more to expose 'The Family' and C Street than anyone else because she's stuck with a very complex story with many behind the scenes connections which shows she believes her audience is intelligent. She's doing the same thing now exposing every single organization behind the town hall disrupters.

[polichick]

20. She does her homework and doesn't buy bullshit - even Obama's. Love her...

...and I'm glad she hasn't had racist Uncle Pat on lately ~ that's when I turn it off.

[chieftain]

21. But I had to laugh that his segment was called "Here's Pat"

The sly reference to SNL's androgynous character is but one example of Rachel's sense of humor. The jibe is even more delicious since it probably flew completely over Buchanan's bigoted head.

[polichick]

38. Shoot, I missed that! nt

[Jennicut]

22. I didn't like her comments about Obama being like Bush either but she was great this week

I can accept left wing disappointment in Obama. Its not the same as right wing hatred. Rachel is a very good journalist, sometimes too pessimistic for my tastes but very intelligent and exposes the lies of the right wingers. She is very good at investigating where their bs comes from.

[chieftain]

42. I think your description of her is spot on.

I love it when she does her set-up pieces and gives the interviewee the opportunity to correct anything she said with which they disagree. The technique clears away a lot of rhetorical underbrush and level sets the discussion from the start.

[lunatica]

23. She's rapidly becoming my most trusted anchor

The way she sticks to stories and covers them is exhaustive. She does a great job of connecting the dots and explaining them. And what I think works really well is that she breaks the bad news up with light news and humor. It's a very good combination. It keeps us from throwing ourselves off the cliff in desperation.

I suspect she's every bit as smart and knowledgeable as Thom Hartman.

[CakeGrrl]

31. How many people are watching her?

It might be that she's allowed by NBC/GE to be this opinionated because she's not mainstream. Maybe they're good with it as long as they feel she's preaching to the choir.

What are her ratings compared to Hannity, O'Reilly, or Beck? Just curious.

[progressoid]

37. And how many people that watch her already agree with her.

Just preaching to the choir won't affect much change.

[Usrename]

43. The smartest person on teevee.

By leaps and bounds.

You can tell that when she lets people slip some of their bs past her that she sees right through it and that she's just being polite.

Nobody gets over on her, ever.

[chieftain]

45. She consistently has the most intelligent conversations with

guests, although Jon Stewart gets a nod too.

[RepublicanElephant]

44. it's a tie with keith. nt

[chieftain]

46. I love Keith, too.

And I give him full credit for being the first unrepentant Liberal voice on cable TV. But I don't think the level of discourse and analysis is as good as what happens regularly on Rachel's show.

[Clio the Leo]

47. When our backs are against the wall......

.... us Democrats always stick together. ;)

(it's when we're in high cotton and everything's going well that the arguing begins)

[liberalla]

48. She's excellent. AND, she'll be on MTP this Sunday:

This Sunday: Exclusive! Armey, Coburn, Daschle & Maddow



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608/

[chieftain]

49. It's hard to believe that on a program with both Armey and

Coburn David Gregory will still be the dumbest person on the show.

[chieftain]

50. She's on a roll again tonight.

She just referred to Palin as the half-term former Governor of Alaska. This was in the context of a reading of Sarah's proclamation in an earlier time promoting the use of living wills for all Alaskans. I guess the Palin Death Panels were ok.

[Samantha]

51. I totally agree (n/t)