Rachel Maddow

Behold -- Rachel Maddow, sans snark, smarm, irony or spin. Enjoy while this lasts, you might never see it again. For fleeting moments on her MSNBC show last night, Maddow described the presidential race in a way that liberals and conservatives watching together might nod in agreement and refrain from sneering at one another. (video after page break)

Isn't it amusing when liberals allege deceit by Republicans while engaging in it themselves? Yet another example of this shabby dynamic was on display during last night's Rachel Maddow show on MSNBC when its host and one of her guests, Bloomberg gnome Jonathan Alter, tried their best to buff a gloss on President Obama's mail-it-in debate performance. (video after page break)

Give the woman credit, this would explain it. After last night's debate in Denver, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow asked Obama adviser David Plouffe to be "candid" in explaining the president's lackluster performance (video after page break)

The sky is falling, Mitch McConnell warns. Correction: the sky is falling, Mitch McConnell warns, according to Rachel Maddow. Big difference. (video after page break)

How about Chris Matthews? He is an aggressive bean counter when it comes to the number of blacks at Tea Parties—as if the Tea Partiers can control who shows up at their rallies. Blacks as a group are overwhelmingly one-party voters. Jews have more Republicans. As a result, any group that espouses Republican principles obviously isn’t going to have a lot of black people—although probably more…

Keep up the good work, Rachel, even when it's not at all what you intended. In the wake of last week's deadly attack against the US consulate in Benghazi, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow helpfully provided Mitt Romney with plenty of damning information for use against President Obama in their upcoming debates. (Video clip after page break)

MSNBC graciously broadcasted Republican exile and former Governor of Florida Charlie Crist’s address to the Democratic Convention during their Thursday night coverage.   However, that courtesy was not given to Democrat turned Republican former Congressman Artur Davis during the Republican Convention last week. As my colleague Ken Shepherd noted on August 29, Maddow tore into Davis during what…

MSNBC's on-air personalities were plainly in awe of Bill Clinton on Wednesday night. Moments after the former President finished his speech at the Democratic National Convention, they kept up the praise for almost 20 minutes. Chris Matthews gushed over the "strong offensive" Clinton gave for President Obama. Al Sharpton exclaimed, "Elvis and Bubba showed up tonight." Ed Schultz was the most…

It was a metaphysical certitude the folks on MSNBC were going to gush and fawn over Michelle Obama after her speech to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte Tuesday, but Lawrence O'Donnell really took the cake. “There is now no question who the best speechmaker in the history of the first ladyship is, and that is Michelle Obama” (video follows with transcript and commentary):

File this under unsurprising but notable, because it’s the type of story that mainstream media outlets will largely ignore in an attempt to protect an undeserving administration from anything that could hurt its re-election chances. According to a Washington Times report by Jim McElhatton, the U.S. Department of Labor allegedly paid a public relations company at least half a million dollars…

New York Times "TV Watch" columnist Alessandra Stanley focused Friday on MSNBC's embarrassingly partisan coverage of the Republican National Convention and tried to contrast it with the struggle of NBC's more objective reporters to remain above the fray: "MSNBC, Arch Counterprogramming to Fox." The online head was more interesting: "How MSNBC Became Fox’s Liberal Evil Twin." Stanley even…

As you may be well aware, MSNBC did not air Democrat-turned-Republican Artur Davis's speech last night. Shortly before 10 p.m. Eastern, anchor Rachel Maddow seemed to offer the network's rationale: Davis was a low-profile Democrat who is just bitter because he was "absolutely destroyed" in his primary race for Alabama governor in 2010. Yet in the very next breath, Maddow seemed positively…

MSNBC 's immediate reaction to Ann Romney's Tuesday night speech at the Republican National Convention was to stick by the left-wing talking point that she can't relate to ordinary Americans, especially women. Lawrence O'Donnell seconded Rachel Maddow's claim that Mrs. Romney "has not had most women's economic experiences," and went further: "She began her speech...by talking about women's…

On Monday’s Rachel Maddow Show, the MSNBC host mocked Mitt Romney’s pursuit of the white vote, reporting Romney told USA Today that President Obama moved toward welfare waivers “as a calculation that was designed to shore up the Obama base before the election.” Maddow thought it was ridiculous: “As if people on welfare are Barack Obama’s base. [Maddow winks] Especially the lazy ones. [Winks…