Motley Moose – Archive

Update: this was one of the more substantive and interesting interviews I’ve seen with Obama so far — definitely worth watching.   Part 1 begins around 3:30:

Part 2:

(thanks to this dailykos story for tips on embedding recalcitrant iframe-only msnbc clips.)

The recent addition of the Rachel Maddow Show to the MSNBC nightly lineup has added a highly effective voice to the liberal arsenal. Ms. Maddow has proven herself to be a witty, highly intelligent, and effective commentator. Her show has garnered rave reviews and wide viewership. I, for one, am grateful to MSNBC for giving her a platform.

A recent article in The American Prospect gives a full background on Rachel and the path she took to her present prominence in the political commentator world.

Maddow’s self-deprecating, wry wit comes across clearly in the article, just as it doesn on her radio and television shows.

“I think I have a fear in general about whether being a pundit is a worthwhile thing to be,” Rachel Maddow tells me over dinner at a Latin restaurant in lower Manhattan. It’s more than the ordinary self-deprecation of someone who just got her own cable commentary show. It’s an insecurity essential to the on-air style that’s powered the 35-year-old’s rapid rise from a wacky morning radio show in western Massachusetts to the liberal radio network Air America and now to her own prime-time show on MSNBC.

This woman is awesome. Her new show on MSNBC should be a huge success among progressive viewers. We are gaining a really strong voice for progressive politics.

I give Keith Olberman much credit for helping her get where she is on MSNBC. I view him as her mentor there. It says a lot about him that he isn’t threatened by such a strong-willed, intelligent woman.