Category Archives: Rachel Maddow

May 17, 2013 · 8:30 AM

Rachel Maddow Reveals More Scandalous Details About IRS Tea Party Targeting

Mediaite

Rachel Maddow tonight highlighted another potential problem in the growing IRS targeting scandal plaguing the Obama administration this week. The tax-collecting agency provided private tax information about several conservative groups, including ones whose applications had not been fully processed yet, to the website ProPublica. Maddow said that strictly speaking, this was illegal, and will only make things worse for the IRS.

Maddow claimed that the Tea Party now suddenly “wants to be back on the wings of the IRS scandal,” and said that things are awkward politically because essentially everyone else agrees with them on this scandal. She acknowledged the “improper scrutiny” being given to conservatives groups that seemingly eluded their liberal counterparts.

Maddow highlighted how the same IRS Cincinnati office involved in the targeting scandal released documents to ProPublica for the site’s series of posts on groups misleading the IRS about their political activities. Documents were provided for a number of conservative groups, even from nine that were not approved yet by the IRS, which is technically illegal because “it’s supposed to be secret” if an application has not been approved.

When ProPublica attempted to find out why exactly they were given the documents, Maddow said the IRS’s response was basically “We shouldn’t have done that!” She admitted that the agency “screwed up here” and could end up making its level of scrutiny worse after this week.

Watch the video below, courtesy of MSNBC:

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January 17, 2013 · 1:08 AM

Maddow on new NRA ads: Trolling a key aspect of conservative media

Maddow screenshot

Raw Story

On her show Wednesday night, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow said the National Rifle Association was simply “trolling” with its latest ads, a tactic employed throughout the conservative sphere.

“Trolling is a key part of the conservative-entertainment/media business model,” she said. “These guys say stuff all the time that they do not intend to be persuasive. They’re not trying to explain something, or bring people along to their way of thinking, they’re just doing something to attract attention, and hopefully condemnation and outrage from the mainstream, and particularly from liberals. They want to offend you. They seek to offend you. That is the point.”

Maddow said that “trolling” was a “tried and true schtick” for conservatives. Not just for media figures, but for politicians as well. She described Rep. Steve King (R-IA) as a “permanent troll.”

The new ad released by the National Rifle Association was a prime example of trolling, according to Maddow. The controversial ad said that President Barack Obama was an “elitist hypocrite” for having the Secret Service guard his two daughters while being skeptical that placing armed guards in schools was the only answer to mass shootings.

“Trolls have a purpose in our politics,” Maddow said. “They help niche, unpopular positions and people fund themselves and promote themselves as pseudo-political actors by tricking people who ought to know better into punching down at them.”

The liberal MSNBC host said that the NRA’s “trolling” was proof of their political impotence. She noted that only 0.83 percent of the $10,536,106 spent by the NRA in the 2012 elections ended up achieving the desired result.

Watch video, courtesy of Mediaite, below:

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January 3, 2013 · 1:31 AM

Rachel Maddow Wins Best Video Clip Of The Year 2012

This is my favorite  Rachel Maddow Show segment thusfar…

You Tube: Emmy Nominee, Rachel Maddow wins the Best Video Clip Of The Year Award for 2012.

H/t: Democratic Underground

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December 9, 2012 · 1:05 AM

With Sean Hannity Getting Stomped In the Ratings Fox News Attacks Rachel Maddow

Fox News epitomizes what’s wrong today’s the Conservative movement.  If things don’t go their way (and they’re used to having things their way) they manifest their rotten philosophy of “our way or the highway”.

Whether they are right or wrong, it seems to me that most conservatives in the media and in politics act like spoiled children when the tide of approval shifts from them to their opposition.  It’s what most would call plain old sour grapes.

Remedy: Get over it!  You screwed up, now it’s time for the grown-ups to clean up your mess and take over.

PoliticusUSA

Since election day, Rachel Maddow has been beating Sean Hannity in the key demo ratings. Fox News has responded with a juvenile attack on Maddow.

There is something happening in cable news that can no longer be ignored. MSNBC is seriously challenging Fox News. Specifically, Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell are regularly beating their Fox News competition in the key 25-54 demo. Last week, Maddow beat Hannity, 378,000 viewers to 352,000 in the demo.

This week Maddow handily defeated Hannity on Monday (394,000-336,000) andTuesday (388,000-285,000). Even with guest hosts filling in for Maddow on Wednesday and Thursday, Hannity was only able to eek out small wins of 55,000and 38,000 in the demo. From election day through the end of November, Maddow beat Hannity by 13%.

Hannity’s margin over Maddow in total viewers is inflated by the fact that Fox News is available in more homes than MSNBC. Bill O’Reilly’s show is the only thing keeping Fox News ahead in the primetime demo. If anything ever happens to O’Reilly, Fox News will be in deep trouble.

The biggest sign yet that Fox News knows they have a problem was how they responded to Rachel Maddow being nominated for a Grammy for her spoken word version of Drift.

Here was the headline on Fox Nation:

This behavior is nothing new for Fox News. Every since Jon Stewart started crushing them in the ratings, they have regularly and sometimes personally attackedThe Daily Show host. Among other things, Fox News has edited his appearances on their network and called Stewart a racist.

Stewart and Maddow both are the anti-Fox News. Both draw big ratings, and both are now enemies of Fox. As more younger Americans continue to rebel against information bubbles like Fox, they are seeking out alternatives that place an an emphasis on information over propaganda, and perhaps no show on Fox is as propagandistic as Hannity. On occasion during his broadcasts, Sean Hannity literally reads or quotes verbatim from Republican talking points. Maddow’s show is the exact opposite. She is fair to her guests, and is does not shy away from being tough on the Obama administration and Democrats.

If MSNBC was available in more homes, Maddow would have probably blown by Hannity in total viewers a while ago.

The Fox News style network is being rejected by more and more viewers. There may be little that Fox can actually do to stop this slide. So like the the impotent old man of cable news that they are becoming, Fox News has resorted to using juvenile attacks against younger and stronger competition that is gaining on them every day.

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December 6, 2012 · 9:30 AM

Rachel Maddow Picks Up Grammy Nomination For Best Spoken Word Album

Rachel Maddow

Unlike the subject in the previous post, Rachel Maddow is a well respected “truth-teller” who people from all sides of the political spectrum admire…

The Huffington Post

Rachel Maddow was nominated for a Grammy Award. The nominations wereannounced on Wednesday.

Maddow was nominated for Best Spoken Word Album with her book, “Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power.” She shares the category nomination with Ellen DeGeneres, Bill Clinton and First Lady Michelle Obama.

A number of politicians have been nominated and subsequently won Grammy Awards in this category before. President Barack Obama won in 2008 with his book “The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream.” He also won in 2006 with his book “Dreams From My Father.”

Clinton picked up the prestigious award one year earlier—in 2005—with his book “My Life.” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also won in this category in 1997 with her book “It Takes A Village.”

The 2013 Grammy Awards will take place on Feb. 10 on CBS.

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November 9, 2012 · 10:37 AM

Rachel Maddow – GOP slow to come to grips with lessons of loss

Talk about cognitive dissonance. It appears that GOP house leaders are living a “far from reality” existence.

The Rachel Maddow Show

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November 8, 2012 · 10:57 AM

Rachel Maddow – Time for the right to leave the bubble

Rachel Maddow broadcasted the following opening segment on her show last night.  Once again, Rachel’s analysis was both compelling and flawless.  See for yourself:

H/t: Democratic Underground

 

 

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November 6, 2012 · 9:08 AM

11-5-12: Obama’s Accomplishments via Video (Rachel Maddow is the best)

Please share this…not just today, but for posterity.  In my opinion, this president is turning out to be historic in terms of his accomplishments, given the opposition he has endured and probably will continue to endure.

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October 18, 2012 · 2:04 PM

Rachel Maddow is TICKED OFF

Rachel Maddow can be described as extremely intelligent, sarcastic, funny, opinionated and having a Ph.D  in Political Science.

What I have not seen in the four years of watching her on MSNBC and a prior two years of listening to her on Air America Radio, is a very ticked off Rachel Maddow, until last night.

Daily Kos

“Can You Say That A Little Louder, Candy” rant begins at about 6:11

DailyKos – by Exurban Mom

Rachel Maddow is angry. One doesn’t often catch Ms. Maddow in a moment of anger; she is calm, deliberate, and thoughtful at all times, even when an asshole like Alex Castellano treats her like crap. But last night, as she closed out her show, she delivered an almost Olbermann-like rant against the right wing closed bubble of disinformation.

The last segment on her program Wednesday evening was called ”Can You Say That A Little Louder, Candy?”. In the segment, Rachel discusses the closed loop of right wing media and how the disinformation feedback loop can lead a candidate like Romney astray. When you are only trying to appeal to the base, who is also trapped in the bubble, you end up making mistakes like Romney did on the Libya question. After replaying that moment from the debate, Rachel begins her closing.

Best part? She ended the rant by throwing her papers at the camera, perhaps a subtle homage to our friend Keith.

Thanks, Rachel, for telling the truth. Those of us living in the reality-based community appreciate you so much.

cont’

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/18/1146345/-Rachel-Maddow-is-TICKED-OFF

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September 20, 2012 · 5:58 AM

Romney’s 47% Fiasco Fuels MSNBC Ratings Rout For Rachel Maddow

Rachel Maddow

I watch Rachel Maddow every day.  In fact I wouldn’t miss her show for all the tea in China!  So this is great news.  Rachel is not a gossip mongerer nor does she embellish the news to fit her or her company’s agenda.   She’s a natural born teacher of sorts and explains the news that she reports clearly and concisely.

This is no surprise when we all know if the news about Romney doesn’t fit their agenda, Fox News will embellish it or not report it at all.  People want facts, not propaganda.

The Daily Kos

Just like when the party conventions concluded and the DNC’s superior production boosted the audience for MSNBC’s primetime programming, the release of the crippling video of Mitt Romney dismissing half the nation as moochers  is having a positive effect on MSNBC as well.

On Monday, Rachel Maddow crushed Sean Hannity scoring 32% more viewers in the key advertiser demo of adults 25-54. Also, Chris Matthews’ Hardball beat Shepard Smith and Lawrence O’Donnell topped Greta Van Susteren.

Last night (Tuesday), Rachel again rolled over Hannity by an even larger margin (37%).  And O’Donnell continued his dominance of Van Susteren.  On both nights MSNBC took the total primetime time period from Fox News. These wins are significant in that they don’t occur very often.  What’s more, they are routing Fox’s perennial winners without any special programming along the lines of a convention or debate.  This is strictly news driven.

However, even more noteworthy is that Maddow’s demo numbers on Tuesday were the highest in all of the cable news primetime schedule.  She even bested Bill O’Reilly by 3% despite the fact that O’Reilly’s guest was Jon Stewart who ought to have drawn in the younger viewers that ordinarily shun O’Reilly. With his devoted older-skewing viewers, plus the kids from Stewart’s heavily promoted guest appearance, O’Reilly should have run away with the night.

Maddow’s decisive victory suggests that there is something brewing in the cable news game. Viewers are responding to the editorial content of MSNBC and its most dynamic presenters. It’s still way too soon to make definitive statements or projections, but the gathering trends are promising.

Now all MSNBC has to do is capitalize on the new attention they are receiving and bring in new talent. Ed Schultz, who has not been contributing to this upswing, may be due for a makeover or a co-host. And there’s no need to repeat Hardball in the early evening when a new show could could broaden the audience. My long-shot pick: I’d give former Rep. Anthony Weiner a shot. If Eliot Spitzer can get a show on Current, Weiner should have a second chance too. He’s smart, experienced, and entertaining. And the publicity would help bring in a curious audience.

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