# Rachel Maddow **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 21, 2015, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow/738227 "2015-11-21T20:41:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow/738227/1 "2015-11-21T20:41:17Z")
[In a recent report, Rachel Maddow went full Godwin](http://www.rawstory.com/2015/11/rachel-maddow-slams-trump-for-blaming-muslim-database-backlash-on-the-media/) on the donald, comparing his plan to register people of a specific religion/ethnicity to _you know who else did that?_ Pretty extreme, and not necessarily entirely reasonable. But the report was as thorough as possible, well thought out and well presented. From time to time, I hear persons who are a far cry from right wing express dislike for this woman. One of the complaints I hear is that she is “condescending”, which I find baffling. Whenever I hear/see a story presented by her, it is usually well researched, clearly delivered and rarely short on comic relief. I never get the sense that she is talking down to the viewer. Or at least, not to me, she almost always seems to reach me. The only time I can remember feeling bothered was when she interviewed Randy Paul and spent the entire time badgering him on what seemed like a somewhat trivial point. So this thread is for you who dislike Rachel Maddow to vent, hopefully in a way that expresses why you dislike her so that I can understand what the fuck is wrong with you. Have at it. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow/738227/2 "2015-11-21T20:57:31Z")
I’m no help. I think she’s the bee’s knees. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow/738227/3 "2015-11-21T21:13:50Z")
News flash: humans tend to view more favorably people who agree with them, and less favorably those who disagree with them. ---
**Author:** ![Emiliana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@Emiliana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emiliana)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow/738227/4 "2015-11-21T21:38:10Z")
I’m not sure it’s a _huge_ stretch to compare requiring Muslims to register as such and carry special identification to Nazi Germany. Doesn’t mean Trump is another Hitler. He’s certainly a xenophobic demagogue. No real take on Rachel Maddow. Have seen clips, but don’t watch her. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow/738227/5 "2015-11-21T21:38:34Z")
I have one real big problem with Rachel Maddow, and that is that I don’t have cable tv. So I only see her when she appears on Meet The Press or something. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow/738227/6 "2015-11-21T21:44:33Z")
She’s condescending as shit, but the people she’s condescending toward are the same ones I am condescending to, so I think she’s funny. We can’t help it if we’re better than they are. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow/738227/7 "2015-11-21T21:57:10Z")
She actually admits it when she’s wrong, right up front, often at the top of her show. Compare that to Fox News, which never admits being wrong – they glory in it. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow/738227/8 "2015-11-21T21:59:01Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > News flash: humans tend to view more favorably people who agree with them, and less favorably those who disagree with them. The thing is, I hear complaints from some people who really do agree with her positions, in general at least. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow/738227/9 "2015-11-21T22:03:06Z")
Restraining orders. One would be enough, and there’s no need to be rude about it! ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow/738227/10 "2015-11-21T22:05:55Z")
Wouldn’t a better place to flesh this out is go to a conservative message board? Where is it that you “heard” all these liberals that hate Maddow? I am not aware of this. That doesn’t mean it’s not true, but still… ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow/738227/11 "2015-11-21T22:06:15Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > The thing is, I hear complaints from some people who really do agree with her positions, in general at least. The problem is that Trump already godwinized himself. > **[Donald Trump's ex-wife once said Trump kept a book of Hitler's speeches by...](https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trumps-ex-wife-once-said-he-kept-a-book-of-hitlers-speeches-by-his-bed-2015-8)** > > "If, I had these speeches, and I am not saying that I do, I would never read them." That and his willful joining of his hip to Arpaio after both Senators from Arizona told him to not go to his rally is what should give everyone a reason to realize that if not Hitler, at least a sympathizer of his ideas. The alternative weekly of Arizona has reported the one degree of separation that Arpaio has with neo Nazis in Arizona. That tone deafness of Trump has been essentially ignored by the so called “liberal media” and even before Trump came to Arizona Arpaio and his men had admitted to contempt of court by not following the rules of his previous judgment to avoid racial profiling. Trump does not give a damn, so I do not think we should treat Trump with kid globes. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow/738227/12 "2015-11-21T22:11:19Z")
Well, come to think on it, she does have this one annoying habit of backing up in mid-stream and repeating some supporting point as she winds up for the bigger point. Kinda like: “Recent study shows 50% of Republicans like hamster porn, yet nonetheless…even though 50%! of Republicans! like hamster porn…half of them like hamster porn!..they vote to make rodent/human sex illegal!..” ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow/738227/13 "2015-11-21T23:18:49Z")
I can’t watch her show for very long without getting irritated, but I think it’s more the format than her. All of those personality driven shows are, to me at least, too smug and lecturing. The only one I can really watch is Bill Maher, but his show is not in the same genre, really, and he has a bunch of guests on and doesn’t spend a whole lot of time talking to the camera. None of those shows with the host talking to the camera a lot appeals to me. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow/738227/14 "2015-11-21T23:21:45Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > She actually admits it when she’s wrong, right up front, often at the top of her show. > > Compare that to Fox News, which never admits being wrong – they glory in it. It may be that she admitted the error I am thinking of, but I can’t find any reference to her doing so. In 2009, discussing President Obama’s exclusion of Fox News, she suggested to her audience that President Bush had done the same thing: not given one interview to the New York Times during his presidency. That was a false claim. So far as I am aware, she never retracted it. But since I’m not a regular viewer, it could be that she did and I couldn’t find it. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow/738227/15 "2015-11-21T23:24:55Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Restraining orders. One would be enough, and there’s no need to be rude about it! Yeah, you wish she’d notice you enough to put out a restraining order on you! ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow/738227/16 "2015-11-21T23:41:04Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I can’t watch her show for very long without getting irritated, but I think it’s more the format than her. All of those personality driven shows are, to me at least, too smug and lecturing. The only one I can really watch is Bill Maher, but his show is not in the same genre, really, and he has a bunch of guests on and doesn’t spend a whole lot of time talking to the camera. None of those shows with the host talking to the camera a lot appeals to me. Hey, there’s a reason Colbert was able to make such a wonderful act out of parodying the format, albeit his target was the better-known right-wing version of the genre. Frankly, I can’t stand Maher because he’s an anti-vaccinationist loon of the “look at me, I’m so dangerous and edgy and dangerously edgy and independent” variety. That is, I don’t think for an instant he actually believes it, he just wants to be seen as someone who holds Unconventional Views and says Provocative Things and he doesn’t care if he’s hurting people or getting in bed with those who hurt people. He’s a slimy pseudo-intellectual shitball and therefore infinitely more annoying than people who are smart enough to realize what they don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow/738227/17 "2015-11-21T23:42:35Z")
Well, okay. I’m a liberal Democrat. I certainly don’t \*hate \*her, but I will admit that I don’t like her very much. My wife watches her show sometimes after Chris Hayes (her favorite commentator). I’m usually in the room and will often pay attention. I think Maddow is very articulate, and quite knowledgeable. And I think she’s a good storyteller. Plus which, I agree with a lot of what she says! So those are certainly points in her favor. However– I don’t know that I would use the word “condescending” to describe her, but I would say that she very much has a vibe of “I’m right and if you disagree with me you’re wrong” thing going on. That’s not just about conservatives or Republicans; it’s anything that strays from her particular brand of leftishness (which again, I will say I generally agree with). Maybe that’s what’s meant by condescending? In any case, I don’t generally appreciate that in commentators. (Hayes, I think, does a much better job.) Along with that–she seems to have an inflated view of her ability to report on things that “no one else” notices. She kept teasing after the first Dem debate with “something that no one has pointed out so far, until me!” Turned out to be that the candidates, especially Clinton, were more forcefully attacking Republicans for being Republicans than Obama ever did. Oh. I wanted to tell her that it wasn’t that no one noticed, it was that it was pretty obvious and not really worth pointing out. I think she’s very repetitive, as mentioned above. My big beef with her, though, is that I don’t think she’s intellectually honest. Like many other commentators (though again, I would say not so much Hayes), she leaves out or glosses over inconvenient facts in order to make a particular narrative work. Whether it’s imputing huge significance to tiny differences in polls, or confusing anecdotes with actual data, I find myself talking back to her a lot (“No! That doesn’t prove anything!”). I don’t know if she’s too interested in scoring political points, or if she’s trying to create ratings by finding unexpected controversies where none exist. But I think she’s smart enough to know better, and I wish she’d stop it. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow/738227/18 "2015-11-22T00:31:21Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I can’t watch her show for very long without getting irritated, but I think it’s more the format than her. All of those personality driven shows are, to me at least, too smug and lecturing. The only one I can really watch is Bill Maher, but his show is not in the same genre, really, and he has a bunch of guests on and doesn’t spend a whole lot of time talking to the camera. None of those shows with the host talking to the camera a lot appeals to me. I don’t understand this at all. Maher is a hell of a lot more condescending. His entire shtick is how smug he is. He’s a condescending prick that I find hard to watch even when I agree with him entirely. I mean, I get it if you find him funny. (I occasionally do.) I know that humor can cover up a lot of sins. But I don’t get the complaint that the other talking head shows are more smug and lecturing. My complaint with Maddow is that her opinions are so close to mine that I sometimes have trouble realizing when she’s overshot things. If I don’t already know about and haven’t already formed an opinion on something she talks about, I can find myself agreeing with her opinion without having actually thought about it myself. I thus can watch her occasionally, as long as I stop and think afterwards. But I can’t just have her be my news source. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow/738227/19 "2015-11-22T07:54:27Z")
What the hell is the pitting here? Is it a pitting of Maddow? No. Is it a pitting of people who hate Maddow? No. This is MPSwhatever. Maddow would never make a pitting this incoherent. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow/738227/20 "2015-11-22T10:47:30Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > It may be that she admitted the error I am thinking of, but I can’t find any reference to her doing so. > > In 2009, discussing President Obama’s exclusion of Fox News, she suggested to her audience that President Bush had done the same thing: not given one interview to the New York Times during his presidency. That was a false claim. So far as I am aware, she never retracted it. But since I’m not a regular viewer, it could be that she did and I couldn’t find it. Sadly, you should probably remove this arrow from your quiver of GOP grievances. 🙂 > [@](#): > > And now, to our own Department of Corrections for the show. In November of last year, “The New York Times” White House correspondent Sheryl Gay Stolberg said in an interview on the paper‘s website that since before she had been named White House correspondent, “The Times” had had a standing request with the White House for an interview with President George W. Bush. > > Ms. Stolberg said, quote, “So far, no interview, and the reason why is hardly a secret. White House officials are quite open about the fact that we have not gotten an interview because they don‘t like our coverage. I get e-mails to that effect from them all the time. But the request still stands and we are hoping for an interview before Mr. Bush leaves office.” > > Well, “The New York Times” never got that interview before Mr. Bush left office. “The Los Angeles Times” published a response to that interview with Ms. Stolberg that was headlined, quote, “Nine years later, “The New York Times” still awaits its Bush interview.” > > It turns that “The LA Times” was wrong to characterize it that way and we were wrong on this program last week to do the same thing. George W. Bush did do interviews with “The New York Times” three of them that we can find in total, he just didn‘t do any after the week he was inaugurated for his second term in January 2005. The point remains that President Bush‘s White House withheld interviews and access to news organizations they disfavored. > > The specific dates of exactly when and for how long they withheld that access, I got wrong. I apologize. I henceforth recommit myself to getting absolutely everything, absolutely exactly right, absolutely all of the time. from her transcript site. I’m mobile so I won’t link it if that’s okay. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow/738227.md?page=2)