i thought ms stewart was a great sub. for keith. she had the snark.
Disclaimer: I haven’t seen Ms. Maddow’s show yet.
I like Rachel Maddow, and I have a ton of respect for her intelligence, but I don’t like the liberal slanted shows any more than I like the conservative slanted shows. One is infuriating and one feels like mental masturbation. It was neat when I first saw Keith Olbermann around 2006 because I wasn’t aware of any other liberal cable news anchors at the time, but it got old quick. I wish someone who would just report could be popular these days.
By the way, I’m gonna call Rachel Maddow’s show not lasting past springtime for several reasons. If Obama wins, she has no major antagonist (I know the conservative pundits flourished during the Bush admin but different standards are applied to the two parties), if McCain wins, liberal news anchors will be seen as unwanted/irrelevant/unhelpful/etc pick one. And in either case, as smart as she is, she’s not all that charismatic. These shows seem to place a much higher value on charisma than intellect. The average cable news viewer would much rather see O’Reilly or Beck yell at someone than see Rachel Maddow make a well thought out point.
I can see what you mean, which is why she brought her own antagonist along in the form of Pat Buchanan. I have no use for his politics, but as others have pointed out he is actually a decent political analyst.
Really? I think she has the ability to forge a unique position as America’s Lesbian Best Buddy. Maybe it’s just me, and she reminds me of my old Lesbian Best Buddy.
If they thought a liberal version of O’Reilly was needed, they would have given a show to Randi Rhodes.
You know what’s funny? I usually have amazing gaydar. No, I really, really do, I swear. But it didn’t even occur to me that Rachel was a lesbian until I read it somewhere.
Just remembered: Bryan Unger subbed for him a few times. I guess “comedian” is probably giving the guy too much credit, given that everyone I’ve seen on the Daily Show who isn’t Jon Stewart or Lewis Black is basically anti-funny.
As for the stuff only Olbermann can do, “Bushed!” is great – one time she subbed (right before her own show started) she just lip-synced to a recording of Keith doing it. Had kind of a working-up-a-belch look to it, which is probably about the only way she could have gotten close to reproducing that voice on her own.
“Worst Persons” (I know “persons” is a legit plural, but WTH is wrong with just using “people” like normal… people?) I believe is only done by Olbermann anyway; the only time I saw it done with a guest anchor Keith literally phoned it in.
And count me as another who never would have suspected Maddow is gay. Of course, the only effect that has is getting her crossed off the “smart, attractive women I want to sleep with” list. Although given that most of the others have odds approaching zero I guess there’s no reason one with 0 odds couldn’t stay…
Edit: Minor edit of the list name.
Really? First time I saw her on “Countdown” I thought “Now that’s a woman with a ‘See You In August’ bumper sticker on her car.”
Like Cisco, I’d really like to have a balanced analysis, not simply a liberal version of the wacko-righties.
And, like most of you, I have admired Rachel’s commentary and style, so I was looking forward to her show. Admittedly, I only watched a bit, but what I found didn’t thrill me: she challenged the Republican talking heads, but let the Democratic talking heads…talk, and let their assertions go unquestioned. Disappointing. Maybe it was just an atypical segment I saw.
I want the studio equipped with an ear-splittingly loud klaxon aimed right at the head of the guest, controlled by a vicious bastard with a copy of the the talking points of both the left and the right. Either that or a fire hose.
I do have to say, I don’t recall seeing a left-leaning talking head repeating a “talking point” with the moronic insistence of this chowderhead.