Rhodes Scholar Reporting the News Show Discussion

[M. Darcy]

Happy Birthday RMS!! 

[EarlGreyTea]

It may be weird to ship IRL couples, but Rachel and Susan are my OTP.  It was so cute when Susan clapped loudly at TRMS anniversary. I wonder how often she's on the set because I often hear a female laugh in the background and I assumed it was a producer or the guest for the interview. But maybe it's Susan!

[Grommet]

I can't believe it's been 7 years!

I loved the sad Ted Cruz photobomb.

[jjj]

Was there an anniversary segment?  I only caught parts of Tuesday's show, but have it OnDemand. 

I wonder how often she's on the set because I often hear a female laugh in the background and I assumed it was a producer or the guest for the interview. But maybe it's Susan!

I thought her job is in Massachusetts?  I don't really follow Rachel's private life at all, just recall reading that a while back.  And the dog is in Massachusetts during the week, I thought.  (?)

Edited September 9, 2015 by jjj

[EarlGreyTea]

Was there an anniversary segment?  I only caught parts of Tuesday's show, but have it OnDemand. 

 

I don't think so. I typically turn off the show 10 minutes before it ends, but I think she only mentioned it for a few minutes and moved on.

 

Edit re: Susan. Yeah, I think her job is in Massachusetts too. But maybe she pops in every so often to sit in on the taping?

Edited September 9, 2015 by EarlGreyTea

[jjj]

Oh, I thought you meant Susan was clapping loudly at something on the show?  <just confused, sorry>

I don't think so. I typically turn off the show 10 minutes before it ends, but I think she only mentioned it for a few minutes and moved on.

 

Edit re: Susan. Yeah, I think her job is in Massachusetts too. But maybe she pops in every so often to sit in on the taping?

[EarlGreyTea]

Oh, I thought you meant Susan was clapping loudly at something on the show?  <just confused, sorry>

 

Rachel announces it was the show's anniversary, and there's loud clapping offscreen after she says this and Rachel waves and says "Thanks, Susan! Susan's here."

[M. Darcy]

So....we have an Orwellian world where the President has a unicorn.  I think someone is getting her 1984 confused.

[bj1968]

Palin is so dumb that I doubt if she even knows who Orwell is.

Look, I love Rachel but if she doesn't stop handwringing over which Republicans are going to be in the debate... I find it hard to care about Rick Perry, or Rick Santorum, or Mike Huckabee for that matter. I wish they were all at 0 percent. What would she say if MSNBC were holding the debates? I thought so.

[brgjoe]

This.  1000X THIS! 

 

I love Rachel as much as most any of her loyal viewers, but I wish she would STOP with the whining about the Republican debate format(s).  It's an instant <click> fo rme. 

 

Let the Republican party and Fox/CNN work out the details -- I mean, I really don't care if 10 or 11 or 12 or 17 of them make the final cut.  That's not up to ME to decide.  And I frankly don't think it's up to Rachel to decide either.  I can see spending a night or two disussing the inequities of how they decide who makes the stage and who doesn't.  But goodgoshalmighty I don't get why she continues to still go down that rabbit hole.  It's an instant <click> of my remote. 

 

I just think there are more important issues to talk about than one or two Republican primary debates.   ENOUGH!

[slensam]

This.  1000X THIS! 

 

I love Rachel as much as most any of her loyal viewers, but I wish she would STOP with the whining about the Republican debate format(s).  It's an instant <click> fo rme. 

 

Let the Republican party and Fox/CNN work out the details -- I mean, I really don't care if 10 or 11 or 12 or 17 of them make the final cut.  That's not up to ME to decide.  And I frankly don't think it's up to Rachel to decide either.  I can see spending a night or two disussing the inequities of how they decide who makes the stage and who doesn't.  But goodgoshalmighty I don't get why she continues to still go down that rabbit hole.  It's an instant <click> of my remote. 

 

I just think there are more important issues to talk about than one or two Republican primary debates.   ENOUGH!

Yeah, did they all seem to forget that there are two parties? If I wanted to see so much about the Republicans then I'd watch Fox.

[kassygreene]

I'm sorry it's tedious, and I'm glad when people who don't like what they are watching remember that they have a remote and 999 other channels to choose from.

 

But at the present time, two commercial, for-profit, news organizations are doing the winnowing of the Republican field.  Not the voters, a couple of global businesses, each of whose primary concern is making money, with apparently a minor secondary concern of protecting the GOP from itself by reducing, somehow, the cartoonish aspect of so many candidates by limiting the numbers.  Since both networks have now rigged the selection to include or exclude according to their own preferences, I personally am even more outraged.  Yeah, the game has always been rigged.  I don't have to like it, I don't have to ignore it, and I don't have to be bored when others point it out.  Why should the networks get to decide?

 

I reserve my boredom for football (now starting, and I'm in the South gawdsavme), and the later off-season "dee-lite", basketball (December through June, amirite?).  The response many of you are having to Rachel and the debates is exactly the response I've had to the Monday-morning-quarterbacking of football and basketball since the 8th grade, where history class was always re-directed to a (surprisingly civil) discussion of the weekend's games, and I was allowed to read my library books unchallenged because I still got A's.  Ah, that good ol' Southern education.

Edited September 11, 2015 by kassygreene

[nowandlater]

Sometimes Ms. Maddow’s scripts are too cute by half. They are like an airplane circling an airport trying to decide which landing strip to use – or even which airport. It’s often unnecessarily difficult to fathom where she’s headed.

 

http://observer.com/2015/09/rachel-maddow-msnbcs-progressive-star-too-often-rambles-in-word-circles/

[stormy]

I've stopped watching Rachel.  She puts me to sleep.

She drones on about nothing or things she calls 'breaking news" which have already been covered earlier in the day by CNN.

Edited September 12, 2015 by stormy

[EarlGreyTea]

I enjoy Rachel's bitching about the debate format. I think it highlights what an absolute circus the Republican field is, and that makes me cackle. I still don't understand why Rachel's idea of randomly assigning candidates for two debates that would take place in a two hour block of time hasn't taken up steam. 

 

And finally, may I say...I had a horrible day today but at least I can look at someone like Rick Perry dropping out of the race and think....someone's having a worse day than I am.

Edited September 11, 2015 by EarlGreyTea

[Grommet]

Great interview with Bernie Sanders. It was nice to have some non-Trump discussion.

[M. Darcy]

Hey Rachel, you know who else will be on Capitol Hill Thursday besides people who have tickets and people who want to see the Pope? People who work in the area and need to get to their office. Sigh. I get that people are excited about the Pope's visit but it's turned my week into a nightmare.

[EarlGreyTea]

Tonight's show killed me. In regards to the Republican candidates polling at zero percent: "What happens with these gutterballs?"

[jjj]

Tonight's show killed me. In regards to the Republican candidates polling at zero percent: "What happens with these gutterballs?"

"I tried to draw the Pope, and he looked like a snowman."

Hey Rachel, you know who else will be on Capitol Hill Thursday besides people who have tickets and people who want to see the Pope? People who work in the area and need to get to their office. Sigh. I get that people are excited about the Pope's visit but it's turned my week into a nightmare.

Well, for some people, it is a once-in-a-lifetime disruption. Most people never have the chance to be in the same city as the Pope, let alone one as humane and human as this one. It was well worth it when John Paul II visited the USA and everyone I knew was walking miles to school and work; we still talk about the experience fondly. Wish I could be there for this visit. Some events really are historic.

OTOH, I get what you are saying -- my week and many others is turned upsidedown by the visit of the Chinese president in Seattle, and they won't tell us when freeways will be shut down for security reasons. Would much rather be disrupted by this Pope! At least his schedule is public.

Edited September 24, 2015 by jjj

[nowandlater]

Can somebody explain what's happening?

 

When I record Chris Hayes at 5 pm PT, it's in HD.

 

When I record Lawrence O'Donnell at 7 pm PT, it's in HD.

 

But when I record the Rachel Maddow Show at 6 pm PT, it's in standard defintion, AKA rectangular shaped but inside a box.

 

When I record Lawrence, it starts off with the end of Rachel's show, and that brief part of Rachel's show is in HD.

 

When I tune in for the 9 pm PT Maddow repeat, it's in HD.

 

So what's happening? This happens every day, by the way.

 

Does it have something to do wiht DirecTV?

[NextIteration]

Not a clue nowandlater, my default record and watch choice via the X One system or whatever Comcast name it is, is for HD and everything records that way.  (Which I'm starting to rethink because it eats up my dvr way too fast.)  I would check your default settings and your option settings for TRMS.

[attica]

I work in midtown NYC. Although I was not supposed to be in one, DHS designated my area as an unannounced papal frozen zone* right after noon yesterday. Meaning I couldn't get deliveries, Fed Ex couldn't pick up, All traffic was banned. I even had to take a circuitous pedestrian route to get to Grand Central to go home, because sidewalks were cleared as well. Not choked with popewatchers -- cleared. Empty. Barred from walking here. Nothing but sanitation trucks parked to block intersections and giant black SUVs lining the streets.

 

So when Rachel made mention of how much NYC security differed from DC security, I nodded. When she demurred by saying, "Well, you want the pope to be safe", I couldn't nod. That's precisely how we get to the overfed security theater we have. The pope's safety could be ensured with so much less of this nonsense, but there's a budget to be spent, so by god, it'll be spent! And anybody who peeps up and suggests 'hey, too much, maybe?' gets smacked down with the false choice of "What, you want the pope dead, or something?" 

 

Bah.

 

*One never expects the Unannounced Papal Frozen Zone!

[Grommet]

Papal Frozen Zone is going to make me chuckle all day.

 

I'm not religious and don't much care for the Catholic Church in general so, even though the current pope seems like a genuinely good human being, I just don't need to see all this coverage of his visit. Please just tell me what he said and move on!

 

And I'm going to disagree with Rachel and Amy Klobuchar: there will be no lasting beneficial effects from his visit.

[jjj]

A papal miracle on MSNBC, TRMS, and other cable news:

 

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/nation-thanks-pope-for-briefly-bumping-trump-from-news

 

[excerpt:] Carol Foyler, of New York, said that the Pope’s visit would wreak havoc with traffic in Manhattan this week, but added, “I would put up with that all year long if it meant seeing less of that [expletive] Trump’s face.”

[SFoster21]

Can somebody explain what's happening?

When I record Chris Hayes at 5 pm PT, it's in HD.

When I record Lawrence O'Donnell at 7 pm PT, it's in HD.

But when I record the Rachel Maddow Show at 6 pm PT, it's in standard defintion, AKA rectangular shaped but inside a box.

When I record Lawrence, it starts off with the end of Rachel's show, and that brief part of Rachel's show is in HD.

When I tune in for the 9 pm PT Maddow repeat, it's in HD.

So what's happening? This happens every day, by the way.

Does it have something to do wiht DirecTV?

This may not be it, but I think she often reports from her house, which is upstate. MSNBC is in Jersey right? Thought I read that.

[kassygreene]

I'm pretty sure she either broadcasts from 30 Rock, or from places like the MSNBC studio in NW DC.  I think once she was doing a remote broadcast from upstate NY, and the communication link had serious issues.

 

And her home is in western Mass....

[M. Darcy]

(This is from Thursday's Show).  I had heard that Kerry was denied communion or threatened with it but I hadn't heard that the guy was promoted.  So I'm glad for Kerry that he was the only person that the Pope shook hands with.

 

Aw, I'm going to miss Rachel's ongoing story of how Boehner wasn't very good at his job.  I work somewhat in the Congressional Biz (I work for a lobbyist) and I had no idea that McCarthy had only two bills passed...and both of them renaming legislation. That's scary if he becomes Speaker.

[nowandlater]

This may not be it, but I think she often reports from her house, which is upstate. MSNBC is in Jersey right? Thought I read that.

 

ok, it was in HD today...

[Lillybee]

(This is from Thursday's Show).  I had heard that Kerry was denied communion or threatened with it but I hadn't heard that the guy was promoted.  So I'm glad for Kerry that he was the only person that the Pope shook hands with.

 

Aw, I'm going to miss Rachel's ongoing story of how Boehner wasn't very good at his job.  I work somewhat in the Congressional Biz (I work for a lobbyist) and I had no idea that McCarthy had only two bills passed...and both of them renaming legislation. That's scary if he becomes Speaker.

 

 

However, better McCarthy than Weber who is a full in Gothardite Quiverfill believer.

[Grommet]

Great interview with Cecile Richards, an impressive woman who deserves a drink.

[M. Darcy]

 

Great interview with Cecile Richards, an impressive woman who deserves a drink.

I agree.  I watched some of the hearing....and it was disturbing.  Seeing a Republican just yell at her and the lack of respect that they gave her was very troubling.  I've watched a few hearings and have never seen anyone treated like that before.  And, some of them did deserved to be. 

[attica]

Man, if offered the opportunity, I don't think I could pass up the chance to punch Rep. Gowdy in the neck.

 

I liked that Chris showed a corrected graph, but I loved that Rachel objected to the lack of a Y axis. That's my girl!

[alias1]

My absolute dick of a congressman (Duncan) showed what a hillbilly he is.  I'm embarrassed for my state.  (You don't think we're going to be easier on you because you're a woman, do you?)  The level of disrespect leveled at Cecile Richards was deplorable.  The woman is a goddess.  After being grilled by those assholes for over 4 hours, she still had the stamina to come on Rachel's show (and be gracious).

[Grommet]

Rachel laughing at Kevin McCarthy's gibberish kept me from slitting my wrists. I don't know how much more I can take. He makes George Bush seem eloquent.

Back to Cecile Richards: I admit to staying too much in the echo chamber of lefty media, but still I'm aghast that none of the articles I read in the N.Y. Times or Washington Post or on CNN mentioned the blatant lie that chairman douchebag told about the source of that slide. But they all mentioned the "funding" PP gets from Medicare. The same sort of funding the oral surgeons I used to work for get, which they referred to as getting paid for services rendered. Gah.

[NextIteration]

But they all mentioned the "funding" PP gets from Medicare. The same sort of funding the oral surgeons I used to work for get, which they referred to as getting paid for services rendered. Gah.

 

Does anyone else smell Frank Luntz?

 

How the heck they are getting away with calling reimbursement for services rendered as "funding" is beyond my comprehension.  I think I might have gotten that there is a 60m appropriation for research, but I'm not even certain of that.

 

The bottom line is that that they want to take away patients' choice to use Planned Parenthood as a medicaid provider of women's health care and Title X benefits.

My absolute dick of a congressman (Duncan) showed what a hillbilly he is.  I'm embarrassed for my state.

 

My sympathies, Bachmann was from a neighboring district so I sort of relate.  I have a peach of a congresscritter in Keith Ellison.

[M. Darcy]

Tom Coburn is an evil bastard.  And so are the rest for letting him get away with all that shit when he was in Congress.  And, honestly, from a PR level I just don't get it.  Congress has lower approval ratings then cockroaches.   And, here's a chance to vote and pass on something that I'm guessing everyone in the country supports.  Money for medical care for first responders on 9/11 and they won't spend 15 freakin minutes voting on it.  They don't even have to spend 15 minutes - they could pass it by a voice vote.  Even if they don't care about helping others, it would let them look good.

 

Also, IMO you know who should be front and center on the Hill lobbying for this?  George W Bush and others from his Administration.   But that would make people remember he was President on 9/11.  But again, a chance to make yourself look good that is being ignored. 

Edited October 1, 2015 by M. Darcy

[attica]

Rachel laughing at Kevin McCarthy's gibberish kept me from slitting my wrists. I don't know how much more I can take. He makes George Bush seem eloquent.

 

Palin and W make their word salad off the cuff, at least. McCarthy was reading from a prompter, wasn't he? That means that shit was WRITTEN DOWN! How is such a thing possible?!? Makes me wanna move to Hungria.

Also, IMO you know who should be front and center on the Hill lobbying for this?  George W Bush and others from his Administration.   But that would make people remember he was President on 9/11.  But again, a chance to make yourself look good that is being ignored.

 

Remember, you've got to weigh the chance to make yourself look good against the chance to sit around doing nothing. That seems to be W's MO all his life.

[M. Darcy]

On the upside maybe I'll see Jon Stewart in the neighborhood next week.  Sigh.  No, bad joke - there is no upside.  That guy last night - he was so calm - I wouldn't have the strength.   And as a fellow sufferer of migraines, you can't even describe the pain. The best description I've come up with for me is someone is hitting my brain with a hammer over and over and over.  And, he is in a lot of pain - and that's just one of his medical issues. 

 

And, to be fair, since I mentioned W, where's Rudy "noun, verb, 9/11" Giuliani. 

[alias1]

 

My sympathies, Bachmann was from a neighboring district so I sort of relate.  I have a peach of a congresscritter in Keith Ellison.

You're lucky.  Keith should run for president and make their heads explode!

[EarlGreyTea]

Wooo Rachel! Yay for hosting a forum for the Democratic candidates on November 6! I wish it was a debate - would love to see her as a moderator.

 

Love how she announced it as "my mother's daughter is going to moderate a forum." Took me a second.

Edited October 8, 2015 by EarlGreyTea

[jjj]

Wooo Rachel! Yay for hosting a forum for the Democratic candidates on November 6! I wish it was a debate - would love to see her as a moderator.

Love how she announced it as "my mother's daughter is going to moderate a forum." Took me a second.

Thanks!  Did not get home in time to see the first airing of the show.  I assume this will be an MSNBC forum?  So looking forward to how she handles this, in comparison to other debates that have happened or will happen by then. 

[Grommet]

Rachel's mother being Canadian and supporting Eugene McCarthy explains why Rachel is one of the most polite liberals around.

[suomi]

[snipped]

 

For all of us who have wished to see Rachel given even 10% of her due in the totally sexist world of TV journalism, this is a sweet possibility.

 

And for all of us who wished we could see what Rachel would do if she was moderating MTP, this will be interesting.

 

Oh, and btw, anyone checked out Chuck Todd's new late afternoon show titled either MTP Daily, or Daily MTP? Saw it for the first time today, and it is a shameless pander to a once credible institution in this country, complete WITH the MTP music, as if something grand and heady is going to happen every day now. Talk about diluting the brand…although that brand has suffered so much, don't think there's much of it left anyway. Still, talk about the length they'll go to prop up Chuck.

 

[snipped]

 

Wishing Rachel everything she deserves in this forum format---which is to shine like she usually does, and which is, pollyanna that I am sometimes, that she finally gets the respect and attention she deserves…inside and outside of MSNBC.

 

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/10/08/1429146/-Rachel-Maddow-will-moderate-a-Democratic-forum

[M. Darcy]

Rachel will finally get to ask HRC questions!  I think she's the only Democratic candidate that hasn't yet appeared on the show.

 

A friend of mine teaches at Winthrop - I hope he gets to go.

[attica]

The bit in the last segment, about "Walter" wanting the candidates for leadership positions to drop out if they have 'post-5-o'clock' shenanigans reminded me of something I learned years ago about the fundy mindset.  Walter's "clarifying" comment about playing cards, specifically. Rachel laughed, as if that was a goofy thing to object to, and to most of us, that's that.

 

BUT: there is a hardcore belief among some that any kind of card-playing (and by extension, any games where chance is involved) is seen as quite literally the work of the devil. The reasoning? God wills all, and you mock that by shuffling cards or rolling dice and acting on chance -- you're defying god's will. How games of chance are even possible in a god-controlled universe is either unexplained, or blamed on his luciferness.  So: no lottery, no fortune cookies, no whist, no roulette, no Texas Hold'em, no board games, or straight to hell with you!

 

I feel I should tell you I learned all of this by reading my friend's collection of christian comics. He collected them ironically, thank heavens.

[Grommet]

Thanks, attica. I never knew the reasoning about that, although "reason" doesn't play much of a part here.

ETA - McCarthy dropped out of the Speaker race. Thank god, but I'll miss Rachel trying to translate his gibberish.

Edited October 8, 2015 by Grommet

[attica]

Maybe his visa to Hungria got a last minute stamp!

 

I really do wonder if he's sporting some kind of brain injury or language-center impairment. Or maybe it's all that card-playing!

 

ETA: Rumors are abounding that McCarthy's been playing away with another family values republican, Renee Ellmers of NC. but one of the sources of the rumors is Chuck Johnson, who is a vile creature if ever there was one. I'd hate to believe him of all people.

Edited October 8, 2015 by attica

[NextIteration]

I really do wonder if he's sporting some kind of brain injury or language-center impairment. Or maybe it's all that card-playing!

 

ETA: Rumors are abounding that McCarthy's been playing away with another family values republican, Renee Ellmers of NC. but one of the sources of the rumors is Chuck Johnson, who is a vile creature if ever there was one. I'd hate to believe him of all people.

 

I do too because it seems to come and go.

 

I hadn't gone looking but figured that it was an alleged affair.

 

This situation scares me for the country with the debt ceiling and Planned Parenthood shutdowns looming.

[M. Darcy]

 

This situation scares me for the country with the debt ceiling and Planned Parenthood shutdowns looming.

You are right - while it is a bit fun to watch the Party just implode, its very scary because many important bills needs to be passed this month.  The Country just can't stop for month while the Republicans get their act together.

 

Wow, I don't think I ever heard that story about Johnson almost being shot.  I am glad Rachel pointed out just how important the Speaker is. 

[Padma]

I haven't watched for a while. Tried it last night and -- alas! -- she's still so darn wordy and is still repeating things two or three times. The writing is so awful and torturous that... I just can't! Even though she's making interesting points, in there somewhere.