All Episodes Talk: TRMS 2019 Season

[ScoobieDoobs]

Welp, tonite Rachel could give a big ole I-told-ya-so about BOTH Barr & Avenatti.  I know she won’t, cuz that ain’t Rach — but man, she sure could.

Remember when Rachel was the ONLY one on either MSNBC or CNN who gave Avenatti a suspicious stinkeye, as an opportunist & a publicity hound, while he was all over MSNBC & CNN, with all other hosts besides her?

And remember when Rachel was saying (pretty much every nite) to keep in mind Barr’s history & what he’s done in the past — as a predictor of what he will be capable of as an AG now?  Oh Rach . . .

Edited March 25, 2019 by ScoobieDoobs

[The Solution]

Rachel's show tonight was BY FAR the most intelligent, level-headed, calm and sane reporting I've seen on this situation yet. Especially the 15 Questions About the Barr Report segment. If you haven't already seen it, you owe it to yourself to record or watch one of the replays.

[General Days]

20 minutes ago, The Solution said:

Rachel's show tonight was BY FAR the most intelligent, level-headed, calm and sane reporting I've seen on this situation yet. Especially the 15 Questions About the Barr Report segment. If you haven't already seen it, you owe it to yourself to record or watch one of the replays.

Agreed. I tend to over-think this stuff, and what I find refreshing about Rachel is that, unlike many in the media, she not only thinks of all the questions I wish the media would ask, but she also thinks of ones that didn't occur to me. Her 15 Questions are terrific. I hope the various House committees are taking notes. They should just assign staffers to recap her shows. 

[izabella]

Adam Schiff and other Congresspeople come on her show regularly, so they probably watch her show, too, sometimes.  I wonder if any of them were looking forward to Rachel's show tonight to get her take on things.

[fairffaxx]

Jill Wine-Banks appeared on Lawrence O'Donnell's show right after Rachel Maddow's show tonight and said that the 15 questions were what she wanted to ask too.

[ScoobieDoobs]

The 15 questions were great & I was so hoping for Chuck to show up — and YAY, he did, at the end of the show.

I luved that Rachel purposely ONLY discussed the “Barr report” tonite.  She devoted her show to it & didn’t get sidetracked by dumb clips of Trump’s idiotic response or irrelevant news on Avenatti.  Notice that Rachel was the ONLY host on either CNN or MSNBC to do this.

[suomi]

Rachel and Chuck are so good together. The mutual respect and admiration is quite evident and gives the impression that her show is one of his favorite stops. 

[M. Darcy]

That's our Rachel -  I don't remember anyone else coming up with such a great list of specific questions.  

[stormy]

10 hours ago, fairffaxx said:

Jill Wine-Banks appeared on Lawrence O'Donnell's show right after Rachel Maddow's show tonight and said that the 15 questions were what she wanted to ask too.

OMG I love Jill!

Did you see her on MSNBC on Saturday wearing a question mark pin as her pin of the day? Brilliant!

[kimaken]

12 hours ago, The Solution said:

Rachel's show tonight was BY FAR the most intelligent, level-headed, calm and sane reporting I've seen on this situation yet. Especially the 15 Questions About the Barr Report segment. If you haven't already seen it, you owe it to yourself to record or watch one of the replays.

I had to turn off all the other evening talk shows (The Beat, Hardball, All-In) because the constant yammering and replays of trump's crowing, etc. Only Rachel Maddow's show put things in perspective without all the hyped up angst and posturing -- it was such a relief to listen to a summary of the facts as they're known now and look toward common sense questions that need to be answered going forward.

[meowmommy]

I had deleted all my usually recorded political shows yesterday, unseen, because I couldn't bear to watch any of the talking heads try to dissect the events of the weekend, but based on the reviews here, I might just have to un-delete last night's TRMS.  

16 hours ago, suomi said:

Rachel and Chuck are so good together. The mutual respect and admiration is quite evident and gives the impression that her show is one of his favorite stops. 

Chuck is my total fave.  Nerdy, geeky, calm, clearly brilliant, never ever gets out ahead of his skis...just what I love.

[ahisma]

5 hours ago, kimaken said:

Only Rachel Maddow's show put things in perspective without all the hyped up angst and posturing -- it was such a relief to listen to a summary of the facts as they're known now and look toward common sense questions that need to be answered going forward.

This and Stephen Colbert's whiteboard were the only two oases of sanity on television.

[izabella]

During the handoff to LOD, he pointed out Rachel's graphics that called it the "Barr Report" and not the Mueller report, because all that is public is the Barr letter.  LOD also had a good show.  I'm glad neither Rachel nor LOD were part of the media that mishandled the reporting on the Barr letter.

[kassygreene]

The msnbc coverage last night (All In right through the 11th Hour) was not difficult to watch.  Rachel's 15 questions (which LW & I think 11th admired), lots of Chuck Rosenberg, Jill Wine-Banks, and yes, it is the Barr Report (or even the Barr Letter, to be technical).  If it's so freaking cut and dried, then there is no reason not to release the Mueller Report in total (minus grand jury).  It's all available at msnbc.com if you have an internet provider on their list.

But then, political hacks never care about actual appearances or equality (McConnell is the gold standard here).  Barr seems to be both a subtle Roy Cohn and a more efficient Devin Nunes.  He'll  probably get a Supremes nom out of it.

Edited March 26, 2019 by kassygreene

[ScoobieDoobs]

Cue "Mueller Mystery Company" music!  

[izabella]

Good coverage tonight on Barr's questionable moves.  I hope she does not let up on that. 

[annzeepark914]

On 3/26/2019 at 5:46 PM, kassygreene said:

Barr seems to be both a subtle Roy Cohn and a more efficient Devin Nunes.  He'll  probably get a Supremes nom out of it.

He's probably too old. This administation only nominates younger men & women to the courts.

[Calvada]

 I need a t-shirt, a bumper sticker, a coffee mug, and a yard sign that says "I don't think it's okay."  I'm sure some entrepreneur is busy on that already.

I question the need for a long delay on releasing the Mueller Report because of the need to redact grand jury or classified information.  Wouldn't the prosecutors in the Special Counsel's office already have noted material which could not become public?  Isn't that their responsibility to ensure the grand jury info doesn't become public, that classified material is not released?  I find it hard to believe that these federal prosecutors with years of experience, much of it on national security matters, would blithely hand over a report chock full of GJ/classified material and assume that the AG's staff would handle any redaction necessary.  

[meowmommy]

1 hour ago, Calvada said:

I need a t-shirt, a bumper sticker, a coffee mug, and a yard sign that says "I don't think it's okay."  I'm sure some entrepreneur is busy on that already.

Ask and you shall receive.  Well, the t-shirts, anyway.

I had seen the video earlier today and I thought it was awesome (especially the quiet but righteous anger coming from Rep. Schiff), so I was thrilled Rachel played it in full, taking advantage of her long-form A-block to play the whole thing instead of just a clip. 

Especially after I was pretty pissed that the usually reliable Chris Hayes chopped up the video and pretty much whiffed on its significance.  

[freddi]

What was Rachel saying in the handoff?  That she would see us at 8 EDT?  Through the TV?  When LO'D joined in, it became less coherent.  Does this mean "Rachel has the night off"? 

[meowmommy]

30 minutes ago, freddi said:

What was Rachel saying in the handoff?  That she would see us at 8 EDT?  Through the TV?  When LO'D joined in, it became less coherent.  Does this mean "Rachel has the night off"? 

No, she was saying that before we watch her tomorrow, we should all be watching Chris's town hall with Alexandria O-C.  

[ScoobieDoobs]

So are Rachel's ratings actually "plummeting" this week?  That's the spin from Fox News.  Oh, and Sean Hannity says Rachel "lies every nite".  I was wondering last nite, when she was extensively reading from court transcripts . . . uh, does Hannity think that reading from court transcripts is "lying"?  Uh, OK then.

I get that the Fox News spin is how Rachel is totally obsessed with the Mueller report -- and since it was a "dud" for her (again, the Fox News POV), her audience is abandoning her.  Don't fucking count on it, Hannity! 

First off, lower ratings on a Monday, don't mean jack shit.  And no, Rachel is absolutely NOT obsessed with the Mueller report.  She switched gears the other nite & covered health care when that was an important topic to showcase.  And yeah, she did spend a lot of time on the Mueller report tonite, but I'm glad she did.  I wanna know WTF is in those 300-plus pages too, dammit! 

Keep ignoring the Fox News bullshit spin, Rach & just continue doin' what you're doin'!

I absolutely luved that long clip of Adam Schiff.  That was wonderful!  Thank you for showing it, Rach.  I'd trade that one clip for a billion Trump clips.  Schiff was so eloquent, but what really made it so enjoyable was watching Nunes & his pals looking like their heads were gonna explode.  Hee!

[meowmommy]

16 minutes ago, ScoobieDoobs said:

I get that the Fox News spin is how Rachel is totally obsessed with the Mueller report -- and since it was a "dud" for her (again, the Fox News POV), her audience is abandoning her.  Don't fucking count on it, Hannity! 

What Lumpy has conveniently forgotten (if he ever bothered to know) is that Rachel was reporting extensively on the Russian connections long before the Mueller investigation even got its training wheels put on.  You could put her transcripts together and you'd probably have the gist of the Mueller report and then some.

As for Monday night, probably a lot of people were like me, totally disgusted and needing a day away from the news cycle.

19 minutes ago, ScoobieDoobs said:

Oh, and Sean Hannity says Rachel "lies every nite". 

If anybody's obsessed, it's Lumpy--with Rachel Maddow.  She, however, doesn't deign to waste her valuable time talking about him.  

[sum]

It's par for the course that when bad news hit GOP, Fox News ratings plummet & MSNBC ratings soar and vice versa. Nothing to see here really.

[Jaded]

Moved to the Rachel thread.....

Edited March 29, 2019 by Jaded

[tessaray]

Just a reminder that other cable news shows are not on topic.. If they are specifically related to Rachel, you can take it to her thread. 

[meowmommy]

I guess MSNBC was left off the distribution list for the Dear Television Producers letter, demanding that certain Democrats be blackballed from appearing on their shows.

So very proud of Rachel and her team in inviting Rep. Schiff not only for an interview but The Interview, thereby giving the wannabe censors a big middle finger.  And quickly addressing and setting aside the drama of yesterday, to go right into the nuts and bolts of the Mueller report and the Russian investigation.  That's how it's done, folks.

Edited March 30, 2019 by meowmommy

[ScoobieDoobs]

So Rachel remarked kinda dramatically & sympathetically to Schiff, before she started the interview, that he had a tough week.  Schiff sorta shrugged & gave a nonchalant, just-another-day look.  This is actually a great response to all the dumb-ass shit he's been getting this week -- particularly that ridiculous "demand" for his resignation from the Repub fools in the Congressional Committee he is Chairman of.  Glad Rach had him on tonite.  It was a great follow-up to his awesome speech yesterday.

Rachel did devote pretty much all of Friday’s show to Mueller report coverage, didn’t she?  Not complaining — just observing.  There was a bit of Maria Butina news on Friday that she didn’t even get to.  A bit surprised by that.

I thought Friday’s show was great cuz Rach hit on such good points on why, what Barr has done so far with the Mueller report, is so random & cagey.  

And as Hannity & Laura Ingraham (who oddly showed Rach in a tin hat) & even lunkhead Andrew Sullivan, among many others on the Right, ramp up efforts this week to throw shit at Rachel, it confirms to me that Rach is totally right to question what Barr is doing with the Mueller report.

Like I said before — just keep doin’ what you’re doin’, Rach, & ignore the assholes throwing shit at ya.  They’re obviously scared Rachel is getting closer to the truth.

Edited March 31, 2019 by ScoobieDoobs

[izabella]

Rachel was angry and pointed in her discussion of Barr's letter and the role he is taking upon himself to create out of thin air as it relates to Mueller's report.  I am so grateful that she is not letting up and is asking why Barr is choosing to cover up the report as much as possible instead of releasing it to Congress in full.

I also love that Adam Schiff was on and kept referring to Barr's summary/not summary.  Jeez, Barr, you say it's not a summary, but you titled it summary and use the word summary.  I wonder who called Barr on the carpet to force him to backtrack a little with his letter.  I know it's too late and the damage has been done, helped by most of the media except Rachel.

[freddi]

I loved that Rachel focused on the “[T]” that indicated the quote was only the second half of a sentence.  “What was in the first half he didn’t want us to see?”   And on PBS “Wait Wait” show today, they said Barr’s summary of A Tale of Two Cities is “It was the best of times.”

[Morrigan2575]

7 hours ago, ScoobieDoobs said:

I thought Friday’s show was great cuz Rach hit on such good points on why, what Barr has done so far with the Mueller report, is so random & cagey.  

I thank her for addressing it but, it felt like too little too late. I really have been quite pissed with the way MSNBC covered it. Constantly referring to it as the Mueller Report. 

People on Twitter were way ahead of her, calling out MSM for the way they trwated the Barr letter.

[Deputy Deputy CoS]

2 hours ago, Morrigan2575 said:

I thank her for addressing it but, it felt like too little too late. I really have been quite pissed with the way MSNBC covered it. Constantly referring to it as the Mueller Report. 

People on Twitter were way ahead of her, calling out MSM for the way they trwated the Barr letter.

She never addressed it as the Mueller report on her show as far as I know.

I also don't believe that Barr have poisoned the well. He managed to for the first few days but the narrative that is taking hold is worse for the Administration and for him personally. Now, the country is realizing that there is a an effort to coverup the report. That would have a staying power as long as they keep the it, or parts of it hidden from the Congress and the press. 

[Morrigan2575]

15 minutes ago, Deputy Deputy CoS said:

She never addressed it as the Mueller report on her show as far as I know.

I wasn't referring to her, in fact last night felt like she was calling others on MSNBC out for it. I know as the big draw she has more autonomy than most, and the daytime hosts were probably under pressure from the network. I just wish this had been addressed earlier.

[ScoobieDoobs]

Actually, Rachel first referred to Barr's letter/memo as the "Barr report".  Schiff referred to it as the summary/non-summary.  Rach doesn't call it the Barr report anymore, but pointed out how he's now put out 2 more odd follow-up "letters" that supposedly "explain" the first.  It's weird as fuck.  Rach doesn't have to comment on it with any snark.  She can just say the facts.  This suspicious & cagey & weird-as-fuck behavior from Barr pretty much speaks for itself.  As Rach says -- look at what they do, not what they say . . .

[Deputy Deputy CoS]

1 hour ago, Morrigan2575 said:

I wasn't referring to her, in fact last night felt like she was calling others on MSNBC out for it. I know as the big draw she has more autonomy than most, and the daytime hosts were probably under pressure from the network. I just wish this had been addressed earlier.

Gotcha.

Although MSNBC is background noise, I only watch her and Ari. And Nicole Wallace when I can. 

[suomi]

I was otherwise engaged and missed watching any shows last night/Friday. As per usual, and more so after reading about Friday's show here, I looked forward to catching it on Saturday night. But, Rachel's show was omitted from the repeats lineup which is very unusual. 

Tonight was Nicole, Ari, Chris Hayes and Ocasio-Cortez 2-hour town hall, LOD, 11th Hour, LOD, 11th Hour, Ari again (on now) and then the marathon Dateline Extra repeats begin. 

I don't remember a weekend repeat lineup shaking out this way previously - but why would it be intentional on her own network? It left me with the perception that it was odd. 

[Deputy Deputy CoS]

Hmm, it showed where am at. NY

[suomi]

9 minutes ago, Deputy Deputy CoS said:

Hmm, it showed where am at. NY

Thank you, good to know. (I am Mountain Time Zone).

[meowmommy]

49 minutes ago, suomi said:

Tonight was Nicole, Ari, Chris Hayes and Ocasio-Cortez 2-hour town hall,

The town hall on Friday was only one hour.  Did they record a second hour to be shown later?

3 hours ago, Deputy Deputy CoS said:

Now, the country is realizing that there is a an effort to coverup the report. That would have a staying power as long as they keep the it, or parts of it hidden from the Congress and the press. 

They're realizing it because journalists like Rachel and Congressmen like Reps. Schiff and Nadler aren't meekly rolling over and apologizing the way the WH and State TV expected them to.  

Rachel was covering the Russia connections, in painstaking detail, long before Mueller started his investigation.  Just because there's some flimsy rag coming from a partisan hack at DOJ, she's not about to disavow everything she's reported for the past three years.  

[ScoobieDoobs]

Hey Rach, uh, you plugged Pete's appearance on LOD, but why didn't you have him on your show?  And as much as I can't with Beto & the arm-waving, why haven't ya had him on either, Rach?  Well, I honestly don't give a shit about Beto, but you really should have Pete on, Rach.

The hand-offs to LOD have been discussed before, but was tonite's a bit weird?  Rach looked like she had enough & wanted to go home & was trying hard to cue LOD to leave her alone so she could get off cam.  Seemed odd to me.

Edited April 2, 2019 by ScoobieDoobs

[possibilities]

1 hour ago, ScoobieDoobs said:

The hand-offs to LOD have been discussed before, but was tonite's a bit weird?  Rach looked like she had enough & wanted to go home & was trying hard to cue LOD to leave her alone so she could get off cam.  Seemed odd to me.

It looks like that to me most nights. I would have rather had a few more questions with Buttigieg than all that banter with Rachel. It's especially noticeable because Chris Hayes (who I also like A LOT), never does that when they have the hand off from his show to hers. It makes me think LOD doesn't have enough content to fill his hour, so he's wasting time with Rachel to kill a few minutes. But then he seems to be rushing through his interviews, so it's not that, either.

Edited April 2, 2019 by possibilities

[Morrigan2575]

On 3/31/2019 at 1:32 AM, meowmommy said:

They're realizing it because journalists like Rachel and Congressmen like Reps. Schiff and Nadler aren't meekly rolling over and apologizing the way the WH and State TV expected them to.

Not really, all of the early post Barr Letter polls (taken early last week while all/most reporters were kissing the Barr Letter's ass) showed that most people didn't believe it.  To be honest I didn't see a concerted effort by Media to throw off the Barr Letter = Mueller Report until Friday night with Rachel and Saturday with AM Joy.  I had MSNBC on yesterday after work (4-5PM hour) and Katy Tur's panel was still playing the game.

[meowmommy]

6 hours ago, possibilities said:

It's especially noticeable because Chris Hayes (who I also like A LOT), never does that when they have the hand off from his show to hers.

And on the rare occasion Chris has an extended handoff with Rachel, it's virtually always because Rachel has initiated it.  Otherwise, it's always a very crisp, "Thanks very much, my friend," and she moves on.

8 hours ago, ScoobieDoobs said:

Rach looked like she had enough & wanted to go home & was trying hard to cue LOD to leave her alone so she could get off cam.  Seemed odd to me.

I dunno.  She was the one who asked, unprompted, if LOD was still going to have Buttigieg as his guest.  I wonder if the producers whispered in her ear to tell her to break off the chat so LOD could get going.  

When you're making the kind of money these people make, you ought to be able to handle another minute on the air without seeming exhausted and/or exasperated.

[Calvada]

19 hours ago, ScoobieDoobs said:

The hand-offs to LOD have been discussed before, but was tonite's a bit weird?  Rach looked like she had enough & wanted to go home & was trying hard to cue LOD to leave her alone so she could get off cam.  Seemed odd to me.

There was probably a big piece of cake waiting for her.  Hmm, maybe not cake, but perhaps a special cocktail?

[Jaded]

The oranges stuff that was at the tail end of Chris's show and the start of Rachel's still has me laughing a bit just thinking about it.

[meowmommy]

1 hour ago, Jaded said:

The oranges stuff that was at the tail end of Chris's show and the start of Rachel's still has me laughing a bit just thinking about it.

One of the very, very few soundbites that would ever prompt Rachel to run footage of 45.

[ScoobieDoobs]

The oranges talk made me run quick to the fridge & get me an orange, so I missed any Trump clips -- YAY! 

Thanks Rach, watching your show makes me smarter AND healthier.  WIN, WIN!

[Sesquipedalia]

What magic does Julian Castro possess that he gave Rachel a momentary glimpse into Earth 2 tonight?

[Morrigan2575]

Anyone think Rachel will cry when the day comes that she has no more court transcripts to read?  She enjoys them so much and really gets into them.  I'm going to miss them if they ever dry up

[Calvada]

23 hours ago, Jaded said:

The oranges stuff that was at the tail end of Chris's show and the start of Rachel's still has me laughing a bit just thinking about it.

Who do you suppose was the lucky staffer who got to tell him he was mispronouncing the word and then work with him on pronouncing it correctly?  I think the only one who could do that is Ivanka or maybe Jared.  "Dad, just say 'the beginnings' instead of trying to say that word!"  He seemed to remember that after stumbling over "origins" a few times.  

It brought back memories of when I worked for a guy who insisted on using polysyllabic words all the time, often incorrectly as to context and meaning, and pronounced incorrectly.  The worst was when at a meeting with visitors to our office, instead of saying tangential, he said tangenital.  I was digging my fingernails into the palms of my hand, thinking, "Don't laugh, don't laugh," as I tried to avoid making eye contact with other office members in the meeting.

I think it was a belated birthday gift for Rachel.  It certainly made her laugh.  A genuinely amused Rachel makes me smile.