Rachel maddow: "a mustard person" in sneakers

We knew she'd finally made it when we started getting google searches for "Rachel Maddow naked."

(This is a measure of new media success, it seems, we're always at the end of searches for "Michelle Malkin naked," or "Laura Ingraham naked," despite these two are not naked and never have been naked).

In an avuncular way, we're in the tank for Rachel -- to cram another 2008 election cliche into this  sentence -- that's why we've never thrown her under the bus. Now, it seems, so is everyone else. That's good for America.

Besides being who she is, she's doubled the audience for MSNBC's 9p hour in a matter of days which the media heads say is virtually unheard of.

The New York Times, Friday, last:

"The Rachel Maddow Show,” her left-leaning news and commentary program, has averaged a higher rating among 25-to 54-year-olds than “Larry King Live” on CNN for 13 of the 25 nights she has been host. While the average total audience of her program remains slightly smaller than that of Mr. King’s, Ms. Maddow, 35, has made MSNBC competitive in that time slot for the first time in a decade. The channel at that hour has an average viewership of 1.7 million since she started on Sept. 8, compared with 800,000 before.

Rachel says she's not interested in the feuding with other cable channels (as is Keith Olbermann or BlatherWatch, for that matter). She insists that she's never even watched her competitors Larry King which is on at the same time, or Hannity & Colmes, which gets more viewers than either of the other shows.

A  glowing New York Times Magazine piece gives us a glimpse into her strange, bifurcated life between a 275 square-foot Greenwich Village apartment, and the home she shares with her partner, Susan Mikula in an 1865 farmhouse in rural Western Massachusetts. She makes the 190 mile commute every week on the Amtrak.

She said the biggest misconception about being a pundit is that "...we all hang out together. I don’t know any of these people. Maybe all the pundits are hanging out and not inviting meNew things we've learned about Rachel: 

• ~ She gets up early on Saturdays for a weekly dump run.
• ~ She has a dog, a big one who goes with her to the dump.
•  ~ She has a seven-year-old, red Ford pickup in which she and the dog go to the dump.
• ~ She self-describes as "a mustard person." She owns mustard.
• ~ she prefers savories to sweets.
• ~ she wears sneakers secretly behind the teevee desk. "That reminds me who I am, even though I am dressed up like an assistant principal in order to meet the minimum dress code for being on television."
• ~ She lays awake at night and worries about loose nukes.
• ~ She has old lawn mowers. "... it seems wrong to get rid of lawn mowers, so I keep them."
• ~ she is luck-oriented. "A handkerchief can never be put in another pocket after it has been in one pocket. I don’t walk under ladders. I have items of clothing that are lucky for me."
• ~ she does not shop.
• ~ she has clown shoes.

Rachel's fast rise has something, we suspect, to do with her having a talk show and letting guests actually speak in paragraphs, no interruptions or long, self-serving questions that eats up guest-time.

Also that she blushes when complimented.

Intellectual honesty, humility, and common consideration: what a concept! Doubt it'll catch on in cable teevee, or the radio, though. 

Rachel is a fretter. "My self-doubt: she says, "[is] that this is a worthy thing to contribute to the world. It’s fun, but I worry that it is self-indulgent."

Comments

[chucks]

This is my first opportunity to respond to a blank post.
By the way, what happened to the Oblahblah lies post that was here a few minutes ago?
Anybody catch the address to follow up on it?

[Duffman]

Actually chucks you've responded to 'blank' posts many times in the past. Perhaps you didn't realize it...some of joanie's have been pretty 'blank' of substance at times.

[Duffman]

Oh, and joanie why do you persist in thinking that I'm someone else; just because you pull those stunts doesn't mean everyone does. I've been a bit low lately because or some surgery which has me in a 'recovery' mode but I've been around. Play your games.

[Duffman]

What a revealing piece on such a refreshing personality and one who I'm sure because of her apparent honesty and sense of equity will continue to prosper. It may take a while but with the new administration in tact and the fairness doctrine likely to be reinstituted folks may flock to Rachel in droves for sensibility sake. Rachel I applaud you for your persistant efforts and your 'stickin to it' like you do. Good Luck. :)

[Gay Gary]

What's up with the upcoming President for Life's Grant Park extravaganza? It seems like an indulgence - hopefully, after he's elected, he can save some cash and just build a great, sweeping parade ground for future party mass rallies.

[chucks the plumber]

Good grief, I hope somebody is close when joanie fires up her computer this afternoon. Gary, she is gonna have a heart attack when she clicks on your link.

[daffy duffman]

Thats not what you said earlier about Rachel. You also claim to be a Canadian, in the US army, a member of a 60's garage band and a half-breed to boot. You must be around 65 or so. What are you doing here?

[Gay Gary]

Gary, she is gonna have a heart attack when she clicks on your link.

She'll have absolutely no clue what it is ... as she's shown several times now she doesn't know basic geography and, when called on it, she throws some one liners out and disappears. Joanie is the best argument for defunding public schools.

[Gay Gary]

Of course, then one of the local dimwits will say "but he was a right-winger" and then I'll have to, again, query what the actual definition of fascism is, what the ideological 5-points of fascist thought are, etc., and then they'll stop posting, as happened a few weeks ago, then I'll have to copy and paste my illuminating lecture about the actual place of fascist thought on the L/R political axis ... *yawners* ... it gets so mundane and cyclical.

[Duffman]

'Thats not what you said earlier about Rachel. You also claim to be a Canadian, in the US army, a member of a 60's garage band and a half-breed to boot. You must be around 65 or so. What are you doing here?

Posted by: daffy duffman | October 23, 2008 at 01:26 PM'

I plead guilty to all of the above except being 65 and I'm not currently a Canadian...was naturalized an American many, many moons ago. So, I should have ALL the rights of an American citizen, right? Then, why can't I run for POTUS? I now love Rachel.

[nevets]

Duff, if Hussein can, you can too. Just get some terrorist friends, maybe Osama, a couple of radical racist Reverends and a boost from Howard Dean and you'll be in like Flint. Good luck.

Oh, hide the original birth certificate, block out the serial number on the fake one and then call in some favors from sone Political thugs to authentitcate it. Better yet, burn the original.

[Mike Barer]

Michelle's never been photographed naked? What a drag?

[rozskat]

Steven – You forgot to mention you have to be black too! If your side wins, which it is self-destructing now, you will have competition for your job as a greeter at Wally World from former stockbrokers and those with any degree of intelligence. In Republican America, your world will be the norm along with socialism they already implemented.

[Coiler]

Doesn't Wal Mart encourage their employees to use the state sponsored health care plans?