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Hear That Glass Shattering? MSNBC Gives Maddow Her Own TV Show |
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Keith Olbermann sent a buzz through the progressive community with this announcement Tuesday on his diary at DailyKos:
Happy Now?  MSNBC will be formally announcing this tomorrow, but I am pleased to inform you in this fully authorized leak, that as of Monday, September 8, our mutual friend Ms. Maddow will become host of her own show, on MSNBC, at 9 PM Eastern Time.
Maddow, who currently hosts a radio show on Air America, has also gained popularity as a frequent guest and substitute host on Olbermann’s show “Countdown.” The one-two punch of Olbermann and Maddow will now give left-leaning political junkies two hours of nightly guilty pleasure.
Maddow’s promotion, however, means a lot more than just the addition of another strong progressive voice to a medium that has been dominated by conservative blowhards. Her new show shatters multiple glass ceilings and proves that substance and intelligence can win out over flash and fluff. As Rebeccas Traister of Salon points out:
In the United States, in 2008, brains and liberalism (in a woman, no less!) have just been rewarded. Promoted. Given their own show. I recently profiled Maddow for the Nation and noted how remarkable it is that this season’s political punditry sensation “isn’t a glossy matinee idol or a smooth-talking partisan hack but a PhD Rhodes scholar lesbian policy wonk who started as a prison AIDS activist.” How do you like them apples, Ann Coulter?
Most significant of all might be the fact that Maddow is the first woman to have her own “pundit” show - a medium that has been overrun by straight white males for far too long - no offense, Keith.   Katie Couric might have been the first woman to read the news as a network anchor, but Rachel Maddow will be the first to give her opinion on the news on her own show. For my money, that’s more important.
Congratulations, Rachel! We look forward to watching your show.
msnbc dont fool me..yea right she gits her own show then they cancel it for lack of ratings? after 5 shows..uh huh..i git it/ the ol’ swift boat ride back to air america radio. lol..if im wrong lets wacth how ‘long’ it lasts…broken glass my ass..its a trap..the truth is broken 40’s in the getto.