Rachel Maddow Cuts Down Bill Maher and Charles Cooke Like Weeds

[Tx4obama]

Rachel Maddow Cuts Down Bill Maher and Charles Cooke Like Weeds

Rachel Maddow needs to get out more, as evidenced by her performance on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher this weekend. While the host of The Rachel Maddow Show churns out astute political essays five nights a week on MSNBC, her talent for casually destroying the fallacious thinking of others, to their faces, is woefully underused in that role. Case in point: Maddow’s effortless destruction of Bill Maher and The National Review‘s Charles Cooke.

It is a relatively simple matter to sound smart when you’re talking to yourself, in front of an audience that generally agrees with you, and this is a large part of what Maher, Maddow, and Cooke do on a regular basis. What separates the wheat from the chaff is how those skillfully spun thoughts hold up in an actual conversation, and on Friday night’s Real Time rock-paper-scissors matchup, Maddow brought Hattori Hanzo steel.

First, Cooke and Maher actually began on decently solid ground by criticizing MSNBC’s coverage of Governor Chris Christie‘s (R-NJ) scandals. While Maddow has been eating everyone’s lunch on this story for months, and hosts like Steve Kornacki and Chris Hayes have developed reporting and interviews that have moved the story forward, a lot of the rest of the coverage has been a repetitive waste of time. Maher and fellow panelist Jane Harman even managed to throw in a devastating knock at MSNBC’s “Breaking News” cutaway to Justin Bieber‘s arraignment.

However, when Maher and Cooke tried to make a dollar out of their fifteen-cent insights, Maddow cut them down with a flick of the wrist. Maher’s catchy phrase, “It’s not Watergate,” ignored the fact that Watergate wasn’t Watergate, either, until it was. Maddow patiently explained the developments in the story that she was the only one covering at the time, and which continue to this day, and that “When you have gonzo political corruption stories, you cover them.”

-snip-

Full post here: http://www.mediaite.com/tv/rachel-maddow-cuts-down-bill-maher-and-charles-cooke-like-weeds/

[Cha]

1. that was very satisfying, Tx..

thank you!

[dhill926]

2. that Cooke guy was embarrassing….

out of his league and he seemed to know it. Didn't keep him from yapping though….and yep, Rachel was head and shoulders above all, including the host...

[tavalon]

3. I don't know why this surprises anyone

Not only is Rachel a Rhodes Scholar, she is a damn good, think on her feet, commentator. She can slice and dice with the best of them. I'm sometimes disappointed with her when she pulls a punch because she has no need to do that. She's that damn good, with or without speech writers.

[tavalon]

4. As an aside, I wish Rachel would ditch the contacts for her show

She wears the coolest glasses and she wears them well.

[daybranch]

5. Maddow deserves a world of thanks but

now lets turn to the Comcast Time Warner merger. Any failure to cover this only demonstrates how necessary it is to prevent that merger. There is no objective way to cover this without it ending badly for Comcast.
And why is she not talking about the TPP or the Gerrymandering in Ohio which has promoted all these recent attacks on voters rights in Ohio?
Please stand up Rachel. We need you. Christie is cooked. Move On and monitor. Do not just bask in your glory. We love you and need you.

[DJ13]

6. There is no objective way to cover this without it ending badly for Comcast.

Correct, but who owns NBC, and (ultimately) is Rachael's employer?

Comcast.

[LovingA2andMI]

9. Don't know about the LOVE and NEED thing...

But yes, discussing the Comcast Corporate Mega-Merger with Time Warner or the 2 million folks who lost maybe their ONLY source of income on December 28 or anything else but Chris Christie, might be a start for Rachel and Steve. Frankly, Christie is toast and the story is stale.

Time to MOVE....ON.... Until he's indicted or something like that.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

7. Rachel should host "Meet The Press".

[Qutzupalotl]

12. I'd watch that!

But not until then.

[WillyT]

8. HUGE K & R !!!

[Paladin]

10. K&R. Go Rachel (nt)

[bvar22]

11. That is more than a little strange.

The thread title is an exact quote from the linked site:
"Christopher: Rachel Maddow Cuts Down Bill Maher and Charles Cooke Like Weeds".

After watching both videos (sorry, don't get HBO at our house),
I am amazed that someone would describe this as Rachel being a hostile opponent to Maher.
Most reasonable people would describe this exchange as:
[font size=3]Bill Maher and Rachel Maddow cut down conservative Climate Change denier like a weed.[/font]

I wonder why someone would try to cast Rachel Maddow and Bill Maher as opponents in this exchange?
It looks to me like they are comfortable, respectful, friendly allies.

Please watch both video clips, pay attention to the body language between Maher and Maddow,
(Maher and Maddow leaning in toward each other in support, away from that idiot Charles Cook).

Maher and Maddow DID discuss a minor disagreement that wasn't even a disagreement about a comedy piece that Maher did last week. Maddow readily admitted that Yes. I AM obsessed with the Christie scandal,
but would YOU describe this as Rachel cutting down Maher and Cook like weeds?

.....or rather Maher and Maddow combine to destroy a climate change denier?
That is what it looked like to me.

[Fumesucker]

13. "Maddow cuts down $1 million Obama reelection donor like a weed"

That has a better ring to it.

The agendas are getting more and more obvious around here.