Why is everyone hating on my my dudette Rachel Maddow?

[Taverner]

Everyone's saying she was a Debbie Downer all night

This is called 'thinking critically'

It's how we don't end up like those Maoists still in Berkeley, who think any day the proletariat will spontaneously rise up and seize the means of production.

Besides, I've seen two elections go south. So has she. We're all a little traumatized from that.

[Ian David]

1. Pat Buchanan sucks the optimism out of people like a pasty, fascist tubby little sponge. n/t

[TwilightZone]

2. I love Rachel, but she certainly wasn't 'thinking critically'

I think she was the designated Devil's Advocate for the evening.

[Taverner]

5. Devil's Advocate = Thinking Critically

If no one looks for holes in the logic, then they go unnoticed

[Captain Hilts]

18. People here don't 'get' that. They're here for affirmation, not information. nt

[TwilightZone]

25. Oh, good. Another know-it-all.

Hope the weather is nice up there on your pedestal.

[TwilightZone]

23. No, it was not critical thinking.

Some of the things she was saying were not in any way logical or indicative of critical thinking.

Example: her constant comments during the early coverage about how Obama hadn't won a "red" '04 state yet so "it's just like '04 so far" when it was obvious to everyone that he was going to win several before the night was out and that '08 was nothing like '04. Everybody knew that before the first vote was cast, except, apparently, for Rachel.

If you think that being a contrarian is the sole qualification for critical thinking, you might want to revisit your beliefs.

[Taverner]

27. Well if you want people to blow smoke all day and say everything's fine

Watch Mr Rogers

As for me, I want critical reality

And I'm sure both you, I, and Rachel are glad that she was proven wrong.

[liberalmuse]

3. I love her, but...

had to turn her off on the 3rd. I understand exactly where her cynicism about the Democratic Party comes from, but I could not listen to it right before the election. I will listen to it now with much appreciation.

[billyoc]

4. Because of her use of the term "Talk me down".

All she has to do is stop.

[LisaM]

6. Not me, I think she's great.

And there is still a lot - A LOT - of work to be done.

She may also have been dispirited by the Prop. 8 thing. I fail to understand how someone could vote for Obama but vote yes on Prop. 8. Is the voter progressive or not?

[Taverner]

7. I don't get it either

And I want to do everything to keep that piece of shit from getting ratified

Strangely, we might have an ally in Ahhhnold. He's against it, and supports gay marriage.

[Nydari]

8. I love me some Rachel. She's dorkily cool :)

I like that she examines every angle even if it isnt good news. We have to know the good and the bad to make informed decisions.

[Lucy Goosey]

12. That's my take on her, too. (I like to think of myself as dorkily cool.)

I don't always agree with her, but she is thoughtful and knowledgeable.

Her show is easily the smartest thing on the teevee machine.

[Taverner]

14. And she's a Bay Area Girl does Good!

Castro Valley and Stanford!!

[amdezurik]

9. WTF is up with the Berkeley hate?

channeling Sean or loofa-boy?

[Taverner]

13. I'm from Berkeley. I get to make jokes about the maoists.

Because if you spend any time here, you notice them.

There aren't that many of them. My guess is that there are 4 total, because its always the same 3 at Sather Gate.

But you can't miss them - all out in the chinese military fatigues and wearing the red star caps.

And they honestly believe that we will break into spontaneous revolution.

Let me put it this way, they are the butt of other communists' jokes.

[amdezurik]

24. OK you're forgiven LOL

I just get a bit testy seeing that kind of thing but you got cred :)

[Taverner]

26. I love Berkeley

Anarchy meets Socialism meets Capitalism

[GreenPartyVoter]

10. No complaints from me. I love her!

[Stardust]

11. Barbie Buzzkill. Little hard to appreciate. That's all.

[Peregrine Took]

15. My husband went to the University of Chicago where critical thinking was

taught as a way to analyze situations for possible flaws.

He drives me crazy as he can't stop doing it -as soon as something new comes up he starts poking around trying to find out what is wrong or COULD go wrong with it. Other than that - he's a "keeper."

[Taverner]

17. Europeans are that way. Most people of the world are that way.

It's only us in America, who don't want to hear bad news that aren't.

[geekgrrl]

16. I'm BEYOND sick of the hating on Rachel here. Here analysis and critical thinking

has been CRUCIAL for this election.

I'm sorry if everyone else just wants cheerleaders, but I for one think we need critical discourse!

[smuvop]

19. She's been Debbie Downer since the Democratic Primaries.

Hilary was gonna fight all the way to the convention!

The Dem's will be divided.

Why is he competing in Indiana and Virgina and not concentrating on just Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania.

As Obama said last week on her show " I think we're doing something right, We're Winning"

[geekgrrl]

22. "Debbie Downer???" Give me a break. It is SMART to imagine and prepare for what could happen

It is about asking questions and imagining scenarios:

What if Hilary had taken the fight to the convention? What would be the ramifications of that?

What if the Dems don't pull together? What does that mean for the outcome of the election?

Is it smart to fight for states like Indiana and Virginia? Just b/c she questions that doesn't mean she says it will fail.

And your quote from the interview is out of context. She was asking Obama some great questions, and pressing him about scenarios where he could loose. And he was joking back to her. It was one of the few moments where he even said something like that. It was in response to her question, not b/c she was being a downer.

I just don't see the VALUE in saying she is negative/a downer etc. There is value in critical thinking and imagining how things could go wrong.

[Captain Hilts]

20. I'm a New Dealer, and I'm regularly called a Freeper because I introduce other views...

FDR & ER: Mookie's NO Freeper!

[Political Tiger]

29. Hear, Hear!

Rachael is one smart cookie!

[frazzled]

21. I left graduate school because all I could do was "critical thinking"

I was working on my Ph.D. in theoretical linguistics, and I was the ace in my department. I could pick apart the flaws in any new theoretical framework and effectively destroy the latest hot journal article. But I knew in my heart of hearts that that was ALL I could do, and that that was not a very constructive or promising (or fulfilling) academic approach. What I couldn't do was the creative work of theory building myself, and even if I did have that ability to go out on a limb with a new idea, I feared some other crack graduate student would be able to pick my analysis apart.

So I left. Rachel needs to stop thinking so criticially. Honest. It's good for the soul. Criticizing others is not, ultimately, fulfilling.

[book_worm]

28. I love her but glad that the belief she has held since the primaries that John McCain would win

was proven wrong. What upset me last night was when every key red state like IN, OH, NC, VA, etc early on was still too close to call or too early she kept saying, "Obama hasn't switched a red state" right after the big PA win was announced (the blue state that McCain was supposed to switch). It was clear that it was just a matter of time before Obama would take a key red state.