Lefsetz: MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, Queen of Cable

She’s the left wing explainer in chief…

I’ve become addicted to the news. Not just the papers which arrive every day, whose apps I’m constantly checking on my phone, but TV, which I mostly catch via satellite on Sirius XM.

That’s right, there’s everything from FoxCNN and MSNBC to Bloomberg, NPR and the BBC. I want to know what’s going on.

And so does everybody else.

As George Drakoulias famously said, he used to fight over bands, now we all fight over politics.

I did not see this coming.

The long national primary season, which seemed to start immediately after President Obama’s last electoral victory, resulted in two candidates who fought hard with Donald Trump emerging victorious and now seemingly no one is happy.

And it’s hard to say it doesn’t matter.

Want an abortion? Want corporations out of politics? Then Gorsuch in the Supreme Court will keep you awake at night.

Want to get rid of Obamacare? Want to get rid of the welfare state? Well, that turns out to be much harder to do. Turns out talk is cheap and that wall ain’t gonna be erected anytime soon.

So what we’ve got is a lot of people yelling.

On TV and in person. Figuring if they just shout loud enough, they’ll win. Not realizing no one who disagrees with them is tuning in anyway.

Then we’ve got Rachel Maddow who takes a different tack.

Yes, yes, she was excoriated over her tedious buildup to the Trump tax return reveal. However the truth is the media builds you up and then destroys you and if you believe it all you’ve got enough whiplash to end up in physical therapy.

And it’s weird playing the home game. With a President who constantly contradicts himself. Not only in statement, but policy.

But the whole world is watching.

America used to be the leader.

Now we’re not quite a pawn in their game, but other countries are suddenly no longer taking us that seriously. Their quality of life is better, as is upward mobility. We’ve taken ourselves down a wrong path just like MTV with its endless reality shows, to the point where the channel died.

They tell us the left wing is caught up in gender politics, too busy being a safe big tent.

But then we end up listening to an educated lesbian who did not train for the job, who holds us like putty in her hand, all the while imploring us to think for ourselves.

Everybody’s running for something in America.

President, king of the internet – come on – what do you think all of those followers and likes are all about. But Maddow doesn’t seem to be running for anything.

Unlike her compatriot Brian Williams who should be banished for his bluster, just because you look good that does not mean you’re entitled to read the news.

However the point here is America wants to learn.

We keep hearing how stupid we are, set in our own ways. But every day Rachel Maddow respects us and tells us about that which we do not know but should.

So when we go to cocktail parties (does anybody really do that anymore?), we can talk educatedly. Is that even a word? Doesn’t matter.

The point is politics is bringing us together. It’s the only thing we all pay attention to and can weigh in on.

Not music, not movies, not TV – we’re all listening to and watching something different. Isn’t it interesting how everybody is suddenly concerned with society and its well-being?

Which is why the artists are out of touch. Batting us over the head to pay attention, their wares are no different from the latest offering from Ronco, which just filed to go public (need a Pocket Fisherman?)

If you want to make it today you’ve got to treat your opponent, your customer, as an equal.

Yes, it’s respect, but it’s more than that.

The customer is not always right, but you should try to engage them on a level playing field, without subterfuge, unlike Wells Fargo.

Because if money’s the only thing you care about it’s gonna backfire on you, like United.

Yes, we love some brands, but we hate most corporations.

And we hate so many of the talking heads on TV.

Bill O’Reilly goes for the jugular – he’s holier-than-thou. If you’re a believer, fine, if you’re not, egads! And that’s even before all the sexual harassment. Bill thinks he’s better than you, and then they point to his old writings and his present contradictions and all you can have is contempt for this blowhard.

Or the bimbos on Fox and the other channels – especially on the morning shows, laughing up a storm as if we’re all buddies, having a fine time.

BUT WE’RE NOT!

The downtrodden white males switched parties and voted for Trump and the educated elites have been freaking out ever since. And who is gonna take both of us seriously?

Everybody wants to know more, and although cable TV and the internet anesthetize, they also educate. We live in an information society and we all want more.

And in a world where there is no tech help – no one you can rely on, ask for an interpretation – in walks Rachel Maddow.

She’s not like Lawrence O’Donnell, constantly playing GOTCHA!

She’s not strident.

She’s just laying it all out for us to make our own judgments, come to our own conclusions. Her program is addictive.

If you ran into her on the street you wouldn’t ask for an autograph or a selfie, but posit a question about the legislative agenda, hoping to engender a conversation.

And she’s not dour, she can laugh.

And if she came to your house you could get into it over a few drinks and still remain friends, even if you were a right winger.

But the longer you listen to her, the more she makes sense, she’s convincing people.

She’s even been beating O’Reilly in the ratings.

Because it’s a long hard race and when there’s endless noise we’re looking for a safe haven where we can quietly engage.

This is a big deal, akin to Colbert beating Fallon.

Everything you know is wrong. People are not dumb, they’re smart. They want more, they want to engage. Ignore those trying to work the refs and pay attention to those trying to explain.

Listen to your neighbor, and when he or she gets on their high horse and tells you how it is…

Ignore them.

Then maybe after being ostracized they’ll calm down and engage.

That’s what’s gonna bring our nation together, heal us as a people, engagement.

And we’re getting none of this from D.C. and we’re getting none of this from the entertainers.

But we’re getting a ton of it from Rachel Maddow.

http://www.mb-kc.com/
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7 Responses to Lefsetz: MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, Queen of Cable

  1. Guy Who Says What Others Think says:

    LOLOLOLOLOL! Rachel Madcow. Please. She’s about as far left as it gets, her and the whole shameless MSNBC crew. She practically wept when Hillary lost. She’s the female version of Rush Limbaugh on tv.

  2. chuck says:

    In Rachel Maddow’s well appointed, upper Manhattan apartment, the phone rings. Rachel has a firm grip on Steven Colbert’s right ear as she drags him towards her new I Phone 7. That ear is just made for gripping and Steve likes it when Rachel gets a handful and screams at him to “Wax On! Wax Off!”

    RACHEL MADDOW: *picking up it’s phone* “Hello.”

    BOB LEFTSETZ: “Rachel, it’s Bob, did you see kcconfidential today?”

    RACHEL MADDOW: “Yes Bobby, you have elevated sychophancy to the level of Christian virtue under the not so subtle pretense of journalistic objectivity.”

    BOB LEFTSETZ: “Glen Thrush remains an inspiration to us all. I am going to send you another puff piece for approval if it is okay. I think your program tonight was brilliant. The Putin tax angle is on fire!”

    RACHEL MADDOW: “I have my very best people working on getting Putin’s tax returns. He is just as bad as Trump. No one has EVER seen ANY tax returns from Putin. The Russian angle is the gift that just keeps on giving!”

    BOB LEFTSETZ: “Daggers!!!! Wow. You are truly in top form since O’Reilly’s take down. International investigative journalism at it’s best! The ghosts of Fidel and Che smile down from a statist proletariat paradise where the deductibles for Obama Care are under 10K.”

    RACHEL MADDOW: “Heady stuff Bobby, heady stuff.”

    BOB LEFTSETZ: “You should branch out and take advantage of your new popularity! Maybe Hollywood?”

    RACHEL MADDOW: “I am already working on it. I told my agent, that there just had to be a sequel to “Straight Outta Compton” and I am perfect for the lead. Anything is possible. Ya know, some day, I wanna see Maury Povich look up from the Manila Envelope and scream, RACHEL!! YOU ARE THE FATHER!!” Hollywood, here I come! I am already growing out my sideburns. Do you like sideburns?”

    BOB LEFTSETZ: “Yes. I really picture you with a soul patch and a neck beard too.”

    RACHEL MADDOW: “HEAR MR ROAR BOBBY!!!! Hey, I was watching FOX yesterday and saw that the president went to Strap On Tools.”

    BOB LEFTSETZ: “Well…, actually it was ‘Snap On’ tools.

    RACHEL MADDOW: “Hmmm… Hey Bobby, I gotta go back to work on Colbert, he needs the inspiration for tonight’s monologue.”

    BOB LEFTSETZ: “Has he got that French Maid thing on?”

    RACHEL MADDOW: “Inspiration comes in many forms Bobby. Gotta go.” *Click*

  3. Guy Who Says What Others Think says:

    FoxNews definitely is on the right side of the aisle. MSNBC and everyone on it is on the left side. To pretend otherwise is just deluding yourself.

  4. Bad Hombre says:

    You raise a great point in Maddow and Colbert leading their competition in the ratings game.

    Seems the winning formula is to oppose the man/woman in the white house. It worked for right leaning programs the prior eight years…as it is working for left leaning programs now.

    Would Bill-O have been cut loose by Fox if Hillary had won the election? Probably not, as his popularity would have sky rocketed.

    Remember, the only universal God is money.

    🗣

  5. Stomper says:

    Both sides of the aisle are home to hypocrites.

    Maddow and MSNBC are criticized as being extreme and biased yet those criticizing insist with a straight face that FOX and O’Reilly/Hannity are fair and balanced.

    Hillary was trashed for “pay to play” and supposedly enriching the Clinton Foundation yet the sound of crickets when Trump raises it to an art form.

    Obama was excoriated for vacations and playing golf yet Trump sets the bar at ridiculous new heights.

    Clooney, Streisand, Springsteen are criticized as celebrity elites whose opinions are worthless yet, Clint Eastwood, Ted Nugent, and Kid Rock suddenly speak as the common man.

    Soros is targeted for money corrupting the system while Adelson and the Koch’s get a pass.

    Clinton, Weiner, et al seem to be proof that “statistically most of the prominent sex scandals have involved liberals and democrats” while Gingrich, Cain, Larry Craig, et al are conveniently overlooked.

    Both sides play the same game. Spare us the “holier than thou” crap.

  6. Kerouac says:

    Kerouac will allow Maddow this: she doesn’t dress like a tart – which means one can watch her without being distracted by a hemline or neckline. That her mien suggests she has as much between her ears the smiley face symbol 1960’s however, folks may long for the good old days of her MSNBC counterpart lyin’ Brian, rather than having suffer her terminally errant swill.

    “every day Rachel Maddow respects us and tells us about that which we do not know but should.”

    – this affirms what happens when you watch too much liberal tv:

    youtube.com/watch?v=Ut0TaegQ-kw

    And her reaction aft reality interjected:

    youtube.com/watch?v=29_U-oomP9E

    “The point is politics is bringing us together.”

    – obuma supposedly did that for ‘us’ too… by George, I thought Carlin was dead.

    This second ‘War & Peace’ length KCC missive Lefsetz affirms how ‘UN’ together we are – no surprise, any more than it was the last eight years, blackest of dark days US history. Desperate be the liberal left(setz), epitomized especially main stream media their unrelenting pleas, which a prescient Bill Shakespeare foresaw, collective them:

    “It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

    Upshot: we were ‘NOT’ together the last eight years and ‘WILL NOT’ be together these next four Trump, as the likely four more his thereaft, my opine. Pull up a sofa and grab a sandwich & cold drink… we’ll leave the lights on for you, libs. You had YOUR chance – now it’s OUR turn.

    🙂

  7. Gassedup says:

    Waiting for her fashion line to launch.

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