Creatures crawl in search of blood, to terrorize y’alls neighborhood:
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
This was Rachel’s finest segment to date, I think.
Hilzoy, also.
by John Cole| 70 Comments
This post is in: Media, War on Terror aka GSAVE®
Creatures crawl in search of blood, to terrorize y’alls neighborhood:
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
This was Rachel’s finest segment to date, I think.
Hilzoy, also.
Comments are closed.
[…] And, while we’re discussing both politics and fear, via John Cole comes this great Rachel Maddow segment that I otherwise would have missed (I DVR her, but I […]
Awesom0
Let’s also extend the love to Hilzoy over at Obsidian Wings. She’s put together a nice little video as well:
http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2009/05/dueling-videos.html
Beej
Beautiful! GOPer stupidity laid bare. I love it.
DecidedFenceSitter
Awesom0 don’t know if you watched the clip – but Hilzoy’s clip was featured on the show.
Notorious P.A.T.
They want to bring bin Laden’s messenger into America? ! ? ! ? NOOOOOOOO! I don’t want any al-Qaeda messages forced upon me!
Alan
I liked when “O Fortuna” was used in the movie Excalibur. It was uplifting. The Hannitization of it has really ruined it for me.
Awesom0
@DecidedFenceSitter
Clearly I didn’t watch it all, so I reckon a big ole “D’oh” is in order.
Since I’m the first commentor, my laziness is laid bare for all to see!
Dennis-SGMM
Cris
@Alan: Thanks for beating me to it, Alan. Excalibur was my first exposure to this great music, and perhaps as a result it carries no menace at all for me. I find the mood of the piece ranges from brooding to triumphant, but never approaches “scary.”
Max
Since this is kind of a video thread… introducing “Obamtourage”. So funny. Hail to the motherf$ckin’ chief.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzrB-My6M8I
Will
All I could think about was the opening to the Jackass movie.
NutellaonToast
Frankly, I don’t get Maddow’s appeal. Her message is fine, but does it really take 6 minutes and several parody videos to point out how retarded that video is? And her fucking hammy mugging and smirking and guffawing at her own jokes. Her delivery is just shit.
I’m pretty sure I could put on a better liberal show than that. She seems more like some woman you meet and find interesting than the kind of person you put on prime time.
TR
Outstanding.
jrg
The dimwitted Republican Senators that released the initial video got completely owned in the youtube comments section. I’m guessing next time they will disable comments on their videos.
What a bunch of bed-wetting p*ssys these people are.
Ugh
I’ve been saying this for years. The acts of the Bush/Cheney administration, from toture to secret prisons to domestic spying, etc. etc. etc. aren’t the acts of “tough guys,” but of cowards.
sgwhiteinfla
Just FYI the House Republicans have now upped the ante
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rj6COrcGhA
They said fuck it and went all in with images of the Twin Towers on 9-11 to start the video off.
Jon H
“They said fuck it and went all in with images of the Twin Towers on 9-11 to start the video off.”
Well, you know, we wouldn’t want KSM to hijack the controls of a Supermax prison and fly it into a tall building.
JK
@NutellaonToast:
You should be reading http://www.dailyhowler.com. Bob Somerby is creating a master file of every instance of Rachel’s mugging.
I’m ambivalent about her. I agree with you about her mugging, but her content is strong enough that I continue to watch her show.
You should try to find the video of her interview with David Frum. He scolded Maddow for her flippancy and jocularity and she was momentarily dazed and caught off guard by his criticism.
Bottom Line – Even the best programming that cable news has to offer is still Infotainment with an emphasis on tainment.
If you want a liberal or progressive viewpoint without sarcasm or mugging go to
http://lauraflanders.firedoglake.com, http://www.democracynow.org , and http://www.fsrn.org
Balconesfault
@NutellaonToast:
Yeah … good luck with that.
Alan
@Cris: I overstated how the Hannitization has ruined it for me. I still like it. “Brooding to triumphant” perfectly describes its emotional appeal. It is great music.
Balconesfault
@JK:
If you want a liberal or progressive viewpoint without sarcasm or mugging … wtf are you doing reading Balloon Juice?
jonas
Did we learn NOTHING from Con-Air, people?
yam
A segment carved from solid Awesome…
Good job, Rachel.
smiley
@Max: Muthafuckin’ brilliant.
Xecklothxayyquou Gilchrist
@Alan: I liked when “O Fortuna” was used in the movie Excalibur. It was uplifting. The Hannitization of it has really ruined it for me.
I was never a big fan of O Fortuna, but even so I have a lot of respect for it and hate that it’s been roped into service for the wingnuts. Though the practice of backing up video with scary music on “news” programs has been around for years, and I’ve always thought it was idiotic. Early examples always had sort of echoey synthesizer music, thrumming bass and echoing drum, that sounded a bit like “DOOMdoomdoomdommCHAKchakchakchak…” so I refer to that scary-music-reenactment crap as “doomchak”.
I hope doomchak gets parodized out of existence. It’s just raw crude manipulation, unworthy of any enterprise that calls itself “news”.
JK
@Balconesfault:
My recommendations were meant more as a supplement as opposed to a flat out replacement.
I think a healthy balance between snark and sobriety is the best of all possible worlds.
LD50
I had never noticed before (admittedly, I wasn’t really paying attention) just how severely her routine (the mugging, etc.) is taken straight from Jon Stewart. But Maddow takes it to much more of an extreme.
shecky
Perhaps they should be exiled to Monster Island, where we keep Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra.
LD50
Well, that’s it. Their next video will have shots of Hitler and Auschwitz, then there’s nowhere for them to go.
arguingwithsignposts
@Balconesfault:
FTW!
Still, I’d like to see Amy Goodman pop up on some of these shows occasionally. Maybe they could clear out Pat Buchanan’s insane racist rantings to make room.
smiley
@sgwhiteinfla: That video is nothing but scare. Apparently that’s all they have.
Xenos
Love, love, love Rachel Maddow. I will be driving by her house this evening, and if it were not all creepy and stalkery for me to do so, I would stop and tell her this is the best yet.
She probably would not be there anyway. And my wife, and her wife, would disapprove of my devotion in any case.
Comrade Kevin
@JK: Except that Frum was 100% full of shit. So is Somerby, he’s a complete wanker. He has started to resort to making things up just so he can keep on complaining about her.
GregB
Can we officially change 9/11 of Republican Mardi Gras? Or GOP Party Day? Or Terrorist Christmas or something that conveys the true joy that most on the political right felt at the deaths of large numbers of New Yorkers which in turn gave them carte blanche to don their cod-pieces and pretend to be superheroes coming to save the day.
-G
arguingwithsignposts
And, FWIW, Maddow does the sarcasm thing, but she also hits with big questions. Her interviews with Powell, Blago and Pelosi were straight journalism at its best – cordial, yet tough. And she didn’t lay off when the public figures brushed it aside.
IMHO, she’s a pretty good anchor/pundit – both snarky and tough when she needs to be and, most importantly, she KNOWS HER SHIT, unlike Chris Matthews or Joe Scarborough, who just seems to mouth “when Reagan was in office…” every so often so he seems like he knows what he’s talking about.
GregB
Can we officially change 9/11 TO THE NAME……
LV-426
I gotta ask JC, are you and Dougj trying to sing the collapse of the republican party? Almost every thread title is a song.
Balconesfault
@arguingwithsignposts:
YES.
I’ve been listening to Rachael for years on Air America, and after the Young Turks left, she’s been my main reason for paying for the podcasts. She does some of the best interviews out there right now. A few goofy facial expressions are not going to put me off when she constantly challenges both Dems and Republicans – whoever will show up – with a level of journalism that is a couple quantum levels above what just about anyone else out there produces on a consistent basis.
sgwhiteinfla
Maddow’s show isn’t supposed to be straight news. Its SUPPOSED to be funny at times. But Bob Somersby can kiss my fat ass. Id take watching Maddow over reading his bullshit any day. It wasn’t always that way but he has lost is frikkin mind since the innauguration. You know the gay soldier who is now being kicked out of the military because he annouced his sexual orientation on national Tee Vee? You know whose show he did that on? Rachel Maddow’s and she had him back on last night.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#30632035
You know whose show everyone is referencing today when they talk about Nancy Pelosi saying she wasn’t briefed on waterboarding? Rachel Maddow’s
Who was the first to call out the “centrist” Democrats who are threatening to derail President Obama’s agenda and label them ConservaDems? Rachel Maddow.
Damn I get tired of people throwing arrows at their own team. Fuck it if you THINK you can do a better show then have at it hoss. Let us all know when you get that fat contract from MSNBC.
Cris
@shecky: Perhaps we should turn Manhattan into a walled, maximum security prison. The bridges could be mined, the rivers patrolled, and the United States Police Force would have everything under control.
demimondian
@LD50: You know, that’s exactly what struck me, too — how many of her mannerisms come straight from Stewart’s on-screen persona.
That was still one Hell of a solid response.
sparky
@Cris: been there, done that.
Charity
@demimondian: I think the expressiveness comes from radio. I was only on in college, but I still gestured and raised eyebrows and furrowed brows to punctuate what I was saying. It just doesn’t sound right if you do it totally straightfaced. If I try holding my hands still when I talk, I sound like a gibbering idiot.
(Or of course, more like one than I already do. *rimshot*)
r€nato
Every single day, the GOP proves Michael Moore was fucking right. Fear is used endlessly in this country to manipulate people, by politicians and by advertisers. I wonder what kind of country we would have if instead of endlessly using fear, the GOP tried to sell us a constructive vision of the future for America.
TR
@sgwhiteinfla:
Yeah, what he said.
John S.
Edited for wingnutiness.
sparky
@r€nato: they did, once. i don’t think they could exhume Ronnie without a court order, now. too bad W didn’t issue an executive order on it before he vacated.
edit: i mean a Potemkin construct, but still it was a construct. to riff on the Blazing Saddles idea above, it was like a town with no people. and prolly a RR toll road.
@Charity: yeah, i think you are right. also, rustling papers like Stewart does is good, too. Colbert is really impressive that way–doesn’t need no stinking papers!
Tsulagi
Okay, that Pub scary vid is a crackup. Love the music. Here’s another one RedState linked to. Same great music selection, but with just a little 9/11 pimping and a bit of gratuitous gun porn thrown in. But where are the wolves? Why didn’t they add those guys too?
What is it about brown guys who go assup five times a day that prompts these brave RSSF warrior types to shit their pants? Clearly they think the Zubaydahs and KSMs are superhuman and scary, but get a grip. You’re Americans, goddamnit!
Speaking of which, didn’t Bobby Jindal say, and keep repeating over and over, “Americans can do anything!” Was there an asterisk that said anything except keep swarthy types locked up?
Punchy
Who cares if KSM is in my neighborhood? He aint getting a DL, certainly cant fly nowheres, and had better learn to peddle his fat ass around if he plans to terrorize anyone. Nobody would sell him chemicals or timers, he’d be lucky to purchase 2 grams of garden fertilizer, and his Brown Guyz Poker Games would have more FBI and NSA wires than John Gotti meeting with OBL and Kim Jong Il.
In other words, the guy could be spat on, teased, verbally abused, and never get laid again. I have no prob at all with that punishment.
sparky
@Tsulagi: 9/11 is special. like the South, it will rise again. and again…
which will last longer: GOP milking 9/11 or Southerners milking the Lost Cause?
discuss.
freelancer
I said it yesterday and it seems to be at the forefront of discussion today.
TBogg:
Chest. Thumping. Bed. Wetters.
EDIT: FUWP
Joshua Norton
The music wasn’t scary until they showed Darth Cheney. Then I wanted my Mommy!
wvng
Yep, what sgw said. I always come away from the Maddow show more informed than I started. And no guest is ever allowed to spout stoopid without a response. And her show is becoming the go-to place on cable for serious people to get serious information presented without any need for “balance.”
harlana pepper
1) We successfully incarcerated, tried and executed terrorist Timothy McVeigh, all without incident, if I recall
jibeaux
I guess “O Fortuna” is the music, and isn’t it played for like every single trailer for every wannabe blockbuster? I can picture it with natural disaster movies, Angels and Demons…
Joshua Norton
KSM really needs to shave his shoulders. I mean really.
harlana pepper
CNN Headline now: LAYOFFS CAN MAKE YOU SICK
harlana pepper
you really had to have listened to her radio show (not sure if she’s still doing it now, but she was) to appreciate Maddow fully – she was much more low key than this, as for her smarts, that’s evident on the show regardless of mugging (which I’ve never really seen her do Stewart b4), perhaps producers are influencing her which was not the case in the beginning, don’t really know b/c i don’t do the tweety/olbermann thing anymore
JK
@Comrade Kevin:
@sgwhiteinfla:
Somerby is a shut-in. I only mention him because I consider him the poster boy for liberals who don’t like Maddow or Olbermann. I think liberal viewers who don’t like their shows are entitled to know of a website that caters to their opinion. I think the argument over Maddow and Olbermann among progressives will never end.
Both of them annoy me at at times, with their mugging.
On balance however, I think both of them are more of an asset than a liability.
Someby is far too one-sided in his critique for my taste. He rarely, if ever, gives Maddow and Olbermann any credit when they desrve it.
I sent Somerby an email several weeks ago asking him if he’d consider posting 1 positive comment for every 6 negative comments he posts and I’ve never heard back from him.
@arguingwithsignposts:
Amy Goodman has been on Hardball a few times, but not recently. Whenever Goodman was on Hardball, she was always paired with a conservative. This illustrates the hypocrisy and phonyness of Matthews because he’s had Ann Coulter on several times but she was the only guest during her segment.
Katrina van den Heuvel has also been on Hardball but always paired with a conservative and never as a solo guest.
Laura Flanders has been on the Lou Dobbs show but only as part of a panel and never as a solo guest.
Air America has some good programming, but Pacifica Radio http://www.pacifica.org has been around longer and I think they do a better job overall.
Blue Raven
I stopped taking “O Fortuna” seriously once I found out it was a drinking song. I’m supposed to feel fear when I’m hearing something people used to belt out after one too many?
Sarcastro
Nothing makes me tremble with dread quite like a song about drunken monks in love.
John Cole
@JK: I would bet he can’t have Goodman on alone not because of a need for “balance,” but because Amy Goodman knows things, and as such, is dangerous. You can have Ann Coulter on by herself just spouting superficial nonsense, and the discussion will never get into “dangerous” territory outside of the conventional wisdom, and that will make Matthews very uncomfortable. Goodman, on the other hand, will say things like “That simply isn’t true, Chris” and then prove that whatever the conventional wisdom/talking point of the day is simply wrong.
When someone smart like Goodman is on, the conversation is dangerous for someone superficial like Matthews. He is much more comfortable with guests like Coulter and others, because the conversations function much more like the canned “two ways” in which a comedian comes on at the end of the Ed show or Olbermann and they lightly banter and the comedian says clever things that you are supposed to believe they came up with on the spot, but are actually prepared.
Indylib
@NutellaonToast:
Everybody has different tastes. I like her mugging and antics and sarcasm. She only pulls the goofy shit when she’s mocking the wingnuts, which I like. She can be and is often very serious when it’s necessary.
To each his own.
edit I fucking loved it when she crawled under the desk at the end of the segment.
JK
@John Cole:
I’ve heard several interviews with Jeff Cohen author of Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media giving a behind the curtain perspective on cable news programming.
Cohen was senior producer of MSNBC’s Phil Donahue show and he said it was the rule at the network that liberals could not be booked as guests unless they were balanced out by conservative guests.
Rosali
I don’t like Kent Jones, the pop culture guy on Rachel Maddow’s show. His jokes are forced and he just doesn’t seem very cool.
Ash Can
@Blue Raven:
The parts of Carmina Burana that aren’t about drinking are about sex. Except for one song apiece about food and gambling. What’s not to love?
JK
@Rosali:
Kent Jones adds nothing of value to Rachel’s show and is completely unnecessary. I would prefer that Jones be dropped from the show and that the first two segments of the show be given Jones’ minutes.
asiangrrlMN
@Comrade Kevin: Yeah, that. Frum was just blowing hot air, and I actually thought Rachel shut him down. Funny how perception is everything.
@sgwhiteinfla: Yeah, that, too.
@arguingwithsignposts: Mostly, this. Rachel has done some of the best in-depth interviews since the election. She grilled President Obama with tenacity (maybe that was before he got elected); she held Powell’s feet to the fire, and same with Pelosi. I don’t particularly care for the exaggerated facial expressions, but they don’t excessively bother me, either.
She knows her shit; she is pretty damn courteous to her guests; she’s hot.
It’s easy to quarterback from the couch, but it’s not that easy doing her job. I can agree that Kent Jones doesn’t need to be there, however.
Brachiator
@jrg:
They are still not ready for the age of the InterTubes. They are used to operating in the right wing echo chamber, where Rush or Hannity says something stupid and the choir echoes “Yes! Yes!”
But since they can’t sreen or fake YouTube comments, their full idiocy is displayed and flayed.
gil mann
Y’know, nobody does, including me, and the thing is, he was hysterical on the radio. He was great with Maddow, and he did stuff every single day on Morning Sedition (RIP) that was nothing short of brilliant. Kinda high-concept, though, so maybe that’s why he’s drowning as a Musto type.
I still love seeing him there just because the last AAR behind-the-scenes drama I gave a shit about was when he got canned (it was always her 98% her show but you really felt his sidekickiness), and it speaks fucking volumes about that broad that she fought to get him worked into her TV contract.
I’ll buy that when it comes to Olbermann, but no, Rachel’s up there with TDS, Colbert, James Cameron’s pre-“Titanic” output, and late-eighties Public Enemy in the realm of “if you don’t like this stuff, there’s something wrong with the way you process stimuli.”