Rachel Maddow, Host Apparent: Analyst "At The Top" Of "Very Short List" For Next MSNBC Opening

New York Times:

For clues about who might be next to get a show on MSNBC, viewers need not have looked further than "Countdown" earlier this month. For eight nights beginning just before the Fourth of July, Rachel Maddow, the host of a program on Air America, the liberal talk-radio network, served as a substitute for the vacationing Keith Olbermann.

"At some point, I don't know when, she should have a show," said Phil Griffin, hours before he was promoted on Wednesday to president of MSNBC. "She's on the short list. It's a very short list. She's at the top."

At the moment every slot at night on MSNBC is taken, with David Gregory at 6 handing off to Chris Matthews at 7, and with Dan Abrams at 9 following Mr. Olbermann at 8. But some shuffling could be in the offing; Mr. Matthews's contract, for example, is up next year.

For her part, Ms. Maddow, who has been a ubiquitous presence as a political analyst on MSNBC this campaign season, said she is ready whenever the call should come. To hasten that process, she recently hired Mr. Olbermann's agent, Jean Sage.

"They know I would love to do it," Ms. Maddow, 35, said over a recent lunch below 30 Rockefeller Plaza. "I'm going to let them decide what they want to do about me. I'm saying yes every time they ask me to be on television."

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[gladys46]

Great! Rachel is so savvy, politically as well as very well rounded! She rocks! I most enjoy her when she rocks Morning Joe's world!! Ha ... he can't manage Rachel!

You go Rachel!!

[BetterDays]

I would love to see Rachel get her own show but also replace Mika on Morning Joe. On a personal basis, Mika is fine but she plays the role of giggling, flirtatious female too well. Rachel would lay out Joe. He doesn't like bright women who don't bat their eyelashes at him. Joe left the set of one of the shows when Rachael challenged one of his premises. It was hilarious. Instead of flirtation, we would get real discussions and dialogue on Morning Joe.

[JeanPaulSatire]

She's fantastic!

I only wish MSNBC would let her be a bit more of her REAL self rather than a "new and improved" Rachel Maddow complete with lots of glamor make-up to make her look girly-girl (as opposed to TV make-up so she doesn't look like a pale corpse under the intense studio lights).

[JLee]

I know! The eyeshadow and skirt suit just aren't quite her. What's next? Ask her to grow her hair out?

[Clarabell]

I don't watch Keith's show that much any more, but from the glimses I got I thought the first day or so she was trying to act silly like him, and I didn't think it worked that well, but later on in the week when she started being herself, the show improved immensely and she had much more serious topics and much less silliness.

I saw Keith this week when he returned and suddenly he seemed "off" to me. I didn't think he was really into it or enjoying it, or maybe it was just the contrast to how good Rachel was.

[DiogenesII]

The addition of Rachel to the MSNBC would be undeniably "Brilliant". Her immensely strong intellect and insightful analysis is a most refreshing departure from the gaggle of today's feckless media gestalt. Her most appealing attribute is her integrity. She has demonstrated a fidelity to the facts and does not seek prescriptive formulations to feed or support a given ideology.

A fresh face with a refreshingly candored, inquisitive mind, with a perspective, unadulterated by/from the arrant echo chamber of the corporate media mistrals.

[NotMcCain]

My guess? That Gregory gets MTP and Rachel takes his spot.

She's excellent.

[realitybase]

She'd be better at MTP than Gregory.

[DiogenesII]

Agreed....Gregory does not have the gravitas or the cojones to vigorously probe for
the truth.

[HerbTee]

Rachel Maddow's in the house!! She is outstanding and I loved watching her during KO's absence. I do hope she'll have her own MSNBC news show soon. I'd love to see her replace spittle-mouthed Chris Matthews, who keeps interrupting or cutting off his guests without letting them talk or finishing a thought. I find him extremely annoying and I watch his show less because of it. At least MSNBC should put Chris on only once per evening instead of twice and give that extra time slot to Rachel. Or, I would love to see Rachel replace that spaced-out, wild-eyed looking guy Dan Abrams who annoyed me to no end with his nightly cramming of "Hillary as VP" diatribe down our throats!

Rachel is very lovely, very intelligent, focused, witty and charming. One final thought: Rachel Maddow for WH Press Secretary in an Obama Administration!! :-)

[jmaster]

Rachel Maddow has earned the big time and she's ready. Having her step in and Scarborough and Mika Brznznznnski (whatever - no knock on Polish Americans, but spell your names in English for crying out loud) step out would be paradise for us viewers. As long as she didn't waste her time sleeping - so we could still catch her in the evening as well.

But as for Randi Rhodes -- God love her, and I do too, but she lets her passion take her where she shouldn't go. It's embarrassing. And unprofessional.

[keram]

I am mesmerized every time she appears on screen; such a combination of beauty and brains on television is rare indeed. So refreshing!

[DesertLight]

I'll cede the point on the brains part one of the few Li-bs I give any credence too. Her points are well reasoned.

[JLee]

Cede the point on beauty too while you're at it. She's hot and you know it! ;)

[Zentomato]

How is it that a completely non-abusive, innocuous comment gets vanished by the censors here? This happens more often than not anymore.

[DesertLight]

Which is why I try to limit my lines to 4 or less and even then some times I copy my own comments in the even I may have to cut and paste them later (after they get lost that is).

[Clarabell]

I know, it makes you feel that if you put some thought into a post, your efforts might well be just wasted.

[Clarabell]

My first impulse was to respond -- but then it clicked (futile) just ignore.

[Clarabell]

sorry, this comment was meant for someone else. It seems this site can't tolerate more than one comment in a single viewing.

[Roose]

Pay her Katie Couric's $15 million and just give her the job, Rachel shows empathy and sincerity, unlike Ms. Couric.

[dentuso]

I believe she'll take Gregory's slot, and I believe it will be more of a sit-down panel show, personally.

That said, I also believe it's going to have a very brief life - as I expect that she'll be O's Press Secretary.

[Marlyn]

“I am not a fan of either candidate.” said Rachael

[editorjuno]

That doesn't mean she won't be offered the job -- but you're right, of all the lefty pundits she was one of very few who didn't take sides until the Dem nominee was decided. That said, I don't think she'd accept a relatively low-paying job in DC -- too much AMTRAK time to/from western Mass. involved and not enough $$ to finance a relocation further south.

[NotMcCain]

I think that will be Linda Douglass.

[ekwhite]

I would love to see Rachel Maddow have her own show. She definitely has the chops - there is no doubt she is the smartest person in the room - it is refreshing to see her argue her points - and win- without resort to ad hominem attacks. She very simply knows her facts.

[Samnite]

Replace Matthew IMMEDIATELY; please.

[DesertLight]

Please no! Matthews is worth the entertainment value alone. I mean how often is it that you can watch a talking head slobber on himself?

[anons]

I like her but I don't think she's ready for her own show...whenever she's in a commanding position, she comes off as Olbermann in a pantsuit.

It's a very personality focused network and she's got a lot of potential but i don't think she's blossomed to a point where she can carve out her own space and hold it....give her more time to cultivate her television presence

[editorjuno]

Her "television presence" is superb imo -- all she needs is a show format that plays to her strengths, something neither "Countdown" nor "Race For The White House" accomplishes. She's certainly ready -- she's just (imo refreshingly) different from the TV pundit norm, the sort of unique personality who (like Olbermann, who she resembles only when she has to operate in *his* format imo) can challenge and thereby transcend the basic cable status quo.

[ohiomark]

......and MSNBC moves further to the left.

Why don't they just hire the entire Air America staff, I hear they are looking for work. If you are going to be the polar opposite of Fox News, then why not just go for it!!

[Candace8383]

works for me