Althouse: Succinct perfection in hypocrisy.

December 7, 2024

Succinct perfection in hypocrisy.

The most overpaid actress ever. pic.twitter.com/2tx3PqdA8c
— MAZE (@mazemoore) December 6, 2024

76 comments:

Mr. D said...: Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them… we’ll, we’ve always been at war with Eastasia.; 12/7/24, 12:23 PM
pious agnostic said...: I remember back in around 2008 when CNN announced that she'd have a show, and people were so enthusiastic. I couldn't understand it, because I didn't have the slightest idea who she was.

I realize I'm not in her bubble, but can someone explain why (in 2008) liberals were so excited? What had she done before that to distinguish herself?; 12/7/24, 12:33 PM
Leland said...: The thing about this is Hunter's pardon isn't because Trump was going to go after him. Hunter was found guilty after being prosecuted by Biden's own DOJ. Biden claims it was weaponized against him, except the only thing that kept Hunter from a plea deal with no prison time, no fines, and assurance of no prosecutions for other crimes he may have committed was a Judge that didn't want to be his probation officer. If the Judge did not ask questions and just went along; Hunter would only have to pay the taxes he owed. No pardon would have been necessary to avoid prosecution for money laundering and FARA violations.

In 2020, Maddow was suggesting Trump might pardon his children because she wanted the DOJ to go after him and his children.; 12/7/24, 12:35 PM
Whiskeybum said...: And that doesn’t even take into account that President Trump never made a public promise that he would not pardon his family members.; 12/7/24, 12:39 PM
narciso said...: because she was on air america, that had no audience,; 12/7/24, 12:42 PM
The Drill SGT said...: found guilty twice. Once in DE and again in CA, by different teams and judges; 12/7/24, 12:50 PM
doctrev said...: Mmhmm. The fact is, "preemptive pardons" are not merely a confession of guilt, but are a fantastic justification for the Trump Administration to simply toss all these criminals in jail for at least four years, without charge. I mean, why not? The Biden crime family wants to say "You can't do a thing to me, Hartigan," but they're practically daring someone to take away their weapons. Both of them.; 12/7/24, 1:10 PM
William said...: You can understand why the MSNBC viewership has fallen off a clip. Even her most ardent fans must watch something like this with discomfort.......I have a suggestion as to how she can regain credibility and perhaps even some more admirers. She should announce that she will use her $25 million dollar salary to hire laid off MSNBC workers. She would start some sort of channel on You Tube and use their skills and discernment to shed light on all the dark spaces in the coming Trump administration. She should further use this as a platform to show how a corporation in America in should be wrong. No one in the corporation should be allowed to make more than 10X the wage of the lowest paid worker in that corporation. I'm sure her colleagues if allowed to work in such a Utopian environment would thrive and flourish. Other corporations would see the success of such a business model and hasten to imitate it. She would be the true savior of not only democracy (such saviors occur with frequent regularity) but of American capitalism.; 12/7/24, 1:13 PM
robother said...: The notion of neutral principles of justice is completely foreign to Rachel Maddow and her core audience. Of course it's different when WE do it. She likely regards the NBC reputation for objectivity as merely a useful tool to gull independents and Republican centrists into compliance. Having burned her way through that goodwill, she will move on to the next gig with no shame.; 12/7/24, 1:15 PM
loudogblog said...: I still can't believe that Maddow gets paid $25 million a year and only does one show a week. But if MSNBC wants to pay her that, more power to them.; 12/7/24, 1:15 PM
Bill, Republic of Texas said...: I'm devastated! Is Althouse really implying that Rachel Maddow is a partisan hack? I'm sure after Maddow sees this she will do a lot of soul searching and be a better commentator after this.; 12/7/24, 1:16 PM
JIM said...: I expect nothing less of her or any left aligned talking head on legacy or cable news outlets. That's the lane they chose voluntarily. They are true believers, and they really think they are the smartest people in the room. They will continue to get paid until advertisers look elsewhere. I think that's why alternative news/podcasts and such or community notes are making a bigger splash now.; 12/7/24, 1:29 PM
donald said...: That creature is so full of shit it’s coming out of it’s ears.; 12/7/24, 1:31 PM
Ampersand said...: The word choice and diction are crisp. They convey the speaker's obvious intelligence and absolute sense of confidence. Elizabeth Prelogar couldn't have done better. What more is there to ask for?; 12/7/24, 1:38 PM
Earnest Prole said...: It’s too bad she plays for the blue team — if she played for the red team she’d make a perfect Althouse commenter.; 12/7/24, 1:40 PM
Jimmy said...: Watching these clips makes me happy I haven't owned a TV for 25+ years. And have never had cable TV, even when I worked for the cable company decades ago.
The clips I've seen of msnbc remind me of functional mentally ill people who are let out for a few hours a day. Actually, not just msnbc, but all the networks.; 12/7/24, 1:45 PM
wsw said...: The boy ain't right.; 12/7/24, 1:46 PM
tommyesq said...: They had to pay her more to get her to agree to less airtime so she wouldn't kill their ratings every night. Unfortunately, they didn't find anything better for the rest of the week.; 12/7/24, 1:53 PM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: What’s the point of holding office if you can’t use it to benefit yourself or your family over others? Isn’t that what democracy is about?; 12/7/24, 1:57 PM
Money Manger said...: Brian Roberts at Comcast needs to show some business continuity as he spins off CNBC and the other dog linear TV assets to a private equity vehicle. Once the new owners take over, she is gone.; 12/7/24, 2:00 PM
Original Mike said...: I'm sure if Chuck were here he would explain how it's not hypocrisy.; 12/7/24, 2:06 PM
MalaiseLongue said...: Psychopath.; 12/7/24, 2:09 PM
Breezy said...: Given the hypocrisy always on display, I don’t think the legacy media are true believers. I think they get paid to say these things and act that way. The advertisers are fine with it if the audience is there. The fact they often all use the same phrases in their scripts is a tell. Its a gig to them, like performative art. No believing, just performing. They rationalize that the money is too good to pass up - if they don’t do it, someone else will, etc etc.; 12/7/24, 2:12 PM
Lilly, a dog said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/7/24, 2:32 PM
Aggie said...: '....regain credibility' One of these words is carrying a lot of water.; 12/7/24, 2:35 PM
Jupiter said...: That $25 million, and quite a bit more besides, comes from sales of advertising. Perhaps Maddow's audience is especially, ah, receptive to inane lies. What do they advertise on her show, anyway? Anyone know?; 12/7/24, 2:36 PM
pious agnostic said...: Air America....that's a name I haven't heard in a long time.

insert Ben Kenobi picture; 12/7/24, 2:37 PM
RCOCEAN II said...: I have no idea why this odd woman, with her weird haircut and goofy facial expressions in on MSNBC. But then, I'm not a leftist.; 12/7/24, 2:43 PM
mccullough said...: I remember when Rachel Maddow was a panelist on Tucker Carlson’s Show on MSNBC about 20 years ago.

Rachel & Tucker have done very well.; 12/7/24, 2:43 PM
Rabel said...: She's horrible, but she's an effective propagandist.

A very smooth liar, a storyteller. She creates a narrative that entices a segment of the population. Her audience may be shrinking but she's still influential.

Watch her a few minutes sometime. You may not believe a word she says but she puts her story together well.; 12/7/24, 2:45 PM
Mason G said...: "i don't"

Lowercase "i"? If you're going to criticize someone else's writing...; 12/7/24, 2:51 PM
James said...: How is it hypocrisy that Mark Cuban disagrees with Rachel Maddow? Oh wait....; 12/7/24, 2:52 PM
Peachy said...: Not enough hatred for that creep. Maddow is a over-paid Soviet a-hole.; 12/7/24, 2:57 PM
Peachy said...: You mean - Maddow is a lying liar who lies.; 12/7/24, 2:59 PM
Peachy said...: No. She's a lying liar who lies. She belongs on the corrupt left.; 12/7/24, 3:00 PM
Shoeless Joe said...: "Even her most ardent fans must watch something like this with discomfort"

The problem is that 98% of leftists are oblivious as to what Maddow's political positions were four years ago. They're also oblivious to what their own positions were either. All that matters is what they're feeling -- or told to feel -- RIGHT NOW. They're absolutely in favor of (fill in the blank) today, but will oppose it with all their might tomorrow, and have no idea they ever held conflicting positions. Hypocrisy is their superpower.; 12/7/24, 3:03 PM
Ice Nine said...: Great demonstration of Skitt's law, Lil. (i/I); 12/7/24, 3:03 PM
Mason G said...: "Great demonstration of Skitt's law, Lil. (i/I)"

As well, there's this:

Commas with Introductory Words
Rule 1 – Use a comma when beginning sentences with introductory words such as well, why, hello, no, yes, etc.

https://www.grammarbook.com/blog/commas/commas-part-10/; 12/7/24, 3:10 PM
Joe Bar said...: Air America. Wasn't that the CIA cover operation used to smuggle drugs in Laos? Good movie, too!; 12/7/24, 3:19 PM
Joe Bar said...: So, now, we don't even get the taxes owed.; 12/7/24, 3:20 PM
Lilly, a dog said...: I accept my scolding from both of you.; 12/7/24, 3:23 PM
Joe Bar said...: Mark Cuban being hypocritical isn't news.; 12/7/24, 3:28 PM
traditionalguy said...: She is an evil woman.; 12/7/24, 3:29 PM
effinayright said...: Whoever came up with the term "cashew face" to describe her is a genius.

(Also aplied to Quentin Tarentino and that crazy misinformation czarina.); 12/7/24, 3:33 PM
Ice Nine said...: "This comment has been removed by the author." LOL. Lame.; 12/7/24, 3:33 PM
RMc said...: ...and if you don't like my principles, I've got others...!; 12/7/24, 3:34 PM
Earnest Prole said...: If there’s one thing I’ve learned about team players left and right it’s that they almost always believe the dopey, contradictory crap they spew and therefore aren’t lying in the true sense of the word.; 12/7/24, 3:44 PM
Peachy said...: Leftists hate Fox news- but there isn't a single person on Fox who operates like Maddow. The other D-MSNBCers come close. Maddow is pure evil. She is nothing but a Soviet propagandist and liar.; 12/7/24, 3:57 PM
Peachy said...: OK, Prole. - Name a comparable person in the (alphabet) News Media on the right.... who acts like she does, and gets paid millions to do it.; 12/7/24, 4:26 PM
The Godfather said...: Earnest Prole says that both lefties and righties almost always believe their crap, so it's not a lie, and perhaps that's often true. But in the case of Biden saying "I won't pardon my son Hunter because I believe in our legal system", he's admitted that's a lie, that he didn't believe in our legal system, even when he was in charge of it, and always intended to pardon Hunter before leaving office.; 12/7/24, 4:37 PM
Aggie said...: There have been a couple of times that Taibbi and Kirn have fisked a segment of hers. It's fun podcasting, when the twists and turns are highlighted are highlighted by the experts. They're both journalists, and Kirn's a screenwriter too; their responses to some of Maddow's hard-left-hand-turn segues are hilarious.; 12/7/24, 4:40 PM
Howard (not that Howard) said...: That guy seems to have very mutable principles.; 12/7/24, 4:54 PM
Valentine Smith said...: If hypocrisy is the tribute vice pays to virtue, then Rachel Maddow is a perpetual tribute machine.; 12/7/24, 4:57 PM
The Godfather said...: I used to be a "conservative", and for most of my adult life that meant voting for Republicans (except in some parts of the South, where it meant voting for CERTAIN Democrats; and in some parts of the non-South, where there were NO conservative candidates, so you either had to vote for a "liberal Republican" or do a write-in). But I find it hard to call Trump a "conservative", or his supporters "conservatives". Trump shakes things up too much to be "conservative"; same for his supporters. I know some commenters like to call Trump and his voters "Far-Right" or worse ("Fascist" is implied, even when not stated), but honestly Trump doesn't remind me of Hitler or Mussolini or Franco or Evita. He's certainly a "populist" in this election, where he won most of the votes, but not so much in the previous two, where he didn't.; 12/7/24, 5:05 PM
Mikey NTH said...: As things are, breaking stultified positions and descriptions is necessary. Trump should start playing The Cars " Shake It Up."; 12/7/24, 5:26 PM
Earnest Prole said...: ^ Agree completely.; 12/7/24, 5:33 PM
Skeptical Voter said...: Hypocrisy, hyperbole, and steaming stinky heaps of snark--the Mad Cow serves them up once a week--for half a million dollars a pop. She's got a good gig--but she's shedding audience like my dog sheds fur.; 12/7/24, 5:35 PM
Jim at said...: Hard to believe this twit gets paid 25 large annually to run her mouth once a week.; 12/7/24, 5:45 PM
Earnest Prole said...: If Trump suddenly went mad and proclaimed abortions mandatory and all the guns confiscated, Sean Hannity would pay for the right to sell himself out.; 12/7/24, 5:52 PM
Interested Bystander said...: Pretty much what you would expect. Propagandist like Maddow and Baghdad Bob have no shame.; 12/7/24, 6:23 PM
Yancey Ward said...: The thing is that if you confronted Maddow with those two videos she would claim to not remember the first one or would try to argue she didn't mean what her words said.; 12/7/24, 6:48 PM
Peachy said...: I realize Hannity is a Trump super-fan.. But I've never heard him/ of him - lying like Maddow. Not even close.; 12/7/24, 7:05 PM
Peachy said...: You mean - Maddow is a lying liar who lies?; 12/7/24, 7:06 PM
rehajm said...: Yes and also the name of the left’s response to Rush. As I recall Senator SNL was involved. It crashed and burned…; 12/7/24, 7:06 PM
Earnest Prole said...: Oh fer fuck’s sake.

Sean Hannity was a loyal foot soldier in the lunatic Kraken war, only to turn around and say, under oath, “The whole narrative that Sidney Powell was pushing, I did not believe it for one second." Go back and watch his post-election broadcasts with that in mind.; 12/7/24, 7:48 PM
Achilles said...: Prole requires a lot of straw men to maintain his delusion that he is smarter than everyone else.

He thinks Joe Biden actually had 81 million voters. Only a really stupid person could actually believe that right now.; 12/7/24, 8:09 PM
gspencer said...: "It's okay when we do it!"; 12/7/24, 8:42 PM
Drago said...: Once again, as always, self-identified above-the-fray, "honest broker", middle of the roader, just callin' balls and strikes here, Mr "objective" pops into another thread which reflects poorly on the New Soviet Democraticals and immediately redirects the focus onto those dastardly Trump types.

Its a tired game full of strawmen and poor analogies and false equivalencies...but those are apparently necessary when one, like Prole, wishes to maintain that smug, transparently self-congratulatory air of clearly unearned "superiority".

Well.

Whatever gets one thru the day I suppose.; 12/7/24, 10:55 PM
Ampersand said...: Of course he's not " conservative". Conservatism is a bucket of social traditionalists., free market advocates, and libertarians of various flavors. That's why Jonah Goldberg and the National Review despise him. But he's our best hope.; 12/7/24, 11:49 PM
Old and slow said...: I'm neither outraged nor surprised. I would have been shocked if he had not pardoned his son.; 12/8/24, 12:33 AM
wendybar said...: That man woman is the root of a lot of the Progressives problems in America. She's the drama King of MSNBC.; 12/8/24, 2:35 AM
Enigma said...: Biden's handlers thought that blue loyalty to Team Obama would make Hunter's sweetheart plea deals happen and he could avoid convictions in blue regions. But, they forgot that Biden was installed as a tool owned by backroom manipulators. Hunter's escapades limited their ability to act, and the same people forced Joe out to install Kamala. Once Joe was not the candidate Hunter's fate was irrelevant.

Predators have no tolerance for political liabilities, so they cut both Hunter and Joe loose.; 12/8/24, 5:20 AM
Enigma said...: Maddow is a massive conspiracy theorist, and received intense blue criticism in 2019. She's a blue Alex Jones, and would be lawfared too if Republicans functioned that way.

Maddow on Russia Russia Russia from lefty Politico and Slate in 2019:

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/03/27/rachel-maddows-deep-delusion-226266/

https://slate.com/culture/2019/03/rachel-maddow-mueller-report-trump-barr.html; 12/8/24, 5:26 AM
Curious George said...: Pretty standard lesbian haircut.; 12/8/24, 8:05 AM
dwshelf said...: Maddow's audience is people who think like she speaks.; 12/8/24, 10:42 AM
gerry said...: She's a lesbian. That's pretty much all she offers.; 12/8/24, 3:01 PM