Rachel Maddow: Being gay & being an honest journalist isn't a contradiction

The Washington Post's media critic, Howard Kurtz, profiles MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, and raises the question of whether a lesbian can honestly cover "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." The real question is why these issues are never raised about heterosexual journalists. Everyone on this planet has a sexual orientation. Why doesn't anyone ever ask heterosexuals if they can fairly cover LGBT rights?

And so it goes...

Why I like Rachel Maddow

New MSNBC host Rachel Maddow has made me a fan with the depth of her knowledge and her light touch, and I'm not alone.

The American Prospect writes:

She is liberal without apology or embarrassment, bases her authority on a deep comprehension of policy rather than the culture warrior's claim to authenticity, and does it all with a light, even slightly mocking, touch. She proves that liberals can attract viewers on television when they actually act like, well, liberals.

Maddow actually steers the conversation on TV to substance. And then there's this:

She is in some ways the first post-Bush liberal pundit, having arrived on the national scene at a time when the country was collectively fed up with the Bush years and audiences were genuinely ready to hear liberal perspectives.

The times really are changing.

Dueling Lesbians: Perhaps someone should tell conservatives there's more than one of us on the air

Ahhh, you just can't make this stuff up.

Tim Graham, director of media analysis for the conservative Media Research Center, is upset by the addition of "this lesbian" Rachel Maddow to the MSNBC lineup. Graham appears to be as outraged by Maddow's sexual orientation as he is by her leftest opinions. In his appearance on Fox, Graham doesn't waste any opportunity to repeat that Maddow is a lesbian. (Oh, the infamy of it all!)

Meanwhile, Graham seems to have failed to notice that CNN now has its own lesbian commentator, Hilary Rosen.