Rachel Maddow & Jon Stewart talk civility & politics

The Goodness Project has always been one part personal quest and one part political journey. The issue of politics reared its ugly snout because of my experiences as a political reporter, a staff member on a couple of campaigns and a citizen. These days I feel like I’m being buffeted by wave after wave of political fury, and I worry about my personal future and about what’s next for our country. (After the screaming, violence?) My good friend Nancy Jane Moore and I constantly argue on this blog about the problem of finding common cause with people who seem bent on demonizing and lying about us. All of this is why I found Rachel Maddow’s conversation last night with Jon Stewart to be so fascinating.

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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...

Howard Dean: Obama Administration is running out of time on gay rights

Howard Dean and Rachel Maddow discuss the startlingly antigay Obama Administration brief on DOMA. Not only does Dean call the brief a "big mistake," but he notes that the Obama Administrations is quickly running out of time to heal the rift with the LGBT community.

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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.