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Rachel Maddow: “Glenn Beck Was My Favorite Person Of All Time In Radio”

» 40 comments

No you have not gone through the looking glass. Rachel Maddow says Glenn Beck — someone I have compared her to on occasion — was apparently a one-time favorite of hers. Daily Intel reports that at a benefit on Sunday night she had some surprisingly nice things to say about Beck, including the fact that she once used him in an interview as an example of who on the radio she admired most:

“Glenn Beck was my favorite person of all time in radio. When he was in talk radio God wasn’t speaking to him,” she said. “He was funny and much more performative than anyone. He’s amazing in talk radio. He was a political guy. It was him ranting and raving and you sort of felt he didn’t take it seriously.”

“When I got hired by Air America they asked who I like in radio and I said I like Ira Glass, This American Life, and I really like this guy Glenn Beck,” she said. “And I shit you not, the guy who was sort of leading the interview, he didn’t last long at the company, said, ‘We’re going to be a liberal channel.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m pretty confident in my politics.’”

I take it back. There is nothing through the looking glass about this at all.

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  • http://gordonbloyershow.com gordonbloyershow

    She helped kill Air America and now she is trying to kill MSNBC.

  • http://gordonbloyershow.com gordonbloyershow

    Glenn was her favorite, LOL I think that might be like when she and Hillary wanted to join the military, LOL. Ole Rach sure is funny.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Andy-Lamb/1085325013 Andy Lamb

    “He was funny and much more performative than anyone. He’s amazing in talk radio.” Things that certainly cannot be said about Rachel.

    Air America……..HA HA HA HA!

  • Big_F-ing_Deal

    As long as Rachel keeps giggling, and talking in funny voices and mugging for the camera like Beck does I will not be watching her. In some ways she has a lot in common with him. At least Matthews and O’Reilly play it straight.

  • jrcmi

    “Ole Rach sure is funny.”

    And informed . . . and intelligent . . . and intellectually honest . . . and a better broadcaster than you’ll ever HOPE to be.

  • felixw

    MSNBC spends more time covering Glenn Beck than on any other story. The last few days, Ed, Chris, Keith and Rachel are all obsessing about him. It’s a little bit creepy, no?

  • stoogedudes

    gordonbloyershow said:
    She helped kill Air America and now she is trying to kill MSNBC.

    Air America failed because of financial problems, not ratings. Sure, they weren’t the ratings of Beck and Hannity, but they weren’t anything to sniffle at either. The owners of Air America were inept in their accounting.

    I’d listen to Rachel read the phone book. Likely still more informative than Beck.

  • Azarkhan

    “He was funny and much more performative than anyone. He’s amazing in talk radio.” Rachel Maddow

    I absolutely believe her and I don’t think it is unsual at all. It is the appreciation that one professional has for another. I read similar comments said by leftist radio host about Rush Limbaugh when Air America shut down. To be a success in talk radio requires talent. Beck is talented, and Rachel is acknowledging it.

  • NORBIT

    You can chalk up that California Senate seat to the Good Guys!

    I thought this race would be close, but after seeing the TOTAL COMMAND Fiorina had of both the debate & the issues, you can chalk that Ca. Senate seat up for the GOOD GUYS!

    Boxer was flailing away the entire debate at Fiorina, while her opponent stayed focused on what she would do to improve the mess the Sacramento Dems got Ca. into!!
    ——————————————————————————

    Speaking about the Dems, how’s this for the Party of Racist-Smear & White-Hate?:

    “A new website sponsored by the NAACP and left-leaning media operations is seeking videographers and bloggers who will search out “racism” and “extremism” among Tea Partiers.

    Teapartytracker.org will feature tweets, interviews with people at rallies, blog entries and a picture of a t-shirt they say someone spotted at a rally that reads “Blacks own slaves in Mauitania, Sudan, Niger & Haiti.”

    The site, sponsored by the NAACP, Think Progress, New Left Media and Media Matters for America, will monitor “racism and other forms of extremism within the Tea Party movement. We call on the Tea Party to repudiate extremists among their ranks and join in civil dialogue with all Americans.”

  • lonestar77

    So Beck was her favorite back when Bush was President? Could it be a coincidence that he hammered Bush pretty hard on a variety of issues? Nah, couldn’t be…

  • notsofast

    RM, KO tried to use GB’s name to improve his ratings. It didn’t work for him and it won’t work for you.

    BTW, do you and KO have anything else to do but talk about the competition that is crushing you night after night?

    I guess the “M” in MSNBC stands for masochist.

  • juan

    Who is Rachel Maddow? LoL

    And why do you keep propping her up, Glynnis?

  • The Real Royal King

    I believe Ms. Maddow. This is borne of a respect for professionalism, and it has nothing to do with ideology. Really, very little in our lives has anything to do with ideology. Besides, Ms. Maddow is a genuinely nice person. Anyone remember how the CPAC delegates commented on her politeness and sense of humor?

    THE INAUGURAL SPEECH – JUST ONE OF BECKERHEAD’S LIES,
    FROM LAST SATURDAY’S DIMWIT AND HERETIC RALLY,
    EXPOSED TO US ALL, THANKS TO THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES,
    SOON, WE’LL NEED A SPREAD SHEET FOR AN ACCURATE TALLY.

  • notsofast

    stoogedudes said:
    Air America failed because of financial problems, not ratings

    I’d listen to Rachel read the phone book. Likely still more informative than Beck.

    No financial backing because there where zero ratings!

    And she would get more viewers if she read the phone book instead of her shrill lib diatribes.

  • lonestar77

    Big_F-ing_Deal says:
    September 2, 2010 at 4:21 pm (Quote)
    1 2

    “As long as Rachel keeps giggling, and talking in funny voices…”

    Finally, I hear a lefty address that. The giggling drives me crazy. She didn’t seem to do that before she had her own show. When they gave her her own show, I remarked to my liberal sister that finally MSNBC hired someone I could actually watch. I had found her to be intelligent and not childish. She stuck to the facts when hammering someone and wasn’t a bomb-throwing race baiter like everyone else over there. BUT, she changed and is now unwatchable.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Andy-Lamb/1085325013 Andy Lamb

    Big_F-ing_Deal said:
    As long as Rachel keeps giggling, and talking in funny voices and mugging for the camera like Beck does I will not be watching her. In some ways she has a lot in common with him. At least Matthews and O’Reilly play it straight.

    We’ve had this out before, so sorry to be repetitive. Matthews is a shell of what he used to be, a real Hardball guy who was center-left and had a pretty damn good show a few years ago. He sold out when MSNBC moved further left than Michael Moore and gave him the ultimatum of becoming a hard core liberal, or losing his show. He plays it straight, as long as he is jamming it up some Republican’s ass. CNN forced Lou Dobbs out because he wouldn’t bend on the immigration issue. He stood his ground. Chris completely changed who he is, I have no respect for that. O’Reilly is incorrectly lumped in with guys like Hannity and Beck who are much farther right than Bill is. He is right of center, but much closer to the middle than anyone on MSNBC. That’s why more people watch him than anyone else.

  • Big_F-ing_Deal

    Andy Lamb said:
    We’ve had this out before, so sorry to be repetitive. Matthews is a shell of what he used to be, a real Hardball guy who was center-left and had a pretty damn good show a few years ago. He sold out when MSNBC moved further left than Michael Moore and gave him the ultimatum of becoming a hard core liberal, or losing his show. He plays it straight, as long as he is jamming it up some Republican’s ass. CNN forced Lou Dobbs out because he wouldn’t bend on the immigration issue. He stood his ground. Chris completely changed who he is, I have no respect for that. O’Reilly is incorrectly lumped in with guys like Hannity and Beck who are much farther right than Bill is. He is right of center, but much closer to the middle than anyone on MSNBC. That’s why more people watch him than anyone else.

    I can’t really disagree with most of this, except I don’t think Chris sold out. I think news journalism sold out and allowed Chris to be what he always was. A flaming liberal. I’m sorry, but with Beck and Rush and Hannity and all the other partisans on your side Chris Matthews is not going to bring a library book to a gun fight. Fox News lowered the bar, not Chris Matthews.

  • chucken

    Beck is fun to watch as a delusional train wreck.His TV and radio shows have nothing to do with the real world.America is not being overrun with Socialists,Marxists,Commies,university professors that are the same as terrorist groups,America in it’s pre Nazi phase. And when Beck trashed Obama’s dead mother,father and grandparents as Commies and or Marxists you watch in horror that people actually take this psychopath seriously.

  • notsofast

    chucken said:
    Beck trashed Obama’s dead mother,

    No, Barry did that pretty much himself by comparing the woman who raised him, after both of his parents abandoned him, to a racist minister whose church Barry went to for 20 years.

  • NORBIT

    felixw said:
    MSNBC spends more time covering Glenn Beck than on any other story. The last few days, Ed, Chris, Keith and Rachel are all obsessing about him. It’s a little bit creepy, no?

    What’s with all the msnbc MAN-CRUSH on BECK? – They can’t stop talking about him!

    Hey all, have you noticed the spate of traditional Democrats now DISSING the LIAR-IN-CHIEF in the WH?!!

  • StandUp

    @GlennBeckreview – I knew I could find you here
    If a vote were taken on who is the biggest hypocritical liar – Beck or GBR, you would lose in a landslide.
    I will bet my account on that

    Let’s take a poll- if I lose, I’ll cancel my account and never post here again. If you lose, do what you want as punishment, but if you were a man you would cancel and never post either. I will stand by the vote.

    Cast your vote – Who is the biggest hypocritical liar – GlennBeckreview or Glenn Beck ?

  • chucken

    notsofast,things that rational people should never bring up are a persons dead parents,children,(those that did it to Sarah Palin’s baby with down syndrome are included),religion, and personal apperance.If I missed anything please advise.

  • StandUp

    stoogedudes said:
    Air America failed because of financial problems, not ratings

    The financial problem was not making any money – due to a lack of advertisers – due to a lack of listeners = low ratings. There’s no way to spin that

  • Puter Boi

    The Real Royal King said:
    I believe Ms. Maddow.

    Hey King..
    I believe her too. I was a huge Beck fan when he was doing regular talk radio. He and his crew were hilarious. I stopped listening when he hit TV……but for a time…he was the best on radio.

  • lonestar77

    BFD:
    You mention Limbaugh, Beck & Hannity, then say FNC lowered the bar. Only two of those three work at FNC and only one of them has been there since the beginning of MSNBC’s transformation into a wingnut left network. I never really understood the complete hate the left had with BOR. He reminds me more of Chris Mathews in the days before he became Olby light. I used to watch Mathews’ show every day and actually had respect for him.

    Anyway, when MSNBC went far-left, the FNC lineup was Shep Smith, BOR, Hannity AND Colmes, Greta. Yeah, to people who are used to only being presented with the traditional left view, that may be lowering the bar. But, to most of us, it’s presenting the other side. BTW, all of those shows present both sides. BOR & Hannity are center-right & right respectively, but they don’t shut out opposing views. I think your characterization of lowering the bar is dead wrong. The left just doesn’t like the fact that people to the right of Nancy Pelosi have a voice on the TV news, now.

  • Patrick Henry

    The Real Royal King said:
    Really, very little in our lives has anything to do with ideology

    Seriously? Then why the constant slings and arrows at conservative ideology?

  • Azarkhan

    The Real Royal King said:
    Really, very little in our lives has anything to do with ideology.

    That is why we fight the Obama regime.

  • jk76

    FOX FOX FOX FOX commercial FOX FOX FOX robot guest FOX FOX Limbaugh FOX racist bigot hate credits
    rinse repeat

    BSNBC would have no shows if it wasn’t for Muslimphobes…getting carpal tunnel typing out all the names they use, think i missed sexist cause Repub females can’t be feminists

  • Azarkhan

    jk76 said:
    Repub females can’t be feminists

    No they can’t. But they can be smart, independent, savvy, sexy women.

  • Sean68

    notsofast said:
    No, Barry did that pretty much himself by comparing the woman who raised him, after both of his parents abandoned him, to a racist minister whose church Barry went to for 20 years.

    He didn’t just trash his grandmother; he insulted whites in general. In Obama’s mind, the typical white person is a bigot.

    And he wasn’t just describing the mauvaise foi of the typical unemployed yokel clinging to his guns and religion either! The media regard most americans in these same terms so only discussed the issue briefly in terms of political impact, not the validity of the statement itself.

  • Sean68

    Sean68 said:
    He didn’t just trash his grandmother; he insulted whites in general. In Obama’s mind, the typical white person is a bigot. And he wasn’t just describing the mauvaise foi of the typical unemployed yokel clinging to his guns and religion either! The media regard most americans in these same terms so only discussed the issue briefly in terms of political impact, not the validity of the statement itself.

    For the record, Obama’s grandmother didn’t say anything that Jesse Jackson hasn’t said, and that Chris Rock has observed to large audiences of black people roaring their agreement.

  • SpineCrusher

    NORBIT said:
    You can chalk up that California Senate seat to the Good Guys! I thought this race would be close, but after seeing the TOTAL COMMAND Fiorina had of both the debate & the issues, you can chalk that Ca. Senate seat up for the GOOD GUYS! Boxer was flailing away the entire debate at Fiorina, while her opponent stayed focused on what she would do to improve the mess the Sacramento Dems got Ca. into!!—————————————————————————— Speaking about the Dems, how’s this for the Party of Racist-Smear & White-Hate?: “A new website sponsored by the NAACP and left-leaning media operations is seeking videographers and bloggers who will search out “racism” and “extremism” among Tea Partiers. Teapartytracker.org will feature tweets, interviews with people at rallies, blog entries and a picture of a t-shirt they say someone spotted at a rally that reads “Blacks own slaves in Mauitania, Sudan, Niger & Haiti.” The site, sponsored by the NAACP, Think Progress, New Left Media and Media Matters for America, will monitor “racism and other forms of extremism within the Tea Party movement. We call on the Tea Party to repudiate extremists among their ranks and join in civil dialogue with all Americans.”

    What’s wrong with that? You should do it to both the Democratic and Republican parties too, keeps people honest.

    People act much differently when they know they’re on camera.

  • NORBIT

    Hey Rachel, and all you other progressives here, be sure to cast your vote this evening in Fox’s News show as to how many seats you think the GOP will pick up in the house. 1-20; 21-40;41-60;60&!

    Win free tickets to Shultzee’s Barnfire of NBC on Nov.3!

  • chucken

    Beck has now even passed even Billo for gross self indulgence.Watching his Fox mental masturbation gross out show one thing is clear,it’s all self promotion.No real issues,just striking back at his critics and inane religious drivel that nobody bothers to talk about because your religion should not be subject to this little pricks rantings.It’s very painful to watch.Can”t do it again.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Andy-Lamb/1085325013 Andy Lamb

    Big_F-ing_Deal said:
    I can’t really disagree with most of this, except I don’t think Chris sold out. I think news journalism sold out and allowed Chris to be what he always was. A flaming liberal. I’m sorry, but with Beck and Rush and Hannity and all the other partisans on your side Chris Matthews is not going to bring a library book to a gun fight. Fox News lowered the bar, not Chris Matthews.

    I have no doubt that Chris sold out. Matthews himself claims (doesn’t bring it up anymore, of course, but he has said it before) to have voted for GW Bush in 2000. Not something a hard core liberal would ever do. And, frankly, the bar is much higher at Fox than at the other networks. There are two hard core conservatives that have shows on Fox – Hannity and Beck. O’Reilly is more of an Independant, traditional values guy. He argues with Beck, Laura Ingraham, and other conservatives plenty often. The others – Shep Smith, Greta, Cavuto, Bret Baier, etc. – are not far right people. On MSNBC, they are ALL far lefties except for Scarborough.

  • shootfromthehip

    So Chris Matthews is “far left” even though he voted for Bush?

    Doesn’t sound very “far left” to me.

  • jinjin
  • Calvin

    shootfromthehip said:
    So Chris Matthews is “far left” even though he voted for Bush? Doesn’t sound very “far left” to me.

    Don’t say that, man. I’m trying to get a thrill up my leg here. Stop talking about Bush. Talk about Obama, please. That’s the way the thrill up my leg works.

  • shootfromthehip

    Chris was commenting on the electric nature of Obama’s public speaking when he said the “thrill up my leg” thing. Matthews gets carried away and he is passionate about politics. He also got carried away with Bush’s dog&pony show when the plane landed on the aircraft carrier with the laughable “mission accomplished” banner.

    On the May 1, 2003, edition of “Hardball” Matthews gushed effusive praise of Bush alongside Ann Coulter.

    “And that’s the president looking very much like a jet, you know, a high-flying jet star. A guy who is a jet pilot. Has been in the past when he was younger, obviously,” he said. “He’s like Eisenhower. He looks great in a military uniform. He looks great in that cowboy costume he wears when he goes West,” he added.

    He went on and on getting the proverbial “thrill up his leg” for Bush, too.

    But you cons only selectively remember things, if you remember them at all.

    Sad, really.

  • VRWC Destruction Machine

    The Real Royal King said:
    I believe Ms. Maddow. This is borne of a respect for professionalism, and it has nothing to do with ideology. Really, very little in our lives has anything to do with ideology. Besides, Ms. Maddow is a genuinely nice person. Anyone remember how the CPAC delegates commented on her politeness and sense of humor?

    She does a disservice for herself because she got caught up in playing the “gotcha game” that Matthews, Schultz and Olbermann do so much because they can’t do a show without mentioning their competition.

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