During a CPAC panel discussion on the Obama Administration’s new controversial contraception rule, conservative commentator Cal Thomas slammed MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. “I think that she is the best argument in favor of her parent’s using contraception,” he said. “I would be all for that! And all of the rest of the crowd at MSNBC, too, for that matter.”

After a week off due to a bout with bronchitis, Countdown host Keith Olbermann returned to the air Monday night, to the center of the Current TV universe, and to the black backdrop that seems a fitting stand-in for the star’s reportedly tumultuous relationship with his employer. According to a new report by Newsweek, that relationship may be hanging by a thread, and with it, the future of Current’s plan to become the left’s answer to Fox News.

In a fiery tête-à-tête, Senior Adviser to pro-Newt Gingrich Super PAC, Winning our Future, Rick Tyler lit into Rachel Maddow and other MSNBC panelists for suggesting Newt Gingrich was sending a dog whistle in his speech criticizing President Obama for singing. “That’s baloney!” Tyler exclaimed. “MSNBC needs to get off this race-baiting kick, if you want to talk about race, the Republican Party was started by Abraham Lincoln. Six of the nine planks in the 1856 platform were civil rights platform. If you go back to the Democratic platform, it’s a racist platform. We can go down this road!”

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow lambasted Newt Gingrich’s speech in Florida tonight, criticizing him for singling out President Obama’s singing. “Newt Gingrich brought back the food stamps president thing — and then tonight, he went to ‘President Obama ought to stop singing, ought to stop being the Entertainer-in-Chief.’ Sort of caricaturing him in a way that calls out to minstrelsy!”

Rachel Maddow has spent much of her show trying to book Republicans to come on and debate her about various issues, but she has had quite a bit of trouble– moreso after her contentious 2010 interview with then senatorial candidate Rand Paul. This week, however, she received what she called a “glimmer of hope” from the unlikeliest of people: Laura Ingraham, who told Virginia governor Bob McDonnell that she would love to see more Republicans talk to Maddow, and if not convince her of their ideology, at least spread the word.

On Thursday, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow took on the “birther” movement, warning viewers not to Google “Obama born” lest they find themselves plummeting down an online rabbit hole of “crazy.” She pointed out several attempts in Alabama to take Barack Obama off the ballot in that state on the grounds that he’s not really a U.S. citizen.

On Thursday night’s Jeopardy!, in a category dedicated to Rhodes scholars, Taylor, Brendan, and Rhonda struck out when a picture of MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow popped up on screen, along with the clue: “This cable TV newswoman received a doctorate in politics from Oxford” From a group that correctly identified Ret. Gen. Wesley Clark and J. William Fulbright within seconds, the question was followed with silence, the harsh Jeopardy! buzzer, and host Alex Trebek saying, “…and that is Rachel Maddow…”

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow is tackling fact-checking site PolitiFact’s analysis of job creation statistics President Barack Obama shared during his State of the Union address this week. In the last 22 months, the President said, businesses have created more than three million jobs, last year creating the highest number of jobs since 2005. The folks at Maddow’s show looked into the numbers as well, finding a January 6th report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics saying that the private section has created 3.2 million jobs since February 2010. PolitiFact also checked off the statement as true. So far, so good.

Mitt Romney, for many months, has been considered the inevitable nominee for the Republican Party. That is, until competitors started yo-yoing up and down the polls, and Romney only managed to win New Hampshire and appears poised to lose South Carolina tonight. On her program last night, Rachel Maddow made the point that his New Hampshire win was inevitable, and that he was in more trouble than ever with his economic resume under fire for his time at Bain.

The National Republican Congressional Committee has released an ad, in support of the Keystone XL pipeline, that parodies one of MSNBC’s latest Lean Forward commercials. The spot features a Rachel Maddow stand-in mimicking the progressive star’s Hoover Dam monologue, then pivots to a thudding comparison with the Keystone pipeline, complete with wildly inflated claims about the number of jobs the pipeline would supposedly create.

There was a time in Massachusetts politics where Mitt Romney promised voters he would be to the left of Ted Kennedy on gay issues. That was many years ago, however– back when Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was a new policy– and today, Rachel Maddow reported yesterday, Romney appears to face a strange dilemma. While the national Republican party advocates social conservatism and a repeal of gay marriage laws in the states that have them, Republican voters appear to be far more comfortable on the socially liberal side of the scale than anywhere else.

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow rehashed the Boston Globe‘s highly-disgusting, animal-cruelty-alleged anecdote of the time Mitt Romney strapped his Irish setter, Seamus, to the roof of his car during a family road trip. “Even if you’re okay with the dog being strapped to the roof of the car, once the dog has been up there for hours and is sick, once he is ailing, you take a hose to him and put him back up there and keep driving with him still strapped to the roof of the car for more hours?!” Maddow exclaimed incredulously. Newt Gingrich‘s new attack ad featuring the anecdote put the story back in the news.

Jon Huntsman and his campaign have made it clear they don’t really have any interest in getting their candidate on the air with Rachel Maddow. But Rachel Maddow really, really wants to talk to him. Maddow got in a car and drove to a Huntsman event in New Hampshire, and did her best to approach the candidate.

Chris Matthews descended from his Hardball perch to appear on Rachel Maddow‘s program tonight to preview next week’s New Hampshire primary and size up the relative strengths and weaknesses of the candidates. Matthews’ observations of the New Hampshire primary, and possibly the other northeastern Republican primaries, was that there’s really nothing interesting that’s going to happen. In that region of the country, Matthews argued, Romney is pretty much guaranteed a victory over his GOP rivals.

Rachel Maddow discussed “rocking out with our caucus out,” noting that The Republicans “kind of seem to hate” Mitt Romney. However, she would definitely love to see a debate between Rick Santorum and Barack Obama, particularly if they talk about birth control, abortion and social security.

Jon Huntsman‘s relationship with the media personally– as if his moderate stances were not enough– stands out among Republican contenders for its cordiality. And for those who thought only the candidate felt that way, top Huntsman fundraiser Ann Herberger made it clear tonight that there’s something very bipartisan in the water over at Huntsman HQ. The Weekly Standard, among many conservative Twitter viewers, quickly noticed that, after a fairly favorable segment on Huntsman on The Rachel Maddow Show, Herberger responded in kind, telling Rachel Maddow that she was her “new hero.”

On Wednesday night’s The Rachel Maddow Show, the story of how Rick Santorum and wife Karen dealt with the loss of their newborn son Gabriel again became fodder for criticism of Santorum’s presidential prospects. Although he handled it in a marginally more delicate fashion than Alan Colmes did (for which he apologized), MSNBC contributor Eugene Robinson cited the incident as a “weird story” that might put off some Republican voters.

After Iowa, it appears that, barring a surprise come-from-behind from another candidate (a possibility not entirely possible to rule out), the Republican primary is a three-man race. Many are hesitant to predict that Mitt Romney has the nomination under his belt, and with good reason– because so much of the Republican base rejects him. But on tonight’s show, Rachel Maddow analyzed the alternatives and found that, because supporters of the other two top candidates can find no common ground, it is difficult to see the Republicans nominating anyone but Romney.

During MSNBC’s coverage of last night’s Iowa caucus, host Rachel Maddow fell for a hoax regarding former Governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson. And while that might not be the best of news for Maddow, it does give us a chance to write a Gary Johnson post! And that’s always fun.

Things got a little bit heated during MSNBC’s Iowa Caucus coverage Tuesday night when The Ed Show host Ed Schultz and The Last Word host Lawrence O’Donnell sparred over surging candidate Rick Santorum‘s tax repatriation plan, and whether it constitutes a “manufacturing plan.”

The exchange was heated, but brief, as co-anchor Rachel Maddow comically saved the day with the cheery declatarion, “Look! It’s Rick Perry!”

With the results of the Iowa caucuses still to close to call in a seriously difficult to pin down three-way race, the fate of one of those candidates’ supporters was on Rachel Maddow‘s mind tonight as it became increasingly clear that either Mitt Romney or Rick Santorum would take the state: Rep. Ron Paul‘s. Why, Maddow asked, did no other candidate try to lure in Rep. Paul’s supporters? After all, “Ron Paul voters are human beings, too!”

Tuesday night’s Iowa Caucus coverage will offer a wide array of television choices for every taste in cable news, with some channels opting for more entertainment than analysis. While Fox News and CNN are seeking some of their more buttoned up journalists for anchoring duties, and are pushing their more partisan/entertainment-focused anchors to post-coverage specials, MSNBC is pretty much giving up on the straight news coverage, and instead appears to be aiming to create some controversy… and maybe have some fun.

In the world of the microscopic news cycle, a year is a mighty long time. Think “dog years” on steroids. Over the course of the past year, in thousands (around 7,500 ) of articles and millions (between 3 and 4 million) of words, Mediaite has covered the ups and downs of that whizzing, ricocheting media world. In case you lost track in that sea of information, we’ve compiled a list of 2011 Media Winners and Losers that we hope will be the start  of a conversation, not the end of one. Here, in no particular order, are Mediaite’s 2011 Media Winners and Losers.

On the tail of Rep. Michele Bachmann herself denouncing rival Rep. Ron Paul as “dangerous” on Fox News, it appears that at least one of her campaign co-chairs seems to disagree. Yes, it’s true: Iowa State Senator (and Iowa Bachmann Campaign Co-Chair) Kent Sorenson appeared at a Rep. Paul rally earlier tonight, and endorsed a candidate on whose campaign he is not on an official leader.

Rachel Maddow has been following the roller coaster ups and downs of the Republican primary campaigns and seen a pattern of bubbles– from Donald Trump to Herman Cain to Newt Gingrich and, now, Rep. Ron Paul. And while Rep. Paul is under siege for his checkered past with newsletters while the establishment cries out for a new candidate, Maddow believes the problem isn’t just the establishment, but “Republican Party TV”– Fox News, and their opposition to the frontrunner.