Over the weekend, a report surfaced that an end to the standoff in Wisconsin was imminent, and that the so-called “Wisconsin 14″ were ready to return to the state to vote on Gov. Scott Walker‘s (R-WI) “budget repair bill.” On her program Monday night, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow called that “bad reporting,” and interviewed State Sen. Jon Erpenbach, who told Maddow that State Sen. Mark Miller, the legislator quoted in that report, was singing a very different tune to Erpenbach.

On Wednesday night, Mediaite’s Frances Martel wrote a lengthy, thoughtful piece of media criticism centered around Princeton Professor Melissa Harris-Perry‘s appearance on The Rachel Maddow Show, concluding that Harris-Perry’s point about the historical context of the Michael Vick story was “lost in translation.”

A week after Countdown host Keith Olbermann and guest Michael Mooresparked a Twitter protest over their dismissive treatment of rape allegations against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, Moore made an appearance on The Rachel Maddow Show in which he failed to address the protest directly, but made their imprint obvious in his transformed rhetoric on rape accusations. In a crowning irony, the man whose zeal for transparency-God Julian Assange started this protest finally made direct acknowledgement of it…in a private Twitter message to #MooreAndMe creator Sady Doyle.

A week after Countdown host Keith Olbermann and guest Michael Moore sparked a Twitter protest over their dismissive treatment of rape allegations against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, Moore made an appearance on The Rachel Maddow Show that was much anticipated by those protesters. He did not apologize for his earlier assertion that Julian Assange was only accused of consensual sex with a broken condom, nor did he retract it.

Rachel Maddow turned her attention toward Fox News on her program tonight to—wait, don’t grab your pitchforks just yet! It turns out that the MSNBC host comes in peace… if your name’s Shepard Smith, that is. Maddow praised Shep for the “hullabaloo” he’s been making in the name of the 9/11 First Respodners bill. She’s just thrilled that a man whose network actually matters to Republicans decided to hold Republicans accountable. “All hail Shep Smith at Fox News,” she declared. “And I’m not kidding.”

First rule of gloating? Get your facts straight, else you’ll look the fool. Case in point: MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow‘s recurring Debunktion Junction segment in which she explores the veracity of rumors and stories on her radar. Last night she was very proud to confirm a Roll Call report that former Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell would be guest hosting Fox & Friends around Christmas. Turns out that, according to a Fox News spokesperson, this report is in fact, untrue. (Sad trombone sound.) Updated.

Like a lot of liberals, Rachel Maddow is pretty disappointed with President Obama‘s decision to capitulate to Republican tax cut demands, as well as the forceful defense of his actions he made in a press conference today. But unlike most liberals, Rachel Maddow has a TV show—which tonight gave her the perfect opportunity to go through each point Obama made during his press conference and refute them, one by one.

SNL‘s Rachel Maddow welcomed the shapeshifting new House of Representatives by moderating a three-way conversation with presumptive Speaker John Boehner, outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and loud speaker Charlie Rangel. A decidedly boyish Abby Elliott played the MSNBC host and discussed a range of topics with the guests, from Republican tax policies, Rangel’s ethics violations, and who stole Pelosi’s necklace. Guess which Representative it was!

In March, Senator Scott Brown sent his supporters a fund-raising email that claimed MSNBC star Rachel Maddow was planning a Senate run. Maddow responded by taking out a full-page ad in the Boston Globe to confirm that she wasn’t planning to run, then called Brown a liar on air. Somehow, though, the rumor of Maddow’s candidacy still hasn’t died.

Right after Bill O’Reilly got a former president on his program, Rachel Maddow had a big guest of her own – Jon Stewart. Stewart was a game guest despite clearly not feeling too well, and explained his thoughts on the Rally to Restore Sanity, as well as why he feels the cable news networks are missing the point. Video of the entire interview after the jump.

Last night, during The Colbert Report’s salute to our troops returning from Iraq, Stephen Colbert asked his guest, Vice President Joe Biden, to comment on the previous administration. Biden looked into the camera and gave a sincere thanks to George W. Bush for consistently honoring our armed forces. Tonight on her show, Rachel Maddow called the moment “inexplicable,” “whitewash,” and “weird.”

In March of 2009, Meghan McCain caught a lot fo flak from some conservatives for appearing on the Rachel Maddow Show. Last night, she returned to promote her new book Dirty Sexy Politics. During the lengthy interview she discussed topics like gay rights, the future of the Republican Party, and her own future. Defending her choice to appear on the show, she remarked that “we can’t just have Republicans going on Fox and Democrats going on MSNBC.”

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow was back on CBS’ Late Show with David Letterman last night, and the pair discussed how much her guest host Chris Hayes looks like her.

But the main topic was, “why is CNN just about out of business?”

The political rhetoric coming from some GOP officials right now on immigration might make one believe that skyrocketing crime rates are a direct result of illegal aliens. But as Rachel Maddow pointed out last night, not only are crime rates way down, but so too are the number of illegals apprehended at the Arizona border. Maddow points out some specific reports that have spread around right-of-center websites that seem to be straight up lies. Yes, its yet another patented “Scaring White People” segment, that is quite effective.

America’s longest running war has returned to the media spotlight courtesy of General Stanley McChrystal and Michael Hastings. Now that Afghanistan is front and center again, Rachel Maddow will be anchoring her show from the country next week.

Rachel Maddow doesn’t exactly need her online popularity boosted, but the MSNBC host’s forceful turn on Meet the Press Sunday gave her a little extra love from the left wing of the internet, including complimentary articles on The Huffington Post and Think Progress, plus a wave of favorable murmurs across the Twitter-sphere. Flexing her debate skills on both economic issues and homeland security, Maddow made her presence known, gunning for Rep. Aaron Schock at every available opportunity. Highlights inside.

On Friday’s episode of The Rachel Maddow Show, the host took a few minutes to politely disagree with Glenn Beck‘s views on global warming, including his refuting of Maddow’s guest Bill Nye the Science Guy. “It is one thing to be outrageously wrong about facts and science, but the price of that is getting made fun of for it and getting called out on it — boom! — by Bill Nye the Science Guy,” Maddow concluded.

On last night’s edition of The Rachel Maddow Show, the host focused on Haiti again, but took a moment for a bit of media navel-gazing, which is conveniently right up our alley. “Jon Stewart, on The Daily Show last night, dinged me,” Maddow said, referring to her previous show’s focus on the role of USAID and the State Department in Haitian relief efforts. Maddow took a mini-shot back: “I know that’s politics, but…no apologies for reporting.”

The media reaction to Rudy Giuliani‘s “no domestic attacks under Bush” super gaffe has been both huge and varied. The former mayor claims he was misunderstood — he meant post-9/11 and on American soil. But here’s a big surprise: that wasn’t enough for Rachel Maddow, who last night attempted to eviscerate Giuliani on her broadcast, relentlessly proving the one-time presidential candidate wrong with history and his own words.

On Friday’s episode of The Rachel Maddow Show the host busted out the hypocritical clips, this time to take on Senator John McCain, and the notion that he is the de facto leader of the right, a theory floated by Sen. Lindsey Graham in Politico. “The most interesting Kremlinology question in all of Washington is still ‘Who’s the leader of the Republican party?’” Maddow said, as she set up a bit of a straw man.

When a high-ranking government official meets an establishment journalist, the ensuing fawning at the feet of power can sometimes be too much to bear. Last weekend, Chris Wallace was compared to a “teenage girl interviewing the Jonas Brothers” for his lack of incision in a televised segment with former Vice President Dick Cheney. And then there’s Rachel Maddow, who on last night’s episode of her MSNBC show was the most well-prepared “teenage girl” on TV, calmly dismantling every argument put forth by former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge.