Candleblog

The interesting political commentary game of musical chairs just keeps on going.  According Keith Olbermann’s Daily Kos diary (and presumably tonight’s Countdown, which I’ll see later), as of my birthday, September 8th, My (not so) secret (not so) platonic brain crush, Rachel Maddow, will be hosting her own primetime MSNBC political talk show.  Yay!!!  Now I’ll be glued to two hours of political TV fun each weeknight!  Oh wait, booo!!!

So since Steve Benen has been a recurring guest on Maddow’s Air America show for some time, does this mean we should expect Steve to be making appearances on her MSNBC show?  One would think so, but as it happens, our local NBC affiliate, WPTZ — where Steve would have to go for the satellite uplink — apparently is not sufficiently equipped to send a feed up to MSNBC.  I know this because Steve was invited to appear on Olbermann’s show several weeks ago and they couldn’t do it from Burlington — Steve would have had to travel to New York or Boston to have been on the show.

Congratulations, Rachel!

From Olbermann’s leak of the announcement…

Let me answer the key questions in advance:
1) No, she will not be serving as a VeeJay introducing music clips or cartoons.
2) No, I don’t think we have the name of the show chosen yet. She wanted to use “Countdown With Keith Olbermann” and I said, that’s where I draw the line.
3) No, the format isn’t set, though there have been a lot of discussions out there and they have all centered on how to best allow her to both give her laser-quality insights while soliciting the opinions of others.
4) Yes, I had something to do with it.
5) Yes, you had something to do with it.
6) Yes, this is why I never really responded to any of the 41,754 comments that all pretty much read “And get Rachel her own show, nitwit.”
7) No, I’m not sure it will replay later in the evening but I bloody well hope so.
Yes, I did like the description of her in The Nation: “Everything about her radiates competence and a deft, bright careerism.”