Former Bush speech writer David Frum appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC) tonight and accused openly gay political commentator Rachel Maddow of inciting the same kind of violence through satire and humor that John McCain's campaign has been doing lately in its efforts to paint Obama as a terrorist (or terrorist sympathizer).

Then he spent the rest of the interview backpedaling as Rachel challenged his statement, and he tried to pretend that's not what he said.

Since we're not a news site (although we sometimes cover politics and news if it's presented as entertainment, ala Saturday Night Live), I'm blogging about this not so much because of the issue being debated, but because of how riveting this argument is to watch, and how well I thought Rachel responded to David's comments.

This is the kind of raw (if polite) argument we haven't seen on TV since Rosie and Elizabeth Hasselbeck on The View — only this time, the stakes are higher, there's less emotion, and the lesbian clearly won the debate. … continue reading

The word on the lesbian cable news street is that left-leaning Rosie O’Donnell is in discussions to join MSNBC for a nightly news show.

Nothing is final, but I’ll wager that if execs are talking to the New York Times, it’s all but decided. And in retrospect, it makes a lot of sense that Rosie would find another forum for her liberal lectures following her yearlong stint on The View, during which she regularly dissed President Bush, dished on 9/11 conspiracy theories and lengthily discussed gay marriage.

UPDATE: [Nov. 8] The MSNBC deal appears to be off. The New York Times has the story here and here. … continue reading