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RachelWatch: Riding the L Train

Today: Melissa Harris-Lacewell, the 9-12 rally, and some good old-fashioned liberalism.

Rump Roast

Rachel started us off by looking at Congressman Joe Wilson (R – South Carolina), who has already made the jump from apologizing to the Far Right Victim Train, announcing that he will not be muzzled.

Other teasacks have jumped on board, shouting about how being crude and incorrect during the President’s address to Congress was secretly heroic and awesome blah blah four legs good two legs better the same thing they always do.

Since she was already talking about the cynical and shouty, Rachel moved on to the 9-12 batfest, which is an authentic populist uprising, provided you count individual corporate lobbying dollars as members of the population.

Rachel then welcomed former Senator Lincoln Chafee (Rhode Island, formerly R, now I) to talk about the possible consequences of letting the froth-mouthed hardline crazyballs conservatives take over the Republican Party and drive the moderates out.

Did the Palmetto Scoop fail to notice that their “I’m with Joe Wilson” T-shirts most closely echo the old “I’m with Stupid” T-shirts?

Or did they just figure that there was no way the purchasers would be able to make the mental leap?

9-12 Angry Men

I’m really asking here: What is it with Glenn Beck and cello music?

And why don’t his viewers notice how bad the fake crying is? I’ve seen better fake crying in high school productions of Romeo and Juliet. The dude gets paid millions of dollars a year — can’t he at least take a Meisner class and learn to make his voice tremble convincingly?

The ever-terrific Melissa Harris-Lacewell of Princeton University dropped by to laser straight through the very premise of the 9-12 rally.

Life During Wartime

Rachel recounted the worrying story of journalist Stephen Farrell and interpreter Sultan Munadi.

The two were kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan and the British commando raid to rescue them resulted in Munadi’s death, as well as that of a British soldier, a Taliban commander, and an Afghan civilian. Munadi’s body was left behind.

The story brings up concerns over the risks journalists take, the media blackouts when they are captured, the conduct of foreign troops in Afghanistan, and the overall problem of having our soldiers over there for years on end.

Stuck in the Middle with You

The President asked 16 conservative Democrats and Senator Joe Lieberman (I – Thin Ice, Connecticut) to meet with him at the White House about health care reform.

Senator Mark Begich (D – Alaska) stopped in and went straight into some overt please-Rachel-don’t-hurt-me groveling before moving on to getting exactly as slippery about the public option as you expected.

Best insight: Rachel sends thank-you notes.

(The interview isn’t killer, but it’s worth watching the end if you want to hear Rachel say “the intersection of Barack Obama and the L word” and then get all giggly.)

The Other L Word

Rachel talked about how much easier – and even beautiful — life can be when someone just admits to being the L word. Let’s hope she inspires a few more politicians to come out of the closet.

Or at least to, you know, buy some really cool sneakers.

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