Kudos to Rachel Maddow

Rachel Maddow did an excellent job tonight in talking about Barack Obama's huge mistake: having Rick Warren give the invocation at the inauguration. It was her opening story, and it was passionate, personal and so on-the-money regarding the politics. It was a thorough report which included an interview with Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco, the first time Rachel has spoken with a Prop 8 player since its passage, and the tone was pitch perfect. Rachel at her best, as she is with all the important issues.

As many of you know, I had a sometimes difficult discussion with Rachel when she came on the show just last week about what I and others have seen as poor coverage of gay issues. (I also interviewed Pam Spaulding who'd criticized Rachel for her Huckabee interview.) But I hoped that that discussion -- always respectful if uncomfortable at times, since we've know each other for several years -- was something we would both think about. I know I did, a lot, and perhaps Rachel did as well.

Only last night she was seeming to trivialize this Rick Warren story and I noted it on the show today, comparing her mention of it to Anderson Cooper's thorough coverage and his interview with Hilary Rosen, who was very powerful in articulating the problem with Obama's choice. Pam noted Rachel's "lame toss off" last night as well (though also has now heaped praise on her in an update.) But today, the story blew up bigger, running in heavy rotation on cable news, and it heated up on the liberal blogs, Rachel got the magnitude of it, and I'm glad. I'll post the video once it's up.

UPDATE: Here is the video.