"You can put her on talk to just about anybody, about just about anything, and she comes across as cheerful and hopeful and likable," says Bill Wolff, VP of primetime programming at MSNBC. In the testerone-toxic, b*mbastic world of political punditry, Rachel Maddow--MSNBC political analyst, radio host, "Campaign Asylum" video blogger and Rhodes Scholar--is a beacon of quiet wit, refined deportment and intellectually agility. Which has endeared her to millions of "Countdown with Keith Olberman" viewers and "Rachel Maddow Show" listeners."

Rachel:

"The secret to arguing with people who believe you don't deserve first-class citizenship is to know that they're wrong, to know why they're wrong, but not actually give a hoot about their opinion," she explains. "Arguing with anti-gay demagogues in the media is not the same as arguing at Thanksgiving at home. In the media, you're actually performing for an audience: the goal is to get that audience to like you and agree with you more than the other guy. Joe Scarborough and Pat Buchanan and Tony Perkins aren't ever going to stop wanting me d*ad or closeted, but if I can debate them in a way that makes an audience like me and hate them, we win."

HUZZAH! SHE GETS IT!

I ADOTE this woman. I'd stalk her, but my wife really frowns on my getting involved in those sorts of things.