Maddowisms

Words and phrases Rachel finds in pop culture or makes up to explain things more clearly, including the names of her show's segments.

This is probably why my son likes her so much. She speaks his language and she makes him laugh. I love it that she makes him think.

I'm naming them Maddowisms.

Here they are for your edification and enlightenment, in no particular order:

• When the weird get going, the going gets weird. November 6, 2009, MSNBC TRMS
  
• Life During Wartime - Yeah! A part of Rachel's radio show is back and on her TV show! Since we're in two wars, this segment is very appropriate and timely. She used to begin every radio show with news from Iraq or Afghanistan and "life during wartime".
• Fringey McFringerson - Rachel's name for the far-right wing-nuts who are so far right that they are the people on the fringe of the conservatives.
  
• Newtraction - Newt Gingrich's way of saying something ill advised then retracting it, then retracting the retraction, and then sometimes rewording the original statement to mean nearly the same thing it originally meant before all the retractions. Introduced in May 2009 when Newt Gingrich began reappearing on the TV machine as another GOP has-been.
• Moment of Geek - a new segment on TRMS introduced in late May 2009 celebrating the geeks,dorks and nerds of the world when we do something newsworthy.
  
  First moment of geek: Geography and land marks of North Korea developed by a graduate student using Google's mapping tools, his own experiences visiting North Korea and the input of lots of other people who had visited North Korea.
• Cocktail Moment - very cool tidbits shared by Rachel at the end of a show that might be discussed at cocktail parties, including the first actual cocktails made on the show with Master Mixologist Dale Degroff. He made some cocktails in celebration of St. Patrick's Day on the March 17, 2009 show. Rachel's biggest thrill...she personally got to shake Dale Degroff's cocktail shaker.
• Gah - something to say in total frustration from being unable to articulate language.
  
  Gifted to Rachel by Ana Marie Cox on Tuesday, February 24, 2009 when Rachel was speechless over Governor Bobby Jindal's equation of the federal response to Hurricane Katrina as the benchmark for federal government response in general. Governor Jindal gave the Republican rebuttal to President Obama's address to a joint session of Congress that night, his NOT state of the union address. Jindal's response was abysmal at best and often just stupid. He's smarter than he appeared that night. He's the governor of my state and he is a smart guy, but he messed up that performance so badly that his hopes of Presidential politics may be over completely, or at least postponed for 8 years. It will give people a chance to forget this debacle.
• Conservadems - Created in March 2009. Moderate to conservative Democrats in the Senate who have formed their own caucus in an unfathomable effort to slow down the Obama administration's agenda and policies. Sen. Mark Begich of Alaska says they aren't together to join with the Republicans but to do what is right for their states and the country with policies that aren't rubber stamps of one side or the other. There goal is smart policy. We'll see...
• Speak-O - a spoken typo. Created by Rachel on February 27, 2009
• Ginormous - Rachel's word for "gigantic enormous".
  Definition: huge.
• Bullpucky - Rachel's sensor-friendly, on-air word for "bullshit".
• Dorknozzle - an asshole who thinks s/he knows what s/he is talking about, but absolutely has no clue so covers it up with bullshit.
  
  
  
• Lame-itude - anything that can be described as lame or weak.
• Weak in Review - A segment with Kent Jones reviewing all of the lame-itude going on in the news all week. There is a lot of lame stuff going on!
• Quackitude - "Lame Duck Watch, because somebody's got to do it"; especially of outgoing President George W. Bush during the Obama transition period.
  
  As of November 25, 2008, now with more quack:)
  
  The Lame Duck Watch segment ended on January 19, 2009 with President Bush's last full day in office. This 8 year headache is finally over!
• TV Machine - Rachel's phrase for "television".
• Internet Machine - Rachel's phrase for the internet. Other terms for the internet: the internets and the interwebs. Origin of "the internets" came from inept members of Congress. I'm not sure where "the interwebs" came from.
• Google Machine - Rachel's phrase for the Google search engine.
• Scrub, Rinse, Repeat - "Because this is going to take awhile." The new segment of Rachel's MSNBC show about the Obama administration cleaning up the huge mess the Bush administration made out of government. Segment began on January 21, 2009.
• Rubinomics - [rue-bin-om-iks] - noun [Etymology: The Rachel Maddow Show, the economics of the Clinton administration's Fmr. Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin]
  
  def.: the ardent embrace of balanced budgets, zero deficits, deregulation, and free trade as routes to prosperity.
• Joementum - Joe Lieberman's momentum in the Senate to retain his important chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. Should he be removed? Some say yes, some say no. I say yes. He hasn't done enough to investigate the government's failed response to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, where over 1,000 American people lost their lives. It's inexcusable. Rachel says yes as well for similar reasons and begs an answer to the question, "What do you have to do to these Democrats to make them mad enough to punish your bad behavior?". Joe still has his seat and we still don't have an answer to that question.
• Holy Mackerel Stories - The Ms. Information segment of Rachel's MSNBC show where her true geekiness and quirkiness come through. Some stories are "Under Reported" and some are not. She reports on stories that may be obscure but extremely interesting. Sometimes they are heart-warming, sometimes they are sad, sometimes they make you angry and sometimes they make you laugh.
• Talk Me Down - the segment of Rachel's MSNBC show when she is out on a figurative ledge about an issue and needs to be talked down off of it.
  
  Talking her down is a very tough job and now two people have talked her down completely so far: attorney Scott Turow about the Illinois Governor, Rob Blagojevich's federal corruption case. Scott convinced Rachel that Blagojevich is going down. Second is Lawrence O'Donnell about the GOP in Congress telegraphing future trouble because they asked to put off Timothy Geitner's Senate confirmation hearing until Jan. 21, 2009, the day after Barack Obama's inauguration. See "Talking Rachel Down" for videos of people who meet the challenge.
  
  Really smart people and anxiety go together like peas and carrots.
• Just Enough - the segment of Rachel's MSNBC show where Kent Jones gives her just enough pop culture so she can be allowed out in public. Rachel also describes Kent as her answer to Xanax, in particular, the turkey sound.
• Crisitunity - a crisis opportunity. June 2009
• Frenemy - friendly enemy. From pop culture and now part of urbandictionary.com

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