Rachel Maddow, Mixologist

I love Rachel Maddow. Her show is like a huge glass of cool water to a man dying of thirst in the desert. She is the first cable news host since Aaron Brown to have serious discussions instead of shoutfests and to demand her guests base what they say on facts. Seems so obvious, but in the bizzaro world of the Bush era, the obvious got buried.

I concluded not long ago that to succeed in cable news you needed to become a buffoon. Fox of course blazed the trail on this one, but CNN and MSNBC soon followed. Witness the transformation of Lou Dobbs from boring, buttoned-down business guy to raving railer against illegal immigration and corporate greed. And Olderman, well I do enjoy him, but let's be honest: he's a buffoon.

Rachel is not a buffoon. Who would have thought such a simple thing would be such a breakthrough?

But I digress. This blog is about food and drink, and, yes, this post is about just that. Not only is Rachel a boss news analyst and host, she can mix a mean cocktail. Check this out.