Congratulations, Rachel!

Terrific news this afternoon, courtesy of Keith Olbermann:

Happy Now?

The network will be formally announcing this tomorrow, but I am pleased to inform you in this fully authorized leak, that as of Monday, September 8, our mutual friend Ms. Maddow will become host of her own show, on MSNBC, at 9 PM Eastern Time.

And, yes, we will be making another unofficial announcement of this on tonight's edition of Countdown. My guest to analyze the Rachel Maddow news will be Rachel Maddow.

All of us at the Northwest Progressive Institute extend our warmest congratulations to Rachel, who truly deserves this opportunity. To say we're thrilled is an understatement - this is simply wonderful.

Rachel was just in Seattle over the weekend for AM 1090's "We the People" forum, and received perhaps the loudest accolades of all of the hosts when she was introduced by Lee Callahan, for good reason: she is a beacon of hope in an otherwise dreary cable TV news landscape.

She's been a guest, then a star analyst and fill in host for Keith Olbermann...but now she's a network anchor. She's got her own show after only five months of drawing a paycheck from MSNBC.

How'd that happen? Any ideas, Keith?

4) Yes, I had something to do with it.
5) Yes, you had something to do with it.
6) Yes, this is why I never really responded to any of the 41,754 comments that all pretty much read "And get Rachel her own show, nitwit."

By supporting Rachel, we've helped convince one of the biggest media conglomerates in the United States to give a young progressive woman her own primetime newscast. What a victory!

Words cannot express our happiness at this moment. Hurrah for Rachel Maddow! And hurrah for greater diversity at MSNBC!