Watch the spin machines whir wildly

Cable networks have changed TV viewing habits of countless Americans, especially during the evening hours. Four of the most skilled performers among the partisan analysts are Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity on FOX News, and Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow on MSNBC.

It should be understood that, when these opinionated gladiators march into the arena, FOX and MSNBC suspend their roles as legitimate “news” networks. Critics will insist there’s not an hour in any day when the two networks are legitimate news sources. Perhaps not, but at least they serve to balance each other. No such balance is found in the ratings, however. Conservative-oriented FOX, thanks largely to O’Reilly, has been drawing about triple the audience of the liberal MSNBC. Both networks have shown significant ratings increases in recent years.

I have an ultra-unscientific explanation for this discrepancy in audience size. It’s based on the fundamental differences between the conservative and liberal personalities. The conservative mind values loyalty; that’s why they’re really big on patriotism and faith. Thus, conservative TV viewers are devoutly FOXian. And to prove their fidelity, they avoid philandering into the MSNBC camp. That would be like defecting to the enemy.

Liberals, by contrast, are less loyal and more curious. Their dedication to diversity allows them to consider divergent views, even Glenn Beck’s, if only for amusement. Liberals also like to prepare for their water-cooler debates by peeking into the FOX camp to see what the enemy is up to. To them, this is not treason; it’s homework.

So as a result, we have everyone watching FOX News and only liberals watching MSNBC, at least according to my amateur analysis. This explains the differences in ratings.

The jocular academic

Of these four opinionated titans, my favorite is Maddow, for several reasons. First, she laughs a lot, and much of what she says is LOL tonic for viewers at the end of their difficult day. On the same evening that the three guys are snarling and interrupting others, Maddow is easy to listen to; she provokes serious reflection among guests and viewers alike.

I also admire Maddow’s wisdom and insight. She has a degree in public policy from Stanford and a doctoral degree in politics from Oxford. Her viewers often forget about her academic bona fides as she romps into her blithe, sarcastic and playful rants.

Because Rachel Maddow was the first openly gay American to become a Rhodes Scholar, and then the first openly gay political analyst to host a prime-time cable TV show, many people wouldn’t be caught dead watching her. As I said, that would be treason to them. But they’re missing the beauty of Maddow’s favorite gambit: excavating video archives and finding sound bites that expose political hypocrisy.

At this, she is a genius.

On her Feb. 1 show, for example, Maddow unleashed stunning archival evidence that Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham once supported cap-and-trade legislation, but now oppose it. She also reported: “On national security, Republicans had no problem with the Bush administration trying terrorism suspects in federal courts. Now that President Obama is doing the same thing, they’ve decided they’re against that, too.”

Maddow revealed that six Republican senators “who originally co-sponsored forming a deficit commission, voted against it once President Obama signed up for the idea … profiles in courage against their own policies.” Four senators once supported the “pay-as-you-go” spending plan, but under Obama they now oppose it.

Maddow’s eloquent conclusion: “This president is not just supporting Republican-friendly policies, he is supporting actual Republicans’ actual policies, and the Republicans are voting no, against their own ideas, just to stick it to him.” She looked at the camera and flashed a sprightly smirk, then a shrug of helplessness … but no winks.

Then, while the boisterous men of FOX flailed away with their sledgehammers, Maddow subtly slipped her stiletto back into its sheath.

John Laird is The Columbian’s editorial page editor. His column of personal opinion appears each Sunday. Reach him at john.laird@columbian.com.