The Rachel Maddow Show Blog

On today's show David Bender, host of Politically Direct and Rachel's political guru, will be calling in from Netroots Nation in Austin, Texas to let us know what's happening at the left blog world's prom.  And then Iraq expert Juan Cole stops by to talk about whether or not Bush has really agreed to a timetable for troop withdrawals in Iraq.

Good morning/afternoon/evening TRMS fans! On today's show Rachel will be talking to Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean about his southern state voter drive launching today in Crawford, Texas. No word yet on whether or not he had time to clear some brush. Also, Rachel welcomes Ben Smith from Politico.com back to the show. They will be talking about John McCain's poor and potentially damaging sense of "humor."

Afghanistan is back on the front pages. And that is good for Obama because he's the one who put it there. He is leading the discussion. But it's also bad news in terms of what is actually happening on the ground-- violence, and lots of it.

Listen: MADDOW: Obama puts Afghanistan back on the front pages

Why is Obama meeting with Evan Bayh and Sam Nunn? Rachel tells you why they do not get her much coveted seal of approval.

Listen: MADDOW: Obama is holding meetings with potential VPs who get the TRMS thumbs down

Rachel is back! Rachel is back! On tonight's show Rachel will be talking to David Bender about a sneaky tactic to hit McCain with scandals from his past and Joe Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund and author of “Bomb Scare:The History and Future of Nuclear Weapons”, about our shifting Iran policy.

This is David Bender's last day at the TRMS helm, Rachel returns tomorrow grateful to cast aside her funny TV clothes. 

On today's show David will be talking to Paul Rieckhoff, the executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, about Barack Obama's push to define himself and his Iraq War policy announced in a speech today.

Then, David talks to Public Enemy's Chuck D about the MLB All Star game tonight, politics and how much cooler Chuck is than the rest of us pleebs.