srtOnlineMedia.com

Rachel Maddow, MSNBC’s popular intellectual host, just concluded an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit in the lead-up to her talk Sunday at South by Southwest (we’ll be there, unless it’s too mobbed to get in).

Maddow showed off her thoughtful levelheadedness answering questions about MSNBC’s coverage decisions and, of course, politics.

Some of the most popular questions are those Maddow didn’t get to, or possibly dodged, such as why MSNBC hasn’t offered more coverage of Bradley Manning and what the liberal host’s biggest beef with President Obama is.

One user criticized the clip Maddow showed from Rand Paul’s filibuster of Obama’s nomination of John Brennan to be head of the CIA. Paul’s 13-hour filibuster ended only when he said he could no longer wait to satisfy some basic human (bathroom) needs. The clip Maddow aired showed Paul arguing that because Hitler was elected democratically, it was important to limit the power of government.

Here’s Maddow:

I hear you about the reductive frustration of pulling out the Hitler references from Rand Paul’s marathon, but I don’t regret that decision. … There is almost nothing closer to my heart in politics than to see Congress asserting its rightful oversight role in national security and war instead of deferring to executive power. And! But! … It’s too bad that Senator Paul … doesn’t always have a clear grasp of the issue he’s talking about. And he makes Hitler references. Which is a little bit like peeing in the pool. He undercuts the potential power of this otherwise important thing that he did — with bad argument, sometimes bad facts, and occasional bad faith.

Check out the rest for yourself, and stay tuned for our coverage of her talk and the rest of what goes on when thousands of tech makers and users converge in one small city.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.