Steve Kornacki, Chris Hayes, Rachel Maddow: Promise Kept

[DirkGently]

32. Her incredulous tone has been spot-on.

When things get really outrageous, it all starts to blur together after a while, especially with the Fox wingdings screaming about made-up outrages like FEMA death camps and whatnot.

Rachel's "Are you kidding me?" vibe and her ability to simultaneously accuse and laugh at the absurdity of American conservative politics cuts right to the point. These are absurd times, and absurd people are doing absurd things.

She's the schtickiest of the new triumvirate, but it's usually good schtick. As someone pointed out above, sometimes she hits her punchline a few too many times, and her righteous glee can grate just the slightest bit.

But she's the leader and the breakout star of the network, to be sure. I think what Chris is doing maybe has more potential to hold an audience, because he goes broader -- his panels are fantastic. But apparently his ratings aren't everything MSNBC would like to see, and he's under constant pressure to spice things up.