Over at WowOwoW.com (The Women on the Web) Lesley Stahl has an entertaining interview with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow that everyone should check out. Maddow discusses a variety of topics including the political leanings of Chris Matthews, who many on the right claim to be a liberal based almost solely on his work for former President Jimmy Carter and former House Speaker Tip O'Neill more than two decades ago.

The pertinent portion of the interview picks up with Stahl and Maddow discussing the White House's history of awarding network news interviews on a rotating basis that ended under President Bush and whether or not President Obama would revert back to the practice (emphasis added):

RACHEL: I think it's the right way to do it. I do think that Fox is different than other networks. I mean, I think that it is a bit of a political experiment.

LESLEY: But everybody thinks MSNBC is moving in that direction. That that's exactly what the shift is -- where you are -- that people there are trying to make you into the un-Fox network, the liberal place to go.

RACHEL: Well, if you think about the way that Fox was founded, though – Fox was founded by Roger Ailes. It was created from his perspective as a political operative. His background was as a Republican activist of the highest order. There's no equivalent on MSNBC. I think MSNBC is trying to find hit shows.

LESLEY: Everybody they hire to anchor their shows is distinctly liberal and encouraged to express themselves that way, wouldn't you say?

RACHEL: At MSNBC?

LESLEY: Yes.

RACHEL: Well, I wouldn't call David Shuster a liberal. I would barely call Chris Matthews a liberal. He voted for Bush. And I certainly wouldn't call Joe Scarborough a liberal.

LESLEY: Chris Matthews is a liberal.

RACHEL: Well, Chris Matthews is a Democrat.

LESLEY: He's a liberal.

RACHEL: Chris Matthews – well, you could interview him about it and find out. If Chris Matthews had an Air America radio show, he'd get torn apart by our listeners.

LESLEY: So he doesn't go that far. I see. OK.

RACHEL: No. I wouldn't put Chris and my politics in the same canoe. I think that MSNBC is trying to find hit shows and is trying to be smart and it just seems like a different project than the reason that Fox was built.