According to the New York Times, in an article today about overnight pundit sensations.

The piece focuses on Peter Freire, the 26-year-old managing editor of the American Spectator and how he's being groomed by the right-wing Noise Machine to be a pundit. The Times notes Freire's background prior to joining the Spectator in January consisted of “a string of internships and short-term jobs.”

And yet now he's making the cable rounds dispensing wisdom. Sorta weird right? Not really, the Times suggests, because Maddow “is 35 and rose from nowhere to become a top-rated headliner on MSNBC.”

If by “nowhere,” the Times is referring to her four-year career as a host on Air America, her work as an election season analyst on MSNBC and the fact that Maddow is a former Rhodes Scholar, than yeah, I guess her path and Freire's path are similar.