''I do worry if being a pundit is a worthwhile thing to be. Yeah, I'm the unlikely cable news host. But before that I was the unlikely Rhodes scholar. And before that I was the unlikely kid who got into Stanford. And then I was the unlikely lifeguard. You can always cast yourself as unlikely when you're fundamentally alienated in your worldview. It's a healthy approach for a commentator.''

Dr. Rachel Maddow, the host of MSNBC's ''Rachel Maddow Show,'' speaking about her journey, as a self-described butch lesbian, from being an ACT-UP AIDS activist to being television's newest successful news show host. (New York Magazine)