First, Rachel Maddow clearly rocks. And hard.

Second, the bloggers in pajamas slur is a long-standing straw man. As Jane Hamsher recently noted, top liberal bloggers are some of the best educated people in the political cohort. Attire has no bearing on accuracy or clarity of analysis.

I’ve spent time blogging in my pajamas. I’m comfortable to admit it. When I worked from my apartment as a consultant between the Dodd and Begich campaigns, I would often not leave my home for the entire work day. In those situations, it was totally understandable for me to stay in comfortable clothes and yes…gasp…even pajamas. What’s the big deal? Attire during work is no more disqualifying of quality or the moral ability to do good analysis of political events than chain smoking. I don’t recall anyone getting their skivvies in a twist over Woodward and Bernstein filling the Washington Post offices with smoke during their Watergate investigation. Nor have I ever heard political reporters who pile into the bar at the Hotel Fort Des Moines during caucus season bemoaning their lack of professionalism because they spend much of the Iowa winter drunk.

But I sometimes write in my pajamas, so what do I know?