Rachel Maddow Slams Email Witch Hunt

Rachel Maddow has become caught up in a right-wing think tank's apparent vendetta against professors with a whiff of the left about them. The Michigan Mackinac Center is demanding personal emails written by labor professors in the state system that mention "Wisconsin," "Madison," Wisconsin Gov. "Scott Walker"—and "Maddow"—in an apparent attempt to track down teachers' comments on the battle over union rights in Wisconsin. The "latest incarnation of this breed of conservatism weirdly involves this show—or at least my last name," Maddow said. "How's that 'leave me alone personal liberty thing' working out for you?" she zinged in an apparent dig at Tea Party philosophy, using Sarah Palin-speak.

The hunt is being pursued by those "busy selling the idea that conservatives really just want to leave people alone," she adds. The think tank FOIA demand comes on the heels of a similar demand by Wisconsin's Republican Party last week for emails by professors in the Wisconsin university system. Maddow believes she has been targeted because she highlighted a controversial Michigan bill that would allow an official to dissolve a town in the event of a financial emergency. She said she contacted the Mackinac Center directly for a chat, but they refused to speak to her. For more on the Wisconsin GOP email controversy, click here. (More Rachel Maddow stories.)