Phillips did not disown the Marianas Islands publicity campaign before Maddow sprung her trap. After Maddow explained the State Departments findings, Phillips pleaded that is wasn't fair to pick one moment in a 25 year career to focus upon, and make it seem that he was a jerk based on that one instance. Hardly a sterling defense of an action to take pride in.

Rachel pivoted nicely to Phillips involvement in the 2002 Saxby Chambliss campaign for Senate, in which Phillips crew ran that slimy ad that morphed Max Clelands picture into Osama Bin Laden, and claimed Cleland, who lost three limbs in Vietnam, did not have courage. This pretty much devolved into a back and forth with Phillips trying to talk up the war on terror, with Maddow trying to get him to admit that Cleland did have courage after all.

The biggest highlight for me came about 2 minutes before the wrap up, when Maddow told Phillips straight to his face that she thought he was a fearmonger and she hoped his stock in trade would dry up and go away. There is no way I can hope to do it justice from memory... but the way she went after him, trying to shame him personally for being such a jerk was just inspiring.

Someone hurry up and get this video onto You Tube, because there is no way to adequately describe this interview. It was Maddow at her finest.

Update: Ministryoftruth in comments recalls the verbiage Maddow used in the wrapup. She told Phillips to his face "You are a parasite". And then she hoped his enterprise would fail... right to his face. It was all delivered with Maddow's typical aplomb, which from my perspective is just hard to fathom, but which makes her so freaking brilliant.

UPDATE II: Here is a link to the MSNBC footage: Part 1. And Part 2. Part 1 is pretty standard fare as far as Maddow interviews go, which is brilliant. But the real fireworks come in segment number 2 from my perspective.

Update III: Part 1:

Part 2: