MSNBC's Rachel Maddow once said that if she wasn't a broadcast host she'd "try to find a way to professionally bully people about what they drink." She'd be good at it!

If you've got some free time this weekend, plus access to booze and maybe some fresh fruit, you should consider watching one of the Maddow instructional cocktail videos floating around the Web. We like two of them in particular, and have mixed five of the seven cocktails described therein repeatedly over the past few weeks. Maybe too repeatedly?

Though she jokes about her lust for booze — the liberal talking head leaves the cherry out of her Manhattan because it displaces too much of the good stuff — her drinks are small by design, with usually around an ounce and a half of liquor. She's also a stickler for fresh fruit and vigorous shaking or stirring.

Here's a good starter video, an illustrated excerpt of Maddow's Air America radio show, in which she describes six classic cocktails:

There's also a good Maddow cocktail video on New York's Grub Street, describing how to make a cocktail based on that old American standby, Applejack.

In the midst of the mass failure of American economic institutions, a pundit could do worse than to develop a sideline in yummy booze. And MSNBC's all-but-official emissary to young liberals should be happy to find herself in the swirl of a bourgeoning trend toward old-fashioned cocktails.