Maddow catalogued a darkly funny series of 'personal triumphs' — from Jack Abramoff installing his corrupt crony at the Department of Interior, to KFC replacing the bun on a bacon sandwich with pieces of fried chicken, to Al Capone building a crime empire in Chicago. All of these people had dreamed big, worked hard, and achieved what they set out to do. The line 'some dreams are bad dreams' was the fulcrum of the entire speech. It challenged the uncritical celebration of ambition and achievement that characterizes most commencement addresses. Maddow was not arguing against dreaming or hard work, but insisting that the content of the dream matters as much as the effort put into achieving it. In a culture that fetishizes hustle and disruption, she was asking the Smith graduates to pause and evaluate the moral quality of their aspirations.