Lots o’ fun at the WaPo chats today. Tucker Carlson is still whining about the time Jon Stewart dissed him:
Falls Church: Tucker: saw you on Reliable Sources talking about Cramer v. Stewart. You know, the whole world is not divided up into the vast left-wing conspiracy and the brave moral right that fights against it.
There are legitimate journalistic questions about the role of a financial channel and how much cheer leading it should do or if the interviewers sometimes treat business leaders like Access Hollywood treats celebrities or if they should be in the business of investigating corrupt businesses and business practices.
But to dismiss those questions as an Obama surrogate hit job… No wonder the majority of the country thinks the right is out of touch with reality.
Tucker Carlson:
……Stewart’s answer invariably is: I’m a comedian. That’s not my job. But that’s a dodge, and increasingly unsustainable. In fact, Stewart is a player in the national conversation. He seeks to influence politics and policy, and he succeeds. It’s time for him to admit that, and be held to the same standards everyone else at his level (including Jim Kramer) lives by.
and
Jon Stewart: Methinks Jon does a much better job than the traditional media in holding folks accountable for what they put out there. He is right, he is a comedian – and he tries to show (in my opinion) how easy it is to debunk most of what is presented if one wanted to. Most MSM shows, now that Russert is no longer in the gotcha game, rarely calls the so-called experts and politicos on anything. They just listen, over maybe a partial debate and move on. Rather than saying and presenting the facts from their own mouths that say – uh… wait a minute here you’re wrong and misleading.
Tucker Carlson: I agree with you to this extent: If a phony like Jon Stewart is conducting the best interviews out there, the mainstream press is in deep trouble.
Stewart a is “phony” who doesn’t live up to “his own standards”? Is a a political discussion or “Catcher In the Rye”?
But Tucker Carlson makes a fool of himself all the time, so that’s hardly news. What’s most exciting to me is that Emily Yoffe of “Dear Prudence” is on at 1. She wrote what may be the most absurd piece in the history of the Washington Post, a hit piece on Al Gore about global warming. The beauty of this — and what makes it so absurd — is that she has admitted that she tests a first-grade level in math, yet she saw fit to comment on a largely quantitative theory (see Somerby for more).
There’s very little chance she’ll take my question, but I thought I’d give it a try:
Dear Prudence,
An advice columnist I know wrote an absurd piece attacking Al Gore for his research of global warming (“Gloom and Doom in A Sunny Day”, Washington Post, Monday, June 25, 2007). She did this despite the fact that global warming arguments are quantitative and she is a self-described math moron. What should I tell her?
b-psycho
Exactly! Though not for the reason that Tucker thinks…
From what I can tell, though part of Stewart’s occasional anger is at the story itself, much of it actually is because he realizes it isn’t his job and is offended that he has to even go there. Basically "WTF, the real media people should be asking these questions, why are they being more of a joke than my JOKES?"
Snail
That’s still my favorite Beatles song, advice column notwithstanding.
Violet
b-psycho has it right. Jon Stewart is pissed off that he is the only person out there with any kind of a platform who is asking questions like this. The media are a bunch of lame-ass toadies who are much more concerned about access to sources than telling stories. Ridiculous.
And "phony." WTF? In what way is Jon Stewart phony? I do not think that word means what he thinks it means.
b-psycho
That Billy Wharton Q&A just ended. Transcript is up.
At one point he said he wanted banking nationalized and run like a utility company. How he expects such a concentration of power to not be corrupted like all the other ones I would’ve liked to hear, but I didn’t get that one submitted in time.
MBunge
It’s bad enough for Tucker to still be seething about Stewart pantsing him on Crossfire so many years ago. But the fact he hasn’t the brains or emotional maturity to even TRY and disguise how pissed off he still is, is almost unbelievable.
Mike
sgwhiteinfla
The funny thing is that conservative jack asses like Tucker Carlson always call out the mainstream press as if he wasn’t a part of the mainstream press. Hell he was on CNN for crying out loud. Its like Bill O and Hannity whining when they have the highest ratings of all cable news networks. At what point do these clowns realize that they ARE the mainstream press? Talk about a victim mentality. Now the question is will Jon Stewart go ahead and give Carlson the attention its so obvious he is hoping for or will he totally ignore the douche and let him die on the vine. As much as it might help the bow tied one I am hoping that Stewart goes a head and puts the nail in his coffin.
Incertus
@Violet:
This is Tucker Carlson we’re talking about here. He lives in Bizzarro world–Stewart is phony in his world. Then again, George W. Bush was a great president in his view as well–at least at one time.
Media Browski
Yoffee is also the moran who once advised a woman who wrote in about people pressuring her to have children when she didn’t want any that she was making the wrong decision and should have babies. This from an advice columnist?!
Anyway, she’s a leading reason I quit reading Slate, and later the Post (with the exception of Saint Froomkin).
The piece she did on climate change, the "You liberals are scaring the children so please stop talking about it" piece, was just plain sad.
Robert Johnston
@MBunge:
I never, ever wanted to think about Tucker Carlson being pantsed. Sometimes words should be chosen so that literal interpretations thereof aren’t extremely disturbing.
The Populist
1) Tucker wears a fucking bow tie. Idiot.
2) Who the fuck IS Tucker Carlson?
3) Why is it that most guys named "Tucker" are republican?
4) His show tanked bigtime and HE thinks HE knows what’s entertaining?
5) Jon Stewart is honest, whether you agree or not. Tucker is a whore who spouts useless talking points. Basically, he’s a poor man’s Glen Beck (anybody who has seen Tucker in an interview would see what I mean – he’s not Republican but an independent, blah blah blah).
6) Tucker rhymes with mother fucker and other words I won’t go into here. If that isn’t enough…he wears a damn bow-tie!
7) The man BRAGGED he was hit on by a gay man and then BEAT THE GUY UP. He seemed so proud of it especially when he said he brought his friends along. So hurting people who thought you were gay is perfectly okay in his world? What set him off? He’s apparently not a jock so I don’t get it. So what, Tucker? A gay man hit on you! Take it as a compliment and move on you jerk. Nooooo….he had to go find his buddies and beat the poor guy down AND HE’S PROUD OF THAT!?!?!?! Wow…makes me wonder what lurks in Tucker’s closet other than a collection of ugly bow ties.
JenJen
Carlson’s right about Jon Stewart becoming more and more a part of the political discourse, but he’s right for all the wrong reasons… in the sense that, he still doesn’t understand why.
During that wonderful appearance on Crossfire, when questioned by Carlson why he didn’t feel a "responsibility" to throw hardballs at John Kerry when given the chance to interview him, Stewart uttered a line that, to me, is an unforgettable political touchstone that should always remind us of the weirdness that was Election 2004:
"But, you’re on CNN. The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls."
Crank Yankers may be gone, but nothing has changed, and the Villagers still don’t get it.
The Populist
In college Tucker was the nerd boy who wanted so badly to be a jockstrap.
He looks like that guy who sits/stands in the corner by himself at parties looking smug and so sure he knows everything. Once he has the opportunity to correct your point of view, he goes to town by turning his smug-o-meter to 10.
TenguPhule
pantsed and buggered with a concrete dildo.
The Populist
The right have really set their sites on Jon Stewart of late. Do they not get that UNLIKE their "stars" one doesn’t see Jon Stewart as an asshat like El Rushbo or Sean Vanity.
When you set your sites on somebody who gets the issues and can debate circles around you his popularity will only grow.
Good luck righties. While you are at it, find a clue since nobody in your circle of deep thinkers seems to have one.
The Populist
Tucker is like a Ken Doll. I bet he has zero genitalia and that’s why he wears the old man bow ties.
AhabTRuler
Fixeteth.
I was originally going to say a Saturn V booster, but then I realized he was not worth the waste of such a masterpiece of engineering.
scruncher
No one is as sanctimonious as Tucker Carlson. He has some nerve using that pejorative on Stewart.
Joel
Back in the bad old days, my internet reading was limited to Slate and Salon. I mean, I like Gross, Saletan and Greenwald, but… Yikes.
Funkhauser
Once again, arguing with people at the Washington Post is like getting into fights with crazy bums on the Metro. They know what they know.
And Tucker Carlson is a walking, talking [shitpile] example of failing upward.
The Moar You Know
@MBunge: My best friend and guitar player back in high school went to school with the guy. He showed up at a lot of our parties. I spent enough time talking to him to not like him on a personal level.
I have no problem believing that he can hold a petty grudge for decades. He was a whiny shitbag nerd back then, the kind of guy who gets into situations where he was just begging to have his ass kicked, but he was so nerdy and pathetic that you realized he’d fold up like a cheap tent after the first punch. A guy like that is no fun to beat up on.
A while back he was promulgating some story about him beating up on some gay guy back in the day. Let me assure you, as someone who has had a chance and the motivation to take a poke at him, that the only way Tucker Carlson was going to successfully "beat anyone up" would be if they were a quadraplegic in a wheelchair, and even then I’d only be willing to give Tucker 60% odds of winning.
Joey Maloney
Dear Prudence,
Won’t you open up your eyes?
TenguPhule
Tucker Carlson is still full of poo.
MoeLarryAndJesus
Widdle Tucker misses the good old days on "Crossfire" before mean old Jon spoiled the party. Awwww…
Maybe Tucker can wangle a guest spot on "Lost" one of these days. Because he had his shot at Stewart, and he lost.
Ash Can
@The Moar You Know: That’s so ironic. I was just thinking, before I read your post, that Tucker Carlson strikes me as a high school freshman you don’t see that much but often hear, whining from inside his own locker, "C’mon, you guys, let me out. This isn’t funny."
..
Oh, and any "advice columnist" who "advises" a childless-by-choice person to have kids anyway should be fired. On the spot. With no severance, no benefits, no nothing. Just ass hitting pavement, period.
dadanarchist
Fuck, Tucker Carlson is dumb.
He already got himself whupped once by Jon Stewart, getting his show canceled in the process, and now he’s calling him out.
Apparently wearing a bowtie past 40 and flailing around on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ hasn’t provided Carlson with enough embarrassment.
Desargues
Doug, that was awesome, man. Pwned, beyotch!
rumpole
Stewart destroyed his career. He doesn’t wear bow ties any more, does he? (They’re "really hard to tie"). All the times that I’ve seen him on TV he either has on no tie, or a "normal" one.
He should have found out by now that identifying oneself as an "ideologue" is not going to be exactly helpful to his career. That’s not exactly a banner advertising insightful analysis (on either side).
Carlson is still bitter. He is also dead wrong on almost everything, which means there’s only one activity that he would be useful for: stock picking. Dartboard, meet monkey. (and bet against the monkey).
ChrisB
We had an informal poll several years ago and Tucker Carlson easily won the "Most Likely to be Raped in Prison" contest.
So the dildo, the Buick, or the Saturn rocket might not be the worst alternative for him.
r€nato
I don’t know that Stewart is the one who destroyed his career (could simply be that he fell out of favor…), but Carlson’s naked bitterness towards Stewart sure makes one think that Carlson believes it.
AhabTRuler
Paginf C S Lewis! Paging Mr. C S Lewis!
Xanthippas
I think describing that as a "hit piece" is giving Yoffe too much credit. It’s just a dumb piece (I said as much at the time.) Personally, I’d be inclined to ask her if she still maintains her dismissive tone, given that the scientific consensus regarding global warming has only continued to solidify since she wrote that column almost two years ago.
ironranger
I saw the Crossfire segment at the time. I was alone, except for the cat, loudly cheering for Jon Stewart. Finally, someone was pointedly telling media pundits they were pathetic & why. It was a beautiful moment.
Today I read Tucker’s wapo chat & he says he honestly still doesn’t understand what Stewart was saying. Astonishing. Is Tucker & company deliberately obtuse or truly incapable of processing the points Stewart was making?
MikeJ
Tucker’s just upset the CNBC whore is getting all the attention. He’ll do anything to get back in the spot light, like standing in front of a train or Jon Stewart.
If Tucker had his own show on TV we he’d disappear back into obscurity, just like he did last time.
Cat Lady
Tucker Carlson is a seriously insecure and jealous little man. His voice in his rants about Stewart is a total tell – it gets high and fast. I will pray to Jeebus every day that he goes on TDS. That would be the last anyone would ever hear or see him again. Ergo, won’t happen. But a girl can dream.
gil mann
Anyone would be sensitive about having been publically taken down a notch, but don’t forget, Tucker hasn’t worn the bow tie since the Crossfire incident; Stewart not only got him cancelled, he made him change his clothes.
I’d have a hard time coping with that level of emasculation, and I’m a rollerblading vegetarian with a collection of "Buffy" memorabilia.
Kilkee
I saw Tucker make his famous comments about beating up the gay guy who hit on him. he was extremely proud of himself, even as he was admitting that, after the enounter, he had to go and "get a few friends" to confront the guy. I suspect that Tucker stood by and played with himself while his buddies did the job for him. He is the most loathsome of a loathsome breed.
Tom G
Proof that Tucker is incredibly insecure:
After the well-known CNN interview with Jon Stewart, he brought on Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog. If you watch THAT show, it’s extremely obvious that Tucker brought on a literal PUPPET to do the Jon Stewart interview that Tucker wanted to do, but that Jon didn’t let him get away with.
In Tucker Carlson’s universe, he won the Jon Stewart discussion because he pwned Triumph – the stand-in for Jon Stewart.
I wish I was joking. Watch the interview with Triumph and judge for yourself. (I believe it aired Monday 11/1/2004.)
gil mann
Robert Smigel tells the story of how, when he went on Bill O’Reilly’s show as Triumph, they edited out all the "for me to poop on"-type punchlines but left the fawning setups intact ("Dees ees a great show!").
The dude couldn’t handle mock-dissent from an inanimate object. Now that’s insecure.
jim
Tucker The Gay-Basher is still the princess of butthurt every time he gets on the gogglebox. He simply doesn’t care how stupid he looks, as long as the checks don’t bounce – the Wingnut Welfare Ethos in action.
*
Tom G @ 6:58 –
American journalism’s finest hour: a sock-puppet interviewing a sock-puppet … & I bet they still had to edit it to make Carlson look good.