# What's Tucker Carlson trying to do? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 16, 2009, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-tucker-carlson-trying-to-do/489570 "2009-03-16T00:31:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-tucker-carlson-trying-to-do/489570/1 "2009-03-16T00:31:12Z")
I found [this](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/15/tucker-carlson-rips-jon-s_n_175078.html) very baffling. > [@](#): > > Carlson, appearing on CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” called Stewart a “partisan hack,” just an operative for the Democratic party, who only took on Cramer and CNBC because they criticized President Obama’s budget. Carlson also predicted that Stewart was becoming “so self-serious and sanctimonious that it’s just a matter of time before he becomes unfunny.” Is he still upset about Crossfire? Is this his way of hurting Stewart’s credibility? The only thing I can see happening from this, is that he gets publicity humiliated on Monday and then everyone will forget about him. What is he trying to do? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-tucker-carlson-trying-to-do/489570/2 "2009-03-16T00:33:19Z")
> [@Lakai](#): > > What is he trying to do? Demonstrate that he is pointless and irrelevant by whining like a little girl? ---
**Author:** ![Hugh\_Jass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4da419/32.png) [@Hugh\_Jass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hugh_Jass)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-tucker-carlson-trying-to-do/489570/3 "2009-03-16T00:38:34Z")
> [@Lakai](#): > > What is he trying to do? get a job ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-tucker-carlson-trying-to-do/489570/4 "2009-03-16T00:40:50Z")
> [@Hugh\_Jass](#): > > get a job paid for by covert republican donors. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-tucker-carlson-trying-to-do/489570/5 "2009-03-16T00:52:56Z")
Well he was on an opinion show that was discussing the Cramer/Stewart interview, so it’s not like he went out of his way to mention him. But yea, I’d say he’s still pissed about the Crossfire thing. But then, a lot of people would still be holding a grudge if they were told that the job they had been doing for several years was “hurting America” and a good chunk of America appeared to agree. Also, Stewart made several biting remarks about his bow-tie. ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-tucker-carlson-trying-to-do/489570/6 "2009-03-16T01:51:57Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Well he was on an opinion show that was discussing the Cramer/Stewart interview, so it’s not like he went out of his way to mention him. But yea, I’d say he’s still pissed about the Crossfire thing. But then, a lot of people would still be holding a grudge if they were told that the job they had been doing for several years was “hurting America” and a good chunk of America appeared to agree. > > Also, Stewart made several biting remarks about his bow-tie. With all due respect, he did say that they were hard to tie. It’s just sour grapes. Jon Stewart went on to his show, gave him nearly the same lecture, and pretty much ended his cushy little gig. Poor lil guy.☹ On the other hand, if anyone would know from partisan hackery it’d be Tucker. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-tucker-carlson-trying-to-do/489570/7 "2009-03-16T01:58:06Z")
> [@](#): > > Carlson, appearing on CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” _snort_ It’s can’t be too “reliable” if they’d have a douchebag like Carlson on. [hijack]I loved that Stewart called Joe Scarborough, “Doucheborough”[/hijack] There’s no way that Carlson can hurt Stewart’s credibility. It’s like a gnat trying to hurt a Great Dane. Carlson is just being a dick because, well, because Carlson’s a dick. A vindictive dick. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-tucker-carlson-trying-to-do/489570/8 "2009-03-16T02:28:44Z")
> [@Lakai](#): > > What is he trying to do? Become a Player, a Washington Insider, someone to whom attention is paid, once more. It gets cold out there in Siberia, ya know. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-tucker-carlson-trying-to-do/489570/9 "2009-03-16T02:35:23Z")
Btw, for those who missed it, here’s [Jon Stewart on Crossfire](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFQFB5YpDZE) with Carlson. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-tucker-carlson-trying-to-do/489570/10 "2009-03-16T03:12:55Z")
> [@](#): > > Carlson also predicted that Stewart was becoming “so self-serious and sanctimonious that it’s just a matter of time before he becomes unfunny.” Pot, meet kettle. You wear a fucking bow-tie, for crying out loud! ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-tucker-carlson-trying-to-do/489570/11 "2009-03-16T03:12:56Z")
[An interesting tidbit](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjxYPMm4Ru4&feature=related) I found because I went looking for the Crossfire video was a Jon Stewart standup routine from 1996. I thought his getting more and more into politics was a result of The Daily Show’s focus, but no, he’s _always_ been highly political (and very funny). It surprised me. Here’s an interesting tidbit I learned about Tucker Carlson from his [Wikipedia page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tucker_Carlson): > [@](#): > > On MSNBC Live, on August 28, 2007, Carlson told host Dan Abrams that as a teenager, he and a friend physically assaulted an apparently homosexual man who reportedly “bothered” Carlson in a public restroom in Georgetown in Washington, D.C. As Carlson explained, “I went back with someone I knew and grabbed the guy by the – you know, and grabbed him, and…hit him against the stall with his head, actually… And then the cops came and arrested him.”[29][30] > > A day later, Carlson described the incident in a statement to Media Matters for America, which had reported on the exchange, writing: > > - In the mid-1980s, while I was a high school student, a man physically grabbed me in a men’s room in Washington, D.C. I yelled, pulled away from him and ran out of the room. Twenty-five minutes later, a friend of mine and I returned to the men’s room. The man was still there, presumably waiting to do to someone else what he had done to me. My friend and I seized the man and held him until a security guard arrived. Several bloggers have characterized this is a sort of gay bashing. That’s absurd, and an insult to anybody who has fought back against an unsolicited sexual attack. I wasn’t angry with the man because he was gay. I was angry because he assaulted me.\* > > **In multiple later airings of the August 28, 2007 episode of MSNBC Live, Carlson’s comments about the 1980s incident were omitted.** [31] After Carlson justified his behaviors with his second statement, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) expressed outrage and called on Carlson and MSNBC to apologize for “remarks that appear to condone violent assault” against gay people.[32][33] ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-tucker-carlson-trying-to-do/489570/12 "2009-03-16T06:15:44Z")
Tucker who? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-tucker-carlson-trying-to-do/489570/13 "2009-03-16T06:29:34Z")
Well, if any little closet queen had irrational reason to hate Jon Stewart, it would be Tucker Carlson. Seriously, who did he blow to get on the pundit circuit? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-tucker-carlson-trying-to-do/489570/14 "2009-03-16T06:32:56Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Tucker who? 😃 He’s a Swanson frozen dinner heir who used to be famous, but I can’t remember if it was for killing somebody or for maybe having a kid with Anna Nicole. Used the word buttboy a lot and bragged about beating up queers in men’s rooms, but any suspicion he was closeted was dismissed when people saw him on Dancing with the Stars. And I think he was on TV on a show where people yelled. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-tucker-carlson-trying-to-do/489570/15 "2009-03-16T06:41:07Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Here’s an interesting tidbit I learned about Tucker Carlson from his [Wikipedia page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tucker_Carlson): That was big news when it happened on the boards, [specifically this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=434679) but others as well. (A bit old to bump, but I’ll admit it’s the first thing that comes to mind- even more than Jon Stewart’s pantsing of him- when I see the little twerp.) ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-tucker-carlson-trying-to-do/489570/16 "2009-03-16T13:41:42Z")
> [@](#): > > Carlson also predicted that Stewart was becoming “so self-serious and sanctimonious that it’s just a matter of time before he becomes unfunny.” This line cracks me up. Doesn’t this amount to Carlson admitting that Stewart is, right now, funny? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-tucker-carlson-trying-to-do/489570/17 "2009-03-16T20:24:17Z")
I don’t think Jon Stewart walks on water by any means and I don’t even always agree with him, but I do think he’s the smartest entertainer on TV and one of the few I’d pretty much always listen to on an issue. He makes smart sexy and funny which is almost unheard of these days. But one of the most irritating and baseless criticisms of him is that he’s a partisan hack: he’s never denied being left of center, but he’s as likely to blast a Dem for making a stupid comment or action as he is most Reps, and has even blasted Obama himself before. He particularly hates grandstanding and in his grandstanding montages he doesn’t care if the person bloviating is Orrin Hatch or Barney Frank, he’ll call them on it (examples: the “You flew here in a private jet and want $50 billion?” pile-ons that he was one of the few to call 'this is such crap- those jets cost $25,000 max to fly here and that’s not even a percent of a percent of what they’re asking for", or my favorite of all time- his coverage of the Rosa Parks eulogies with everybody not only saying the same thing but trying to somehow link their own cause with her legacy [most notably skewered admittedly and deservedly being Tom Delay who really did try to draw some comparison twixt his ongoing trials and Rosa’s arrest]). He was also one of the first to say to libs who called Nazidom on conservatives “STOP CALLING THEM NAZIS! You know who was like the Nazis? The Nazis! They worked hard at being pure evil, let’s not take it away from them!” Also, as for “people won’t go after him”, huh? People go after him all the time. They just don’t usually do it well. Remember that show Fox News put on to compete with TDS that lasted for about 3 weeks and even conservatives couldn’t pretend was funny? Stewart’s offense that Carlson can’t forgive isn’t Cramer or even the Crossfire appearance, but something far worse. His unforgivable offense is having the popularity, the cred, the respect, the wit and the audience that Carlson would gladly drop his trousers and let an out of control chimp abuse him any way that he wanted to for but in spite of his inherited wealth and generic boy next door cuteness and picturesque wife and kids et al will never have. It’s why he did that desperate attention bid on _Dancing With the Stars_- he doesn’t need the money and couldn’t care less about dancing, but it’s _NETWORK NEWS_ meets _AMADEUS_ except this Salieri can’t even get invited to the same parties as Wolfgang. The absolute biggest “F&ck You” Stewart could give to Carlson on tonight’s show, the one that would send the little Elvis-villain into apoplexy, would be to completely ignore his comments and not even give him a minute’s worth of TDS’s audience. I’m hoping Stewart won’t of course- I like to see Carlson get slapped- but I think that Carlson totally is baiting him for some scraps and exposure. ---
**Author:** ![RetroVertigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@RetroVertigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RetroVertigo)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-tucker-carlson-trying-to-do/489570/18 "2009-03-16T20:50:46Z")
> [@](#): > > Carlson, appearing on CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” called Stewart a “partisan hack,” just an operative for the Democratic party, who only took on Cramer and CNBC because they criticized President Obama’s budget. Carlson also predicted that Stewart was becoming “so self-serious and sanctimonious that it’s just a matter of time before he becomes unfunny.” Where does he call Stewart a “partisan hack”? It sounds more like he said “partisan attack”, but I could be mistaken. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-tucker-carlson-trying-to-do/489570/19 "2009-03-16T20:51:13Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Carlson is just being a dick because, well, because Carlson’s a dick. A vindictive dick. At least he knows where to find his dick: it’s right there in his hand, where Stewart left him holding it. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-tucker-carlson-trying-to-do/489570/20 "2009-03-16T20:55:28Z")
Tucker Carlson was just saying what we are all thinking. Stewart’s brand of snark and sanctimony is nauseating. Watching his mind numbed fans bray their approval while their hero mugs and dishonestly attacks anyone who disagrees with his thoughtless liberalism is disheartening to anyone who cares about democracy and the quality of public discourse. Stewart does the same thing he accused Carlson and then hides the hypocrisy by saying he is just trying to be funny. Carlson is a smart guy and a very good writer. He is not good on television because he is a thoughtful person who doesn’t think in sound bites. Anyone who thinks Stewart had anything to do with the cancellation of Crossfire is fooling themselves. It was an old and tired format, that CNN had been unsuccesfully trying to revive. The new head of CNN just announced the cancellation when he did in order to get publicity for the new direction he wanted to take CNN. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-tucker-carlson-trying-to-do/489570.md?page=2)