Salon.com Tucker Carlson says O'Reilly a blowhard,

[Woodstock]

and almost is nice to Clinton.

http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2003/09/13/carlson/index.html


Q: Is he better in a way you would emulate?

A: Absolutely -- as a communicator, sure. But his shtick is a really dangerous one, in my opinion.

...

Q: What about the Fox suit against Al Franken, which it appears O'Reilly was a big part of? Does that come close?

A: Yeah, but I'm not sure how much that hurts him. What did we learn about that? We learned that Bill O'Reilly is a thin-skinned blowhard? Well, I think we knew that. The potentially damaging charge -- that he's a liar -- now that is a big deal.

But no, I have a lot of respect for Bill O'Reilly's talents. TV is a very democratic medium, and people succeed for a reason, and almost always that reason is that they're talented. And he is much more talented than I am. However, I don't know who would want to watch that shit. Do you?

Q: Not entirely, no.

A: Do you watch it?

Q: Sometimes, to see what he's doing.

A: That guy has no sense of humor about himself. At all.

Q: So when you went into television, who were you trying to emulate, since it clearly wasn't O'Reilly?

A: Of course I wouldn't want to emulate O'Reilly. I think he's a humorless phony.

...

Q: But wait -- the argument for running that wasn't a simple tit for tat; Hyde was a House manager, pressing for Clinton's impeachment.

A: Look, I realize that was a story that was written in context of the times. But strictly speaking about the Clinton administration and its employees, I would have had some sympathy I think if the president had stood on principle and would have said, "Look, it's none of your business what I did, you know, with people I'm in private association with and buzz off, I'm not going to tell you." I would've said, you know, OK. I didn't hate Clinton because he cheated on his wife. I hated the sanctimoniousness, and the constant self-aggrandizement.

...

[PROGRESSIVE1]

1. I must say that I agree with him about....

Karen (Bitch) Hughes and Bill O'Reilly!!! Though I must say that the term "blowhard" is a little soft for O'really. There are some other words that cannot be said on DU!

[ShaneGR]

2. OK, Even though I hate him I actually LIKE him for saying this:

OK, so you're angry about the reaction from the administration. What about the accusations?

I'll tell you what I feel sympathy for, is a middle-aged man totally cut off from all of his friends, living in the most remote place in the planet, the White House, and feeling restless, and frustrated, and having an opportunity to fuck some cutie walking through his office, I completely sympathize with giving in to that impulse. Absolutely. That was never at the core of my dislike for Clinton.

[Woodstock]

3. Yeah, I saw Clinton that way too

It's tough to hate Tucker when he says something decent like that.

[Alex88]

4. He used a four letter word

Maybe he wasn't wearing his bowtie.

[Cheswick2.0]

5. It takes one to know one I guess

:shrug:

[Sophree]

6. I don't get the sanctimoniousness criticism

Am I missing something? I saw Clinton as a flawed human being (who isn't?) but I never saw him as sanctimonious.

Tucker pins the Hyde and other Repug infidelity stories on Clinton, too, which is not true. Why is it so hard for conservatives to believe that patriotic, fair-minded people who did not like what the Repugs were doing would talk to reporters and expose hypocrisy? Americans are nothing if not fair-minded.

[KC21304]

9. I agree. Clinton is about the least sanctimonious politician

I can think of. It was the hypocrital Republicans who were sanctimonius.

[Woodstock]

12. Agree, that word was out of place

Clinton was never that.

[camero]

15. He raises a good point though.

I would have told the repugs to go shove off too and what I do in private is nobody else's business.

[Sophree]

16. I agree with that.

He should have told everyone to stuff it re: his personal life.

[lumpy]

7. This ass is pandering to liberal readers of Salon

anything that comes out of his mouth should be taken with a grain of salt. TV pundits become popular by being outrageous. Simply, they are in a class with Howard Stern.

[JasonBerry]

8. Tucker and Bush: Doesn't anybody remember?

It was Tucker Carlson who wrote the blistering article in 2000 about Bush that painted him as a hypocrite! It was that interview with Tucker Carlson that Bush said when talking about Karla Faye Tucker, "Please don't kill me, please don't kill me," mimicking her in a whiny voice. Carlson went off on Bush about that. He talked for weeks after about that "disillusioning" interview and talking about what horrible taste that was in mimicking Karla Faye Tucker after she was dead. He also said in the same interview that Bush used the word "fuck" and it's derivatives over and over. He thought that was hypocritical of a man who was running practically with Jesus as his running mate and reaching out to the Christian community.

[yankeedem]

10. Gee, Tucker, sanctimoneous?

Projection anyone?

[robsul82]

11. Tucker isn't on our side, but...

...he's a decent person. Even witty and humorous at times.

Later.

RJS

[FredScuttle]

14. ah, he's still a miserable shoe-eater

either he's a cynical phony or he needs to get over to the correct side.

Decent? Feh!

[mitchum]

13. pot, meet kettle

[TheYellowDog]

17. Lol

OK, so you're angry about the reaction from the administration. What about the accusations?

I'll tell you what I feel sympathy for, is a middle-aged man totally cut off from all of his friends, living in the most remote place in the planet, the White House, and feeling restless, and frustrated, and having an opportunity to fuck some cutie walking through his office, I completely sympathize with giving in to that impulse. Absolutely. That was never at the core of my dislike for Clinton.


Tucker is cool.

[nannygoat]

18. The Daily Howler actually pays Bowtie Boy a compliment as well

http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh091003.shtml (scroll down to a little past the middle of the page).

[Enraged American]

19. Tucker is the least of our worries.

You can't lump the guy in with Rash and O'Really. Isn't his mother a liberal anyway? Tucker Carlson at his worst is never hateful like O'Really.

Does Tucker smoke weed by any chance? He has messy hair and listens to Jerry Garcia. Go figure.