Tucker: ‘I Instinctively Jump To The Defense Of Anyone Whose Private Life Is Violated’

[RedEarth]

Tucker: ‘I Instinctively Jump To The Defense Of Anyone Whose Private Life Is Violated’
After the New York Times released a bombshell story on Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) cozy ties to a telecommunications lobbyist, MSNBC’s Tucker Carlson engaged in a full-throated defense of the senator. This morning, Carlson boiled down why he thinks the story is all hype, claiming it’s just about “sex”:

Well, look at the lede! It’s about sex! It’s about John McCain had an affair! That’s what this story is about, which is actually a pretty outrageous nail upon which to hang a story, it seems to me, in 2008, at a time when we’ve all sort of agreed that true or not, it’s none of our business. I mean that is the contract in journalism we all sort of signed after Monica.

Taking the moral highground, Tucker said as a reporter, he shies away from exploring people’s private lives:

I’m not flacking for McCain. I instinctively jump to the defense of anyone whose private life is violated.

Similarly, when Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) was revealed to have solicited escort services, Carlson accused a guest of “holding up this guy’s sex life to public ridicule.”

But in reality, Carlson only “jumps to the defense” of fellow conservatives subject to allegations of impropriety. When President Clinton came under such allegations, Carlson beat the drums incessantly. Some lowlights:

– Bill Clinton…took advantage of her.

– There it is. There’s his legacy, Monica Lewinsky.

– MATTHEWS: I see we’re changing the subject again. Is the question of their marriage an issue or not in this campaign?
CARLSON: Of course it’s an issue.

Contrary to what Carlson thinks, the Times’ story is important for revealing McCain’s close ties and favors to lobbyists, whom he repeatedly admonishes on the campaign trail. “He’s been in bed with lobbyists for quite some time,” notes Christy Hardin Smith.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/21/tucker-defense-2/

[babylonsister]

1. What a stand-up, honorable kinda guy Fucker is.

Not really. :eyes:

[polichick]

2. “He’s been in bed with lobbyists for quite some time,”

Yep, he was caught with his pants down on this one! lol

[KoKo]

14. "The Full Disclosure Tucker Carlson isn't Making" /Huffpost

The Full Disclosure Tucker Carlson Isn't Making


Arianna Huffington

But with all he's had to say about the case, there is one thing that Tucker Carlson has failed to mention: That his father, Richard Carlson, is on the advisory committee of the Libby Legal Defense Trust, the GOP-heavy-hitter-laden group that has so far raised $2 million.

Indeed, Richard Carlson was the Early Money Is Like Yeast of Libby defense fund-raisers, having couriered a check to Libby's home the morning he was indicted.

And Tucker Carlson's connection to Libby's defense fund isn't just familial. A quick scan of the Libby website shows that Scooter's high-powered pals appreciate the things that Richard's boy is saying.

In a section titled "What You Aren't Hearing About Scooter Libby," a cobbled version of Tucker Carlson's "What the hell is this investigation about" quote is prominently displayed, just under pro-Libby blurbs from President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

But while Carlson has mentioned the legal defense fund on the air and on his blog (including chiding Cheney for not donating to it), he hasn't seen fit to offer up an "in the interest of full disclosure" type disclaimer. Speaking of which: In the interest of full disclosure, I have known Richard Carlson for a number of years, and have always found him to be a very charming and gracious man. In fact, he's blogged on the Huffington Post. And if he wants to give his money to Scooter Libby, that's certainly his right.

See, Tucker, transparency is as easy as that.

Of course, I'm not telling Tucker Carlson anything he doesn't already know. In fact, during a recent debate with Eric Alterman at the University of California at Santa Barbara, Carlson said, " should not allow reporters to cover things where their interests are at stake." Their interests? Their fathers' interests? Their children's interests? Bottom line: it's so easy to be above board and up front about these things. And it's so important, especially for someone like Tucker who doesn't just toe the Republican Party line -- including on big issues like the war in Iraq.

But this seems to be a bit of sore spot for Tucker. In a 1997 column, Howard Kurtz wrote about a dust-up over an article Tucker Carlson had written in The New Republic, in which he slammed Grover Norquist as a "cash-addled, morally malleable lobbyist" for his dealings in the Seychelles islands -- but failed to mention that his father, as U.S. ambassador to the Seychelles, had butted heads with Norquist over those dealings.

At the time, Tucker Carlson told Kurtz that there had been no need for him to run a "disclaimer" because "I didn't talk to my dad about the piece."

I wonder if, nine years later, he'll use the same line to explain away his lack of a Libby disclaimer: "I never talked to my dad about the case."

What do you say, Tucker?

[Virginia Dare]

3. I'm gunna bust a gut! LOL!!!!

these guys are killing me...


http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/07/12/carlson/index.html

BLITZER: Do you think can do that ? Do you think he will do that, Tucker?

CARLSON: I think he may. He certainly seems to be under a lot of pressure from Democrats. I mean you heard Mr. Panetta, Gephardt has made noises similarly, Biden has, too. The problem, I think we are all forgetting here though is if he admits having an affair, with Monica Lewinsky that implies obstruction. I mean then you look at all the other facts we know about their relationship, and they take on a new significance. Why did she return, for instance, the gifts?

BLITZER: But she -- Monica Lewinsky according to sources, close to this investigation, she repeatedly says he never directly told me to lie, under oath.

CARLSON: Correct. But that still doesn't explain Clinton's behavior. His meetings with Vernon Jordan. His conversations with Betty Currie. I mean there are a lot of things we don't know that have already been testified to the grand jury. But all of them come under a very different light, once we establish that there was in fact an affair.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[underpants]

12. I did

OUT LOUD

Tucker?? :rofl:

[BadgerKid]

4. So, "T"ucker, what about 300 million USAians ...

...under the Protect America Act?
...under the Patriot Act?
...under telecom immunity?

[Maccagirl]

5. I think we need to bombard MSNBC with emails

to refresh poor Tucker's memory re what he has said about the Clintons.

[havocmom]

6. Seriously!

[screembloodymurder]

7. Well this really lowers the bar.

Now the Rethugs are bragging about their old man having sex. I hear Viagra ads are next and they're trying to get the Gieco lizard.

[eleny]

8. Does he instinctively jump to decry "pay for play" with lobbyists?

That's the relevant question/issue here. Carlson's instincts - meh.

[bobbolink]

9. So, you speak up all the time for poor and homeless people, right?

People whose private lives aren't just violated... they're MURDERATED!

[Doctor_J]

10. "I instinctively lie like a rug if it serves a partisan purpose"

:eyes:

[knight_of_the_star]

11. Look at his qualifying statement:

"Well, look at the lede! It’s about sex! It’s about John McCain had an affair! That’s what this story is about, which is actually a pretty outrageous nail upon which to hang a story, it seems to me, in 2008, at a time when we’ve all sort of agreed that true or not, it’s none of our business. I mean that is the contract in journalism we all sort of signed after Monica."

According to his screwy sense of ethics he did nothing wrong because that standard was not in place until "after Monica", nevermind the base hypocrisy there that it still makes it ok for a Dem to be a target since every big sex scandal since that time has involved a Republican. I wonder what he said about the whole Condit thing then, hmmmm?

[Hekate]

13. Now why am I watching MSNBC again? Oh right, I don't, except for one hour with Keith.

Christ on a Trailer Hitch, they must think we've all had lobotomies. Tucker is beyond disgusting, and Tweety's not much better.

Hekate

[KharmaTrain]

15. Anyone Remember Gary Condit?

Ahh for the Halcyon days of the summer of 2001...rumor, speculation...this guy definitely did it. And Bowtie Boy was there leading the charge into looking into this guys drawers...and how did that "scandal" turn out?

The hypocrisy of the GOOPers has no limits...

[orleans]

16. last night on dan abrams tucker said "i thought we agreed not to do this anymore"

ie talk about people's affairs, sex lives, etc

HA!

[gratuitous]

18. It has indeed been agreed not to do this anymore

Whenever the subject is a Republican. And there's no shortage of folks, even here at DU, willing to walk right by this story and whine about how we need to talk about "substance" and "issues." Yeah, right. As if, instead of wondering about the tumescence of Maverick Johnny's little general we're all going to be engaging in a reasoned, erudite discussion about tax fairness, the cost of our foreign occupations, obscene oil company profits, and the pandemic of depression, violence and suicide in the military folks coming back from Iraq.

[libodem]

17. yeah right

unless it's Clenis.

[kskiska]

19. Bow Tie Boy was falsely accused of rape once

(snip)

In 2003, Carlson authored an autobiography, Politicians, Partisans and Parasites: My Adventures in Cable News, about his television news experiences. One of the book's revelations was Carlson's description of how he was falsely accused of raping a woman he did not even know. Carlson wrote in the book that the incident was emotionally traumatic and strengthened his belief in the presumption of innocence, particularly on allegations of a sexual nature.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tucker_Carlson

However, sometimes he…forgets. Especially if the case at hand involves a Democrat.

[EFerrari]

20. Yeah, like you stood up for people grieving Wellstone

you disgusting waste of skin.

[butterfly77]

21. Hypocrite. liar...