Tucker: The Man and His Dream

Tucker Carlson, the Jon Stewart-baiting non-Republican senior fellow at the Cato Institute, is launching a new group website called The Daily Caller, which aims

to "drive" the news, similar to the Drudge Report, the Huffington Post, the New York Times, and other major news outlets. (The site's motto, Carlson said, is "every seven minutes," and seeks to be "even faster than Drudge.")

While the Web's graveyard is littered with bones of people who thought they could knock Drudge's block off, I for one am looking forward to what the dancing fool comes up with. Though he's probably best known as a love-him-or-hate-him talking head, Carlson is a genuinely talented magazine journalist (here are interesting profiles of Ron Paul and John McCain, to name two of many). Even Tucker's Dickipedia page has to give grudging credit to his landmark 1999 Talk magazine profile of candidate George W. Bush, a piece that brought us the indelible (and for me, deal-breaking) image of then Gov. Bush mocking a woman whose execution he authorized.

Bonus Reason.tv vids: Tucker at the Ron Paul Rally for the Republic, and in D.C. on the Reason.tv Talk Show.

Comments

[Pi Guy]

I know that he's love-or-hate with many but I think he's on-target on most matters. Probably the most truly libertarian of the media talking heads. [sarcasm]Yes - even more than Lou Dobbs or Glenn Beck.[/sarcasm]

PS: sorry for all the hyphens...

[Tom Walls]

What will my hipster friends on Facebook think of this if I become a fan????

"Neil Patel, Publisher of The Daily Caller, has served in various senior positions in the US Government including most recently as Chief Policy Advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney."

[Ben Kenobi]

Bush mocked a woman who's execution he ordered? Jesus. Just when you think the man can't become more of an imbecile douche. I needed that little anecdote to cure me of any possible Bush nostalgia Obama might have been bringing on.

[John]

"Bush mocked a woman who's execution he ordered?"

The crazy bitch had chopped a couple of people up with an axe during a robbery. Because she was a woman, she was cause celebre among feminists. I don't really care that he mocked her.

[Citizen Nothing]

Which does John think more onerous -- that she "chopped a couple of people up with an axe," or that "she was a cause celebre among feminists"? Hmmmm.

[Mo]

The crazy bitch had chopped a couple of people up with an axe during a robbery. Because she was a woman, she was cause celebre among feminists. I don't really care that he mocked her.

You know how not to make someone that's getting executed become a cause celebre? Don't mock them before you execute them. Execution is supposed to be about "justice" not being a dick. He was the governor for fuck's sake, give some boilerplate pablum about justice being served and the difficulty of taking a human life. But mocking someone just before is extraordinarily tasteless. I bet if a Dem governor mocked some dude before he executed her you would have the exact opposite reaction.

[Mo]

Which does John think more onerous -- that she "chopped a couple of people up with an axe," or that "she was a cause celebre among feminists"? Hmmmm.

Depends if the feminists were hipsters.

[John]

"Which does John think more onerous -- that she "chopped a couple of people up with an axe," or that "she was a cause celebre among feminists"? Hmmmm."

Interesting question. Yes, it is very onerous that she was a pscho killer. But, there have been lots of killers in history and there will be more. Sadly, that kind of thing just happens sometimes. But, the fact that an influential and mainstream interest group in our society is so craven that it would find common cause with such a person is really sad and disturbing. I am not so sure that that fact isn't more disturbing than the fact that the world contains the odd psycho killer.

[dhex]

john, she was a cause celebre among jesus people, not feminists.

kultur war is bad for you!

[Citizen Nothing]

Psycho killer, qu'est-ce que c'est?
fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa better

[John]

"john, she was a cause celebre among jesus people, not feminists." She was both or maybe it was Warno or whatever her name was in Florida.

[The Angry Optimist]

the link to the mocking is broken. So what are you all arguing about?

[John]

Every death row inmate finds Jesus. I wasn't aware he was lost. But they are always finding him nonetheless.

[Citizen Nothing]

Since when do we need a reason, A.O.?

[The Extispicator]

I find Tucker to be one of those people I want to hate, because of his hair, bowtie, and smirk. But then he starts talking and 90% of what he says I agree with. He was the only major media type to say good things about Ron Paul all the time.

[Matt Welch]

Fixed the link, sorry and thanks. Though it's just to a Google search!

[EJM]

Fixed the link, sorry and thanks. Though it's just to a Google search!

Unfortunately, there's still no name officially attached to this post.

[dhex]

"She was both or maybe it was Warno or whatever her name was in Florida."

see, dude? kultur war causes memory loss!

wuornos is the person you're thinking of, i believe.

[Xeones]

I agree with you, The Extispicator. Carlson makes a lot of sense, but he reminds me of the douchiest of the fratbags i went to college with. He just has kind of a date rapist vibe, you know?

[mediageek]

I'd always thought that Tucker Carlson was pretty much a milquetoast douche, until his utterly brilliant takedown of Carolyn McCarthy.

[Tom Lundy]

And the Frogette and Moynie where there because ... ?

[BoscoH]

His tie has grown.

[hmm]

I love you guys and mean this in the most generous way possible. HIRE A MAKEUP ARTIST.

As superficial as it is video does horrible things to how people look. Appearance matters in video media, regardless of how correct or smart you are. It makes the productions look amateurish. Something I assume you are not trying to do.

[PapayaSF]

Drudge does have a few weak points that the Daily Caller could exploit. 1) It's not possible to tell when items appear on Drudge, or even what the new items are, because he moves things around and sometimes posts new items down the page. Time stamps and a more orderly/predictable layout would be nice. 2) Drudge seems to take weekends and holidays off. If the Daily Caller can really be 24/7, they'll have a big advantage.

[Max Kady]

A woman chopped up 2 people w/an axe.HA,HA,HA,thats a good one.No,seriously what were you in for?

[B]

Oh no, the Bush mocked a murderer. Boo fucking hoo. Wouldn't want to upset those who commit capital crimes, what with them being paragons of virtue and all.

I say let them fucking have it. If you commit the crime the woman he mocked did, you fucking deserve all the derision thrown at you, regardless of all the holier-than-thou bullshit.

[B]

"You know how not to make someone that's getting executed become a cause celebre? Don't mock them before you execute them."

I guess that means they mocked Stanley "Tookie" Williams for six or seven straight months, around the fucking clock.

"Execution is supposed to be about "justice" not being a dick."

And she was denied justice how exactly?

"I bet if a Dem governor mocked some dude before he executed her you would have the exact opposite reaction."

Uh, he might, but I sure as fuck wouldn't. If you butcher two fucking people, you deserve whatever you get. Hell, they should have had a fucking roast before they sent her to hell.