Mark America

Born to Wear Bow-Ties?

Is it just me, or has Tucker Carlson finally blown the last remnants of his cover?  I remember how I first became familiar with him back in the 1990s when Readers’ Digest brought him aboard to write columns, and I also remember that it was the leftward shift of that age-old periodical at the same time that caused my cancellation of a subscription.  These days, Carlson appears on FoxNews and other venues, as well as on the Daily Caller for which he is editor, and still he offers what I consider to be clap-trap commentary, seeming vaguely conservative, but under further examination leaning toward elitist GOP nonsense.  His Tweets and columns have occasionally caused some to wonder if there isn’t some underlying misogyny, but neither knowing Carlson nor his staff, I can only guess that it’s mere opportunism now permitting the excuse of becoming purveyors of filth with their “reporting” on Mike Tyson’s disgusting remarks about Sarah Palin.

I will not post the original story or its content here, because this is a family-friendly site, and because I am unwilling to participate in furthering that garbage, but I assume you are able to do your own research.  A good place to start would be with Dan Riehl’s coverage of the “reporting” on Carlson’s website.  Suffice it to say that like Dan Riehl, I condemn unreservedly those who decide to run this venom even under the guise of reporting it.  One must question the motives in propagating such trash, and reading Dan Riehl’s coverage, I get the sense that he was intent on posing precisely that question.

Here’s how it frequently works: First,  you wait for the predictable parade of trash-mouths who will say anything for a moment’s media attention, and then you report on the story generated by others as if you’re merely doing your job.  It’s not real journalism.  It’s not real reporting.  It relies on the sketchy, sloppy, salacious  journalism of the original story.  Let’s imagine the purely hypothetical situation in which somebody who is otherwise a media has-been shows up to tell the muck-raking press that Tucker Carlson has done something horrible.  Then imagine other web-sites picking up the story and reporting it as news simply because they dislike Carlson.  This permits the purveyor of the “news” to pretend that there’s no offense in the reporting of what was said, but that the offense lies entirely with s/he who originally said it.  When an alleged journalist acquires a reputation for doing such things, we are right to ignore them.  It’s just a stealthy form of making an attack with which the journalists don’t wish to be directly involved or in any way connected, while nevertheless propagating it to an audience.

A true brouhaha ensued as Riehl reports that somebody claiming to be Tucker Carlson called him to threaten in vague terms, but I’m sure Riehl had a good time giving that caller his due, whoever it was.  While there’s no confirmation of the caller’s identity, it’s not outside the realm of possibilities given what we’ve all witnessed before with a certain formerly bow-tie-clad journalist, who’s been caught looking badly taking sexist shots at Sarah Palin before.  Back in March, 2011, he tweeted this:

“Palin’s popularity falling in Iowa, but maintains lead to become supreme commander of Milfistan”

Now this is purely sexist garbage, and while he eventually apologized, having tried to re-call his tweet by deletion, the piling-on of Erick Ericson at RedState certainly added nothing but further trash to an already ugly situation. Conservative bloggers replied in ferocious form, including Stacy Drake and Michelle Malkin, taking the GOP’s elite bloggers/columnists to task for their ridiculous remarks.

This seems to be a fair example of those Republican men  to whom Breitbart referred in The Undefeated as “eunuchs.”  Attack the girl with sexist terminology and gutter stories, either directly or indirectly through a surrogate “report,” and then make lame attempts at self-extrication from the inevitable blow-back.  In this latest episode, it was one of Carlson’s staff at his on-line publication who delivered the coverage of the original story, and it was clearly demeaning coverage of remarks made by the washed-up, ear-chomping boxer about Governor Palin in the crudest possible terms.  As Riehl reported, the original article appeared without a disclaimer, although one was subsequently added.  It’s hard to imagine that Carlson isn’t scrambling to avoid another black eye, as he did back in March, but as Stacy Drake reminded him then:

“You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube, Tucker.”

Riehl’s site tells the tale as he has been providing updates all afternoon, Saturday.

Editors Note: I went back and forth on this story, whether to publish, but ultimately, a certain RINO needs exposure.

Update: Since publishing, I’ve learned that GretaWire is also covering the story.