Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Carlson Still Upset With Jon Stewart

Carlson, StewartThis one has a bit of a background story. Tucker Carlson -- previously a failed host on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox -- has returned to CNN as an analyst. Carlson experienced the most success early in his career at CNN, hosting the show CrossFire. (Image: YouTube) Jon Stewart fits into this because Stewart is often credited with destroying CrossFire by lecturing the hosts during his appearance (video later). Tucker tended to make huge claims, eventually get caught in lies, and became a joke to viewers. So, what's this all about?

As many of you know, Jon Stewart recently ripped into Jim Cramer on his show (Strong language in link), and Cramer accepted the criticism of himself and MSNBC without much opposition. Now, with this in the news, Tucker Carlson appears on CNN's Reliable Sources to attack Jon Stewart:



From that clip, Carlson seems a bit confused about what partisan means in practice. In the United States there are two political parties representing the two sides of politics. Just because Carlson wants to pretend he isn't associated with the Republican party, I would bet that he has never voted for a Democrat in any election. He may not exemplify the party-ties part of partisan, but he is exactly what's wrong with the political system. He won't listen to reason, only his side.

Jon Stewart was not even discussing politics on his show, as much as Carlson likes to pretend Stewart's outrage over CNBC's irresponsibility is due to partisan politics. CNBC got media attention recently by going after the budget, and they were put under a microscope as a result. Cramer went after Stewart as a result of Stewart insulting CNBC generally, and the result was Cramer getting ripped by Stewart for being totally irresponsible.

Carlson needs to let the past go and grow up a bit. He's kept around for entertainment, but he ends up just coming off as a bit stupid. I'll leave you with this clip of Jon Stewart talking sense on CrossFire, leading to its demise: