kirklarsen: While on the train on the train...

While on the train on the train today, I noticed that Tucker Carlson was sitting behind me. He wasn’t wearing a bowtie, so I waited until he left a friend a voicemail and said, “Hi, it’s Tucker.” With that, I had confirmation, so I asked twitter what I should ask him. My friend Anthony (soupsoup on tumblr) suggested I “ask him if he thinks Jon Stewart is the next Edward R Murrow.” (context)

So I slipped him the above piece of paper (the photo that isn’t of his head). He laughed and said Murrow’s reputation has been inflated in the years that’ve passed since he was broadcasting, so I asked if he felt the same about Stewart (that Stewart’s importance was inflated). “Definitely,” Tucker said.

To Tucker, Murrow & Stewart are both broadcasters & thus lies are a necessary aspect of their profession (I let that go, didn’t turn the mirror). Tucker believes Stewart has been kowtowing to his left-leaning interviewees (he “gave [Obama] fellatio” in 08) and is “a sad man,” who gets interviews no one can get, only to drop the ball when it comes to actually interviewing them (no hard questions, mostly patting on the head).

He respects Stewart and Murrow as performers, but he doesn’t think they’re all that special. In other words, Murrow is no gold standard for broadcasting, but it wasn’t clear if Tucker believed any broadcaster could be a gold standard, as they are all liars.

“It was different when I was in print,” he said & shook his head. I let that go, too.

I asked Tucker if he felt like he himself kowtows to a party. “Never, never. I’ve made mistakes and I’ve been wrong a lot, but I’ve never kowtowed. Never.”

He was very nice about it all, so I let him go back to his soda.

Right when we stopped talking, our train got stuck on the rails. Now what do I do?