[lbo-talk] shed a tear for Tucker Carlson

[Jeffrey Fisher]

On Wed, 20 Oct 2004 13:29:32 -0400, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> New York Post [Page Six] - October 20, 2004
> 
> CNN HOST RIPS CRANKY COMIC
> 
<snip>
"It was like a really bad freshman survey course," Carlson fumed.
"Just one long lecture. Not a single joke was told. People just don't
want to be who they are. Every actor wants to be a director. It's not
good enough for Barbra Streisand to star in 'Yentl.' She has to be a
foreign policy expert, too."

============

well, this was exactly stewart's point, of course. people have to "be
who they are", and carlson and begala are not thinkers, they're hacks,
and that's they're job on that show: not to understand things better,
not to help other people understand things better, not to learn or
teach, but to argue with each other for the sake of arguing. that's
who they are. to do something like change your mind or develop your
position would be to not "be who [you] are".

to put it back in stewart's idiom, begala and carlson need to stop
thinking of themselves as the political equivalent of pro wrestlers
and start thinking of themselves as competitive athletes.* they need
to STOP being who they are, just as stewart refused to play their
game.

imo.

j

*this is not, btw, to say that pro wrestling is not athletic. it is
mightily athletic. but it is not genuinely competitive.