It takes a Tucker to know a Tucker

Newsflash - Tucker Carlson jumped the shark 5 years ago. Double newsflash - he's still bitter about the bitch-slap-fest Jon Stewart delivered to him in the waning days of "Crossfire" on CNN (Tucker hosted, before being fired and sequentially being dumped by just about every other network besides Al Jezeera). I'm no fan of Tina Brown's new blog, The Daily Beast. But they are getting the buzz (e.g. Meghan McCain's work). So to connect the dots, Tucker Carlson has a rant posted there today that tries to take Jon Stewart to task for his recent dust-up with CNBC and Jim Cramer. If you've not already eaten a meal you enjoyed, you must read it. However you click through to things inconsequential, I must provide a personal memory of Tucker Carlson's career prior to jumping that shark like Fonzie in two leather jackets.

Way back when it was still cool, Tina Brown started up a magazine via Miramax called "Talk". She'd been dumped by "The New Yorker" (thankfully) and needed a new platform to ruin. "Talk" was inconsequential. But one profile sticks in my mind. A young and not quite as prickish Tucker Carlson interviewed the then Governor George W. Bush as he tested the waters of running for Prezidunt. In that piece, Tucker described a car ride conversation with Dubya wherein he asked about a hot-button issue from those halcyon days long ago - the scheduled execution of Karla Faye Tucker. When asked by Tucker what the female Tucker might say to gain an execution reprieve, Dubya responded mockingly with "please don't kill me" accompanied by frat guy disdain and unbridled assholery. And that, dear reader, is the man Tucker Carlson went on to defend time and time again. Now, after 5 years of being surely mocked by the same reporters he made so much hay from attacking, he's coming back at Jon Stewart. What. A. Dick. I only hope Jon Stewart takes the bait and lights that fuse. Because if we as a society of people willing to tilt at windmills, we might as well shoot for another feeble structure that's almost down on the ground already. Easy targets make Hulk happy.

Hope your own willingness to get in the scrum today isn't due to some sort of St. Patty's Day streetfight gone awry. Rock on.

Play with the bull, deal with the horns

Everyone's talking about it, so I need to follow the lemmings. Jon Stewart interviewed Jim Cramer last night after a week of shtick and dickish retorts. Anyone who regularly reads what I have to say in between impossibly cute pics of my family knows that I'm a big fan of "The Daily Show". I love where their writers and personalities have come from and I believe that they do a better job of media criticism than anyone in the muddled age we live in. Last night was one of their most exemplary moments deserving of said praise. First off - I won't feel sorry for Jim Cramer. I'm way too acquainted with his horrific dotcom venture - theStreet.com - which promoted, um...the dotcom bubble and little else. And his show "Mad Money" is the worst of the worst in terms of trying to expand an audience for business reporting using nothing but crappy gimicks and bombast. But that pinata got beat down like none other last night and I feel some of Cramer's pain. He's screwed. Let's not forget that Jon Stewart almost single-handedly destroyed Tucker Carlson and led to the cancellation of "Crossfire" on CNN. In this case, I don't see how CNBC can possibly run "Mad Money" using the same format as they did up until yesterday. Overstatement is the crazy aunt living in the basement of anyone that spends time blogging. But last night was a slaughter. Jon Stewart is the smartest man working in the media today. Hopefully he continues to do the same thing for many tomorrows to come. Don't take my word for it, though. Watch the whole unedited interview for yourself.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Intro - Brawl Street: Get Ready to Buy Low! And Sell Die

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

Hope your own media appearances don't change your life today. Rock on.

Losing Feith

Seeing Douglas Feith interviewed on last night's "Daily Show" was amazing on so many levels. First of all, Feith is an epic tool. That much has been obvious for years. Yet to think he would agree to be fleeced in public by such a superior mind is the best indication of his poor judgment. To hear him stumblin' bumblin' through his new book's justifications was utterly without grace. Jon Stewart outdid himself and was surely better prepped for this than any recent interview. They've posted the extended version online, and it is the essential version for anyone - either pro or con - looking to understand the thinking of the neocons with regard to the Iraq War. I will certainly never buy the book. Just like I'll never buy Rumsfeld's. I won't even steal a copy. But to hear Feith in this case synopsize, twist and dangle...well, that's just great insight. If you have 22 minutes, please check it out. And as a bonus - the ending comment from Jon about how Feith's book "makes for sloooow reading" was the best rip I've heard in ages.



West Virginia votes today. Yawn. Expect a huge Clinton rally tonight. She'll claim the "Joe-mentum" once again. Maybe even raise a half-million bucks online tonight, which she'll laud as the greatest validation of her candidacy to date. West Virginia. The future of our nation hangs in the balance and we're going to be bludgeoned for the next handful of news cycles about how a few hundred thousand voters and 28 delegates will unsettle this already settled race. Wake me up when it's over.

Hope your own book tour takes you primarily to shows like "Wake Up, Peoria!" today. Rock on.

"Just a bit outside."

I've been repeatedly impressed with Jon Stewart over the last many years. But his interview with Alan Greenspan last night was definitely one of his best. While so many others are attacking Greenspan for his new book's self-serving defenses of the looming housing value meltdown and the Iraq War, Jon took the opportunity to ask him actual economics questions. I can almost guarantee that this is the only way that teenagers and college kids are getting exposure to macro-econ. Even those enrolled in those horrendous undergrad courses that we've all forgotten entirely. Kudos. The Emmy for "The Daily Show" was entirely deserved.

The Brew Crew won a big one last night on the road in Houston. That makes 4 in a row. With 12 games to play, they're in a virtual tie with the Cubs who have 10 games remaining. And this weekend we're heading back to Wisconsin for a visit prior to a conference for Sarah in Minneapolis. Special irony bonus - we're flying into the Minneapolis Airport. So after a stop by the Larry Craig bathroom stall (please check back for pics), expect that I'll be glued to Bob Uecker's play-by-play call during an honest-to-Gawd playoff chase. If you could see me right now, you'd know that I'm nippin' out.

Hope your own bathroom stops are equally worth a creepy snapshot today. Rock on.