Last Night on The Situation with Tucker Carlson
The transcript of the ASZ appearance on The Situation with Tucker Carlson is out.
Richard Cranium is the one who successfully promoted this story of Latoyia Figueroa to national media, getting CNN, FoxNews and MSNBC to aim their cameras to West Philadelphia ten days after Latoyia Figueroa went missing. Unfortunately, Richard was unable [...]
The transcript of the ASZ appearance on The Situation with Tucker Carlson is out.
Richard Cranium is the one who successfully promoted this story of Latoyia Figueroa to national media, getting CNN, FoxNews and MSNBC to aim their cameras to West Philadelphia ten days after Latoyia Figueroa went missing. Unfortunately, Richard was unable to go live to speak on The Situation with Tucker Carlson, so about 80 minutes before the show went on air he asked me to step in. I’ll skip over the parts where I hung up on Tucker Carlson’s Assistant Producer Amy because I needed to shave, where I met members of the Figueroa family at the studio, and all the other events and inanities attendant to a remote live feed on a major network. Frankly, it was my first appearance on such a show, and I was pacing like a caged lion beforehand, when not talking with the Assistant Producer, the make-up artist or with Richard Cranium. But all went well. Mostly.
This is going to be a long post. . .
I’m relatively pleased with my performance, and even with the way Tucker Carlson conducted the interview. Sure, the first time I talked with the Assistant Producer she indicated I was there to talk about the way the story was promoted through the Blogzome. I was ready to talk about how Richard had alerted many major Blogs about the urgency of Latoyia’s case, and I was ready to discuss how the story grew to be featured on a few dozen blogs, both liberal and conservative. I was even ready to discuss the term “blogzome,” coined here several months ago. Alas, I got a different take on what last night’s show was going to be about when the Assistant Producer called back to tell me that Tucker Carlson was going to challenge me on the topic of race. You know, there’s been a lot of words written about how Latoyia Figueroa’s disappearance was ignored by national media because she’s not white and blond. According to the Assistant Producer, that was now going to be Tucker’s angle, and I wanted no part of it. This story is about a missing 24 year old pregnant woman, and a discussion of whether the media is or isn’t racist changes the subject to my view. So I steeled myself to talk about Latoyia, not race. I wasn’t altogether successful.
There are two parts of the show I want to focus on. First is where Tucker Carlson wanted me to talk about race as the reason Latoyia’s case got no national publicity for nearly ten days. Here’s the transcript from that part of the show:
CARLSON: Well, we‘ve made the decision to devote a lot more airtime to Latoyia Figueroa than we have to Natalee Holloway. What does that tell you?
But here‘s my—here‘s my question. Why is this a political issue? You get the sense reading these overheated blogs, almost all of them, for some reason, left-wing blogs—why do you get the sense that they‘re angry at the press about this and that it‘s a political issue? I don‘t see the political connection at all.
REYNOLDS: The political connection? We don‘t only focus on political issues.
CARLSON: Right. But you…
REYNOLDS: I‘m not sure what your question is.
CARLSON: Well, you get the sense reading blogs on this subject that there‘s a belief on the left that the press, owned and run by corporations, is intentionally ignoring the plight of the downtrodden as a policy, and that that is somehow—you know, it‘s part of some right-wing conspiracy.
REYNOLDS: No, I wouldn‘t—I wouldn‘t say that.
I would say that it‘s a marketing decision by the press, likely, and that is—just as you said earlier, that it‘s probably, they—they gauge that a middle-class or upper middle-class white woman missing is likely going to get more viewers more excited.
CARLSON: All right.
REYNOLDS: And—and we—I would speak for myself. I would say, that‘s not what the press should be doing. The press should be reporting news. They shouldn‘t be trying to get viewers.
To me it is clear what Tucker Carlson wants to do, to make the point that “overheated” “left-wing blogs” are too quick to attach racism as a reason for any situation gone wrong. Nevermind the right-wing blogs that have picked up this story. Nevermind that Tucker Carlson himself highlighted the topic of race and class the night before. Carlson’s agenda was clear to me. He was trying to get me to criticize corporate-run media as racist, therefore enabling him to then make the sweeping judgement that left-wing blogs are somehow anti-capitalist. I hope I acquited myself well in blunting his agenda, because that agenda is the worst impulse that emerges from Talking Head shows such as The Situation with Tucker Carlson.
Let me expand just a moment. Latoyia Figueroa is a young pregnant woman missing. We need to focus on that, because the mainstream media missed the boat in focusing on it for ten days. To focus instead on racism and supposed “overheated” “left-wing blogs,” Tucker Carlson does more than merely deflecting attention from Latoyia, he attempts to reduce the issue to the lowest common denominator, to one of left vs. right. I’ve stated many times here on ASZ that the conservative penchant for demonizing the terms “liberal” and “left” is surely the most divisive and destructive strategy in American politics today. To take a tragedy and try to thrust that spin on it is bad form, and bad form that further divides and damages our body politic. Those of us in the progressive side of the blogzome know that the founders of this country based it on liberal philosophies from Rousseau, Locke, Paine, etc. Folks like Tucker Carlson, who likely is well-versed in history, conveniently forget that in order to extend an attack on the “left” even in the context of a missing pregnant woman.
There’s another point in the talk, just following this, where I think I got through to Tucker Carlson, and I suppose I ought to give him some credit for that:
CARLSON: Yes. Well, before you continue to lecture me on what the press ought to be doing, Mr. Reynolds, let me remind you that there are a lot of crimes committed in this world every day, right?
REYNOLDS: Absolutely.
CARLSON: And so, at some point, if you‘re making decisions about what to cover, you need to favor one crime over another. We‘re picking from not an infinite, but a very large number of crimes, right? That‘s the decision you have to make. There‘s a lot of news. You can only cover so much.
REYNOLDS: What kind hysteria can you possibly create if all you focus on is upper-middle-class people as victims of crimes?
CARLSON: Well, actually, I—I absolutely agree with you. I do agree with you. And, in fact, I think it‘s disproportionate and it‘s not representing reality. And on that…
REYNOLDS: Good.
CARLSON: … we agree.
REYNOLDS: We agree.
CARLSON: But to get high-handed and say, your job is to report the news, indeed, we do report the news, including this.
So, we sure appreciate, Mr. Reynolds, you joining us.
REYNOLDS: Thanks.
I suppose Tucker Carlson gets testy here, so I must have had him on the ropes, as ASZ reader Eric suggests in his comments to another post. But we come to a kind of agreement on a point that was not fleshed out well at all, though probably as well as possible in such a short segment. If the media focuses its energies always on crime committed against upper-middle class white women, what does that do to twist the public perception of crime? Surely the eventual view will be that being upper-middle class and being a white woman is to be a victim, always in the crosshairs of some amorphous criminal. Doors get bolted in the suburbs, where statistically crime is not rampant. Neighborliness becomes the victim — people become afraid to reach out to each other. Meanwhile, in the real mean streets, in areas like Southwest Philadelphia where Latoyia Figueroa lives, the neighborliness and volunteerism, the community watches and desparate fight against real crime, is ignored.
There’s a lot of lessons to learn from how the media has failed to attend to the case of Latoyia Figueroa. Indeed, there are many lessons to learn from an examination of Tucker Carlson’s trying to twist this issue into one of left vs. right, which also works to turn neighbor against neighbor. But I think Tucker Carlson and I came to some agreement that this huge focus on crimes against upper-middle class white women has a deliterious effect on the national psyche, though I don’t suspect Tucker Carlson has thought it out enough to see that it has a potentially huge effect on our national sense of neighborliness towards all citizens.
Is this left vs. right? Perhaps so in the final analysis. I’m willing to say that those on the “left” are much more likely to examine this phenomenon more closely and look to the long-term effects. Would that the media could examine this issue that closely.
i just read the transcript of steve reynolds’ (aka spin dentist’s) appearance on MSNBC’s “the situation.”
Finding Latoyia: Your Actions Can Make a Difference
The blogswarm is having an effect. Please help us keep up the pressure. From the front page of AOL’s BlogZone:
[full-screen capture]
The reward fund for Latoyia continues to grow, but it…
Thanks for the link to the transcript SpinD. After reading the exchange between you and Tucker, I’ve got to say you did a fine job… so fine in fact, that you pissed off BowTieBoy… how do I know this? The next segment:
CARLSON: Welcome back to THE SITUATION. Sitting in for Jackson Pollack, I‘m Tucker Carlson. Time to welcome back G. Gordon Liddy and Rachel Maddow.
Gordon, you heard the contempt dripping from the lips of the blogger guy we just interviewed, mad at the press because he thinks there‘s disproportionate coverage of Natalee Holloway. Sort of hard to argue with that.
What a snotty, little twit the BoyTieBoy is.
You did good SpinD.
excellent job, SD, both before the cameras and here. This is a tremendous post that should remind all of us about the only thing that is of importance right now: finding Latoyia.
Thanks for pointing that out, sukabi. I hadn’t seen the rest of the show, but I knew I’d gotten under his collar.
In the end, I’m able to note that Carlson and i agreed in the end, at least in a small point or two. His strategy is to insult. I think that shows the difference between the “right” and the “left” as well as anything.
Oh, he said that to G. Gordon Liddy, a convicted felon? I suppose that means Tucker Carlson treats convicted felons, as long as they’re Republicans, with more respect than he treats “that blogger guy.” Yes, that’s snottiness.
Yep, that’s what he said to the felon. Oh, and he introduced him as the great G. Gordon Liddy
TUCKER CARLSON, HOST: I‘m joined tonight by two people with about exactly two things in common. They‘re both radio stars. And both are as interesting as they come.
They‘re Rachel Maddow, here at the world H.Q., and the great G. Gordon Liddy, joining us from Washington, D.C.
I guess you’re right, to get any kind of respect from the BoyTie you have to be a convicted republican felon…. go figure.
I think you did fabulously well…our own “blogger guy” made Locust Valley Lockjaw look like his bow tie was on too tight…hey has everyone heard the news out of Harrisburg? It’s a total OUTRAGE
The state lawmakers who said NO to a 16% pay raise have all been stripped of their leadership roles as punishment for knowing right from wrong…we blogged it…http://www.phillyfuture.org...
In the post we included hyperlinks to news articles..please note that the news appeared in the western part of the state first…
hey ardmore gal, you should come to the philly drinking liberally each tuesday. preferably you’ll drive, offer to give me a ride home and not drink too much
just an idea…
Thanks to Richard Cranium at ASZ, as well as his posting partner, SpinDentist, the missing person case of Latoyia Figueroa is getting some national play. In fact, Doc was interviewed by the obnoxious Tucker Carlson at MSNBC last night, with some succ…
upyernoz, your analysis on your blog is brilliant. If you narrowed it to the contrast Carlson made between G. Gordon Liddy and myself, it would be a piece that should be picked up across the blogzome. It really shows what a tool Tucker Carlson is.
That contrast is worthy of Jon Stewart.
Great work, Doc. If you ever get a face-to-face interview with that dick, feel free to slap him upside his obnoxious head.
I saw it last night and SD did a fabulous job with Carlson, especially considering the lack of prep time and the last minute change in angle. He even did a pretty good job of drawing the attention to <i>news</i> coverage being the major point to watching a news show. Sadly, there are butt-wipes out there focusing on the pictures and how Latoyia looks different in each one (I have no idea what the heck that’s all about) and, worse yet, people who are commenting that it’s her own damn fault for her
<blockquote> “<a href=”http://www.haloscan.com/com...“>. . .Bad judgment—apparently repeated thruout her 24 years of life—is Latoya’s legacy. She chose to sleep with
the sewer rats of West Philly and that is where they will find
her body—soon hopefully. . .”</a></blockquote> as one schmuck commented to my last post on Latoyia. So much for thinking about people, even those with faults, as human beings.
Ol’ cranky, I think we’ve had that same “sewer rat” commenter in here, but I banned him the other day. I don’t know how angry people like that get through one minute of life.
well done, dental dude!
you were the right dude for the job.
rich may have choked bowtieboy. i know i’d have snuffed the media whore.
in canada, we have laws against hatemongers like carlson. in fact, i believe we have a law against naming someone ‘tucker’.;-)
when is your appearance on the daily show?:-)
I’m hoping the Daily Show just goes with the film, lg. Then Jon Stewart can make fun of Tucker to his heart’s content.
Dr Spin, You did a great job on the show. You also made many good points in this post such as how bowtie boy tried to make this story a left vs right issue.. but you really hit the nail on the head when you wrote this:
“If the media focuses its energies always on crime committed against upper-middle class white women, what does that do to twist the public perception of crime? Surely the eventual view will be that being upper-middle class and being a white woman is to be a victim, always in the crosshairs of some amorphous criminal. Doors get bolted in the suburbs, where statistically crime is not rampant. Neighborliness becomes the victim — people become afraid to reach out to each other. Meanwhile, in the real mean streets, in areas like Southwest Philadelphia where Latoyia Figueroa lives, the neighborliness and volunteerism, the community watches and desparate fight against real crime, is ignored. ”
bravo! excellent point.
Thanks, Liz. I’m not at all sure Tucker got that point from what little of it I made on the show, but you are correct that it was the best point I made, and the only one, really, that wasn’t at least somewhat scripted. I knew all the other answers and strategies I would use in the show beforehand, as Richard and I had talked at length. But that point sort of popped into the air before me as the show was going on.
SD:
Just promise that you won’t go on Air America and try to drum up a search for Tucker Carlscum should he ever disappear.
LOL. You’re funny! Actually, on August 2nd, you can find all us Ardmoreites at National Night Out in Suburban Square… Look for members of the Save Ardmore Coalition to be around enjoying the event with OUR families! We’ve heard that Gov. Rendell will be at the event, so please be sure to tell “Fast Eddie” that he can’t skate by Ardmore and JUST IGNORE EMINENT DOMAIN, and other pressing issues inthe Philadelphia Area. We will note for the record, that PennDOT has started their resurfacing of Lancaster Avenue, so the roads are a bear…there will be no gubernatorial speeding through our ‘burb! National Night out at Suburban Square starts at 7 pm and it is a free event.
upyernoz wrote:
hey ardmore gal, you should come to the philly drinking liberally each tuesday. preferably you’ll drive, offer to give me a ride home and not drink too much
just an idea…
Great job. You really held your own against him. Even Jon Stewart couldn’t resist calling him a dick.
[...] Tucker Carlson has been destroying the life of a video store clerk lately, though it is because the guy is also a blogger that he got on Tucker’s shit list. Of course, I’ve been the target of Tucker’s disdain before, then blogged about it afterwards. Frankly, I laughed it off. The guy loves G. Gordon Liddy, a convicted criminal, and he fears bloggers because they actually challenge his out-of-touch views. In this case, though, Carlson just put someone out of work for doing, as far as I can see, very little other than mentioning bow-tie boy’s name. [...]
[...] TV News host. In fairness, I’ve a little experience with Tucker from a couple years ago, and you can read the transcript of that time here. But it’s more than that. Tucker was an apologist for the Bush Administration early in their [...]