Hey everyone. I’m sure many of you have already heard about this whole Tucker / MSNBC incident. But I thought I’d post about it b/c it’s completely ABSURD. This is the mentality that bothers me. Ppl like Tucker is what’s wrong with the World (forget the US, I really mean the whole world; b/c ppl like him exist everywhere).

He clearly ADMITTED TO A HATE CRIME ON TELEVISION, there’s video of it everywhere. (Click here to take you to video).

But I thought for ppl who either can’t watch the video at work, or don’t want to read through the whole transcript, I’d highlight the parts that infuriate me. Cause that’s what I do’s. Oh, & of course I interject w/ my 2 cents in the brackets, in red.

From the August 28 edition of MSNBC Live at 9 p.m. ET:

ABRAMS: But Tucker, your position has long been on these kinds of stories that their personal lives are not our business. Does this case qualify for that, in your mind, as well?

CARLSON: Let me be clear, Dan. I am not gay. I have never been gay. [Ok, why is this sentence even added in here? What type of professional commentator would even think it necessary to say this?! They’re just a bunch of guys raggin on someone else.] I overreacted and made a poor decision.

SCARBOROUGH: And you love your — you love your wife, Tucker. [again- huh? I think it’s funny how Tucker doesn’t say something like “yes, I do love my wife. I can tell you Tucker’s def not getting any love at home for passing up this opportunity for a nice sweet, sentimental shout-out.] Let me just say for the record, I am not gay, either. [Is that an accomplishment of yours? Do you want a cookie or something? Still more of this bs-ing/making fun of someone. This is a cable news program, not the locker-room]

CARLSON: Let me — let me put it this way. Whether he’s gay or not actually is not our business [if someone’s sexuality is none of anyone’s business, why are you both so concerned about talking about it all? And wait til you see what’s coming.] , and I do think it’s indefensible that the newspaper in Idaho spent a year interviewing 300 people to answer the question, Is he gay? That’s none of your business. Having sex in a public men’s room is outrageous. It’s also really common. I’ve been bothered in men’s rooms. [b/c he’s been “bothered”, it makes it real common? Uh, no.] I think people who do –

SCARBOROUGH: Really? [pay attention to this, this is important. Note how his interest is peaked by this last statement.]

CARLSON: Yeah, I have. You know what, Let me just say.

SCARBOROUGH: Wait, hold on a second. Dan, hold on a second. I don’t mean to take over, but have you been bothered in public restrooms, Dan? Because I know I haven’t. [oh? ~raised eyebrows~ Jealous?]

CARLSON: I have. I’ve been bothered in Georgetown Park. When I was in high school.

ABRAMS: Really?

CARLSON: Yes.

SCARBOROUGH: Wow.

CARLSON: And let me just say, I think — [Carlson’s ready to move off this subject & return to what they were talking about in the 1st place]

SCARBOROUGH: That’s something. [read: That’s HOT!]

CARLSON: — people should knock that off. I’m not anti-gay in the slightest, but that’s really common, and the gay rights groups ought to disavow that kind of crap because, you know, that actually does bother people who didn’t ask for being bothered. So yeah, I think it’s outrageous that he did that. And also, this specter of him getting up there and blaming other people is so Clintonian. You know, if he just said, “I’m not going to talk about it,” that’d be one thing.

ABRAMS: And — and this notion —

[crosstalk]

CARLSON: But he’s clearly crazy.

ABRAMS: Well, and this notion that he pled guilty, and yet he’s saying, “Oh, you know what? I never should have done that.”

SCARBOROUGH: Well, it’s the newspaper’s fault.

CARLSON: Well it’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous.

ABRAMS: Well it’s the newspaper — it’s everyone’s fault except his own. I mean, I’ve never heard of — I mean, you’re a U.S. senator, and you’re thinking you’re going to make it go away —

SCARBOROUGH: But hold on a second, though, Dan —

ABRAMS: — by pleading guilty after you’re busted in a public bathroom?

SCARBOROUGH: Hold on a second. You have Bill Clinton, who actually went out and did the same exact thing. He showed defiance. He said, “I did not have sex with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky.” And he continued that line not only for months in the press, but then he went before a grand jury and said the same thing. And it — you know what? Here’s the thing. It worked for Bill Clinton. His wife went on TV and she blamed, remember, the vast right-wing conspiracy that’s been trying to take down her husband.

I don’t dredge this up to knock the Clintons. That is history, and it’s a — ugh — it is a nasty part of our history, and I’m glad it’s behind us. I just bring it up to say, you know what? Deny, deny, deny seems to work. [Oh? Like denying you’re gay on tv?]

[crosstalk]

CARLSON: But it’s also — but it’s evidence, in Larry Craig’s case — I mean, you know, you just watch the press conference, and you see a man who’s not in possession of himself. I mean, there’s something — you know, I’m not a shrink, but there’s clearly something wrong with Larry Craig. He appeared to believe it. This is a guy who’s been accused repeatedly over the years of soliciting sex from men in bathrooms. So the chances that he’s arrested for the same thing accidentally —

ABRAMS: Right, right, right.

CARLSON: What, he’s the unluckiest man and he’s Job?

SCARBOROUGH: Hey, Tucker? […wait for it…..]

CARLSON: You know what I mean? It’s insane!

SCARBOROUGH: Was he the guy in Georgetown, Tucker? [and we’re BACK!]

CARLSON: No, actually. I got that — my point is — let me just say —

ABRAMS: Tucker, what did you do, by the way? What did you do when he did that? We got to know. [read: Tell daddy alllll about it. And don’t leave out any juicy details!]

CARLSON: I went back with someone I knew and grabbed the guy by the — you know, and grabbed him, and — and —

ABRAMS: And did what?

CARLSON: Hit him against the stall with his head, actually! [most likely more than just that, but that’s really enough. I don’t want to hear any more of what this jackass has to say. HELLO? Can anyone say “hate crime”?]

[laughter] [you’re kidding me? To this, I would expect shock/disgust, ppl being appalled. But def not laughter/chuckling.]

CARLSON: And then the cops came and arrested him. But let me say that I’m the least anti-gay right-winger you’ll ever meet — [oh yeah, the least.]

[laughter] [Hello?!? Have you ppl heard any of what this ass just said?]

CARLSON: — but I do think doing this in men’s rooms appears to be common. It’s totally wrong, and they should knock it off. I mean that. I think it’s — I can’t bring my son to the men’s room at the park where he plays soccer because of all these creepy guys hanging around in there. I actually think it’s a problem. I’m sorry.

Afterwards, Media Matters received the following statement from Tucker Carlson by email from an MSNBC spokeswoman:

Let me be clear about an incident I referred to on MSNBC last night: In the mid-1980s, while I was a high school student, a man physically grabbed me in a men’s room in Washington, DC. I yelled, pulled away from him and ran out of the room. Twenty-five minutes later, a friend of mine and I returned to the men’s room. The man was still there, presumably waiting to do to someone else what he had done to me. My friend and I seized the man and held him until a security guard arrived.

Several bloggers have characterized this is a sort of gay bashing. That’s absurd, and an insult to anybody who has fought back against an unsolicited sexual attack. I wasn’t angry with the man because he was gay. I was angry because he assaulted me.

Yeah, you can add my name to the list of bloggers who would call this a HATE CRIME. Listen, there was this one time I was at the public library in my hometown, & there was this creepy dude hanging around the kid’s play area. There was this little 5-yr old boy just by himself, playing with those busy beads thingies. So, I just watched them both, & then when I saw the man approach the boy, I went over there AND BASHED HIS HEAD IN!

Uh, no I didn’t. You know why? Cause that’s not what normal ppl do. I went over to the children’s librarian, & pointed him out & I kept an eye on them while she went to get the kid’s mother. The guy may have been a sicko or may have just been an old man who liked kids (you know, like Michael Jackson does).

Oh, & for the record, I’m not buying his lil statement. Of course he’s gonna come back & make it less than it was. And MSNBC has re-aired this segment 3 times now, removing the part where Carlson goes back in to beat up ppl.