THURSDAY, 20 NOVEMBER 2003

A conservative on cable - PERSPECTIVES - THE COMMENTARY

By Marlon Richmond

For the last few years, Tucker Carlson has been one of the few likable right-wing pundits appearing on television. Ever since he appeared on CNN's The Spin Room during the 2000 presidential election and recount, to his present gig on Crossfire he has shown what televised political debaters should act like. So, to recap his experiences, he did what all political pundits do, he wrote a book. His book entitled Politicians, Partisans and Parasites: My Adventures in Cable News, documents his jump from being mainly a freelance political writer to the bowtie wearing, college-student-loved TV talk show host of today.

The book starts out talking about his sudden career as a talk show host, howbeit one on late night cable, a timeslot rarely seen by TV executives. The Spin Room routinely broke TV customs, and was loved by prisoners, college dorm mates and Canadians. One TV critic even called it "the worst show in the history of CNN". Alas, The Spin Room was cancelled and Tucker moved on to the less risqué Crossfire. The book then spends lots of time with Tucker's amusing stories about the cable news business and journalism, and especially all the wacky, crazy figures who show up in the political circus, as well as on TV. He then goes on to who he respects and doesn't in the American political industry, and talks about his experiences surviving a plane crash and a false sexual assault charge.

Carlson promotes the opposite of what his first impression gives off. He dresses like a dork, but when he was young he started smoking because the non-smoking child in the '80s anti smoking propaganda looked like a dork. He routinely is asked whether he is really a closet liberal. He says he's not, but that still is the impression many of us liberal viewers get when they watch him on the TV, especially when compared with his co-host on the right, Robert Novak and the rest of the right-wing media. The people he likes the least are the partisan hacks, especially the ones during the Clinton years, who would defend him solely on the party line fed to them in the morning. Tucker comes out of this book proving why I like him so much in the first place, as he advocates the idea of free thinking in modern politics and society.

Carlson advocates the tough-pick-yourself-up attitude that is fashionable for the traditional conservative movement. Recently, American politics has become extremely partisan, an early warning for what Canadian politics shouldn't become. In the US, both the conservative and liberal movement has been taken over somewhat by moralists. Anti-smoking, blind environmentalism and radical bush-hating being the liberals causes. On the other hand, many republicans have to embrace family values and traditional social conservatism in the US in order to garner votes. Also, many Americans are more interested in the Party or the Candidate, instead of the cause.

I recommend this book for political junkies, libertarians, those who love cable news and talk, sceptics and freethinkers and others who think that the political system has gone to hell. It is mainly story telling, so those who think politics should be taken less seriously would also like this book.

Parasites: My Adventures in Cable News (ISBN: 0446529761) by Tucker Carlson, published by Warner Books, is $36.95 CDN ($24.95 USD).

Questions and comments may be sent to: MarlonRichmond@shaw.ca