Politicians, Partisans, and Parasites: My Adventures in Cable News

209 Pages·2009·1.64 MB·English

by  Carlson Tucker

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POLITICIANS
,
PARTISANS
, AND
PARASITES
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POLITICIANS
,
PARTISANS
, AND
PARASITES
(cid:2) (cid:2) (cid:2)
My Adventures in Cable News
(cid:2) (cid:2) (cid:2)
Tucker Carlson
Copyright © 2003 by Tucker Carlson
All rights reserved.
Warner Books,Inc.,
1271 Avenue of the Americas,
New York,NY 10020
Visit our Web site at www.twbookmark.com.
An AOL Time Warner Company
First eBook Edition:September 2003
ISBN:0-7595-0798-8
Book design by Fearn Cutler de Vicq
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To Susie
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Acknowledgments
In addition to my dogs, Agnes and Maisie, who’ve slept next to
my desk through countless magazine pieces and now this book,
I’d like to thank:
My cohosts on Crossfire, James Carville, Paul Begala, and
Bob Novak, who in real life are just the way they appear on tele-
vision, only more so.
Jim Walton, Teya Ryan, and Sue Bunda at CNN for cham-
pioning my cause.
Our diabolical Crossfire producers and staff, including Sam
Feist, Kristy Schantz, Amy Farrar, Kate Farrell, Debbie Berger,
Emily D’Alberto, Eileen McMenamin, Abbi Tatton, Chris
Rogers, Raeshawn Smith, Josh Cowen, Heather Clapp, Howie
Lutt, Stacie Paxton, Joe Van Kanel, Joe Conley, Beverly
O’Banion, Chris Youd, James Stubbs, Mike David, Reza Bak-
tar, Doug Koztoski, Jimmy Suissa, Art Thomas, Darren White,
and Skip Smith.
The small but valiant team of Spin Roomcommandos: Susan
Toffler, Libbie Schlather, Kate Albright-Hanna, and of course
my pal Bill Press.
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
1 Tammy Haddad, who is always the first person I call, for
2 everything.
3 Colin Fox, my talented and (remarkably) patient editor at
4 Warner Books.
5 Binky Urban of International Creative Management, who is
6 every bit as excellent as her reputation.
7 Matt Labash, the wittiest man in journalism, whose E-mails
8 alone would make a better book than this.
9 Bill Kristol, Chris Caldwell, Andy Ferguson, David Tell,
0 Richard Starr, Jonathan Last, David Bass, Vic Matus, and every-
1 one else now and once at the Weekly Standard.
2 All the many people in journalism who’ve been kind to
3 me for no particular reason, especially Adam Meyerson, Paul
4 Greenberg, Bob Sallee, Marion Maneker, Sam Sifton, Tina
5 Brown, Mark Gerson, and Margaret Carlson.
6 My brother, Buckley, and my parents, Richard and Patricia
7 Carlson, for a lifetime of great dinner table conversation.
8 And my children, Lillie, Buckley, Hopie, and Dorothy. I
9 hope that when you can read this, it won’t embarrass you.
0 Finally, to the friends, colleagues, and collaborators identi-
1 fied only by pronouns in this book. I’ve tried to protect you.
2 Sorry I didn’t succeed.
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
0
1
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Contents
“...in the History of CNN.” 1
King’s Law of Detachment 27
The Electrical College 53
Where Does the Opposition Party Sit? 95
The Dick Morris Suite 131
Your Biggest Fan! 167
The Other Tucker Carlson 181
Afterword 191
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