August 30, 2007

BLOGGERS VS MSM: What's A Little Assault And Battery Among Friends?

The netroots want Tucker Carlson's head over his 8/28 description of a restroom incident in Georgetown when Carlson was in high school. From Carlson on MSNBC:

I've been bothered in Georgetown Park. When I was in high school. ... I went back with someone I knew and grabbed the guy by the -- you know, and grabbed him, and -- and -- Hit him against the stall with his head, actually! 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.

After Media Matters posted a transcript of Carlson's remarks, Carlson emailed MM to clarify:

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.

The netroots were not buying Carlson's second story:

• Louise at Daily Kos: "Fire Tucker Carlson. NOW. When did committing a hate crime become a amusing anecdote to brag about on a national cable news cast?"
• Steve Clemons at Andrew Sullivan: "Read the full transcript (or watch the video clip) which is pretty disgusting, not just because Tucker Carlson, self-described as "the least anti-gay right-winger you'll ever meet", admits to beating up someone trolling for sex in a public bathroom -- but because Dan Abrams and Joe Scarborough just laugh."
• TAPPED's Sam Boyd: "We have a name for beating up gay people for their sexuality Tucker, it's called a hate crime and I'm kind of amazed you can just describe one on TV without consequences."
• Atrios: "There are so many things here from Dan Abrams thinking this is funny* to the fact that Tucker actually went to get a friend so that two could do the job. But also just consider how Tucker would react if women responded to being "bothered" by men by going and getting friends to beat the crap out of them."
• Reno and Its DiscontentsMyrna the Minx: "That's right folks. Tucker just outed all right-wingers as anti-gay. Understand that he's the least anti-gay of the anti-gayers, but there you go. Nobody has to pretend anymore. Thank God."

Posted by Conn Carroll at August 30, 2007 12:50 PM