Tucker Carlson rates Edwards speech and weighs in on "meritocracy"

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

Did Sen. John Edwards make the case?
CNN analysts offer their assessments.

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/special/president/convention/dnc/press.pundits/

Tucker Carlson

IRAQ/SECURITY: C-
DOMESTIC ISSUES: C
THE TICKET: A
OVERALL: B



My overall feeling is that his basic premise that America is more unfair than it used to be just isn't true. Society is more fluid and more meritocratic than it's ever been. There are more sons of mill workers going to college now in America than have ever gone. It's not a perfect country but to say that it's gotten less fair or that there's less opportunity is just factually untrue. He's a very effective communicator. He's a charming guy.

mer·i·toc·ra·cy

mer·i·toc·ra·cy (mèrri tókrəssee)
(plural mer·i·toc·ra·cies)
n
1. system based on ability: a social system that gives opportunities and advantages to people on the basis of their ability rather than, for example, wealth or seniority
2. elite group: an elite group of people who achieved their positions on the basis of ability and accomplishment
3. leadership by elite: leadership by an elite group of people who are chosen on the basis of their abilities and accomplishments

(Mid-20th century. Coined from merit + -cracy .)

-mer·it·o·crat·ic (mèrritə kráttik), adj
Microsoft® Encarta® Reference Library 2004. © 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

[daveskilt]

1. what tucker carlson has a RW bias? shock! say it isn't so!

blech

[soothsayer]

3. I loathe that worm.

piss ant!

[swag]

2. If this were a meritocracy

Tucker Carlson would have to lick toilets for his drugs.

[Crachet2004]

10. He has GOT to be related to somebody. He contributes nothing.

[OneTwentyoNine]

4. As if ANYONE gives a rats ass about Tucker.....

In other words Tucker, Edwards just bareeeely makes the grade in your humble opinion.

Yeah... a scowling,lip raised,hateful, War mongering,no bid contract loving bastard like Cheney is much more suited to be a Veep. Give me a break. We'll see come November you dweeb...

David

[meti57b]

5. did he rate Al Sharpton's awesome speech?

That would be interesting.

[slappypan]

6. Isn't Tucker from a wealthy, influential family?

Doesn't his family have connections in the media industry? He should probably shut his mouth on the topic of meritocracies.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

7. A good "Counterpunch" article can be found here:

http://www.counterpunch.org/higgs04252003.html

All About Tucker
A Splendid Performer, Not a Journalist

by STEVEN HIGGS

It wasn't that Carlson, who put on a splendid performance, persuaded me during his lecture on "The Political Landscape" that he is a practitioner of the honorable craft of journalism. To the contrary. During one of his Democrat-bashing segments, he said: "Part of this is unfair, not that I've ever had trouble being unfair. Indeed I do it for a living." Journalists seek the truth. Carlson seeks ratings.

Carlson characterized arguments that Bush War II is over oil as "majestic dumbness." Never mind that American troops aggressively secured the oil fields but retreated when banks, hospitals, museums, and every other institution in Iraqi life was looted and destroyed. Never mind that everything the United States does in the Middle East, except its commitment to Israel, is about oil. If Iraq didn't have oil, the U.S. government would still be selling Saddam Hussein deadly chemicals to use against his own people.

He brushed off campaign finance reform as the driving force behind John McCain's early electoral success in the 2000 primary elections, positing instead that McCain had no ideology and couldn't explain his own success. Never mind that McCain, like Al Gore, achieved electoral success espousing populist ideology directed at the chasm between the rich and the poor, the imbalance between the powerful and the disenfranchised. Never mind that the McCain-Feingold bill, the long-stalled legislative proposal to reform campaign finance, became law shortly after McCain's campaign on the issue.

When the predominantly student audience got its chance at the microphone, questioner after questioner dispelled the notion that today's students are self-indulgent, Real World twits. Steady lines six to eight deep formed behind two microphones until time ran out. And they ignored Carlson's repeated requests to hit him hard, to be rude, like he is. Instead, they asked thoughtful, reasoned questions.

[colonel odis]

8. you're a big boy now, tucker. lose the bow tie and dress like one.

n/t

[terrya]

9. It's a plain, simple fact that the rich are getting richer.

And the working class and poor are falling behind. There IS unfairness in this country.

Why Tucker Carlson doesn't understand that simple, plain, obvious fact of life is sadly mystifying. There ARE two Americas, as John Edwards so powerfully talks about. It is as true, as obvious, as crystal clear as night turns into day. Simple, basic facts.