discussion Rachel Maddow praises long-time friend Tucker Carlson for his success

[Communion]

Quote

Rachel Maddow spoke highly of Tucker Carlson in an interview in the September issue of Vanity Fair, published on Sunday, saying, "Tucker's doing great right now."

It was Maddow's first interview since scaling back her duties as the host of "The Rachel Maddow Show" on MSNBC.

Quote

"But look at Tucker's career. The first show I worked on was his 11 o'clock show on MSNBC that nobody remembers. But he was always kicking around the business and has always been talented. It just — this turned out to be his moment," she said.

Maddow was a panelist on "Tucker" from 2005 to 2008. 

In the interview, Maddow compared Carlson's hosting style to watching professional baseball.

"It doesn't mean you don't appreciate whatever they're doing in terms of, you know, where they put their shortstop in order to give them a better defense. There's a sort of, like, respecting the game, in terms of people who are doing well and people who are good at it," she said. 

Quote

In a 2013 Salon story, Maddow said, "Tucker and I agree on just about nothing, but he has always been kind to me, and a fun person to fight with. I wish him all the best." 
--
During the interview, Maddow remembered bumping into the Fox News host recently and said, "It was really nice to see him."  

 

[@michael]

Damn they really all in on it

[Nachocheesechalup]

5 minutes ago, @michael said:

Damn they really all in on it

Opposite side to the same coin. 

[Pierrot]

18 minutes ago, @michael said:

Damn they really all in on it

I'm sure the same conglomerate owns both of their networks. The illusion of choice

[ClashAndBurn]

It's funny how both Rachel Maddow's defense in court to the Russiagate conspiracy peddling was the exact same thing as Tucker's: that they're "entertainment" and thus their editorializing isn't meant to be factual and if anyone takes them seriously, it's on the audience for being batshit insane.  

[CandleGuy]

7 minutes ago, ClashAndBurn said:

It's funny how both Rachel Maddow's defense in court to the Russiagate conspiracy peddling was the exact same thing as Tucker's: that they're "entertainment" and thus their editorializing isn't meant to be factual and if anyone takes them seriously, it's on the audience for being batshit insane.  

It's so funny to me because they're both basically like AI generated representations of what people think their respective parties look and sound like.

 

They're clearly both there to stoke the flames of their respective parties and get one side angry at the other.

[fentypark]

oh she’s garbage and not a serious person 

[Beyonnaise]

What this really showcases is how the Trump era exposed how elite Dems/Repubs were actually a uniparty until like, late in Obama’s second term. Cable news hosts, political consultants, and even politicians themselves never saw their supposed ideological opposites as much different than themselves because they all had the same interests in power, money, etc. Tucker was also very good friends with the Bidens. Hillary and Lindsey Graham were best friends as Senators. Elites still do play for the same corporate oligarch team at the end of the day, but now their posturing is engineered toward the hyper-partisan clickbait news cycle so they have to appear like enemies.

[Dula Peep]

I always found her annoying 

[Haus]

43 minutes ago, Beyonnaise said:

What this really showcases is how the Trump era exposed how elite Dems/Repubs were actually a uniparty until like, late in Obama’s second term. Cable news hosts, political consultants, and even politicians themselves never saw their supposed ideological opposites as much different than themselves because they all had the same interests in power, money, etc. Tucker was also very good friends with the Bidens. Hillary and Lindsey Graham were best friends as Senators. Elites still do play for the same corporate oligarch team at the end of the day, but now their posturing is engineered toward the hyper-partisan clickbait news cycle so they have to appear like enemies.

That part. 

[JustHoran]

Ugh I loved her

[Harrier]

This has the same energy as Ellen being besties with G.W.B 

[Jynx672]

1 hour ago, Harrier said:

This has the same energy as Ellen being besties with G.W.B 

Tucker Carlson is not a war criminal.

[Harrier]

5 minutes ago, Jynx672 said:

Tucker Carlson is not a war criminal.

Not yet anyway  

[Taylena]

30 minutes ago, Jynx672 said:

Tucker Carlson is not a war criminal.

Right... He's just a white supremacist, or at least pretending to be one for his viewers. It's so much better. 

[Pop Life]

Whether they are Left or Right, Democrat or Republican, the rich are only on the side of the rich.

Edited August 17, 2022 by Pop Life

[Communion]

8 hours ago, hurricane326 said:

It's ironic because the OP does nothing but paint non-progressive Democrats and Republicans with the exact same brush.

And Rachel Maddow being besties with Tucker Carlson leaves you to believe that analysis is .....untrue? Do you think Rachel Maddow is...a progressive? 

Edited August 17, 2022 by Communion

[Vermillion]

Before Tucker took the 8pm slot pre-Twitter taking off and before podcasts really took off I used to watch Rachel nightly and probably still would if Alex Wagner from Showtime's "The Circus" hadn't taken over Tuesday through Friday, and which seems to have started out rough last night  . On the left I'd follow Democracy Now and Chapo Trap House and on the right I'd follow Ingraham and Malkin on their blogs and interviews before Malkin aligned herself with Nick Fuentes, not because I agreed with any of the above, but just to follow the shifts happening in politics and the Tea Party becoming MAGA. Now it's The Intercept (post Glenn Greenwald only, who I've followed meticulously from the beginning and has always been a fraud) Pod Save America, The Rising, and all the aggregate pieces RealClearPolitics collects across the spectrum including the Never Trumpers at The Bulwark (never the insufferable Lincoln Project), etc. etc. I follow it all. Sometimes Breitbart too if the piece was trending. Now the Peacock stars that at least 'claim' to be further left like Mehdi Hasan, Paola Ramos and the centrists like Zerlina.

 

One could argue the inherent contradiction in her calling his ideas dangerous in that original Vanity Fair interview, which she did, while still remaining "friends". One could expand that argument to say that because of the contradiction that none of what says in sincere politically because this is all a parlor game of musical chairs she can pontificate on and not be affected personally as she largely never has. From that alone, I get (and have always gotten) the progressive rap with Rachel Maddow. 

 

Despite her massive, absurd new contract (which I do think is Rachel realizing the power of primetime cable for millennials and Gen Z is entirely dead, so she's doing other projects for MSNBC instead to reach other mediums, not sure why she rejected so many other outlets that were offering more) I'd argue her power and reach is significantly diminished from only being on cable one night a week now, and isn't worth the energy tracking going forward. Tucker right now is more powerful than she ever was, but that's largely because the neoliberal and conservative to alt-right ecosystems for talking point distribution are so different and Trump swallowed the party even though the Murdochs are trying to move to DeSantis. What a few leftists or the alt-right think of Maddow doesn't matter much if at all with the audiences that are the future of political media consumption the next 20 years, which is where politics is headed anyways in debate style, memes and talking point distribution - while her social media posts do sometimes go viral, it's never been the base of her reach and she won't transition well to making it central to her brand either. I'm not surprised or wringing my hands over this, and I'll continue following what she does. Tucker as well, but not his show, but the pundits like Media Matters that follow every word he says.

[Horizon Flame]

Another Progressive hypocrite. Maddow’s hatred of the Clintons is legendary, even dubbing Bill Clinton the Greatest Republican President ever. 

[rihannabiggestfan]

On 8/17/2022 at 5:19 AM, Communion said:

And Rachel Maddow being besties with Tucker Carlson leaves you to believe that analysis is .....untrue? Do you think Rachel Maddow is...a progressive? 

Not Horizon calling her a progressive