Carlson on Coulter: "[W]e're always happy to have her on"; "She's great TV"

On the March 5 edition of MSNBC's Tucker, while discussing right-wing pundit Ann Coulter's recent reference to former Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) as a "faggot," host Tucker Carlson claimed: "She called me one, too!" Carlson continued: "[U]nlike John Edwards, I'm not pretending I'm a victim or [that] I've been slurred, or I didn't cry, actually, after she called me that," adding: "I'm not [gay], by the way." He then told MSNBC political analyst Pat Buchanan and Democratic strategist Peter Fenn that "we're always happy to have her on" and that "[s]he's great TV." Carlson added that Coulter "makes smart points" and is "courageous," and he also described her as "a very talented writer" and a "great stylist." While Buchanan asserted that Coulter sometimes "goes over the line ... no doubt about it," he said: "Let me speak up for Ann. I do think she's a very, very courageous individual. She's written some of these books -- I mean, one of the few people that came out and defended the late, great tail-gunner Joe McCarthy."

As Media Matters for America documented, Coulter called former Vice President Al Gore a "total fag" on the July 27, 2006, edition of MSNBC's Hardball, claiming immediately that the comment was "a joke." Like Carlson, at the end of the interview, host Chris Matthews said: "Thanks for coming on. And a smart lady. ... Sometimes being smart isn't enough for a civil discourse. We'd love to have her back."

From the March 5 edition of MSNBC's Tucker:

CARLSON: Well, actually, you know, it's funny. I just pulled this today, because I was remembering this. She called me one, too! In 2002 -- I checked the date. It was exactly one month after my fourth child was born, and she implied I was gay in an interview to The New York Observer. I can't exactly remember what the predicate for it was. I'm not, by the way.

FENN: You needed 10 children. You needed 10 children in order to not --

CARLSON: This is clearly a psychological --

FENN: She's got a problem.

CARLSON: OK, here's the point I'm making

BUCHANAN: Right.

CARLSON: I'm obviously -- unlike John Edwards, I'm not pretending I'm a victim or I've been slurred, or I didn't cry, actually, after she called me that. But, like, who cares what she says? I guess that's kind of my point.

BUCHANAN: Well, let me say this. Let me speak up for Ann. I do think she's a very, very courageous individual. She's written some of these books -- I mean, one of the few people that came out and defended the late, great tail-gunner Joe McCarthy. I mean, really --

FENN: Ah-ha.

CARLSON: It takes [inaudible]

BUCHANAN: -- and from a justified, from a justified point of view, and done other things. She's been very, very gutsy, but sometimes she goes over the line. There's no doubt about it. So why don't we agree to 15 yards penalty and loss of down.

[crosstalk]

CARLSON: No, no, but here's the -- here's the --, wait, wait, wait. Hold on. Let me get in here. Pat. Pat. Pat. As -- OK, your friend (inaudible). And I've said this right to her face, when she comes on. And we're always happy to have her on. She's great TV. She makes smart points. She's courageous. She's actually a very talented writer, believe it or not, if you've never read -- she's a great stylist, a good stylist.

BUCHANAN: She is a stylist, yeah.

CARLSON: And she's pretty witty. She completely discredits herself when she talks that way, like, nobody hears what she says when -- like, when she attacked the 9-11 widows and said, partly fairly, but then she went on to say, "If your husbands had lived, they would have divorced you." The second she said that, I thought, "You know what? I can't even hear anything else you say because that's so unreasonable."

—B.A.