On Tucker, Bob Franken resurrected false stories about childhoods of Bush, Gore
On the November 26 edition of MSNBC's Tucker, former CNN correspondent Bob Franken described President Bush and former Vice President Al Gore as being "as different as night and day" because "Bush was raised in the oil patch in Texas" while Gore "was raised in a hotel in Washington and went to St. Albans, a very, very chichi private school." In contrasting the childhood experiences of Bush and Gore, Franken misled MSNBC viewers about both men, resurrecting false storylines that were common in media coverage of the 2000 presidential campaign.
Franken's comments reflect a claim often made by Bush during his 2000 presidential campaign -- that "the biggest difference between me and my father is that he went to Greenwich Country Day and I went to San Jacinto Junior High." In fact, Bush went to a private high school every bit as "chichi" as St. Albans: Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, where he was head football cheerleader during his senior year.
Further, Franken's comments reflect a distortion of Gore's childhood that was common in news reports during the 2000 campaign: that he was raised in a "vast" "penthouse suite" in the "elegant" and "swank" Fairfax Hotel, a "luxury Washington hotel." In fact, the Gores lived in a modest two-bedroom suite in which Gore shared a bedroom with his sister. The supposedly "swank" hotel featured linoleum floors and was, according to an October 26, 1998, Washington Post article, popular with foreign-service families because "[t]he hotel apartments were the only ones with kitchens that were within the State Department's stingy temporary-housing allowance."
From the November 26 edition of MSNBC's Tucker:
TUCKER CARLSON (host): My point was only they come from similar backgrounds and from precisely the same culture. They're both fundamentally guilty, baby boomer WASPs who -- I'm serious -- who come from traditions of political leadership and who govern by their own -- rather than by principle -- from their own feelings.
ROGER SIMON (Politico chief political columnist): Well, Gore was so immersed in the issues he was called "wonky." Have you ever heard George Bush called "wonky"?
CARLSON: No, you never have. But both of them have this kind of -- this desire to do good -- and I don't mean that as a compliment -- to impose, you know their kind of utopian vision on the United States.
FRANKEN: Well, first of all, George W. Bush was raised in the oil patch in Texas.
CARLSON: Right.
FRANKEN: Al Gore was raised in a hotel in Washington and went to St. Albans, a very, very chichi private school.
CARLSON: Right.
FRANKEN: So they're as different as night and day.
CARLSON: Well, and Bush went to Andover, and they both wound up at Harvard, and -- do you know what I mean?
Who cares what Tucker says anymore? His silly show is about to get yanked. Good riddance!
While I agree with your sentiments in general, Carlson isn't so bad in THIS exchange. He starts by noting that Gore and Bush have certain similarities, growing up in privileged, political families. It is Franken who cites the misinformation, and tho Carlson does agree, he goes on to note Bush's private high school and Bush & Gore's shared alma mater. Frankly, I'm shocked at Carlson; this is so much better tyhan I've come to expect!
You are right. Carlson actually corrects Franken in that transcript. Good for him. I think Carlson may feel the need to defend the idea of "elitism" in general considering Carlson went to a "chichi" school or two himself.
I don't think its fair to knock Carlson for this one at all - however much I like to do just that.
I agree, it seems to me that MMFA isnt blaming Carlson but Franken.
I can not wait for the day Tucker is on the unemployment line!!
Anyone reminded of the nonsense story going around the internet about Gore's energy hog house and Bush's environmentally friendly ranch?
See http://greytheory.blogspot.com/2007/10/neocon-inconvenient-truth-of-bush-and.html for an explanation.
Having been in HVAC sales for some years in my past, I will say the linked site is NOT presenting the whole truth concerning geothermal heatpumps. In the SW, where the normal heating load would be low and the cooling load high, the GWHP (groundwater heatpump) would be very efficient. I live in the NW and installed a GWHP in the house we built about 20 years ago. This is a 3600 sq ft residence, built to the energy standards in effect at the time of construction. We put a separate electrical meter on the GWHP and to date, our highest heating or cooling bill has not exceeded $60/month. I can give you a technical dissertation on why the GWHP is efficient, but the space allowed here will not allow a full discussion.
I engineered the systems for fifteen years ... You're right, heat pumps work much better in the cooling cycle. Either way, the point is that Crawford Texas has low humidity, so the cooling load is very low compared to high humidity Nashville.
It's a comparison of apples to horses.
From the way I read the "greytheory" site, the author was railing against the efficiency of compressors. My point is, and you know, that GWHP are very efficient and sized properly can handle the humidity load. "greytheory" was being misleading in the information they posted, but they have an agenda and I understand why the author framed the article the way that it was framed.
So now we're being treated to recycled, second-hand lies....
I'm still amused at the notion that Bush's childhood, even in Texas, somehow makes him a "regular guy". Are we supposed to believe that Little Bush was out there rubbing elbows with the Wildcatters?
Just like we're supposed to believe that spread he has is a ranch. Problem is, he didn't quite get what cow poking was, so now the steer is afraid of him...
SAVE DEMOCRACY, VOTE FOR A DEMOCRAT!!
Mo Udall was a Cowboy and Politician, and would have made a great president. A man born and raised in the West.
George W. Bush is afraid of horses, but loves the way he looks in a straw hat, and cowboy boots. A Conneticut Cowboy that don't like the taste of Skoal. A GreenHorn wannabe.
I think this is a metaphor for the differance between a real man, and a pathetic man.
A metaphor for the differnce between real democratic representative in government and America's version of a fascist.
Happy Thoughts;
Dan Grady
His mommy bought him a Li'l' Man Brush Clearing Scythe when he was 9; aww, he was SO cute working out there on the ranch alongside the hired help.
ROGER SIMON (Politico chief political columnist): Well, Gore was so immersed in the issues he was called "wonky." Have you ever heard George Bush called "wonky"?
He could just as easily have said:
Well, Gore was so [knowledgable] in the issues he was called "[smart]." Have you ever heard George Bush called "[smart]"?
SAVE DEMOCRACY, VOTE FOR A DEMOCRAT!!
Tucker is a disturbing example of how little a Trinity College education will do for the humanity, honesty, and sincerity of a graduate whom has had all the advantages of American Political Life.
His father was a legend in Washington, D.C. and Tucker is very familiar with the Fairfax Hotel as is anyone whom has spent any time in the Beltway. He knows first hand how distorted the statement was, yet he is so invested in his path of Neo-Conservatism that he can not face it's failures, and would rather lie.
So how did the expensive education, rich family experience in politics help Tucker?? Giving his lies his family name's creditibility?? I think that has been about spent, and overdrawn by this time.
Why has he foresaken any of the benefits to be the handmaiden, the propagandist of the rich?? He sold his intellect, credentials, and morality for MONEY!! As though the advantages would not have allowed him to make a successfull, and productive carrier in politics, journalism, or any other relative profession without having to sell his soul.
Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. So, as we bid ado to the slow, miserable death of Tucker's T.V. Punditry carrier we have the added pleasure of seeing the Republican Single Party Rule shares his fate!
We may hope that the next wave of political punditry in the coming years find some use for the TRUTH.
Happy Thoughts;
Dan Grady
The Truth can be so unwieldy at times. It's much easier to just ignore those troublesome stories and concentrate your resources on the missing white girl du jour. I mean, it's much cheaper to just pay an infobabe to stand in front of a courthouse than to hire a real investigative journalist.
Bush went to Yale.
and Harvard business school.
he went to Yale as an undergrad, but he got an MBA from Harvard....not that anyone there talks about it, given how poorly he makes business/economic decisions, they don't want it to reflect on the School.
It proves a truth seldom talked about in polite company...graduating from College doesn't necessarily mean that you'll retain any of what you memorized to pass the tests.
Well, bush does run the presidency like he went to college. Someone else does all his homework and he just shows up to take the test. Barely passing grades are his reward for partying hard when he should have been studying.
BTW, anyone here interested in saving Tucker? <tee hee!>
I'd like to help you out Snoop, but I'm much too busy saving all of the embryos from the other thread and raising money for their funeral expenses.
Funerals, small potatoes, Worrierking.We're just lucky Santorum isn't any more powerful that he is, or we'd be shelling out for thousands of embryo wakes.
Could you please put down the embryo? I'm concerned that your attention is going to be too divided with between destroying X-mas and your new campaign to bury un-born cells.
How much do you want to bet that Tucker made that sad little "Save Tucker" website? I have to say that I've honestly never met anyone that actually likes him.
Well, as Woody Allen said in Annie Hall, everything your parents said is good for you turned out to be bad for you...sunshine, red meat...college.
Bush attended Yale and Phillips Academy because his dad attended Yale and Phillips Academy.
Bush attended Yale and Phillips Academy because his dad attended Yale and Phillips Academy.
Making him a beneficiary of RKAA - Rich Kid Affirmatice Action.
Making him a beneficiary of RKAA - Rich Kid Affirmatice Action.
Bush was selected to be a US President through the very same program, perhaps this biggest collective crime ever committed in the US.
Would it matter if it was true? FDR grew up richer than Reagan and I would take the New Deal over Reaganomics any day.
Let us put aside the obvious disparities in character between Bush v Gore and focus on the the crap spewed forth by Bob Franken. The man is beyond doubt a turd. Regurgitating the neo-con talking points with no push back from the bow tie wearing right wing shill Tucker Carlson. That is both the ongoing travesty of the traditional media and the bane of our free society. The real reason Tucker Carlson is circling the drain is that we all know that the man has no(or doesn't exercise)real traditional Journalistic qualities or values. Never question only moderate. Don't feel sad for him. We also know that he will be recycled as a knowledgeable source/pundit.
footsore
Hmmmm...
I was under the impression Bush had been locked in a closet as a child and tormented with all perverse manner of torture. How else can one explain the dementia from which this grossly insecure, and possibly insane, man suffers?
BTW, do you think Bob Franken's observations support the rumor that while growing up in Texas Bush aspired to be a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader? Word is that his father was appalled and in order to cover it up he helped spread the notion that his son was a skirt-chasing coke-head. ;>)
It's interesting of Tucker to bring it up, look at where most people start in this country, It isn't from a rich hotel or preppy school but in the end we the people end up electing such people. What I wouldn't give for a common sense, non-elite school, rich relatives, person to lead this country. O.K., back to reality, which millionaire gets the White House now?
Well, actually, I'd settle for at least a millionaire who actually earned his money honestly without being born with one leg already in the privileged class.
And the other leg and foot up in the rear!
My father despised Bill Clinton (mostly because of the B.J.), but I always say to him that BC was the closest to him (middle class) as far as where he came from to the presidency. Does anyone ever mention that?