MSNBC's Carlson called Gore a “religious zealot,” after previously labeling him a “wild-eyed religious nut”

Written by Josh Kalven

Published

On MSNBC, Tucker Carlson said, "[I]t's fair to say that Al Gore is a religious zealot." Carlson previously called Gore a “wild-eyed religious nut” whose “religion is the environment.”

On the August 8 edition of MSNBC's Tucker, host Tucker Carlson said, "[I]t's fair to say that [former Vice President] Al Gore is a religious zealot." Carlson previously called Gore a “wild-eyed religious nut” whose “religion is the environment,” as Media Matters for America noted.

Carlson made the comment while discussing an exchange on the August 3 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes -- highlighted by Media Matters -- during which co-host Alan Colmes noted that Rev. Pat Robertson, host of Christian Broadcasting Network's The 700 Club and founder of the Christian Coalition of America, had announced that the recent heat wave in the United States “is making a convert out of me” on global warming. In response, co-host Sean Hannity called Al Gore “unhinged” for his long-standing position on the threat posed by global warming. Hannity went on to say that Robertson is “dead wrong on this one,” but nonetheless “sane.”

After playing a clip of the segment, Carlson took issue with Hannity's defense of Robertson's sanity, calling the evangelical leader “crazy” and a “nutcake.” But Carlson said of Gore, “I think it's fair to say that Al Gore is a religious zealot, because he is.”

From the August 8 edition of MSNBC's Tucker:

CARLSON: Time now for “Beat the Press.” First up, Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes of the Fox News Channel. During a debate over global warming, Hannity bristled when Colmes tried to compare Al Gore to Pat Robertson. Listen.

[begin video clip]

HANNITY: If you look at the history of temperatures, there's a natural ebb and flow to all of this.

COLMES: Yeah.

HANNITY: And I think Al Gore is unhinged.

COLMES: What does that have to do with what we're talking about? You use it as an excuse to take a shot at Al Gore.

HANNITY: Absolutely. Unhinged.

COLMES: And now it turns out -- it just turns out that Pat Robertson is going to be in the next Al Gore film based on what we just saw.

HANNITY: Listen. Well, I'll tell you this: Pat's a good man, but he's dead wrong on this one.

COLMES: All right. Is he unhinged?

HANNITY: No. He's sane.

COLMES: All right.

[end video clip]

CARLSON: I see -- I see Hannity's point. I see his desire to defend evangelicals -- a group that takes a lot of crap unfairly from the mainstream media. And I think it's fair to say that Al Gore is a religious zealot, because he is.

On the other hand, just because Al Gore is a bad guy, just because evangelicals are unfairly attacked by the left, does not mean Pat Robertson isn't crazy. He is. This is a man who blamed the United States for 9-11. Two days after 9-11, he said, quote, “The Almighty has lifted his protection from this country.” When you blame the U.S. for the attacks on the World Trade Center, you, my friend, are a nutcake. In other words, you can be for civil rights and not be for [Rev.] Jesse Jackson. You can be for evangelicals and not be for Pat Robertson. Just to make that totally clear. The guy's a nut.