On the November 16 edition of MSNBC's Tucker, host Tucker Carlson teased an upcoming segment about Sen. Trent Lott's (R-MS) November 15 election as Senate minority whip by stating, “Still to come: Trent Lott's comeback -- is it a good thing for the Republican Party or is he the Howard Dean of the GOP? Opinions vary.” Carlson was referring to the fact that Lott was forced to step down from his Senate leadership post in 2002 over remarks he made at then-Sen. Strom Thurmond's (R-SC) birthday party praising Thurmond's 1948 pro-segregation presidential campaign. Carlson did not elaborate on his comparison between Lott and Dean.

As Media Matters for America noted, on the November 15 edition of Tucker, Carlson claimed he had “never seen any evidence that Trent Lott is a racist,” ignoring Lott's history of public statements and actions that have been attacked as racially insensitive and, in several cases, as indicating support for racist entities. Carlson also opined that if one were to consider Lott a “racist,” “you could say the same about every man over 60 ... south of the Mason-Dixon Line.”

From the November 16 edition of MSNBC's Tucker:

CARLSON: Still to come: Trent Lott's comeback -- is it a good thing for the Republican Party or is he the Howard Dean of the GOP? Opinions vary.