Of Politics and Bow Ties

PW: When and how did the idea for Politicians, Partisans, and Parasites [reviewed on p. 70] come to you?

Tucker Carlson: It's sort of been brewing for a long time. I was in print for 10 years at a newspaper and just endless magazines, and I met a lot of really interesting people and then I went into television two and a half years ago, and it was like the first day of school—you remember everything because it's all so new that the experiences sort of embed themselves in your memory in a way that other experiences don't. I had this fresh perception of the way television works and I found it fascinating, so I wanted to write about it, because I know five years from now, if I'm still in the business, it will all seem normal to me.

PW: Do you see yourself quitting television and going back to full-time reporting?

TC: The curious thing about television is, it prevents any sort of introspection at all because it's so immediate. Structurally, it makes it hard to think about tomorrow. The question which never gets answered and never stops being asked is: What's happening right now? And after a year or two of that, the idea of planning ahead—you can't even comprehend that. So I'm sure I'll probably be an abstract artist or something 10 years from now. I have no idea.

PW: Did you have a political inspiration growing up?

TC: Not really; I was always a big fan of George Orwell, particularly his journalism. He was obviously a socialist, but I just admired the lack of euphemism.

PW: Does it bother you that your position on Crossfire makes you more of an entertainer than a political thinker?

TC: No, it doesn't. Mostly I was a reporter, so I'm not Milton Friedman. The central question for me is always: Am I misrepresenting the truth, and my own beliefs, and as long as I'm not doing that, I don't feel guilty.

PW: Have you ever done that?

TC: Not knowingly. I've said things, that in retrospect I decided were stupid or overstatements, or on a couple of occasions I've turned out to be wrong, which I hate. I actually hate that.

PW: If you could host your own TV show, what would that be?

TC: If I could host any show, I would do a different variety of newscast that included all the stories that don't make it into the normal newscast. That is one of the great limitations of television as a medium. The number of stories in the Times each morning—in 24 hours you couldn't read all those stories out loud into a TelePrompTer, so you just cover a much smaller scope of news, so I would like to do a show that was all below-the-fold stories, all sidebars, all stuff that you missed.

PW: Why do you wear a bow tie?

TC: I've always worn a bow tie.

PW: Are you wearing a bow tie right now?

TC: I am, in fact, wearing one of my favorite bow ties.

PW: What makes it your favorite?

TC: Well, I like stripes because if you're feeling sort of sleepy and grouchy in the morning, stripes are so aggressive, they kind of get you going.

PW: What suggestions would you give young conservatives who want to break into journalism?

TC: Work at a newspaper—getting the daily writing experience is just a good thing. And I guess my first piece of advice would be, do it. Second would be, always tell the truth, even if it contradicts what you believe to be true; write what you find. Don't become a liar. [Also] tell me something new. Talk to someone I haven't talked to. That's all pretty simple; journalism is really simple.