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Jul 9, 2021Liked by Eric Boehlert

I have people coming at me on social, all of the crying about how poor Tucker was "unmasked". These are people with no understand of what the NSA does or what their authority dictates that they can do. The right wing clowns on TV tell them a word to use and they go use it like a bludgeon.

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Jul 9, 2021Liked by Eric Boehlert

PS. Off topic. July 7 NYT Thomas Edsall gives a great explanation of all those pro FG fans/addicts.

Trump’s Cult of Animosity Shows No Sign of Letting Up

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/07/opinion/trump-gop.html?referringSource=articleShare

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Eric - you said Mike Wallace when you meant Chris, but otherwise hit the nail right on the head: Carlson is a publicity whore who revels in the attention his increasingly lunatic rantings generate. This episode is more "deep state" bullshit, and perhaps his FOIA request going back 2 years is to show the rubes that he and The Former Guy have been in the cross hairs regardless of who is president.

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author

ugh, that Wallace mistake is gnawing at me;)

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The same people who believe carlson's lies also swear by trump's thirty thousand, five hundred and seventy three. This is the worst kind of celebrity worship, by those who skipped (or have forgotten / willfully ignored) Logic 101, and the one textbook titled, "Creative and Critical Thinking", not to mention eighth grade civics, team sports, intramural activities and any mention of the Golden Rule. Thankfully they seem to be in the minority, but it's scary that they have a voice at all. I'd blame cable tv and toxic social media, and the mega-dollars at stake for the owners of those outlets. Egocentric Greed, personified in the person of a whiney spoiled brat with a hairdoo and a way-too-big megaphone.

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"Nothing about this caper makes sense, which is fitting since Carlson is a congenital liar." Well, "he's just crazy" isn't a very satisfying explanation. As you suggest at the end, this all has the reek of a "getting out ahead of the story" tactic. I mean, even taking it at farce, er, FACE value, if these supposedly leaked-to-the-media emails were in fact leaked to the media, they don't seem to have actually, y'know, PUBLISHED 'em or anything. Setting up a counter-narrative when there's no narrative yet sure seems like a protest-too-much situation. Something about concealment as evidence of guilty conscience comes in here.

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agreed; it's entirely possible Carlson "leaked" the emails himself to try to get ahead of the story

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I love this shout out to Eric from Esquire’s Charles Pierce “ Eric Boehlert’s not-to-be-missed-subscribe-now-ya-bastids Press Run newsletter on Wednesday went long on an element of the Nikole Hannah-Jones story that had eluded me.”

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I become more and more convinced that the increasing shrillness coming from *ucker Carlson and the rest of the Faux News talking herd see their irrelevance is an eventually futile attempt to hold their irrelevance at bay.

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strike through [see their irrelevance]. It's one of those type, post, proofread daze.

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I do not believe the U.S. Constitution protects the media against reckless endangerment charges or treason charges.

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Poor Tucker; he emulates/surpasses FG in his out of this world lies, histrionics, addiction to attention; ‘publicity whore’ per Charlie’s response, so apt; Tucker’s version of ‘As The Stomach Churns.’ Narcissism personified. Of course, the outrage lies in the ways he continually abuses his first amendment rights at the expense of his listeners and the country. What a spoiled, self satisfied ass.

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" People who criticize the Biden administration are being threatened. "

As a progressive/Demo Socialist , the only people threatening me when I call out the failures of democratic establishment centrist neoliberal corporate institutionalist complicit leadership, comes from the establishment centrist base.

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Your last two grafs were a surprise ending. Is the FOIA dating back to 2019 an I-am-a-victim publicity stunt or a fear-driven move to learn if the NSA has legitimate dirt on him? I suspect the former but hope for the latter. If by some miracle Carlson departs Fox, he knows a warm chair awaits at RT news.

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yeah, i think Carlson regrets the language of the FOIA request; probably didn't know it would instantly available to the press

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I don't use Twitter, etc nor do I watch, but what little I know of him is that he is a world class huckster. How is he different from the FlexSeal guy? When his clips come on the shows I do watch, I can't hit 'mute' fast enough. Eric, the things you do for us. Thanks.

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he's the worst. and arguable worse than O'Reilly or Glenn Beck ever were?

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Meanwhile Russian media gloats as they show clips of Tucker every night heaping endless praise on him...and those innocent people who visited the Capitol on 1/6 to express their grievances...

Now one wonders what was gleaned from the latest Russian hacking of GOP servers! Is Vlad chuckling about all the new naughty things uncovered that he can blackmail Republicans with????

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author

good pt--Carlson is very popular on Russian state TV. they hold him up as a truth teller

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FB messed up again. :{

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I miss Eric

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