Transcript excerpt from panel yesterday, Tucker Carlson on GOP and evangelicals
Carlson on air
From the transcripts:
Copyright 2006 National Broadcasting Co. Inc.
All Rights Reserved
NBC News TranscriptsSHOW: The Chris Matthews Show Various Times NBC
October 8, 2006 Sunday
LENGTH: 3972 words
HEADLINE: Maureen Dowd of The New York Times, Andrew Sullivan of The New Republic and MSNBC’s Norah O’Donnell and Tucker Carlson discuss Foley scandal, war on Iraq, woman like Hillary Clinton as American president and their scoops and predictions
ANCHORS: CHRIS MATTHEWS
REPORTERS: TUCKER CARLSON, NORAH O’DONNELL
BODY: . . . [discussion of the Mark Foley scandal with high school pages]
Mr. SULLIVAN: This–and I think Norah’s right. The real theme here is abuse of power, and so it ties in with corruption, the pork, the abuse of our troops in Iraq who have not been given the support they need or even a war plan to succeed.
MATTHEWS: OK, so everyone agrees here that this story, emblematic of whatever…
Mr. SULLIVAN: Just emblematic of abuse.
CARLSON: It goes deeper than that though. The deep truth is that the elites in the Republican Party have pure contempt for the evangelicals who put their party in power. Everybody in… [emphasis added]
MATTHEWS: How do you know that? How do you know that?
CARLSON: Because I know them. Because I grew up with them. Because I live with them. They live on my street. Because I live in Washington, and I know that everybody in our world has contempt for the evangelicals. And the evangelicals know that, and they’re beginning to learn that their own leaders sort of look askance at them and don’t share their values.
MATTHEWS: So this gay marriage issue and other issues related to the gay lifestyle are simply tools to get elected?
CARLSON: That’s exactly right. It’s pandering to the base in the most cynical way, and the base is beginning to figure it out. (Unintelligible).
MATTHEWS: OK. Where are you…
Mr. SULLIVAN: The right is right to be mad about this. They have been duped by these people, and now they’re venting and they have every right to vent.
[further discussion on other issues]