This diary is a News Corpse Twofer. Since we only get one diary per day, I combined two stories that I thought would be of interest to dKos readers.
We begin with news that Tucker Carlson is precariously teetering on his cable perch.
Brought to you by...
News Corpse
The Internet's Chronicle Of Media Decay.
Tucker Carlson Flips/Signs Off MSNBC
Last Friday Tucker closed his show by saying:
"That does it for us. Thank you for watching as always, we mean that sincerely to all eight of you."
That sounds ominously like a farewell. This will come as no surprise to News Corpse readers who are well aware of the train wreck that Tucker's show is on MSNBC's schedule. I published my analysis of his subterranean ratings last August, and followed up with a prediction of his demise in September.
Now Jacques Steinberg at the New York Times is citing a source at MSNBC as saying that Liar Tuck "...is in real danger of being canceled." Thanks for the news flash, Jack. What gave it away? (The remainder of the article is a pile of nonsense that posits a leftist tilt at the network, supplying as evidence the liberal contributions of Chris Matthews, Joe Scarborough and Dan Abrams. They're about as liberal as Limburger is fragrant).
FTVLive has an explanation for why Tucker has lasted this long. He allegedly agreed to cut his salary in half in order to save his worthless program and persist in dragging the rest of the schedule down with him. Why MSNBC would think that that is a good deal is beyond me. FTVLive also elicited a response from Tucker himself, saying that reports of his show being quietly canceled are, "complete and utter bullshit." This is reminiscent of his response a year ago to the same speculation when he said that...
"It’s bullshit. It’s total bullshit. I talked to Abrams last night. I’ve got another year on my contract. That’s my comment: Bullshit."
Well that was a year ago and now the chickenhawks may be coming home to roost.
And now for some healthy outdoors activity to keep your spirits up.
You Can Join A Fox News Focus Group
Republican pollster and message crafter, Frank Luntz, is seeking participants for a series of focus groups that will be held around the country. The purpose appears to be to study public opinions on presidential politics. Fox News will likely be the client for these studies as Luntz promoted the project yesterday on Hannity and Colmes.
Here's the fun part. You can be a member of the focus group. Luntz is soliciting participants on his web site with an application form. Fill it out and, in a few days, you will know if you have been accepted. The pitch for subjects says that they "want to know what you think," and that you could "potentially see your comments aired on national television."
So let's tell them what we think. Sign up and see if you can secure a place for yourself on a panel near you. The application form asks a range of questions that include political viewpoints. I don't know if they are looking for righty sycophants or if they are going for a "fair and balanced" sample. You might try different approaches to see if one is more likely to get approved than another. I would also suggest that you not access the application through this link as they may check the referrer sites and reject those that come from a blog such as this. Instead, simply cut and paste this URL...
www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=2bQOeRHWezhssEBctA6YCIA3d_3d
...into your browser from Google.com or Foxnews.com or something else non-controversial.
The site encourages you to "FORWARD THIS EMAIL to friends, family or colleagues who you think may be interested," so they should not mind if we do so. I think it would be good for Fox News to start getting opinion data that more accurately reflects the nation's view of politics, government and the world. Here's our chance to help them see the light.