'Scoundrel' Asks Good Question

Last night, Tucker Carlson brought on former Federal Reserve Board nominee Stephen Moore, who was forced on Thursday to withdraw from the confirmation process following revelations that he was too sexist even for the Trump administration.

Carlson’s Fox News show is a largely incoherent torrent of white nationalist talking points, but its utter lawlessness means that occasionally, an interaction with a guest will provide one of those “worst person you know made a great point” moments. For example:

This is… actually a great question. Why did CNN hire and pay Stephen Moore to offer up incredibly wrong economic opinions for so long? As Moore himself points out, “This is a little awkward for CNN,” given that they’re now criticizing him. Sure is!

The point that Moore and Tucker are trying to make is that CNN is hypocritical while also whitewashing Moore’s long career of sexism and idiocy. On the first count, they succeed, but only by really delivering a brutal self-own. Moore is sexist, and it looks bad that CNN furnished him with a paycheck for so long! But then again, you have to consider that we’re discussing the same cable news network that has been paying Rick Santorum for several years and regularly hosts lowest-common-denominator guests that drag the quality of its programming down into the deepest circles of 24-hour cable news hell.

The follow-up point Moore tries to make, however, is that people shouldn’t be held accountable for things they wrote 25 years ago, which… yeah, they should. Moore has claimed his columns about how women shouldn’t be allowed to sell concessions at sports stadiums in the early 2000s for the National Review were “humor writing,” which doesn’t really make them any less sexist. And if there’s one thing Tucker and his new wave white power propaganda party love it’s the “I was just joking” excuse, making Moore a perfect fit for the show.

Anyway, speaking of the deepest circles of hell, it looks like Moore is trudging right back to one: