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Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson (born May 16 , 1969 ) is a Libertarian -leaning Conservative Pundit best known as a former co-host for CNN 's '' Crossfire '', representing the political right. Known for his colorful Bow Tie s, Carlson is generally considered one of the most recognizable conservative personalities in American television. Carlson currently hosts '' to 2005 . BIOGRAPHY Carlson was born in San Francisco , California . He is the son of Richard W. Carlson, who was president and CEO of the Corporation For Public Broadcasting from 1992 to 1997 and former U.S. Ambassador to the Seychelles . His stepmother is Patricia Carlson, heiress to the Swanson frozen-food fortune. Education Carlson completed private secondary education at St. George's School, Newport , Rhode Island. He then attended Trinity College in Connecticut for four years without obtaining a degree. Carlson describes his college experience thus: : "After four years, I had met a lot of interesting people, gone to a couple of classes and restored a motorcycle, and that was it. And so I wasted my time at college." Journalism career Prior to his television career, Carlson was a member of the editorial staff of '' Policy Review '' magazine, one of the country's leading conservative journals, and a staff writer for the '' Arkansas Democrat-Gazette ''. He currently writes for his own blog called, "Untied" on MSNBC.com and has contributed articles to City Journal . Aside from his numerous articles, Carlson has had a book published and one of his essays included in another. In 's campaign during the 2000 Presidential primaries included in '' The Weekly Standard : A Reader: 1995-2005''. POLITICAL VIEWS Partisan ambivalence Carlson has stated that while he votes, and cares deeply about conservative ideas, he does not care about the success or failure of any political party. This partisan ambivalence has been a cause of friction between him and Republican political figures and movement conservatives. In 1999 , during the 2000 Republican Presidential primary race, Carlson interviewed then-Governor George W. Bush for ''Talk Magazine'' . Carlson reported that Bush mocked soon-to-be-executed Texas death-row inmate Karla Faye Tucker and "cursed like a sailor." Bush's communications director Karen Hughes publicly disputed this claim. Carlson did not vote in the 2004 election citing his disgust with the Iraq war and his disilusionment with the once small government Republican party. Carlson has labeled George W. Bush "Not a true conservative." 2004 broadcast of '' Crossfire ''.]] Critic of Norquist While vocalizing conservative views, Carlson has not hesitated periodically to level criticism at fellow conservatives. Carlson has been a harsh critic of conservative activist Grover Norquist , for instance, calling Norquist a "mean-spirited, humorless, dishonest little creep ... an embarrassing anomaly, the leering, drunken uncle everyone else wishes would stay home... is repulsive, granted, but there aren't nearly enough of him to start a purge trial." [http://slate.msn.com/id/3654/entry/23930 Libertarian views Carlson also has said that he is not "particularly anti- {Link without Title} drug," and that, while he reluctantly supported the Iraq War at the outset, he reversed his position after traveling to Baghdad to report for ''Esquire.'' Upon his return, he expressed his disgust with the war and his shame with himself for supporting it earlier. "I think it's a total nightmare and disaster, and I'm ashamed that I went against my own instincts in supporting it," he said. "I want things to work out, but I'm enraged by it, actually." Carlson has significant libertarian views, such as support for limited government, personal liberty (as with the aforementioned illicit drugs), opposition to Capital Punishment , and the power of the free market. Defending destruction of Rainbow Warrior Carlson drew criticism from Greenpeace in July 2005 after repeatedly stating that he supported the French government's 1985 Mining of the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior in a New Zealand port to prevent it from illegally interfering with a scheduled Nuclear Test . Though the operation's aim was to merely disable the ship, the ship sank, resulting in the drowning of a Greenpeace photographer and creating an international scandal. Carlson called the operation "a bold and good thing to do" on '' The Situation With Tucker Carlson '', and stated that it was "vandalism" not terrorism as "it wasn't intended to kill anyone."[http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/fire-tucker-carlson/passacantando-and-carlson-talk Critic of Canada Carlson has also drawn criticism from his opinions of Canada . "Anybody with any ambition at all, or intelligence, has left Canada and is now living in New York," he said. "Canada is a sweet country. It is like your retarded cousin you see at Thanksgiving and sort of pat him on the head. You know, he's nice but you don't take him seriously. That's Canada." {Link without Title} CONFRONTATION WITH JON STEWART On ''Crossfire,'' prior to the 2004 Presidential Election , Carlson exchanged heated words with Jon Stewart , host of the '' The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'', a satirical news show on Comedy Central , where Stewart strongly criticized ''Crossfire'' and other cable news shows. During the interview, Stewart took jabs at the show, telling the two co-hosts to "stop hurting America." Stewart also criticized Carlson's behavior on the show, calling him and co-host Paul Begala "partisan hacks." Specifically, he claimed that left versus right debate shows like "Crossfire" were dishonest and failed in their "responsibility to the public discourse." Carlson responded with criticism that in his July 2004 interview with presidential candidate John Kerry , Stewart himself failed to ask tough questions. According to Carlson, this amounted to "sniffing his (Kerry's) throne", and he accused Stewart of partisanship. Stewart responded, "You're on CNN. The show that leads into me is Puppets Making Crank Phone Calls . What is wrong with you?" Carlson also claimed that Stewart was not that funny by saying, "I do think you're more fun on your show. Just my opinion." Subsequently, as the show went into a commercial break Stewart famously told Carlson, "You're as big a dick on your own show as you are on any show." The video clip of the interview became popular on the internet as did Stewart's response on the ''Daily Show'' the next day, saying: "Tomorrow, I'll go back to being funny, but your show will still blow." It is speculated that this interview led CNN executives to cancel the show, although this was denied by CNN executives, who said that decision actually had been made six months before the interview. transcript Archived video link: http://throwawayyourtv.com/2006/04/jon-stewart-crossfire-appearence.html FROM CNN TO PBS TO MSNBC While at CNN, Carlson also hosted his own show on , 2004 to June 17 , 2005 . On February 2 , 2005 , MSNBC announced that they had signed Carlson to develop and host a primetime (9 p.m. EST originally, now 11 p.m.) MSNBC show, as a replacement for Deborah Norville . '' The Situation With Tucker Carlson '' premiered on June 13 , 2005 , with one of Carlson's first guests being Al Sharpton . The format of the show is very similar to the ESPN sports show, '' Pardon The Interruption '', where issues are debated for specific amounts of time. PERSONAL LIFE Carlson is married to Susan Andrews. They live in Madison, New Jersey with their son and three daughters. He is unrelated to journalist Margaret Carlson , but they are "good friends". {Link without Title} On Tuesday, April 11th , 2006 , Tucker Carlson (who is known for wearing bow-ties) announced on his show '' The Situation With Tucker Carlson '' that he would no longer be wearing a bow-tie, adding, "I just decided I wanted to give my neck a break. A little change is good once in a while, and I feel better already." Carlson is a practicing Episcopalian but has recently expressed disdain with the church's policies. EXTERNAL LINKS
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