It didn't take long for Carlson's rag, the Daily Caller, to be discredited over its Sen. Menendez scandal story. Howard Kurtz explains it and then wonders when an apology will be forthcoming:
I think it is fair to say that the unsubstantiated story by "The Daily Caller" accusing Senator Robert Menendez of patronizing prostitutes in the Dominican Republic has now been discredited, but the conservative website still hasn't retracted the claim.
When the "Washington Post" reported that one prostitute admitted taking money to lie about the senator, the "Daily Caller" scuffed that the paper had the wrong hooker. Now Dominican police say three women have acknowledged being paid to lie about having sex for money with Menendez whose office now says again, this was a smear job.
Let's leave aside the charge by a top Dominican law enforcement official also reported by "The Post" that a local lawyer said someone claiming to be from "The Daily Caller" offered him $5,000 to find women willing to lie about Menendez.
"The Caller" says that is absolutely not true and I find it hard to imagine, but as for the prostitutes, the website founded by Tucker Carlson says it is, quote, "not independently verified the identities of the women involved in the Dominican probe" and quoting again, "remains unclear" whether one of the prostitutes now retracting her claim was interviewed by a "Caller" reporter.
At this point, if the "Daily Caller" cannot prove the story was true, it owes the senator and its readers an apology.
As C&L has documented many times, most conservatives don't care about accuracy--only about smearing Democrats and spreading hate towards liberals. if the lies help that agenda then all is good.
As Poynter highlighted, Carson loves the attention his phony stories create so can we expect more of them in the future?
Carlson, meanwhile, seems happy his business is in the spotlight. In an interview with The Washington Post’s Paul Farhi on Tuesday, Carlson said: “Oh, it’s a very good day. It’s a good day because it’s an interesting day.”
And of his critics, Carlson said: “I’m not seeking their approval. Why should I care if a bunch of losers on Twitter don’t like it?”
Farhi notes this has been part of the Caller’s recipe for success:
The put-up-your-dukes attitude has made the Daily Caller a rising star among the new Washington media, particularly the conservative kind. … One of its first attention-grabbing stories was its reporting in 2010 on Journolist, an e-mail group started by Post blogger Ezra Klein in which reporters privately trashed various politicians, most of them conservative.The outfit again caused a stir when its White House reporter, Neil Munro, interrupted President Obama’s remarks about immigration last year. …But other Caller “scoops” have fizzled.
Carlson went on Fox News last year to hype a 2007 video of Obama praising his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and suggesting that the federal government had shortchanged African American victims of Hurricane Katrina. Despite build-up for the video from the Drudge Report and Fox’s Sean Hannity, it caused barely a ripple. Most of its content had been reported on before — by, among others, Carlson.
I doubt we'll see Fox News ban Tucker from their Political All Star panel any time soon over these erroneous stories because there are no penalties for these liars.
