Though he’s capable of outwonking any political roundtable, there’s something about Tucker Carlson that makes you just want to drink a beer with him.
And if you made it to the launch party of his new Web site, the Daily Caller, there was an opportunity to pump a keg and drink from a red Solo cup with the new editor in chief while rubbing shoulders with the new crop of contributors and reporters.
Held in the Kalorama home of Juleanna Glover on Tuesday night, there was a coat-check tent, valet, mixed drinks, eclectic buffet, outdoor heat lamps and a well-coiffed crowd. Despite Carlson’s informal vibe, the event was prime networking for Washington’s journo crowd, which chatted alongside French maids and a Napoleon character repping vodka drinks.
How would Carlson describe the new venture? “Tawny, lithe and muscular.”
Perhaps stepping away from the policy buff image, Carlson did kick off the Web site early Monday with a report on state dinner crasher No. 3.
“I was interested in that story,” Carlson told Yeas & Nays. “I wanted to report for the site; I had been in TV for 10 years and I was a magazine writer before then … but I kind of missed calling people and going over to people’s houses.”
He said he doesn’t just want the site to be a Huffington Post for conservatives, and he sees a real market for online journalism.
“Let me put it this way: There’s not much out there,” Carlson said. “This is the beginning of a whole new time in the media.”
“When Politico makes $17 million a year, we cheer. We want quality sites to do well … because it means the country is shifting to getting its news online,” Carlson continued.
Also spotted at the party: Michael Calderone, Susanna Quinn, Ann Compton, Doug McKelway, Kevin Madden, Dee Dee Myers, Liz Mair, Dave Weigel, Matt Cooper, Quin Hillyer, Robert Bluey, Mike Gonzalez, Amy Holmes and Christopher Hitchens.
