Will MSNBC Fire Tucker Carlson and Hire Rosie O'Donnell?

This post, written by Steven Reynolds, originally appeared on The All Spin Zone

I'm not all that much of a Rosie fan, though I wish her well in life. But I'll have a little party if Tucker Carlson is canned from MSNBC, as it is long overdue. Then he can take his partisan Republican crap over to FoxNews where it belongs.

Let's get it straight from the outset. I have nothing against Rosie O'Donnell, but I don't like her as a political host, as is rumored in a column in the New York Times today. Rosie is simply easy for the conservative whack jobs to lampoon. I've no problem with MSNBC hiring someone as liberal as Rosie, but I'd like it to be a professional journalist. Call me a traditionalist.

On the other hand, I'm thrilled that they're thinking of firing Tucker Carlson. From the NYTimes:

Lest there be any doubt that the cable channel believes there is ratings gold in shows that criticize the administration with the same vigor with which Fox News's hosts often champion it, two NBC executives acknowledged yesterday that they were talking to Rosie O'Donnell about a prime-time show on MSNBC.

. . .

During the nine months she spent on "The View" before departing abruptly last spring, Ms. O'Donnell raised viewership notably. She did so while lamenting the unabated casualties of the Iraq war and advocating the right to gay marriage, among other positions.

Under one option, Ms. O'Donnell would take the 9 p.m. slot each weeknight on MSNBC, pitting her against "Larry King Live" on CNN and "Hannity & Colmes" on Fox News.

But even without Ms. O'Donnell, MSNBC already presents a three-hour block of nighttime talk -- Chris Matthews's "Hardball" at 7, Mr. Olbermann at 8, and "Live With Dan Abrams" at 9 -- in which the White House takes a regular beating. The one early-evening program on MSNBC that is often most sympathetic to the administration, "Tucker" with Tucker Carlson at 6 p.m., is in real danger of being canceled, said one NBC executive, who, like those who spoke of Ms. O'Donnell, would do so only on condition of anonymity

Yeah, Tucker Carlson bugs me, and it's been a pleasure over the last couple years watching him change his image, ditching the stupid bow tie, for instance, in an effort to hang on by a thread to a position as a TV News host. In fairness, I've a little experience with Tucker from a couple years ago, and you can read the transcript of that time here. But it's more than that. Tucker was an apologist for the Bush Administration early in their run-up to the failed Iraq War, and he's been apologizing since. And this guy distorts a Democratic stance at least once a show.