I just finished Politicians, Partisans, and Parasites: My Adventures in Cable News by Tucker Carlson. It's a book that is...well Tucker Carlson's adventures in Cable News. Which isn't necessarily a good thing or what exactly I was hoping the book would be about. But let me start from the beginning...

I first encountered Tucker Carlson on a late night TV show called "The Spin Room".  I immediately liked this guy as we share similar views on most issues. But more importantly than that, he was the first...for lack of a better word, Avatar for conservatives. Someone who was obviously a decent human being who could articulate in a common sense way why he's a conservative.

And his philosophy could be summed up as follows: I'm a conservative because I believe in self reliance. I don't need the government to play the role of mom. I think Americans are at their best when left alone to do the incredible things history has shown them capable of.

So perhaps my expectations were too high when I bought the book. I have no one else but to blame for that -- the book title is precisely what it is about. But he has shown a great tendency to articulate the conservative philosophies in ways no other conservative I've seen do. So I guess I was hoping to read a book in which each chapter articulated an aspect of conservatives and expressed the value of that particular belief.

Instead, we are treated to a set of episodes in cable news he's had. Many of which are not that interesting unless you watched the shows he's been on or are really into this stuff. I happen to follow cable news a great deal so I knew the kinds of things he was talking about. But I was surprised and yet not surprised to learn some of the grief he's experienced as a result of being a public figure. One can imagine the kind of crap that presidential candidates must experience when Tucker, relatively new on cable news, is getting sued for rape when he wasn't even in the state in which the rape allegedly occurred. The kinds of crazy stuff that celebrities of any kind face make me glad I'm a relatively unknown person. Then again, I go by the handle "Draginol" on JoeUser.com rather than using Brad Wardell (Bwardell@stardock.com) in all my articles. I get enough crazy email as is without every article advocating military action or lower taxes causing a flood of hate mail. Which is exactly the kind of stuff that Tucker Carlson has run into.

Overall, I found the book somewhat enjoyable but I would probably recommend people wait for the paperback version. And if Tucker Carlson ever reads this, please write another book that espouses why you're a conservative and the different merits, as you see it, of conservatism. That would be a book I think more people would enjoy.