Tucker Carlson refused to say Thursday whether he’d take any disciplinary action against the reporter behind a pair of sexist tweets. Three published articles later, we appear to have our answer.
The Daily Caller’s Patrick Howley’s byline appeared on a trio of posts on Thursday, ostensibly confirming that he won’t face a suspension or termination for his degrading comments on Twitter about Buzzfeed’s Rosie Gray. Howley’s Twitter account remains disabled.
Absent from Howley’s latest pieces is the strange, misogynistic sense of humor that colored much of his previous work.
All three articles published Thursday were staid reports written from a conservative perspective.
One focused on comments made in the New York Times by Dr. Zeke Emmanuel, an architect of the Affordable Care Act and the brother of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel. Howley followed that up with a lengthy profile of a conservative challenger to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and a critical look at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
When TPM reached Carlson by phone on Thursday, he initially refused to comment about the matter.
“There is literally no chance I’m going to speak for attribution to you,” the conservative pundit and Daily Caller editor-in-chief said.
He said that he and Howley had already said enough when they apologized to Gray on Wednesday night. Carlson then decided to say more, explaining to TPM that their earlier mea culpa was sufficient.
“I would say, I will say one thing, uh, yeah, I will give you comment actually,” Carlson said. “And it’s this, and I mean it: I believe in the power of the sincere apology. And our apologies were sincere. And they were, by the way.”
