The Sucking Sound you hear from PowerLine blog is — once again — Scott Johnson begging for attention. More than 1½ years ago, Johnson admitted he had parlayed the PowerLine website into a type of “fame” which helps him secure radio, TV appearances and placements in other publications and websites.
This time, the attention and “fame” he seeks is a return guest shot on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show. It’s been ages since his last invite and, like an abandoned dog, Johnson stares imploringly as if to say, “Love me, and help me parlay my fame.”
But Johnson badly flubbed his last appearance 6 months ago; I wrote about it here.
In a recent PowerLine post that mentioned Tony Fauci, Johnson gushed about Tucker Carlson:
This is Johnson at his most unctuous, oily self. It is not a sincere compliment to Tucker Carlson. Johnson flatters in hopes of getting something. He hopes people will be charmed by his Dart Mouth.
But bromance is fickle with Johnson. If not Tucker, how about Mark Steyn? One week after his gush with Carlson, Johnson posted this fanboy note (emphasis added):
“Filling in for Tucker Carlson last night, Mark Steyn was in rare form as he reviewed the matter of Eric Swalwell’s enmeshment with the Chinese spy. … We have attended to the story several times, but without the epic mockery of Steyn’s classic style.”
Anyone who’s had a chance to interact with the “real” Johnson knows he sucks up to win a spot in the class play. Many times, Johnson’s writing reveals his emotionally needy side. For example, here is Johnson in one of his periodic scoldings of readers in the form of a Note to Commenters (i.e., readers) — this was in 2019. Two points here:
- Johnson’s post runs more than 800 words. And Johnson uses first person (I, me, my) thirty-two times, as he redefines attention deficit.
- In his very first sentence, as noted, Johnson bragged he had parlayed the PowerLine website into a type of “fame” which helps him secure radio, TV appearances and placements in other publications and websites. [NB: He quickly rewrote that after I suggested how pompous and self-absorbed he sounded in my reader comment.]
Bam! Too much insight so Johnson banned me without explanation until months later. I had not violated any of his posted standards (e.g., profanity, vulgarity). Apparently I was not sufficiently deferential to Johnson, and worse — I told the truth. I wrote about it here and it is still fun to read. Not fun for Johnson, however. After I started this website, a colleague said: “I’ll bet Johnson has nightmares about you.”
The nightmares are going to get worse. Since starting this website, I have begun to chat with PowerLine readers — some who have been banned and some who have not yet been banned. For example, as one executive said (who hasn’t been banned):
“Thanks Michael I agree. What the Powerline guys don’t understand is that the election has radicalized the base and we will not tolerate any cooperating of any kind with the gangsters running the Dem party. It is a criminal organization.”
Johnson fails one of Carlson’s classic tests of principle. As Carlson said: “One of the hallmarks of incompetence is a total refusal to abide by your own standards or even acknowledge that universal standards exist.”
Johnson’s lack of attention from Tucker Carlson suggests that, as “the sworn enemy of lying, pomposity, smugness and groupthink,” Carlson has figured out Johnson’s true identify. As have more and more of PowerLine readers.
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