Eating His Words

Lots of folks on Eschaton were chattering about a "special guest" on Crossfire yesterday:

[Tucker] Carlson, the conservative half of the political talk show, had repeatedly claimed on air that Clinton's book would never sell that many copies, vowing to eat his shoes if it did.

"I will in fact eat my shoes because I'm a man of my word," he proclaimed in one segment.

After liberal co-host Paul Begala played a video clip reviewing Carlson's repeated pledge, Clinton came from behind stage, surprising Carlson with a chocolate cake in the shape of a shoe.

Nice that Hillary can be gracious, and Tucker can laugh at his own folly. That's the amazing thing about the punditocracy: they say the most ridiculous things to push their agendas, and most of the time they get away with it because nobody really goes back and checks on their pronouncements. I think pundits are like weather people. I wish I had a job where I could be wrong most of the time.

The episode reminds me of the time when the vaunted Bob Metcalfe promised he would eat his words if he were wrong when he predicted the Internet would collapse under its own weight in the mid-90s. It didn't, and Bob was good to his word, sorta, twice: first he had an actual printed copy of the column in which he made his pronouncement put in with other ingredients in blender, and he took a sip of the concotion; later her was presented with a big cake with his prediction written in icing on top, which he shared with all in attendance.

ntodd