Wingnut Welfare: It's a Simple, Little System

That yields astonishing results.

From CNN Reliable Sources:

Tucker Carlson's two-book deal

Tucker Carlson has struck a "a two-book deal with Threshold Editions," The AP's Hillel Italie reports. "Numerous publishers had expressed interest in him and his literary agency, Javelin, says the deal is worth eight figures." The "eight figures" detail is intriguing because Page Six hears the deal is worth $9 million... not quite "eight figures..."

 -- Also noteworthy: Carlson went with Threshold, an imprint of CBS's Simon & Schuster, instead of the Murdoch-owned HarperCollins...

Golly!  Tucker Carlson will be collecting his Claptrap Lagniappe (tm) from Respected Publishers of Respectable Books, Simon & Schuster, instead of Murdoch's slophouse?

Well I guess that takes the Wingnut Welfare stink off the deal and critics like me should just shut our Libtard mouths and admire Mr. Tuckers literary acumen.  

Except...for those of you unfamiliar with  the Threshold Editions of SS, here's a little history:

...

[Mary] Matalin understood early on that the hate racket is like any other racket, and that our media is so constructed as to let Conservatives get away with all kinds of murder.   Armed with these two facts and streamlined by a complete lack of conscience, she has exploited her meager talents and lengthy confidential contact list into a formidable media conglomerate which includes such diverse subsidiaries as flogging HVAC products and medium-priced hooch, sharing a radio microphone with fellow media mogul Arianna Huffington on Air-America-killer Mark Green's horrible, horrible show, and, most importantly getting her own Conservative imprint at Simon & Schuster:

Mary Matalin’s official title at Threshold Editions is editor-in-chief, but the Republican strategist prefers several others: conservative, book-lover, fixer.

It’s that last role where Matalin’s extensive network comes into play for Simon & Schuster’s 4-year-old conservative imprint, now slated to publish memoirs by both former Vice President Dick Cheney and Karl Rove. Matalin’s connections also played a part in a publishing-industry coup earlier this month, as Threshold simultaneously held the top spots on The New York Times best-seller list for hardcover and paperback nonfiction — Mark Levin’s “Liberty and Tyranny” and Glenn Beck’s “Common Sense,” respectively...

Which puts her in the powerful position of being able to distribute wingnut welfare largess instead of just receiving it.

...

The Cheneys, for Matalin, are like family. Lynne Cheney and her daughter Mary are both Threshold authors. So it’s natural that Dick knocked around book ideas with Matalin in his McLean, Va., home before settling on a publisher. There, Matalin said the vice president offered up some “jaw-dropping” anecdotes for the book that she had never heard in the years she worked for him. Bob Barnett, the D.C. uber-lawyer who represents Rove, Matalin and countless media figures, said that while he can’t speak for the vice president in making a final decision, Matalin’s presence at Threshold “is very reassuring.”

And Rove, who’s turning in his manuscript to Simon & Schuster editor Priscilla Painton in the next few weeks, told POLITICO that Matalin has been helpful along the way by reading sections and offering comments. “Mary understands the audience and understands what goes into making a good book,” he said.

Threshold publisher Louise Burke, who runs the imprint from New York while Matalin pitches in from her New Orleans home, said the distinction between their imprint and others is that Threshold best understands the conservative book-buying audience — a key factor needed to keep the hits coming.

“This is an area where it really helps to be a believer,” said Burke, perhaps one of the few outspoken conservatives in Manhattan’s publishing scene. “I don’t feel you can be successful in this particular genre if you are opposed to the message.” ...

And, in the end, a drowning man will grasp even the point of a sword:

Respectable publishing houses, the Upper West Side literati complained a few years back, were now turning their presses over to the Ann Coulters of the world, all in pursuit of profits. But these days, after layoffs and drops in sales, such criticism is less frequent...

The limitless ocean of cash that flows through Wingnut Welfare's rivers and tributaries is how the Right keeps their whole Pretty Hate Machine -- publishing houses, magazines, websites, radio empires, teevee networks, op-ed forelock tuggers, think tanks, and a thousand free roaming pundits -- propped up and purring in the face of overwhelming evidence that they are nothing but a mob lying, racist grifters and madmen.  

And once you get your Wingnut Welfare card punch, baby, the world is your oyster!