Tucker Carlson, MSNBS’s pedigreed fascist in residence, has been cashed out by the network, mercifully before the run-up to the general elections in which his insights and observations would in a full-length show embarrass the average 7th grader and, of course, the network. Word is leaking out of the Peacock Network that while Carlson’s evening show, Tucker, will be canceled, the network will keep him on for comic relief and neo-Nazi sound effects.

The official announcement is supposed to come sometime today with the news of the replacement for Carlson’s 6 PM program on MCNBC where Carlson had been effusing fascist bromides since 2005, following a short hiatus after he was trashed at CNN at the suggestion of Daily Show host Jon Stewart. Stewart, on air and during Carlson’s Crossfire program, howled that Carlson’s show was an irresponsible, partisan propaganda vehicle for psychopathic fascist interests. CNN agreed once they realized Carlson had a program on the network and tossed Carlson on the sidewalk.

Carlson’s MSNBC show has been a dying comedy act fronting as a conservative talk-show host for years now. Carlson is so fuckwitted, the initial format of his program literally was structured around time-bounded topics, debated by a coterie of fame-hungry drooling heads. It didn’t work. When the network moved the show’s time and allowed Tucker a more free form format, it only got worse as it required extemporaneous and improvisational discourse, not a strong suit for a guy who made a living repeating what Rush Limbaugh says in a whinier voice. Most people and their pets are smarter than Carlson and resented his pathetic neo-con lite propagandizing - and the ratings showed it.

How does an incompetent twit like this get multiple chances to embarrass himself and his employers on television? Carlson picked his parents wisely. Dad was, according to Wikipedia, a banker, LA TV news anchor, US ambassador, director of a US propaganda agency and the president of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Mom’s mom’s brother was Senator William Fulbright. Yes, like our fearless leader, Carlson is the fruit of America’s boundless meritocracy.

We’ll have to wait until later today to find out who or what is taking Carlson’s place. Rumors are flying that the show will be replaced by, variously, a pet psychologist, a Tarot reader who’ll do sessions with the rich and famous and Candlepins for Nudists, a show long in development by Isaac Hayes, who left South Park last year after the producers made fun of his cult, Scientology.

Still, other media pundits out there are betting that oft-time Carlton guest Rachel Maddow, an Air America radio show host, will be taking over the slot, but that may be just wishful thinking. The sober, studied and centrist Maddow would provide some needed intellectual heft to the evening time slot. Unlike the fuckwitted Carlson, Maddow actually finished college - Stanford University - and went on to become a Rhodes Scholar.