Monday, February 11th, 2008...7:42 am
I’m With Hillary On This One
The Hillary Clinton campaign has been making a lot of hay of last week’s comments by David Shuster that she was “pimping out” Chelsea. Not only was the comment offensive, but Shuster was attacking Clinton for doing something that other candidates with adult children have done (Was Mitt Romney “pimping out” Tagg?).
I’m not sure I agree with her campaign’s current calls for Shuster’s firing, I support his suspension though. The weird part for me is that Shuster has been one of the better commentators on MSNBC, unlike a lot of their hosts who seem to think they are in a locker room. Anyone remember Joe Scarborough’s comparison of Jeri Thompson to a stripper? And, don’t get me started on the misogynistic undertone of Chris Matthews’s commentary.
(Matthews complains about Clinton’s “cackle.” Has this guy listened to his own obnoxious “ha!” inflection? Should Matthews ever get sent to Guantanamo Bay, he should be forced to listen to a loop of that.)
The only one on the network that I make a point of watching is Keith Olbermann, who seems to be above the back slapping “just us guys” thing despite building his reputation as a sports commentator.
I need to give MSNBC a bit of credit though. They have Mika Brzezinski, who has, unfortunately, been relegated to a Ed McMahon role on Scarborough’s program. We Polish surnamed out here want her to get her own show just to make everyone have to say the name. In recent weeks, they have been giving Air America host Rachel Maddow more appearances. Her commentary has been excellent and incisive. When she is on panels, she has been more than willing to plow right through whatever silverbacks she has had to share space with.
Oh, here is the funniest part for me: apparently, MSNBC has pulled one of their interminable “true crime” programs and replaced it with an old Headliners and Legends episode about Clinton. I think she’s spooked them.
NB: Andrew Golis has some commentary and more details about the misogyny and werid statements by MSNBC commentators at TPM Café. Also, Todd Gitlin has a short bit about this incident too.
8 Comments
February 11th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Ted, you sounded good on NPR’s Talk of the Nation, today, Monday.
February 11th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Sorry, but I found the ‘pimping out’ comment innocuous and very accurate. It a common phrase thses days. The Clinton’s need to get over it, and the man who siad it should be back at work.
February 11th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
I would not want my daughter called a whore or to be by implication called a whoremonger. So I can see why the Senator would be upset.
February 11th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
Aye, it is offensive, particularly when the term wasn’t applied to _any_ of the other children of Presidential candidates helping their parents.
February 11th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
There is no excuse for using such a term with Chelsea. Use of this term was extremely nasty–a good [bad] example of the “coarsening of the culture”. What was Shuster trying to say by use of this term? That Chelsea was doing this against her will? That Chelsea was doing this for money? A stupid/inaccurate comment.
February 11th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
They didn’t call her a whore…. they said they were pimping her out. It has meanings out there that those out of touch with a younger culture just don’t understand.
It refers to pushing something or someone out into the forefront.
February 11th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
So MSNBC doesn’t think “older culture” voters watch their show [or MSNBC doesn't care about us]? I’m 49. I must be out of it. I’ve heard “pimping” used as a verb, but not the meaning “pushing something or someone out into the forefront”. The only other transitive use of “to pimp” that I found on the internet was “to decorate” as in “to pimp my ride”. I don’t think Shuster was saying that the Clintons were decorating Chelsea.
February 13th, 2008 at 6:47 am
With shows on MTV like “Pimp My Ride,” obviously the phrase is moving into common vernacular. You spend enough time on live tv, you’re eventually going to dick it up somehow. How is this on a scale of “nappy headed hoes?” Imus was pilloried, and Hillary was using any blowback she could get out of it to play campaign victim again. pfsh.