What would have happened if Shuster had said "Obama is pimping out his wife, Michelle"

[ruggerson]

Would there still be people here defending him?

[tishaLA]

1. Yes there would.

I would not be among them.

But for god's sake...all these threads about it?! Oy.

[ruggerson]

4. Well because I think it's emblematic of something much larger

but, you're right, it's the story du jour. It'll be forgotten until the next pundit sticks his entire leg in his mouth.

[joshcryer]

2. I've only had one Obama supporter actually answer that question. They said "yes."

I don't believe them, given their rabidness.

[jgraz]

3. For one thing, I think Obama would have handled it much more gracefully than Hillary did

Also, there's a slight difference between going after a potential first lady and going after the kids. Slight, but it's there.

[emilyg]

5. You never touch kids. Period.

[HeraldSquare212]

11. They put her out there to campaign but wanted to protect her by not letting reporters talk to her

That's I think what he meant by the "weird pimping out" - they wanted to protect her (remember how she never used to say anything at all) but needed her help as a surrogate (now she's actually campaigning on her own). So, they were having her do things that, until Clinton got into a tight race, they had decided were off-limits for her.

Hey, I can't read minds, but that's what I'm guessing.

[in_cog_ni_to]

46. If she doesn't want to talk to reporters, she doesn't have to talk to them.

That doesn't give Shuster the right to say what he said.

[HeraldSquare212]

52. But the point is, they protected her more when they were ahead

Once they fell behind, they sent her out on her own to do rallies. that's the 'pimping' part - they thought it was wrong to do, but did it once Clinton fell behind because they needed the help.

[Orangepeel]

21. Everybody is somebody's kid. How old do they have to be before they can be criticized?

Granted, what Schuster said was more than criticism. It was offensive and he needed to apologize. But it would have been offensive if he had said it about anyone. It would have been offensive if he had said it about Michelle Obama. It would have been offensive if he'd said it about, say, a celebrity supporting a candidate like Jack Nicholson.

But it's no more or less offensive because it was about Chelsea Clinton. The woman is almost 30 and actively campaigning for a political candidate!

[K Gardner]

29. That's just it.. he wasn't criticizing Chelsea.. he was referring to what the Clintons

were having her do re: calling superdelegates.

[LittleClarkie]

40. Just like you never touch women with cancer? She's not a kid, and she elected to go on the trail

You can't enter battle and then expect no one to touch you because you're somebody's kid. If she hadn't entered the campaign, I'd agree with you. But she did, and I don't.

[ruggerson]

7. How did Hillary handle it?

I haven't seen what her reaction is.

(Btw, what a campaign flack says is not HER reaction. It's her campaign's reaction)

[jgraz]

13. Threatening to boycott BOTH MSNBC and NBC was an overreaction

That had to come from the Clintons. No staffer is going to lead with that.

[ruggerson]

20. Did she say that?

[jgraz]

22. One of many links

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/08/clinton-campaign-threatens-to-boycott-msnbc-debates

[ruggerson]

25. I didn't realize Howard Wolfson

was named Hillary.

[jgraz]

27. Is Hillary running her campaign or isn't she?

This kind of "plausible deniability" crap is exactly why people can't stand the Clintons.

[ruggerson]

36. the point being

You didn't say her campaign. You said her. Two different entities. She has said NOTHING about this as far as I can see.

[jgraz]

38. Typical Clintonian parsing

Another example of why it's going to be President Obama or President McCain next January.

[durrrty libby]

Get real. This place would explode with charges of racism, not

just sexism and Shuster would be run out of town on a rail

[jgraz]

31. But Obama would have handled it more gracefully than Clinton did

[emilyg]

34. We don't know that.

[jgraz]

It's called an inference.

I think we have enough evidence to make a reasonable guess.

[Iceburg]

14. So now its Hillary's fault that she had to demand an apology

for the vile misogyny. The Cult lives.

[jgraz]

19. She overreacted. It's a leadership test and she got about a C-

[EffieBlack]

30. There's no such thing as an overreaction when someone goes after your kid

[jgraz]

33. He didn't "go after" her kid. He made a sick, stupid comment and is paying the price for it.

Hillary freaking out and threatening a boycott plays right into the hands of the people who will paint her as a shrill harridan in the fall. She needs to be smarter than that.

[emilyg]

35. Sick, stupid comments need not be tolerated.

[jgraz]

37. Never said they did. Just that a potential president shouldn't wet her knickers over them.

[EffieBlack]

44. OK - I'm glad she's "overreacting" to someone who made a sick, stupid comment about her kid

Good for her.

Sorry it bothers you, although it is kind of funny watching YOU overreacting and freaking out (amd that's just what you're doing) because you don't like the way Hillary responded to someone you don't even know because she doesn't like what they said about HER daughter.

Irony.

[jgraz]

45. I'm actually happy she's overrreacting. Another nail in the coffin.

[emilyg]

41. As a mother - I assure you her reaction was justified.

[jgraz]

42. You aren't running for president

Chelsea was in no way hurt or threatened by what Shuster said. Hillary's acting as if he groped Chelsea at a press conference.

[rocktivity]

6. Nothing. Politicians are SUPPOSED to pimp out their spouses!

rocknation

[leftofthedial]

8. less would have happened

[earthside]

9. In the world of grown-ups ...

... you call him an idiot, then move on and talk about health care or the occupation of Iraq or the recession.

You wouldn't seek the death penalty for the guy, threaten not to debate on his network and whine about it incessantly.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

10. By saying that about Chelsea, it seems one could also apply that notion to Michelle

To me, his statement was demeaning to any family member involved in politics and one could interpret it that way. I found Shuster's statement ridiculously offensive, but very uncharacteristic of him. He's not a shock jock or a bloviating asshole like Limbaugh. I therefore would have accepted his apology about Michelle and moved on, without calling for his supression from the airwaves.

[Cooley Hurd]

12. As long as he apologized... of course!

David Shuster has done MUCH MORE good than harm to the Progressive cause.

[Kittycat]

15. I don't care who he was speaking about. It was wrong.

It was the wrong thing to say, he f*cked up, and now he's paying for it. I do hope he'll be back, people make mistakes and use phraseology incorrectly all the time. But I don't think it should go unnoticed or wiped under the rug.

[bigbrother05]

16. Pimp Slap

[mondo joe]

17. Torches and pitchforks. Half the DUers defending it when said about Hillary

would have stoned him to death themselves.

[griffi94]

18. or what if he's said

that obama has oprah out HOin for him.....see cause i think that would be over the line.
of course i think it was over the line anyway

[rox63]

23. He still would have deserved to be slapped upside the head

I think it was a stupid, nasty, inappropriate remark that Schuster made. He needed to apologize, both publicly, and privately to the Clintons. But he's also one of the best political reporters out there. So suspending him during election season may not be such a good idea.

[Orangepeel]

24. What would have happened if he'd said, "Clinton is pimping out Jack Nicholson"

by having him make robocalls for her campaign.

Just wondering.

[Bitwit1234]

26. The cult members would have ascended on MSNBC

and tore the station up...

[sunonmars]

28. Remember the outrage when Kerry mentioned Cheneys lesbian daughter

Don't underestimate how things like this become big problems. It escalates totally out of control.

The media has put slamming the Clintons on a whole new level and one that could make payback a bitch.

[emilyg]

39. I remember - thought it was disgusting.

[Little Star]

49. Kerry had no class to stoop that low. Cheney, kick the puke in

the nuts, but leave the kids alone. That was a disgusting low blow!

[zonkers]

32. Uh, there'd be a line of johns waiting outside her campaign trailer??

:shrug:

[Bluerthanblue]

43. I didn't realize that Hillary was married to Chelsea-

you are comparing apples and oranges.

Aside from that, what was said was foul, inappropriate, and NEEDED to be apologized for, and regretted.

I don't defend this man's comments about Chelsea.

But Chelsea is a woman now, a very poised, intelligent, capable young woman. She had to know that when she made the choice to go on the road and campaign for her mother that she was going to face ugly, angry, and difficult situations. I find it difficult not to feel very maternal and protective of her, watching her have to grow up in the White House and be dragged through the wringer with her parents. But if we women are going to ever reach true equality as people- we can't expect to be treated like fragile young things- And the comment should have been addressed as the ugly, rude, mistake that it was- and when the offender apologized and then was disciplined by his employer for his remark, it should be put where it belongs. Not paraded around like the head of a vanquished enemy.

As for the meaning of the comment- the man remarking about how a candidate appears to be using someone to engender votes- how is that any different than what was said about people who endorsed either candidate? Some negative comments have flown around here lately on all sides.


peace~

[bunnies]

47. As camp DU clinton would say...

If they cant handle the phrase "pimped out" how the hell are they going to handle the Repubs. Grow a thicker skin or get out of politics! So sayeth camp clinton.

[DemGa]

48. Holy crap, it would be a firestorm!!

DU and Daily Obama (Kos) would go NUTS!!

[CyberPieHole]

50. I wonder?

:shrug:

[Politicub]

51. Great point - and, of course not --

he would be ridden out on a rail being branded as a racist (which he would be, by the way).

By singling out the Clinton's he's merely an asshole.